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And just how was Africa?? |
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Written by Kathy Platt
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Thursday, 12 January 2012 16:01 |
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One of the challenges of the week is figuring out how to respond to that question. As I read minutes from the Board about budget and building challenges and money shortages, my mind's eye flashes back to sitting in mud homes hearing about eating nothing but leaves that have been boiled in water because the food relief trucks haven't been able to get to the community. As I head out to plug in my vehicle in the frigid wind of a Prairie winter evening, my mind's eye flashes back to watching the sun set over the Indian Ocean as we sat at our table on the beach at Zanzibar. As I listen to the kids who have arrived here for Explorers this afternoon, my mind's eye flashes back to the kids who are walking in the fields of Kenya and Tanzania shepherding the flocks of goats and donkeys, and whose parents often can't afford the fees associated with attending school. The world I was immersed in for the month of November is vastly different than the world that we inhabit here in Regina, Saskatchewan. It is impossible to compare, and it is impossible to describe. I know that my heart is full of memories and stories -full of faces and relationships that I will never forget. I also know that it is very, very good to be home. I expect I will continue to ponder, to puzzle, to reflect - and that some of that will spill over into the work that I do here at Sunset. One of the huge gifts of this sabbatical was the opportunity to put my watch and my day-timer away. I hope that one of the gifts that I will bring back with me is the slowing down of the franctic pace we lead around here. It is essential that we learn to listen to the beating of our collective hearts - that we learn to look around and give thanks for the gift of community and for the gift of life itself. So, I trust that people will be patient when it looks like I am miles away - I may have retreated back to Africa for a few minutes, but I am trying hard to plant my feet on this soil, and I am trusting that God will give me the strength and the wisdom to tell the stories that need to be told - a little bit at a time!
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Last Updated on Thursday, 12 January 2012 16:54 |
Located in Regina, SK.
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