Every now and again we realize that as we are going along doing the marvelous work of the project, being out in Kantolomba with our colleagues, the day-to-day business details are accumulating: trip finances (entering receipts, etc.), sorting the photos, checking our lists and seeing that we are on track with what we need to accomplish, and, of course, sorting through all the communication from Command Central back in California. We made a commitment that Friday morning would be a chance for each of us to turn our attention to these details, and it was wonderfully productive.
Jen in her “office.”
The afternoon was a continuation of our celebration from the day before. Jen had prepared a slide show for the team chronicling the history of the project from the day we stood in front of the Kapenda (Theresa’s family) home and asked Theresa that famous question, “If you could do one thing to help all of these children what would you do?” right up through today.
Before the slide show, we met again with Rose to follow up on our conversation from Tuesday. The more we know Rose the more we like her. She is clearly very knowledgeable and seems to be an excellent fit with the community. We appreciate the fact that when she is not sure about something she says so instead of making something up! How refreshing and how very rare among us conditioned humans.
Jane, Jen, Rose.
A sign on the wall in the community meeting room.
A couple of days ago when Jane noted the cleanliness of the uniforms, we asked Theresa how they manage to keep them so clean and learned there is a schedule for uniforms: Monday and Tuesday are red uniforms, Wednesday is yellow, and Thursday and Friday are blue. Today in the meeting room we found a sign posted indicating that with the addition of the new uniform yesterday, they have amended the schedule.
Looks like “casual Friday” is cross-cultural—gotta love that!
We took a quick spin around the property—always enjoy seeing the progress.
The ring beam is up on the hammermill building.
The sewing team is plugging away on the blankets.
Walking back across the courtyard, we had a very pleasant surprise when we heard someone call out, “Hello, Jen,” and realized that Georgina, out on maternity leave awaiting the delivery of her seventh child, had come to be with the team for the afternoon. What a joy to see her! Our excitement at seeing Georgina was a reminder of how important each of these folks is to us. This project truly is about relationship. There are innumerable tangible and intangible accomplishments in Kantolomba, and we are more convinced every day that our only “purpose” here is the giving and receiving of unconditional love.
Jen greets Georgina.
Jane, Georgina, Cheri.
Waiting for the slide show to begin.
We brought a pocket-size projector on this trip (what an extraordinary technological time to live!) for just this occasion of showing the team their photos. We, of course, see pictures of them all the time, but they rarely get to see themselves. Alas, when everything was finally hooked up we discovered we couldn’t get the room dark enough for the images to be visible on the wall. Funny to watch how life in Africa and Zen practice share the benefit of accepting what is—we were all quite content to move to viewing the pictures on the computer.
Settled for the show.
Jen narrates. Note the wonderful array of chitenge everyone pitched in for “curtains” to darken the room—a valiant effort.
One of the best moments for us was getting to show them a photo of John, who climbed Denali (Mt. McKinley) in Alaska as a fundraiser for the project.
Seeing the Alaska slide.
Duncan, Beatrice’s husband and young Duncan’s father, painted the banner that traveled to Alaska. We now have the banner back and are ready to lend it out for its next adventure. Let us know if you would like to have it.
After the show Theresa handed out some photos we had printed from our last trip.
Passing out photos.
Peter shows his photo to Rose.
Jane leaves on Sunday, assuming we decide to let her go, so Theresa explained to the team that this was goodbye for Jane. Jane told everyone that she knows that often people come to visit and say they will come back, but she truly means it. She commented to us later that there is a possibility for her to get to know people here, as individuals, that does not happen for her in her job because she works as a project manager, not on the ground. We are all very grateful for what she has brought in her knowledge and experience.
The team says goodbye to Jane.
The old adage: A picture is worth a thousand words proves true as we have this look back at the property before setting off. How far we have all come!
Magnificent.
The team sends us off. We think Violet is especially cute in this photo. Can you spot her?