And On This Rock...

I will build my...tank...

Amazing workers I am privileged to have, I have to say in full praise! They were able to pull an incredible feat. To finish laying concrete slab as a base for the water tank in less than 20 hours with such huge problems with water, borders on impossible! They are trashed now completely, so after paying them their dues and thanking with all my heart, I couldn't but wish them a good night, haha...

The Guest

I've got an unexpected but very welcomed guest. The whole morning has been very hectic for us. Fetching water by car from a creek on the outskirts of Kiabakari, some one kilometer or so from the mission, to save mixed cement and continue concrete laying of the tank base.  At the same time, I've been busy in the parochial office. Tuesdays are customary office days, so people come from distant corners of the parish and from Kiabakari itself to have their 'shidas' (problems) solved. Add to the flavor the incoming Confirmation on this Saturday, and confirmants swarming around the office to finish 'office staff', then you get a lively morning... Then the Guest arrived...

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)...

Night Watch

Keeping a night watch with my commandos - workers who lay concrete base for the main water retention tank at the side of the shrine. Note that we do not have such a luxurious equipment as concrete mixer. Everything is done manually. So, to boost their morale and keep fatigue away, we made some coffee for us so we don't fall on our noses into the pit, and after initial several hours of concrete mixing and pouring by means of water buckets filled with concrete in half and passed from one to another all the way down to the pit where 'mafundi' (masons, experts) were - and a dinner break, we set off with second mix of concrete. Hopefully, if we do not run out of water, which is quite possible as the water level in my home tank is dangerously low, we may finish the job by today's (yes, it is today already) afternoon...

Solidarity

My country is (and indeed the whole world should too) celebrating today the 30th Anniversary of the birth of NSZZ 'Solidarnosc' (the first free independent trade union 'Solidarity' after the Second World War in Poland) which brought eventually the end of the communist era in Poland and Eastern Europe...

Useless Gift

I've just come back from Zanaki Parish, our mother parish, from which Kiabakari, Butiama and Nyamuswa parishes were born (the old Mama - Zanaki Parish giving birth to three new parishes in the spread of a few years in the nineties). The parish priest is on vacation, so I give a helping hand once a month there, and there is another priest from Musoma helping also once a month. The remaining two Sundays each month are covered by a resident catechist. It is so tough to get substitution in our diocese in times of long holidays. We do try our best to secure services for every Sunday while away, but it is not always possible. There are still very few priests in this diocese and things if improving, they improve in a snail's pace... New priests are being ordained every year, but others are dying or getting sick or simply finishing their service and going back home...

The Beginning Of Love

“Today there is so much suffering - and I feel that the passion of Christ is being relived all over again - are we there to share that passion, to share that suffering of people?...

Milan

The day after St. Monica's liturgical feast, the Church celebrates the feast day of St. Augustine of Hippo, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, her son... Since August 2005, when I visited Milan in Italy guided by Don Emilio, my friend and confrere from our ordination class of 1988 in Kraków, Poland, my perception of today's feast and my personal relation with St. Augustine deepened and strengthened in a special way...

Those Tears

The circumstances of St. Monica’s life could have made her a nagging wife, a bitter daughter-in-law and a despairing parent, yet she did not give way to any of these temptations. I always liked her and she has been my inspiration in my struggle to fulfill the vision of Divine Mercy in Kiabakari that was revealed to me on that morning of one of Lent Sundays in 1991...

Zero-Zero

Just a quick post on what has just happened. Shortly before 7pm, community superior of my sisters came to me asking for help in picking up two sisters coming to visit us from Shirati, some 120 kilometers from Kiabakari. They sent her a sms asking for pick up at Zero-Zero junction (zero-zero, because all distances in our area are counted starting from that junction) which is exactly between Musoma and Kiabakari, some 20 kilometers from here. This is a junction of Musoma-Mwanza highway which passes through Kiabakari and the highway going to the Kenyan border and beyond to Nairobi and Mombasa....

Sinkhole

I guess 'The Day After' Syndrome is going to pass rather quickly this time. And this I will owe to the most hated place in the entire Divine Mercy Hill. Strange, to say the least! For around ten long years I was staring in this disgusting, repulsive, depressing sinkhole which sucked life, joy, hopes out of me big time day in, day out mercilessly, silently, efficiently...

Black Madonna

Today is the solemnity of Our Lady of Częstochowa on Jasna Góra which has become the National Shrine in my country, the spiritual capital of Poland. Thousands if not millions of pilgrims come to Częstochowa day after day throughout the whole year from all over the country and abroad to pay homage to the undisputed Queen of Poland who, throughout the centuries, has showed the way and guided and protected our nation from her throne in Jasna Góra...

The Day After

Nah, it won't be about the pill. Just about the syndrome I suffer from whenever doing or going through something that demands a lot of physical or psychological input on my side to accomplish. This syndrome of feeling like trash, feeling shallow, feeling empty, feeling sad 'the day after' has been haunting me since I can remember...

Gentleman's Handshake

Feeling a bit exhausted mentally. It's been a delicate moment, this evening, when I sat with my friend and foreman and talked about money. Labor charge to be precise. For the school project and for the water tank project. It has been always tense conversation throughout past 15 years, whenever we sat down to talk about money. In times like these friendship simply seizes to exist....

Tomatoes Or Oranges?

Today is La Tomatina Day in the town of Bunyol in Spain. I heard about this festival of sheer madness and saw some videos of it. I always wanted to take part in atrocities like these that never end in fatal accidents. But considering my spectacles and the fact that my targeting system might be compromised big time by the lack of eyewear, I would turn into a moving target for others, rather that be an effective tomato propulsion device...

Instant Prayer

Having my morning instant coffee with milk, thinking about the kind of innocent, pure prayer, full of trust in Lord's Mercy and Kindness...The prayer that brings instant results. Instant Prayer... This is precisely what happened this morning...

The Lord Of The Dust

That's how I can describe myself today. Simply and genuinely the Lord of the Dust. When I arrived home yesterday evening, I noticed how dry the whole area has become during these past two months of dry season, called here in swahili kipupwe. But what I have seen today, surpassed my wildest expectations. I was shocked to see how ugly the whole Divine Mercy Hill has become. Ugly, dry, dull, lifeless. Couldn't believe my eyes... African winter in its ugliest...

Home, Sweet Home!

I'm back home in Kiabakari. Eventually, our plane departed at 3pm from Dar es Salaam and after uneventful flight which took some two hours (watching Mr. Bones movie all the way onboard), we landed safely at gravel airstrip called Musoma Airport, right in the middle of the Municipality. I always get stressed when approaching Musoma by air. There usually are quite strong crosswinds in evening, blowing from west, northwest, making for a bumpy descent. The runway is made of gravel, poorly maintained, so i always wonder how pilots keep plane straight, feeling how it shakes and wants to go sideways. It scares .... out of me, to be honest! This afternoon at least it was not so bad and - because I was busy taking pictures of Musoma and the Lake Victoria, I didn't pay to much attention to what was going on with the aircraft...

Precision In Constant Changes

I should have known and choose to fly to Mwanza instead of Musoma... I should have known! Aaaargh! It happened again... Precision In Constant Changes should be the new name of Precision Air. I was all in smiles when checked in to Musoma and sitting comfortably in the domestic departures lounge waiting to board ATR 42 enroute to Mwanza via Musoma at 1.30 pm. Then, precisely at 1.30 pm THEY announced. The plane will be delayed two hours due to technical problems. Ouch! So, here I am, continuing my wait and training yet another time in patience as Precision Air won again... With a cup of coffee and veggie samosas...

Ambivalence

This is exactly how I feel getting ready for my return flight to Musoma early afternoon today and then a short drive (some 40 km by car from Musoma) to Kiabakari. Ambivalence is a right word to describe my state of mind as I brace what awaits me there back 'home' in Kia (as we got used to say in short)...