Fitting Finale

On the very last day of this month of October, I have been invited to celebrate a Holy Mass at the Presentation of Our Lady church in Stockton, where my friend and buddy I have come to visit belongs to and serves at as a church usher on Sundays... How fitting this is to say the last Holy Mass in this month of Rosary at the church of the Presentation of Our Lady...

Western Coast

Just  a quick post to let you know that I arrived safely to San Francisco and will stay in the area for a few days, almost a week, visiting friends I have known, liked and respected for quite a some time, years even, but never had chance to meet them in real life, same as it was the case with friends in Canada. Still with a heavy heart missing 'my' people in Canada and the country at large. I will never seize to thank for their kindness, hospitality and caring hearts. My heart stays with them, my prayers are and will be with them and the Holy Mass offered for them and the intentions dear to their hearts will be a part of my spirituality based on gratitude.

Kwaheri Ya Kuonana

KWAHERI YA KUONANA in Swahili language means GOOD BYE TILL WE MEET AGAIN. Just a very quick note, but fully loaded with emotions, sadness and feeling of inevitable looming over me. This is my last evening in Canada before I fly tomorrow early morning to Toronto and then to San Francisco to start a second chapter of my North American odyssey...

Kahnawake

A friend of mine took me this morning for a short trip to Kahnawake Mohawk Reserve on the other side of St. Lawrence River. I returned saddened with what I saw there. Since my childhood I have been a great fan of adventure books - in particular of Karl May - telling a proud tale of Natives in North America, then movies came along, especially 'Dances With Wolves'... but the reality of Natives I have witnessed today dealt a devastating blow to this lifelong beliefs and mental picture filled with my awe and respect...

13 Out Of 33

This is the number of Chilean miners belonging to Jesus of Nazareth parish in Copiapo, Chile. The parish priest of that parish is 47 year old Polish Claretian priest, Fr. Adam Bartyzol, born in Pieniazkowice in Podhale region of Southern Poland, who has been working in Chile for four years now...

Happy Anniversary

October 25 - a very special day in the history of my family. The day my Mum and Dad got married in 1958 in Krakow-Nowa Huta. Today 52 years passed since that day. Two years ago we celebrated the Golden Jubilee of my parents' wedding. I remember vividly that day, when I celebrated the Holy Mass in our apartment in Krakow, as my Mum did not feel well and Grandma could not walk by her own power to the parochial church...

Polish Radio 7 Toronto

Last Thursday, on October 21, 2010, I had an opportunity to spread more news on Kiabakari, Divine Mercy and my life as a missionary in Tanzania, when I was invited to talk about these issues on air in Polish Radio 7 in Toronto. Here is a link to the audio file of this radio talk. Hope you enjoy it in Polish language...

In Retrospect

The past three weeks in Canada - two in Quebec and one in Ontario - have been one of the best times in my life. Serious. My vague idea of what Canada is about has been immensely 'modified' and let's be honest - shattered into pieces, particularly in the area of people and relationships. Before I arrived to Montreal, I did not know a single person in real life. All my contacts were made in virtual reality, online, through social networks like Nasza Klasa and Facebook! It is amazing how well all this worked out in real life terms...

Berlin

The place I'm at, was called first the Town of Berlin, then the City of Berlin since 1854 through 1916. Then the Germans lost the First World War and the city become known as Kitchener. Nowadays along with the city of Waterloo and Cambridge, the three cities are called 'the tri-cities'. Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge is all about contrasts and symbiosis of the past and the modern...

Toronto.pl

Since I arrived to Toronto on Saturday, my state of mind is nothing short of amazement and awe, mixed with pride and respect for the people I have met in this city. So sad, that Polish community or better, Polish diaspora, in the United States of America stole a mainstream of news on Poles in North America. Polish community in Canada - in my humble opinion - has been living far too long in the shadow of its mighty big brother from the States and somehow deprived of its due glory and credit for its amazing history...

Service To Resume Soon

Since I arrived to Toronto, I've been quite busy and offline (no computer at my disposal at the moment). There have been lots of thing to write about and share, but I ask kindly for your patience. The normal service will resume on this blog soon, hopefully on Tuesday as I reach Kitchener. God bless you all! Lots of love and respect! Peace!

________________________
Wojciech Adam Koscielniak

Mail address: P.O. Box 1010 Musoma, Tanzania, East Africa

Website: www.wojciechkoscielniak.pl
Blog: http://kiabakarisnippets.blogspot.com

Foundation 'Kiabakari'
www.kiabakari.org

He Will Take Care Of It

He had only a few words for the Assembly: ‘’This is not my work, it is the work of Saint Joseph. Put one of his statues in the middle of the building. If he wants a roof over his head, he’ll take care of it.’’ Two months later, the Congregation had amassed the necessary funds to continue working on the construction.

Coltan

Did you ever hear this word before? I did not. Till today when I came across a link to a short video called 'Blood Coltan' on Facebook. I followed the link and watched the video. This is not a very pleasant experience, I admit. Then dug in for more info on internet, YouTube in particular and found 'Blood Coltan' divided into six parts for easier downloading. Below you can watch all six of them or you can follow the link I posted above and see there.

Sleepless In Montreal

Impossible to sleep while mesmerized by the voice of the one of the best countertenors of all times - Andreas Scholl... How can I sleep when this voice sends me into orbit of my dreams, passions, worries, despairs, joys, prospects, lights and shadows??? Impossible!

The Ambiance

Continuing along my today's mood for mental and aesthetic path of sights and sounds, let me turn the spotlight to the largest European country in the world (excluding perhaps the European part of the Russian Federation), which is the Province of Quebec in Canada. Since I arrived here, I still haven't felt as if I arrived to North America. The European ambiance of this province makes me feel as if I am still in Europe. As I am about to move to Ontario in a couple of days, let me share with you the ambiance and the beauty of this part of our world, especially with those of you who have never been to Quebec yet...

Mwalimu

This post, being a sequel to the previous one, is all about images and voices of and about the one we commemorate today, on the day of his passing from this earthly part of our life to the eternal one. I wish to share some vintage pictures of Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, my personal ones, an interview with Fr. Andrzej Duda, a former parish priest of Butiama, the native village of Mwalimu and some of English speeches of Nyerere I came across while doing research on Mwalimu (teacher in swahili)...So, here they are...no words...just images and voices...

The Father

October 14, 1999 Tanzania came to a standstill at the sad news that were broken to us on TV and radio by the then President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Hon. Benjamin William Mkapa.

Scratching The Surface

That is exactly how I see it. Just scratching the surface of a little yet known world to me. The world of human ingenuity, charisma, talents, skills, passions and desires that drive people from the very young age to excel... Since I have arrived to Canada, this is what I've been doing...more rather by chance, by accident, that by a methodical process or approach. Scratching the surface of the world of talents, passions, charismas, dreams, notions, desires and lifetime goals in Polish diaspora in Montreal mainly, as I have been spending most of my time in this city...But I am absolutely certain that in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada, the picture is just the same...

The Kingdom Of Far Far Away

I am not exactly sure if it even remotely possible to mold my feelings and magical experiences of yesterday pilgrimage into any sort of words and ideas poured in to the form of this post... Mission impossible, I reckon... Yet I feel an urge in my heart to share with you how yesterday's mystical encounter with the Kingdom of Far Far Away has touched the very core of my existence and changed me...

Common Ground

When I left Poland, first heading to Ireland for three months to improve on my English, then to Tanzania to work as a missionary, I felt as if the solid ground I was walking upon since my childhood was removed underneath my feet... This solid ground was my Polish world, customs, tradition, culture, language, everything that constituted the 'aquarium' I was accustomed to and grew up in...

Homesick

A very relaxed morning, kind of reward for the past busy, action packed days... And the homesick feelings creeping in, as I go through emails and smses from Tanzania and Kiabakari... Something just hit me in the stomach and made me wanting to go back to Tanzania as I miss it badly... I can be in paradise here in Canada, I may be surrounded by the most wonderful people imaginable, yet still my heart and soul belongs to Africa, to Tanzania, to Kiabakari...

Silence

I love waking up to the silence of the morning...so rare in my life as the day gets busy right from the start in normal circumstances in the missionary life over there in Kiabakari or even when I'm home in Krakow...But not today...This morning is just me and the silence of the Montreal smooth waking up to life on Saturday morning...

Talk About Inspiration

Every decent person with a sense of shame will stop whining, bitching, moaning and complaining how miserable her or his life is - after reading and watching this...

You Take Care Of It

For the last two days I have been away from my hosts' laptop, thus unable to publish new posts...This, though, does not mean that nothing special happened or my mind went AWOL. Nope! I have continued to see wonderful people, share with them our sorrows and joys, talk and reflect upon our struggles, victories and lost battles, hopes and dreams, shattered confidence, day-to-day worries and having snippets of speechless beauty of Canada, visiting some spectacular places and sharing passion of Canadians for their national sport - ice hockey...I am deeply grateful to all families and individuals who invited me into their lives and spiritual worlds and made me so happy and enriched with their faith, love of the country, both Poland and Canada, passion for art, culture, life, people...

Help Me

October 5th every year since 1938 has been marked by a passage from this life to heaven of one of the most remarkable Saints ever who influenced the whole world by the message given to us through her by Jesus himself, the King of Mercy... Sister Maria Helena Faustina Kowalska - a humble and unassuming Polish nun became a secretary of Divine Mercy for the whole world...

Pie Jesu

I'm still overwhelmed by the beauty of the angelic voice of Jessica, one of the girls and young ladies - members of the parochial choir of the Holy Trinity parish in Montreal, under pastoral care of Franciscan friars in Montreal and Canada at large...

Camel Through The Needle Eye

A friend of mine took me for a ride in Montreal, showing various places of interest. I enjoyed this rich experience of Montreal big time... Took some pictures and a video on my Iphone. Just want to share them with you... I feel more and more at home in Montreal...

In Person

Last night I finally met in person one of the nicest, kindest and easy going guys in my life. I've been friends with Tony for the last six or seven years on our Ferrari forums at www.thescuderia.net, where we were and still are forum moderators, loved him for what stood for and who he were (as pictured by his posts and comments in forums), but never met him in real life. This has changed forever yesterday...

Habs

Just came back from the initial tour of Montreal, guided by my host. It was just awesome! I fell in love with the city and the ambiance of the place, people and places...

Guardian Angels

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” (Mt 18:9-10)  The words of Jesus from today's Gospel of the Feast of the Guardian Angels come with a particular force today in the light of all scandals and abuses in our Catholic Church in recent years...

Too Bad

Upon arriving to Montreal airport, all passengers went through the immigration process. When my turn came to face the officer, he asked me casual questions - who I was, what I did for living, where do I work etc... When I told him I was a missionary from Poland working in Tanzania and visiting my relatives and friends in Canada for the first time in my life, he seemed to be caught a bit off guard, especially when I told him that I met my hosts online and never face to face!

Wry Grin

It was all about the wry grin as I presented a few sweet gifts to my hosts on my arrival. I couldn't help but smile to myself as I remembered those years when we were receiving special food parcels from our relatives or friends in America - with chocolates, oranges, peanuts etc... How we were excited back then! Now tings have changed...It is us who come over to America with some nice things to enhance longing of our hosts for their Fatherland - Poland... Some special unique Polish sweets, chocolates, plums in chocolate, pishinger from Krakow, krowki krakowskie etc... Nice to make people happy so much with these typical Polish foodstuffs... I did not fall behind myself... digging into delicious Canadian pears and apples alongside special salad with crawdads... mmmm... yummy...

Formula One

Just a couple of hours ago I landed in Montreal. This is my first ever trip to North America...Felt like Christopher Columbus getting the first glimpses of the New World through the visors of the Swiss LX 086 about to land in Montreal... But my real excitment erupted when -on our final to the runway - we passed by the Formula One circuit on the island on St. Lawrence river...

A New Day

I was unable to write anything yeterday, though the day was fully charged with emotions, happenings, travel, farewells and so forth... It was a very sad and traumatic day for me... Sometimes everything falls apart on its own merit, relations and friendships end, without any input from myself. It was one of those days... Thank God it's a new day today... This is the first friday of this month...I enclose my wounded heart in the Sacred Heart of Jesus... It is all I can do as the tears have not dry out yet...