Riding the rollercoaster . .

Monday, August 18, 2008

Welcome to my wild ride, emotionally speaking. So, as you could tell, I wasn’t doing so well earlier in the week. As Carmen so aptly pointed out later, I don’t do so well when I feel disconnected from people. But I got lots of connection over the weekend and I am feeling more balanced again.

After the initial headache of trying to find the birthday party (poor directions, no street map, and streets don’t have signs anyway), we had a good time at the party. The Peruvian contingent of Kitwe have formed a warm familial atmosphere and they are welcoming of others. I received more kisses in two hours than I could have imagined. I talked with Ursula, a mother I have seen often but never talked with. She is gorgeous, very into fashion, and can hold her drink. And she is friendly and engaging so that was a good start. Then, wonder of wonders, I finally had a real conversation with Alex. She is the mother of Alistair, Jason’s classmate. All year, I have tried to be friendly with her, attempting small talk, greeting her, etc. but made absolutely no progress. Jason kept asking for a playdate with Alistair but that is hard when you can’t talk to the mom. But at the party, she sat down next to me and we proceeded to visit for almost two hours and it was really good. I learned a lot about her and can now understand a bit more about why she was stand-offish. At the end, she invited Jason over for a playdate, we exchanged phone numbers, and by golly, I think we are friends now!

Jocelyn, a fellow MCC service worker, came to visit us over the weekend. We had a good time with her and she was always so good with the boys, even when they were totally in her face acting like John Cena (wrestler, for those who are not totally into pop culture, like me). She taught us a few card tricks and now Brendan is a regular performer. Unfortunately, her stay was cut short by having to return home to attend the funeral of a friend’s grandmother.

Sunday turned out to be a very pleasant day which, sorry to say, isn’t always the case. Sweet Ms. Diz, who runs an orphanage, is back from Australia and full of miraculous stories of how God provided hospital beds, all the equipment and more for the recovery room she opened for children who have had surgery and are discharged immediately following. And our Sri Lankan friend, Anita, shared her testimony of God providing for a scholarship for her oldest son to attend Texas A&M so he is departing this week. In Sunday School, I only had five children, all five or six years old so I really didn’t need the toys that I had brought but they were delighted by them anyway. The time flew by and I left in a good mood!

Peter and I both had the chance to talk with our parents on the phone in the past few days, so the connection with our families also helped. Sunday afternoon, we enjoyed visiting with Carmen, who was back from her trip to Lusaka. Another good friend invited us for dinner this week so little by little, we are easing back into friendships again.

Lastly, I had a good conversation with Peggy this morning regarding her future. This is a conversation that I had been dreading but knew needed to happen. I have been financing her return to school and she is currently doing Grade 8. There is no accelerated program so she has a long road ahead of her and it is not cheap. She wants to be a journalist but I felt that I needed to gently speak some reality into this dream. The sad reality is that, even with passing Grade 12, the chances of getting employed is slim. I asked her if she had ever thought of going to trade school or opening up a small business out of her home. After a bit of discussion, she put the idea forth of opening up a takeaway shop near her home. The other unemployed females in her household could work together on this business venture. Those that are employed would gladly pay for a good meal of nshima and meat but don’t have the time to prepare it themselves. So Peggy is going to research this business idea and together, we will look at its viability. She was excited, especially because she too had begun to think about how she would continue school after I left and if that really was the best way forward. We will see what happens but I was glad the conversation went as well as it did.