Happy Mother's Day Little Sister, I'm Back

 Happy Mother's Day

7 messages

From: Wanda Sabir

Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 9:18 AM

To: Lavina Johnson

Cc: TaSin Sabir 

Greetings Lavina:

I want to extend you a congratulations on a wonderful son, born today, Justin. Congrats. 

Tell Chris I said hi. I am back from Africa as of yesterday (smile). I attached a couple of photos of me at Bridal Falls in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe, Eastern Highlands. I was at an arts festivalthis weekend. I am home now. I was away for two and a half months (three countries).

Peace and Blessings,

Wanda Sabir

From: TaSin Sabir

Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 9:23 AM

To: Wanda Sabir 

Love these photos of u! glad ur back

From: Wanda Sabir
Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 9:24 AM

To: TaSin Sabir <tasinsabir@gmail.com>

Yes, I am happy to be back with you too (smile). I didn't go to bed :-(. Now I have to go to work.

Peace and Blessings,

Wanda Sabir

From: TaSin Sabir

Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 9:25 AM

To: Wanda Sabir <wandasabir@gmail.com>

What! Oh my drive safe. Can u call out

From: Wanda Sabir
Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 9:26 AM

To: TaSin Sabir <tasinsabir@gmail.com>

What do you mean? Call out? The house phone doesn't work. I don't understand that.

Peace and Blessings,

Wanda Sabir

From: Lavina Johnson

Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 10:37 AM

To: Wanda Sabir 

Thanks Sis! I will tell Justin and Chris you said hi and sends kisses lol.

I'm glad you made it back to USA in one piece, the photos are beautiful! I'm so proud my big sis is doing her thang! lol 

Love You!

Lavina Rose

From: Wanda Sabir

Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 12:19 PM

To: Lavina Johnson 

Wow! You're in CA?! Great! I am starting a doctoral program in October, so I will be coming to Carpinteria, a few miles south of Santa Barbara, CA, to Pacifica Graduate Institute. Since I will be so close, we can get together perhaps when Icome down?

My classes are Monday-Wednesday, crazy. Each month I am going to be absent from classes. I don't know how that willplay with the powers that be, but I will make it work for the students.

I will set up work for them to do in the Writing Center on those days, along with group work. It's for nine months, then inthe summer I have to do a research project (smile). The doctoral program is in Depth Psychology: Eco Psychology,Liberation Psychology and Community Psychology. I am excited. I was accepted while abroad.

You know Mom's brother's name was Floyd. I think they called him Rusty because he had red hair. I think he is the onewho drowned or died early from something.

You should all come up for Thanksgiving at my place. I will even cook (smile). We'll invite Fred over or maybe we'll havethe dinner at TaSin and Shawn's place, and we can all cook. You all can bunk with me. I have an extra couple of beds. ByNov. the study should be neater (smile).

I love Africa sis. I love everything about it, even the bad parts, even when I get frustrated and want to slap someone(smile). I love being with so many black people. I am so proud to be thought one of them -well I am (smile). Zimbabwe isso beautiful, yet the people are really suffering--no water in the suburbs. I was boiling water for baths and washing dishesand laundry and then I ran out of water. The farmers don't have seeds and people are hungry.

The country has the highest literary rate in Africa, yet there is 70 percent unemployment. The president wants investors tolet Zimbabweans have 51/49 shares and he is getting resistance in this from foreign investors. Add to that US sanctionsand we have a problem. The country has not currency. It uses an inflated American dollar and for change (they have nocoins) the South African Rand.

I had to learn to count in rands quickly. The market is really black (smile). Yet the folks are pleasant. I felt like a celebrityon Sunday when the combe drivers wanted to take a photo with the Californian. The men went and hired a photographer.They were sweet. They then got back in the combe after finding a clean bathroom for me and paying the attendant,chased down another combe I needed to transfer to to get to Harare.

I was trying to make a soccer game, but it was canceled.

Combes are commuter vans. There is no public transportation system. I had a trip from hell Thursday. I have to type mynotes (smile). (My trip home to SF took more than a day and I almost got into a fisticuffs with security in Addis at theairport last night.)

There is no central heating anywhere, so I was cold a lot, unless I was under the covers or bundled up. At the festival itwas chilly and windy--it is winter in Africa now. Summer is in December/January. The house I was staying in was lovely,swimming pool, huge garden with great veggies, a patio,. secure, but no water. Yep, when the basics are absent, it's hardto make a palace a home.

Brother Saki is a friend of a friend. He is in NY on his way to Italy, so his son showed me the house and how to manage.There is a caretaker and his family here, so I am not all alone on the premises. I have set off the alarm too many times.The security company knows my name (smile). They just can't spell it. I think they can now, but I am gone.

I loved Ethiopia girl. So beautiful in the countryside, really really beautiful. I had so much fun exploring and I met some really nice people. We did our libations for the ancestors when I arrived the first week and went to a concert. Houses aremade from mud bricks and these houses are really sturdy and sound. The government is tearing these houses down anderecting these project looking condos. In 20 years Addis Ababa is going to look like one big slum. They have these samebuildings in Zanzibar town, and parts of Harare. Grungy and ugly, the classic mud houses are going away and with them ,in Addis, this city's unique charm.

Tanzania and Zanzibar were also beautiful. I traveled a lot while there. It was in Tanzania that I went on a safari, saw thelions and tigers and cheetahs and elephants and crocodiles and zebra and wildebeests, and moneys and baboons andsnakes and foxes and vultures and flamingos. giraffe and antelope. . . . It was fun. We camped, which wasn't fun. I think alion came into our camp one night. At least that's what I heard. I didn't go and see.

Food has been a challenge, vegan and gluten free with no dairy and no eggs and no tomatoes and no sugar. I can fit mysize 14 pants again (smile).

The music festival in the eastern highlands was really fun. We stayed at a nice hotel. Again no heat and the water afterone night was luke warm. The music was sooo good, really good. And the festival was free. I met a new friend at GreatZimbabwe, he is an archeologist, I stayed at the National Park with him and his colleagues (he gave me his room) thenthe next morning we caught the combe, van, toward Chimanimani. We got a lift from a really nice man, he works for an NGO that installs toilets in communities and helps these same folks develop nurtritious gardens. The people install thetoilets with training.

He told us about other scenic spots along the way to Chimani, so we stopped at the Hot Springs which as lore will haveit, have been 100 degrees celcius since the beginning of creation. Those who believe this also believe the waters whichare hot, are holy.

I am not blocking any blessings girl so I filled a bottle up with the hot water. I had to let it cool before I put it on my face.You could make tea, next time, I am going to bring some bags and sit and have a few cups. It is such a unimpressivespot. It's not in a spa, it's across the street from some small stores, literally in the 'hood.

I left some for my host's parents who are not doing too well presently, especially the dad. Brother Saki is a filmmaker, an author, father, husband and director of a multimedia arts institute in Harare. He lives in Emeral Hill, only in the movies right?

Where else would OZ be real but in Africa (smile). In Zimbabwe to be exact. I am going to adopt a 14 year old girl I metand really like. I visited an orphanage while in Zim called Mother of Peace. I have friends who support the mission and Ireally loved visiting there.

Bella Bridget is such a sweet girl. Her parents are deceased and her siblings are all older than she. She and anothersister-friend of hers helped me climb the sacred mountain the day I left. It was divided into 14 stages of the cross, the girlsprayed at 9 of them, while some women ahead of us who we eventually passed was singing and shouting and reallygetting their prayer on (smile).

At the top of the mountain is an altar and open space for prayer and worship. We made prayers. I wrote mine on paperand the girls wrote theirs in the dirt. We then climbed back down to visit the shrines. We met the keeper of the shrines onour way up.

Mother of Peace shares this area with a Lepers colony. We had lunch with the guardian of the Shrine in Mutoko. Thecommunity is Catholic. The two women, sisters, Mama Jean and Mama Stella, are taking care of 125 children, many havegrown up here. My host's wife was raised there. They have cows and hogs, chickens and lots of crops. The localprisoners are hired to do the harder labor like planting crops and harvesting.

There is a dam near by where people fish. The village is arranged in cottages with the names of saints on them. I was in St. Raphael, a cottage a friend of mine built. Dr. Scott started practicing medicine at MOP in 2002(?) and the health of the over all community began to shift. There is a clinic where not just the children, but the community can get check-ups, routine tests, the clinic even provided prenatal services now.

A lot of people have HIV disease. it used to kill many of the children at MOP. Not that number has decreased. Bothmothers and children are living longer healthier lives. I took books and a couple of dolls as donations plus gave somemoney (smile).

I visited three children's shelters while I was away. In Addis the children were being taken care of by the community. Inanother place there was a drop in day center and if the kids were homeless, street kids, they could live there. A lot of thekids also had HIV disease. The boarding house I was staying at supported this facility as well as activities and schoolingfor many of the kids. I gave books and a doll to one of the women I met there who was adopting an Ethiopian child fromanother facility.

She was Irish.

When I went to Arusha, I gave most of the dolls and many of the books to the children at United African AllianceCommunity Center Home. UAACC care for about 100 kids too. They are so sweet and are doing well in school. Thesekids are no all orphans, some of them have families who cannot afford to send them to school and need help.

Many families still do not value education for girls. Child marriages, especially in the countryside is still common.

I met a park ranger in Arusha at UAACC and an attorney/retired judge. I hung out with both of them. Maggie has anorganization that supports the well-being of orphans. She takes them out on Sundays to the amusement park everymonth. There are only 5 women park rangers in Arusha or Tanzania, three of them are related to her (smile).

We went dancing that night. It was really fun hanging with the tots at the amusement park in Moshi. I spent the night ather friend's house. Her friend has a mansion (yes there is water (smile). She has three girls. Her back yard is on a lakeand Mt. Kilimanjaro is within view.

I have come to appreciate mountains.

Maggie and her friend, whose name is escaping me, have a women's coop where the women are developing microbusinesses where they are raising laying hens and fryers, growing food and doing other lucrative trades so they will no bedependent on their spouses, which gives them more leverage in their relationships.

The same was true in Bwejuu with a women's group I met there. When a woman has no income, the man can do as heplease, well he feels as if he can do as he pleases with no consequences.

Money is the great equalizer. We had fun dancing. I danced by myself for the most part and we would dance together. Atthe every end, a man started dancing with me for multiple songs (smile). When I don't talk, people can't place me (smile).

Anyway, that is a bit of my journey. The tour guides tried to pick me up, most of them youngsters. I am starting to look atage differently now. It has taken me a minute to understand, but it's not always about the green card (smile) or they thinkit isn't.

By the time a man gets to be 40, he is married with lots of kids. There are not single 50 year old men in Africa. if thereare, I have not met any. And I am not interested in being a second or third wife, been there done that.

So anyway, I am open and not letting labels keep me from following my heart. I am also using my brain too (smile). I leave broken hearts behind wherever I travel. So far, I have left the men and if there was a summer fling, the summer fling, behind, so far . . . (smile).

I still communicate with three men, one asked me to marry him and his wife approved, the other is a sweet man in Mali who is not married, and a new friend in Ethiopia who has written me a few emails. A met another man from Congo who lives in Paris. I met him at the airport in Addis when I was flying to Zimbabwe. I almost missed my plane (smile).

How old is Justin now? Send me his address so I can send him something he might like. What would he like?

Fill me in on the details. I am glad you have slain the dragon and that you are not in a shelter. I have never stayed in a shelter, but all the books I have read and films I have seen make such places really last resorts. Good you have options. As long as you are happy, the current situation sounds like RELIEF (smile).

How is Chris doing in school? Is he making good grades? Tell him I am rooting for him (smile).

Peace and Love,

Wanda

PS I was all dressed and ready to go to work and I started feeling faint. I am supposed to be sleeping now. I was up all night. Let me go. I am going to send you a picture of Bela (beautiful).