Christiana Today
In last night’s posting I said: “I may or may not write my daily posting for the next week, a quiet time.” I am taking a week or so for quiet and healing. But I may be making exceptions. Today was one.
I attended the Graduation of a Masters Degree earned by my ‘African-niece’ Christiana, from Loyola from which Jesuit school I also have a Master’s degree.
I have known Christiana from the day she got off the plane from Sierra Leone via a stay in a refuge camp in Gambia. She was a refugee from the terrible civil war for ‘blood diamonds’ in her country. The rest of her family remains in Sierra Leone, with no war but still extremely impoverished. From day one she started to call us adults uncle and auntie, a sign of respect from her count. So I figured if she called me Uncle Bob, she must be my niece. We saw her graduate from high school, Marquette University, struggling a few years in the job market and now with a Masters degree in Social Work. She has been living upstairs for the last year while she finishes school and her internships. She happens to be an excellent cook of African food.
The smile on her face has a way of cutting through the shadow of death. When you are feeling low joy can cut through the darkness. I will be back after Labor day or maybe before. The time Out goes on.
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