Babies!

My friend had a baby last week. I have been waiting for her to have this baby for months (which is kind of how it works, I suppose)? She is probably one of my closest friends here and I am happy to introduce you to Reuben Motsatsi…is he not the cutest (but notice how he is crying when I am holding him but not when his mom is holding him)? 

A few interesting facts you might want to know:

Reuben’s father will not see him until he turns 3 months old (it’s not permitted) – he will only get to see pictures of little Reuben.

Reuben’s grandmother (on his father’s side) went to the hospital and selected his name (even though his father wasn’t allowed to be there or have any input into what his name would be).

Reuben’s mother and father can’t see each other (they can’t even be in the same room) until Reuben is 3 months old. And it will be another 6 months before they can…well, you know.

Reuben and his mom aren’t permitted to attend their church until after he is 3 months old.

And there are lots of other rules that I didn’t really understand (or couldn’t translate that well) - some of them are cultural and some of them have to do with the religious beliefs of the family. 

But, other than that, he’s perfectly happy and healthy and as cute as can be. I’ve even offered to take him back to America with me. Unfortunately they didn't agree to this...so, I'll just take lots of pictures. 

For Bob.

I can't be there to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of my friend, Bob, but I wanted him to know I am thinking of him today. And always. I haven't quite reconciled the fact that he won't be there when I get back - I have so many questions I need answered, advice that he was supposed to give me, discussions that we were supposed to have, experiences that I wanted to tell him about. You see, I thought of Bob as my guru. My teacher, advisor, and counselor of sorts (although I was the one who was supposed to be teaching him some yoga and meditation and what a guru is)? But, you don't really get to pick your guru - they just show up one day.

I love you and will miss you. Namaste, my friend and guru.

A Beautiful Mess.

I believe that I have mentioned I am helping to create a library at the primary school where I help out. Well, let me explain the reality. We started with a room filled with junk. And a whole lot of books. The principal asked me to survey the situation and see if I could “create a library” out of the mess. So, for the past several months, I have been sorting through massive amounts of junk which has been a task that I don’t wish to do ever, ever do again. There were files from the 1980s, old socks (don’t ask), bills, copies of registers, scary spiders, and massive amounts of dirt and dust. And the problem? The staff/teachers don’t want to get rid of anything? I will ask, “Oh, I found these old empty registers from 1993. I can throw them away, correct?” “No, no. We don’t use them but go ahead and keep them. We might need them someday.” I have almost started crying on several occasions. Don't they understand this stuff needs to be THROWN AWAY?!  But my biggest challenge? Waiting for shelves to arrive (remember African time)? The principal and I talked about these shelves and he made it sound so easy…I should have known. After asking him every day for several weeks, I finally just stopped asking.

Shelves!

But, amazingly, like everything in Africa, one day out of the blue, the shelves arrived!? It was magical and there was no warning but there they were…a bit out of sorts (meaning not exactly like we had discussed) but I have stopped being too picky. I’ll take what I can get. And, now I have been busy putting these piles and piles of books into some sort of order (along with the last remnants of the crap I can't seem to get anyone to agree to throw away).

I am not finished (even though all the teachers keep coming by and saying it looks beautiful so imagine what it looked like pre-cleaning) but will be glad when the hard labor is over and we can actually start letting some of the learners use the books!?  And if you are interested in making a book donation (?!) just give me a call.  I would love to have more books! 





Notice the remnants of "crap" (lawnmower)



Embracing my work



 



Don't forget.

What happened to my yoga practice?!  So I must confess that it started getting increasingly difficult to stay motivated to pratice alone.  I mean, it's okay once in a while but every day? Or, I would find a spider on the floor and become distracted. You know, all the typical excuses. So, for the past few months I have just kind of stopped practicing.

But I’ve missed it. So this weekend, I stepped back on my mat. My body was tight but my mind was still. It felt really good. I blocked out the noise outside my room and just breathed. And I reminded myself that wherever you go, there you are.

And I am in Africa.  Which is pretty amazing (as shown by some of my recent encounters).