Standing on a tiled step while surveying the panoramic vista of Juba and the countryside around it, I realise that I am incredibly blessed. A contractor from India pops his head out of the canteen and tells me his concoction will be ready in five minutes.
I sigh with pleasure as I have just finished a massive dinner and this is an unexpected surprise. I had been warned to avoid the Indian’s dinner at all cost due to its fiery nature, but warnings to me about hot food are wasted breath. How can I refuse the offer of one so friendly, and only too keen to share his own home cooked in a canteen dinner with this complete stranger. He smiles as he admits that his mother would throw his cooking in the bin but then again hers would be pretty mild!
Rain lashes Juba with a vengeance, lightning arcs across the sky, and thunder gives voice to some heavenly displeasure. The sky’s ethereal purple glow serves as a beautiful backdrop to this violent display. Water runs along the ground in great sheets and disappears into the darkness.
I miss my wife and children. I miss my friends and family. My surfboard seems so far away as do the rolling frolicking wet beasts I am so challenged to surf. And yet, I am so blessed to be able to experience something as awe inspiring as a tropical thunderstorm in a remote part of the world and share a brilliant fire and chicken dish with a complete stranger.
Life is not about what I have! Instead it is in times when I truly grasp my insignificance that I feel most alive!
1 comment:
It sounds incredible. I do hope we're going to see some photographs.
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