Home at LONG last NO thanks to BA or the British Government
The title says it all. Basically, in breif, Jon+I were meant to fly Sunday evening+didnt until last night (Wednesday). NOTHING was done in the mean time, so we were effectively left homeless+hungry. BA were unhelpful, unsympathetic, difficult to get hold off, contradictory in their messages+just plain rude. Jon+I have vowed NEVER to fly with them again. All in all we've never felt so let down by Britain+cannot believe a country who claims to care for their citizen could be so uncaring.
Offline on Holiday!
Tomorrow (Tuesday) morning Dom,Jon+I are leaving COTT.
Dom is getting a plane from Port Elizabeth to go to Cape Town for a few days,+Jon+I are staying in Port Elizabeth for a couple of days, Addo Elephant park for a couple of days, +then to Cape Town for just over a week.
During this time I won't be blogging. I think we'll get online about once so will check emails but won't reply unless it's of major importance!
On my return to the UK 2weeks today I will continue blogging! First a post about our holiday+then many about my time in S.A. as there are many things I still want to write about, i.e. observations, reflections, experiences +a few more photos. I will attempt to do this asap on my return while my time here is fresh in my mind,however I'll leave it open a bit longer in case things come back to me over time! As a result my plan is to finish +close this blog about 2weeks after my return.
See you all soonish at the other-side of the world!
Dom is getting a plane from Port Elizabeth to go to Cape Town for a few days,+Jon+I are staying in Port Elizabeth for a couple of days, Addo Elephant park for a couple of days, +then to Cape Town for just over a week.
During this time I won't be blogging. I think we'll get online about once so will check emails but won't reply unless it's of major importance!
On my return to the UK 2weeks today I will continue blogging! First a post about our holiday+then many about my time in S.A. as there are many things I still want to write about, i.e. observations, reflections, experiences +a few more photos. I will attempt to do this asap on my return while my time here is fresh in my mind,however I'll leave it open a bit longer in case things come back to me over time! As a result my plan is to finish +close this blog about 2weeks after my return.
See you all soonish at the other-side of the world!
Farewells
Easter Sunday was the day the vast majority left COTT. The single students+married people who are here without their families all went back home, with many leaving at the end of the service+therefore even before breakfast! Several didn't want to wait any longer+so hitchhiked home so they didn't have to bother waiting for a bus, which is how most get home apart from a few who got a plane (others don't as they cant afford it+so have to travel 8-16hours on a bus).
So right after the service many came to say bye to us+hug us. Many of these goodbyes were moments where you don't know what to say but what you say doesn't really matter as the hug says it all. I made sure to thank Gregory much though for looking after me. And later in the day we went to wave off Kholisilie, Nonto, Edward+Pinky. Nonto had earlier in the day given me a pen with a little message on. We hugged all (again!) +wished them well.
With regards Titus, the goodbyes started a few days before with him giving Dom,Jon+I a letter he'd printed out with a photo of him,Dom+I on. It was a lovely+funny letter which had me welling up in tears. It was titled 'Friends will also be friends', which I presume he meant 'will always be friends'. I made a similar letter for him. Then on Easter Sunday he said I could keep my copy of 'An African Prayer Book' by Desmond Tutu which we were given with our hymn books at the start of term+were meant to give back now. He said I could keep mine as a present+wrote a short message in it. He also gave Jon a book of his too. Jon+I gave him a book of ours which we too wrote a short message in.
I'll add the photo+some of the letters comments here at a later date.
When it came for Titus to go several others were also leaving including Johanna,Max,James +Luthando +it was rather sad. The others went in the first car trip to the bus stop+just Titus +Luthando remained for Fungayi to come back with the car to take them to the bus stop. We then all went to the bus stop so we could see Titus off there. Once there we hugged all,especially Titus,+said bye to all. Fungayi drove us back to COTT+I had to wipe several tears away. Somehow I managed not to cry too much+so I'm waiting for this to all come out soon at an appropriate moment -i.e. 1 without an audience!
By the evening all but about 3 remained in the college building we're in. We weren't in the mood to do much,couldn't think of much to do anyway+were tired from the early start so went to bed about 8:30!
The following day we prepared to leave COTT -i.e. packed our bags,did last min emails+this blog,etc. We were also invited to Fungayi's for some tea+cake, +then to Fr.Isaias for tea+cake! These were both in a row+were both big bits of cake!! Its funny that we've rarely had cake throughout the 3months here+today had 2pieces in a row! Fr.Isaias' wife Ilda had baked a chocolate cake as Dom said in the first week of term that he liked chocolate! It was still warm+was delicious! At Funagyi's, Lavington was there too,+at Fr.Isaias's Vicenti was there too. These are 2 of among 3students who are staying at COTT during the fortnight break as its too long +/or expensive to get back home during this time. E.G. Vicenti lives in Mozambique where his wife still is.
Some of these people will come to wave us off tomorrow morning.
So right after the service many came to say bye to us+hug us. Many of these goodbyes were moments where you don't know what to say but what you say doesn't really matter as the hug says it all. I made sure to thank Gregory much though for looking after me. And later in the day we went to wave off Kholisilie, Nonto, Edward+Pinky. Nonto had earlier in the day given me a pen with a little message on. We hugged all (again!) +wished them well.
With regards Titus, the goodbyes started a few days before with him giving Dom,Jon+I a letter he'd printed out with a photo of him,Dom+I on. It was a lovely+funny letter which had me welling up in tears. It was titled 'Friends will also be friends', which I presume he meant 'will always be friends'. I made a similar letter for him. Then on Easter Sunday he said I could keep my copy of 'An African Prayer Book' by Desmond Tutu which we were given with our hymn books at the start of term+were meant to give back now. He said I could keep mine as a present+wrote a short message in it. He also gave Jon a book of his too. Jon+I gave him a book of ours which we too wrote a short message in.
I'll add the photo+some of the letters comments here at a later date.
When it came for Titus to go several others were also leaving including Johanna,Max,James +Luthando +it was rather sad. The others went in the first car trip to the bus stop+just Titus +Luthando remained for Fungayi to come back with the car to take them to the bus stop. We then all went to the bus stop so we could see Titus off there. Once there we hugged all,especially Titus,+said bye to all. Fungayi drove us back to COTT+I had to wipe several tears away. Somehow I managed not to cry too much+so I'm waiting for this to all come out soon at an appropriate moment -i.e. 1 without an audience!
By the evening all but about 3 remained in the college building we're in. We weren't in the mood to do much,couldn't think of much to do anyway+were tired from the early start so went to bed about 8:30!
The following day we prepared to leave COTT -i.e. packed our bags,did last min emails+this blog,etc. We were also invited to Fungayi's for some tea+cake, +then to Fr.Isaias for tea+cake! These were both in a row+were both big bits of cake!! Its funny that we've rarely had cake throughout the 3months here+today had 2pieces in a row! Fr.Isaias' wife Ilda had baked a chocolate cake as Dom said in the first week of term that he liked chocolate! It was still warm+was delicious! At Funagyi's, Lavington was there too,+at Fr.Isaias's Vicenti was there too. These are 2 of among 3students who are staying at COTT during the fortnight break as its too long +/or expensive to get back home during this time. E.G. Vicenti lives in Mozambique where his wife still is.
Some of these people will come to wave us off tomorrow morning.
Easter Sunday
The Easter Sunday service began at 5am!!! I found this all a bit odd as the usual point of early services on Easter day is to have the first Eucharist of the day to celebrate Christ's resurrection, but we'd had a Eucharist service the evening before to celebrate this. I know it wasn't actually Easter then but if were acting as if it was then surely we wouldn't need 1 so early the next day, whereas if we hadn't had such a service the night before then I can see why people would like to have 1 early that day. I wasn't the only 1 who thought this+many didn't like that we had the service last night which they haven't had before at COTT (Fungayi has changed much of COTT's services since joining as chaplain in January and its not always gone down V well!).
That aside, it was a lovely typical Easter day Eucharist service. In fact it was a wonderful service! It was great to have a typical COTT Eucharistic service here as the last thing we do together at COTT before we leave. Everyone was joyful, the songs were in various languages, the marimbas were played in several points during the service, etc. During the peace I tried to get to everyone to give them a last hug+I V. nearly did this,but just ran out of time before getting to a few people at the other side of the chapel. Several of these came+gave me a hug goodbye anyway after the service which was good.
At the end of the service Dom,me+Jon were called to the front by Fungayi. He said a few words of appreciation for our time here +then we were asked to kneel in front of the altar as various people came forward to lay hands on us+all prayed. Among those who came forward to lay hands on us were Fungayi, the Rector Bill, Fr.Percy a lecturer, Vic a lecturer, +students Vernon, Gregory, Godukile, Jeannean+Badaneli, among others. During the prayers a chorus was sung +many prayed at once in their own languages. As this came to a natural end Fr.Percy said a prayer in English. It was a wonderful moment where I felt so supported+loved.
Grant, the student chairperson, then said a few words+gave us the 1st copies of the 'Who's Who' -the COTT directory of all staff+students. This is great as it has everyone's photo in+email addresses,among other info. Grant saud we'd wrapped ourselves around their hearts and he hoped they'd done the same for us.
Fr.Isaias who organises the exchanges at COTT then said a few words of appreciation+asked us to share our experiences of our time here which I+Dom then did. We mainly said we'd enjoyed the expereince, we'd loved getting to know everyone and we'd take back with us the community mindset and their passion for God.
Following this Bill said a few words too, including that they’d learnt from us, particularly from Dom that ‘disability is different abled, not dis-abled’, from Jon they’d learnt what it means to support your spouse, and from me they’d learnt ‘that dynamite comes in small packages!’
It was all incredibly touching+we all felt a tinge of sadness to be saying our farewells.
That aside, it was a lovely typical Easter day Eucharist service. In fact it was a wonderful service! It was great to have a typical COTT Eucharistic service here as the last thing we do together at COTT before we leave. Everyone was joyful, the songs were in various languages, the marimbas were played in several points during the service, etc. During the peace I tried to get to everyone to give them a last hug+I V. nearly did this,but just ran out of time before getting to a few people at the other side of the chapel. Several of these came+gave me a hug goodbye anyway after the service which was good.
At the end of the service Dom,me+Jon were called to the front by Fungayi. He said a few words of appreciation for our time here +then we were asked to kneel in front of the altar as various people came forward to lay hands on us+all prayed. Among those who came forward to lay hands on us were Fungayi, the Rector Bill, Fr.Percy a lecturer, Vic a lecturer, +students Vernon, Gregory, Godukile, Jeannean+Badaneli, among others. During the prayers a chorus was sung +many prayed at once in their own languages. As this came to a natural end Fr.Percy said a prayer in English. It was a wonderful moment where I felt so supported+loved.
Grant, the student chairperson, then said a few words+gave us the 1st copies of the 'Who's Who' -the COTT directory of all staff+students. This is great as it has everyone's photo in+email addresses,among other info. Grant saud we'd wrapped ourselves around their hearts and he hoped they'd done the same for us.
Fr.Isaias who organises the exchanges at COTT then said a few words of appreciation+asked us to share our experiences of our time here which I+Dom then did. We mainly said we'd enjoyed the expereince, we'd loved getting to know everyone and we'd take back with us the community mindset and their passion for God.
Following this Bill said a few words too, including that they’d learnt from us, particularly from Dom that ‘disability is different abled, not dis-abled’, from Jon they’d learnt what it means to support your spouse, and from me they’d learnt ‘that dynamite comes in small packages!’
It was all incredibly touching+we all felt a tinge of sadness to be saying our farewells.
Next we went back to our seats for a final prayer+then a hymn which was sung so joyfully that many,including Dom,danced their way to the altar! I didn't as I was busy banging the pew with a marimba stick +therefore just dancing on the spot!
It was a fitting service to end our time here.
Easter Saturday
We began Saturday at Brent's+Melissa (a student here+his wife). They cooked for us an English breakfast which we all enjoyed. Jon particularly enjoyed it as they'd cooked fish fingers as well as eggs (as he's a vegetarian who eats fish)! We arrived for 10+ate at gone 11. We then chatted for a long time +left sometime before 2. It was a wonderful morning+nice to spend some more time with Brent+Melissa. We also compared the S.A.+English cultures, talking about things such as the education system, people's temperaments,+the royal family among other things! I found this fascinating as there are many things I take for granted+assume everyone does only to find out since being here that people in different cultures don't know about them+ think they sound really weird. E.G.The fact that we move the clocks an hour forwards +then backwards twice a year!!
Despite this lovely morning,the Saturday still felt like a day of waiting around,as this Saturday (after Good Friday+before Easter Sunday) always does to me at home. This was no different then,until a service we had at 7pm which started,as usual for such services,outside with a small fire being lit.This years Paschal Candle was lit from this fire. Well I say this years, but actually it said '1999' on it before Fungayi creatively changed it to '2010'! We then went in the chapel+each persons small candle was lit. There were many readings at the beginning +all of these were read by spouses of students+staff here at COTT. All spouses here are female so this meant for the first time hearing more females voices throughout a service than male and for me it was a V. welcome+pleasant thing indeed -especially since the night before I'd been in a situation where male+female segregation +gender stereotyping was rife in a way which I thought was basically oppression -i.e. at a party on Good Friday evening at Fr.Isias's (there's always a party/gathering on Good Friday in S.A. as they celebrate the whole day as if it's a funeral) I was asked to sit in one room with the women while the men were in another.
Next in the service we renewed our Baptismal Vows which for me felt particularly special on this occasion. And Fungayi used a conifer branch to soak us with the water which I liked! After this was the Eucharist.
All in all I felt,like several other students here,that the service was misplaced as we were celebrating Christ's resurrection before Easter Sunday had begun.
Despite this lovely morning,the Saturday still felt like a day of waiting around,as this Saturday (after Good Friday+before Easter Sunday) always does to me at home. This was no different then,until a service we had at 7pm which started,as usual for such services,outside with a small fire being lit.This years Paschal Candle was lit from this fire. Well I say this years, but actually it said '1999' on it before Fungayi creatively changed it to '2010'! We then went in the chapel+each persons small candle was lit. There were many readings at the beginning +all of these were read by spouses of students+staff here at COTT. All spouses here are female so this meant for the first time hearing more females voices throughout a service than male and for me it was a V. welcome+pleasant thing indeed -especially since the night before I'd been in a situation where male+female segregation +gender stereotyping was rife in a way which I thought was basically oppression -i.e. at a party on Good Friday evening at Fr.Isias's (there's always a party/gathering on Good Friday in S.A. as they celebrate the whole day as if it's a funeral) I was asked to sit in one room with the women while the men were in another.
Next in the service we renewed our Baptismal Vows which for me felt particularly special on this occasion. And Fungayi used a conifer branch to soak us with the water which I liked! After this was the Eucharist.
All in all I felt,like several other students here,that the service was misplaced as we were celebrating Christ's resurrection before Easter Sunday had begun.
Good Friday lunch
This week I was concerned about when we were to have lunch on Good Friday as the service started at 12 before lunchtime +ended at 3 after lunchtime. I asked Titus about this who said we eat after the service! I clarified with him that he meant we eat lunch at gone 3, +when he confirmed this I made a loud shocked exclaim at the thought of not eating until then. Fr.Isaias was sitting nearby who simply said 'George, welcome to South Africa!' The 3 of us could not stop laughing!!!
When it finally came to lunch we had pickled fish which is what most people eat in S.A. on Good Friday. We also had hot-cross buns which tasted like heaven! I'm not usually a massive fan of them but as I'm eating everyday food that doesn't taste great+hardly eating any sweet things, the bun tasted superb!
When it finally came to lunch we had pickled fish which is what most people eat in S.A. on Good Friday. We also had hot-cross buns which tasted like heaven! I'm not usually a massive fan of them but as I'm eating everyday food that doesn't taste great+hardly eating any sweet things, the bun tasted superb!
Good Friday
At 7am Good Friday morning we had a service to consume the Sacrament which had been in the Easter garden all night. Again I officiated for this, though this time I was the 2nd officiant not the 1st so instead of leading parts of the service,I read the Bible readings,including the Gospel. It was a somber service+relatively short too.
We had the main devotional service from 12-3, which only finished 15mins late which isn't much by S.A. standards! Many students wore their cassocks for the service,while some others wore black clothes they would wear to a funeral. I've not seen this before at a Good Friday service. Also, in the UK our Good Friday services are normally V. somber as we recall Christs death. Here however the service was rather jolly in parts!
There was 8 talks based around the 7 sentences Christ said on the Cross before he died. Interestingly these were also all linked to 1of His 'I am...' sayings. This worked really well the majority of the time+it was wonderful to hear students preaching since 6students preached including Dom,as well as the Rector Bill + Fungayi. The students preached with great passion. Around these talks were hymns, times of silence (which weren't even 1min long!), solo songs, a drama, +a dance. The service was V. good,though it didn't feel like a Good Friday service to me at all.
The dance was introduced as a 'funny dance' +it certainly was as Khosi, a student who is known to make people laugh, attempted to dance+part of the dance also included rubbing their belly's!!
The drama was a comic play highlighting the point that Jesus is the only 1 who can fulfill our thirst. This was only clear though after this was explained at the end! The play included Titus playing a drunk Priest+a quiet student shouting 'I am thirsty for sex!' As a result it was V. funny!
Below is a pic of the preachers (plus Tshnola!) -Dom, Grant, Fungayi, Seffularo, Tshnola, Kholisilie, Lovington. And below that is Kholisilie 'preaching' in Freedom Square!
We had the main devotional service from 12-3, which only finished 15mins late which isn't much by S.A. standards! Many students wore their cassocks for the service,while some others wore black clothes they would wear to a funeral. I've not seen this before at a Good Friday service. Also, in the UK our Good Friday services are normally V. somber as we recall Christs death. Here however the service was rather jolly in parts!
There was 8 talks based around the 7 sentences Christ said on the Cross before he died. Interestingly these were also all linked to 1of His 'I am...' sayings. This worked really well the majority of the time+it was wonderful to hear students preaching since 6students preached including Dom,as well as the Rector Bill + Fungayi. The students preached with great passion. Around these talks were hymns, times of silence (which weren't even 1min long!), solo songs, a drama, +a dance. The service was V. good,though it didn't feel like a Good Friday service to me at all.
The dance was introduced as a 'funny dance' +it certainly was as Khosi, a student who is known to make people laugh, attempted to dance+part of the dance also included rubbing their belly's!!
The drama was a comic play highlighting the point that Jesus is the only 1 who can fulfill our thirst. This was only clear though after this was explained at the end! The play included Titus playing a drunk Priest+a quiet student shouting 'I am thirsty for sex!' As a result it was V. funny!
Below is a pic of the preachers (plus Tshnola!) -Dom, Grant, Fungayi, Seffularo, Tshnola, Kholisilie, Lovington. And below that is Kholisilie 'preaching' in Freedom Square!
Maundy Thursday
Like many Churches in the UK, the Maundy Thursday included the washing of feet+the stripping of the Altar, as well as the Eucharist too of course. I was 1 of the officiants leading the service with Fr.Isaias +Dom was on Altar Prep duty again with Titus.
I borrowed a cassock+surplice from Swazi, a student here. He isn't much bigger than me at all +it was only an inch or 2 too long but was rather big in width! Dom had the idea to put a belt around it+this made a big difference.
It was a lovely service+V. moving. I also appreciated a great deal the chance to lead some of a Eucharist service for the 1st time. It felt V. natural +I had lots of positive comments afterwards,from students telling me it was V. powerful to others saying I looked beautiful!
When it came to the washing of feet,the Priest didn't wash 12 peoples feet like I've seen in England, instead everyone's feet were washed by each other. So 1person washed your feet+then you washed the next 1s+so on. It was incredibly moving +during this we were singing joyful songs too. The washing itself wasn't like we do in the UK where you just pour some water over 1foot,but instead you held each foot in turn+gently rubbed water over it. If I heard about this I would've thought it sounded awful but in reality it was fine+like I said,V. moving. It was certainly an enacting of the values of love+service.
After this we had the Eucharist+then the stripping of the Altar began during which Psalm 22 was chanted, the Sacrament was placed in a garden (made the day before by myself+my formation group) +all lights were turned out. This was in such contrast to the earlier thankful+joyful feel to the service. Several remained sitting by the garden in darkness apart from a few candles.
Fungayi remained their all night+students took it in turns to also be there so that at no point was the garden left empty. Jon+I were there from 10-11pm +Dom was there from 6-7am.
I borrowed a cassock+surplice from Swazi, a student here. He isn't much bigger than me at all +it was only an inch or 2 too long but was rather big in width! Dom had the idea to put a belt around it+this made a big difference.
It was a lovely service+V. moving. I also appreciated a great deal the chance to lead some of a Eucharist service for the 1st time. It felt V. natural +I had lots of positive comments afterwards,from students telling me it was V. powerful to others saying I looked beautiful!
When it came to the washing of feet,the Priest didn't wash 12 peoples feet like I've seen in England, instead everyone's feet were washed by each other. So 1person washed your feet+then you washed the next 1s+so on. It was incredibly moving +during this we were singing joyful songs too. The washing itself wasn't like we do in the UK where you just pour some water over 1foot,but instead you held each foot in turn+gently rubbed water over it. If I heard about this I would've thought it sounded awful but in reality it was fine+like I said,V. moving. It was certainly an enacting of the values of love+service.
After this we had the Eucharist+then the stripping of the Altar began during which Psalm 22 was chanted, the Sacrament was placed in a garden (made the day before by myself+my formation group) +all lights were turned out. This was in such contrast to the earlier thankful+joyful feel to the service. Several remained sitting by the garden in darkness apart from a few candles.
Fungayi remained their all night+students took it in turns to also be there so that at no point was the garden left empty. Jon+I were there from 10-11pm +Dom was there from 6-7am.
Formation Group Farewell
My Formation Group seems to have had several final meetings this term!! The first of these was the braai where they thanked me for being with them this term+I thanked them for including me this term. We thought this was out last meeting,only to find we were in formation groups during the Community Building afternoon (though I wasn't as I was involved with planning the day) +during the making of the Easter garden. As a result my group felt it would be best to have an actual final meeting where we could all sit,chat+eat cake like we usually do+say goodbye properly. I was told about this meeting 1min before it started! So I rushed upstairs to put my Pick n Pay shopping down+get Jon, +we still got their before many others!!
The meeting was in Fungayi's house like most of our other meetings+we had tea/coffee +some cakes he had made, again like we have done in most meetings. It was unfortunate that Gregory was unable to make this meeting as he was the main person in the group who planned the meetings,trips+braai's in order for me to enjoy my short time here. Tshukumo wasn't there either but he hasn't been there half the time!
We spent a short while chatting+joking before Fungayi said a few words of thanks again for me being with them. He said they were pleased I had been in their group +thanked me for the beach+braai trip to Port Alfred because if I wasn't in their group they wouldn't have done a trip at all. After this Zanele handed to me the S.A. 'Anglican Prayer Book' which they had bought for me as a present. Inside was written a short message+they had all signed it. It was V. kind of them+is an excellent present as a reminder of my time here. The message inside is this:
"Dear George, For the wonderful time that we had together, this prayer book serves to bind us with cords of love+service to God+ God's people. Amen. Gregory, Ntombekhaya, Zanele, Grant, Swazi, Tshukumo, Monde, Fungayi. GOD BLESS. Cott/formngrp 2010"
Today I've printed out some photos of my time with the group+made a card saying "THANK YOU!!!" on the front with a picture Jon took of me with the group+my new APB (see below). Inside I wrote some words of thanks for the book as well as saying again that I'd really enjoyed being a part of this group+ have lots of happy memories from my time with them +also thanking them again for including me+sharing with me.
From back left: Monde, Fungayi, Grant, Ntombekhaya.
From front left: Zanele, me, Swazi.
The meeting was in Fungayi's house like most of our other meetings+we had tea/coffee +some cakes he had made, again like we have done in most meetings. It was unfortunate that Gregory was unable to make this meeting as he was the main person in the group who planned the meetings,trips+braai's in order for me to enjoy my short time here. Tshukumo wasn't there either but he hasn't been there half the time!
We spent a short while chatting+joking before Fungayi said a few words of thanks again for me being with them. He said they were pleased I had been in their group +thanked me for the beach+braai trip to Port Alfred because if I wasn't in their group they wouldn't have done a trip at all. After this Zanele handed to me the S.A. 'Anglican Prayer Book' which they had bought for me as a present. Inside was written a short message+they had all signed it. It was V. kind of them+is an excellent present as a reminder of my time here. The message inside is this:
"Dear George, For the wonderful time that we had together, this prayer book serves to bind us with cords of love+service to God+ God's people. Amen. Gregory, Ntombekhaya, Zanele, Grant, Swazi, Tshukumo, Monde, Fungayi. GOD BLESS. Cott/formngrp 2010"
Today I've printed out some photos of my time with the group+made a card saying "THANK YOU!!!" on the front with a picture Jon took of me with the group+my new APB (see below). Inside I wrote some words of thanks for the book as well as saying again that I'd really enjoyed being a part of this group+ have lots of happy memories from my time with them +also thanking them again for including me+sharing with me.
From back left: Monde, Fungayi, Grant, Ntombekhaya.From front left: Zanele, me, Swazi.
Easter Garden
During Holy Week each Formation Group had a task. Ours was to make the Easter garden which we did on Wednesday. It involved a lot of heavy lifting on my part! But I guess this was better than arranging the garden as I'm not V. creative in that way or arty, but carrying rocks I can do! Gregory was the creative brain behind the Easter garden+it was different to any I've seen before as we put fruit+vegetables in it to! It was also a challenge to make as it was during 1 of the times we were meant to be silence! As you can imagine this couldn't work in reality+so we whispered quietly instead.
More reflections on the retreat
I think most retreats or quiet days either speak to exactly where you are or seem irrelevant. This weeks retreat was no different, +actually it did speak to most people where they are. And I think if I hadn't been away from my usual life for 2-3months already, +therefore had space to think about life, the universe + everything, it would've been a valuable retreat for me too, especially the Sunday+Monday talks which managed to sum up+add to much of my thinking since being here in a way which I was unable to do so myself. They were about the way that sometimes God doesn't act as soon as we would like+the fact that sometimes things need to die in order to live. So he referred to John 12.24: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."
water relief again
Luckily the last water shortage only lasted half a day, so by 5ish we found the taps were working again.
Holy Week Pt. 1
The first 3days of Holy week (i.e. the week before Easter) we've had a Priest in from another diocese leading a retreat which he titled 'The Lazareth Life'. The first talk was Sunday evening+after this we had to remain in silence until Monday lunchtime! We had 2 talks a day+a Eucharist service,with Compline as well 1evening. From the 4pm Monday talk we had to be silent until the Tuesday 12:00 Eucharist +then silent again Tuesday from 4pm until Wednesday at 4pm!! I found this V. hard but thankfully some students were talking quietly in some places +Dom,Jon+I remained talking in our flat!
Jon+I actually used the quiet evenings to have some relaxing time watching films. 1 evening we watched Snakes on a Plane in the Social Room with Titus+Gregory. The Social Room is a small room with a pool table,a fold-away table tennis table,sofas+a TV. The film wasn't great but it was nice to pass the time as we talked throughout most of it with Titus sharing much about S.A. life with us.
Anyway the talks were about Lazareth (who Jesus raised from the dead)+how we too need to die in certain ways. Personally,as a result I felt the talks from Sunday evening-Wednesday afternoon about death were quite depressing! I also thought the last talk on Weds about rising from the dead was somewhat misplaced+ naive. It was about being thankful+joyful about being resurrected by Christ+I couldn't help thinking that the idea of dieing+rising again is something most Christians already know about,more especially ordinands! It also spoke of joy after you rise with Christ+in reality Christians,the same as non-Christians, do not always experience joy,or feel joyful, throughout their life. Indeed,I think this kind of thought can even put some people off religion as they can see that this isn't true as Christians aren't always joyful. As well as this it can add pressure to Christians to feel joyful when they don't which adds to their stress instead of alleviating it.
Nonetheless,I couldn't have done half as good as this myself! And many people here seemed to get a great deal out of this retreat so I think it did hit most people right where they are at. Although most also thought the silence went on too long!
Jon+I actually used the quiet evenings to have some relaxing time watching films. 1 evening we watched Snakes on a Plane in the Social Room with Titus+Gregory. The Social Room is a small room with a pool table,a fold-away table tennis table,sofas+a TV. The film wasn't great but it was nice to pass the time as we talked throughout most of it with Titus sharing much about S.A. life with us.
Anyway the talks were about Lazareth (who Jesus raised from the dead)+how we too need to die in certain ways. Personally,as a result I felt the talks from Sunday evening-Wednesday afternoon about death were quite depressing! I also thought the last talk on Weds about rising from the dead was somewhat misplaced+ naive. It was about being thankful+joyful about being resurrected by Christ+I couldn't help thinking that the idea of dieing+rising again is something most Christians already know about,more especially ordinands! It also spoke of joy after you rise with Christ+in reality Christians,the same as non-Christians, do not always experience joy,or feel joyful, throughout their life. Indeed,I think this kind of thought can even put some people off religion as they can see that this isn't true as Christians aren't always joyful. As well as this it can add pressure to Christians to feel joyful when they don't which adds to their stress instead of alleviating it.
Nonetheless,I couldn't have done half as good as this myself! And many people here seemed to get a great deal out of this retreat so I think it did hit most people right where they are at. Although most also thought the silence went on too long!
water crisis again!!
You will not believe what happened over night...a water pipe burst+we have no water again!! I cannot believe it! But at least we have those barrels in place to get some water from to wash with+we have bottled water to drink. Still it is certainly not ideal+I hope it doesn't last as long as last time.
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