Cathy

So, it has been increasingly tough over the past week or so. The grind of daily life in Nakuru is pretty staggering. The stares at my skin (despite my best tanning efforts), the sure lung cancer I will have from the dirt/grim/dust, and more recently the apparent infatuation with my window by a cow and rooster at around 4 AM all seemed to be wearing on me. It is certainly the harshest environment I have been in.

I mentioned in a past post of my perfect little travel moments. Moments experienced when acute awareness of the site I am viewing, the people I am visiting with, or the view I am staring at come into clear focus in my mind.

Yesterday, I experienced something that actually had meaning. Something so grand that, for the first time in a long time, my logical mind could not understand it, my rational nature could not break it down, to take emotion out of the equation. When Cathy and her mother told me that they both cried for an hour when Vitalis told them that she would soon have a leg, that she would walk again, I was frozen. Frozen with an inability to recognize, understand or fathom the feeling it evoked in me. Their tears then, as they told me, in addition to saying that I was a gift directly from God further enhanced my inability to speak, move or think. If ever I have, or will, experience a moment that transcends "meaning," it was this moment with Cathy and her mother. If ever there was something to make me forget about any struggle I am experiencing here, it was hearing their words.

I hope that those who have contributed to this can share in even a small part of what it "meant", as my words can only capture a fraction of what it was.

Thank you.


So, yesterday Cathy was casted for the socket of her prosthetic. Tomorrow, I will accompany the director to Nairobi to purchase her other components. It really looks as if she will receive her leg before Christmas. Simply awe-some. I have been invited to spend an evening with her and her family for supper. Being stupid, I asked what they normally have for Christmas dinner, and they replied "Whatever we have been able to grow." I could have shot myself right about then for being so amazingly unaware and inconsiderate.

So, sometime around Christmas, I will go.

And, I will enjoy whatever they have growing.