If you haven’t already heard, we had a tragic event this Sunday in Arusha; a bomb was thrown into a Catholic Church during Sunday morning mass. The word on the street is that 4 people were killed (including a child) and 60 injured. One of the dead was the mother of one of the members of the Arusha cycling club (who Matt rides with). The church is in Olasiti which is the village next to Matt’s office and next to where we have several friends living. The church was celebrating it’s opening with it’s first official mass and there was a representative from the Vatican in attendance (apparently this was the reason for the attack). People living there said they heard the bomb and then the subsequent screaming. We’ve seen pictures from the scene at the church and it was horrific. So far, six people have been taken into custody including four Saudis (news now says 1 Saudi and 3 Emeratis…as you can imagine we get a lot of conflicting information). I hope it was an isolated incident, but the news reports keep talking about the rising unrest between Muslims and Christians in Tanzania. This is an unusual event for Tanzania and we feel totally safe, but our hearts go out to those impacted. Between the Boston Marathon bombing (shortly after my brother finished running and while he was only a couple of blocks away in his hotel with his family), finding the suspect in Watertown, and now this, things are hitting way too close to home. Literally.
News articles:
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