Clothes in the Sun

 

'This place is weird.' Weird in the sense that it doesn't add up, somewhat undefined. Our complex, worldly mindsets, can hardly make sense of such peace. If peace was a place, this would be it. And if tranquility had a home, Anafora is exactly that. An environment created to possibly 'find yourself', or merely to breakaway - it would be difficult to find another location as welcoming as this, for this very cause. 

 

This is a good time to quote, even play with some scripture:

Invitation to the thirsty [emphasis added]

 

"Come, all you who are thirsty,

come to the waters; [We were very thirsty upon arrival. No story of explore Africa is complete without the turtle train trademark. Dropped in the middle of nowhere - somewhere in Egypt - we walked in the heat of the day with backpack along the freeway. It wasn't 30min before we arrived at our destination, Anafora. And it wasn't more than an hour later that we were fully quenched, our stomachs and then too, our souls - it had been a while since we saw a swimming pool.]

and you who have no money,

come, buy and eat! [We ate well, almost too well.]

Come, buy wine and milk 

without money and without 

cost. [Maybe not wine, but a hefty dosage of dairy we did have - cheese. Everything without cost.]

Why spend money on what is not 

bread,

and your labor on what does not

satisfy? [Why spend money at all when we are fully provided for, without cost. And labor - well it sure does satisfy, when it's done for a community so generously giving, and so naturally kind.] 

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is 

good,

and your soul will delight in the

richest of fare." [What a privilege] 

Isaiah 55: 1-3 

 

This is a simple interpretation of both this scripture and our time spent at Anafora. Moreover, this is the perfect example to elaborate on the life we've been invited to live, not only this year, but always. How liberating.

 

Furthermore, to add meat to the bone, Anafora remains indescribable. I want to say it's a monastery, home to nuns and monks of the Coptic Christian faith. However, it is also a resort, popular as a peace retreat. It has the capacity to host events such as weddings and so on as well. And then they go and raise the standard a notch higher, whereby producing as much as they are capable of in terms of food, themselves. Fresh bread, herbs and leaves and some vegetables and fruit. The same applies to basic necessities such as candles, soaps, cushions and carpets - they make it all. Everything they have used to its full potential, even the scraps.

 

Simple living is the name of the theme. And what a beautiful lifestyle it is as we disconnected from the world outside. We directed our energy into the project of making a portable fence from broken chairs, for pigs. With the production line in full swing, we did what we could to make the squealers happy. And by the sounds of it, 20 young pigs are now happy. "Great success." 

 

Soon thereafter, we formed an international team made of Egyptians, South Africans, one French, a Kurdish, a Canadian and Americans - volunteers unite - to build a large chess board. Our creative ways led us to making an Arabic Sala - whatever that is - as a shade-netting cover for the chess board. She's a beauty.   

 

We were blessed to become part of the every day routine, from morning meetings to evening prayers. They sing some moving songs during those prayers, one in particular sounds something like 'klere in die son' when they sing it. From Afrikaans to English it's translated to 'clothes in the sun'. The words were repeated often enough for us to learn and sing along. In the same way, we formed part of this community all the more with each passing day. Note well, community isn't possible without beautiful people. And so, as it has been with most of the countries we've been too, our hearts have been cultivated once again with the love of those we have come to meet, and know.