To an English Friend in Africa

A poem by Ben Okri, a Nigerian poet. Yes, it's a little cheesy, but
sometimes these things just speak to me, and I thought I'd share it
with you all. I particularly liked these lines: "Remember that all
things which happen/ To you are raw materials." I think that it's a
good mantra for when things don't go exactly the way that I would have
liked them to go, here and elsewhere...

_To an English Friend in Africa_

Be grateful for the freedom
To see other dreams.
Bless your loneliness as much as you drank
Of your former companionships,
All that you are experiencing now
Will become moods of future joys
So bless it all,
Do not think your way superior
To another's
Do not venture to judge
But see things with fresh and open eyes
But praise when you can
And when you can't, be silent.

Time is now a gift for you
A gift of freedom
To think and remember and understand
The ever perplexing past
And to recreate yourself anew
In order to transform time.

Live while you are alive.
Learn the ways of silence and wisdom
Learn to act, learn new speech
Learn to be what you are in the seed of your spirit and
Learn to free yourself from all the things
That have molded you
And which limit your secret and undiscovered road.

Remember that all things which happen
To you are raw materials
Endlessly fertile
Endlessly yielding of thoughts that could change your life
And go on doing so forever.

Never forget to pray and be thankful
For all things good or bad on the rich road:
For everything is changeable
So long as you live while you are alive.

Fear not, but be full of light and love;
Fear not, but be alert and receptive;
Fear not, but act decisively when you should;
Fear not, but know when to stop;
Fear not, for you are loved by me;
Fear not, for death is not the real terror,
But life—magically—is.

Be joyful in your silence
Be strong in your patience
Do not try to wrestle with the universe
But be sometimes like water or air
Sometimes like fire
And constant like the earth.

Live slowly, think slowly, for time is a mystery.
Never forget that love
Requires always that you be
The greatest person you are capable of being,
Self-regenerating and strong and gentle—
Your own star and hero.

Love demands the best in all of us
To always and in time overcome the worst
And lowest in our souls.
Love the world wisely.

It is love alone that is the greatest weapon
And the deepest and darkest secret.

So fear not, my friend.
The darkness is gentler than you think.
Be grateful for the manifold
Dreams of creation
And the many ways of the unnumbered peoples.

Be grateful for life as you live it.
And may a wonderful light
Always guide you on the unfolding road.

A bit of promotion

Just found the URL for the orphanage that I've been working with.
They're are really great organization, currently struggling to find
room for more and more children who are being given up for adoption.
When I arrived in Bahir Dar, they had about 12 live-in children and
maybe an additional 20 attending day care. They're up to 23 live-ins
and probably 60 total in day care. They're building an additional
center, hiring qualified staff (including a social worker, hurray!),
and trying really hard to do what's best for these kids. Grace Center
(or Centre, if you were to ask them) is one of the best stops on the
tour that I give to every visitor to Bahir Dar. It's a pretty special
place. Clean, bright, filled with happy, healthy babies. My visits
there (and the relationship I'm forming with the family that runs it)
have definitely helped me to keep my sanity, and it's doing SO much
more for the kids and the families it serves.

Here's the link: http://www.gracecentres.org/index.html. Take the
religious affiliation as you will--they're a pretty fabulous group
(and the religious element here in Bahir Dar is actually rather
minimal). I'm sure that they would appreciate your support.

It's the Little Things

It was Ethiopian New Year last week. I've never seen so many sheep and
goats being dragged, pushed, carted, or carried home for the
slaughter. People must be so sick of sheep leftovers after New Year's
Day. It was a festive week; very little work got done. Everyone was
out and about, dressed to the nines in their traditional clothing,
visiting friends and family. Little boys also carry around flowers or
drawings of flowers and exchange them for coins (kind of like trick or
treating).

My major accomplishment over the holiday was baking a pumpkin pie with
Marcy. Here is what we used: one pumpkin (7 birr, or about 80 US
cents), a graham cracker (actually Digestive Biscuit) crust,
disposable aluminum baking pans, and a Dutch oven. It took the greater
part of an afternoon, but with what results! How rewarding to have
started with nothing and to end up with something so great. We also
managed to play about three games of Scrabble while it was baking,
which was an added bonus.

Other recent achievements: forming a committee for my thesis, making a
toilet paper holder for my latrine (out of dental floss, duct tape,
and a stick, no less), finally getting all of my utility bills up to
date, and making hotel reservations for when my parents come to visit.
It's the little things.

I'm trying hard to reframe my attitude. It's easy to complain: about
lack of work, about cultural difficulties, about the rain or the sun
or the mud or the dust, about not being able to find cheese, about how
gosh-darn hard this language is. But I'm trying to start thinking a
little more positively, about what I do have, and what I have
accomplished. I think that this is especially important as I'm coming
up on the year mark of being here in Ethiopia. It would be easy to
feel like I've done nothing this year and like I've achieved very
little. But instead, I'm trying to focus on the fact that I'm
comfortable in this town that was completely foreign to me a year ago,
that I can have a basic friendly conversation with the little old lady
selling me salad greens, that I have friends and neighbors who I love,
and that I understand the HIV treatment system and can navigate the
hospital, which was once such a scary place. And, of course, the
knowledge that I can bake a delicious pumpkin pie without a pie tin or
an oven!