Quick Blog - Africa Time

Oh. Africa. What you do to me.

 

Today was a slow day. Poli Poli as they say here in Kiswahili. Africa does not do things on a "schedule". They just do. Brother Felix is a great monk here at the Center. He is constantly doing things and yet nothing seems to get done, but the difference is that he is not bothered by it. Most people I know would throw a fit if they were working themselves into the ground and nothing was getting done.

It's not the activity but the outlook that is just so different here. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but I'll try nonetheless.

I think I need to establish some points of comparison. First I'll take my experience of Mayan Mexico. They're lazy. You know the saying if it isn't broken don't fix it? Well, they take that to a whole new level. If it won't kill you, leave it alone. That's how they go through life. At a lazy pace, doing things when it's convenient. The thing about the Mayans that was so frustrating to myself and the other volunteers was that they were just floating in life, and they didn't seem to want anything but to live relatively purposeless.
That's the first point.

The second will be the Western Man. We will not stop until we have found the most efficient, convenient, and cost effective method for any activity or system or activity systems. We have an internal need to progress and do better in a purely physical sense as opposed the ancients want for transcendental things. We are so driven to complete tasks and are totally confused by those who linger.

Africans. They're sort of in the center. They want to move forward but can't seem to care enough. They want to want to move forward. Very similar to my academic experience. I wanted to want to study for my exams. Hah. On the other hand, however, living state does not seem to be of much concern for them at all! The city of Nairobi, after going downtown once, I'm convinced was an absolutely beautiful city. It might have had some electrical and water infrastructure issues, but in an architectural way it must have been very pretty. The evidence is there today but they've reused each building and road down to every brick and block of asphalt 100 times over. I won't even compare the slums, but here's the real kicker: everyone has really really clean clothes! EVEN IN THE SLUMS. All clothes look brand new. Sometimes I'll see someone wearing a shirt with a permanent stain, but oh my goodness their clothes are cleaner than mine at college using ultra bleach and dryer towelettes.

So when it comes to it. All of this affects even time itself. They always make their meals and tea times(used to be a British Province), and they are always running around looking busy. Everyone will stop what they are doing and talk to you. Tomorrow is always a better day to accomplish something.

One thing that is essentially different from both the Mayans and the Westerners is the commitment to education of the kids. Maybe the children aren't educated that well, but boy does everyone give everything they have to give it their best shot. People with college degrees are living in the slums, and they are happily sharing their knowledge with the children.

I haven't figured out the value system here. But it's certainly interesting to say the least.

-Harris Moriarty

PS
There is now an option to follow my blog above the slideshow on the right, or you may type in your email address above to just get email notification of a blog update!

PPS
Here's a giant slug.

Quick Blog - Mass

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Col 3:16

So I mentioned in my first blog that I might have things pop up that I really want to talk about before the week is out. Today the topic I got really excited about was Mass.

African Mass is awesome. The daily Masses aren’t a whole lot different than the US save for a few Swahili responses, but Sundays are just amazing. First off, the whole church was packed and everyone scooched in really tightly to make sure everyone could sit(remember the whole thing about them squishing people?). Secondly, the music is really good. I’ll get back to that. Thirdly, everyone in there cares. In the fourth, it is a celebration.

Somehow, and I haven’t the faintest clue as to how, but somehow there is room for everyone to sit. At first, it seems like there’s no room for anyone else, and then, all of a sudden, people come streaming down the aisles and disappear into the pews. Makes no sense. Also, every single person under the age of 7 was staring directly into my soul, and then I would look over and give them a surprise, quick smile and they’d start giggling and turn their faces into their parent’s bodies. It was fun.

Now to the music. My lord, it was so cool. I can’t help but compare some aspects of my trip here to my trip to Mexico a few years ago. People in Mexico can’t sing. It’s a statement of fact. In Kenya, it’s an entirely different story. People have incredible voices here. I seriously thought I was listening to Ladysmith Black Mombazo today at Mass. Also. Everyone claps here, and not the annoying clap that people do solitarily because they’re in their own little world. No, everyone here claps in time with the music. Even the people who are too cool to sing and wear jeans to Mass(yes they exist even here) clap. It’s not a gesture of extravagant emotion in Mass, but rather their participation in the musical side of the celebration. Everyone has a part.

To that last point of everyone having a part, one thing I found interesting was the behavior during the Our Father. In the states we have such a hard time about what we do during that time. Some people fold their arms and pray in their head, others hold the arms out, some hold hands. Over here, they extend their arms towards the priest who is lifting their prayers to heaven, and they all sing in unison. Basically, as a community they pray the same words out loud but underneath those words are their own individual souls being lifted. Anyways, I thought that was cool.

Lastly, it’s a celebration. I really liked the language they used in Mass. They didn’t limit themselves to just English, but also added Swahili and Latin. And they chanted every response. Even to the point where they sing Kyrie Eleison in response to the General Intercessions. They go all out every time. When they process the wine and water up with the gifts, the entire choir gets up and surrounds the gifts(water, wine, donations both monetary and not). Then they dance/sing with jubilee as the escort the gifts to the priest. It is truly gorgeous.

Now I definitely won’t blog until Saturday, but this just had to be spoken about!

-Harris Moriarty

Fun Fact: They process up for the collection. A few people hold collection boxes at the end of each aisle. More people go up for this than for communion. Food for thought.

Also, here are a big matatu and a little matatu:

Harris Gets The Internet!

Hey All!

Guess what. I'm in Africa. Pretty redonkulous. Let me tell you about what's happened so far:

So last time we spoke, I was telling you about the retreat at the Belmont Abbey Monastery. Well it finished up great. After Vespers on Wednesday, they held a little party for us, also known as a haustus in monk voocabulary, and then after Lauds on Thursday morning the said a special prayer and gave each of us a hug. Caitlin O'Malley did a great expose on each of the monks on her blog site: hakunamatatabvc.blogspot.com. The best part was on Wednesday night when Br. Edward took us out to SweetFrog for one last indulgence in extravagance. What a great guy he is.

We left Belmont on Thursday after a wonderful retreat having seen and said goodbye to a lot of friends and made some solid memories before we flew 10 thousand miles away.

Our trip began., and here's the team!

Me(Harris Moriarty)

Henry Wilson

Kate Drinkwater

Caitlin O'Malley

   

We arrived at the Charlotte airport around 11:30 in the morning and Kate and checked in 2 bags while the other two each checked 1. Sat in the airport for a little while, and finally got off on our journey by way of JFK. We got off the plane, and we might as well have been in Kenya because that place is crazy looking. Luckily there was a girl on our plane who was also going the Nairobi. Her name was Hannah, and she was a native of Love Valley, NC and some of the surrounding towns. Nice girl. Helped us navigate through JFK a bit. After a 3.5 hour layover and a quick trip to Panda Express for our last American meal(ha!) we jumped on the plane to Zurich(Swiss Air baby!). 

Leaving the States

Then we sat on a plane for 8 hours. I watched a few movies. I'd never seen All the President's Men with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman before, but I gotta say it was rather enjoyable. The other movies were sort of tasteless so I didn't pay a whole lot attention to them when they were on. Landed in Zurich, and I gotta say that Switzerland was fun. First off, flying over their towns was evidence that they haven't left the 1800s. Secondly, they just have a million little things everywhere that are just so convenient! Ex. In the bathroom stalls, they not only have the toilet seat covers but also a little dispenser for antibacterial fluid to actually wipe on the seat. They're doors are different, too. I can't really explain it, but I like them. They don't have door jams. I dunno. It's strange and cool. Oh I almost forgot the cool pictures of the sunset and sunrise we took on the flight to Zurich:

Sunset

Sunrise

Anyways, after that, we went to Nairobi(yay!). Another 8 hours and a bunch more movies I couldn't care less about, but holy heck when I would randomly look outside my window I saw the best stuff. Vast deserts. Huge mountain ranges. Massive craters. It was pretty unique to say the least.

Mountains

Giant Cracks in the Ground

Landed in Nairobi. Had no problems. Walked out without anyone checking my bags and my new friend, Tim(from St. John's College in Minnesota), and Brother Felix were waiting for Henry and me. Jumped in the car and drove off. I'm gonna tell you right now. I feared for my life that night. And for my computer. The trunk didn't have enough room for all of our luggage so I kept my hiking pack with me in the very tiny car(they like squishing people here). I left my computer/backpack in the trunk. I thought Prince George's Country, Maryland was bad. I thought mexico was bad. Nairobi has the craziest mother fathering drivers I have ever seen. Even crazier than Michael Wagner for crying out loud! They have five lane highways that do not have distinct lanes. People not only honk, but also flash their high beams continually. On top of this there is a constant Brownian Motion of people moving across these highways. Absolutely unreal. and I love it!

We went to downtown Nairobi today so that I could get the things I needed to acquire internet here and we took a matatu there. These "cars" are about the length of a smaller minivan, have the height of a Mercedes Turbodiesel, and seat around 15-20 people. These guys account for roughly half the honking and high beam flashing on the roads. When we got downtown though, being able to move the streets and cars without restraint was very freeing. I think Henry got tired of telling me to look out, but I was doing alright for myself!

Traveling aside, as of right now I don't have any particular direction in terms of where I'm going to be volunteering, but I'm headed to St. Maurus school for the mentally and physically handicapped on Monday morning to see if they can use my services. The school is right in the slum. I don't think I'm going to bring my camera for one, because I don't want to seem like a tourist and two, because I don't want to offend anyone and three, because I don't want my brand new camera stolen... Either way I'll have an update for you just maybe not as many pictures. I hope everyone continues to do awesomely back home and I'm praying for y'all just as I assume y'all are doing the same for me. I'll be back in around a week or so for my next update!

-Harris Moriarty

PS

Here's a Monkey:

Random Monkey in my Backyard.

Just the Beginning

Well hello everyone! Welcome to my little blog about my mission trip to Africa. This will be a place where anyone can come and sort of keep tabs on the trip from America. My hope is to update this page roughly once a week. I can't promise I'll get to it every week, and there might be stories I just have to post so you'll just have to live with the inconsistency.

Anyways, an introduction to my trip for starters!

I'm going to go ahead and designate August 17th as the beginning of my trip. It's not the day I left for Africa, but it is the day that I began to fully invest in  my mental preparation for it. On Aug 17th, I flew into Charlotte after a bomb.com couple of days in the Southern Florida/Naples/Miami area for my birthday and Danny McGiffin's bachelor party. Got a ride from the airport to Belmont Abbey, and, from there, my pre-Africa retreat began.

Basically the retreat has consisted of: waking up early to pray with the monks at vigil, small nap, lauds, breakfast, nap, midday prayer, mass, lunch, nap, vespers, dinner, nap, troll the quad, sleep.

Now that's not completely it of course. Brother Elias has been gracious enough to give us about an hour of his time a day just imparting his wisdom on the Benedictine Tradition. He is a relatively new monk, and he'll be going back to seminary at the end of August. Additionally, we've gotten the opportunity to do some random work around the grounds Brother Tobia. He's a man of few words, but he's definitely got some funny things to say if you commit to spending time with him.

Also running concurrent with our retreat at the monastery, freshman orientation is going on down in the dorms. I've had the chance to go wander around and meet the new freshman. I'll have you all know, this is the sixth orientation that I've been to in a row. Some people might say that I shouldn't spread that around, maybe they're right. Nonetheless, I really enjoy meeting new people, and hanging out with old friends while school is still out of session. Nothing like it.

Next, where am I going and what am I doing. Quick answer. Just outside Nairobi, Kenya and working in a school/center for disable children. Do you want more? Thought so.

Ok so here's the deal. I'm taking Swiss Air Economy Class from JFK to Zurich to Nairobi. Getting picked up there and being taken out of the city limits into what is known as "The Little Vatican". There's a ton of different religious orders and communities there. Why would they choose that space of all places to settle? Because they happen to be snuggled up right next to Mathare which happens to be the third largest slum in all of Africa. Some 250,000 people in hundreds of high rise buildings with no electricity or running water. In this area, I'm specifically going to a place called the Amani Center. It's funded and hosted by a Benedictine Monastery not too far away. It's a retreat center that has between 4 and 6 monks present at any given time. I will be living there. From there, I will walk 30 minutes into the Slum and work in a school for the mentally challenged and the physically handicapped. There's no real understanding of how to deal with people with disabilities over there. They either get abandoned or locked in a back room. About 25 years ago, one woman decided to take the whole slum by storm and basically build a home for these under privileged people. That's where I'll be going. On a side note, I'll be working with children of a local orphanage and surrounding schools teaching them sports. Most likely basketball since my other sport, swimming, doesn't seem to be very attainable when the only water source, a local river, happens to also be a local sewage dump...

More than that, I don't know because I haven't been there yet! But when I get there on Friday afternoon after 22 combined flying hours, I'll be sure to update y'all on what I see and hopefully with some pictures!

I hope to be joining the monks there in prayer for everyone back home, and I hope you'll do the same for me. Swimmancer signing off for the evening...

-Harris Moriarty