Settling in to Mwanza

New Address
Michael Le Chevallier
c/o St Francis Xavier Jesuits
Po Box 266
Mwanza

Here is my new cell number.
+255787282555

Settling in to Mwanza


I have been in TZ for about a week now. It has been quite suprising already. In my mind, TZ was a hot dry place. While that must be true for many parts of the country, Mwanza, which is situated right on Lake Victoria, is almost as green as Uganda. It is a strange and interesting place. The city is clean and the main roads in the city have no potholes in them.
I feel like I have been transported to a modern day flinstones. Throughout the area there are these gigantic stones that cover the land. Many houses are of a similar huegh and they blend right on into the stones.

I have moved in with a maryknoll missionary named Garret. I think the situation will work out pretty well. Already it is nice to have someone around who might understand my references to pop culture. We live right next to the Jesuits. So if I ever get enough sleep to wake up by 6 am I might make it to morining mass. We are in the rainy season now though, so there is not the light that I typically depend on to wake me up early in the morning.

Our security guard, Thomas, dressed in a red uniform, protects our neighborhood with a bow and arrow.
Throughout the town there are also very tall men with large holes in their ears, who wear blankets on their body and a smile on their face, while carrying sticks with which they seem to be easily able to kill you. These are the masaai guards. I went just the other day to the masaai market to purchase myself some kata mbuga, which means cut across the bush. These are sandals made from old tires. Cool huh? Almost a pair of African burkinstocks. I wore them all day today and they tore up my feet pretty well. While waiting to get them readjusted by bahati (which means luck) I was teaching a young masaai boy to read. Today I made my way out to Mabatini to interview a maryknoll missionary priest named Jim Ebel, who has been living in TZ for the past 17 years.

Already there are some striking differences between here and Uganda. I think the emphasis on Swahili has played a large role in forming the country. The snubbing of TZ by many Anglo countries because of its African socialism probably has led to a delay of the neo-colonialism that has penetrated Uganda so deeply.

Also, witchcraft plays a much more prominent role here in TZ. Often negative fortune causes one to seek a diviner out. In some Ugandan cultures, the misfortune might be blamed on a disharmonious relationship with the ancestors. Here in the sukuma region, often this misfortune is attributed to the curse of a witch. Well, those are often innocent old women who get blamed.

I spent thanksgiving with the maryknoll folks from town. We were in charge of making the mashed potatoes. We made 8 kilos of potatoes and now we will be eating fried mashed potatoes for the whole rest of the week. Yummy! I met a really neat Oregonian too who is working as a volunteer doctore here. He grew up in salem, spent his summers in black butte and his favorite beer is also black butte porte. What a small world! We held a mass before dinner. It was really quite neat, for most of the msic was reminiscent of the old folk masses I used to go to as a kid.
Well… falling asleep at thecomputer. Time to check out!
Peace,
mike
ps- will eventually get photos up.