Unity

You cant tell, but it's pouring down rain

Greetings from a cold and wet Rome! While a Roman winter may not be as bad as the winter many of you are experiencing in the USA right now, it's still pretty chilly (and very damp). Especially if you are part of the refugee community here and you don't have adequate housing. Housing for the guests of the JNRC is a constant concern. Many of these guys are living in places called a centro, which is a limited-time shelter for refugees. Once you've hit your allotted amount of time in a centro, you're back out on the street. There are a few other options for refugees when they've hit their time limit, like the tent center which resembles a refugee camp you'd see in a war-torn county, but even the tent has time limits set on it. Housing is a vicious cycle for many refugees in Rome. It's not possible to get sustainable housing without a well paying job (Rome is just too expensive to live in), and it's not possible to get a job until they've gone through the commission process to get legal refugee status (which can take a year or longer). Depending on how long the commission process takes, many of the guys run out of time in the centros and tents before they can even get their papers to start work. It's a very stark reality.

With all this in mind, Jill and I sat down with the new St. Paul's intern, Areeta, and two of the Artisans, Maiga and Syed, to discuss housing last week. If you are from the Diocese of Western North Carolina, then you might be familiar with a program called Room-In-The-Inn (RITI). RITI is a traveling emergency shelter for women in the WNC area. Each week a different church/business/school hosts the shelter. The host facility provides the space needed for the shelter, food for the guests, and volunteers to help out. RITI provides the infrastructure needed to make the shelter happen (beds, bedding, transportation, etc.). Jill had the idea to try and adapt the RITI approach to work with the refugee community in Rome. There are countless church spaces in Rome that are literally sitting unused, and there are countless more that are used but should be willing to host a group like this. It's going to take a lot of sitting down and working with different churches and figuring it all out, but I think this idea has a good chance of working. Will it solve the refugee housing issues in Rome? No. (But you have to start somewhere)

During this conversation, Jill mentioned that we should write the Pope. This struck me as funny because 1) I've never been in a situation where writing the Pope in hopes of getting something done was not just a shot in the dark/crazy idea, and 2) I've never been in a place where if I wrote a letter to the Pope about business, not only is there a good chance that the Pope would read it, but also respond to it. In Italy, it's all about who you know. If you know the right people, things get done.

Papa Francesco

The idea of different churches coming together to tackle the refugee housing crisis is very fitting for this time of year as we have just finished the week of prayer for Christian unity. The ecumenical community in Rome has been very busy this past week with all sorts of services, speeches, meetings, and conferences all about christian unity. The Canadian Council of Churches picked this years theme, "Has Christ been divided?"I had the opportunity to attend a few of these activities during the past week, including the Papal vespers on Saturday. The service was held at St. Paul's Outside the Walls, which is one of the larger churches in Rome. I think that anyone who has been paying attention to the work that Pope Francis has been doing can understand how much of an honor it was to hear the Pope speak on the topic of Christian unity (even though I didn't technically understand anything while he spoke). You can find a transcript of his homily here.

"We are all journeying together, fraternally, on the road towards unity, bringing about unity even as we walk; that unity comes from the Holy Spirit and brings us something unique which only the Holy Spirit can do, that is, reconciling our differences. The Lord waits for us all, accompanies us all, and is with us all on this path of unity."

The group of us waiting to get into St. Paul's

St. Paul's is HUGE

Christian unity is an easy thing to hope for, but it's definitely not as easy to implement. The final service of the week of prayer was on Sunday at San Silvestro. A congregation of Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, and more came together for a chance to all pray as one. I thought it was beautiful that after a week of talk of unity, these churches came together and raised a pretty sizable donation for the JNRC emergency housing fund. Actions almost always speak louder than words. Even though the week of prayer for unity is over, I encourage you all to seek as many ecumenical opportunities as possible. Reach out to someone from a denomination that isn't your own. Or better yet, visit a church different from your own denomination. Even though the church may be divided, I think we can all agree that Christ is not.

Humanity

Saho

Meet my friend Saho. Saho is one of the JNRC guests that works with our Artisans group on Wednesdays and Thursdays. He is a multitalented artist who makes a majority of the peace flags that the Artisans group sells. Since I've met him, I don't think that I can remember a time where he hasn't had a smile on his face or a positive attitude. All around good guy. He's been working with the Artisans group since it started last spring.

JNRC Peace Flags

Saho is from Mali and he is here in Italy seeking protection from the war happening there. I don't know the full story of how Saho came to be in Italy, but it is pretty incredible from what I have heard of it. He originally left Mali and fled to Libya, just in time for the turmoil happening there. When Libya became too dangerous, Saho paid a smuggler to take him by boat to Italy. That boat unfortunately didn't make it to Italy. It broke down in the middle of the ocean for several days. The waters between Northern Africa and Europe are pretty well patrolled by various European coast guards, which means that Saho's boat was well within sight of people that could have come to rescue them at any point, but chose not too because of politics and bureaucracy. I don't know the exact number of days Saho and his boat-mates spent adrift at sea, but it was far too long.

Eventually Saho's boat was rescued by the Maltese Coast Guard. You might remember the story from a few months back about a boat of immigrants that was adrift for several days before it caught fire and sank less than a 1/4 mile off the coast of one of Sicilian islands. 150 people died and 250 more are presumed dead. So the fact that Saho's boat was rescued and did not suffer the same fate as the other boat is a huge blessing because it could have easily gone the other way. When a boat is picked up by the Maltese government, the people on that boat are then sent immediately to a mandatory 18 month detention. After detention it isn't clear what will happen to immigrants. Some are deported, some seek asylum, some move on to other countries. I know very little about the detention center in Malta, but from what I can tell it is a hell hole. The next part of Saho's story isn't clear to me, but he somehow escaped detention and fled to Italy.

Italy is sort of a safe haven for refugees because it has a very lax border. Almost anyone can come in, but once they are here there are few options for them. They aren't allowed to legally work, or even legally live here, until they gain actual refugee status from the Italian Government, which involves a long process called commission where they give refugees a "permesso di soggiorno" or Permission of Stay. Saho has been preparing for his commission hearing since he got here and he finally had his commission hearing a few weeks back. Saho was given a permesso di soggiorno of one year, which is the standard amount given to most Malian refugees. Commission hearings take into account many things, like a refugees family ties back in their home country, the state of that country, and the amount of danger involved in a refugee returning to that country. By the Italian Government's standards, the situation in Mali is improving, so they give Malians one year to stay in hopes that they can return afterwords.

The problem with this system is that it generalizes the whole conflict in Mali, and it generalizes every single Malian refugee that is in Italy. To me, it seems like it turns refugees into statistics and forgets the fact that they are human beings. For many, to return to Mali within the year would simply be impossible, which is Saho's case. I went with Saho yesterday to a meeting with a lawyer so that he can begin to appeal his commission decision. It's a long process that will involve somehow proving that Saho would likely be killed if he were to return to Mali. It seems a bit strange to me that refugees are asked to prove that they might be killed so that they can gain some kind of life. Prove your imminent death to live. That seems backwards to me in more ways than one.

I'd love to tell you that Saho's case is unique. I'd love to say that there aren't hundreds, if not thousands, more stories very similar to his. I'd love to tell you all those things, but I can't. There are parts of me that are very grateful to the Italian Government for even allowing people to come into Italy and seek protection, because even that is much more than many countries are willing to do. But there are other parts of me that are completely disillusioned with the system as well. There isn't a single part of the system that is easy for a refugee to navigate. You basically need a law degree to understand the complete in's and out's of the process.

There is a severe lack of humanity in the whole process, which is really what these refugees need when they've come from such terrible trials and tribulations. There is no humanity in letting people sit at sea because of the simple fact that they are refugees. There is no humanity in throwing people into detention simply because they are fleeing persecution by the only means they know how. There is no humanity in turning refugees into statistics in a report. This lack of humanity is why when Saho comes in on Wednesday with his giant, genuine smile, I'll smile back and chat with him as the friend that he is. This lack of humanity is why when a guest comes into the center, the staff and volunteers will smile and try to treat them with the dignity that the world forgot they deserved.

The New "Normal"

First, my apologies for not writing for several weeks. It's been absolutely crazy here at the church and I've literally not had a spare moment. So much has been going on in the past couple of weeks that I don't even know where to start with this post, but I'll do my best.

The craziness started with the St. Paul's board visit 3 Sundays ago. St. Paul's has been undergoing some  major renovation for the past 10 years, and this visit was a celebration for reaching the halfway mark. Austin worked really hard on setting up things for the board to do and see that are outside of the regular tourist experiences. Somehow I got on the good side of the group and was able to tag along on some pretty incredible Roman experiences. I could write a blog post about each of them, but I don't have time so you'll just have to deal with a quick overview. Tea with the British Ambassador to the Vatican at the highest vantage point inside the walls of Rome, a private tour of the Vatican observatory (which just happens to be located at Castel Gandolfo, you know, the Pope's summer residence), a private tour of the US Embassy's art collection, a private tour of the Villa Aurora with the Princess who still lives there (Yes, I did say Princess), and more food than I care to remember.

Tea Time!

It's a shame they didn't have this during the
whole "Galileo incident"...

These chairs are only 500 years old...

The Princess casually holding a letter from
Marie Antoinette

Fr. Austin, Rev. Jennings, Me, and Bishop Pierre 

Now if all that wasn't enough for one week, the Convocation's Convention started in the middle of the week. Since there are only 9 Episcopal Churches in Europe, spread out over Belgium, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and France, they band together to make a pseudo-diocese called The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. Convention is held in a different church each year, and this year it was St. Paul's turn. It was really great to meet people from all over Europe and make some good connections. I even got to meet the Rev. Gay Jennings, President of the House of Deputies. She gave a great talk about the state of The Episcopal Church. Everything with the Convention went off without a hitch, which was a huge relief to the St. Paul's staff. We also had a Peace Party with the the Artisans group from the Refugee center and we were able to sell a lot of their crafts. These parties are a great way to spread information about the Artisans group and the JNRC.

Peace Party for Convention spouses

Now as you can imagine, the church staff was quite tired after such an eventful week. The church closed down for a few days last week so everyone could rest, which was perfect timing for my good buddy James to arrive from Madagascar. James has been with the Peace Corps in Madagascar for the past year and a half and this trip to Rome is the first time he's been off the island since he arrived. You can imagine that he might be a little culture shocked. James, Austin, and I took a trip up into the Italian mountains around Umbria. Just an absolutely gorgeous area. We spent a night in a town called Norcia, which is famous for two things: Pork and Truffles. The Italian word for pork butcher is norcineria, which is derived from Norcia, so as you might guess the pork is ridiculously amazing. Norcia also happens to be the town where St. Benedict was born. There's a large benedictine monastery in the town where they make beer. Beer, Pork, Truffles. Sounds like my kind of place. We also stopped in a small town called Todi, which is where all Italian restaurants in the USA come to get their stereotypical views of the Italian countryside. Ok, thats not true, but its one of the prettiest towns I've ever been to.

Umbria

St. Benedict

Needs no caption

One of St. Paul's parishioners asked me yesterday how I was settling in after 3 weeks, and I told him that I was doing well, but I hadn't seen what a normal week working with the church was like yet. He replied that I had indeed seen a normal week because "normal" doesn't exist. Even though he may be pretty accurate in that statement, it'll be nice that everything is settling down now and I can get a grasp of what this new "normal" will actually be like without so many events and guests. But it has been an incredible time the past couple of weeks and I'm still in shock about some of the experiences I've been able to have. That'll do for now!

Ciao!

Greetings from Roma! It's been one crazy week here in the Eternal city. Not only was it my first week here in Rome, it was also the week before the Convocation's (Diocese of all the European Episcopal Churches) Convention. If you're not familiar with convention, its basically the Congress of the Convocation (Hopefully next weeks convention is a little more productive than the US congress). Not only is it convention, but the St. Paul's Board of Trustees is convening next week as well, so needless to say there has been a lot of preparation work for these big events.

Mangia!

Even with all that stuff going on, I've been able to get a good feel for what the next year is going to be like, and if this week is any indication of what's in store for next year, it's going to be nothing short of incredible. Austin picked me up at the airport last saturday and took me directly to the place that everyone goes right when they arrive in Rome, The Vatican Supermarket (which happens to be right behind the papal palace). Ok ok, so maybe it's not everyone's first stop in Rome, but it was mine. You actually need a special card to enter, so it's basically the Pope's Costco. We got some fantastic prosciutto and fresh mozzarella for lunch, then headed to St Paul's.

My new home is amazing. It's breathtakingly beautiful and it's close to pretty much everything famous in Rome. I still have no idea how I scored this position, but I am extremely grateful to have done so. My new apartment is in the rectory of the Church, which is just behind the sanctuary. I have a nice little room and I share a bathroom and kitchen with the other 5 people that live on the floor. Most of the other people in the collegio are masters students at a local Catholic University. It seems to be a really nice living situation so far!

The view from my room

St. Paul's Sanctuary

This is literally a 2 minute walk from my
apartment. 2 minutes, y'all!!

In between all the sightseeing and exploring, which there has been a lot of, I've found time to work! My placement here at St. Paul's will primarily be with the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center, which is run out of the church's undercroft. It's truly an incredible and hectic experience to enter the center for the first time. Nearly 200 refugees come to the center everyday. The center serves a small breakfast and distributes some basic hygiene supplies, like toothbrushes and soap. It's basically a way for people to come get off the streets for a while and be with people that are experiencing the same struggles and hardships that they are experiencing. Many of the refugees had to leave all of their family and friends behind in their country, so they arrive in Italy and don't know a soul. I cannot even conceive of the sense of loneliness they must feel.

The Artisans Group

I've also been working with the JNRC Artisans group, which is a group of hand picked members from the center that create beautiful works of art. The pieces are sold to help raise support and awareness for the JNRC, but most of the proceeds from the sales go back to the group to help generate some sustainable income. The guys in the group are, without a doubt, some of the most incredible people I've had the honor to meet. Even though the group comes from many different countries, backgrounds, ethnic groups, and religions, they work together with a powerful sense of respect and dignity for one another that is unlike anything I've ever seen. The stories of how many of them came to Italy are nothing short of heart-breaking. I am incredibly blessed that they are willing to let me come in and work with them.

Bowls made from rolled newspaper

Necklace from newspaper

Please keep the Artisans group and all the refugees in your prayers, as they are very much in need of them. You will definitely be hearing more from me on how you all can help support the work of the JNRC and the Artisans group.

It's been an amazing first week and I am very excited to get more involved with the work here. This next week will be a crazy one for St. Paul's with the convention and board visit, but we'll get through it! Last year, I finished every blog post with the words "Sala hantle," which is Sesotho for "Be well." I'm not sure what the correct Italian phrase for that is, so I'll figure that our before next time. Until then, be well!

What do you mean I'm leaving again?

Greetings from the good ol' US of A! Wherever you are right now, I hope that you are doing well. It seems like it was just last week that I left St. James in Lesotho and started the week of traveling to get home, but when I look at a calendar it seems as though that was almost 2 months ago. Go figure, right?

It's been nothing short of wonderful to be home. I cant tell you how nice it is to see my family, even if just for a short time. I wont go into to all that I've done, but you can take a look at the photos below and get the gist of it. Basically, its been a perfect little slice of Americana.

Also, you may have noticed that the title of this blog has changed! New placement = new title! But everything else about my blog will stay the same. You can still find all of my posts from Lesotho in the blog archive.

It's crazy to think that I will be getting on a plane on Friday and head to Rome! What? It's literally been one of the fastest months I've had in a long time. Thanks to everyone who showed me some love while I've been home. It was short, but it was sweet. Thanks all for continuing to support me during the coming year! Much love, y'all!

All Good Things

Daniel, Me & Majoro

It’s hard to believe, but today is my last day here at the St. James Mission Hospital. Crazy! Accompanying today is about a thousand different emotions that I have no idea how to put into words. Don’t ask me how I feel about leaving because that answer changes by the minute. I’m happy, sad, frantic, excited, reminiscent, tired, cold, fulfilled, delirious, blown away, blessed, not ready, completely ready, and many more. Basically, overwhelmed!

It’s been almost a year since I left the USA, which is by far the longest time I’ve ever spent away from home. I. Can. Not. Wait to be back home and see all my family and friends! That’s my biggest emotion right now. That being said, I’m totally going to miss this place. While a year is a long time to be away from my family, it’s barely long enough to get acquainted to a new place and new culture. It’s really only been in the last few weeks that I’ve felt like I actually live here and that I’m not just a perpetual visitor. It’s strange to finally start feeling like you really live somewhere and then it’s all over!

'Me Mochekoane, Me & Fiona

There was a prayer that was given to my YASC group at our discernment weekend, over a year and a half ago, called “The Road Ahead” by Thomas Merton. I loved it then, and I still love it now because it’s the perfect way to describe the past year.

The Road Ahead

My Lord God,

I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following 
your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Amen.

-Thomas Merton

Me, Ntate John & Majoro

That prayer always reminds me that it’s ok to have no idea what’s going on or what’s going to happen. It’s ok to have doubts, fears, anxieties, and troubles as long as I have faith. That’s a fantastic thing to be reminded of when living in a new culture while desperately grasping for any sort of footing. Now, it’s the easiest thing in the world to say I have faith that everything will work out, but practicing that faith is a completely different story. To be honest, it’s absolutely terrifying.

The kitchen staff and Me

I’ve put a lot of thought into where this faith comes from and how I can better practice it. I’ve always been a very independent person. I really don’t like relying on other people because I always picture myself as a burden when I need help. I just like figuring things out for myself. You might be more familiar with this mindset under its alternate title, “Stubbornness.” As you might guess, this approach to life does not work in a mission setting. From the moment I stepped on the plane to leave home, I became completely and totally reliant on other people. It took a while to get over the initial nagging fears, like “Will I have a good place to live?”, “Will I have enough food?”, “Will my co-workers like me?”, “Should I actually be here?”, “Am I crazy!?”, etc (The verdict is still out on the crazy question). I could have spent all year trying to answer those questions, and it would have been a total waste of a year. Luckily, that’s not what happened. I eventually learned that I wasn’t so much relying on others as I was relying on God. But more importantly, I was relying on God by accepting the hospitality, friendship, love, help, and guidance of all the wonderful people that have been a part of my Lesotho experience, thus practicing my faith. That’s a huge realization for a stubborn-headed fool like myself! God doesn’t give us what we think we need, he gives us what we actually need. It’s nice when those two overlap, but it’s when they don’t that we grow and learn.

Ntate Khoai and Me

My office Neighbor, Mapaseka 

Ntate Lekhotla and Me

So from here, I’ll head down to Maseru for a few more days to say goodbye to everyone down there, then I’ll head to Cape Town for a little bit to wrap up everything with the HOPE Africa Office. Thanks so much for reading my blog, and thank you all so much for supporting me through this year! The photos in this post are of some of the people that I've worked closely with at St. James. There's so many more that I'd like to put up, but It'd just be too long.  They’ve all made my year absolutely amazing! For the last time in Lesotho, Sala hantle!

2020 Vision

Just another photo of the unending beauty

First, my apologies for not writing a post for nearly a month! It’s been very busy so I’ll do a quick recap. I spent most of the month finishing up work on the website for St. James, and I’m pleased to say that it is now complete! The official launch will be next week, but you can get an early look at it here. I also spent a lot of time getting the program booklet worked up for the St. James’ 50^th Anniversary, coming up in October. That program will be going to the printers soon. Then last week, I spent the whole week in Maseru working a bit with the diocesan offices. There were also two national holidays last week (including the King’s 50^th birthday), so I’m not too sure how much “work” I actually got done!

But the real reason for this post is this week’s visit from HOPE Africa and my fellow YASCer Holly Milburn! Holly is the YASC volunteer in the HOPE Africa office in Cape Town, and she’s been jockeying to come visit Lesotho pretty much since the start of our YASC years. She’s made it just under the wire because I’m leaving the hospital in 2 weeks! Holly joined the HOPE Africa facilitation team of Father Chris Ahrends and Patrina Pakoe.

Holly and I

St. James' vision team

This visit from HOPE Africa was a continuation of the vision process that we’ve been working on since last October. It’s been really great to see how the whole process of coming up with a new vision statement actually works. In previous visits we (HOPE Africa staff & St. James Staff) developed a vision for the next 7 years (2020 vision) of the hospitals life, and this visit was about turning that vision into a strategic plan that will let the hospital fulfill its vision. It’s quite a time consuming process, but I have to give credit to the dedication of the facilitation team from HOPE Africa and the hard work that the admin staff here at St. James have put into creating this document. During my year, we’ve gone from not having a clear vision for the hospital to having a well-written, thoughtful vision and a “road map” on how to make that vision a reality. It’s great to see this all come to fruition.

And on top of all that, it’s just been so great to have a friend come and see the hospital! There’s unfortunately not going to be another YASCer coming to take over for me when I leave next month, so it’s really nice knowing that at least one other person that I know has been to the hospital and seen where I’ve lived for the past 8 months. It’s comforting to have someone come here and experience all the ways that this place is amazing and have them fall in love with it as well. That may seem silly to some of you, but it’s just nice to have that bond of a shared experience.

There's no water!

Yesterday afternoon, the HOPE Africa team and I took a drive to one of the nearby health centres, Auray, so that Holly could get a better feel for the Mantsonyane area. We traveled a bit further to one of the dams that crosses the Mantsonyane River. Lesotho is in a severe drought currently, as you can see from this photo. You’d be forgiven for thinking that this river is no more than a small stream. Winters are normally dry here, but never this dry. We’ve not seen any rain since early April. And it’s not snowed once, which is highly uncommon this time of year! We are all praying that the rains come soon.

Auray health center

A bridge over troubled rock

Chris and Holly 

A real Mosotho

We also journeyed into Ha Chooko, the town closest to the hospital, so that the team could get a feel for what living up here is like. Ha Chooko is full of little shops that sell pretty much anything you could need. Holly got herself a nice Basotho blanket, which was the final step in her conversion into a Mosotho! These blankets are worn my pretty much everyone here in Lesotho. It is simply a must have. It’s incredible the number of ways that these blankets are used. Everyday wear, ceremonial dress, baby carrying, warmth during the cold Lesotho winter, sun block in the hot summer, a handy bed for anywhere, and so many more. They are the definition of “multipurpose.” The company that makes them has the best tag line, “Arranda. The fashion name in Blankets.”

My time in Lesotho is coming to an end! I only have 2 weeks left here at St. James, and only a weekend left in Maseru. Then I’ll head to Cape Town one last time to meet with all of the HOPE Africa staff before heading home to the USA! It’s been one of the quickest years I think I’ve ever had. Then again, maybe not! Until next time, sala hantle!