We stayed at the St. Francis friary in Garneton, approximately 20 minutes outside of Kitwe. This friary hosts several friars (student friars?) who are all studying a variety of topics (philosophy, community outreach, theology). The man who runs the friary is Brother Tony, an 80 year old American who has lived in Zambia for 60 years. He's a gentle soul and loved socializing with us at the end of each day.
These are various photos of the campus. This large outdoor space is for socializing after meals.
This is the building with dormitory rooms, showers, and kitchen.
This tiny rock structure is for solitary prayer. I went inside!
The building on the left is where we shared meals. In the middle with the thatched roof is where I sat in the morning with my coffee. The small building on the right is where I slept.
My favorite place to sit and ponder. A cool breeze in the morning was heavenly.
These buildings house the current friars.
They grow their own vegetables and are nearly completely self sufficient. They collect rain water, raise pigs and chickens, and buy beef from local farmers.
Looking out my bedroom window.
My messy room, mosquito netting. Each morning I woke at 6 am to the sound of the friars singing hymns and praying. To start the day in that fashion was such a beautiful gift.
Comments
Nothing beats a "good' exhaustion, either. A day made making a difference in the lives of others. Te saludo!
And unfortunately I shared my room with one giant roach, a slug, and one cute lizard. I found the slug in the middle of the night on my way to the restroom. I stepped on him. :P. But that huge roach... He kept me awake at night. Eeew
As for the coils, I used them for the 1st year, but the mosquitos never bothered me... like my mom used to say, "You're their hotel, I'm their restaurant." Sound's like you smell more "restaurant" then "hotel".
In Maui Hawaii, '77, there were lizards/geckos on the walls of our beachfront hotel room keeping the bugs down. But I suppose that's what you should expect when you're staying in places in the "Hawaii on $20/ day" book. At my bff's grandfather's house on Kauai in '75 it was cinderblock walls and tin roof (Puhi Camp)... living in what were once sugarcane worker's houses. We'd hunt the canals at night for enormous frogs (not the ever-present toads) with Hawaiian slings and then eat frog stew the next day. I shot a wild pig near the end of our 3 week stay, and we feasted. We also fished with throw nets walking on the coral reefs. I loved living off the land. Hungry/ thirsty? Just pick a papaya or a liche off a nearby tree... and enjoy the fruit.
But yeah, roaches. ew-w-w-w-w! A Venezuelan friend of mine had a monkey that used to hold them by their wings and eat their back-ends. He musta loved protein.