Loving Africa

I had a little buddy at the mission whom you need to meet. His name was Jérémie.   He was the son of one of our bakers, and I think he was born not too long before I arrived at the mission (he was probably 10 or so months old when these pictures were taken in May 2021). One day, Pentecost Tuesday, he decided that he liked me. I had barely had any (if I had indeed had any) interaction with him, but he started toddling up to me, letting me hold him -- I was holding him at one point and when I handed him back to his mother, he started crying. She gave him back to me and he stopped. It made no sense.  Not a selfie, but he looks smart enough to take one In the meantime, the harvest was coming in from the garden. Eggplant, tomatoes, okra, basil that smelled incredible. Angelique was in the hospital at this point. Canon Sigros told me what had happened (we were standing in the air-conditioned pantry, he speaking English and me speaking French) when they took her there Sunday evening:...

  May 23rd was Pentecost that year. Canon Sigros had his usual fun of printing the list of who was doing what, as well as a sort of "program" for the Mass. Je suis l'organiste! :) There were 12 catechumens to be baptized that day, so on Saturday afternoon, Canon Sigros performed the ceremony of exorcisms that is traditionally done before baptisms. All 12 of them were children or teenagers, but as they had all achieved the age of reason, these would be considered "adult baptisms". The whole thing took more than an hour. There were many, many prayers, questions posed to each catechumen, placing exorcised salt on the tongue of each one, the Our Father recited three times (first for the boys, then the girls), Canon blowing in the face of each one (symbolizing the Holy Spirit), leading them into the church, more questions, the Apostles Creed, another Our Father, anointing each one...  As a general rule, I don't take pictures during liturgical functions. However, ...

The Sunday after Ascension, we got news that Canon Fragelli was in a medically-induced coma and that there were plans to fly him to Florence. It must have been around this time that I realized I was very unlikely to see him again before I left, as I had five weeks left at the mission.  Anyway, on that Sunday morning, May 16th, I was minding my own business, walking up to the kitchen, when I saw Gerard, Gabriel and Dieu-Vivant with a couple of plastic basins. My first reaction was that they had gone fishing (they had done that not long before). Then I saw the lizard.  They called it "iguane", but it was far larger than what we would consider an iguana. Gerard held it out to me and I felt the scales, but what they really wanted was a picture of me holding it by the tail. Lunch, anyone? While I was working in the kitchen, Dieu-Vivant came in with a basin holding the liver and 18 eggs from the lizard (I have a picture but I'll spare you). The shells were very soft and gave in...

The day after Ascension, we had Mass in the afternoon. It was a votive "Mass for the Sick", for Canon Fragelli, whom we had heard that they wanted to take to a hospital in Florence. "I hope he's back before I leave!" states my journal.  Later, closer to the evening, Canon Sigros asked me if I had a key to the dispensary. I didn't. He asked if I had something for "disinfecting", as one of the littler altar boys (three of them were hanging around Canon that afternoon) had a large, superficial cut on his arm. I jumped at the opportunity and told Canon I could do something. He replied with, "I want this boy disinfected".  The wound was large, taking up most of the boy's forearm, and while it wasn't deep, it was four days old and I guessed it hadn't been cleaned. My supplies were less than I would have hoped, but they were sufficient. I was able to clean the wound with soap and water, rinse it, and put antibiotic ointment on it. I ...