Yesterday was a great day! Sunday’s at OLG are very leisurely. We started our day by sleeping in! Mass on Sundays does not start until 7am so we were able to sleep until 6:30 instead of our usual 5:30 wake up! Waking up after the sun has risen is so much easier than starting your day in the dark. There is just something about knowing that the world is up and ready for the day that helps you to do the same. I saw the most beautiful view of the burning sun over the hills near our compound on my walk to mass. Mental pictures are a gift and that image will be imprinted in my mind for a long time.
Sunday service at OLG is much more of a celebration than regular weekday masses. Some students wore long sarongs and preformed as liturgical dancers for the procession and offertory during the service and the music was African worship songs sung in their native Kiswahili. Fr. Charles, head of the Dominican priory, celebrated the mass and the children were very responsive to his homily on being a gentle person and the need for it in our world. He spoke of how youth often think that they have to be hard to be successful but that gentleness and a softened heart will bring you close to God and help you go far. He mentioned how young ladies when looking for a mate should look for a “gentle”man who will step aside and let them walk through a door way first. All the girls cracked up and I did notice a few boys after mass taking Fr. Charles’ advice and stepping aside for their female counterparts.
After mass we took our breakfast back at the house where we stay on the Dominican compound. We enjoyed oatmeal, bananas, peanut butter and tea while the birds chirped outside our windows. The weather was beautiful! After eating I headed over to the basketball court. I had told some of the boys after mass that we could play later in the morning. The court is located behind the older boys dormitory on the other side of the hedge. When I got to the dorm I found one of the boys digging up a HUGE tree trunk that is located next to their building. He was using a spade and clearing the dirt from the root. When I asked him why he was doing it he told me that he had been assigned to dig at the trunk as punishment for disrespecting his teacher. I nodded and told him to join us when he was finished.
We played three on three and had a great time in the hot African sun! The boys and I had a lot of fun. Their court is dirt and the hoops don’t have nets but basketball is basketball where ever you are. Some times sports can be a language when you cannot communicate. My time here in Kenya and earlier in Barcelona has taught me that there are many ways to engage and interact with people that are unspoken. You can learn so much about other people through taking part in activities with them. Whether it is watching a football match in Spain with Ana Maria, my host mom, or playing basketball with the high school boys here in Kenya – sports are bonding!
After the game we sat under a tree for some shade and enjoyed conversation. The kids had to head back to school for lunch so I joined them. Lunch was ugali, sacumawiki and scrambled eggs with vegetables. YUMM!! After lunch I wandered back to the compound with the intention of journaling. I sat in the hut in front of the prior to write. The inside of this hut painted in a black and white zebra pattern and the stone table in the middle is mustard yellow with blue paintings of African trees (similar to the “Tree of Life” in The Lion King) and Massi warriors. The benches are painted in a blue, red black and white diamond pattern and it is the perfect place to sit and think! I was only there for a few moments before Brother Dominic joined me. Brother Dominic arrived to the compound last Friday from Washington, D.C. and will be here for the month of July. I had a wonderful conversation with him about the children, the Dominicans and the Church. I look forward to hearing more from him over the next month. We sat and spoke for about an hour and then it was time for us to pick up dinner from the priory. Each day, the cook at the priory, Antoni, prepares us our dinner which we collect around 6:15pm or so and bring back to our house to eat. Our house is located about 100 paces from the priory and the novices’ house. On the weekends Caroline cooks for us and last night she prepared stewed chicken, sacumawiki, ugali, pepper salsa and cabbage for our supper. She is a WONDERFUL cook! We had pineapple slices and freshly baked banana bread for dessert!
All in all yesterday was wonderful! I was even able to call home and wish my brother a very happy 17th birthday! I missed him very much yesterday but I know I will see him again soon! It is difficult to not have guilt in missing my home and family which I have only been away from for 3 weeks now when the majority of these kids only get to see whatever family or guardians they do have every 4 months or so. Keep the prayers coming!
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