MBEZI EXPERIENCE

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Mbezi is found in Tanzania. It is one of the biggest areas that make up Dar-es-Salaam City. I happened to be there with other aspirants of the Missionaries of Africa. We were from the three East African countries, namely Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. We reported to Mbezi on the 15th of January 2016 for the pre-first phase program of 6 months. The main point for this was to prepare us (the aspirants) for philosophy in Jinja.

Aspirants
Important to note is that the time in Mbezi was so marvelous to say! The challenge experienced was one of high temperatures rising up to 45 degrees. It was a struggle at the start since I had never encountered such high temperatures in Uganda mostly in my home town Soroti. It was a wonderful experience. I could call the temperature issue a minor one compared to the beautiful and exciting things I got in Mbezi and Lavigerie Formation House.

In the house, there were many good activities namely French classes, liturgy, Swahili and an introduction to Theology amongst others. We also had games like football, volleyball and indoor games (chess, ‘uno’, etc.). We also had birthday celebrations and outings on weekends to the beach. We would swim in the Indian Ocean waters. All these activities were indeed live-giving since most of us were given a chance to display our talents and skills.

Aspirants with Fr. Cor and a lay person in Bagamoyo (Tanzania)

 Pastoral work is one of the things I cannot go without mentioning. Sincerely, I enjoyed it the most because of the Christian songs taught to the children I interacted with. It was also a time for sharing my personal life experiences with the local people, to share with them the love of Christ. Above all, it gave me the opportunity to learn the wonderful culture of the people and their way of life, their language which is far much different from my own. I met hospitable, loving and kind people. I must admit that I learnt a lot from them. These experiences gave me a bit of a taste of what missionary life really is. The lesson learnt is all about being flexible where need be. Indeed as the saying goes, “It is only the flexible that do not break.”

If you give love, you will receive and experience love. The key to all is, to love Christ is to love the people you meet, you walk with, stay with and the ones you share with. All the above is summary of my life in Mbezi-Tanzania.

In prayer and love we meet Christ.



OGWANG ISAAC

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