It was a joy and a privilege for me to travel to Ndanda Abbey in Tanzania/East Africa this year. The occasion was an international conference of monastic formation directors. I had, at the same time, the opportunity to meet my brother monks with whom I had lived and worked for six years in the early 1990’s. I got to know many Tanzanian monks whom I had not seen yet because they had joined after I had left; they carry on our work now. I experienced joyful encounters with many parishioners in the parishes in which I was stationed. Also, I could visit various projects that our friends in the US have supported through the Benedictine Mission House and that are now very helpful and beneficial for the local population. Here is my dairy:
Day 1
4/17/18
It felt like coming home. I had just arrived on Tanzanian soil, at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. It is named after the independent nation’s first famous president. The journey went well, in spite of many delays: two hours in Omaha, two hours in Newark, NJ. One and a half hours in Addis Ababa. The delays matched well and I did not miss any flights. Now I am waiting for the last leg of my itinerary, the flight to the southern coastal city of Mtwara.