Lesson in humility

You may have noticed that on the side of this blog there are an increasing number of links to AIDS agencies in Africa. There's a good reason for that. My friend Lucy Kiekebusch-Steinitz, the angel who organised the 5 continent prayer circle on my behalf at the beginning of this journey, is one of the leading lights in trying help people devastated by this scourge. About 9 years ago she was founding director of the Catholic Aids Action in Namibia, but recently has expanded her activities to the other agencies whose links you see here.

I first met Lucy, 'a nice Jewish girl' from New York, in Washington DC in the early 1980s at the begninning of another important journey in my life - the spiritual one that led me back to my Jewish roots. She, and her husband Bernd were crying with me at my mother's funeral in 1987, and she danced at my second wedding in 1991. Over the years, I have had the priviledge of being on Lucy's mailing list of friends to whom she reports about the ups and downs of her African experience with unwavering clarity of vision and humanity.

Lucy deals with people whose troubles I can't even begin to comprehend: parents of young families who know they never will see their children grow up; children, barely entering their teens, parenting 4-5 younger siblings; and grandparents, whose backs have already been bent by years of carrying clean water from too far, being called upon to parent the children of their children who died of AIDS.

This morning I received a short email from Lucy: "I shared your story with the SAVING REMNANT students who went with us this weekend to Swakopmund. I think four or five of them read it. They said, you opened up a whole new world for them; an experience they knew nothing about." (see link about SAVING REMNANT)

I am absolutely awed that these young people, who continue their education while facing overwhelming odds in their private lives, have the generosity of spirit to open up their hearts and minds to learn about other people's troubles. A good lesson in humility for when I think that life is just a bit too hard. Thanks all of you. Lucy sent me a picture of the group, so here they are, and I wish for them much success in the future:

(left to right)
Simon Hatutale (Social Work, UNAM)
Mirjam Hasheela (Accounting, UNAM)
Rudolf Kushakosha (Geology, UNAM)
Jason Hatutale (Pre-med, UNAM)
Kenneth Kasata (Accounting, UNAM)
Lydia Hasheela (Communications, Polytechnic)
"Uncle Bernd"
"Auntie Lucy"
Lucas Mahoni (Engineering, Polytechnic)