The power of a smile.

(The thoughts of a simple PE teacher..)

This week has been a long and strenuous week. Many a night was spent sitting behind a desk as grades had to be prepared, rapport written, conferences held with parents and meetings participated in. By the time Friday came around I had little more to give.

Saturday being a day off and I walked out to have lunch with a friend. And the end of the dock was a military guard with a Kalashnikov, not a strange occurrence at all and nothing to cause worry. But the fact that he was holding a submachine gun is always a little shock to a simple European.

Later that evening I was down on the ward wearing stupid oversized glasses made from cardboard (why is a story in its own right). A mother called me over to see her baby girl. She had just had surgery on a hydro seal. This is a collection of fluids on the brain that caused a growth on her cranium. The pressure of the build up of fluid had left her with brain damage. She rolled his eyes and stared vacantly up at her mother.


These 3 things bring me to my question: where do we see ‘power’?
Tiredness weighs us down, it pushes us to physical and emotional limits, constricts us in our actions and edges our responses.
Firearms have a too apart a power, too often have these inventions been a tool of suffering and pain.
And what of physical ailments? An innocent girl with an affliction from birth that will burden her through life, leaving her scarred physically and mentally.These are the things that are powerful. These are the things that attack us on every facet of our being. If you were keeping score it truely is fairly simple: we lose.



Then she smiled..

A baby of not 6 months old, coming out of major surgery and still with great struggle ahead; she smiled and shook her head at this stupid man wearing (badly made) oversized cardboard glasses.

I was pondering the question: where do we see ‘power’? There . That is where you see true power; power in hope. Every burden, every pain, every struggle I had felt or had seen in the week before was lifted, cancelled out and put to shame by the smile of a baby and the eternal hope it symbolized.


Do you want to know who God is? God is good .

We all live in a yellow submarine..

(Actually typed this last week but forgot to post.. oops :), read all the 'today''s as 'then''s )

No slow start this time, I'm straight in there: everybody in the Netherlands: I've been praying for you all! (or all y'all depending on your region of heritage).

Its starting to dawn on me (if it hadn't already) that this is not just a ship of people working in Africa but, as we always call it, ' a community' in the most real sense of the word. Life here is intense, everything is as it would be in the real world except from the fact that it happens in a box 200 x 50 x 50 m. Think of sharing your garage with 10 people and that would probably translate scale wise (any mathematicians feel free to correct me).

You spend a lot of time with everybody and it is never quiet. This may sound negative but that is not the intent at all! Communityliving is as amazing as it is exhausting!! I love the way friendships are made and built quickly and with commitment. A little r&r would be nice sometimes though :P

I managed to get away with some friends this weekend and spent the night at a resort just up the coast. The batteries have not felt this recharged in a while. It was just what the doctor/nurse/pharmacist ordered, feeling relaxed!

As a side note, the realisation I had today is that I miss my motorbike :P

I borrowed the Vespa of a friend on the ship for the day and it was wonderful!

The main transportation vehicle in West Africa is the Zemi Jaine (which means: 'get me there fast'), these are small motorbikes that also function as taxi's. Everything and anyone (or amount of people) can be transported on a Zemi jaine.

I decided after riding today I need to start saving to buy one. It will make not only a good hobby in the upkeep and driving but give me cheap transport (not that the land rovers are too expensive to use) and, as I'm sure my Mother is worrying enough about me, another thing to add to her list ;)

Bit of a strange blog now I read it, seems almost 'dear Diary'-ish, even a bit rant'n'rave-ish, but it is what it is and that it shall be.

God bless!

Ben

Few example's from the 'Zemi Jaine hall of fame':