Big 5 of Life - Tansania

  - Holiday on Kilimanjaro with border guards on the roof of Africa and holy
days in Ndanda on the way to myself

karibu be open - discover new things - receive & give - unfold potentials

Some mails with Father Christian and a phone call with the Invitation "karibu in Ndanda" -  Welcome to Ndanda - and a promise that the parish priest will accompany me   during my time at the Missionary Benedictines, were my only information here in Cologne, with great trust in God and a great deal of adventure in the luggage, I boarded the plane full of expectations and hope for a good, free time and open for new cultures and encounters on 26 July in Frankfurt.
People have welcomed me with open arms and hearts to get to know their culture and their faith. In the schools, the congregation, the congregations (Tutzing Sisters, Dolor Sisters, and the Novices of the Ottilian Missionary Benedictines), and in one-to-one interviews. Even with the mountain guide on Kilimanjaro or a young student during Holidays in the north - I have received
many a certificate of good faith and have been repeatedly asked for my own.
Who is Jesus in your life? How is the church in Germany? How do people live in the West? What is important to you? ... The doors of the congregations were open to me not only in Ndanda, but also in Mtwara. An invitation to pray, to the celebration of the Eucharist, to meditation and to the meal was always spoken. Caritas institutions, the staff of the UZIMA project, choirs, day-care centers, children's groups and people in the villages cordially invited karibu.

The pastor of the church gave me a Tanzanian religious name in my second week in Ndanda: Mti (= tree). He would not choose Maua (= flowers) for a man in Tanzania, as this is a name for women.

2.safari
hike the world - cultures & People in appreciation for the Creator
Safari - here we Europeans join a game drive through the Serengeti in the footsteps of the big five - buffalo, elefant, leopard, lion and rhinoceros.
In Kisuaheli safari means traveling and for many people it means walking.
Children often walk up to half to three quarters of an hour to school and some families to church for up to one hour on Sundays. In Ndanda, the parents arrive at 7:00 am to the 1 ¾ hour high mass and their children alone at 9:00 clock to the children's fair. In both worship services, two choirs sing lively and catchy.
With the children's group - almost 40 children meeting every Saturday afternoon in the Abbey, I spontaneously have two songs for the children's masses within an hour the next day ("Jesus Christ You are my life" and "Ubi caritas") practiced. The World Youth Day Song was supposed to accompany me all the time in Ndanda - in the Abbey High School religious classes, after a lecture at the 5 high school event, at the novice seminary, or as premeal prayer at UZIMA Daytime events.The UZIMA project was founded in 2006, when Aids was very widespread in Tanzania. The project is supported  from the Missio Munich and Aachen and from the Children's Mission. UZIMA (= life) offers:
  - outreach, pastoral work
  - the project team and about 120 volun-teers from the districts visit the people at home or in the  
    small Centers on site
  - Education & Counseling Services
  - Education counseling for godparents (mostly the grandparents) of the AIDS - wise children
  - palliative and preventive care for (AIDS) patients
  - Mourning seminars for the orphans
  - Training and supervision services for volunteers

Are in a good network to the hospital, to the catechists, to the small Christian communities and to CaritasCaritas supports people in Need 
  - with the care for the poor
  - Prevention in health and hygiene, as well as accompaniment to obtain School qualifications
  - Creating housing for poor people
  - Health care in cooperation with UZIMA & Hospital
A small Christian community consists of eight to twelve Catholic families in a village who want to form a small local church to live their faith in Christ together. The Small Christian Community forms the basis of a living church in Tansania. Catechists are the "heart of this work".
- Bible Parts (Gospel of the next Sunday)  and Intercessory Prayer
- Caring for neighborly help and sharing topics that are currently occupying families.
- now and then celebration of a Service with a small meal.
There are 12 kindergardens in the municipality of Ndanda
- with a group size of up to 40 children, some of whom are cared for by only 2 female educators
- the supervision time is from 9 - 12 o'clock
- very well-schooled, little free game
- Corn porridge around 11 o'clock is often the first meal of the children a day
- Children like to dance and sing
- Montessori pedagogy is practiced on a leash
- The community depends on donations because it has to bear ¾ of the costs

3. KilimanjaroTaking on the challenges of life -discovering boundaries - enjoying life

My challenge the "roof of Africa"
- Climbing the kibo was an experience that also took me to my physical limits. From 5,000 m up, my body switched to autopilot and every movement was in the chameleon step. Pole pole -
just as Beppo street sweeper does in the book Momo by Michael Ende. - Step, brushstroke, breath.
The change of climate zones, nature and landscape, the starry sky over the clouds and the blue color of the sky, the sunrises and sunsets over the Kilimanjaro are indescribably impressive in my memory.
The challenges of the people in Africa to master their lives, in some of us Europeans unimaginable living conditions of poverty and care are quite another existential nature. And yet they are happier with the little they have. Hakuna matata as well as a great deal of calm and serenity help them on their way through their lives. Born in prayer and saved in the community of the family.

4. pole pole
my inner peace in meditation and in the encounter with the creation, to find man and God

My days in Ndanda were marked by 
- a clear day structure
6.00 Lauds
6.20 pm Eucharistic celebration
7:00 am Breakfast
8:00 pm prayer in the community
9:00 am visits to the community1:00 pm lunch
3:00 pm Hiking to Lake Shemshem - meditation and swimming
4.45 pm Vespers
6.30 pm dinner

- a lot of time for me to enjoy the encounter with the children youth and Christians of the 
  community, for God and nature
- Lots of time to get to know the community and the projects of Caritas and UZIMA
- a lot of time to experience the everyday life, the life, the worries and hardships, but also the joy 
  and faith of the people
- a lot of time in the Scriptures, in the meditation to meet those Encounters with the people of 
  God.

5. assante
thankfully accept and cherish the gift of lifeIn

Addition to many pictures in my head, in my heart and on the hard disk, I have some invitations to revisit the places Ndanda, Mtwarda and Aruscha with my wife, or to make a detour to the Bene
dictators in Mozambique. 
Many impressions of a living church - although more of a national church of the 50s and 60s in Germany - which are characterized by a high participation of Christians (catechists, volunteers of the Caritas and the UZIMA project, choir singers, ...) in small Christian communities and living congregational congregations with a natural readiness to bear witness to the faith.
Living memories of people living in poverty, but rich in the heart and free of the philosophy of life hakuna matata and pole pole are happier and more satisfied with what they have.

Thanks to the modern media, which Tansa-nier uses as a matter of course, I am in regular contact with impressive people.Assanta sana wa kwaheri Ndanda. Mit.

                                                                                                                Kerpen, 29.10.18 Thomas Blum

8 am prayer in the parochia 
Oh God our Creator,
we thank you for granting us this new day.
We thank you for keeping us safe at night.
We thank you for the gift or our life and
or the new strength you have given us this
morning.
Guide us so that we may use all the talents
you have given us to do your will.
Unite us together as a team of workers so
that we, in our work may glorify you -
Our Creator.
May our actions help in making the world a
better place for everyone.
We pray, too, for all our benefactors and for
all those who support our work.
We ask this, through Christ our Lord.
Amina.

our father
Baba Yetu uliyembinguni,
jina lako litukuzwe;
ufalme wako ufike,
utakalo lifanyike
duniani kama mbinguni.
Utupe leo mkate wetu wa kila siku,
utusamehe makosa yetu,
kama nasi tunavyowasamehe waliotukosea.
Usitutie katika kishawishi,
lakini utuopoe maovuni.
kwa kuwa ufalme niwako
na utukuful
hata milele.
Amina.

Grace
Ee Mungu Baba! Utubaruki sisi na chakukla
Chetu tupate nguvu ya kukutumikia vema.
Amina.
Oh, Gott unser Vater! Segne uns und unsere
Speisen, damit wir dir gut dienen können.
Amen.

Christo - milele amina.