First stop: Kenya! Rather than teach girls prayer practices at Oloile School in Kimana, I was a teacher's assistant for their Christian Religious Education (CRE) and English classes. While it might seem natural for a seminarian to assist with CRE, I thought everyone should know that this native Texan was informed that she was one of the best English-speakers to have visited the school. I think it is because I...talk....real...slowly....
Here is a view of Mt. Kilimanjaro from Oloile School...since it was winter while I was there, Kilimanjaro was frequently hidden behind clouds...but not on this morning! You can see the fence around the school that was built to keep elephants out during times of drought!
I developed rich friendships with my host and hostess, experiencing the gift of hospitality that gave me a deep sense of gratitude that carried me through the rest of my summer and back to Sewanee. Asante sana ("thank you very much" in Kiswahili) became words that I frequently employed while in Kimana. Here are some of my hosts' children and the children of their extended family...
After two short weeks, I started my four-day photo safari, crisscrossing Kenya and seeing African animals in their natural habitat. I saw four of the African "Big 5": lion(ess), water buffalo, rhino, and elephant. Never saw a leopard, the last of the five, or a male lion (my guide told me that male lions were lazy and never came out...). Here are a few of my favorite shots:
I had seen Maasi tribespeople at the market when I was in Kimana, but had been warned not to stare or take pictures of them. So when I got the chance to visit a Maasi village and learn about how they lived, I jumped at it! Here I am being "greeted" by some Maasi warriors in their "welcome dance":
And before I knew it, my two and a half weeks in Kenya were over. It is challenging to find words to describe the people, the landscape, the animals, and the experience that is Africa...but on to Jerusalem I went!
Secular Israel is different than spiritual Israel. We met with a Jewish settler one afternoon and, right afterwards, we met with a young man who was born and lived in a Palestinian refugee camp. Both spoke their truth, their experience of life in that land. The way toward peace will be a hard road...
We visited places that "traditionally" has been known to be the site that X happened. We visited places that we are "99.9% certain" that Y took place. Either way, I found myself guided by a few lines from T. S. Eliot's "Little Gidding"....If you came this way, Taking any route, starting from anywhere, At any time or at any season, It would always be the same: you would have to put off Sense and notion. You are not here to verify, Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity Or to carry report. You are here to kneel Where prayer has been valid...
Here are some of the lesser-known places or unusual viewpoints in Israel where "prayer has been valid":
Under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem where Jerome translated the scriptures into Latin...and ultimately died and is buried there.
My feet in the Sea of Galilee!
In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
99.9% certain this was the well Jesus met the Samaritan woman...the water was still cool and pure!
One of the eight 2000+ year old olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Just as Kenya entered deep into the marrow of my bones, so did Jerusalem. No, I don't have "Jerusalem syndrome," [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_syndrome] but I will return, hopefully again and again. It is hard to explain how a city and a country that for thousands of years has been fought over can mean so much. Yes...it is a dirty, old city. And yes....there are too many souvenir hawkers. And yes...how do they really know that Jesus was born at that particular spot?? (Tradition has it...) But the land has always been sacred. Archaeologists have found evidence that Jerusalem was a holy site long before the Hebrews settled there more than two thousand years before the birth of Jesus. And for more than 1300 years, it has been a holy place for three of the world's major religions. We do need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem...because if Jerusalem can be at peace, the world will be able to as well.
