I enjoy travelling, because there is always something special about stepping into a new place. You meet new faces, experience different traditions, and of course, taste new food like snails (I ate snails for the first time ever here at JMC). When I first arrived at JMC, I was filled with excitement, eager to explore this new
Johnpaul Baluze nSJ
environment and ready to check it off my bucket list among Jesuit schools I have visited. But what I didn’t anticipate was how quickly this place would become more than just a bucket list thing; it would become home.
I still remember the first College Mass, as if it were yesterday, when we were introduced to the entire College community by the president, Fr. Maduabuchi Leo MUONEME, S.J. The next day, the president, assigned various responsibilities to us: teaching at Jesuit Loyola Academy (JLA), helping students on academic probation, biodegradable and nonbiodegradable waste separation, Media office and assisting in the chaplaincy, to name a few. My role in the chaplaincy brought me closer to the heart of JMC because I worked as the Faith and Spirituality prefect at my beloved St. Peter Claver High School, Dodoma, Tanzania, for six good years, a post known as Spiritual Life prefect at JMC. I worked with the ushers, taught catechism, trained new altar servers, and acted as the staff coordinator for Vocations Group, assisted with class Mass, Faith formation, Morning meditation, JLA masses on Mondays, being a Eucharistic Minister, etc. And in those moments, I found something familiar to the experience I had at my alma mater.
Again and again, I found myself comparing JMC to my alma mater, St. Peter Claver High School. At first, it was just in small things, the sense of discipline, the structure of formation, the way students gathered for prayer, etc. But soon, it was more than that. I saw the same spirit of Jesuit education alive here that is the call to be men and women for others, the pursuit of excellence (magis), the care for the whole person (cura personalis). And just as St. Peter Claver High felt like home, JMC slowly started to feel the same way.
I came as a visitor, but I left as a family member. The friendships I have made here, I know, will last a lifetime. The memories of laughter, intellectual, spiritual and funny conversations, will stay with me wherever I go. I have all of them in my journal. And this is why my heart is heavy and sorrowful. But sorrow is not always a bad thing because as the college chaplain, Fr. Uchechukwu Oguike, S.J., did say to me, experiencing sorrow when departing a place is an indication that I am leaving behind a place I truly gave my heart to. And it is painful to leave home, especially when there is no certainty of return.
But I believe that one day, in one place, we will meet again. Maybe not in this same chapel, not in these same classrooms or hallways, maybe not in Port Harcourt, maybe not in Nigeria, maybe not in Africa, but surely in God’s heart (which is big enough to hold us all).
And if, by some mystery, I die and find that heaven is not as wonderful as my time at JMC, then I am gladly submitting an appeal to my Jesuit brothers that I would prefer to be buried here at JMC than going to a heaven which is not as equally wonderful. Asante Sana, Imela, Thank you.
Johnpaul BALUZE, nSJ.