For the few people that actual read my blog (thanks and lucky for you, you wont have to buy a copy of my book, hahaha, just kidding), I have not posted in a week and been on defacto technology fast. It has not been half bad, I guess I was partially there anyway, as I have not had a telephone in almost 4 months. I have not missed it much either, internet access has been more difficult. Since there is no need to recap my week. I will share with you some very simple things which I have experienced this week that I have found profound.

Tree of Life

I had the opportunity to visit the British Museum, which has an BBC exhibit called the history of the world in 100 objects. There are objects from all corners of the world, art, textiles, artifacts etc. In the Africa section of the museum is The Tree of Life, which is one of the more interesting exhibits I have seen at a museum.  It was an artful image of redemption.  At my church every so often, we take time to have someone conveys a story of redemption and beauty that they have experienced in their life as a reminder to how God is working in the world in the mist of so much brokenness. I think its a wonderful way of reflecting on the goodness that is taking place around us even in the mist of ugliness.This is exactly what I thought of when I encountered The Tree of Life, a sculpture of a tree made out of decommissioned weapons from the civil war which took place in Mozambique from 1977-1992.  In this fifteen year period of violence and unrest, one million lives were taken and 5 million people were displaced. To feed this war beast, 7 millions guns were funneled into the country from the Soviet Union and neighboring countries like South Africa.

After achieving peace, the government created a project called “Transforming Arms into Tools,” the goal of which was to collect  the millions of weapons that people still had buried in the land (literally). In exchange, participants were given instruments of productivity like plows, hardware etc by which they could create and produce good things. The weapons that were collected were chopped up and many of the remains given to artist to create works of art for the community. The exhibit and tree “ represents the tragedy of war and the triumph of those who achieved the lasting peace.” Up close the bark and trunk of the tree are hand guns, barrels and handles, the leaves are the magazines which held the bullets of AK47′s and the branches are the long parts of machine guns. These weapons indeed took many lives but have been made powerless to bring death anymore. What is more powerful, is these  weapons have not been trashed or simply recycled but transformed into images of life and hope such as the tree. There are also animals and insects around and on the tree to represent the fullness of creation.

This exhibit points me to a few things;

First the Cross of Christ – how light, life and redemption could come from something so gruesome as the crucifixion.

I believe this is what God wants to do with us and even this world – like a master artist – take that which is broken or corrupt and create something beautiful.

Another reminder of how life can be born out of death, beauty out of brokenness and there is light that might arise out of darkness.

Tree of Life

Aren’t we all longing to get back to Eden​?

Wouldn’t you like to press rewind and re-choose?

Or push restart and return to a place

when all things were right

Wouldn’t you prefer to be in the garden of our Creator

cultivating a lasting peace?

In this a fallen reality

is our only hope to renovate the wrong in the world?

But whatever we do, doesn’t evil still seem to leak through

Can it be that our remodeling is done with unsuitable tools?

What cant be repaired  must be renewed

Sometimes I think to myself

that we were made for something else

Perhaps we were meant to be Kings and Queens

not the swindling, selfish killers

which we have turned out to be

Do you doubt your disastrous capacity?

If so, then you are truly deceived

You kill with your words

steal with your greed

destroy nature with your lifestyle

and diminish the prosperity of human beings

near and across seas

Yet I have hope

that we can all be redeemed

Consider the tree of life of Mozambique

made of armory

AK47 magazines are leaves

bullets bear fruit

and bombers still fly, but not to bring destruction

for they are now butterflies

Like artillery dismantled to create an artful masterpiece

Instruments of oppression and violence

can be transform into objects of beauty and peace

Standing next to a metal memory

that has been set free

I met an artist that

sculpted a tree of guns

as a symbol of our journey

from suffering to glory

Skin

One the train in London, I kept seeing a advertizement for an exhibit called “skin” on the advertizement was a man with tattoo’s on his face. Its was stated as an exhibit for the strangely curious (that would be people like me). It was the exploration of skin in a biological context and cultural significance.

It showed some history of studying skin as part of anatomy, it being our largest organ and all. It explored skin disease and healing (there was a video of a skin graph and I felt faint after that and had to sit down)– decorating of skin as cultural practice – everything from skin painting, tattooing, scarification, anti aging and beauty techniques and on the flip side skin color as a means of oppression, prejudice or privilege.

It got me to thinking how much our skin communications to the outside world – health, culture, race, social status, emotions – most of which we have no control over. Then how humans all over have made efforts to alter our appearance – everything from tattoos, paint, make up to express ourselves.

Below is more of my scribblings as I try to think through and process the exhibit, many of the things I saw or thought about – may be a poem one day or probably not-

In parts of Africa, a woman’s body is embroidered by marks

that create chocolate teardrops decorating her dermis

This shows her age, ranking and marital status

Other cultures paint their face and body as signs of ceremony and celebration

Henna tattoos on an Indian woman’s hands and feet -

ears and noses pierced with jewelry

A Japanese geisha with powered white expressions

Western make up, native American tattoos

or tribal marks of a man from Sudan

Skin has a lot to tell us

Its the medium that mediates between me and the rest of reality

A source of protection that often communicates

Yet can mute the somebody that is trapped within

We are all skin readers

dissecting each others outer biology through

analysis, impressions, assumptions and prejudice

It tells of pasts and presents

and for some what their future will hold

My silent but vocally bold  organ

narrating

tragedy, surgery, illness, disease

restrictions, promotions or privilege

customs, culture, heritage and lineage

fair, pale, olive, tanned, light, almond, chestnut, mahogany or blue black

Mirror Mirror what does my complexion behold

look at my tone and decipher

where I am from and maybe where I have been

am I pure blood or am I mixed

Can your perceive a life of leisure or

marked by labor, oppression, class or caste

Skin, our largest organ is also a mask

So when you look this way

don’t stare in that state of analysis

for what you see is not all of me

Living Simply at Labri

I knew that

between continents –

between backpacking and volunteering –

between the first and third world –

when I was about halfway around the world

I would need a rest and

not just a vacation

but time where I was being productive

working out in my heart and mind the meaning of previous experiences

and doing so in the mist of others

For this reason, I planned a visit to Labri England into my trip so that I might have space to do this. Its kind of like a Christian retreat center, but not really. Its a place that people can come for one day or 3 months, if they have questions about life, faith, the world or you just need to reflect or to be renewed. It provides gathering spaces for you to live in community with others, study, think, pray, laugh, serve each other and work.

I was there for about 6 days, and I have to say it was one of my most meaningful experiences in Europe and also my cheapest. Traveling and seeing sites is fun but nothing really compares to making connections with people. I met, worked along side, ate with and had deep conversations with people from Greenland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, England, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, Korea, Brazil and the US. Perhaps, through the fellowship of others, I traveled further without going off the grounds than I have in the past 4 months. I also had the opportunity to workshop the “where I am from” poem with 4 of my new friends. We learned about each others cultures, everybody made American jokes of course and just got to know each other. In all of my travels, I have only met one person that can do a halfway decent American accent, most people don’t even try. What is funny is that though were were all speaking English, it make for rather dynamic conversation when you have to explain to each other subtleties of food, language and culture – like no one knew what granola was. I learned that in Scotland rubber rain shoes are called “wellies,” they eat whale skin in Greenland, I tasted sweet Norwegian cheese (I cant really place what it tastes like) and had more British PG tea then I could dream of.

All these small moments reminded my why I was traveling (I was having doubts).  Not just to see sights, eat food and experience an adventure, but to get a different perspective on life and to have cross cultural experiences such as these. Its the simplest 6 days I have had in a while, yet it was profound.

Each day had a structure:

Work – I cooked, cleaned house, gardened, picked berries around the property/house. There something about simple manual labor that is refreshing and therapeutic especially if you are doing it along side others.

Study – I was mostly reading this book on the spiritual disciplines of prayer and meditation and reflecting on my trip thus far. There is a library, lectures on tapes and mp3′s and a study room with a cozy fireplace.

Meals – Breakfast at 8am, Work/Study, Tea Time at 11, Lunch at 1, Work/Study, Tea Time 4:30, Dinner at 6:30.All meals were prepared by those at Labri, so we had everything from potatoes soup to Indian curry. The homemade granola was good too.

I loved tea breaks as they gave you rest from your work, play (most people played volleyball or soccer) and converse. Such a British thing to do, but it was fun.

Lunch was a more formal conversation in which somebody asks a questions about anything really and we discussed it over a meal. Today we talked about food, humanities relationship to it and what is our social responsibility in buying might be. We also talked about race relations, The Trinity, politics etc.

It was in the simple routine of eating, reading, working, serving each other and conversing that I definitely found rest. It was not at all lounging or relaxing but restful time where I wasn’t anxious, striving, planning, distracted by entertainment or technology (checked my email 3 times last week, that’s a record low).

Like when I left Guatemala – my heart sank in genuine sadness when I had to leave. I would miss my new friends (Emily, Laura, Phillip, Camilla, Comfort, Maria, Ming, Ruth, Sarah, Byron, Benjamin, Nick, Steven, Stewart, Will, Danny, Emmanuel, Alex, Joyce, Edith, Jim, Kimber, Envil, Lindsay, Danny, Myrin, Marta, Helen, Andrew) dearly.

Other Thoughts

I am now in Kenya (Nairobi), the birthplace of civilization………………………..I will be there for 17 days volunteering in an orphanage outside of Nairobi. I get all of the details at orientation tomorrow. The temperature is around 79 degrees. I saw 3 giraffes on the way from the airport this morning. I also got the volunteer low down on some of the disconcerting and more corrupt aspect of being here. Sound be an interesting stay. Again my technology will be limited, but I will try to keep you all updated at least once a week. I visited the orphanage of a few volunteers and the kids are precious.  One of them said “do you know you are black like me?” and thought i should speak Swahili. They came up to me with hugs, questions, hi fives and wanting to hold my hand. I am excited about starting work tomorrow.

I have been gone 3 months and 3 weeks and visited to 11 countries, 44 cities/towns/villages, flown/trained over 20,000 miles and taken about 2700 pictures. Whoa!!! I have provably written over 30 poems, but I haven’t really counted. I bet I have walked a few hundred miles as well.

I performed at an open mic called “Poetry Unplugged” in London….fun times listening as well.

Just in case you don’t think I am awesome enough I did some modeling a few months ago… check me out www.optionline.org . I’ve always wanted to be a gap model, this is not even close, but make sure you get my autograph while it is free. Hahaha (I crack myself up)