African Sisters of St Mary (CMM)
Support Group
News 2024
13/12/2024
Habari za leo ?
(What are the News?)
This year Dirk took me with him to Tanzania, I had been once before for two weeks in 2009, this time being newly retired I was able to accompany him for the whole month he was there. After some problems at Heathrow Airport we got to Dar es Salaam and stayed initially with the Benedictines at Kurasini in Dar es Salaam. Tragically three of the brothers died a few months ago in a car crash.
We then flew to Mtwara on the South East coast, where we were met by Bishop James Almasi, Bishop of Masasi. After a pause at the Anglican Church and small convent there, we travelled in the Bishop’s car to Masasi where the Sisters have a very active convent at Malisita literally “six miles out” it is in the countryside just off one of the main roads into Masasi. Mtr. Angelina the new Mother of the community is now based at Masasi. Sr Sapelo from Zambia joined us. She speaks good English which was very helpful as many Tanzanian Sisters have very little English as Swahili is the national language.
Staying at most of the convents has some similarities to staying on farms, as unlike most European convents the Sisters have to earn or grow enough to live on mainly through agriculture, like 50% of the population in Tanzania. So there are crops, tilled by hand – no tractors, many fruit trees and plants. Papaya and water melon were in season while we were there and Mangos almost ripe. There are also lots of chickens, a few ducks, cows and goats and also pigs which sell well. There is also a fish pond a project which aimed to earn some money through the sale of fish, but has met with some hitches. The Sisters also keep bees. With rains now more erratic than in the past due to climate change, wells and water collection are vital and the CMM Support Group has provided valuable support in this area. At Malisita the Sisters run a hostel for girls attending secondary school, so they are safe and looked after. They also run a nursery and pre-school which they are hoping to expand to a primary school. We were made very welcome at each. Finance is always a problem whether to start new projects and when harvests are poor due to drought or storms simply finding money simply to buy food.
We also visited the Cathedral and Diocesan offices, World Vision in association with the Diocese run a project providing wells for rural communities. On the Sunday the Bishop invited me to preach at Masasi Cathedral, with him translating into Swahili. We then went to a confirmation in one of the villages where 69 candidates were confirmed, it is encouraging to see growing lively churches with many young people.
The Sisters at both Masasi and at Sayuni did not have a chaplain so I ended up celebrating their daily Eucharist for them, 6.30am and in a mixture of English and Swahili, and I don’t speak Swahili! Dirk has Tanzanian Eucharist booklets with both English and Swahili in them so I learned how to pronounce the Swahili words, the Sisters obtained permission from the bishops and I was supervised by a Cathedral priest on the first occasion. I think my pronunciation gradually improved as I went on. Sr Sophia at Sayuni gave me some extra instruction. The Sunday Anglican Eucharists in southern Tanzania have traditional Anglo-Catholic ritual with some traditional UK hymn tunes but with African beats sometimes drums or these days sometimes a drum machine and some African songs and tunes and sometimes dancing; so both reverent and lively.
From Masasi we travelled to Newala for a few days. Sisters Deborah, Erica and Paulina hosted us. Sr Erica was producing communion wafers on a machine imported from Germany. Sr Deborah is a nurse. The convent is near the Cathedral. We were joined by Beatrice Reusser who was visiting projects supported by the Old Catholics in Switzerland, Germany and Holland. We visited a well run pre-School (ages 5 to 6) and junior school (ages 7 to12 or 13). The older children ran a formal debate in English. The school is in the top three in Tanzania.
On St Luke’s Day we set off for Sayuni which is 30km from the upland town of Njombe. There were 5 of us in a 7 seater people carrier, plus luggage, plus a rather amazing picnic, plus large sacks of watermelons, papaya and flour, and some rather discouraging scraping noises emanating from somewhere in the people carrier. As usual there was a mix of good tarmac roads, roads with pot holes and dirt roads, 15 hours later we arrived in Sayuni. I was feeling my age by then! On the way some amazing scenery, monkeys and giant grasshoppers with coloured wings and a dramatic orange moon rise. Sadly after dropping us off the vehicle broke down on the way back. Njombe and Sayuni are high up so we left behind the 30 plus degree temperatures, for cool misty mornings.
In Njombe we visited the site where a new secondary school is being built. And saw the creche and junior school the Sisters run which is doing well. In Sayuni the Sisters have the Medical Centre and employ a clinical officer, Sr Sophia is training in pharmacy and Sr Hongera runs the laboratory. Their now elderly microscope has broken. Common diseases include, urininary tract infections, peptic ulcers, pneumonia, chest infections, intestinal worms, dental conditions, gut infections, anaemia, skin infections, and sexually transmitted diseases. Frequently underlying and exacerbating these are malaria and AIDS. An AIDS clinic is run at the Centre. The Centre has capacity for greater use. The Diocese has built an orphanage nearby, it is a wonderful building which needs some finishing before it can open. The Bishop is looking to the Sisters to run it.
One day we went to a remote village called Kidegembye taking with us 7 small pigs in the back of the 1990s pickup truck we travelled in. The pigs kept escaping from the bags they were restrained in, so we stopped several times while the Sisters re-bagged them! At the pre-school we visited Dirk and I were the first white men (“Mzungos” – foreigners) they had seen and the children were quite alarmed by us, but soon got over it. The Sisters are having a junior school built there. There is a constant need for new schools as educational standards improve and Tanzania’s population continues to expand, from 10 million in the 1960s to nearly 60 million now. More than a million of these are refugees from conflicts in neighbouring countries. Our trip ended with a journey back to Dar es Salaam. In Dar es Salaam we visited Sr Martha and Sisters in Dar and Action Medeor the German charity who supply medicines to the Sisters. Dirk arranged for a new microscope for Sayuni.
I found my visit to Tanzania and the Sisters fascinating and inspiring and I am very grateful to Dirk for taking me. It was great to meet the Sisters in the houses we visited and to see the various projects they are engaged in. It was also a joy to be able to share in their rhythm of worship, although I have to confess rather nerve wracking trying to pronounce the Swahili correctly when I celebrated the Eucharist! All the way through we were made very welcome and we were given some rousing welcomes and send offs – singing and dancing! The Sisters clearly have great affection for Dirk. The moneys sent by the African Sisters of St Mary (CMM) Support Group have been put to good use.
Andrew De Smet
November 2024