Sunday, February 17, 2013

Yoga in Mongu.

Sometimes I forget how much I love yoga.  Especially when I haven’t been that diligent about practicing.  I'm lucky if I get on my mat a couple of times a week when I’m really committed.  And then when I’m traveling it’s even more sporadic.  I find it hard without a yoga community to practice with - I know it shouldn’t be but I miss practicing with other people even if it’s just occasionally.  It keeps me motivated and connected.  I was in Lusaka this last week and took a class with a friend.  It was great to have 20+ other people around.  Hearing them breathe.  Moving together.  I know it’s not necessary to have a practice that revolves around other people.  But it sure is nice once in a while. 
Recently, I had this conversation with a volunteer who just moved to Mongu (she is an Italian volunteer who came here to help with an agriculture project a few weeks ago).  Well, she got all animated and excited and said that she had recently started doing some yoga and would love to have a class in Mongu!  She asked if I would be willing to teach.  Of course?!  We had our inaugural class this week with just a few people to try it out and already have plans to expand.  People from our mutual projects as well as the community seem interested in joining so we have to find a larger space?  I can’t tell you how good it feels to practice with a community again…right here in Mongu. 

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

This is Africa.


I told someone the other day that I both love and hate Africa all in the same moment.  I don’t know that I can completely explain this sentiment but I know that I feel it.  I love running in the mornings and having a little girl smile shyly at me from behind her mother.  I love the sunsets here.  I love that you can see a community working together in small but substantial ways, trying to make things better.  But I hate finding laziness or corruption.  Or the fact that no one questions authority and that they can just accept things they way they are, even if they aren’t working.  And I know these things exist all over the world.  But I have found my way here.  To Africa.  And somehow every day I continue finding ways in which I both love and hate it here. 

The view from my window.