5am came early as I rose from my sleep in a dank hotel room
in Dodoma, Tanzania, East Africa. I still suffered from intense jet lag after
the 20-hour flight from New York City to Dar es Salam, and then another
two-hour flight aboard a missionary prop plane to the center of the country,
the city of Dodoma.
In the darkness of the early morning hour my good friend and
colleague Fr. Yohana anxiously waited for me to arrive at the front desk of the
hotel. After a shower that was nothing more than a pathetic luke warm dribble
of water I gathered my gear, met my friend and we set out on our adventure; and
oh what an adventure it was!
We next boarded the bus for a twelve-hour ride to the city
of Arusha in northeastern Tanzania. Of course to go north in Africa meant we
had to go south first! A long ways south to be exact! Aboard the unairconditioned
bus I witnessed crowded conditions as masses of people crammed tightly into a
vehicle not made to carry so many folks. In Africa they say, “The bus is never
full.” The reason is not because people don’t use that form of transportation,
but because the bus continually picks up more and more people along the way! It
was the craziest ride of my life. Yet I experienced Africa the way the average
African experiences the daily struggle and hardships of life. I experienced
Africa as if I were a part of the native population. That long, difficult and
uncomfortable bus ride was spiritually transforming and created an
uncomfortable yet profound awaking of what it means to live as an average
citizen in a third world country. I witnessed everything from beggars to drug
addicts, to a girl’s Christian school who sang beautiful hymns of praise in
their native Swahili language. We were stopped every ten miles by road blocks
in which policemen armed with machine guns boarded the bus only to be bribed by
the bus driver in order to allow the over flow of numbers and avoid harassment.
Corruption is an accepted way of life in these underdeveloped areas of the
world.
Sub-Sahara Africa is a land that is deplete of all its
natural resources. In order to make charcoal for fire the largely inland area
of Tanzania has very few trees. They’ve all been cut down and burned as cooking
fuel. The assets the country does possess, such as diamonds, are exploited by
government officials and the mining companies for their personal benefit. The
citizens are left to survive the best they are able. Consequently sickness and death are common
experiences in the life of the average African in Tanzania. Still, despite the
deplorable living conditions there are many faithful Christians who gather to
praise God and sing to the highest heaven every day. They smile and laugh in
the face of poverty, sickness and hunger. Despite the fact that death lurks
around every corner they embrace the salvific mission of Christ Jesus. Despite
he slightest injury, which often results in illness and deadly infection, these
people dance and find joy in the presence of God.
I am a strong advocate for the health and wellbeing of
sub-Sahara Africa. Having traveled there I have witnessed first hand the
poverty that these wonderful and cheerful people live under. Government
corruption is ramped, leaving many people (mostly Christians) with little food,
unclean water and inadequate medical supplies.
I experienced first had the hospital in Shenyang, Tanzania.
It was a filthy and wretched place filled with the smell of human excrement.
Education is vital and there are several mission schools,
but that is still not enough. Pressure needs to be placed on the shoulders of
the corrupt governments. They take what they need from the aid sent to the
county by missionaries and use those resources for their own selfish greed.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment