So, our church is typically Presbyterian, small, white, aging. We have a few members who want to revive the congregation. One is a young woman, a recently returned young volunteer in mission. Another is an older woman. Both love God; love the church. I don't know what happened. I'm preaching on U2 during Lent (because I want to; I'm not a great U2 fan, at least not until I got the idea of preaching on U2). So, she and her father designed a flyer aimed at young adults. Somehow the flyer didn't get to the older woman who produced a flyer on her own.
I have the winter crud, don't feel good and don't want to get in the middle of this. I got copied on an email from the young woman to the older one and then got an email from the younger one. I emailed the young woman back that I would have been disappointed too to have had my work ignored; I don't think the older woman did it intentionally and suggested they sit down together and work it out.
Just wanted to vent.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
African Adventure Part IV
Friday, 11 January 2008, Mweya Lodge, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. Dinner last night was again, quite good. The appetizer was a tomato stuffed with green lintels. Soup was pumpkin and not terribly good, at least not to my taste. The main course was roast beef (very well done) with a mustardy sauce, very good green beans and carrots and roasted potatoes. Dessert was crepes with passion fruit sauce.
We got up fairly early this morning and drove to Queen Elizabeth National Park. We arrived around 12:30. The drive was long and dusty though the road was not as bad (at least the last part) as the ones we had been on earlier. We entered the park around 11 or so. We spotted lots of antelope and then after we turned off for our lodge a mother elephant and her baby. We got our room and then had lunch. We shared a Thai beef salad and a pizza. Both were good. The lodge is lovely. It overlooks a channel joining Lakes George and Edward. The lobby has a floor to ceiling window overlooking the channel. Our room is quite nice, with air conditioning and a balcony overlooking the channel.
After lunch, we went for a cruise run by the Uganda Wildlife Association on the channel. We saw water buffalo and hippos, lots of birds and three elephants. We cruised down to a fishing village and then back.
Back home again. On Saturday morning, I was not feeling well and so did not go for the game drive. TC went and said he only saw two lions and then only from a distance. We drove back to Kampala. We overnighted at the Serena Kampala. It is a lovely hotel. My room was huge with a large terrace. We had dinner at Hannadi, the Indian restaurant we had visited when we were last in Kampala. We walked from the hotel to the shopping mall and bought apples and then back up the hill and down to the restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly I walked up the hill. It seemed only a small hill (it’s fairly comparable to some of the hills in San Francisco). After dinner we walked back to the hotel.
On Sunday morning, our driver arranged to pick us up at 6:45 for the drive to Jinja. We got up and then waited about 15 minutes until he arrived. Then we drove through the early morning mists to Jinja. Jinja is the town at the “source of the Nile”. We arrived at Adrift around 8:30 and then waited for another hour before the rest of the rafting group gathered. Adrift has a lovely bar overlooking the Nile, just after a dam. There is a small rapid below the bar. After a while, everyone arrived and we geared up fro the raft trip. After we got in our rafts, we went through a series of drills. I’ve never had drills before rafting. Our first drill was to jump out of the raft to make sure our vests worked and we knew how to get back in the boat. Then we jumped out again and floated through the first rapid. We traversed through a level 5 rapid and then a level 3. Of course, on the level 3, the raft went sideways and I fell out. The guide (who was the lead guide on the trip) also fell out. I knew I was going in and went well under the water. I opened my eyes and saw only green water. Then I floated up and the water got lighter and lighter. I opened my mouth and gulped air and more water. It seemed every time I opened my mouth I got water instead of air. Finally one of the guys in kayaks came over and I grabbed the handle on the front of the kayak. (Adrift had about 8 kayakers plus an oar boat safety.) I kept trying just to lay back and relax, but my head kept going under water. I didn’t realize it but we were still in the rapids.
I much more enjoyed the floating parts of the raft adventure. The birds were beautiful. Villagers were along the banks, washing their clothes and themselves. Before the last level 5 rapid, we stopped in an eddy. Monkeys cavorted in the trees and a monitor lizard was swimming along the bank of the river with its eye on a bird for lunch. I survived the last rapid. It was a monster waterfall. The volume of the water is enormous. The owner of Adrift was guiding one raft. As they began their descent, the entire raft flipped upside down. The guide managed to get on top the overturned raft. For the last rapid before lunch, I switched into another raft that was going to go around the rapid.
Lunch was on an island. I was surprised at how good the sandwich (ham with cheese, tomatoes and shredded carrots) tasted. We then met our driver and went on to Entebbe. TC stopped at the airport to pick up his lost bag. That took an hour. It was a game of needing one more thing and being told to go somewhere else. We then went to a small hotel near the airport, showered, repacked, rested, ate dinner and waited for our flight. We got to the airport early (KLM had suggested arriving three hours before flight time and we did). One nice surprise was that we received an invitation to the business class lounge because of our frequent flier status with the alliance KLM is a member of. That was pleasant. They had samosas, drinks (I stuck to water), and nice chairs to sit in. Then we had two eight hour flights. We arrived into Amsterdam on time. I wanted Mickey D’s but they were only serving breakfast food and so I just ate some left-over cheese and an apple. We bought water (and had the duty free shop seal it so we could take it through security) and headed for our flight. On this leg, we had exit row seats which are wonderful.
It took an hour to clear immigration and customs. I had hoped to catch an earlier flight home, but with only 40 minutes to clear security I decided it was a lost cause. TC and I had lunch and then I walked with him to his gate. Then I waited around the airport until my flight. I arrived home around 5 pm.
We got up fairly early this morning and drove to Queen Elizabeth National Park. We arrived around 12:30. The drive was long and dusty though the road was not as bad (at least the last part) as the ones we had been on earlier. We entered the park around 11 or so. We spotted lots of antelope and then after we turned off for our lodge a mother elephant and her baby. We got our room and then had lunch. We shared a Thai beef salad and a pizza. Both were good. The lodge is lovely. It overlooks a channel joining Lakes George and Edward. The lobby has a floor to ceiling window overlooking the channel. Our room is quite nice, with air conditioning and a balcony overlooking the channel.
After lunch, we went for a cruise run by the Uganda Wildlife Association on the channel. We saw water buffalo and hippos, lots of birds and three elephants. We cruised down to a fishing village and then back.
Back home again. On Saturday morning, I was not feeling well and so did not go for the game drive. TC went and said he only saw two lions and then only from a distance. We drove back to Kampala. We overnighted at the Serena Kampala. It is a lovely hotel. My room was huge with a large terrace. We had dinner at Hannadi, the Indian restaurant we had visited when we were last in Kampala. We walked from the hotel to the shopping mall and bought apples and then back up the hill and down to the restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly I walked up the hill. It seemed only a small hill (it’s fairly comparable to some of the hills in San Francisco). After dinner we walked back to the hotel.
On Sunday morning, our driver arranged to pick us up at 6:45 for the drive to Jinja. We got up and then waited about 15 minutes until he arrived. Then we drove through the early morning mists to Jinja. Jinja is the town at the “source of the Nile”. We arrived at Adrift around 8:30 and then waited for another hour before the rest of the rafting group gathered. Adrift has a lovely bar overlooking the Nile, just after a dam. There is a small rapid below the bar. After a while, everyone arrived and we geared up fro the raft trip. After we got in our rafts, we went through a series of drills. I’ve never had drills before rafting. Our first drill was to jump out of the raft to make sure our vests worked and we knew how to get back in the boat. Then we jumped out again and floated through the first rapid. We traversed through a level 5 rapid and then a level 3. Of course, on the level 3, the raft went sideways and I fell out. The guide (who was the lead guide on the trip) also fell out. I knew I was going in and went well under the water. I opened my eyes and saw only green water. Then I floated up and the water got lighter and lighter. I opened my mouth and gulped air and more water. It seemed every time I opened my mouth I got water instead of air. Finally one of the guys in kayaks came over and I grabbed the handle on the front of the kayak. (Adrift had about 8 kayakers plus an oar boat safety.) I kept trying just to lay back and relax, but my head kept going under water. I didn’t realize it but we were still in the rapids.
I much more enjoyed the floating parts of the raft adventure. The birds were beautiful. Villagers were along the banks, washing their clothes and themselves. Before the last level 5 rapid, we stopped in an eddy. Monkeys cavorted in the trees and a monitor lizard was swimming along the bank of the river with its eye on a bird for lunch. I survived the last rapid. It was a monster waterfall. The volume of the water is enormous. The owner of Adrift was guiding one raft. As they began their descent, the entire raft flipped upside down. The guide managed to get on top the overturned raft. For the last rapid before lunch, I switched into another raft that was going to go around the rapid.
Lunch was on an island. I was surprised at how good the sandwich (ham with cheese, tomatoes and shredded carrots) tasted. We then met our driver and went on to Entebbe. TC stopped at the airport to pick up his lost bag. That took an hour. It was a game of needing one more thing and being told to go somewhere else. We then went to a small hotel near the airport, showered, repacked, rested, ate dinner and waited for our flight. We got to the airport early (KLM had suggested arriving three hours before flight time and we did). One nice surprise was that we received an invitation to the business class lounge because of our frequent flier status with the alliance KLM is a member of. That was pleasant. They had samosas, drinks (I stuck to water), and nice chairs to sit in. Then we had two eight hour flights. We arrived into Amsterdam on time. I wanted Mickey D’s but they were only serving breakfast food and so I just ate some left-over cheese and an apple. We bought water (and had the duty free shop seal it so we could take it through security) and headed for our flight. On this leg, we had exit row seats which are wonderful.
It took an hour to clear immigration and customs. I had hoped to catch an earlier flight home, but with only 40 minutes to clear security I decided it was a lost cause. TC and I had lunch and then I walked with him to his gate. Then I waited around the airport until my flight. I arrived home around 5 pm.
African Adventure Part III
Traveler’s Rest, Kosoro, Uganda, Monday, 7 Jan 2008. We arrived here a little before noon. I was worried about my ability to trek two more times in much more difficult situations and intrigued by the couple who talked about actually seeing a leopard in Queen Elizabeth Park. I talked about changing the itinerary and eventually decided not to. We left Gorilla’s Nest around 8:40. Less than an hour later we arrived at the border. The crossing was uneventful though it took more than half an hour. About half an hour later we arrived at Traveler’s Rest. We talked to the owner about the gorilla trekking. He assured us we could rent rain gear for the trek at the park. He also said that we could even pay porters to carry us down and back. Yesterday, trekkers reported that it was about 90 minutes to see the gorillas and about two hours back. He did say the terrain was just about as steep as you could get. I can’t imagine anything much steeper than yesterday’s trek, except the climb out of the Zambezi river (which was up a perpendicular cliff). So, we decided we’d hire two porters to help us (but not carry us). As we waited for lunch we saw kites perched in trees. The owner cut up avocados (which lay on the ground) and threw them to the birds. They came and walked around a while. TC took some pictures. After lunch, we walked into town. The town is full of small shops. There were lots of people, mostly women, but some men, with sewing machines. I’m not sure whether these were people who made clothes (some had tape measures) or whether they rented the machines to make their own garments. We did find a backpack so that we can carry our lunches and plenty of water as well as our enormous camera equipment, or rather, that the porters can carry all our stuff tomorrow.
When we arrived back, we chatted with the couple who had the room between our two rooms. They are from Australia (the wife originally from Houston). They are with a larger group that had to split up for gorilla trekking. Five are here, some trekking today and some tomorrow, others are at two other locations. They have their own chef and are mostly camping. I also overheard a couple who had just been in Kenya. They said that the situation was pretty awful with travel by road almost impossible.
Traveler’s Rest, Kisoro, Uganda, Tuesday, 8 January, 2008. Our second gorilla encounter. We got up at 5 am and had breakfast at 5:30. We were on the road a little after 6 am. The drive began in the dark. The road to Nkuringa where one family of gorillas lives is rutted and twisty. As we rode in the dark, we picked out constellations. I thought I spotted the Southern Cross, but as I realized that Scorpio was nearby, I knew I was looking in the wrong direction. As the day grew lighter, we could see the mists covering the hills and farms. We passed a lake. We climbed higher and higher on the mountain. Around 7:30 we arrived at park headquarters. We waited for a long time. Finally, we were called together. Uganda (and Rwanda, for that matter) limits the number of person who may visit each family to eight. Four additional people had arrived that day looking for permits. The head of the division announced that no exception could be made. Finally we got our porters and our walking sticks. A young woman attached herself to me as my porter. I was pleased to have a woman as porter, but concerned because I knew that I would need help if the way was as steep and treacherous as descried.
We began the trek by walking up the road and then in about 150 yards, we cut off down a path by farming plots. We continued to walk downhill, along some fairly steep patches. All I could think of was how in the world would I be able to get back up. After about fifteen or twenty minutes we cut from this path down a narrower and, if possible, steeper path. Finally our guide announced that the trackers had found the gorillas and we should go cross country. They began to cut a path through thick vegetation. The vegetation was wet, the hillside, slippery. I fell a number of times. I had acquired a different porter who almost carried me at certain places. I kept getting caught on vines and entangled in vegetation. After 65 minutes we met the trackers at a creek. We could hear the gorillas around us and could catch a glimpse of a gorilla in a tree. We crossed the creek and began another downward path through thick vegetation, this time in the jungle. There is a reason it is called Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We arrived at an area with a black back and several young gorillas feeding in the trees. We sat for a while and then continued through the jungle. We arrived at another site and then found two gorillas on either side of the creek. One was a quite large black back (black backs are too young to mate, though this guy was huge) and the other was a smaller gorilla. We stayed there until the end of our allotted hour. We then crossed a creek and found a solid path uphill to the trackers camp. Certainly coming in through the trackers camp would have been less dramatic, but much easier. We rested and ate lunch there. Then began the agonizing trek back up hill. We climbed (and I rested) up and up and up. We climbed about 1500 feet in what I would guess was about 3 kilometers. I had a hard time catching my breath. I just went as slowly as I needed to and stopped whenever I needed to. I was a bit disappointed because I run three times a week, but this was just too much. We began at around 6500 feet, so I will blame some of my distress on the altitude.
We arrived back at Traveler’s Rest around 3:30. I read in the Kampala paper that at least 600 have been killed in Kenya; Odinga estimates the toll at 1000. Neither side seems interested in stopping the madness. Petrol is getting through. Kenya prohibited the Ugandan military forces from providing escorts to trucks coming here; Kenya is providing military escorts. There is petroleum; it is just expensive.
It is strange being cut off from the news of the world. There is no television here and the only news is from the Kampala paper. There is an internet cafe. I am so used to being in touch through the internet, but it really doesn’t matter. The New Hampshire primary is today and I will learn the results perhaps on Thursday or even Saturday when I get back to Kampala.
Thursday, 10 January, Buhoma Lodge (formerly Buhoma Homestead), Buhoma, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda. I am exhausted. Our final gorilla trekking was today. Yesterday, we drove from Kisoro to Buhoma. It was a long, dusty drive along narrow, twisty roads through high volcanic mountains. The hillsides as before are covered with plots. This time, after we turned off the main road from Kabale through Bwindi to Buhoma, we encountered coffee shrubs along with the banana trees and the other crops. At one point, impatiens were blooming along a hillside. I thought of my first trip to Nicaragua when we traveled up to Maltagalpa through the volcanic mountains with the coffee plants and impatiens growing wild. We arrived at Buhoma after an exhausting five hour drive.
Lonely Planet dinged the lodge, but evidently that was before the new owners. There are ten bungalows, each with one large bedroom and a bath. Two walls are screens giving the bungalow the feel of a tent. They are set on the hillside where they catch the breeze. On the front is a balcony with two director’s chairs and a small table. The food is the best we’ve had outside of Kampala. We arrived at lunchtime and had spaghetti with a fresh tomato sauce and cheese. Dinner is a set menu (though if you have expressed dislikes or allergies, suitable substitutes are made). We had a starter of roasted eggplant and tomato with fresh basil covered in cheese. The soup was a creamy vegetable. The entree was fish with an herb I couldn’t identify, rosemary potatoes, a mixture of fresh carrots and cauliflower. The rolls were quite good. Dessert was an orange sponge cake with chocolate sauce. I was unable to really taste the orange; that was fine because the chocolate sauce was fantastic.
I chatted a bit with the European managers. They also manage a tented camp in Queen Elizabeth Park (but not the one we will be going to). Jeffrey said that gorillas sometimes come even into their garden here. They also talked about the variety of wildlife in Queen Elizabeth.
We got up early this morning (but not as early as two days ago) and had breakfast and then left for the trek. We had our orientation and then drove a couple of miles to a village to begin the trek. We walked through a bit of open land and then began an uphill climb through banana trees. We stopped a couple of times, once where folks were fermenting bananas for an alcoholic beverage which is 40 percent alcohol and then where a woman was drying coffee beans. As we emerged from the banana trees, the really hard work uphill began. The trail was straight uphill at what seemed to be perpendicular the entire way. Tangled vegetation grew along the trail, mostly about six feet or more in height, but it offered no shade from the sun. After about an hour and a half we arrived at the top. I had been pushed and pulled to make it to the top. When we could see daylight through the vegetation at the top, the guide said we had made it about half way up the steep part. At times, I thought I would cry the way was so hard. As we reached the top we began to walk through vegetation that was about ten feet tall. It was absolutely impenetrable without a machete. Plants twined together, vines lay across the path. We finally reached a forested part which was a bit easier to walk through, but that soon gave way to another narrow path through dense vegetation. We then began to walk downhill as we met the trackers. We walked for another twenty minutes or so. Finally we found the gorillas. There was a group of three in the dense vegetation. Guides chopped away at the vegetation to give us a view. After a few minutes these wandered away and we found some more of the family a couple of minutes away. Here, there was a mother and a small baby, a four year old, a six year old, a silverback and a black back. We spent the rest of our hour watching these. At one point, the six year old walked through our group so that we were surrounded by gorillas.
We then walked up to the top of the mountain to the forested area and had lunch. Then began the long excruciating walk back down. While I didn’t have to pull my body weight up the hill, going down was almost as difficult as going up. The footing was difficult. My hip flexors and knees were killing me. The way was in the sun which had gotten quite hot. I was miserable. After about an hour of very slow progress, we made it to the banana trees which I had assumed would offer shade. Nope. But at least the path was less steep. Finally we made it to our vehicles for the ride back.
(All gorilla pics on previous post)
When we arrived back, we chatted with the couple who had the room between our two rooms. They are from Australia (the wife originally from Houston). They are with a larger group that had to split up for gorilla trekking. Five are here, some trekking today and some tomorrow, others are at two other locations. They have their own chef and are mostly camping. I also overheard a couple who had just been in Kenya. They said that the situation was pretty awful with travel by road almost impossible.
Traveler’s Rest, Kisoro, Uganda, Tuesday, 8 January, 2008. Our second gorilla encounter. We got up at 5 am and had breakfast at 5:30. We were on the road a little after 6 am. The drive began in the dark. The road to Nkuringa where one family of gorillas lives is rutted and twisty. As we rode in the dark, we picked out constellations. I thought I spotted the Southern Cross, but as I realized that Scorpio was nearby, I knew I was looking in the wrong direction. As the day grew lighter, we could see the mists covering the hills and farms. We passed a lake. We climbed higher and higher on the mountain. Around 7:30 we arrived at park headquarters. We waited for a long time. Finally, we were called together. Uganda (and Rwanda, for that matter) limits the number of person who may visit each family to eight. Four additional people had arrived that day looking for permits. The head of the division announced that no exception could be made. Finally we got our porters and our walking sticks. A young woman attached herself to me as my porter. I was pleased to have a woman as porter, but concerned because I knew that I would need help if the way was as steep and treacherous as descried.
We began the trek by walking up the road and then in about 150 yards, we cut off down a path by farming plots. We continued to walk downhill, along some fairly steep patches. All I could think of was how in the world would I be able to get back up. After about fifteen or twenty minutes we cut from this path down a narrower and, if possible, steeper path. Finally our guide announced that the trackers had found the gorillas and we should go cross country. They began to cut a path through thick vegetation. The vegetation was wet, the hillside, slippery. I fell a number of times. I had acquired a different porter who almost carried me at certain places. I kept getting caught on vines and entangled in vegetation. After 65 minutes we met the trackers at a creek. We could hear the gorillas around us and could catch a glimpse of a gorilla in a tree. We crossed the creek and began another downward path through thick vegetation, this time in the jungle. There is a reason it is called Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. We arrived at an area with a black back and several young gorillas feeding in the trees. We sat for a while and then continued through the jungle. We arrived at another site and then found two gorillas on either side of the creek. One was a quite large black back (black backs are too young to mate, though this guy was huge) and the other was a smaller gorilla. We stayed there until the end of our allotted hour. We then crossed a creek and found a solid path uphill to the trackers camp. Certainly coming in through the trackers camp would have been less dramatic, but much easier. We rested and ate lunch there. Then began the agonizing trek back up hill. We climbed (and I rested) up and up and up. We climbed about 1500 feet in what I would guess was about 3 kilometers. I had a hard time catching my breath. I just went as slowly as I needed to and stopped whenever I needed to. I was a bit disappointed because I run three times a week, but this was just too much. We began at around 6500 feet, so I will blame some of my distress on the altitude.
We arrived back at Traveler’s Rest around 3:30. I read in the Kampala paper that at least 600 have been killed in Kenya; Odinga estimates the toll at 1000. Neither side seems interested in stopping the madness. Petrol is getting through. Kenya prohibited the Ugandan military forces from providing escorts to trucks coming here; Kenya is providing military escorts. There is petroleum; it is just expensive.
It is strange being cut off from the news of the world. There is no television here and the only news is from the Kampala paper. There is an internet cafe. I am so used to being in touch through the internet, but it really doesn’t matter. The New Hampshire primary is today and I will learn the results perhaps on Thursday or even Saturday when I get back to Kampala.
Thursday, 10 January, Buhoma Lodge (formerly Buhoma Homestead), Buhoma, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda. I am exhausted. Our final gorilla trekking was today. Yesterday, we drove from Kisoro to Buhoma. It was a long, dusty drive along narrow, twisty roads through high volcanic mountains. The hillsides as before are covered with plots. This time, after we turned off the main road from Kabale through Bwindi to Buhoma, we encountered coffee shrubs along with the banana trees and the other crops. At one point, impatiens were blooming along a hillside. I thought of my first trip to Nicaragua when we traveled up to Maltagalpa through the volcanic mountains with the coffee plants and impatiens growing wild. We arrived at Buhoma after an exhausting five hour drive.
Lonely Planet dinged the lodge, but evidently that was before the new owners. There are ten bungalows, each with one large bedroom and a bath. Two walls are screens giving the bungalow the feel of a tent. They are set on the hillside where they catch the breeze. On the front is a balcony with two director’s chairs and a small table. The food is the best we’ve had outside of Kampala. We arrived at lunchtime and had spaghetti with a fresh tomato sauce and cheese. Dinner is a set menu (though if you have expressed dislikes or allergies, suitable substitutes are made). We had a starter of roasted eggplant and tomato with fresh basil covered in cheese. The soup was a creamy vegetable. The entree was fish with an herb I couldn’t identify, rosemary potatoes, a mixture of fresh carrots and cauliflower. The rolls were quite good. Dessert was an orange sponge cake with chocolate sauce. I was unable to really taste the orange; that was fine because the chocolate sauce was fantastic.
I chatted a bit with the European managers. They also manage a tented camp in Queen Elizabeth Park (but not the one we will be going to). Jeffrey said that gorillas sometimes come even into their garden here. They also talked about the variety of wildlife in Queen Elizabeth.
We got up early this morning (but not as early as two days ago) and had breakfast and then left for the trek. We had our orientation and then drove a couple of miles to a village to begin the trek. We walked through a bit of open land and then began an uphill climb through banana trees. We stopped a couple of times, once where folks were fermenting bananas for an alcoholic beverage which is 40 percent alcohol and then where a woman was drying coffee beans. As we emerged from the banana trees, the really hard work uphill began. The trail was straight uphill at what seemed to be perpendicular the entire way. Tangled vegetation grew along the trail, mostly about six feet or more in height, but it offered no shade from the sun. After about an hour and a half we arrived at the top. I had been pushed and pulled to make it to the top. When we could see daylight through the vegetation at the top, the guide said we had made it about half way up the steep part. At times, I thought I would cry the way was so hard. As we reached the top we began to walk through vegetation that was about ten feet tall. It was absolutely impenetrable without a machete. Plants twined together, vines lay across the path. We finally reached a forested part which was a bit easier to walk through, but that soon gave way to another narrow path through dense vegetation. We then began to walk downhill as we met the trackers. We walked for another twenty minutes or so. Finally we found the gorillas. There was a group of three in the dense vegetation. Guides chopped away at the vegetation to give us a view. After a few minutes these wandered away and we found some more of the family a couple of minutes away. Here, there was a mother and a small baby, a four year old, a six year old, a silverback and a black back. We spent the rest of our hour watching these. At one point, the six year old walked through our group so that we were surrounded by gorillas.
We then walked up to the top of the mountain to the forested area and had lunch. Then began the long excruciating walk back down. While I didn’t have to pull my body weight up the hill, going down was almost as difficult as going up. The footing was difficult. My hip flexors and knees were killing me. The way was in the sun which had gotten quite hot. I was miserable. After about an hour of very slow progress, we made it to the banana trees which I had assumed would offer shade. Nope. But at least the path was less steep. Finally we made it to our vehicles for the ride back.
(All gorilla pics on previous post)
African Adventure Part II
Sunday, 6 January2008, Gorillas Mountain Nest, Rwanda. The shower on Saturday morning was fairly warm. Surprisingly so. We left the island around 8:15 and arrived at the dock met by our driver. We unloaded the boat without mishap and continued to Rwanda. The road from the dock to the main road was narrow, twisty and dusty. The scenery was spectacular. The hills are high but rolling and are covered with vegetation. Garden plots are everywhere. I’m not sure what the crops are, but each plot had a different shade of green and a different texture. We made it to the main road, which turned out to be a broad, graded dirt road. It was at least faster than the road we had been on. At Kisoro, we stopped at Traveler’s Rest for a bit of a rest. Dian Fosse stayed at the hotel when she was in the area.
From there, it was a short drive to the border. Border formalities were mercifully short. We presented our passports to be recorded by hand in a book and then went to another office where our passports were stamped. We then walked a very short distance to Rwanda and filled out an entry form and then had our passport stamped. It was quite a contrast to the hour-long ordeal that crossing into Uzbekistan had been last summer. On the other hand, for some reason our driver was delayed. We waited about an hour for him to complete his formalities. As soon as we crossed the border, he pointed out a memorial to the genocide. It was a site of a mass grave. We passed several more in only a few miles. The road was filled with people walking. As I watched people moved in long lines I wondered what it had looked like in the time of the genocide. I know that Rwandans sought refuge in Uganda. I wondered if the road we were on had been packed with people fleeing for their lives. As I am now cut off from all news, I wonder if the same thing is happening in Kenya with the Luo and the Kikuyo. Several years ago, when I first heard of the Congolese fighters who would cut off the hands of villagers I was horrified. That, to my mind, was worse than death. It left a farmer helpless, unable to work his land. It meant that someone had to use his/her time caring for that helpless person. It was doubling crippling to the life of the village. I couldn’t imagine the inhumanity of that. And then I learned that cutting off the hands of opponents was a favorite weapon of the Belgians in the Congo. The Congolese had learned it from the Belgians. I don’t know how much brutality there was in Africa before the colonists arrived. I wonder how much of the brutality was learned from the colonists. I was musing about all of these and mentioned to TC that there was of course the Mau-Mau uprising. He told me that only nine Europeans were killed in the uprising. I was amazed. I have heard so much of the horror of the uprising, but only nine people killed? Is white life so much more valuable than the lives of Blacks and other people of color?
We soon arrived at Gorillas Rest. We were exhausted. We had lunch, a fairly decent buffet with lots of vegetables and then we napped. I don’t think either of us has fully adjusted to the time difference (nine hours in Uganda, eight in Rwanda, for me).
I awoke to the sounds of shouting. I thought that our room must be close to the road. The shouting continued and then drumming. There was a performance of African dances and drumming. TC and I had some wine in the bar and chatted with our driver. Dinner was again a buffet with good vegetables.
This morning we awoke at 5:15. Breakfast was at 6 and we left for national park headquarters to begin our gorilla trek at 6:30. We found ourselves in a group of four Londoners and two more Americans. The American male wanted to visit the Susa group which has the largest silverback in the park. This gorilla weighs 450 kg. An Italian woman and a French man who live in Madagascar joined us. I was the oldest person in the group by at least ten years. After a briefing, we drove a short bit and then began the trek up the mountainside. We first passed through some gardens. Farmers were growing Irish potatoes, peas and daisies. The daisies are dried and then exported to the US where they are used in insect repellant. After the gardens we walked through land that had small long humps. I don’t know if these were man-made or the result of geological action. We then arrived at a stone wall which encircles the park from the DR Congo to Uganda. It serves to keep the animals inside the park (the farmers really don’t like it when the gorillas eat their crops or the elephants destroy them). We then began the hard upward trek. The ground was soft, often covered in eucalyptus leaves or other litter. I definitely suffered from hypoxia. (On the way down, we followed a steep cliff for about 20 minutes; I had no recollection of it from the way up.) The guide kept asking me if I wanted a rest stop. I usually answered yes. I felt bad about holding the group up, but TC told me that he heard one of the young women say that she thought she could manage at this pace. We reached a place where the guide said we were about 20 minutes from the gorillas (this was about 75 minutes into the trek). Of course, he said, that was for someone with long legs. We arrived there about 40 minutes later. The guide had told us that we would leave our packs and just take our cameras to the site of the gorillas. As the guide introduced us to the trackers, there was the sound of shattering bamboo. The silverback walked right up to us. The guide pushed me down, so that I was sitting. I was about six feet from the animal. Amazing. I had been putting my camera gear together and so didn’t really get much of a chance to photograph him. The guide then took us over to the nest. A porter hacked away at the brush and we found seats about 15 feet from the family. The silverback returned. With him was a mother and her six month old and a two year old who belonged to a different mother. We had one hour watching these huge animals. The silverback mostly slept, though he did eat occasionally, even grabbing a bit of fruit from his two year old son. The mother tried to keep her baby from bothering the silverback. The two year old climbed branches and vines, practiced beating his chest, and wrestled with the baby. Towards the end of our hour, another mother came with two more little ones in tow. At the end of the hour, we rested a bit and then began the trek downhill. We made it without stopping until we came to the park border. The guide then gave a sales pitch for the other trekking possibilities in the park both to see other gorilla families and to see the golden monkeys as well as the other national parks. We stopped at the park headquarters to pick up our certificate and talked with a couple who were going on the trek tomorrow. From there lunch, downloading the pictures, watching the video and napping.
From there, it was a short drive to the border. Border formalities were mercifully short. We presented our passports to be recorded by hand in a book and then went to another office where our passports were stamped. We then walked a very short distance to Rwanda and filled out an entry form and then had our passport stamped. It was quite a contrast to the hour-long ordeal that crossing into Uzbekistan had been last summer. On the other hand, for some reason our driver was delayed. We waited about an hour for him to complete his formalities. As soon as we crossed the border, he pointed out a memorial to the genocide. It was a site of a mass grave. We passed several more in only a few miles. The road was filled with people walking. As I watched people moved in long lines I wondered what it had looked like in the time of the genocide. I know that Rwandans sought refuge in Uganda. I wondered if the road we were on had been packed with people fleeing for their lives. As I am now cut off from all news, I wonder if the same thing is happening in Kenya with the Luo and the Kikuyo. Several years ago, when I first heard of the Congolese fighters who would cut off the hands of villagers I was horrified. That, to my mind, was worse than death. It left a farmer helpless, unable to work his land. It meant that someone had to use his/her time caring for that helpless person. It was doubling crippling to the life of the village. I couldn’t imagine the inhumanity of that. And then I learned that cutting off the hands of opponents was a favorite weapon of the Belgians in the Congo. The Congolese had learned it from the Belgians. I don’t know how much brutality there was in Africa before the colonists arrived. I wonder how much of the brutality was learned from the colonists. I was musing about all of these and mentioned to TC that there was of course the Mau-Mau uprising. He told me that only nine Europeans were killed in the uprising. I was amazed. I have heard so much of the horror of the uprising, but only nine people killed? Is white life so much more valuable than the lives of Blacks and other people of color?
We soon arrived at Gorillas Rest. We were exhausted. We had lunch, a fairly decent buffet with lots of vegetables and then we napped. I don’t think either of us has fully adjusted to the time difference (nine hours in Uganda, eight in Rwanda, for me).
I awoke to the sounds of shouting. I thought that our room must be close to the road. The shouting continued and then drumming. There was a performance of African dances and drumming. TC and I had some wine in the bar and chatted with our driver. Dinner was again a buffet with good vegetables.
This morning we awoke at 5:15. Breakfast was at 6 and we left for national park headquarters to begin our gorilla trek at 6:30. We found ourselves in a group of four Londoners and two more Americans. The American male wanted to visit the Susa group which has the largest silverback in the park. This gorilla weighs 450 kg. An Italian woman and a French man who live in Madagascar joined us. I was the oldest person in the group by at least ten years. After a briefing, we drove a short bit and then began the trek up the mountainside. We first passed through some gardens. Farmers were growing Irish potatoes, peas and daisies. The daisies are dried and then exported to the US where they are used in insect repellant. After the gardens we walked through land that had small long humps. I don’t know if these were man-made or the result of geological action. We then arrived at a stone wall which encircles the park from the DR Congo to Uganda. It serves to keep the animals inside the park (the farmers really don’t like it when the gorillas eat their crops or the elephants destroy them). We then began the hard upward trek. The ground was soft, often covered in eucalyptus leaves or other litter. I definitely suffered from hypoxia. (On the way down, we followed a steep cliff for about 20 minutes; I had no recollection of it from the way up.) The guide kept asking me if I wanted a rest stop. I usually answered yes. I felt bad about holding the group up, but TC told me that he heard one of the young women say that she thought she could manage at this pace. We reached a place where the guide said we were about 20 minutes from the gorillas (this was about 75 minutes into the trek). Of course, he said, that was for someone with long legs. We arrived there about 40 minutes later. The guide had told us that we would leave our packs and just take our cameras to the site of the gorillas. As the guide introduced us to the trackers, there was the sound of shattering bamboo. The silverback walked right up to us. The guide pushed me down, so that I was sitting. I was about six feet from the animal. Amazing. I had been putting my camera gear together and so didn’t really get much of a chance to photograph him. The guide then took us over to the nest. A porter hacked away at the brush and we found seats about 15 feet from the family. The silverback returned. With him was a mother and her six month old and a two year old who belonged to a different mother. We had one hour watching these huge animals. The silverback mostly slept, though he did eat occasionally, even grabbing a bit of fruit from his two year old son. The mother tried to keep her baby from bothering the silverback. The two year old climbed branches and vines, practiced beating his chest, and wrestled with the baby. Towards the end of our hour, another mother came with two more little ones in tow. At the end of the hour, we rested a bit and then began the trek downhill. We made it without stopping until we came to the park border. The guide then gave a sales pitch for the other trekking possibilities in the park both to see other gorilla families and to see the golden monkeys as well as the other national parks. We stopped at the park headquarters to pick up our certificate and talked with a couple who were going on the trek tomorrow. From there lunch, downloading the pictures, watching the video and napping.
African Adventure Part I
Friday, 4 Jan 2008 Ha’Burkura Lake Lodge, outside of Kebala, Uganda. Our original plans had been to fly into Nairobi on Jan 2, stay in Nairobi for two days and then fly to Kigali, Rwanda, on the 5th of January. Because of the unrest in Kenya, on Monday, Dec 31, I was able to re-route us to Entebbe, Uganda. I left Memphis on a flight to Detroit, meeting TC there. My flight was a bit late, waiting for a gate. TC was waiting at Caribou. We ate at Jose Cuevera Tequiliaria. The appetizers were good, but the main course was not particularly good. We then boarded our flight to Amsterdam. We had to wait a bit for de-icing and then we were off. I had not gotten a boarding pass for the AMS-EBB let, though TC, who had checked in in Cleveland at the same time I had checked in did get his. When we arrived at AMS, there was a huge line at the elite counter for transfers. I thought that I would try the self-transfer kiosk. There appeared to be only one open seat. TC and I had been give an aisle and a middle on an interior four seat row. As people finished boarding, I noticed that all of rows 10 and 11 were vacant. I moved to row 10 B (a bulkhead seat). No one came. In fact, the flight attendant moved a couple to the interior bulkhead and said to another flight attendant that he was surprised no one had moved in. I suppose I should have waited in the transfer line and tried to get assigned a seat in row 10. The food on KLM continues to be abysmal. Lunch was tasteless chicken with some sort of equally tasteless sauce. Salad was covered in mayonnaise. Dessert was a foamy thing on top of a thin layer of chocolate cake. The snack before landing was soup (tasteless) and another mayonaiseey salad. There is a reason most airlines don’t serve soup in coach. We arrived in Entebbe about an hour late. My bag arrived fairly early, but TC’s two bags did not show up. We had arranged for the hotel to pick us up at the airport and drive us to Kampala. I decided that I should go out and make sure they were waiting for us. The representative was anxious about the shuttle leaving . Finally, she arranged for a taxi for us (at twice the price of the shuttle). Neither of TC’s bags showed up. He filed his claim. We finally arrived at the hotel just before midnight. I had been traveling 31 hours. We ordered room service, not very good.
We learned as we were waiting for baggage that there was a fuel shortage in Uganda. The unrest in Kenya had halted deliveries of petrol to Uganda and Uganda had neither developed its own refining capacity (there is oil here) nor had they begun to work with other countries for alternative sources. Sudan has refining capacity and there is the possibility of delivering fuel through Dar es Salaam Tanzania rather than through the port of Mombassa. There had been no deliveries since Monday. Being the anxious person that I am when I travel, I conjured up all sorts of possibilities of being stranded in Kampala and not being able to go the 20 km to the airport at Entebbe. I began to work on alternative plans. We could fly to Addis Ababa or fly back to Amsterdam and rent a car and drive through Europe. The fact that it was 30 degrees in Europe and that I had clothes for the equator and TC had no clothes was one hitch in the Europe plan. I finally went back to sleep.
On Thursday morning, we got up and had breakfast. The hotel has a lovely second floor balcony with tables. We ate out there and began to notice storks. These birds are HUGE. They stand probably four feet tall or higher; the wing span must be close to eight feet. Looking up in the sky, I thought I was in Jurassic Park watching the huge birds fly with their legs tailing behind them. After breakfast, we walked to our travel agent. I had taken a risk on a local travel agent because the price for the exact same tour was about two thirds the cost of going with an American or British tour company. I had sent them cash up front, so I was concerned that they were not some sort of scam. (The agency is African Pearl. They were written up in both Bradt and Lonely Planet. I asked them for email references and got four very happy references from folks with US?UK email addresses, so I was reasonably comfortable). At any rate we finally found the office. They were wonderful. The trek was still on, they had enough petrol to get us where we were going and had an alternative for us to get to Rwanda. We could leave on Friday and stop in Kebala and arrive at Gorilla’s Nest on Saturday as originally planned. The only additional cost for us was the night’s lodging on the way. We then wandered off to KLM to find out whether they knew where TC’s luggage was. Nope. But, they did hand over a crisp hundred dollar bill for clothing. We then had lunch at an Indian restaurant, Hannadi.
The food was wonderful. We had pakoras, a shrimp in a tomato, ginger curry, spinach with peas and garlic naan. The restaurant is on the second floor. About our eye level were the tops of the trees in the median of the street below. In a jacaranda tree were four huge storks and a nest with two babies in it. Of course, you could hardly call these birds babies. They were the size of geese with long beaks. One stork was taking branches (branches) off a neighboring tree and using them to reinforce the nest. It was amazing. The branches were about three feet long with smaller branches and leaves coming off the main branch. It was amazing to watch this huge bird stand on a small limb and say through a branch with his/her beak.
We stopped in the Kenya Airways office to see if I could get a refund on our tickets from Nairobi to Kigali. There were fifteen people in front of us. After a few minutes, we decided to leave. We had earlier found some stores with men’s clothes. We acquired two shirts and then from a guy on the street, socks. Prices in Uganda are not cheap. I don’t know if it’s because the dollar is in the toilet or if things are always that pricey. Shirts were $15. Socks were $10. The socks on the street were $2 a pair. We then walked back to the Kenya Airways, and were told that we needed to see the accountants. We finally found him. He said we needed to email someone in Nairobi but to copy him on the email. Then we walked back to the hotel. Before we got there, we decided to ask our travel agent to recommend a place to get the rest of the things TC needed. She recommended a shopping mall about three quarters of a mile away. And so, off we walked. It was downhill.
The mall (Garden City) looks like a three story American mall. We entered through the parking lot and found a large supermarket/discount store with food, clothes, towels, etc. We found all the stuff TC needed. We wanted to find a few other things and so we wandered through the mall. We took a taxi back to the hotel and rested. Unfortunately, we went straight to sleep at 5:00.
This morning, we got up a bit early, packed and had breakfast. Our driver met us and we began a long drive to Rwanda. It took about an hour to get through morning traffic in Kampala. The landscape is lush and there are rolling hills. It is quite lovely. There were huge cattle with horns. Some of the horns were about 30 inches long and curved upward in two semi-circles. I have never seen cattle quite like those. The other amazing sight was that of men with bicycles loaded with bananas. Each bicycle had at least three stalks (which must have weighed at least 50 pounds) tied to it: one across the back and one hanging down beside each side of the rear tire. Many bicycles were loaded with even more stalks. The men were pushing their bikes, The hills were fairly steep and I was amazed that any could make it to the top of the hills as laden as the bikes were. There were people everywhere carrying jerry cans for petrol.
We traveled through lots of small villages. There were shops on either side of the road. They carried advertising along the roofline, but the advertising didn’t seem to be related to the items they carried. Most of the shops were freshly and brightly painted. In some of the villages, there were large trucks. I think that the men were selling their bananas to the guys with the large trucks. We stopped for lunch in a nice restaurant and had mostly Indian food. We finally arrived at the dock for the hotel we are staying at around 4 pm. We found the men from the hotel and finally got our bags loaded in a boat and motored over to the island. The hotel is clean. We are staying in a two bedroom cottage with its own patio. The cottage has a central room. The shower consists of a hand held shower mounted on the wall and a large dishpan on the floor. The hot water is heated by solar panels and so I expect a fairly cold shower in the morning.
We walked around the island and were fascinated by the birds We saw a crested crane fly by. TC spotted some birds which he thought might be kingfishers. There was a small bird with a divided tail that was about three times the length of its body. Dinner will be at 7:30 and we will see what it is like.
The lake is beautiful. The green, terraced, volcanic hills come down into the shore of the lake. Dugout canoes ply the waters. It is cooler (about 6500 feet in elevation) which is quite pleasant.
Boy waiting at the docks
One of the islands
We learned as we were waiting for baggage that there was a fuel shortage in Uganda. The unrest in Kenya had halted deliveries of petrol to Uganda and Uganda had neither developed its own refining capacity (there is oil here) nor had they begun to work with other countries for alternative sources. Sudan has refining capacity and there is the possibility of delivering fuel through Dar es Salaam Tanzania rather than through the port of Mombassa. There had been no deliveries since Monday. Being the anxious person that I am when I travel, I conjured up all sorts of possibilities of being stranded in Kampala and not being able to go the 20 km to the airport at Entebbe. I began to work on alternative plans. We could fly to Addis Ababa or fly back to Amsterdam and rent a car and drive through Europe. The fact that it was 30 degrees in Europe and that I had clothes for the equator and TC had no clothes was one hitch in the Europe plan. I finally went back to sleep.
On Thursday morning, we got up and had breakfast. The hotel has a lovely second floor balcony with tables. We ate out there and began to notice storks. These birds are HUGE. They stand probably four feet tall or higher; the wing span must be close to eight feet. Looking up in the sky, I thought I was in Jurassic Park watching the huge birds fly with their legs tailing behind them. After breakfast, we walked to our travel agent. I had taken a risk on a local travel agent because the price for the exact same tour was about two thirds the cost of going with an American or British tour company. I had sent them cash up front, so I was concerned that they were not some sort of scam. (The agency is African Pearl. They were written up in both Bradt and Lonely Planet. I asked them for email references and got four very happy references from folks with US?UK email addresses, so I was reasonably comfortable). At any rate we finally found the office. They were wonderful. The trek was still on, they had enough petrol to get us where we were going and had an alternative for us to get to Rwanda. We could leave on Friday and stop in Kebala and arrive at Gorilla’s Nest on Saturday as originally planned. The only additional cost for us was the night’s lodging on the way. We then wandered off to KLM to find out whether they knew where TC’s luggage was. Nope. But, they did hand over a crisp hundred dollar bill for clothing. We then had lunch at an Indian restaurant, Hannadi.
The food was wonderful. We had pakoras, a shrimp in a tomato, ginger curry, spinach with peas and garlic naan. The restaurant is on the second floor. About our eye level were the tops of the trees in the median of the street below. In a jacaranda tree were four huge storks and a nest with two babies in it. Of course, you could hardly call these birds babies. They were the size of geese with long beaks. One stork was taking branches (branches) off a neighboring tree and using them to reinforce the nest. It was amazing. The branches were about three feet long with smaller branches and leaves coming off the main branch. It was amazing to watch this huge bird stand on a small limb and say through a branch with his/her beak.
We stopped in the Kenya Airways office to see if I could get a refund on our tickets from Nairobi to Kigali. There were fifteen people in front of us. After a few minutes, we decided to leave. We had earlier found some stores with men’s clothes. We acquired two shirts and then from a guy on the street, socks. Prices in Uganda are not cheap. I don’t know if it’s because the dollar is in the toilet or if things are always that pricey. Shirts were $15. Socks were $10. The socks on the street were $2 a pair. We then walked back to the Kenya Airways, and were told that we needed to see the accountants. We finally found him. He said we needed to email someone in Nairobi but to copy him on the email. Then we walked back to the hotel. Before we got there, we decided to ask our travel agent to recommend a place to get the rest of the things TC needed. She recommended a shopping mall about three quarters of a mile away. And so, off we walked. It was downhill.
The mall (Garden City) looks like a three story American mall. We entered through the parking lot and found a large supermarket/discount store with food, clothes, towels, etc. We found all the stuff TC needed. We wanted to find a few other things and so we wandered through the mall. We took a taxi back to the hotel and rested. Unfortunately, we went straight to sleep at 5:00.
This morning, we got up a bit early, packed and had breakfast. Our driver met us and we began a long drive to Rwanda. It took about an hour to get through morning traffic in Kampala. The landscape is lush and there are rolling hills. It is quite lovely. There were huge cattle with horns. Some of the horns were about 30 inches long and curved upward in two semi-circles. I have never seen cattle quite like those. The other amazing sight was that of men with bicycles loaded with bananas. Each bicycle had at least three stalks (which must have weighed at least 50 pounds) tied to it: one across the back and one hanging down beside each side of the rear tire. Many bicycles were loaded with even more stalks. The men were pushing their bikes, The hills were fairly steep and I was amazed that any could make it to the top of the hills as laden as the bikes were. There were people everywhere carrying jerry cans for petrol.
We traveled through lots of small villages. There were shops on either side of the road. They carried advertising along the roofline, but the advertising didn’t seem to be related to the items they carried. Most of the shops were freshly and brightly painted. In some of the villages, there were large trucks. I think that the men were selling their bananas to the guys with the large trucks. We stopped for lunch in a nice restaurant and had mostly Indian food. We finally arrived at the dock for the hotel we are staying at around 4 pm. We found the men from the hotel and finally got our bags loaded in a boat and motored over to the island. The hotel is clean. We are staying in a two bedroom cottage with its own patio. The cottage has a central room. The shower consists of a hand held shower mounted on the wall and a large dishpan on the floor. The hot water is heated by solar panels and so I expect a fairly cold shower in the morning.
We walked around the island and were fascinated by the birds We saw a crested crane fly by. TC spotted some birds which he thought might be kingfishers. There was a small bird with a divided tail that was about three times the length of its body. Dinner will be at 7:30 and we will see what it is like.
The lake is beautiful. The green, terraced, volcanic hills come down into the shore of the lake. Dugout canoes ply the waters. It is cooler (about 6500 feet in elevation) which is quite pleasant.
Boy waiting at the docks
One of the islands
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Fear Not!
An article in the NYTimes here indicates that fear of terrorist attacks may cause more deaths than those resulting from actual terrorist attacks. The angels tell the shepherds "Fear not!" What are we to fear?
Churchill (or FDR) said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Right now, the administration keeps trying to make sure we are afraid. Fear will keep them in power. Iran as the greatest source of state-sponsored terrorism ignores the fact that terrorism in its modern form is largely not state-sponsored. I've just come back from Africa. I've had to negotiate four security checks in various airports in Africa, Europe and the US. I've had to run the gauntlet of Homeland Security's immigration and customs agents. Do they make us safer? Probably not, but they do remind us that we are supposed to be afraid.
Fear keeps our minds from thinking clearly. Fear keeps us from relating to others as fellow children of God. Fear keeps us from being the people God calls us to be: loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us.
Churchill (or FDR) said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Right now, the administration keeps trying to make sure we are afraid. Fear will keep them in power. Iran as the greatest source of state-sponsored terrorism ignores the fact that terrorism in its modern form is largely not state-sponsored. I've just come back from Africa. I've had to negotiate four security checks in various airports in Africa, Europe and the US. I've had to run the gauntlet of Homeland Security's immigration and customs agents. Do they make us safer? Probably not, but they do remind us that we are supposed to be afraid.
Fear keeps our minds from thinking clearly. Fear keeps us from relating to others as fellow children of God. Fear keeps us from being the people God calls us to be: loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us.
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