In this letter, I want to focus on thoughts rather than images.

At this point, I am a little more than halfway through my tertianship experience.  I arrived in Ghana in early January, and will leave at the beginning of July.  (I will spend a couple of weeks in Europe before returning to Cleveland in mid July.)  My focus right now is on reading the Jesuit constitutions and history.  It still feels rather strange to spend most of the day in reading, prayer, and classes with my tertian director, since I am accustomed to very active parish ministry back in Cleveland.  I catch myself thinking, “I should be doing more.”  But then I have to remind myself that that is not the purpose of tertianship.  The purpose of the tertianship is to deepen my relationship with God in prayer, and deepen my incorporation into the Society through the Spiritual Exercises, study and discussion.  This I believe I am doing, by the grace of God.

Since I am doing the tertianship in a different part of the world, I also get a little snapshot of how people live in Africa, and how the Society of Jesus attempts to preach the Gospel and live the Gospel here.  Thanks to the efforts of the Gesu office staff, Don Bechtold, the Kealy’s and others, I also have the privilege of being able to share some of my experiences with you in word and picture.  These e-mails have made my experience much richer.  I have often seen things, heard things, or experienced things and thought, “I can’t wait to tell my friends about this, or show them a picture of that.” (I have also had some frustrations when I didn’t have my camera with me, couldn’t get a good photo of something, or our internet server was down—a frequent occurrence.)

My experience of tertianship is unique.  Normally, one does tertianship with a group of other tertians, perhaps from different parts of the world.  That did not work out for me.  For various reasons, I ended up being the only tertian in this program.  This is not ideal.  On the other hand, I get plenty of individual attention from my tertian director, and I do like him!  And I have not been altogether lacking in companionship.  I live in a community of six Jesuits including myself, consisting of two Ghanaians, two Nigerians, and two Americans.  The age range is from scholastics in their 20’s to my tertian director who is over 70. 

I also get to meet religious men and women of many different communities who pass through here—priests, sisters, and brothers from Ghana, from all over Africa, from Europe, the US and Australia.  I live in a large Catholic compound that includes not only the Jesuit house, but a much larger Holy Cross brothers community, including their novitiate.  Also in this compound is an African order of nuns called Our Lady of Angels, and a rehab center run by the Mercy sisters I think, and a large continuing education facility for religious called the Institute for Continuing Formation, ICF.  ICF is where religious from all over Africa come for various programs, which last about three months or so.  We also get a surprising number of people, mostly religious, who come here for short retreats or just for a few days of R & R. 

So you meet quite a variety of religious people and hear their stories.  I am amazed at the dedication of missionaries who have spent most of their lives here.  In my reading of Jesuit history, I am inspired by the lives of so many heroes, some of them martyrs and saints.  But there are plenty of heroic missionaries in our own day as well.  I want to mention a couple of them, and I don’t even know their surnames.  There is Br. Vincent, a Holy Cross brother here in Brafuyaw, perhaps around age 70.  He is originally from Grand Rapids, MI, but he has been in Africa most of his life.  He is affectionately known as “Uncle.”  He has a seemingly miraculous ability to fix almost anything instantaneously.

Then there is a priest from the Netherlands, named Peter, whom I met only briefly as he passed through here.  He too is up in years, and has been here forever.  He has a very gregarious personality, one of those people who can simply be described as “a character.”  He had to go back to Holland recently because he has some very serious health issues.  His doctor there strongly advised him not to go back here.  For a number of reasons, this is not a part of the world for people who are not in good health.  But his heart is here, and he had to come back.  To make matters worse, he is in a very remote part of the country where there is no running water, no modern conveniences of any kind.

It can be discouraging to see some of the signs of poverty here:  The open sewers that you see in much of the Third World.  Children who are very friendly, but are also desperate enough to have no shame about asking you for money.  (I don’t give them any, because that would cause all sorts of problems.)  Many people don’t get three meals a day.  I heard of a family in which each member, including the children who are old enough, has to go out on his own each day, and find some food or a little bit of money for him/ herself, just to get one meal.

Until you’ve spent a few years here like Peter or Vincent and really grown to love it, you can get pretty homesick.  Even African missionaries from the other side of the continent find it difficult.  East Africans will often point out how much cooler and more pleasant it is where they are from, and how much richer the soil is there.  In fact, everyone I know, black or white, who has been in Uganda, Kenya, or Tanzania describe much of it as a paradise, if not for the political turmoil.

In a lighter vein, I wanted to share some of the idiosyncracies of life here.  Ghanaians have their own special handshake.  (I am not sure if this is a Ghanaian thing, a West African thing, or a tribal thing.)  At the end of a handshake, to show special affection or comraderie, you snap fingers with your friend as you release your hands.  That is, you press your middle finger against his/ her middle finger as you let go of his/her hand, and actually snap each others fingers.  (You can try this, see if you can do it!  I am not exactly proficient at this.)

On a similar note, while the Africa Cup soccer tourney was being played here a couple months ago, they were selling a lot of souvenirs.  In the spirit of the thing, I purchased a gaudy green, yellow, and red cap, the colors of Ghana.  As young people see me walking around the neighborhood wearing my Ghana cap, they will sometimes do a little “kangaroo hop,” and I will do it back to them, which they seem to enjoy.  This kangaroo hop apparently comes from a popular song, and was adopted by the Ghana national team as their goal-celebration dance. 

Well, I think that is enough for now.  Thank you for your feedback, which I always enjoy.

God bless.