One hot day in Tanzania, Judith DeChristopher was heading out from Ndoleleji mission for a needed break from the busy week at the clinic. As so often happens when one is driving through the countryside, there was a "Naomba" (I beg you) for a lift in her truck. Though tired and wanting to arrive at her destination in Shinyanga town, Judith agreed to take an old man to his village. After thanking her profusely for the ride, he began to ask her questions. He also told her that he was Reverend Elias Munwigili of the African Inland Church and was 85 years old.

Their trip together included a jaunt off the main road after which the Reverend insisted that she meet his wife. In typical Tanzanian style, Judith was invited to share the family meal. Grandchildren darted in and out to get a glimpse of the guest and Judith realized that "this was truly a house of love." When it came time for her departure, the old man accompanied her back to the main road as he intuitively knew Judith would get lost and told her that she was welcome to return at any time.

"Say a prayer for me", she asked, expecting him to acknowledge the request and be on his way. Instead, he bowed down his head and closed his eyes. His prayer sent Judith on her way. "Almighty God, thank you for sending Judi, who brought me home safely. Please bless and protect my daughter of the road."

Judi's encounter with this old Tanzanian man tells the story for so many of us as Maryknoll Lay Associates working in the Tanzania Region for the past 20 years. It tells of the tremendous hospitality and the invitation to share whatever comes their way. We see how ecumenical life can be living within a country that has over 120 different ethnic groups and various religions. Most of all, we see how we can be tired and burnt out at times and, so often, a chance meeting like Judi's will put life in perspective for us.

HISTORY

The official lay mission project began in February 1976 with the arrival of four associates under contract with Maryknoll, New York. But the history of lay mission presence within the Tanzania Region (Africa Region until 1979) dates back many years due to the initiative of various Maryknoll members. Fr Dan Ohman recalls the beginning of lay involvement on a mission station when he arrived in Ndoleleji in 1964 when there were four Peace Corps people brought in by Fr. Tom Keefe. While they were still there, lay people arrived from Germany with church affiliation, to work in agriculture, water, mechanics and development schemes.

The strong connection between Maryknoll Society members and their counterparts in U.S. Maryknoll Development Houses is shown through the dialogue that began among Dan, Fr. Mike Duffy and Fr. John Lange. John was serving in the Minnesota Development House in 1972 when Dan and Mike wrote to him. Dan was "convinced that the Spirit was moving the church in the direction of the vocation of the lay people," and that Maryknoll needed to move in that direction. Together, Dan, Mike and John developed a plan where John would "recruit lay volunteers by advertising in the Catholic Diocesan Newspapers and by visiting pastors in the Minnesota and Dakota areas."

They received quite a few responses and five people made a verbal agreement to work with Maryknollers in Tanzania. Jerry Hansen, Al Hagan, Tom Borer, Dave Ramse and Barbara Bechtold broke the ground of lay people serving with Maryknollers in Tanzania.

While the Africa region went ahead with the Agricultural Program for lay people, the Society was not standing still on the issue. The official Maryknoll Lay Mission Program in Tanzania came out of the 1972 Chapter. The Chapter said that Regions could request the Society to recruit, train and send lay missionaries and that if two or more Regions did this a formal Program would be begun by the Society. The Africa Region began discussions towards this goal, but it had not yet approved of the idea. The official stand of the Africa Region comes in a letter from the Regional Superior James J. Morrissey to Fr. Joseph Glynn of the General Council in December 1973. He states "the Region has not approved a lay missionary program except the one dealing with the farmers under contract. He felt that neither the Region nor the Tanzania Government would approve of a program like this.

However, the dream of Lay Missionaries was kept alive in the Region through various members and the dialogue continued. At the Regional Assembly in January 1975 a motion was made and seconded which read: "That the members of the General Assembly favor in principle having a Lay Missionary Program in the Africa Region." It was voted 60 yes, 2 No and 6 Abstained. Guidelines for this new program emerged through the work of Fr. Bill Murphy and a committee chosen by the Regional Council.

They strongly emphasized the need to consult the local church at all points of the endeavor and stressed that the sending parishes should have a commitment to assume some of the responsibility for the lay people. They also called for local lay counterparts to work in conjunction with these people and that issues of spirituality, living in isolation, acculturation and political orientation should be addressed. It was felt that this was a move beyond having people coming to work as technicians; that the new lay missionaries would be a "witness for the Gospel."

At the Regional Board meeting in 1975, Fr. Bill Murphy was named the director of the program for the Africa Region by the Regional Council. In the January-February 1976 formation program at Maryknoll, New York, the Africa Region had five people in preparation for their arrival on the African Continent. Jerry Hansen returned to serve a three year contract under the program in Old Maswa. He returned to the work he had begun in carpentry and a special outreach to the disabled. Mike and Mary Mantey were assigned to Kenya while Mary Orth and Liz Mach continued the long line of lay involvement in Ndoleleji. Their work consisted of the women's educational development programs begun by Barb and an associate, Connie Kreiss (who was working through the World Council of Churches) as well as a mobile health clinic.

During those beginning years, many different Maryknollers took part in the development of the program. Fr. Carroll Houle prepared the orientation and accompaniment of the lay missionaries. Often times we struggled with our own identity. Were we really missionaries in our own right or were we volunteers there for a short period of time? Frs. Art Wille, Bill Gilligan, Jim Lee, Ken Thesing, Dan, Mike and John (among others) worked hard to develop the program through guidelines and their support. It was a time of high energy and involvement as the program began and the dream that Dan and others had continues through today in the Tanzania Region.

In 1982 Maryknoll responded to a request from the Bishop of Hong Kong to train a few lay missionaries for the Chinese Church. Two women from Hong Kong applied to the program through their connections with Maryknoll. While there are still foreign missionaries serving in Hong Kong, it was felt by their Bishop that the service Jessica Ho and Elizabeth Woo could give abroad "would also strengthen the Church in Hong Kong." Jessica and Elizabeth were assigned to Dar es Salaam with Jessica working to coordinate a catechetical program in a Maryknoll parish and Elizabeth as a nurse in a clinic run by the Consolata Sisters.

Elizabeth once explained why she choose to leave Hong Kong to be in mission. "There have always been more foreign missionaries in Hong Kong than local Church leaders. I once asked a Filipino Maryknoll Sisters why she came to Hong Kong when needs were so great in the Philippines. She replied that "a local Church cannot be mature until it sends missionaries to others. She taught me what mission means." Maybe the lay mission program was also beginning to mature at that time.

EDUCATION MINISTRY

In many of our apostolates we were fortunate to follow in the footsteps of or walk along side the Maryknoll Sisters. They have helped us in acculturation and we have lived with them in parishes. Michele Fryt, a lay associate from Colorado, was contracted in 1982 to work at a secondary school for Tanzanian young women. This was a self-reliance program which was started by the Maryknoll Sisters. As a teacher, Michelle's role was "to be with the young women at the school, helping them to realize their potential as individuals and women." The time spent in Nangwa was much more then Michele's giving to the women at the school.

For her, "In Nangwa I felt focused. All the pieces of my life (teaching, running, social life) were all intertwined with my spirituality. I could live out and speak about my faith in all the areas of my life." The work in Nangwa included the field work that every Tanzanian women does so well since childhood. Most of us can never fully participate in the work because of the tremendous physical toll. Michele, because she was an athlete and was young at the time (25) she was able to work the fields. She remembers working with the girls late one night by the moon as they tried to load all the maize from the fields. As she felt her tiredness, the girls began softly singing as they threw the maize into the trailer. As Michele writes, "the singing lifted up my spirits and I suddenly felt part of something very special. Life was good, physical tiredness was good, the earth and the moon were good, and I was a witness to a spirit of comradery that few will be privileged to enjoy"

Over the years, we have entered into the educational life of so many Tanzanians. Our beginnings in the educational field started with John Close, who with his wife, Roxanne, was assigned to Musoma in 1980. While John taught in the minor seminary, Roxanne began working with the youngest in a Montessori school. Sara Talis and Kathy Davis arrived with them and began teaching at the secondary level in Musoma. Barb Vass joined the group a year later while Jack Connell taught at the local seminary.

In 1989 with the arrival of Dan and Jenny Zetah Becker, we continued our education ministry. They both worked in Musoma and also added to our growing family with the birth of their daughter, Rachel! Lisa Nolan enthusiastically arrived from New Jersey to teach at the secondary level at the same time in the Musoma area.

The Diocese of Musoma continued to expand in education projects with the building of a girls' diocesan secondary school at Kowak. Marian Ryan was our first contribution as a teacher in the school. In 1991, Shinyanga welcomed Sacha Bermudes-Goldman in Ndoleleji. Sacha spent a year there and then moved to the Musoma Diocese to teach at the secondary level where he worked with Suzanne Savage. Over all, the Musoma Diocese has had the benefit of many talented and dedicated teachers from the lay associate program.

HEALTH CARE

Health care ministry has been a part of our presence since the first lay associates began in Tanzania. As described in chapter seven, we followed in the footsteps of the Maryknoll Sisters who began projects in both Musoma an Shinyanga Dioceses. The work has varied over the years as different needs arise and the personnel to administer the projects have changed. We have been fortunate to respond in a variety of ways and in different places.

All of us who have worked in health care have been deeply affected by our relationships with Tanzanians. As we sit by a bedside, delivering a baby in a hut or are training Tanzanians for the future, we know that we are caught up in the dreams that each parent has for their children to be healthy. We all have stories of grateful patients bringing us a live chicken in thanksgiving, the shy smile of a child who was unconscious the day before or the simple presence of Jesus revealing himself to us through the poorest. It is we who have received a gift.

PASTORAL OUTREACH

It has often been thought that the pastoral outreach was the work of the priests and sisters. In the United States today, more and more lay people are becoming highly trained in this field and it is only natural that some would choose to share their ministry in Tanzania. We have been fortunate to have very talented couples working in Ndoleleji. John and Diane Mistelske arrived in 1980 to teach in a catechetical program with Frs. Dan Ohmann, Don Sybertz, Tom Shea and Ken Thesing.

Diane brought a feminine presence to the team that worked the Marriage Encounter program and was able to discuss with the Tanzanian women more intimate issues. In a culture where childless women are not always valued and often times the husband is encouraged to take another wife, Diane was able to relate to the women, "that marriage-even without children is still a beautiful sacrament, as beautiful as marriage with children." Melisiana, one such woman, was the recipient of this good news through Diane and it is a moment that Diane will not forget. The program "helped improve communication between husband and wife and promoted a better understanding of the sacrament of marriage."

Margo and Eric Cambier are another couple who called Ndoleleji home. They began in 1991 to work with Small christian Communities (SCC). There has usually been a separation of religion and development projects, but Margo and Eric, along with Frs. Ohmann and Sybertz thought that they would try to combine the two issues. The idea, according to Fr. Ohmann, was "to establish better Christian families through the SCC's that would unite in small groups and then begin some small development projects." As with any project, the difficulty came in trying to sustain something after personnel have moved on. The idea is a good one and no doubt will be tried again.

LEADERSHIP

As a lay association, we have always been involved in the ongoing work to seek out new possibilities for ourselves. In the 1970's, Charlie Wortmann assumed the responsibility for visiting lay missionaries, for investigating new job placements and for on-going dialogue with the Regional Council. Tanzania and Kenya decided to combine this position in 1987 and make it an Africa Area Lay Mission Consultant position. Susan Nagele accepted this role as a part-time position and took a more direct role in actively seeking out job possibilities for future lay missionaries.

Susan was the African Chapter representative in 1990 for lay associates. Marj Humphry, from the Kenya Region, took over the leadership responsibilities in 1991 for two years. Joan Sharkey stepped into the position for 6 months and Fr. Bill Vos, an Associate priest from the Diocese of St. Cloud has now been elected as the Area Coordinator. The role has changed with the emerging of the new Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful and is still being defined now.

U.S. DEVELOPMENT

Early on in our history, we began to realize that the gifts we have received through our relationships with the Tanzanian people needed to be shared on our return to the U.S. Church. The Maryknoll structure allowed for us to join in the mission education efforts of the Society. In 1982, Liz Mach, after two contracts in Tanzania, began working in the Philadelphia House as part of a promotion team. This overall endeavor included vocation work, fundraising, mission education and church dates. During the 1984 - 1985 famine crisis in Tanzania, Liz, Fr. Carrol Houle, Dave Schwinghamer and others were able to raise new awareness to these issues within the U.S. Church. Being able to say "I have been there, I have seen" was so important in spreading the story of how this famine was affecting the lives of the people we have come to know and love in Tanzania.

While in Development, Liz represented Maryknoll Lay Associates at a consultation meeting of the American Bishops and with U.S Lay Organizations and Movements. She also attended an Alternative Synod on the Laity for Maryknoll in Rome and received the National Association of Lay Ministry tribute for her contribution as a lay woman in the U.S. Catholic Church.

Janet Hackert also joined the Philadelphia team efforts after her tour in Tanzania. Janet had first had experience of working with a local community of Tanzanian Sisters in their agricultural program. She was able to expand the knowledge of U.S. Catholics and others in the area of food and agricultural economics. Liz and Janet both returned to Tanzania to continue their lay missionary involvement after serving the U.S. Church.

Sara Talis brought her gifts to the Society of African Missions (SMA Fathers) in Tenafly, New Jersey where she coordinated their mission education efforts after her Maryknoll tour. All of those who have lived and worked in Tanzania are unable to keep quiet when they return to the United States. In each one's individual way, people continue to speak out on the tremendous hospitality shown to them overseas and the poverty in which people live. Bridges continue to be built and the stories continue to be told. It is our gift to the Tanzanian people.

What has our presence meant to people who have worked with us and those with whom we have served? It has been written over and over again by so many lay associates that it is not we who give but all the wonders and joys that we have received from the Tanzanian people. They have opened home and hut, family relationships, ethnic groupings and work places to us. They have allowed us to enter into the rhythm and cycles of their lives and have let us glimpse the beauty and love of another culture, another family.

We have walked with them through the catechetical programs for marriage awareness, through the births of their children, the schools for their youth and to the grave side of those who have died. We have been privilege to enter this because we come as missionaries who tread carefully on the holy ground of the Tanzanian people.

Through our relationships in Tanzania, we have been fortunate to glimpse life from the perspective of those who have been marginated. As we struggle to learn a new language and to understand a new culture, some of us have felt "stripped of who I am". "In spite of this feeling, the real core of me, my being can never be taken away," says Joanne Kosik who served in Bariadi. "I am able to appreciate this view from the bottom now."

Our presence has been beneficial for many. As Fr. John Lange has stated, "I have personally benefited from the associates presence. They have brought us new life in our assemblies and retreats, as well as a strong sign that the Church is all the people. I think that some of the 'goodbyes' that the lay missionaries have experienced are a testimony to the fact that the people loved them and that they loved the people."

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