Tanzania, East Africa: December is indeed a joyful season for the Mangalore Diocesan Mission at Sub Saharan Tanzania, East Africa in the Diocese of Same. The much-awaited proclamation of the birth of Jesus began at Kifaru Parish, extended from 20 to 23 of December 2016.
The Kifaru Parish Choir and Drama team proclaimed the message of Christmas of the birth of Jesus. They put up a 3-hour long outdoor Christmas programme of carols in Ki Swahili, ice breaking games for children and a thought provoking hour-long drama called the “Fourth Magi”, at the foot hills of Pare Mountains in the four villages of Kifaru Mission, viz., Kwanyange, Jipe, Kalimani and Kileo.
The Kifaru Parish Catechist Leonardo Laghua, contextualising it to the African reality, translated the “Fourth Magi” drama from English to Ki Swahili. The play depicted the journey of the “Fourth King”, in search of the baby of Bethlehem, while attending to the needy and underprivileged on the way, which was very powerfully depicted by the parish artistes.
In all these villages, the village chairmen along with the secretaries expressed their joy for bringing the message of Christmas to their far off villages. At Kwanyange, people expressed happiness over having such a programme for the first time. At the Jipe Lake which is 1200 meters above sea level, village Chairperson Samuel Chemchem expressing her gratitude for organising the programme, said that Christmas was all about peace and love and Lord Jesus must be born in our hearts. She urged to have more such public and community building programmes in the coming days. The Kalimani village chairman expressed that the message given by this programme was very powerful which enlightened the people to know the true meaning of Christmas. He felt that the programme had encouraged everyone to share the joy of Christmas with the less fortunate brothers and sisters. He complimented the initiative taken up by the Catholic church to bring about peace and harmony in the society.
Kileo village Chairman Wilfred Daniel was very grateful for giving an opportunity to the people to witness such a unique programme. He said the message of the “joy of giving” which was given through the programme should be carried to all the families and neighbourhoods. Village Secretary Krispin Kibarin felt that such a programme must continue every year and the people should be able to find the new spirit of Christmas.
In all these villages, Bonaventure Maro, the Parish Council Chairman addressed the gathering and extended Christmas greetings. Rev. Fr. Hilary Lobo, the Parish Priest, gave the Christmas Message and blessed the people. The three-hour long programme ended with a vote of thanks proposed by Parish Secretary Protasia Tarimu. Parish youth Willard Maro and Debora Msofe were the masters of ceremony.
Several people worked hard for many days to put up this great show. The Diocese of Stockholm, Sweden supported the programme with the needed financial resources. Fr. Alwyn M J D’Souza, Mission Superior of SMAM, took the lead in planning and executing the programme. Fr. Victor Machado worked as PRO for organising the programme while Fr. Jason Lobo took the responsibility of drama and choir along with Leonardo Laghua who was the director of the drama. Bro. Lanson Pinto looked after the sounds and lights and Prashanth D’ Souza, arranged the stage and transport. It was an enriching experience to spread the message of Christmas and the “joy of giving”.
