Even here it was nice to break up for the school holidays. Holy Week started with a Palm Sunday procession of impressive proportions. Thousands of people gathered at the youth centre, bringing an array of greenery to wave and were accompanied en route to church by various choirs singing enthusiastic ‘hosannas.’
We spent a busy week preparing for Easter and ensuring Martin and Mira’s birthdays were suitably celebrated! The triduum services were quite an experience. Good Friday attracted about 4000 people, half of whom were outside the church – with so many present, I shouldn’t have been surprised by the three hour liturgy!
The Easter Vigil was spectacular – parishioners had decorated the church beautifully, the choir had been practicing for months and the bonfire was crackling. I don’t think I’ve ever been to such a joyful Mass. There were about 50 children dressed in white and leading the liturgical dance and the choir excelled themselves – particularly with their Kiswihili rendition of the Halleluiah Chorus. The congregation themselves were in fine voice with plenty of trilling, whooping and dancing. Then, in the midst of all that, 80 adults were baptised. By 1am, after 4 hours, it was finally all over and time for the party to begin at the parish! Truly a night of celebration...Easter Sunday saw 100 babies being baptised and we were on duty providing party games for the ‘dancing children.’ We’d made a piñata which they were unbelievably excited about (as were we)! The rest of the day was spent visiting families in the parish before dinner and dancing at the sisters’ in the evening.
On Easter Monday, Erin, Mira and I left for Nairobi. We stopped overnight with American volunteers in Moshi and saw the magnificent Kilimanjaro. Nairobi was great fun – tourist activities included Karen Blixen’s farm (Out of Africa), feeding giraffes, visiting an elephant orphanage, playing with a cheetah and spending far too much at the Masai market. We also went to the Kazuri bead factory, where single mothers make the most beautiful jewellery – clearly it was only right to make a few purchases to support such a cause! Off the tourist track we visited an inspirational orphanage and grandparent/ children village and the new centre for Peace Studies – both Jesuit foundations. 
After a stop back in Dodoma for Mira’s goodbye party, Erin and I accompanied her to Dar for her flight back to Germany. It’s been really sad to see her go – she’s been great fun to live with. Still, she’s already e-mailing us instructions and tantalizing me with accounts of lovely German food. Her departure made me realize that I’m over half way through my own time here – can’t believe how fast it is going!
