The Last Day

August 31st - the last day of summer holidays in Europe, tomorrow 71st anniversary of the break out of Second World War, with Germany invading Poland on September 1st, 1939 - as the benchmark starting point (well, we may count other benchmark points as Anschluss (annexation) of Austria on March 12th, 1938 etc.)... In Poland tomorrow thousands of pupils will start a new school year (I remember my anxiety mixed with joy I felt whenever September 1st was approaching, as I always liked going to school)...

But for us here in East Africa, today and tomorrow are just plainly ordinary days...Yes, we may talk about East African winter coming to close, with clouds building up in the skies, hopes for rains to come soon building up in our hearts and minds, weariness of dry season with its gusting winds, plumes of dust raining supreme, colder tenmperatures and foggy ambiance in the nature and in our moods...Yes, we may talk about the East African spring come in... But still, the changes are subtle and gradual and not punctuated by holiday season coming to its close, schools starting again - as here in Tanzania schools start in January and end in December, and very few people can afford to go anywhere for holidays. Holidaying is for tourists and whites mainly...

In September we hope for first rains of small rainy season (called here in Tanzania - vuli) to come as expected, as it always have been since the oldest citizens can reach in their memories. Yet global changes in weather patterns make this hope a bit shattered and anxious. You never know these days what is going to happen. Will it rain as it did always, with Swiss precision, when the climate was still predictable? Or will rains come as furious thunderstorms with high velocity winds, doing more damage than good? Will it rain nicely as it did in major rainy season in the first half of this year? Or will it be dry with scarce violent rains coming suddenly and going without enough moisture to keep vegetation alive?

No one knows for sure. We will pray and pray and pray as we should do being reasonable beings who know who created us and this world and who runs the show. The Lord is a giver of all goods and we must ask Him with hope that He will protect us and keep us well. I liked comment I read yesterday on Polish Jesuits info portal Deon.pl, when someone commented that we should take example from Russians who - devastated by fires just recently - knelt down and prayed and rains came... We should do the same in Poland - devastated by Smoleńsk tragedy, divided by it to the extremes, then hit by horrible floods as if the tragedy was not enough for us...

I guess it goes the same for us here in Tanzania. With the climate and weather patterns messed up these days, we must go back to God, kneel down in repentance and ask Him for forgiveness - for what we have done with our common home which is the planet Earth - repent and respect it by taking care for natural environment, water resources, trees and forests, protect soil and habitats, and all this keeping in mind that it is God's creation, and He knows the best how to keep it sound and safe...