There is nothing sweeter in the world of existence than

The title of this post comes from a quote from the Baha’i writings written by Abdu’l-Baha, the eldest son of the founder of the Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah, and His successor after His passing. Abdu’l-Baha says “There is nothing sweeter in the world of existence than prayer.” It was in the shower at a friend’s place that this quote came to mind. As I was enjoying the force of the water against my back, the temperature exactly where I wanted it, hot enough to make you sweat but at that point where you can just tolerate it, I thought to myself how much I enjoyed showering. Now this may come across as an odd or insignificant thought to have and even writing about it now I feel almost silly to have had such passionate feelings about a shower but for the past 4 months that I have been living in Port Elizabeth I have been showerless. The family that I live with has a shower but it happens to be broken and so they use the bath. Doesn’t sound like that big a deal right? Both were designed to provide the same outcome and both utilise water in the achievement of that outcome so bath/shower what does it matter? Yeah, that’s what I thought the first night I arrived at my new home. We went through the general list of queries that we had for each other; Is there anything I can’t eat? How do we schedule who does the housework? Where is the washing machine? Then I got hit with this question... “When do you prefer to bath?” I replied “I like to shower at night” and then the revelation that would alter a vital part of my existence for the next 4 months... “Our shower is not working so we use the bath” BOM BOM BOOOMMMMM!!!!!

Towel in hand, geezer switched on, water running I locked the bathroom door in preparation for my first bath. Yes of course I have had a bath before, when I was a kid my parents would put me and my sister in the bathtub with lots of bubble bath and we would put the foam on our faces and heads and pretend to be old men but in my adult life I have never taken a bath with the intention of getting clean afterwards. Baths have been a once a year occurrence. Buy some bath oils, light some candles, enjoy 20minutes of nothing while almost dosing off as the steam of the hot water fogs up the bathroom mirror. That was my fond, tranquil, relaxing memory of bath time pre South Africa but now... I filled up the bath tub and got in, ok so far so good. The same pattern as having a shower I got my body scrub and scrubbed my body. Once I was finished with that process I began to notice something that disturbed me. I was sitting in a bath of water filled with the stuff I had just washed off of myself. Hmmmmm, strange, I had always thought the purpose of a bath was to get clean, how can you get clean if you’re stuck in the stuff you just washed off? I left that bath feeling less hygienic than I did before I got in. Even when I have my relaxing baths at home I still shower before and after the bath to wash everything off. I was faced with the prospect of having to endure this horrific process every day for the next 4 months and I did. There have been times where I have wanted to hire a hotel room just to use the shower. Anytime I go to visit a friend who has a shower I always come prepared with shampoo and conditioner in hand ready to take advantage of the opportunity to really feel clean. So as I stood at my friends house, under the shower, my first shower in just over a week a thought came to my head..”There is nothing sweeter in the world of existence than a shower” I began to think about the other things that I have learnt to appreciate since being away from home, since moving away from a first world western society to a third world developing country.

I have covered one of those things and now plan to reveal some more of them to you...

Hugo

Hugo is the name of my 1993 Honda Civic who is sitting at home waiting for my return. And no it’s not so much my particular car that I miss but just having a car. The independence that it offers, the freedom, the comfort and convenience. Yes having a car means your wallet drains much faster than it usually would as petrol and maintenance eat all your money but still all the traffic in the world is still better than relying on public transport.

When I get home, it doesn’t matter how many trees suffer as a result of it, I am driving everywhere. At least for the first couple of weeks then I’m sure I’ll go back to my beloved CityRail.

Mum’s Cooking

It’s true, no one can cook better than your mum and my mum is an amazing cook. I think that when I get home I will gain so much weight as I eat enough to compensate for a year without her food. Speaking of food though I have definitely improved my cooking skills. I have to say they’ve gone from a -5 to around a 3. I learnt how to..wait for it.. boil and fry an egg AND I made lasagne AND I have cooked meals using whatever there is in the house and it actually tasted good. Pretty impressive I know.

Food in General

The following are foods that South Africa is deprived of and I can't wait to go home and eat them all...

Seafood Laksa

Hungry Jacks Whopper

Starbucks

Boost Juice

All work and no play

I actually miss having a job, the kind that you earn money from. There's a certain comfort in knowing you have a consistent stream of money coming in. Also I've really come to realise how easy it is in Australia to find work and to make money. Working as a casual at Woolworths Supermarket I was earning $22 an hour. In South Africa the same job would earn you R14 an hour, that's less than $3. Things are usually relative, you live in a country where you earn $2 a day but that $2 can buy you a whole week of groceries but South Africa isn't like that. A loaf of bread costs about R8 or a taxi ride from your house to the shops costs R5. Minimum wage here is not relative to the cost of living which although is much lower than what it is in Australia it is still too expensive for the people living here. So as much as I complained about going to work before I am really grateful that I can go home and earn money so that I can continue to gallivant around the world.

Family

This one is pretty standard and I think very much expected. You really never realise how great your life is until you leave it behind. I miss home and my family and my friends. Not to say that there aren't families in Australia who neglect their kids or have issues but really seeing some of the things I've seen here, the way kids are raised, I am so grateful for my parents and what they offered me in life.

When I was home all I wanted to do was get out and travel and now that I've been gone for a while I am having huge cravings to be home again. I want my bed and my backyard my kitchen, all those things back. I miss hearing my little brother laughing to himself as he replays Youtube videos in his head. I miss the way my mum smiles when I see her. I miss my dad's awesome jokes and how he's always the first and sometimes the only one to laugh at them. I miss my big fat cat Chicky and the way her belly wobbles when she runs to the kitchen at the sound of food.

It's hard sometimes being so far from the people who support you, who know you and who you can turn to whenever you may need them. I have so many stories for my family and friends at home and sometimes I want time to go faster so that I can finally get home and tell them all.

The last thing on my list is the one that Abdu'l-Baha wrote Himself

There is nothing sweeter in the world of existence than prayer

Really I have learnt so much about prayer while I've been on this trip and although I always knew its importance and always used it now I have found another connection with prayer. Like I said before it can be really difficult to be so far from your support group but in those times when you feel all alone, completely isolated and helpless there is one channel of communication that is always open. A support system that never closes down and that is through prayer. I think sometimes we forget that we aren't really ever alone and I am starting to remember that more and more.

I have learned a whole lot about myself and still have 6 more months of learning left. You can only imagine how much wiser I am going to become! :)

My next block of learning will come from some service I am going to do in Malawi. I will be there for about 3 weeks helping with teaching activities, junior youth groups and children's classes as I wait to see what my plans will be in South Africa in the new year.

Will and the Indians

In the last 2 days that I have begun writing again I have started 3 blog posts of which I have only been able to finish 1. What I've realised is that I don't feel like writing about myself, every time I start writing about something too much related to myself I just stop part of the way in and move on to something else so I decided that until this phase (and I hope it's a phase) ends I will just have to write about people that aren't me.

This one goes out to Will and the Indians. It's a band for which my little brother plays the drums and what I'm about to say is not completely based on the obvious bias I have towards anything involving my brother but is also based on the facts and those facts are that this is a really amazing band.

Besides the fact that they make music that is way more mature than their age (they started the band at 15.. they are now 16) I admire more than anything their amazing determination and dedication to something that they love. These 4 boys being Will - lead guitarist and singer, Kabir - guitar, Michael - bass and my brother Matin - drums, have shown a maturity and responsibility for their music that I have never been able to master. Even more amazing is that all of them with the exception of Will are fairly new to music. They have been playing for a couple of years and for the most part have been learning their instruments as they go.

Really what I want to do is share what they have created. Baha'u'llah says "We, verily, have made music as a ladder for your souls, a means whereby they may be lifted up unto the realm on high" (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 38)

These boys have tapped into a creative stream that has the potential to elevate the soul and I am so proud of them for that. All of us have been given gifts and potentials and we can only hope that we utilise those gifts to fulfil our potentials, I believe that these boys are doing just that. They make good music, music that I put on my ipod and listen to and get stuck in my head and start singing at random occasions throughout the day and I'm proud of them for that. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing someone you love achieve something great and every time I think of my little brother, my baby bro I feel so fulfilled. He makes me want to do better, want to achieve more. It's crazy to admit but I actually look up to him (right now he's probably thinking literally, yes he is taller than me too haha).

So here I go.. sharing this because that's what you do when you have something amazing in your reach, you share it with others.

Facebook

Facebook2

myspace - this is where all the music is at

And this video is the boys in the train doing one of their songs A Capella - "Cold Weather". Although I don't know who the kid is with the long blond hair on the left.. he's not in the band

Inspiration

Although I had always planned to write this piece my mum had made a special request that I write about the Junior Youth group we established at Kuyga school so that she could send it in to the monthly Australian Baha’i newsletter. I have been mentally formatting how I would write about it, what I would emphasise and how I wanted it to feel and I was planning on writing it in the next few days but today I saw something that inspired me so much that I feel like it deserves to be written about first.

About an hour out of Port Elizabeth is an area called Addo. Addo is mostly known for its nature reserves mainly Addo Elephant Sanctuary which is popular with the tourists. Addo is very much a rural area, the type where you can drive for kilometres and only come across one house, a small petrol station and a general store. Addo also has a township and like all townships the environment is the same, the roads are the same, the houses are the same, the social and economic issues are the same and so you can imagine the opportunities for service that there are in this community. Now in the whole of Addo including all the farm houses and the township there is only one Baha’i. One girl named Asanda. I had heard of Asanda a few times but only met her a couple of months ago when she came to P.E to attend our Baha’i Society function. Today Asanda held an end of the year ceremony for the kids in her Baha’i Children’s Classes and she had invited the Baha’is of Port Elizabeth to come as well. Lunathi and I decided to go down to Addo and help her out with running the function.

We set up the chairs in the hall, Asanda had invited the parents of the kids to attend and she had estimated about 100 participants in total. We had drinks, hot dogs and desert enough for 100 people but saying a number like 100 and then actually seeing it are two very different things. Into the hall walked 50 kids, they sat on one side of the hall, the youngest in the front, the older kids in the back, all dressed up in their pretty dresses or their nice pants. Asanda stood in front of all the kids, owning their attention as we awaited the parents to arrive. I stood there in shock, standing behind the seats of the last row of kids, witnessing one girl conducting 50 kids. Each child sat patiently in obedience to the request of their teacher. Asanda would request a song that they had learnt and a choir of children’s voices would fill the hall.

Completely alone in this community what Asanda has achieved is a testament to the power of the individual. Asanda works full time, she lives at the Elephant Sanctuary where she works which is a 15min drive away and she does not have a car and yet she has still found the time to run two children’s classes with more than 50 kids in total. I was truly amazed.

One portion of the program saw one of the parents stand up to talk about how they felt having their child in the class. This woman stood up and said that she was so proud of what Asanda was doing that at her church she would request all the other church goers to send their kids to Asanda’s class. I was really inspired by what Asanda has achieved there in Addo. The support she receives from the parents and the adoration that you see in the eyes of the children for their teacher goes to show that even if you are the only one standing your single light can penetrate so far that it can illumine a whole town.

It was so wonderful to be part of that day and to spend time with these beautiful children who were not only exceptionally well behaved but also amazing dancers. At the end of the program a dj came and you should have seen these kids. It was funny because at first I went around recording the kids dancing and then when I joined in the mothers started recording me dancing on their phones. They were so impressed with my moves.

The program ended with the children reciting 3 prayers which they had learnt and Asanda finished with the following prayer. What she has achieved in Addo is helping guarantee that these kids receive exactly what this prayer requests.

O God! Educate these children. These children are the plants of Thine orchard, the flowers of Thy meadow, the roses of Thy garden. Let Thy rain fall upon them; let the Sun of Reality shine upon them with Thy love. Let Thy breeze refresh them in order that they may be trained, grow and develop, and appear in the utmost beauty. Thou art the Giver. Thou art the Compassionate.

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá

uninspired

So from the title of this post I think you can maybe get an idea of what I'm going to write about. For me writing is my release, it's the way I express myself, it's my story. Everytime I write I empty out a little bit of myself into each word so that each sentence, each paragraph forms a picture of who I was at the time I wrote it. When I write I am imprinting a moment onto the page and that moment is me at that time. I love writing exactly for the sake of this, I feel like I am finding out about myself through my words, I'm writing a textbook on me.

My imprint, the stamp of myself at this moment is the title of this post; uninspired. I just haven't felt like writing. South Africa has started to grow on me and I think my constant exposure to all its sides has numbed me from the extremes it projects. The poverty, the wealth, the racism, the injustice, all of it. I am numb, completely desensitised and it has impacted on my writing.

Strangely enough before my inspiration fizzled I wrote a blog post that I have yet to put up because I wasn't sure about it and decided to approach it from a different angle but I haven't even been motivated to do that. This doesn't feel like writers block although it could be something like that.. Hopefully it will end soon and I will make up for the time that I haven't put anything out.

Until then I'm off