Montreal Fire (Dedication)

This week has been pretty productive. I'm a junior youth animator for some of the girls in my old dorm and we've started planning a service project: health and hygiene at local schools. We're going to fundraise on Visiting Sundays by organizing a 1-hour daycare. On Saturday I started the junior dance workshop and we've learnt most of the Racism dance already! Sunday was a Visiting Sunday and the youth were actually visited! A youth who served here a few years ago is visiting friends in Zambia and she's stopped by the school a few times. She brought us pizza and cokes - she knows what we miss here!

I'm trying not to have my feet on two continents at this point... I'm starting to look forward to going home, and that makes me realize how special each day I have left here is! 'Living in the now' is complicated business.

I'm not really sure of the significance behind the name 'Montreal Rain' but that's the name of a choir made up of some the most amazing people and some very precious friends of mine in Montreal.
In general, I don't really associate 'rain' with the youth of Montreal. They're more firey than wet. Really, they're like fireflies... bright lights you see on dark, quiet nights that compel you to come closer and get a better look. And when you come closer, you're enchanted and hooked to their energy, light and love. Their energy is inspiring, their vision is wonderful and their actions speak louder than any testament of mine ever could. All I can say is that I've seen strangers become family and hearts melt into open arms in the midst of your positive and reviving spirit.
So guys, this next month is for all of you. I'll remember your zeal when I get tired and your laugh when I need to be cheered up. Keep twinkling and blinking - you'll light up any forest if you stick together.

Unless and until the believers really come to realize they are one spiritual family, knit together by a bond more lasting than mere physical ties can ever be, they will not be able to create that warm community atmosphere which alone can attract the hearts of humanity, frozen for lack of real love and feeling. (From a letter dated 5 May 1943 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer)
See you in a few months!

Water

(Having problems with the pictures...sorry)
Water is really great. Especially running water. 14 hours without it will remind you just how fantastic H2O really is :) We've also had quite a few power outages, but because we have a generator for the kitchen, it hasn't bothered me much. I know that it's annoying for the staff because they don't get the generator-power. Power is also good.

Sophie's birthday was on Friday, so after children's classes (which went very well! It was my first lesson on cleanliness, I found a blog on children's class ideas that was helpful and we talked about how the body is the home of the soul and needs to be clean so the soul can thrive... and we did a craft) we sat around and told funny stories about Sophie. There was one time that she was boiling the kettle, but it was taking a long time to boil. Sophie reassured us, testing the water with her finger, "it's warming up! I feel it!" then amy finds the kettle unplugged. we would have waited a long time.
We also laughed about how Sophie is becoming increasingly gangsta... probably due to amy's influence, and because she's watched a lot of Martin Lawrence movies lately!
And we ate all the candy her grandparents sent her - there's a picture of us, pre-sugar high in the new youth room.

Yesterday, Sophie got her birthday cake (the kitchen makes a cake, about 12" by 8" and you aren't allowed to take it out of the dining hall). Usually we've managed to sneak it out the dining hall and eat it later, because it's a bit much to finish in one go, but this time we were bold (and hungry) and we at the WHOLE thing! There were 4 of us. We were impressed with ourselves, in a guilty way...

Also, Sophie was thrown in the pool on Friday - a Banani tradition. Actually the tradition is to dump buckets of water on the person, but we were more efficient :) There's a photo of her on the way to the pool.

We had a nice Feast on Saturday afternoon, I'd missed our Feasts over December. There is a picture of the children's program presentation, and my snazzy pink dress from Nika!

My prayers are with the youth in Montreal for their intensive teaching campaign! Youth will move Montreal.
Also a shout out to Amelia, hope you have a great birthday!! And Tami, you know you're getting on when your baby sister is grown up!! Have a super one babe :)

Dedication 5

I'm a bit late for this month's dedication, but the rest of January is dedicated to Hand of the Cause Ali-Muhammad Varqa. He was the last surviving Hand of the Cause of the Baha'i Faith and he passed away on September 22, 2007. As a Hand of the Cause, he played an important role in protecting and advancing the Baha'i Faith. My family and I heard him speak twice last December when we were in Israel for pilgrimage and I'll never forget the way he, a very old and frail man, was assisted onto the stage and then addressed us for the next hour or so with such radiance and joy. Some of my friends who worked at the Baha'i World Center in Israel told me stories of how Dr. Varqa would always be the first one in the office in the mornings, even in his old age. I hope to be as hard-working and radiant as he was.

Something new that happened today is that a package from my friend at home, Nika, arrived today! I'm going to be well-dressed for the rest of term because she sent me a beautiful dress and skirt.
Also, I've been emailing my new friend Roya who's planning to do her year of service here next year, and the principal showed me her application letter! It's so exciting to think that other people are going through the same thing I was last year :)
I'm also going to try and get involved in the health program the Institute runs, to get some experience in the health field. We'll see if they can use my (unskilled) help!
I've really been enjoying my work as a sports and music teacher... I'm getting good at blowing the whistle and conducting a class choir :) I feel a lot like my older sister Mika, she was my soccer coach for one summer. With the grade 4-5s I do the same exercises as she taught me, "Around the World" for soccer etc!

Entropy

Apparently I haven't said anything about my new work! This is exciting stuff.
I'm teaching music and Phys. Ed. in the Primary school with Sophie this term! We have an average of 2 sports lessons and one music lesson everyday in the mornings. The afternoons we have off. I'm have a great time with lesson plans (I love making lists!!) and getting creative with exercises/songs... I made one class do yoga!

This week has been long. It takes effort to get back into a routine. The youth are reading Some Answered Questions together in the afternoons (a book of answers on a range of topics by Abdu'l-Baha, the son of the Prophet-founder of the Baha'i Faith) and we're going to try and stay in shape using our workout DVDs. The new youth, Anita, is adjusting slowly but surely.

Next week the new grade 8s arrive. We have two days of orientation with them to get them acquainted with the rules of the school and the campus... and each other! I'm excited to play team-building games with them.

I'm really liking my new room! I'm finding that the stuff you have will expand to fill the available space though. Entropy.

Oh! the pictures are of my pet lizard, Eddie Lizzard, who kills my bugs and keeps me company. He had fluff on his chin... and Baha'i classes :) notice how nice and green everything is now!

Back at Banani :)

I'm so happy to be back!
I thought I might have a hard time adjusting to being back here, but I'm really glad to be here. I really missed the other volunteers and staff members, and even though the weather is quite awful (serious rain...) I'm very happy. As you can see, we had a home-coming party, with Anita who is the new volunteer from Congo. I'm home!

I had a WONDERFUL week with my gran and her partner John. It was quite productive in that I got lots of shopping done, for the primary school as well as for myself. I saw lots of family as well, and had a great new years eve with my friend Shanta from Maxwell. We went dancing with a group of baha'i youth and their friends. I also visited the Baha'i center in Johannesburg for the 19 Day Feast. Going away for a few weeks was just what i needed to step back, have a rest, and get ready for the next 3 months.

Rae just got back from pilgrimage in Israel, where Baha'is go to visit holy places, such as the Shrine of the Bab (above). She's come back all fired up and telling stories that remind me of when I was on pilgrimage exactly a year ago.

Things that have changed here are that we've swapped dorms. I've moved into the senior dorm so I have the grade 11s and 12s. I'm a bit sad to leave my babies, but I'm looking forward to getting to know these girls. This means I have a bigger room and my own bathroom, but I also have to stay up till 10 (instead of 9) and I have more girls to look after. It will be fun..
zambian love,
Karrie