Wavin' Flag

Friends,

I feel like it's been such a long time since I've last graced this page with some verbiage.

A lot has happened. (Exclusive of yesterday's uproar.)

And then again, things are about the same as the last time we chatted.

Here's your honest-to-goodness-first-of-the-quarter-end-of-the-week update (in absolutely no order whatsoever):

1.  We're still living in a steam bath.
2.   The beans and rice still abound.
3.   I'm still not sure how people lose weight in saunas. (I probably could have pulled off yesterday's story...)
4.   Aaron had an interview.
5.   We co-hosted (OK...more like tagged along) with Louis Pope some "Canadian cousins" (as Aaron calls them) on a visit to the bank and Coast Coconut Farms.
6.   Yehu formalized it's new partnership with Kiva (wooohooo!!).
7.   We never gained roommate #17.
8.   But we picked up roommate #17(a) with same-day notice. (She's an intern with Kiva who is finalizing things with the partnership. She needed a place to stay. Incidentally enough, we're cool like that.)
9.   We confirmed that roommate number #18 is coming on April 15.
10. We've had some fun with subcutaneous complications. (Don't ask.)
11. We outsmarted some new friends on the beach who literally surrounded us and were adamantly trying to sell us camel rides and seashells.  (Long story.)
12. We discovered Dorman's caramel shakes.  (Something very, very dangerous.)
13. Students at the university down the street decided to riot, making for a few tense moments...but nothing major.
14. I woke up this morning with 2 mosquito bites on my left arm and 15 on my right.
15. We [I] got all sappy this weekend after watching Princess and the Frog in a theater with sub-zero temperatures.
15. Sometimes I wonder if I'm coming home to a country that's falling apart.
16. We can't believe that we're to the final countdown!  (So bittersweet!!)
17. Everyone I know is having a baby or has a baby that just turned one. (Except for me.)
18. R&V are coming for a visit and we can hardly wait!! (That is, unless they're still furious with us.)
19. I'm going to [wo]man a booth for Yehu at a microfinance summit in Nairobi next week. (Yikes!)
 20. And finally, I just want to share something that I'm sure is already old news.  But.  I'm a little slow.  I blame it on the single-cable Internet connection that we have over here.

I'm sure many of you have heard the "anthem" for the 2010 World Cup designated by Coca Cola. (Who gives them that right? Who knows. But they're sure taking it.) If not, you should look it up on You Tube.

It's too bad that we don't have the time or money to stay a few more weeks and head down to South Africa.

But anyway.

As Aaron and I were doing a Google search on this song for Family Home Evening on Monday (yes, we're the really spiritual types), we came across this version of it:



And this version of it:



It kind of caught us both off-guard. The words and the tone of the original version are a lot different than the self-proclaimed "celebratory" version that Coke sponsors. As I listened to the words, my mind was filled with faces of people I know that could sing this song and mean it. And suddenly my heart felt sad. Sad that I am leaving these people and going back to a world of privilege and opportunity. Sad that I can't do more to improve the lives of everyone I meet.

Sometimes I think about how much there is that's not right in the world.  Not right and not fair. And sometimes it overwhelms me. But, a while ago I came across a [Chinese?] proverb that is now always an afterthought to this dwarfing feeling:

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

So, light my candle and put it on a candlestick, I will.