my new nickname

When Sara lopped off the tree branch and brusquely shoved it into the back of her little red truck before we set off on an all-day journey through Mozambique, I had no idea she was giving me my first lesson in the amazing, resilient moringa oleifera tree.

Innocently, she started a educational revolution by jabbing that smooth-barked nutrient-packed stickling into the soil of every remote community where she partnered with people. Sticklings that flourish in dry,poor soil into a fruitful, flowering reproducible tree within the time it takes to wean a baby. Did I mention it purifies water?

Under the moringa spell, I have been yabbering about this incredible tree to friends in Congo, Niger, US, UK...

And now it has turned into the topic of my research essay due in several weeks. My librarian gasped in delight when I asked for help in my search. He grew up eating Moringa pods in Sri Lanka. So the next week when I arrived at the library, there were a few moringa 'drumsticks' (that's what the pods look like) waiting for me!

Have a look (photo taken in Niger)...
http://www.treesforlife.org/our-work/our-initiatives/moringa/moringa-tree


My classmates have started calling me 'Moringa'.

Up to no good

Yes, I am eating very well. All too quickly lost my African skinny.




Doing the local tourist thing- the famed millenium bridge and St Paul's.



Heading back in history, at Henry the IIX's controversially lavish palace. Traveled back home by river boat on the Thames.




Not afraid to be lost...




I love multi-lingual scrabble! Voici, une amie favorite en londres.




...and hanging out with superstars who visit me on their vacation! I'm so lucky!




Let me know if you need anything translated...




Everything is old here- even grapevines planted in 1796 that still make fruit. This one also made the Guinness World Record for being the looooooooongest vine in the world.



During Easter I took an innocently forbidden photo, which I share with you now...



And three other pass-times include
1) looking out the window (we have an incredible back garden) or escaping to the wood
2)baking bread (for the first time)
3)and oh yeah...studying. Actually that's why I'm here!
4)and wearing green pants.

contente et triste

This evening my fingers found the comfort of a borrowed guitar, my voice found the comfort of a melody for a sad heart.

My dialing fingers found the kind reception of a sister at the other end of a call.

Today my spirit felt the rush of risk-taking toward an encounter that left both of us certain of the Divine, giving life to our briefly crossing paths.

My tongue savored the mingling of green and fruity flavors.

My eyes nodded off with the challenge and relaxation of learning by written word.

I give thanks for my small room, for the simplicity and limits.

I am thankful for reasons to go places, to be about.

I am thankful for my body and how it works.

I am thankful that I need others, how it leaves me inextricably part of the human web.

I am grateful for the acts of listening, of forgiveness. Two of the most powerful...

I am grateful for the One who makes forgiveness and redemption possible, that the cycle has been broken.

I am grateful for the capacity to dream and look ahead, to be drawn on by hope and anticipation, for the promise that time passes.

I am grateful for deep sadnesses of the heart, and for the blooms of joy that spring up alongside.

I am grateful to be alive.

new setting for home base

I enjoy the setting of a common guest house on a brick-built and leafily-shaded street.



A peek at my basement room and common kitchen beside.



Glorious yard, I mean garden, out back. (and there is more beyond this picture)



I enjoy the company of easy going housemates who live and work at the center. Today was sunny enough for the morning coffee to be held out doors.

the London Eye

The London Eye is actually a famous tourist attraction by the river that gives you a bird's eye view from an enormous ferris wheel type contraption. My London eye is more street level:

I walk or bus this street to get anywhere in central London.



If you take a seat on the upper level of the bus, it is a great way to see where you are going and get a view of the streets.



This is a corner I will see each week when I arrive at class.



And this view in the other direction.



I am back to the familiar (but still novel) black, loamy earth, color-brimming blooms...



and grass!

Parting images of Niger

My team of colleagues from Niger, Ivory Coast and Mali (L-R)- the supervision team for the health/nutrition centers, all four of us are nurses. This is a rare moment we are all together...on my last day. I am dressed in a gift from one my health center teams- of beautiful Tuareg garments. Many colleagues didn't recognize me! Most everyone we worked with were either Haoussa, Tuareg, or Peulh- each group distinct and beautiful. The tranquility and interdependence between the groups is notable.



I was part of an incredibly international team who struggled and succeeded to get along. This is after one of the Sunday brunches that we started



I held an outdoor party to say goodbye to friends there. We got the supplies there on donkey carts, flew kites, played petanque (bocci ball), listened to music, had traditional tea, stayed until dark and strung lights in the trees...





I spent one night at each of 'my' villages where I worked the most. Here we are relaxing after work- me and another nurse who had come to fill in at the clinic.



No, I am not going to buy a bed at the market! I would have to carry it on my head and I live too far away (is really what I told him!) We had a good laugh.



Another shot of the market in the town where our health center is.



This a most typical small community you will find if you get off the main road. This may be one large or several families. If you stop, they will generously host you or point you in the direction you are looking to go, over the next hill, past the well, beyond the big tree...

How to Get Exercise In London

10 great (and almost FREE) ways to stay healthy in the big city of London:

1) Defy the escalator out of the Tube (The Underground) and count the 172 stair steps to ground level before continuing up the hill to the street.

2)Walk to class. Only takes 2 hours and there is lots of diversion along the way.

3)Stay on the bus just to see where it goes...and then walk home anyway.

4)Follow an outdated flyer at the library to a new part of the city.

5)Go to the park for good cell reception and let yourself get lost.

6)Forget (several) things when you leave the house.

7)Live one floor from the bathroom

8)Make sure the room you rent is 72 stair steps away from your favorite housemates and make sure you forget something important when you go up there so that you can repeat the trip several times.

9)Make a friend who likes to meet at Hyde Park

10) Live on a hill...and then go anywhere!