New Dawn brought an incredible and crazy group of white people together. There were 9 Italians, including the 3 who had been staying for 2 months at the community. There was a team of 6 from all over Europe who ran the children’s program. Then there was a couple for England, Fr. Stan Fortuna from the United States, Antony, Sr. Linda, and me. I think that was all of us. The dinner table of a crazy mix of languages, gestures, attempts to understand, laughter, sharing and new found friends.
I became good friends with the team from all over Europe. The 4 girls on the team were about my age, and a lot of fun. I took them under my wing a bit because I was technically on “hospitality” for my department. This meant just helping them here and there and also hanging out with them some. The Tuesday before New Dawn we went to the market, which was enjoyable for sure. It was nice to make random new friends. I will probably visit one of them in Vienna this summer.
Fr. Stan Fortuna is a friar with the Cappician Friars of the Renewal. This is the group whom I worked with in Sudan. Fr. Stan lives in the Bronx and is a rapping (white) priest. He’s pretty cool. He also is a very good photographer and one evening after new dawn was over we had a great slide show of his photos.
The 9 Italians were all there for different reasons. Some were doing video/photography and helped set up the radio a few days after new dawn, another was the superior for an Italian congregation who recently came to work in Uganda. Then there were 2 couples, one who didn’t stay long. The 2nd couple was Maria and Mario who stayed with use for 8 weeks. They were a lot of fun, though they spoke no English. Then there was Franko, he’s a fix it all man who lived at the community for 3 months like Luegi and Dominico before him.
The English couple had met Fr. Emmanuel many years earlier when he took a sabbatical in England. After new dawn the man taught English pronunciation at the school and the woman visited with the children they sponsor.
This mix of people made for many interesting situations and a lot of crazy communication! Some of them got sick in various ways so I became muzungu nurse Noelle. It was a good challenge, though it was at times strange to go back and forth from relating to white people and then Africans.
I became good friends with the team from all over Europe. The 4 girls on the team were about my age, and a lot of fun. I took them under my wing a bit because I was technically on “hospitality” for my department. This meant just helping them here and there and also hanging out with them some. The Tuesday before New Dawn we went to the market, which was enjoyable for sure. It was nice to make random new friends. I will probably visit one of them in Vienna this summer.
Fr. Stan Fortuna is a friar with the Cappician Friars of the Renewal. This is the group whom I worked with in Sudan. Fr. Stan lives in the Bronx and is a rapping (white) priest. He’s pretty cool. He also is a very good photographer and one evening after new dawn was over we had a great slide show of his photos.
The 9 Italians were all there for different reasons. Some were doing video/photography and helped set up the radio a few days after new dawn, another was the superior for an Italian congregation who recently came to work in Uganda. Then there were 2 couples, one who didn’t stay long. The 2nd couple was Maria and Mario who stayed with use for 8 weeks. They were a lot of fun, though they spoke no English. Then there was Franko, he’s a fix it all man who lived at the community for 3 months like Luegi and Dominico before him.
The English couple had met Fr. Emmanuel many years earlier when he took a sabbatical in England. After new dawn the man taught English pronunciation at the school and the woman visited with the children they sponsor.
This mix of people made for many interesting situations and a lot of crazy communication! Some of them got sick in various ways so I became muzungu nurse Noelle. It was a good challenge, though it was at times strange to go back and forth from relating to white people and then Africans.
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| Helping the girls get a fair price on fabric (kitenge) |
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| Me and Zara... she is super fun. We laughed a lot. |
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