Messengers sent to us - encounters in Africa

We all have people who come to us, who speak to us about us. There are times when it goes right over our heads. Some speak down to us. Like the picture of the Giraffe below they are so high up they have hard time stooping down into our world where we live on a daily basis. There are people who come to live with us, be with us, share our pains, our journeys and in a sense earn the right to speak into our lives.

I worked with a young woman in Africa, who graduated from Cambridge University. She was 23 years old, had given up her comfort of home, the opportunity to make money and a name for herself to work in Africa. She lived in the same house that I lived, since we worked for the same organization. She called me Dad, I called her Emmy, we would laugh, share, cry, and simply be there for one another. I was much older than her, and yet I was able to receive from her, as she would speak to me in a caring manner, about situations, about life, about dreams.

There are times when people appear in our lives, speak into our lives in such a way that the result is a powerful transformation.

Africa-The Inner Journey...

Reflections of my ongoing African Journey

Africa - One Man's Journey: Places, people, events that deeply touch our hearts. When you go on a journey there is something you see with your eyes, hear with your ears and even smell. Here is my journey in Africa both the inner and outer reflections.

Africa - Reflections on the Journey: Stories and thoughts of inner reflections in Africa. As we travel along, things from our past illuminate the present. Here you find some thoughts shaped in Africa.

Acceptance: An encounter with a leper. Acceptance is something we all crave. To be loved and accepted means safety for us, space where we can simply be who we were meant to be.

African Carvings - The Shaping of the soul: Events tend to mold and shape us. The events of life shape us into who we are. Here a carver of of soapstone teaches me about the shaping of the soul, the making of character. In some ways it is easier to shape a piece of soapstone than it is to shape a human being.

African Meditation: Thoughts formed and shaped in Africa. Places in one's life can evoke things within. Africa has done that in my life. A time of inner reflection. There is more to a trip to Africa, than the magnificent Rift Valley, Lake Victoria, the Mountain Gorillas, there is that time where you sit somewhere on a balcony in Africa overlooking a lake, a river, quietly you gaze into the African night and reflect.

African Night Sounds: African Nights are filled with sounds that you never forget. They stick with you and living in Africa they become a familiar sound, they even become welcome. In a city there is hardly ever total silence and even in the wilderness there are the sounds of the night that do something deep within.

Easter in Africa - Reflections: Some thoughts about hollow chocolate bunnies and a fulfilled life instead of a hollow life that is simply empty. There are not many chocolate bunny treats here in Africa, instead Easter for most Africans is a celebration of life.

Celebrations with an African Twist: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years in Africa. Sometimes finding a turkey is a bit tough but there is always a reason to celebrate in Africa.

Seasons of Life: Lessons learned along the way. As you get older, one of my observations is...that you either get bitter of better. There are new temptations along the way.

My African Puzzle Ring: How do you put a puzzle ring back together? How do you put life back together. Some observations as I attempted to put my puzzle ring back together.

Beauty of the Heart: This is about inner and outer beauty, while looking at the Kaloli Bird (Marabou Stork). The stork is quite ugly, at least I think so, but when you see them soaring over Kampala city, there is a grace and beauty to them, you simply have to see it.

Why I went to Africa and left: Doors open and doors close for us. Some years the events of life unfolded and I wound up in Africa, I have come and gone and once again I am back in Africa, it simply gets to you.

Sitting on the Nile River: To some almost sacred, the Nile, a source of water for many, a place to fish for a livelihood, for some such as myself, a place to sit and reflect as the water flows by.

One Question asked -Who are you?: As I landed in Kigali Rwanda I was questioned and asked "Who are you? It has stuck with me...who am I? A human doing or Human Being?

Two Men - Different paths - Similar Hearts: Reflections early in the morning as the sun rises awakening to the call to prayer in Uganda.

African Solitude - Reflections of the Soul: The stillness outside of us bringing stillness within. To be still for some is a labor, we love sounds, instead of the simple sound from within, the sound of silence.

This year Experience Africa-Discover one of its Pearls-The Mountain Gorillas of of Uganda.