Puppies and War

Greetings to the youth of St. John and St. Anne communities, Today I am writing from my vacation. But I continue with a story from Rugari, a story of pleasant memory for me, a story about our new family additions at the parish house. As I remember my home at Rugari Parish I am anxious to return but for now I am on a vacation. A vacation planned in a way, but unplanned in another because I had to leave from Rugari when armed conflict broke out once more. But the story I want to tell is about our new family additions and here they are, these two beautiful puppies sleeping under the chair of John Paul, a seminarian staying with us at Rugari. These photos of lovely little puppies sleeping so peacefully cannot help but remind me of goodness and joy. My only concern for them now is if they are being taken care of or are they dieing of hunger. When we ran away from Rugari I called a Major from MONUC stationed at the parish to ask him if they could take care of the puppies during our absence and he assured me they would be well taken care of…that was over four weeks ago and I can’t help but wonder how they are doing in the midst of a war. I pray they are surviving. I gave these two little pups names, one an American name and the other a Swahili name. This first pup is a female named NEEMA, that is pronounced using the long vowel A two times where you see the double EE and using the soft ah pronunciation for the ending vowel. This is the Swahili word for GRACE.

The other pup is a male whom I named Sandy because he is the color of sand and a bright chipper fellow as well. One wonderful part of this story are the beautiful courtyards that these puppies and I get to play in.

This side is the south side where I look back toward the house and Mikeno Volcano behind the house and church, what wonderful scenery I get to partake in every day. Now on this side I have to confess this is an old photo that in no way shows the present beauty of this north side of the house. This photo was taken when I first arrived here in March and now everything is pruned and trimmed and flowers are blooming…we have made such wonderful progress in restoring the parish to its former beauty. But the restoration goes far beyond just getting the parish house put back together for the priests; classes and religious instruction are back in full swing, the choir again rehearses each week, various groups congregate for support, Mass is said each morning and twice on Sunday, the youth group is active once again, the farming of parish is in full swing again. Life is returning to the parish… ...or at least it was before the fighting of a few weeks ago, but today…. I do not know. We had been preparing for classes to start the first day of September but now I do not know…because I am away there is so much I do not know. I miss it and can’t wait to return. Perhaps my vacation is doing me some good, now I will be ready for the time of being there again and I pray the peace will have returned and I can again feel confident in being there safely. Another wonderful aspect of the work of the parish is that we had started some small work at the clinic again. It is open on a daily basis; staff is there to take care of patients who come in and we refuse no one medical care. Here is a child being bandaged for a gash on his forehead from a fall... ...and then look very closely at the patients standing in line at the medicine room to notice the soldier carrying his AK47 waiting in line to get his medicine. The Congolese Army does not want any pictures taken of them, but I took these photos because it is such an important part of what is happening here. If no one can tell the real story, what happens to us? What happens to our understanding of freedom for all? Here you see the finished work of the nurse who was bandaging this child. He will heal well from his wound.

The soldier and his AK47, this is the difficult part of living here, I have become too accustomed to seeing military carrying these weapons of death and destruction where ever I go and so it goes for the people who live here; we accustomed and it seems ordinary, not unusual. It has come to my mind that it is not a good thing to feel normal in this kind of circumstance and that is just another reason for me to go on vacation and taste freedom again, to remind myself of what it is like to live without the presence of AK47’s and to be able to walk in the evening without fear of death, robbery, or rape. To taste again the normal every day experience for most of us; walking with confidence that we are in a safe environment.

OK, now for another ray of beauty from Rugari before I must close this blog post. These last photos are of a woman in the village who has reached the beautiful age of 107 years young.

Look at this face and see how she still is out in the day doing her work, carrying her parcel home and visiting with the people of the village.

This is a picture of a life well lived in health, she gives me hope that life can be vital up to our last days. I look forward to visiting with her again one day when I have time for a real visit, what an inspiration she is. So I will close my short story of “Puppies and War” hoping and praying that when I return to Rugari the puppies are well, the school is back in full swing, our classrooms are finished, the clinic is working, and our water project to bring water to the village is continuing, there is so much work to do and I love the feeling of getting work accomplished. I will pray for a day when peace has fully returned to this country so that a group of our students from St. Anne and St. John can come for a visit with the students of Rugari Parish, I like to dream big, as many of you already know. Grace and Peace to you all from God our Father!