May 4 2008 Sermon.pdf

Happy May Day (also Ascension Day),

Yes, in Tanzania they celebrate May Day. It is a holdover from the socialist era of the 1960s. Anyway, I wanted to share my experience yesterday shopping for a water heater. Ever since I learned they existed and were relatively affordable, I have longed for a water heater for my shower. Finally, I have decided now is the time to do it. I have used the advice of another missionary and am working with a “fundi” (expert/craftsman/technician) who also teaches at a local technical or trade school. Yohana, the fundi, teaches electrical students and earns only 60,000 TSh (about $45 a month) so he has to find outside work to support his family. I am also using a plumbing teacher from the same school to help with that part of the job.

So, yesterday Yohana, the plumbing fundi, and a student from their school arrived at my place at 1:30 and we hoped to use the college’s one working car to do our shopping. However, the principal needed the car to go to a meeting, but he did offer to give us a ride into town. So we left around 2:45, when it was convenient for the principal, and got dropped off in town. So we went from store to store tying to find the different parts that were needed. It took trips to many different stores to find the right parts. Things were complicated by the fact that the plumbing in my house was very old and not standard so most of the plumbing in the bathroom had to be replaced. The hardest part to find was the right size water heater. We found some that were far to large and eventually we found the right one. It was an interesting experience because a lot of the places we went to are not frequented by westerners so I got quite a few interesting looks. We walked all over town — it was quite an interesting experience. Eventually, we left town via a taxi with several pipes and some wire cover tied to the side of the taxi.

A long, but productive afternoon. I hope all is well with y’all.

This idea comes from past generations views of wazungu (which is slang and derogatory Swahili for white people). Back in the era of slavery and later colonialism Tanzanians and many Africans were forced to greet and respect Europeans. This most commonly took the form of using the greeting “shikamo” to whites from Tanzanians. The word actually means “I bow down to your feet” and was required to be said by all Tanzanians to all whites. Now the term is mostly used by younger people to their elders (regardless of races).

Despite the changes in the use of the word shikamo, the heritage of slavery and colonialism is to show special deference to Europeans. I would like to think that my students now respect me for more than my background.

Well, I need to get back to work. Have a great day!

I am pleased to say that our internet access has returned sooner than expected. So… today I got a chance to go to go to the Kiswahili church service here on campus for the first time. It was quite interesting. The service began at 10 am and ended around noon. I was a bit surprised to see how many people showed up late. Also, there were just a lot of people there. Once the pews filled up some benches were setup in the main aisle for more people. Equally interesting, I noticed that it appears the women and the men segregate themselves (women sit on the left and men on the right). As people showed up late they sat wherever there was room. It was a very nice service, although it was all in Kiswahili. I think I know somewhat what Roman Catholics experienced before Vatican II in the 1960s. Before that reform in the Roman Catholic Church all masses were in Latin, even though many Catholics did not know Latin. Like them, I knew basically what was going on in the service even though I basically do not know the language.

In other news, I will be producing my newsletter very soon that will include the past four months. Sorry for the delay - it is just a busy time. I am really enjoying teaching. I will share some of my lectures with you all soon.

Also, I thought I should let you all know that the changes in the missionary system of the Episcopal Church USA or The Episcopal Church that I outlined recently have been postponed. The Church’s committee that oversees the mission of the Church has said that more work needs to be done to determine what should be done. This is a very good development, but if you care about the mission of the Church I encourage you to let your rector, bishop, and deputies to General Convention know what you think.

One final thought… there are a lot of needs here at Msalato Theological College that just need a little bit of money to remedy. In the coming weeks and months there are several things I would like to accomplish. Some of these include getting a new accounting software program for the college’s financial secretary (the current one is outdated, unreliable, and pirated). This will cost about $200 for the software and a few helpful guidebooks. I also hope to get new hardware to create a real second server at Msalato that will help protect the campus from viruses, provide a local email system, and a backup for the main server (this might cost up to $1,000, but will work for five years or so). Also, there are two new classrooms and two offices that need to be wired to the network here so that they can have computers (I don’t yet know how much this might cost). So these and other projects need your support. If you would like to support some of these or other projects feel free to write a check to the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia (PO Box 5400, Charleston, WV, 25361) and mention my name (Stephen C. Day) in the memo line. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Yours in Christ,
Stephen

Stephen

In other news, I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers for my bishop, the Rt. Rev. William M. Klusmeyer, of the Diocese of West Virginia, and the Rt. Revd. Godfrey Mdimi Mhogolo, of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, as they discuss some important things.

Have a wonderful day!