St. Peter Claver High School, Dodoma, Tanzania

16/05/2013

10/03/2013

LIFE AT SPCHS

06/03/2012

Things are happening on the agricultural front!

29/01/2012

We started out with an incredible rainy season -- a few storms each week. And now our grass is high and ready for slashing. We'll dry it and store it for later in the year to feed our cows. Yes, we'll soon have seven cows thanks to the generosity of friends and family in Toledo, Ohio -- and a place for them to stay thanks to benefactors of the Midwest Jesuits of Chicago-Detroit Province.
Unfortunately those good rains that spurred on such growth have disappeared. We desperately need them, so say a prayer that more rain comes our way.
Our students have settled in. As I write this on Sunday afternoon, they are just finishing "preps" (study period) and will be making their way to the playgrounds.

11/01/2012

We've gotten off to a good start. Over 190 Form One students arrived last Saturday. It poured cats and dogs all morning, and we were worried about what sort of mess we'd have to contend with. I told folks in my bad Kiswahili: Mvua ni baraka, lakini leo mvua siyo baraka -- rain is a blessing, but today it isn't!
There was mud, but that didn't get in the way of parents filled with pride and joy as they enrolled their children in the school.

29/12/2011

As you can see, this site has not been maintained. We hope to do better in the coming academic year, for which we are presently preparing!

07/05/2010

We had a site visit today with the contractor, architect, and sub-contractors. As we wlaked around, it occurred to me just how hard folks were working.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugj3nibGf5s

03/05/2010

That is one of my favourite Kiswahili words. I just like the sound of it. What does it mean in English? Corrugated iron sheeting. Mabati is the most common roofing used here. Ours arrived on Saturday from Dar-es-Salaam. I'd expected -- and thought we'd agreed on -- maroon, but the color is more brown than maroon. It will look good, nonetheless. As soon as it starts going up, I'll take some snaps and post.

25/04/2010

http://crosshairsofprovidence.blogspot.com/2010/04/just-tell-us-what-you-need.html

21/04/2010

Here's a pictorial report on our progress.

21/04/2010

We had a very productive advisory meeting last Saturday. These days we're busy dealing with attorneys (reviewing employee contracts) and banks (if you only knew how byzantine banking is here!). I'm also finishing up some grant-writing to help with the purchase of our Toyota Coaster -- a bus that sells for $73,000 USD. With import duties and taxes? $111,000! And we'll ultimately need 6 of these in total. Gulp!

07/04/2010

Had a great day on Monday with the folks from PEN Trust here in Dodoma. A chance to show them our work at Ihumwa and to discuss getting a container of books/computers through Books for Africa.