[Oe List ...] Mystery

Thu Oct 20 21:27:24 PDT 2022

Thanks, Dick.

Amen!
Sharon Fisher (Robertson)

On Thu, Oct 20, 2022 at 7:57 PM Judith Hamje via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
wrote:

> Dick,
> Thank you for sharing your amazing journey in the land of mystery.  May
> the rest of your trip and program continue to reveal mystery to you.
> Blessings of Peace,
> Judith
>
> On Thu, Oct 20, 2022 at 7:27 PM Richard Alton via OE <
> oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>
>> Airplane trip to Africa
>>
>>
>>
>> Just copied the Land of Mystery chart from Frank Knutson and then had an
>> awesome trip to Kenya that manifested this mystery. I knew this trip would
>> be different. Being COV19 housebound for like two years, it was a big
>> decision to get out in the real world again… never know what is out there.
>> It was a huge task to just get a Kenya visa. Trying to figure out how to
>> get through the Kenya COV19 public health check station was nerve racking.
>> But I did it and it was an amazing adventure and the people I found out
>> there, made it all worthwhile.
>>
>>
>>
>> This has happened to me before when strange people just show up in my
>> life: Found my Chicago seat for the first leg of Chicago to Qatar and then
>> onward to Nairobi. The plane was almost full, but my window seat was still
>> empty- would be a great help if the seat stayed empty. And just then a
>> young lady burst through the plane door with two gigantic bags and came
>> running down the aisle screeching to a stop in front of me. Hands me her
>> passport- “Hold this!”- and throws one of the bags over my head to the seat
>> next to me… “Be back!”. This was the beginning of a thirteen-hour
>> remarkable trip with this thirty-one-year-old American school teacher
>> presently teaching in Bangkok, Thailand. The stories she had to tell about
>> her seven years there. The most amazing part was her side business of
>> raising ten dogs of which none weighed more than 2.2 kilos- so I got to
>> personally meet all ten dogs, their names and each’s adventures- photos,
>> videos and awards. Much better than watching movies. Oh, yes and her name
>> is Kay which just happens to be one of my daughter’s names. And this Kay’s
>> mom also raises dogs- a long family history of dogs… an amazing world we
>> live in that people do such things
>>
>>
>>
>> My second encounter was at the Qatar airport. Of course, we missed my
>> connecting flight. The explanation was that since Qatar was hosting the
>> Soccer World Cup between November 18 and December 18 this year and they
>> expected millions of spectators, they had put in a huge number of new
>> systems that were still being figured out like how to get people from the
>> planes to the terminal.
>>
>>
>>
>> So I waited my five hours for the next flight and got in line for my
>> Nairobi flight. I am pretty good at chatting with people. The African lady
>> standing next to me- an older woman who had a strange looking passport- so
>> asked her what country she was from. She explained that this was the new
>> East Africa Regional passport. “Nice- you are from Kenya? “Yes”, she (her
>> name turned out to be Charity Gathuthi) had just come back from Australia
>> from visiting her daughter. “Nice. What did she do?”: “A water consultant”.
>> “What do you do?” Well, I am retired in Chicago but still work on local
>> community development and was attending a gathering of people to look at
>> climate change. I used to live in Nairobi- Kawangware
>>
>>
>>
>> Charity looked at me really funny, like I was from another world. “Are
>> you with ICA?” Yes, you win the prize for an astonishing guess. “Well, I
>> know and have worked with the ICA staff, Nathan Ambunya, Patrick Mbullu and
>> Henry Mpapale plus I did Kenya Cooperative consulting work for many years
>> with Terry Bergdall. Have been away and have not had contact with ICA for a
>> while.  But you tell Patrick, Nathan and Henry to give me a call.” Now that
>> was amazing- like finding a needle in a haystack. Makes you wonder how many
>> related ICA people are out their wandering the planet.
>>
>>
>>
>> Now, I told you about the Thailand Kay encounter. Kay has unbounding
>> energy in relationships with other people. She was standing in the toilet
>> line and started talking to a stewardess and it turns out that they may all
>> look the same, but they are from different countries- part of Qatar wanting
>> to be the future Global airlines. So sure enough, I found two Philippine
>> stewardesses. Found out a lot about the Philippines and other countries
>> like Tajikistan. So, I am sitting there reading a book by Momaday called
>> Earth Keeper in preparation for presenting the ICA’s new Climate Change
>> Manual- look up and there is an African Stewardess standing in front of me;
>> “What a great sounding book- Earth Keeper” I am from Zimbabwe and we need
>> earth keepers. I will come back, and you can tell me more.
>>
>>
>>
>> The page I was reading when she interrupted me: *“And so Great Mystery
>> you who dwell in the endless beyond, you who spoke the first word and made
>> of your breath the mountains and the waters, the trees and the grasses, the
>> man and the woman and the child, hear me in my small voice. I am your
>> thankful creature. My people and all the birds and animals are your
>> thankful creatures. Hold us! Hold us in your hands and make us worthy of
>> your blessing. Tell us the old stories of your greatness, that our minds
>> and our hearts may be nourished with wonder and delight. Let us see your
>> likeness in the stars and let us hear your voice in rolling thunder and in
>> the wind and rain. Be with us forever in the sacred smoke of your being.
>> These are my words, my offering to you, Great Mystery ( Earth Keeper by
>> N.Scott Momaday)*
>>
>>
>>
>> And this is just one journey from Chicago to Africa. Life is amazing if
>> you dare to go out and meet it.
>>
>> Dick Alton, Co-Director, ICA Kenya, 1980-86; still believes that one
>> should write a witness on one’s birthday and mine is quickly approaching,
>> so this reflection
>> --
>> Richard H. T. Alton
>> ICA Global Fund
>> Methodist Eco-Sustainability T/F
>> T: 773.344.7172
>> richard.alton at gmail.com
>> Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2
>> Won't you be my neighbor?
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