Jackie Goodin Blog

In January 2009, Sister Jacqueline Goodin, CSJ, embarked on a physical and spiritual journey to Songea, Tanzania, a small rural town in southwest Tanzania, an East African country. She went at the invitation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery, France who sponsor two missions there. She has since been ministering at St. Joseph Hostel, a residence for girls and teenagers that provides a safe and caring environment which allows the girls to complete their high school education in town. She works alongside other Sisters of St. Joseph from India and Brazil at the hostel, caring for the girls’ day-to-day needs.

SISTER JACKIE's BLOG

April, 2012

What's in a Name?

Can You Help?
Every year, girls are forced to leave
the Hostel because their families
cannot afford to pay the full amount
of the fees (about $500 per year).
Regretfully, we have no excess
funds to use for scholarships.
It breaks our hearts to send them
off, especially in mid-term or in their
final year of secondary school. We
firmly believe that the Hostel is a
pure, inestimable gift to these girls.
We offer them the opportunity to
study and learn in a clean, consistent, caring, and safe environment in which education for girls is valued (usually not the case in Tanzania). We would like to have "nest egg" for deserving girls who work hard but whose families cannot afford to keep them here.

Sponsoring a Girl
To find out how you can help keep
a deserving student at the hostel, please contact Pat MIlenius,
Director of Mission Advancement
at 216.252.0440, or pmilenius@csjoseph.org

Kiswahili is such an interesting language; though there are many Anglicized words (such as “weeki” for week “skirti” for skirt). My favorite European word I heard from a Tanzanian workman describing a broken pipe was “kaput”—a word that clearly reflects the German influence of colonial times. The East African ways are fascinating (except for when one can’t understand at all why things are done the way they are). That is the challenge of living interculturally! One of the most intriguing aspects of Tanzanian culture is the way in which Tanzanian parents name their children.

Some of the names reflect the Islamic/Arabic tradition, such as Juma, Khalid, or Ibrahim (male names) or Zainabu. Some sound clearly African—some of our girls’ names are: Shakila, Shamila, Asha, Teopista, Vestina. Other girls’ names will sound very familiar to any English-speaker (though some with a Kiswahli twist), such as: Beatrice, Elizabeth, Agnes, Suzana, Theresia, Sophia, Margareth, and Winifrida.

But the names I like best are the names that tell a story. Here are some of our girls and their stories:

Upendo (l) and Imani.

Upendo (“love”). Upendo is one of our Form 4 (last year of secondary school students); she attends the local diocesan Catholic high school and has received financial help from very generous donors every year. Both parents have died and she has been raised by her extended family. She always has top grades and hopes to be a doctor when she finishes her education. We will truly miss her when she graduates—not only because she is a delightful young lady but because she is our best Kiswahili-English translator!

Imani (“faith). Imani is a quiet leader to whom I often turn when I need something done with close attention. She often volunteers to do some task because she is a “Good Citizen”, meaning she will do some work that benefits the whole hostel. She is a Form 3 student and during school holidays, lives in the Mateka village, relatively close to the Hostel. Imani wants to be a teacher when she finishes her education.

Neema and Neema.

Neema (“grace”). Neema is also a Form 4 student at the same secondary school as Upendo. She, too, is a top student. She is our tallest girl, and I will surely miss her for all the times I have asked her to reach objects far out of my reach. She wants to study engineering when she begins university studies. We actually have two Neema’s!

Bahati (l) and Asante.
Bahati (“luck or fortune”). Bahati comes from a distant village and walks several kilometers back and forth to her school each day—a good hour’s walk each way if she walks quickly. She is in Form 2 at a government school. She is talented musically which is no surprise since her father is also a musician.

Asante (“thank you”). I have written of her previously and she still has a wide smile and hearty laugh (that you can hear across the street!). Also a Form 2 student at a government school.

I have to admit that the girls don’t spend a lot of time reflecting on the meaning of their lovely names. We hope at St. Joseph Hostel they will live into their names and be a gift to their families and communities that their names imply. We ask God’s grace on this endeavor and your prayerful support.

With 48 girls, it’s quite the challenge to learn everyone’s names (and personal stories) quickly at the beginning of each year. But we do somehow. Of course we have to deal with duplicate names. This year, we have 2 each of: Elizabeth, Neema, Sophia, and Beatrice. Even when we inevitably get tangled up with their names, mixing up names and faces with some regularity—especially when they are all arriving home from school at the same time (YIKES!)—we hope that each girl knows what a beautiful individual she is and is in the process of becoming. This is our goal, this is our prayer.

Please continue to pray for the girls and for the well-being of the Hostel which is entering its sixth year of ministry here in rural Tanzania. If you are interested in learning more about short- and long-term volunteer service opportunities here at the Hostel, please contact Sr. Jacqueline Goodin at jgoodin@csjoseph.org.

Until next month, peace,
Sister Jackie