Almost everyone I've met here has Judeo-Christian names. Moses, Christian, Jonas, Mary, Stephen, and Gloria to name a few. My roommate Shujaa's name is short for Elleshujaa which literally means "God-Hero."
I guess that all makes sense because the village of Shishitoni is a primarily Lutheran/Catholic town. I'm really looking forward to attending mass here on Sunday in one of their churches (many of which are simple brick walls with large windows and no ceiling).
Speaking of church, last Sunday at the mass for the feast of Pentecost, the readings and the homily felt extraordinarily pertinent to my work here in Tanzania. Despite the language barriers and the cultural differences of those gathered with the apostles, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to the group and blessed them with an understanding and appreciation of the message of Christ.
What an inspiration for us and our work in the place where English is rarely spoken and I am one of five foreigners assigned to the Shishitoni Village. Our message is one of utmost importance for this community, where is supposed that 1 in 15 people have HIV, yet most of them have had little to no education about the virus.
I pray that the Holy Spirit will bless and aid our mission to provide AIDS awareness and education to the amazing people of the village of Shishitoni, despite our different tongues.
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