There was a monkey outside my bedroom window.
I took a matatu (taxi) by myself.
The sunset last night made me feel very small.
The stars that followed…I am minuscule.
There are points at which my heart screams and the words that escape are “We’re in Africa right now.”
I know college is the “easiest” time to travel- program, scholarships, educational excuse- but my current frustration is that I have college impeding on my attempt to merely exist in this place. Be present in this place. College also happens to be among the busiest and most confusing times of life (or so I hear). I don’t like dealing with the crunch of papers due next week. I don’t want to pull an all-nighter in Africa! I am thankful for the safety net of program and departure date, just like I was thankful for my brotherly safety net in New York City this summer. Leaving the city I hoped for the courage to move back without such safeties if ever I receive the chance though. Now I hope that someday I may work up the courage to exist outside myself in the ways this semester has pulled me to do, without a safety net.
I hope to exist someday.
Last Friday was a UCU graduation, and my friend Florence graduated First Class in Literature. Saturday I ate lunch at her apartment (beef and rice, yum) before going to “Rest Gardens” with Lucky, Mercy, and Grace to decorate for the graduation party. I blew up balloons and learned how to “make ribbons” for a few hours before donning a dress of Lucky’s and welcoming the guest of honor. As a thank you Florence again had me to her apartment: on Tuesday I sat amidst 6 or 7 Ugandan girls on the floor and ate lunch. Then Mercy fell asleep while I helped Lucky type a paper about the internet. When sleeping beauty arose, she and I walked backed to campus. We are sisters, Mercy and I, because both our fathers are pastors and our mothers are primary teachers.
That’s the kind of existing parade I want my papers to quick raining on. I know, I know- I wouldn’t have met Florence without studying here. None-the-less…
^Florence and Lucky (the cap-and-gowned left to right) prepare to cut the cake.
8 comments:
Kimi,
It sounds like you are NORMAL! That is not all bad. Even people that seem to function outside of their comfort zone yearn for a safety net that just happens to be hidden. To be anxiuous is normal, to feel stress means you are alive and care.
kimi - i'm thankful that you have found a sister, mercy. isn't it beautiful how God provides those people for us who understand our hearts? i love you ... and so does the baby :) love, elder
You may feel small, but take it from mom and dad, you fill our hearts throughout the days. We love picturing you live as much of the 'normal' life in Uganda as you can. You look beautiful and we continue to appreciate Uganda through your eyes. So, what do you mean you took a taxi by yourself?!!!!!! Love mom and dad
You look beautiful, Kim.
Lovely to see the white and black skin together like that.
-Nathan
Kim, How strange it must be to have a monkey outside your window...
I know what you mean by feeling small in the shadow of the sunset. How can we not feel so minuscule in Gods awesome presence...Amazing though how He chooses to use even us...On my heart Cathy
Kimi, God will always show you his awesome presence through each stage of your life. Praise him that you are mature enough to see it now and that you will be obedient and willing to see it in the future. Your writings are a blessing to read. We pray for you daily. May his light always shine through you. Love George Macgregor
NAIROBI, Kenya — African Union and U.N. officials are looking into reports of a new massacre in Darfur, in which witnesses said that government troops and their allied militias killed more than 30 civilians, slitting the throats of several men praying at a mosque and shooting a 5-year-old boy in the back as he tried to run away.
According to several residents of Muhagiriya, a small town in southern Darfur, two columns of uniformed government troops, along with dozens of militiamen not in uniform, surrounded the town around noon on Oct. 8 and stormed the market. Muhagiriya was a stronghold of one of Darfur’s many rebel factions, but witnesses said there were few rebels there at the time and that government forces turned their guns — and knives — on civilians.
Ayoub Jalal, a mechanic, said his father was praying at a mosque when soldiers burst in.
“They dragged my father and the others out of the mosque and slashed their throats,” said Jalal, who was interviewed by telephone.
Both the United Nations and the African Union confirmed that dozens of civilians had been killed and that witnesses consistently identified the attackers as government soldiers and allied gunmen. However, neither entity said it could independently verify who was responsible.
The Sudanese government denied any involvement, but witnesses said uniformed troops methodically mowed down anyone who tried to escape, including a group of fleeing children.
“The youngest child, a 5-yearold
boy, I knew well,” said Sultan
Marko Niaw, a tribal elder, who
also spoke by phone. He said the
boy’s name was Guran Avium:
“A soldier had shot him in the
back.”
The viciousness of the attack,
as described by the witnesses
and corroborated by humanitarian
organizations working in the
area, seemed reminiscent of the
early days of the conflict in Darfur, when government troops and
allied militias slaughtered thousands of civilians, according to human rights groups.
But Muhagiriya may be symptomatic
of a larger problem happening now as many of Darfur’s armed groups — rebels, Arab militias and even the Sudanese military — rush to seize territory and lock in gains before a major peace conference scheduled for the end of this month.
“They are all trying to reposition
themselves ahead of the cease-fire talks and ahead of the discussions of who controls what,” said Sam Ibok, a senior adviser of the African Union who is closely involved with preparations for the peace talks..
JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
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