New Year 2015

The last day of the 'old year', December 31, has been always to me a special and opportune time to recapitulate the proceedings of the past twelve months in the eyes of faith and in a quadruple ambiance of prevailing feelings of:

1. Adoration and praise of God,
2. Gratitude to God and people I was blessed to meet, work and interact with,
3. Repentance for what was lacking in me and my service and asking for pardon from God and people I offended, even if not purposefully,
4. Hope and consecration to God's Mercy and Providence for the year to come.

It is no different today. This is exactly how I feel, meditate upon, think about, recollect and pray.

I will not dare to attempt to commit to this post what has happened in the past twelve months of this year. Instead, I will celebrate a special Thanksgiving Mass this evening immersing in Divine Mercy Ocean this year, all people I met, everything that has happened, all that we and I were able to achieve, everyone and everything, with all my hopes, dreams, passions, plans for the next year.

Thank you, Lord! Thank you, all my loved ones, friends, benefactors, readers of my blog and all I met this year! At the same time I ask God and all of you for pardon and absolution for my mistakes, failures and shortcomings.

I wish us all a wonderful New 2015 Year full of God's Love, Light, Power, Joy and Peace. A year full of personal accomplishments and genuine satisfaction.

Take My Dearest Treasure

In her Diary, Saint Sister Faustina writes:"... when Mass began, a strange silence and joy filled my heart. Just then, I saw Our Lady with the Infant Jesus ... . The most holy Mother said to me, 'Take my Dearest Treasure,' and she handed me the Infant Jesus. When I took the Infant Jesus in my arms, the Mother of God and Saint Joseph disappeared. I was left alone with the Infant Jesus" (Diary, 608)

In this holy time of the celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ as I celebrate the Christmas Eve Mass tonight, I wish and pray for all of you, my dearest relatives, friends, benefactors and readers, that what Sister Faustina experienced, we all may experience as well - tonight and every day of our lives: taking Infant Jesus in the Holy Communion - Our Lady and ours Dearest Treasure, the Incarnated Divine Mercy of the Father.

May Jesus let us feel His loving presence, blessings and light in our daily lives, especially in times of trial, loneliness, distress and cross.

May Jesus empower us through our merciful words, thoughts, decisions and deeds to radiate His Presence, Power, Love, Mercy and Light to others in our daily lives - to those hungry of love and understanding, those in need of a listening ear, of a shoulder to lean on and of an appreciation, to those searching for a deeper meaning of their lives, to those crying for our help and support. 

Lots of love to you all from all of us here in Kiabakari!

Christmas Gift

The best Christmas gift I could ever imagine or wished for from our standard 4 students! The results of their national exam (first ever in a short history of our primary school) have been announced today. Our school was the first in the Kukirango ward (gmina in Polish). Out of 1002 standard 4 students who sat for the exam in all primary schools in the area, our students took the top eleven spots. All of our twenty four standard 4 students took places between 1 and 31. Our girls and boys set a high benchmark to beat for their peers in our school in future years.

We are very happy that our concerted efforts - hard work of our students, sisters, teachers and parents supported by my personal benefactors, Fundacja Kiabakari and its friends and sponsors (including 'Makulatura na Misje' dedicated team) via volunteers, educational adoption scheme, construction of the modern school, textbooks, educational gifts etc. - pay off. Well done, everybody!

Germany Appreciation Day And The Fifth Graduation Ceremony in Kiabakari - A Short Movie

This is just a short YouTube version of the full-length DVD (2,5 hours long) of the special celebration on December 3, 2014 in our pre- and primary school. I have posted already a still images but the video is a totally different quality of reporting. A special word of thanks to Mr. Aldimilablis Novatus for the shooting and expert editing of the movie. I hope you enjoy what you are about to see! 

Volunteering in Kiabakari - North American Chapter

I ask all my friends to have a kind look at the website/blog below (click on the caption below the picture to access the blog) and help if possible this young brave lady who dreams about sharing with us in Kiabakari her time, talents and professional knowledge she has acquired through her studies. She will be the very first North American volunteer in Kiabakari. Keeping my spiritual fingers crossed for our future guest! Welcome to Kiabakari, Emily!

Click here

"Ntampata Wapi?" The Tribute to All People of the Foundation Kiabakari

This song I wish to dedicate with all my gratitude and respect to the Chairperson of Foundation Kiabakari, the board and the council and all esteemed volunteers of the Foundation, private volunteers and of other organizations who came or are committed to the cause of Kiabakari and gave our people the greatest gift ever - their selves, their talents, time, love, care, kindness, passions, creativity and devotions...

Out Of Curiosity

Have you ever clicked on and read the content of one of those? Feel courageous to comment below!

Germany Appreciation Day and The Fifth Graduation in Our Pre-School - Images

Selected images in random order from a special day at our pre- and primary school in Kiabakari on Wednesday December 3, 2014, as we - firstly - honored and showed our gratitude to German people who helped us in the span of past five years with two development project and by sending four teachers-volunteers to Kiabakari. And secondly - celebrated the fifth graduation in our pre-school. We were very happy to welcome our special guests of the day - German volunteers from Internazionaler Bund organization - Hanna and Nele who work as teachers-volunteers at Kigori Primary School since August this year. I leave captions and explanations of images to you, viewers. Link to the full photo album on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152841962026912.1073741853.649361911&type=1&l=f227eec667. Enjoy!

Five Minutes To Midnight - Wrapping Up 2014

I have just realized that I haven't posted anything in the whole month of November. Shame on me! Yet, considering the November pastoral and development works package plus the annual holidays of the manager of the health center and my personal secretary at the same time leaving me with all things on my poor head, no wonder that I was a bit too preoccupied to continue posting here. My apologies anyway.

We have just started December and the new liturgical year. The Advent has begun. The time, I would say - five minutes to midnight in the scale of the year.

This is the time for closing meetings of the year, reports, summaries, retrospections and so forth. I have drawn my short list of highlights of 2014 in my life and in Kiabakari. Here it is:

January - first pastoral meetings in the parish, the Holy Childhood annual feast on the Epiphany,

February - 8 days long Faith Renewal parochial retreat (The Year of the Family theme), Baptisms and First Communions in the parochial church and outstations, the end of the registration process of our pre- and primary schools (yes! after a full year of painstaking process!), Furu fanatics team hosting in Kiabakari,

March - Lent spiritual and pastoral activities,

April - Holy Week, Easter, Divine Mercy Novena and Divine Mercy Sunday three days of celebrations, major overhaul of Grandma (my 21 year old truck),

May-July - three month short sabbatical - medical checkups and procedures, pilgrimages to my favorites shrine and Saints in Poland, Italy and Ireland; visiting friends and places in Poland, Austria, Hungary, Ireland and Germany; private fundraisers in parishes and among friends for the construction of the new wing in the primary school in Kiabakari,

August - Third World Apostolic Congress on Mercy in Colombia, Bogota (paricipating as the national coordinator of the Congress in Tanzania) and the proposal of organizing a continental congress on Mercy in Africa and Madagascar in September/October 2016,

September - The Year of Family pastoral program with catechesis on Sundays, Confirmation catechesis on Saturdays, the pastoral visit of the Apostolic Nuncio in Tanzania in the Diocesan Shrine of Divine Mercy in Kiabakari with the blessing of the construction site of the new wing in our school, the beginning of the construction of the wing,

October - The Year of Family pastoral program with catechesis on Sundays, Confirmation catechesis, the construction of the new wing, Holy Rosary daily prayer service in the presence of the Most Holy Eucharist,

November - The Year of Family pastoral program with catechesis on Sundays, the daily liturgical services with prayer for the deceased, Confirmation catechesis, exams, the construction of the new wing, Confirmation Mass for 128 candidates from all outstations of the parish (9/11/2014), the national exams for Standard 4 students in our primary school (26-27/11/2014),

December - The Fifth Graduation in our pre-school (3/12/2014), the official inauguration of the children choir in the parish (14/12/2014), the completion of the construction of the new wing and the finishing of the standard 5 classroom, Advent pastoral program, Christmas, the finale of the Year of the Family (27-28 December) with our bishop presiding.

There is a lot to be grateful to Almighty and Merciful God in this year. And I invite you all, my dear friends, to join me in this thanksgiving prayer. 

There is a lot to be sorry for as well. And I invite you again, my friends, to join me in our prayer of contraction and asking for pardon for our failures and shortcomings. 

There is a lot to be hopeful for in this new liturgical year. And once again I ask you all, my friends, to raise our hearts and voices to our God praying for our dreams, passions, resolutions, desires, plans and goals - may good Lord grants us all that is pleasing to Him and salvific to us.

In Te, Domine, speravi! Non confundar in aeternum!

Happy new Liturgical Year to us all!