I have the best life.
This morning I traveled with two of my colleagues and two American missionaries to two nearby CHE communities, Goden and Macedouan. We had good visits in both of the communities. In Goden they shared a lot about their perinatal program. We also took a short walk to see a committee member's garden: plantain, carrots, taro. One highlight for me was the children -- in March they started a children's CHE program in Goden, one of the first in the country. The kids sang us a song, it was very cute! In both villages they mentioned the significant reduction in illness, particularly among the children. In addition to appreciating the physical and spiritual lessons, in Macedouan one of the women said that she really valued the lessons she'd learned about how to get along within her immediate and extended family, to really “live well.”
I really enjoyed spending the day with the missionaries. Their organization has been doing both church-planting and building transitional housing in one of the areas hardest-hit by the earthquake, but they are now wanting to transition away from relief work into development and are interested in using the CHE tools. It's also just fun to meet different missionaries and hear about what they do, even on a personal level: how do you exercise here? What do you do in your free time?
On our way back to town I was dropped off at the music school. I had told them I might arrive late or not at all today, but since it was to be our last rehearsal before our May Day concert I had hoped to make it. I was nearly an hour late, but they were still setting up. We rehearsed our three pieces for tomorrow's concert. It has really been fun to conduct this orchestra. The majority of them are very new at their instruments but have really great attitudes. And they are showing up more consistently to rehearsals now which really helps!
I stayed after the orchestra rehearsal to practice piano. I haven't played seriously for nearly two decades, and really don't play at all here. But I was told last night (!) that all of the teachers would be performing, so I needed to practice (I also teach piano at the school). While playing, I realized I'd become defensive in a conversation earlier that day. Of course, I really wish I would have noticed this at the time so that my reaction would have been entirely different, i.e.: helpful. (I will say that attempting to work through a process of reflexion, asking God for forgiveness, forgiving oneself, and determining next steps is probably not best done while one is still trying to practice the piano. If you try this you may realize that the issue is still unresolved and you'll have to pause later in the evening while writing a blog entry.)
As it became early evening, several of the other music teachers came to rehearse in twos and threes. The music school director asked me to accompany him tomorrow on a flute piece and we practiced that. There's only enough room in the music school now for either the orchestra or an audience, so we'll be playing tomorrow at a government building in the city's largest public square! What a place to make my conducting debut!
I came back to my lodgings for a small bite to eat – not too much, because I didn't want to spoil my appetite for the mangos that were waiting in my room. Three varieties are now readily available in this region, each one remarkable in its own way. Francique: large, juicy, fruity. Baptiste: smooth texture, perfume-y flavor. Trop Douce: delightfully sweet with a subtle flavor, ridiculously fibrous but oh! so worth it.
And now to wash up. It was warm today, and even a cold shower sounds awfully lovely when dust has stuck to your sweating skin all day. I need to take our visitors to the airport at 5:30 am, so I'd better quit typing. I love Sundays, though – I can just rest after church until the afternoon concert.
I have the best life.
