When
a dream became reality
I had dreamed of Africa ever since secondary school, when my friend Magda and I took countless imaginary journeys across maps of the continent through our geography club as we prepared for a geography competition. At almost the same time, Fr Zbyszek Regucki became our parish priest. He had just returned from a mission trip to Ethiopia with students from his previous parish. When we heard about it, one glance was enough for a thought to form — or perhaps it was already a decision: we would go to Africa with him too. And that is exactly what happened.
In September 2019, I arrived in Buhemba with a group of a dozen or so students and Fr Zbyszek. Our main aim was to run a holiday day camp for children from nearby villages, although we also helped with construction and other practical work around the mission. It was the school holidays in Tanzania, which for local children usually meant helping at home: carrying water from wells several kilometres away, taking animals out to graze or working in their families’ bean and maize fields. This time, Fr Maciej announced that the children should come and play with us instead of working during the holidays. Play might seem an inseparable part of childhood — here, it turned out to be a luxury not everyone could afford. At first, the children were wary, but as we got to know one another, they gradually opened up and more and more joined in. We saw this both over the course of each day and throughout the week. In the morning, when activities began, only a dozen or so children would arrive. By the afternoon, as we brought the games to a close so everyone could get back to their often distant homes safely and without rushing, the group had grown to more than 100. The volunteers I worked with travelled to Magunga, a gold-mining village, where in the final week of the day camp we counted almost 300 children — as accurately as we could with such energetic little ones. Before coming to Tanzania, all of us had some experience of leading games or other activities for children, but in Buhemba the scale of the task was entirely different. The challenge was not only the language barrier, which we overcame with help from teachers at the school founded by Fr Maciej who acted as interpreters, but also learning to lead activities for much larger groups. Playing together reminded us how little it takes to be happy: a single speaker, a rope, a few balls and some buckets were enough for a whole week of wonderful fun.
Our stay in Tanzania was also a time to meet anyone who wanted to get to know us. Many people invited us to dinner in their homes: for us, another meal; for them, their only meal of the day. Although they had so little, they wanted to share it and spend time with us.
I returned to Buhemba four years later. This time, we ran the day camp as a much smaller group. There were fewer volunteers, but the children, as always, did not disappoint. Much had changed in those four years: a gym with a full-size court and boarding accommodation for children taking national examinations at the end of each stage of education had been built, and Fr Maciej had begun constructing a secondary school for the first group of children to complete primary school. Yet from the moment I arrived, I felt as though I had come home. The most moving moments were meeting people I remembered from my first stay in Tanzania — especially because they remembered me too. Once again, we were met with tremendous kindness and hospitality. As before, our gatherings were very simple, usually just sharing a meal, but we always left feeling as though we had been visiting dear friends.
I hope I will have the chance to return to Buhemba one day. I miss Africa, whose greatest beauty lies in its people, their joy and hospitality. May God bless each of them and the work of
Fr Maciej.
Tutaonana, Ania
