Went to the famous Panzi Hospital on Sunday (as a visitor, not a patient). It is a remarkable place. So difficult to describe the experience. There was a young woman/girl sitting nearby, holding her sweet baby. Her face a mixture of suffering-shock-inner agony-dignity-beauty.......
There is really no response to this.......and yet, no response is also unacceptable! Multiply the picture by a few thousand, and you have Panzi Hospital. For those of you who have never heard of it, look it up.
Last evening was so nice. A visitor came and we all sat on the porch, visiting, preparing and cooking supper, exchanging laughter......a very warm experience I enjoyed! They showed me how to prepare pumpkin leaves for cooking......I am afraid I will have to wait for daylight to see what we were supposed to be doing! So nice that they let you think you are actually being useful, don't you think?
Pumpkin leaves are my new favourite vegetable.......in fact, I think, most of the vegetables here are high on my list.
Tomorrow, I will be speaking to a group of women, and Sunday, I will see my friends in Hermon once again. That is the place where I am called "Mzungu wetu" (OUR white person)! Always enjoyed with mutual laughter. Curious how laughter draws people together, and takes down walls!
After that, all our planning will be focussed on Lemera. If you are following on a map, it is near Uvira, south of Bukavu. They tell me it is about a 5 hour drive, and we cross into Rwanda and back again to get there. We will be staying an a mission. Looking forward to it...
Hope I can load this on the blog.....
(Oh, and from the gunfire incident, I think there was one death. It sounds like it was at his own hand, and then the rest of the men 'reinforced his decision' ?! But....who knows for sure?)