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Living in Tanzania
By S. Mary Bodde

Emily Wallace, with S. Pat McNally (right), gave presentations to Sisters and Associates on Feb. 24 and 27 on her two years as a Jesuit volunteer in Mabibo, Tanzania. “I’d never been happier or more at peace than I was there,” Emily Wallace reflected on the two years she spent in Mabibo, Tanzania. A graduate of The Catholic University in Washington, D.C. in 2008, and the niece of Associate Mary Jo Mersmann, Emily described her life as a Jesuit volunteer to Sisters of Charity and Associates at two sessions in the Cedars auditorium at the Mount St. Joseph Motherhouse. “Our church, St. John the Baptist (in Mabibo), comprised three neighborhoods made up of 66 smaller based communities,” Emily said. “Every Saturday morning we would be awakened at 6 a.m. by singing (mostly women) from all these communities as the sun was rising. I went a couple times to be with one of these neighborhoods and sat on the women’s side. They would read a Bible passage, reflect on it and share - all these communities at the same time!” Emily was especially pleased to be a Jesuit volunteer “because of the values they emphasize: witnessing spirituality; living in an intentional community; working for social justice; and living simply.” In her intentional community and in meditation, Emily said, “I went from finding solace and comfort to understanding nothing, to getting to know everyone in the parish as sister or brother - and everyone worked with each other and took care of each other.” Emily lived with four other volunteers who signed up for an evening meal together, reflecting on their experiences and challenging each other for accountability and support. On Friday nights they ate with the Jesuit community and “discussed what we were into,” she said. “I learned a lot about myself,” Emily admitted. “We lived simply,” she said, “no electricity; we carried water in a bucket and had to boil and filter it before drinking. We washed by hand, and lived in a three-year-old building that was falling apart. It was made of concrete and sand, so the stairs and walls were crumbling. We lived on a budget so we tried to keep our evening meal - mostly beans and rice - to no more than $2 for four people. It was humbling for me.” Emily taught in the Gonzaga Primary School, grades 3, 4, 5 and 7. Her favorite class was religion, an 80-minute period in which she and the students read from the Bible, shared their thoughts, made projects and sang songs at the end of each class. Some students paid tuition, but most were too poor. “We would take up a collection of sugar, soap and money about once a month,” she explained, “and then choose a family to receive the collection. I would go with my students to visit them. In one family the father had just died of tuberculosis, a daughter had tuberculosis, and the mother had cancer. The students were very comfortable in this situation, but I was exposed to an area of social injustice that I had never seen - one of my ‘ah-ha’ moments.” In the school there was no clean water, no electricity and no books. “Eventually we were able to get 20 books for each class,” she said. (Classes often had 30 to 40 students.) “There was no library but we were able to get three sets of 40 books, so I gave my class 40 minutes of library time to read to themselves. They were so content with their lives. We taught English, the only language allowed in the school, and we tried to learn as much Swahili, the native language, as we could. The school was founded by a donor from Canada, but it has to rely on donations. Students must pass the national exams (called standards) for grades 4 and 7 in order to continue on in their education. Most university education is conducted in English. Emily’s presentations included a film with scenes from school and community life, which included a school bell that looked like the inside rim of a truck wheel; fields of pineapple and sisal, the latter used to weave baskets; cots (beds); thatched roofs; and people swimming in the Indian Ocean. “As Jesuit volunteers we made four retreats a year, and they were wonderful, especially to get away to another part of that beautiful country and meet other Jesuit volunteers. We saw Mt. Kilimanjaro on one retreat, but we didn’t climb it - too expensive; we’d have had to employ guides and porters to carry all of the equipment.” The film also showed men and women in their local garb. Women are always in long dresses. Emily solved that requirement by ordering local Kitengi fabric and having eight different dresses made by a woman tailor. All women religious - indigenous communities, such as Sisters of the Company of Mary, Franciscans, Canosians and Dominicans - wore habits and veils or other head covering. Other professions wore uniforms. The sisters usually order the fabric they need from other countries to get it cheaper. Jesuit volunteers were given an initial on-site orientation that included a retreat, and another at the end of the first year. At the end of the second year they were introduced to a large network of Jesuit volunteers for support. Emily regretted that no re-entry program was offered. She explained it is so hard to come back to America, where we have so much in contrast to her two-year ministry in Africa. Emily plans to return to New Jersey, her home state, to get a master’s degree in social work and international development. That will prepare her to work at an NGO organization, like United States Agency for International Development, Mama Hope or Care International.

 

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