Which continent, exactly?

This blog's title isn't in reference to actual continents (I've now been to four), but is rather drawn from "The Third and Final Continent," a stunning short story by Jhumpa Lahiri, from her collection, The Interpreter of Maladies. In particular, I'm inspired by the following quote that summarizes the attitude I try to carry with me through life and on my travels

I am not the only person to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly I am not the first. Still there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.

I love this. It calls on us to consider the tiny details of our experiences, both one-by-one, and in the aggregate, and to maintain a sense of wonder even about the seemingly mundane things that are the building blocks of our lives, and often, the glue that binds us to our traveling companions.

This blog began as a chronicle of my study abroad experience in Cairo in Spring 2008, and continued last year while volunteering in Geneva, and South Sudan with a wonderful organization, VIDES.

Now in graduate school, I'm returning to the Continent this summer while interning in New Delhi, India.

Please enjoy, inquire, and learn.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

My international community

Compared to my time in Geneva, I have expanded the international scope of my household.  Meet the gang (has been difficult to get everyone together in one place at the same time for a picture.  it is forthcoming).  For now, as a stand-in here's Sr. Tsige, and her favorite, Jello.

Sr. Candide, from Canada
Work here: Superior of the community, headmistress of the school
Usually cooks: “a bit of pasta.”
Fun facts: Has been in Africa for a long time, including in Rwanda, and Ethiopia, where she was in charge of all the Salesian sisters in East Africa.
Likes the cats?  No.

Sr. Celestina, from India 
Work here: Supports worship activities of local parish
Usually cooks: turns our leftovers into delightful meals for the kitties
Fun facts: Has been here in Sudan/South Sudan for 30 years.  Which is longer than I’ve been alive.  Meanwhile, my time here is just one trimester of a pregnancy.  Perspective. Also loves Nigerian TV and the news on Al-Jazeera English
Likes the cats?  Yes.

Sr. Tsige, from Ethiopia
Work here: Supervises the kindergarten classes
Usually cooks: resourceful and delicious rice dishes, fantastic Ethiopian food
Fun facts: Loves Nigerian movies/TV, and has the uncanny ability to figure out the plotline and retell in intricate detail after less than a minute of watching one. And is more excited about making Jello than possibly anyone I’ve ever met.
Likes the cats?  Doesn’t love them, but wants them to be ok.  Was the one to alert us that one of the babies was stuck in a pipe (and then yours truly got to play Fireman), and that Mama Minou may or may not have eaten a scorpion.

Sr. Betty, from here in South Sudan
Work here: Teaches English, CRE, some administration at the school
Usually cooks: Meat, rice vegetables, somehow translates basic ingredients into delicious dishes.  Even when I see what goes in and help with cooking,  she manages to make them greater than the sum of their parts.  And creates lots of dirty dishes in the process
Fun facts: She started calling me “daughter of Obama.”  I started calling her “Sister of Obama.”  Now mostly shortened to me calling her 3amati (Arabic for Auntie), and me being “her niece.”
Likes the cats?  No.

Sr. Rosaria, who recently returned from her home in Italy
Work here: Leads the women’s promotion project, and tends to the neediest who show up on our doorstep.
Usually cooks: fantastic pasta, soup, usually puts out salami and cheeses.  Tutto buono.
Fun facts: Has an identical twin. . . For me, she’s a newcomer but was actually the first one here, helping it turn from a patch of land to a real place of service.
Likes the cats?  Yes, probably more than anyone else.

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