S. Bonita and S. Auxilia Hokororo in front of a

    native grass hut in Tanzania .

    S. Bonita carries part of her load in native style.

    Enjoying a native dance wearing a traditional

    kanga.

   S. Bonita teaches a computer class to Tanzanian Benedictines.

   From May 15 - June 23rd, S. Bonita Gacnik shared her computer and math knowledge, and other talents with the African Benedictine Sisters of Lady Help of Christians in Tanzania.  She and S. Dianne Maresh from Crookston, MN were sponsored by AIM (the Alliance of International Monasticism).  Their primary hostess while in Tanzania was S. Auxilia Hokororo who spent four years with the Yankton Benedictines while attending Mount Marty College and earning her BA degree. S. Auxilia is now the headmistress of the Mtwara Secondary School for Sisters in Mtwara, Tanzania.

   In Mtwara, S. Bonita worked closely with S. Auxilia in writing a $15,000 Hilton Foundation grant for the school requesting an institutional copy machine, faculty office furniture, and education materials.  S. Bonita also did some math and physics tutoring and set up a small computer lab of 6 laptops for the school.  Mount Marty College dontated 12 recycled laptops to the African Benedictine Sisters.  Sacred Heart Monastery shipped these units to Tanzania and provided the funding for the cabling, a printer, a projection system, typing software, English software, a digital camera, and an Internet connection.

   While in Mtwara, S. Bonita used her cycling skills to do some bicycle repair for the sisters.  One of the sisters rides her bike 3 miles (one way) each day to teach 5th grade math.

  Ss. Bonita and Dianne then spent two weeks at the motherhouse in Ndanda where S. Bonita again set up a small computer lab (6 laptops) for the community and taught a basic computer class to some of the sisters.

   The American sisters also traveled to the African sisters'novitiate in Narynyu where the community has a cashew tree orchard, a coconut palm tree orchard, and a farm, along with chickens, cattle, and pigs.  At the farm, they generate biofuel from the cow manure and produce electricity for a portion of their buildings.  They also have the beginnings of a carpenter shop and a candle factory.  Another outing included a trip to a small village near the Tanzania and Mozanbique border where the Benedictines run a dispensary.  People walk for days to get to the dispensary for treatment.  A significant percent of the people they serve have AIDS.

   While in Tanzania, Ss. Bonita and Dianne also visit the Holy Spirit Sisters in Moshi at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro.  There they visited with Ss. Benedicta and Monica who lived at Sacred Heart Monastery from 1995-97. The Holy Spirit Sisters arranged for a safari through the Rift Valley, a neighboring rain forest, and the Serengeti Preserve where they saw a multitude of wild animals including lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos, water buffalo, zebras, wildebeests, gazelles and more.

  Grateful for her experience of a lifetime, S. Bonita says that she would eagerly return given the opportunity.