The Rural Death Row

We have just put two convicts on the rural death row. It always happens whenever we are about to celebrate a parochial feast, as we are getting ready to do just that the day after tomorrow, when Bishop Michael Msonganzila will come to celebrate a Holy Mass with the sacrament of Confirmation for some 300 young and old members of the parochial community. There  always is a death sentence accompanying these joyful events. They aren't that joyful to some convicts though. And although we have a prison in Kiabakari, those convicts we put to death on the occasion of our feasts are not from that prison...They are from the green mile a.k.a. the rural death row...

Right after the Holy Hour which was a great consolation and the hour of peace and meditation, of calming down and refocusing, very well attended by confirmants and other members of parochial community, we (the chairman of the executive committee of the lay parish council, my sacristan and gardener in one person - but not constant gardener, and myself) jumped into the car, took another guy on the way and headed to the green mile a.k.a. rural death row.

We have two convicts on our rural death row list and we wanted to see them before we put them to death tomorrow afternoon. We found them among other oblivious future convicts who will have their final day sometime in the future.

 Those convicts were cows belonging to one of our parishioners who buys and sells cows for living. These days cows from our Region travel very far and feed people from various countries - as far as Comoros and Seychelles! The businessmen come to Kiabakari market and buy cows in bulk for a good price, then transport them to Dar es Salaam by trucks where they are slaughtered and turned into packed meat, then frozen and sent by planes to different destinations where the beef is sold for serious money. That is why prices of cows went skyrocketing, making a beef meat very expensive commodity considering the buying power of my people. Just like fish processed in numerous fish processing plants around Lake Victoria which has become a very expensive source of protein. Thus making lives of our people and their diet more and more questionable!

At least, Wilson, our host and dealer in livestock, was forthcoming and gave us a good discount, so we were able to buy those two cows for the price which we agreed upon yesterday in the final meeting of an organizing committee. Be mindful that we are about to feed more than a thousand people on Saturday as the whole parochial community will share meal in groups according to their localities, but all together around the Divine Mercy Hill.

The money for the feast budget come from collections gathered by every confirmant who were circling around with special petition form asking for donations. The girls are the best in asking for money and usually they bring most money, but sadly, boys have bigger stomachs and eat more than poor ladies... Too bad! Anyway, confimants did a reasonably good job and we collected around two million Tanzanian shillings which was enough to buy two cows, food and soft drinks for everyone and get some spare money for gifts and other petty expenses.

So, we were satisfied with the condition and the size of our two convicts and declared them by the power invested on us by the yesterday's meeting as official inmates on our green mile rural death row.  They will be walked that green mile from the corral to the parish tomorrow noon, after their last grazing by the Kyarano river and will give up their lives so that others may live and celebrate...