Have You Ever? #submission #iamwriting #publishing

So you’ve submitted an article, a story, your masterpiece to X, Y, Z publishing. It’s your 1st, 10th, 100th…. submission.

Anxious, nail biting, calm resolve like after the first date. Will I get a call? What will I do while I wait?

It’s a good story. No Great!

It’s not the money (never has been). The story it’s one that needs to be heard. She lived it, she suffered.

Day by day, I wait to hear back. Will the publisher see the value in a woman’s suffering? It does not change the worth of the person who lived through it.

She’s Ugandan and the story embodies a time when most young women in the North were sex slaves to a guerilla army.

The story is the same…

the geography alone changes.

And women continue to survive some of the worst treatments men can inflict.

Her story will be told whether I write it or not…

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Grief #atozchallenge #elderly #haiku #photography

spider lily

final song

head fell against the pillow

flowers wept

***

I don’t need to explain what grief is in a time when the flowers in so many gardens are weeping.

One of my patients, before she was put in isolation, told me that she thought about her husband every day.

“He was a good man. Always looking for ways to make me happy. It was unexpected- His heart just failed.”

I saw the tears in her eyes. They expressed gratitude as much as grief.

 

These times are hard. I wonder if my clients will survive this pandemic. When I said “goodbye” when the lock down started, I didn’t know what to expect. (I had to make a hard decision to call off until Covid is under control because I have a high-risk family member who I could not put at risk daily.)

The last quarantine I was part of I was locked in not out of the hospital.

I’m also missing Uganda very much. The weeping flower above is a spider lily from Uganda.

How about giraffes? They are so beautiful and graceful. The spots on that mama are one of a kind. I can watch these animals all day.

what’s your favorite animal to watch???

And thank you A to Z challenge for a day in the key of G

G also stands for grateful. Thank a healthcare worker. Here’ s blog of a pathologist doing his part for Co-Vid 

Inspired #children #education #africa #ourcall

We  put our heads together to determine the best colours for the Sun.

“It’s hot you will burn up.” He teases as he drops the hot red ball.

“Now this circle is blue and cool to touch.” He holds the ball over his head. “There’s alot of water around Africa.”

“Is it floating?”

“Certainly not.” He moves on with his explanation. “And then this grey circle is the moon. We only have one but some planets have so many.”

“How old did you say you were?”

“I’m 8 on the earth, but I’m 34 on Mercury.” There it is again that teasing smile that says I know stuff.

We have completed our prototype. As he spins the moon around the earth he tells me, “the moon completes one orbit in just under 28 days.”

“Okay, how long does it take the earth to go around the sun?”

“Hmm…”

I mouth – 3 hundred

“300 days”

I hold up 6 fingers

“306 days”

“Close. How long is one year?”

“I know. It’s 365 days.”

“Yes.” I also know that he is teaching me how to make these science lessons come alive.

So now my friend Micah has the facts as he orbits around our classroom/ workroom.

“You sure you aren’t really 34?”

He laughs and runs off with legs that didn’t work several months ago.

“Did I mention you hands are going to be famous!!!” I call out from the porch.

“Yes, I know.” He calls over his shoulder.

*****

I can’t smile enough at the joy that radiates as children learn and thrive in East Africa.

 

Magnifying Glass #Newyear #2019 #Happynewyear

 Goodbye to a year that will be the past

  Adieu to our failed successes that don’t last

we wave a friendly blushing Ciao

Sayonara , gone for now

Magnify the things you’ve done

some things lost others won

rocks pulled from the soil

bread rising never to spoil

all of 2018 now behind

flash of 2019  momentarily blind

****

last farewell to friends

 sun sets too soon over Nile

loved children smile

Unlikely #photochallenge #uganda

Unlikely is this

magenta Fort backdrop

Nile sunset

 

If you know me, you know I have tried to work in Liberia, No. Africa, Congo and So. Africa.  I never thought of Uganda, the Nile or mosquito netting as my “likely.”

 

The photo challenge this week is “Unlikely”

These pictures are all taken at Fort Murchison. A beautiful get-away and great place to enjoy an African Safari.

Home Sweet Home #Uganda #anthills

big enough for two

ants remodel dirt floor

cooking outside

*

sandcastles

spring cleaning add more rooms

fit for a king

One Way #Uganda

 

I have dotted my eyes

and crossed my teas

some of the animals

made me sneeze

what I hold now

happily in my hand

is a one way ticket

to a distant land

of Uganda I write

and hope to serve

the people Acholi

our love so deserve

 

As I close this A to Z challenge, I am finishing up the process and preparing to go to the land of the Acholi in Northern Uganda. This week we meet with people who will hopefully give us homes for  the South Sudanese children.

Blogging is a great way to journal so here’s the beginning of a new journey to work with African children.

We appreciate your dear prayers.

 T0 

 

This Beautiful Earth #wpphotochallenge #photography

 

 

 

From the Nile banks

to the Golden Gate

friends in huts

to the close of day

Today WP Photo challenge prompt “The Earth”

Photographer #atozchallenge #Uganda #acholi

 

 

images of a moment

a few held digitally

others only close

 suspended in memory

the photographer reminds us

 places where we’ve gone

people who are close

he brought us along

celebrate the magic

the aperture doth spy

creative destination

 captured with my eye

*

too wild to hold

running with the seasons

camera ready

Uganda is a place that holds so much beauty that passes in a blink. My memory banks are full of flashes of color. I try to imprint in my heart the smiles of people I met. I’m grateful for the telephoto lense that brings a lioness, crocodile and hippo close but not in harm’s way. Im happy for an artform that captures a few memories to relieve.

The header is a mirror image of our dear friend John Pipes who has many gifts including photography.

 

Hut #Acholi #Uganda #atozchallenge

Big enough for two

ants compete with the size

kitchen outside

Sand castles

spring cleaning adds more rooms

fit for a king

I am off the grid for the next couple of days but will check back to see how y’all are doing. We didn’t dare to measure the ant hills but some appear to be as tall as a human and are elaborate as castles.

Enjoy the blog posts of fantastic bloggers at the A to Z challenge.