One of
our Small Christian Community (SCC) in Mwisenge Parish near Musoma, Tanzania
gathers every Thursday afternoon for prayer, shared Bible Reflection and a
pastoral meeting.  On Friday afternoons the SCC members visit the sick in the
nearby government hospital.  They relive the active love and compassion of Jesus
Christ in reaching out to the needy members of the wider community.  One day on
the hospital ward a sick woman from the Mwisenge section told the visiting SCC
members that she could only get medicine (which should have been free) by
paying a bribe to one of the nurses. With the scarcity of medicine in Tanzania
many sick people are trapped in this same dilemma.  What to do?

    The
next Thursday during their regular pastoral meeting the SCC members discussed
the predicament of this sick woman and many others like her.  What should
the SCC do?  What could the SCC do?   After a long discussion the
Christians decided that they really couldn’t do anything to change the unjust
system.  It was up to the influential church and government leaders to root out
this corruption and bribery.  The “little people” in the small communities
really don’t have any power to change these kinds of injustices. The SCCs just
have to accept this present-day unjust and unfair reality.

   
What would you and
your Small Christian Community decide to do?