When The Going Gets Tough
The start to this year has been…. difficult to say the least. A lot of emotional obstacles have been chucked at people here. One of my girls lost their grandma, another lost their friend, and among the seniors, they had some guy friends get in a really terrible car wreck that killed two of them. So, it’s been a bumpy ride.
I was also told that my grandma is ill and is close to continuing her journey to the next world. That was challenging to deal with at first, choosing to be here instead of there, but I know everything will be alright. I told her in a letter I wrote to her that she would be in my Concourse (mom, dad, I hope you explained that to her). She’ll be with me always now, and I couldn’t ask for anything better. Here or there, she is with those who love her most and all I want for her is to be happy. Prayers for her majestic soul would be quite quite welcomed.
So, in lieu of this news, I have decided to dedicate my year of service to her. Besides prayer, it’s all I can give her. Well, minus the letter and poem and Backstreet Boys song I dedicated to her. Ha! Who dedicates a Backstreet Boys song to their Grandma?
And then there were six. One of our dear youth has left us for
Canada. No more Modern Family or Community partner, or breaking into pools, or journaling together, or doing junior youth group together.
Hello gleaming bathrooms, varieties of food, and peace and quiet (on her part)!
My Mapalo (Colleen) you will be missed so very much by us all. I must say, you’ve got good timing to leave the country. Haha! Seriously, December, season 3 is ONNN!!!!
I remember that Roya, a youth who served here a couple years ago, said that I’d make the most amazing friendships. I had no doubt in my mind about this, but seeing them go really made me realize how much they meant to me. I loved every moment with Mapalo, but I wish I had a few more. December cannot come soon enough! Oh, and thank you for leaving me four dorms to check. Haha! Love you!!!
Well, besides all this, life has been, well, it’s been enlightening. Many tests and difficulties along the way, and much growth. Challenges on your year of service?!?! Say WHAAAA?!?
All I can say is they are a precious gift. It’s not always easy to be with the same people day in and day out, trying to figure out schedules, who’s doing what, dealing with disorganization, and trying to bring about change while being pulled in many directions. However, in the end, all of these road blocks really are stepping stones for progress. I have a few more months here, but I already know I will treasure this year so much.
Holy Talito! Trying to get along with everyone can be so unbelievably frustrating! But having to put aside differences and find their best qualities, whether it is one or ten, and work together for the common good is most rewarding. Seriously, when you look past the things you don’t like and see what they have to offer, you get so much more out of that relationship and you, yourself, have just passed one of the hardest tests: Judging others and overcoming any prejudice against someone. Hallelujah, it can be done!
It’s mid-term break here at Banani (Thank God) and I can sleep past 05.30 and not have to constantly say quiet time or lights out. Such a big ordeal with these girls. Last week, Colleen and I took 4 light bulbs from the Grade 8’s. They never had their lights off on time, so we took them. We meant to only keep them for a day, but, well…we kinda got buy with getting everyone ready to leave and we kept them for 4 days. Woops. Our bad. Secretly, I really like punishing them. All the dorm moms got ridiculously annoyed with their girls. This year I have the grade tens, who I was SO excited to get cuz I loved them as grade 9’s last year, but man! It was crazy and frustrating. MAH! I still love them, but Mrs. Mukendi, the matron, had to come to our dorms so many times to get them to settle down. Whew! Poor woman. She already saves the world every day.
I really noticed that your tone basically determines how a situation will go. If you have that tense you’re-a-child-and-I’m-pissed-at-you tone, all hell will break loose. On the other hand, if you speak to them lovingly and like they’re noble individuals, the response is amazing and respect for each other is still intact.
Be firm and loving, right? So the rest of this term, things are gonna change. We’re cracking down on them, suckers!
But with love…
I’m also helping with the drama class (stoked!) and can you just guess what we watched???
RENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are you kidding me!? This is the best time of my life! We watched RENT! I can’t express how insanely overjoyed I was. I just can’t.
Oh gosh. And a few weeks ago, Colleen and I wanted to go to Kabwe to get some stuff we needed, and Mrs. Moore said if we picked three full bags of monkey fruit, she would take us. Baller!
Well, you see, the monkey fruit is mostly at the top cuz the monkeys get to it before us humans do, so we got what we could from the lowest branches. This filled almost 2. Then we got down to business. Colleen put me on her shoulders and I started grabbing the higher ones from the branches. They were hard to pull off, especially since they weren’t ripe and one bonked me in the head. OUCH. Then another fell and grazed Colleen’s head.
After I had gotten a bunch, Colleen went on my shoulders and we got even more. Mind you, this is all during school hours so girls were walking by and giving us the strangest looks. They already thought Colleen and I were weird. This pretty much left no doubt about it. Determined is the word I would use, though. We showed Mrs. Moore the bags, 2 ½, and she wanted some more. Well, the tree we victimized was pretty much empty, but I remembered one that is on the road out of Banani so we got some more and filled the third bag. On arriving in Kabwe, we stopped at the doctors office and guess what we got in exchange for the monkey fruit??
Mangos and avocados!!! Bless all things holy!! Nutrients! Man, I cannot tell you how stoked we were about this. Such a good day.
Now the youth are planning for: Ayyám-i-Há, Women’s Day, Youth Day, Naw-Rúz, and some performances the school will do at the end of March. SOOOO busy. At least we got stuff to do, right?
Oh man! I got ants in my pants a few weeks ago! Those things are vicious and quite fast. Not fun. However, it’s the first time to happen, so I think that’s pretty good. The only that isn’t good is I think I got another round of food poisoning…Are you FREAKING kidding me?! Bah! But, luckily I had my handy dandy Chinese curing pills to kill it! Ha! Take that contaminated meat!
So, not much has really happened. The new principle came and some new teachers came. I LOVE the new teachers! They’re so awesome! Actually, I just love being friends with the teachers now. Before, there was a little (more like the great wall of China) wall between us, but the staff meetings (which the youth could actually go to!) helped to change that and now we all talk and chat and have a merry time. One time, at the beginning of January, Shalom and I went to visit all the new teachers and we knocked on one door and we thought they said to come in, so we tried, but the door was locked. Then they opened it and they were all sitting at the table staring at us. We entered and Ms. Kabunda asked what we wanted and Shalom said we just wanted to say hi, and then left. SOOOO FUNNY!!! Ms. K asked me about it the next day. A wonderfully awkward experience.
Oh my gosh! I also got my hair braided! 3 hours and 3 episodes of Dexter is all it takes. And may I add that it is so unbelievably convenient to have your hair braided? When I took it out a couple weeks later it was just a puffball, but the girls really liked it and Nura said I looked like I belonged in a coffee shop and could pull off dreads. Ha! Mom, what do you think??
And you remember that amazing 15 year old Alex? The one from the time I first got here? HE’S BACK!!! But only for a couple days. That’s alright though.
There’s also a new schedule for the youth. A new youth came and she and I are doing Moral Education for the grade 9’s (my grade 8’s from last year). One group is talkative, but they get the point behind the junior youth empowerment program. The other group….well….all groups are different, yes? Saraiya and I may need to take some drastic measures. It’s crazy how each group is so drastically different.
The library is being relocated. We dusted all the books, but the shelves weren’t ready and now there are cobwebs over some of the books. Joy. And the spiders look mean! For real, they look like tiny brown recluses. Meeehhh. Oh well. I’m so glad the space is bigger. And we chucked a lot of the spoiled books. WOOT!
The Ayyám-i-Há celebration had…a lot of singing. So much. Didn’t quite go as the youth planned, but what does with 2 days notice? The devotions were awesome though. There was just seriously way too much singing at the beginning and end. Good cake and biscuits, though! The youth had a dance party afterwards and then me melted chocolate and dipped apples in them! The best part is, we still have more chocolate. Oh the joys of life.
Happy Ayyám-i-Há everyone!
That’s pretty much it. Life at Banani continues.
Well, I wrote this blog over a period of four-ish days and during this period, I was told that my grandma’s soul had ascended to the next world. Hard to hear even when it’s been expected, but I’m glad the waiting is over. She’s not one to live in a condition like that. As much as it hurts and as much as I’ll miss her, I know she’s with us in a more enduring way. To know that this isn’t the end and that I will see her again makes it easier. I don’t grieve for her death because 1) she is in a far better place than this world could provide and 2) her death may be of this world, but her life continues in another. It’s just sad to think I won’t be feeding more squirrels with her anytime soon. Prayers for the flight of her soul are appreciated and for her family as well.
Much love to you, grandma.
Now, as much as my girls can push me to my limits, they have my back. I can always count on them for that. Last night we said prayers for grandma and I was so thankful for them and the youth. That’s the kind of bond you form with them.
“Why shouldst thou be sad and heartbroken? This separation is temporal; this remoteness and sorrow is counted only by days. Thou shalt find him in the
Kingdom of God and thou wilt attain to the everlasting union. Physical companionship is ephemeral, but heavenly association is eternal. Whenever thou rememberest the eternal and never ending union, thou wilt be comforted and blissful.”
~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
