Apples and Papayas

Thunder rolls in from the east, and I can smell the lightning as it crashes through the clouds. The afternoon heat swirls and mixes with the cool air riding the weather front. The casual power of the daily rain storms is still exciting and strange to me and I am thankful we have a metal roof and not the leaky thatch grass of most Central Africans. On the other side of the Atlantic we also got snow this week at home on the farm. I feel my own version of this juxtaposition in the adjustment to a new climate and I welcome the slight chill the storm is bringing.

We’ve been in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, for almost a week now. Our task is to support Mama (Racey) and her business partner and close friend Charlotte in the holiday markets and to help as they look at expanding their craft business Ndara, which operates here. Our purpose is also to bring Lewis and Lovett along in our journey to places where what is normal for us is now strange to others. We’re learning how to say “bon jour” and “merci.” We’ve counted as many as 5 Central Africans on one motorcycle. Familiar foods are hard to come by and our usual oatmeal has been replaced by a tin of quick oats with five different languages on it, and instead of apple slices we have a fruit salad of papaya, pineapple and passion fruit. This may sound decadent, but change is a struggle, especially for Lewis and Lovett. I would trade an apple slice for papaya on any given Adirondack winter day, but for a 4 year old the familiarity of an apple slice trumps the novelty of papaya any day.

For the whole family, I think, the subtle tectonic shift of changing place pushes us, and with that challenge a fresh perspective, if we choose to take it. To make sense of a constantly changing world my mind searches for patterns and consistencies, and I find comfort in knowing what to expect. To uproot and exist in a place where the food does not look and taste as it should, the weather is not what the body is used to, the people around you speak in words you do not understand, is to break down our assumptions of what is. I see it in Lewis and Lovett and my heart goes out to them knowing this struggle is growth. And yet as an adult I have spent long enough knowing what to expect that it has become what is. This is the work of our travels.

Thank you Healey and Holly for packing all the orders and keeping the farm store stocked, thank you to Benji, Chad and Gwen, and to Matt Pipino who helps us with weekend chores and with the weekly run to Glens Falls.