Week Four This past week I discovered Gogo Manyandes secrets (she is also one of the senior members of this community). Ok, not really secrets but gifts. This happened when she visited us one morning, holding in her hand a mysterious glass. I was to discover that in this glass was home-made wine. She was looking for wine-tasters and we were among the chosen ones. Besides making wine, Gogo Manyande also makes jam and juice, at times with indegenous ingredients. She is also a herbalist, and can make a concoction (among many others) that cures asthma. Personally I will be associating more with Gogo Manyande the winemaker, especially now that she blessed us with two litres of her brew. During the course of the week (July 16) we joined the rest of the Carmelite Family in celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel. The community members here helped us to celebrate this day in different ways. The Franciscans (from the Leprosy Center) took us out for lunch, where we also played pool and had a few pints. John the painter/artist gave us a few works of art as gifts, and in the process gave me a Facebook profile picture. In the spirit of the Culture of Solidarity/Ubuntu, the kids have been inviting me to come and dine with them. On Friday I responded to one such invitation when I joined them for supper, and this week will be honouring a few more invitations. In some of my informal discussions with the kids I have learnt a few of their internal struggles. One such struggle has to do with their failure to grasp the cultural systems of relating in family setups. They tell me that they dont like this subject when it is raised or discussed in class. Thinking to myself I am sure the fourth commandment could also have the same effect. In light of this revelation I have decided to make myself a few relations among them, so far I have aunty Charmaine and a good few brothers and sisters. The real challenge is to help them realise that as members of the universal family they really have such relations (uncles, aunts, grandparents, brothers, and sisters, etc). While at Church yesterday I made myself a new friend, Tanatswa. She is not a member of this community, but rather of the Leprosy Center community. She is handicapped, and both her parents are late. From the short time we spent together I got to know that she likes singing, dancing and music. On Saturday we had the official opening of the library and hall. This was a small affair as we only had a few visitors from outside. Irregardless of this the ceremony went well. Last week we welcomed more visitors, and this again gave me the opportunity to grow in my Theology of visiting and hospitality. During the week we welcomed two young ladies (Tapiwa and Grace), and during their visit they visited the Blue Cross. On Saturday we welcomed visitors from Capernaun Trust Zimbabwe. During their stay the addressed the kids and spoke about joy. Currently we has Sr Gerry (Sandra Kativhu), a member of the Divine Child Congregation and a friend of mine. Besides these known visitors we have been having many other unknown visitors. The discipline discourse came up again last week. The cases recorded vary, with one being serious. We just hope that those kids will improve on their behaviour. Fortunately a good number are well behaved and loving. On a sad note Gogo Jean is not feeling well. With the many prayers being said for her, as well as the medication she is taking, I am hopeful that she will get better soon.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 11:29:04 +0000
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