Back home and crook

Well, we’ve been back home from Africa for almost 2 weeks now and I’m sick. The first week back I was jetlagged and this week I’ve had a head and chest full of horrid slimy stuff an no energy whatsoever. I have struggled to keep working but had to relent when I was practically falling asleep on clients and colleagues kept telling me to go home. I had all of today off and went to the doctor who predictably told me that I would live and just needed to rest. He thought my job is stressful and my trip to Africa was stressful and that was why I was sick. Funny thing is that that sort of stuff doesn’t stress me… coming home to broken down cars, plumbing problems, and an unfinished cabin I do find very stressful.  The builders are putting in the kitchen in the cabin today which means it is pretty well finished - at last!!  Unfortunately it wasn’t finished when we came home so our friends who were going to live in it till Xmas had to find alternative accommodation, which is very disappointing. We still have to finish painting it. There’s always some painting to be done. It would probably surprise no one to know that Keith and I are engrossed in colour decisions and have about a dozen tester posts to date.

Anyway, Africa! How do I begin!! In response to questions on my last blog - we went to South Africa, Uganda and Rwanda… and Kenya too (we walked over a bridge and found ourselves in Kenya for 10 minutes!). It was all part of a course I am doing in responding to trauma. We immersed ourselves in the appartheid history in South Africa and the genocide in Rwanda and found it all utterly devastating. We lived in a black township near Capetown and a remote rural village in Uganda and a disability project in Rwanda and received the warmest hospitality. We met a lot of people who should have had the stuffing knocked out of them given all the attrocities they have had committed against them on top of poverty and disease, but who still smile and have hopes and dreams and want to talk to us.  It was enormously humbling and deeply touched us. Particulary people who spoke about forgiveness to people who have so terribly wronged them. It was a significant experience and I feel changed by it. So many things to reflect on and hopefully some valuable connections to keep.

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