Salute the Sun, Disturbing Dishes, Tumple Drying, and Burnt Toast

The Morning Nile in Juba  Photo Credit: Sr. Genvieve

This last week Heather  I participated in a capacitar workshop with two of the Sisters who are leading women's groups in the DoR, and 36 other women from across the dioceses in South Sudan. This was a trauma healing workshop, a ToT (training of trainers as the popular lingo goes in these parts). We were lead by a Belgian Sister in tai chi movements, holds for ongoing trauma (like flashbacks or overwhelming emotions) acupressure, and other equally awesome things.

Salute the Sun

People told bits of their stories and over the four days; mentions of being abducted by the LRA as a child, and of living in Juba during warfare. The workshop was really aimed at those women: the ones who had lived through terrible trauma. They were gaining physical skills of how to deal with and relieve some of the traumatic tension in their bodies. Many of the participants said that over the four days they didn't have any nightmares or flashbacks. For myself it was a time of learning, I was excited to learn hands on techniques (quite literally) that I can share with the women's groups in the diocese. Trauma healing is one thing I always want to address but is not the kind of thing that can be worked on in a two day parish visit ("hi! let's talk about all the horrible things that have happened.... okay, oh.. yes, uh hu... oh! okay, well, sorry.... time's up, gotta run! byebye!). For this reason learning acupressure points to relieve depression, anxiety and crisis seem like exactly the kind of professional development I need. 

Beyond P.D. however I did find myself incredibly moved during the workshop. I realized that I often don't allow myself to feel the impacts of living in a culture with low grade violence all the time. I realized that I sometimes think because I haven't experienced even an iota of the pain and trauma which most Sudanese people live with on a daily basis that I shouldn't be allowed to feel sad or upset by what does go on. It was a workshop of learning, listening and doing tai chi led by a Nun beside the River Nile. What more could a girl ask for? 

Oh and speaking of Nuns and Sisters... You may recall my blog post Nuns (and Sisters) Rock in which I outlined my then-recent learning regarding the differentiation between Nuns and Sisters... well it turns out that there is not an complete consensus on this definition - which I suppose is not shocking as it is difficult to find a complete consensus anywhere. However what is funny and small-worldy is that the sister mentioned in the article I reference  is very same wonderful woman who organized this fantastic workshop. Which is to say that I stand by my previous statements of "Rocking-ness" in regards to sister and nuns (or whatever the preferred terminology is).

And because I find the following images amusing I am also including them in this blog post. All the photos (except for the first one were taken by the incredibly talented Heather Ruth Peters) 

1. Disturbing dishes: note the pretty lady with the finger on her lips. 

2. Tumple Dry! I often love misspellings - especially when they are ADORABLE. I am incorporating tumple into my vocabulary. And equally as awesome is that this beautiful scarf was made by a Catholic Women's Association in the Diocese of Yei! My dreams are getting bigger for the women's groups in the DoR!

3. Burnt Toast: Our friend and colleague in Juba was struck down with Typhoid (she's feeling much better now, thanks for asking) and I wanted to make her a yummy treat of grilled cheese (YES! THEY HAVE CHEESE IN JUBA) which I promptly forgot about. Please note - this is the second photo we had to take because in the first one the black bread was impossible to see as it was in front of my black shirt. yes, it appears I burnt the sandwich (but do not fear, we still ate the cheese from the inside).