Sunday, February 20, 2011
Marathon
Today we broke a record once again. This time the Holy Mass of the consecration of the new bishop of new diocese of Bunda - Rt. Rev. Renatus Leonard Nkwande - took five solid hours, including speeches and gifts presentation. All in scorching sun and unbearable heat for many (some of ladies fainted today). Yet everybody is happy including the Prime Minister who delivered a nice and funny at times speech. The Chairman of Tanzania Episcopal Conference and the Metropolitan of Lake Province in one person gave a great word as well. We came back to eat at home as the organized chaos prevailed and I had enough sitting there in this heat with no water and the bleak perspective of getting food in the foreseeable future... Kiabakari has become today the closest parish of Diocese of Musoma - to the episcopal seat of Bunda, mere 30 kilometers!
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Well Wojciech, I thought 2 hrs a long ceremony but 5 is beyond my imagination. Anyhow the African church knows how to celebrate in style and what a colourful event it seemed.Are you getting closer to the episcopal seat - you could end up a Bishop yet!!!
ReplyDeleteI was delighted with the photos of the women at Sayi's mother's funeral. They were superb - all those busy women in wonderful costumes and yet the simplicity of it all as they mourned and celebrated. We could learn so much from them - we rely too heavily on rigid ceremony and black dress.
I was interested in what you said about Kiswahili and your thoughts about other peoples' languages. I often say here that in 'host countries' like ours, we need to make an effort to learn the language of our immigrants rather than always expecting them to learn English.It falls on deaf ears. What a linguist you are - if you weren't a missionary you would be working in the United Nations as you have such a flair for languages and can communicate fluently in them all- not to talk about your technological skills.Well done. Hope you got the land line fixed. Our Tom is good at languages but he says Polish is not for the faint -hearted and I agree fully. Glad you got a bit to eat after the new Bishop was consecrated - Again these ceremonies are not for the faint -hearted. I am beginning to think what a different concept of time we have here in what is called the ' global north ' from that of the ' global south'. Anything longer than an hour and people just leave !!!Our watches control our lives so time is measured by seconds!! and yet there will be loads of time after us !!!With lots of love, good wishes and happy timesfrom the Daly clan.
Even for myself, 5 hours was a real test of my resolve. Today I am on my way for 10 days rest, filled unfortunately with all sorts of to-do things and meetings, but anyway, away from home, routine and stress.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward meeting my old friends and accomplish some things, mainly completing writing my new book.
Yes, the concept of time is different, yet we, in Europe, so many times complain that we are bored. I think this is caused by our lack of interest in others and learning new things, perspectives, cultures, you name it.
Greetings to you, Tom, the clan and my beloved ones in Ireland! Take care!