John Roche's African Adventure - 3

Sunday, June 20, 2010, 12:34AM

I have much to catch up on and I want to do that now while I am still conscious and the memories are relatively fresh!

I did show a movie on Wednesday night and many parts of the film really struck a number of the Salesians. “The Blind Side” showed them some of the struggles of Black Americans in the slums, immersed in drugs, poverty, and violence. It also shows the vast divide between the affluent and such urban plight. The film generated some discussion which we used to launch some of the discussions in Thursday’s conferences since these focused upon moments of crisis and examined the periods of great crisis in St. Francis de Sales.

Thursday’s conferences were a bit heavy, in my opinion, but the group seemed to want more and demonstrated an appreciation of the material. The afternoons are always hard, so most of the days we moved into sharing sessions.

Thursday after lunch, Fr. P.L. Joseph, the provincial, drove me to Upanco. This is a part of the town of Dar Es Salaam that is only about 5 kilometers from here. He wanted me to see the first house in which the Salesians started in Tanzania. The house is now Don Bosco Youth Center and offers indoor and outdoor playing grounds, an enclosed patio area for study, and several overseas shipping containers converted into music and recording studios.

The director of this community is a young priest named Frederick Swai. He welcomed me with coffee and cookies and then gave a tour of the facility. Leaving the center, which was not crowded because most of the children are out of school for June, we went back through the center of town to try to see St. Joseph Cathedral. Besides the amazing traffic, the lack of traffic control, the absence of stop signs and signals at most major intersections, what caught my eyes were the young people carrying all manner of things on their heads. One young woman held a box with all kinds of fruit, vegetables, and other groceries. The box was huge, but she never seemed to waver and moved ahead confidently. I saw a boy with cases of soda on his head walking along deftly, dodging cars, swerving in an out of people and vehicles without ever missing a beat or losing his cargo.

On Thursday night, Br. Vigilio gave the Good Night and he spoke about his twenty years as a missionary from Italy to Africa. He has spent all of these twenty years working with young people on the printing press and he bemoaned the fact that so much of his life has been absorbed with huge workloads and impossible deadlines. He shared this cautioning his brother Salesians to keep in check the urgency of work and details to the detriment of personal time for spiritual growth, care of personal health, shared prayer in community, and spending time as brothers. He announced that he is going to the UPS to take the Salesian Spirituality courses and then to discern what is next in his Salesian life.

Friday, June 18, 2010 would be my last full day of retreat with these Salesians. I reserved this day to examine the images of Jesus Don Bosco presented to the young and led the group in examination of our own images within our own contexts. This led into a reconciliation service which I opened with a quicktime film showing a myriad of images of Jesus from all times and places. This led into a powerpoint I prepared based on the Broadway play of “The Lion King.” The song I chose is called “Endless Night.” The song can be used as a prayer for those feeling lost and in darkness. It calls out to the Father to find the way home. In the end, there is the hope that the night will end, the sun will rise, the clouds will clear, and the sun will shine. This little presentation moved many and there were a number of requests to copy the reflection.

On that night, Br. Abraham from Morogoro gave the goodnight. Br. Abraham is a disabled coadjutor Brother who has had little use of his right arm or leg for over ten years.s He is a pleasant man who is not hesitant to ask for help or express his own opinion. He was touched that the provincial should ask him to give a Good Night and said as much as he introduced his thoughts. There was a child-like quality and simplicity in his thoughts that night. He recalled some of the familiar tales of Don Bosco and Grigio and other legends of Don Bosco. He kept saying, “Don Bosco was the greatest saint! God granted him so much! How lucky we are to have Don Boco!” At the end, the confreres applauded and he seemed embarrassed.

After dinner each night, the whole community prays the rosary together. This is even listed in the schedule. Apparently, it is a strong tradition among the Salesians in Africa. After praying the rosary, a Brother Sigamony, known as Brother Siga, taught me some things about yoga. I always enjoyed every contribution of Brother Siga. He always made some connection at a deep level and demonstrated that Jesus was his companion, as he expressed it clearly.

On Saturday morning I gave my last conference and ended that with a powerpoint set to music to “He Lives in You”, also from “The Lion King.” Once again, the response was powerful and many asked for copies. This simple closing audio and visual presentation was my way of indicating that Jesus is very much alive in the Salesians of East Africa and in the poor youth in need of their guidance and care.

At the noon mass, the provincial expressed gratitude for me on behalf of the group, but I was happy that he expressed that gratitude within the context of thanking God for his brothers, for the chance to go deeper during the retreat, for the times of prayer and reflection, and then for my efforts to animate that reflection.

We had a nice lunch together before some of the Salesians departed to their communities—some quite far away up in Sudan. That afternoon, I did some email, some resting, and some planning for the next few days. It was very quiet. After evening prayer, we had a nice supper as some of the young priests began to arrive for the next days of meetings. After the rosary, a few of the Brothers asked me if I had another movie to show and I offered them a viewing of Blake Edwards’ classic film, “The Great Race” starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon. They really seemed to enjoy it!

After the movie, at about 11:30 PM, the signal for the internet was strong, so I called my mother, my sister-in-law Linda, and a few other people. I had a nice and overdue chat with Linda, Jim, and the family there. I explained that most of the days this week the internet was not functioning, therefore cutting off my ability to call. I promised to call again in their Sunday morning for Father’s Day. Hopefully, the internet will be working. There has not been a day that we have not lost power and or the internet for a time. And the internet has been down most of the time. Today has been a happy surprise!