Africa

I arrived at midnight and was greeted by Rev. Isaac Nsereko and his secretary Annet.
Ah Africa. The air is moist and warm and I am in the shadows of the night. Faces only appear as white teeth. People are a blur and I am whisked away by my new companions to Uganda's capital city, Kampala.

Mind your step, the side walks are broken. My friends have a sixth sense about their feet and I have to concentrate to get my barrings in a world where lights are dim and cool night air brings people to gather under the street lights of a city that has expanded beyond its infrastructure.

Annet greets me in the morning to take me around Kampala. Changing money is the first order of the day. Old bills receive a lower exchange rate, 1700 shillings to the dollar. New bils will bring 2002. Who would have known. It is not in the guide book.

We hop a motorcycle and we are off to manage all the shopping as there will be little where we are going. We head to the African Culture Center and we barter and shop for Suna and the sponsors. The dollar creates instant rapport and we smile and laugh our way through a dozen booths gathering necklaces and earrings and baskets for all.

Then off to the Parliment building and the guards take our pictures. Food, by now we are starving and then and then and then ..... whoosh the day is over, still in a blur and even the cold shower feels good.

In a city of 1,400,000 people I have seen only four other white faces today. My economy hotel is a refuge from the chaos of dodging traffic and minding my step.

I am here I am well. I am now in Masaka close to the Nserester Institute. Tomorrow graduation day.

Carry On

Did you catch any of the pair’s figure skating events at the Olympics? I felt myself transported into the realm of the divine masculine and feminine as each pair performed in a flowing bubble of music, costume and awesome skill.

They skated as perfected silhouettes of one another, carving images of one on the ice. And then with agile strength, he lifts her high up over his head and whirls her out into her autonomous universe to fly with grace and beauty. She lands and they embrace again twirling and weaving their hearts together as one. Breath- taking beauty!

And how about Evan Lysacek? Dressed in sequenced–black, his lanky. lean and long body secured a place in Olympic ice skating history winning the gold last night. Wowser-dowser!

With the Olympics as a back drop, I organize my one carry-on bag for Uganda!

Tears of Truth

Tears of Truth

Monday, January 25th it happened. I was reading the email from Dr. Isaac Nserester, the visionary behind the Ugandan project, when I cried the kind of tears where your heart breaks open and a ‘yes’ emerges without hesitation and where the mind’s list holds neither meaning nor weight. I was trying real hard to drop the mind, relax and allow the answer to come.

Up until this break through, I wanted to cut my head off. There was so much to figure out to make a good decision. The run-on sentence in my brain went something like: what about all those diseases reported by the CDC, do I want to expose myself to this, and then there is the unknown expenses and what about the wear and tear on the body and long flight and my god, what about the right shoes, what about being practical and staying close to home to explore my next financial steps, and then there is the tropics, Uganda is on the equator and I have a bag full of turtlenecks, and what about my commitment to simplicity and this is getting so complex and the exhaustion and the waffle and waiver could all simply go away if I said: No Thank You. Did you follow that?

I could not get a grip on this Uganda thing. By day I said yes, by night the doubt and concerns crept in. And now a definitive 'yes' has emerged and now I can focus on the important things like what shoes to wear and a quick history lesson. I have to be in Uganda on February 23^rd. The ticket has been purchased and there appears plenty of time to obsess on the other decisions like the right airline bag and how to dress. And yes, the truth does set you free.

Ice Woman

(Susan, thanks for the assist with the upload :0) !

Christman Sanctuary outside of Altamont NY is about 7 miles from my winter abode at Victor's house. This was taken in the early morning. I was there the day before thinking that morning light might illuminate this is some fantastic way, but alas with the sun passing low there was no sunlight to reflect upon this make shift ice cave structure.

But there I am in the jaws of this ice monster at 9am in the morning. If you look right of the mouth, you will see the resemblance of a snow bear. That was a good umph!