Michael Rossmann, SJ, an Iowa native, joined the Jesuits in 2007 just after graduating from the University of Notre Dame. After studying abroad in East Africa during college, he now teaches at Loyola High School in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - a dream assignment.
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Michael enjoys a light-hearted moment with two of his students. In a recent Jesuit Post titled Fun! A Spiritual Manifesto, he suggests that "encounters with the holy should make us more human, more able to smile, more able to laugh until it hurts." |
Alumni of Jesuit high schools probably remember
jack-of-all-trades Jesuit regents. “Regency” is the stage of Jesuit
formation in between philosophy and theology studies and is an opportunity for
a Jesuit-in-training to spend a few years working in some capacity, usually by
doing a million and one things at a Jesuit school.
In many ways, my experience of regency is very typical. I teach four different
subjects, coach basketball, give retreats, and moderate several clubs at the
Jesuit high school where I work.
In other ways, however, my experience of regency is quite distinctive. I'm
teaching at Loyola, an extremely common name for a Jesuit school, though this
Loyola is in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The Jesuit provinces of the Midwest and the Jesuits of Eastern Africa have
“twinned” or partnered for the past few decades by sharing resources, men, and
best practices, and my own work continues this deepening relationship.
While the names, faces, and backgrounds might be different, the same Jesuit
identity and shared experience unite my community members in this Jesuit
province that includes six different countries. I'm just as often inspired by
brother Jesuits here as I am back home.
Many experiences teaching at a high school here have also revealed how
teenagers around the world deal with many of the same issues; concerns about
fitting in are probably universal, for example.
Still, my time here has also been filled with what I call my “Dorothy, we're
not in Kansas anymore” moments.
In the middle of teaching my Catholic religion class, the call to prayer often
echoes from one of the neighborhood mosques. A student confessed on a morality
exam his addiction to eating octopus, a popular street food here on the coast
of the Indian Ocean. A Muslim co-worker was the first person to send me a
congratulatory text message on the new Jesuit pope.
My students here demonstrate respect and eagerness to learn that may not be as
evident in many American schools, though I also have 500 students, which means
500 exams to grade at the end of each semester and 500 parents to meet at
marathon parent-teacher conferences.
Of course, it's difficult to miss the important moments of my family and
friends while away and uncomfortable to deal with a climate and diseases that
are different from home, but I have also discovered a broader sense of home and
unity.
An extremely common expression here in both Swahili and English is “we are
together.” Rarely is the phrase followed by anything else. It's not
“we are together in order to finish some business” but simply “we are
together.” Being together is the purpose and not some means to an end.
I will eventually return to familiar comforts in the U.S. but am excited by the
deepening partnership between the Jesuits of the Midwest and of Eastern Africa.
We are together, and we are much better for it.