Today was a National Day of Prayer and Mourning for the victims of the Kenya Airways flight and their families. There was an interfaith prayer service that was televised as well as a National moment of silence at 11:05.
I went to Swahili at 2:30 and Daniel let us have class outside instead of in the dungeon, I mean basement, of the building we usually have class in. So we went to a park nearby and sat and had class. It was nice to be outside for a change. Our classroom has one overhead light and a few small windows along the top of one wall. It’s pretty dismal. We learned a lot. I am really starting to feel like I can speak Swahili. After class Daniel and I walked towards our respective matatus and had a conversation in Swahili. It is a cool feeling to have it all come together and be able to talk in sentences and paragraphs.
Other than that, the day was pretty uneventful. I watched the Tyra show with Chipa when I got home, as I usually do if I am home before 6. My mom sent me her sermon from Mother’s Day, and in it was this quotation about “home” that I really liked, and made me really miss my home in the U.S. This is the quotation:
“home is … an emotion, a deep-rooted sense of welcome and permanence and belonging. It’s the safe, intensely personal realm where you can permit yourself to throw off everything that isn’t fundamentally, essentially you. It’s a complex, messy stew of throat-catching slants of light, kitchen smells, and déjà vu. If you’re lucky and the place has been around for a while, it can connect you – with people you never knew. Some people have a home from childhood; others spend a lifetime looking for it. Once you recognize it, you’re bound to it forever – even if it sits in an extreme locale. Even if it disappears.” -Dwight Young
I am starting to like Nairobi a lot better and starting to think that I will miss it when I go home, but I often look forward to returning to feeling what Dwight Young describes in that paragraph.
I miss your in-person contribution to our particular "complex, messy stew." The unusual thing about this home thing, though, is that even when people are absent, they still contribute to the quality that is "home." So, even though I feel your presence daily, I much prefer your real-time presence, as opposed to your miles-apart presence.
ReplyDeleteIs that sappy enough for you? Does it even make sense?
I am glad to hear you finding ways to be at home in Nairobi. We were talking with the other prison volunteers last night about how you have turned the corner and are past the half-way point in your stay there. And Sue Pleadwell said, "She'll be home before you know it." I do have a sense that these next 6 weeks are going to fly by. Soak it all in. It will be over in a flash.