5k Kate

Today was a big day! As the women came back from Malam just two days ago and the entire village will be returning to Malam to head to Wim in just a few days, we had only a few days to do a few big community events. And since events keep the village from doing other important work, we fit them all on the same day.  First up was the much anticipated anti-violence march, followed by a celebration of Diwa Nägäm, Wäli Wäziag, Dipa Nägäm, and Mangkol Sobam, the first Ende pastors and the stars of the documentary, Ende Tän e Indrang, then the closing of the technology class, which made this documentary, then some goodbye words for me, and finally the premiere showing of the movie.  The anti-violence march accomplished exactly what it set out and thus was a success I think. Mostly I wanted a forum in which I could tell the entire community exactly what I think about the domestic violence in Limol, support the women, and not enrage the men but push them to do better. I wanted this for ...

What a magical birthday! And full of surprises! I went to sleep thinking that today would be nothing special. I knew I had a card from Grace and could expect some sat phone messages from friends, but I had planned my birthday feast for next Wednesday and planned to celebrate when everyone returned to the village (all the women left to do ministry in Malam two days ago!) Well, I should have remembered from how giddily everyone here planned Grace’s surprise birthday party that mine would be no different. I woke up to the bird calls at 6:00 am as usual, but this morning I also heard Jerry’s voice outside. Jerry lives across the village and has a very distinctive laugh and tenor. I knew something was up! I got up and instead of my usual morning routine of an hour of work and hydration before greeting the world, I got dressed, grabbed my camera and walked outside. The entire house was decorated in flowers, young bamboo shoots framed my veranda and stairs! Upon clearing the steps, I was gree...

Today is the fourth or fifth day or rain we've had. Rain all night and much of the day makes the trails quite slippery and I can't justify breaking my leg just to get a run in, so I've been feeling quite lazy. I did walk halfway to the yamhouse with Grace to carry back Wagibas yams yesterday, and I chased after a deer to film it being shot, butchered, and distributed this afternoon so I haven't been without some heart racing entertainment.  Today was a beautiful day, we celebrated Grace's birthday, which is tomorrow. The language house was filled with people and decorated with flowers. Grace was given a beautiful lei of cordyline, hibiscus, and other tree flowers, and sung happy birthday. She was then sat on a beautiful mat, also covered in tree flowers and she was given plenty of presents of food as we sang more happy birthday song. I gave her a poem I wrote called Omad and Wagiba translated for everyone. Lauren gave her a beautiful drawing of Grace and Pingam, don...