Guide
Poetry will save me.
I feel uneasy saying this, since only Jesus
is Saviour, as a man inscribed
(of his own free will)
on the back of the souvenir crucifix he brought home
from a pilgrimage to Congonhas.
Nevertheless, I repeat: Poetry will save me.
It's through poetry that I understand the passion
He had for us, dying on the cross.
Poetry will save me, as the purple of flowers
spilling over the fence
absolves the girl her ugly body.
In poetry the Virgin and the saints approve
my apocryphal way of understanding words
by their reverse, my decoding the town crier's message
by means of his hands and eyes.
Poetry will save me. I won't tell this to the four winds,
because I'm frightened of experts, excommunication,
afraid of shocking the fainthearted. But not of God.
What is poetry, if not His face touched by the brutality of things?
-Adelia Prado, from "Alphabet in the Park"
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Abundant Table Farm Project
Hi friends and family. Thought I'd let you know what I'm going to be doing this next year, after swim lesson season is over at the local pool (yay, I have a job skill!) Along with a good friend and roommate, Sarah, I'll be joining the Abundant Table Farm Project in August. I took the following blurb from some info they sent us...
The Abundant Farm Table Project
Internship Information
Our Vision:
The Abundant Table Farm Project is a young adult Christian community seeking a contemporary rhythm of life with a land based ministry in Ventura County. The goal of this internship is to connect with young adults who are attuned to the destructive disconnect between land and table in our culture.
The Abundant Table Farm Project seeks to provide an alternative model of living for young adults interested in vocational discernment around spirituality, community, and stewardship of Creation. ATFP hopes to create a space where young adults can negotiate what it means to live out the gospel message within the local community and the broader church, in our current context of human beings alienated from each other and the earth.
This project will equip young adults with practical and spiritual skills for creating sustainable community and agriculture. ATFP participants will leave our program with first-hand knowledge of issues related to the above mentioned disconnect–including environmental sustainability; organic, small scale agriculture vs. industrial agribusiness; community health and access to unprocessed foods, especially as it relates to disadvantaged communities; immigration and labor issues–and a passion to work for justice around these issues.
Our Structure:
Live:
The Abundant Table Farm Project will be an 11 month long intensive internship (August to June). Six young adult interns will live together in intentional community in a three bedroom farm house on a 40 acre working farm owned by DeBusschere Farms. The farm house will house the interns and be the center of a worship-based ministry.
Work:
In the first year, interns will work with farmer Paul DeBusschere to convert five of the 40 acres, to organic, sustainable farming, with a five year goal of converting all 40 acres. With help from local farmers and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) organizers, interns will be responsible for the marketing and distribution of the harvest using a CSA model . We will also place two of the interns in part-time internships with local organizations that work for social justice in the community.
Reflect:
Interns will engage in important activities that provide critical reflection on the work they are doing and build intentional community. Some of these activities include, but are not limited to: weekly community dinners, Sunday evening house worship with local college students, meeting with program coordinator on a consistent basis, four retreats a year, service learning opportunities, and community reflection times.
Internship begins August/September 2009 and runs through June/July 2010
Check it out: www.theabundanttable.org
Does this sound AWESOME or what? I am very excited. If we feel itchy for bloggin on the farm, then maybe it's time for a blog name change. Friend Michael recommended the "Organic Intellectuals." haha. suggestions?
The Abundant Farm Table Project
Internship Information
Our Vision:
The Abundant Table Farm Project is a young adult Christian community seeking a contemporary rhythm of life with a land based ministry in Ventura County. The goal of this internship is to connect with young adults who are attuned to the destructive disconnect between land and table in our culture.
The Abundant Table Farm Project seeks to provide an alternative model of living for young adults interested in vocational discernment around spirituality, community, and stewardship of Creation. ATFP hopes to create a space where young adults can negotiate what it means to live out the gospel message within the local community and the broader church, in our current context of human beings alienated from each other and the earth.
This project will equip young adults with practical and spiritual skills for creating sustainable community and agriculture. ATFP participants will leave our program with first-hand knowledge of issues related to the above mentioned disconnect–including environmental sustainability; organic, small scale agriculture vs. industrial agribusiness; community health and access to unprocessed foods, especially as it relates to disadvantaged communities; immigration and labor issues–and a passion to work for justice around these issues.
Our Structure:
Live:
The Abundant Table Farm Project will be an 11 month long intensive internship (August to June). Six young adult interns will live together in intentional community in a three bedroom farm house on a 40 acre working farm owned by DeBusschere Farms. The farm house will house the interns and be the center of a worship-based ministry.
Work:
In the first year, interns will work with farmer Paul DeBusschere to convert five of the 40 acres, to organic, sustainable farming, with a five year goal of converting all 40 acres. With help from local farmers and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) organizers, interns will be responsible for the marketing and distribution of the harvest using a CSA model . We will also place two of the interns in part-time internships with local organizations that work for social justice in the community.
Reflect:
Interns will engage in important activities that provide critical reflection on the work they are doing and build intentional community. Some of these activities include, but are not limited to: weekly community dinners, Sunday evening house worship with local college students, meeting with program coordinator on a consistent basis, four retreats a year, service learning opportunities, and community reflection times.
Internship begins August/September 2009 and runs through June/July 2010
Check it out: www.theabundanttable.org
Does this sound AWESOME or what? I am very excited. If we feel itchy for bloggin on the farm, then maybe it's time for a blog name change. Friend Michael recommended the "Organic Intellectuals." haha. suggestions?
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Last Month, last post?
Hi friends, or whoever looks at this! I've been home over a week, and remembered it's been a really long time since I thought to update this blog. I focused more on responding to personal emails and letters, since those are what I like best. Maybe there's something to be said for the blog thing too, though, so sorry (to who?) that I've been lax in keeping it up.
The last month in Imugan was kind of a whirlwind of last visits, trips, and surprises. I finally felt completely adjusted, able to go out visiting friends without hesitation or self-doubt. My language learning kind of evened out after 3 or 4 months in, but I was still learning a lot even up until the end. Because I probably was at some sort of conversational level, I felt confident to invite myself to lunch with a friend, or drop by a granny's house in the afternoon, or stop and chat on the street. So there was a lot of chatting going on the last two months. My friend, the high school librarian, offered to show me her birthplace up north in a place called Kabayan, so we went up there the first week of December. Suddenly, there were a lot more friends interested in seeing the place, so all 8 or 9 of us rented a jeepney (the KEF vehicle) and drove the 4 hours to her home. Auntie Aida and Mona, who work in Imugan Food Processing, Manang Enita, who is Mona and my Scrabble buddy, her young son Joshua, Uncle Doroteo, my host dad, and Agosto, our driver joined the excursion. We didn't stop at a single restaurant for those 2 days - different relatives of hers hosted us and provided all our needs. Near the area are huge caves where the ancient Filipinos stored hanging coffins of their dead. We saw a museum that housed one of these old mummies, preserved over a thousand years ago. It was great fun. Below, you can see me, my friend Mona, and Joshua trying to look like mummies in one of the rock caves open to tourists... "Ooooooo! Mummmmmiiess!" we said to scare Joshua.
One of the best surprises of December was the news that my dad found time in his schedule to come out and visit before taking me home! It was good to have him there, since words aren't enough to communicate the hospitality and love of my family in Imugan. He got to experience it himself, and ate at the tables of some of my best friends, an honor for them and him. Below is a picture of us during a big family get-together dinner and singing time with my host mom's family.
The day before I left, the school where I taught put on a "Bon Voyage" program in which the students made fun of me in hilarious ways - spoofs of my teaching style (all the boys wore long skirts like I always do) and skits acting out my future (wouldn't you know it - I return in 5 years to get married to an Ikalahan man :). It was totally unexpected, and I was glad to see that they were as fond of me as I was of them. I did feel guilty for those times I lost my temper with them though... Being a teacher really made me respect the profession, and convinced me I don't want to do it again! In the evening, my dad and I helped here and there with the good-bye service preparations - pansit - stir-fry noodles - and tambotambong of course, a must-have dessert treat. I was really exhausted that last day because of all the good-byes, packing, and getting ready to leave, but the service was a wonderful coming-together of my friends from all different areas of the town. Pastors Albert and Norma wanted another pastor to conduct the service in English for my dad, but I insisted that Ikalahan was what I wanted. So they had me translate, and I think it was better that everyone understood rather than just two Americans.
I didn't really know how to convey what those people and that place had meant to me. My host dad gave me some good words - to carry on what I learned here in the U.S., so that the memories don't become stale but live on in who I am.
It's been strange slipping back into home and home-self, and I'm praying that the changes will be manifest here too. I'm trying to remember and live out the community that made me a part of them, that took ownership over my life. Last year, I used to write "the Lord's" on my palm so as to know that I'm not my own, but I think this year it was written on my heart. Learning in a strong Christian community in the Philippines helped me to know better that our lives are hidden in Christ, but I know it doesn't take time abroad for someone to realize that we don't belong to ourselves.
Okay. That's all for now. Maybe this blog needs to shut down for a while, because I feel weird communicating this way. Write me, or call sometime. Otherwise I'll see you soon, especially if you're a part of the Wheaton bunch.
Love, Kat(y)
The last month in Imugan was kind of a whirlwind of last visits, trips, and surprises. I finally felt completely adjusted, able to go out visiting friends without hesitation or self-doubt. My language learning kind of evened out after 3 or 4 months in, but I was still learning a lot even up until the end. Because I probably was at some sort of conversational level, I felt confident to invite myself to lunch with a friend, or drop by a granny's house in the afternoon, or stop and chat on the street. So there was a lot of chatting going on the last two months. My friend, the high school librarian, offered to show me her birthplace up north in a place called Kabayan, so we went up there the first week of December. Suddenly, there were a lot more friends interested in seeing the place, so all 8 or 9 of us rented a jeepney (the KEF vehicle) and drove the 4 hours to her home. Auntie Aida and Mona, who work in Imugan Food Processing, Manang Enita, who is Mona and my Scrabble buddy, her young son Joshua, Uncle Doroteo, my host dad, and Agosto, our driver joined the excursion. We didn't stop at a single restaurant for those 2 days - different relatives of hers hosted us and provided all our needs. Near the area are huge caves where the ancient Filipinos stored hanging coffins of their dead. We saw a museum that housed one of these old mummies, preserved over a thousand years ago. It was great fun. Below, you can see me, my friend Mona, and Joshua trying to look like mummies in one of the rock caves open to tourists... "Ooooooo! Mummmmmiiess!" we said to scare Joshua.
One of the best surprises of December was the news that my dad found time in his schedule to come out and visit before taking me home! It was good to have him there, since words aren't enough to communicate the hospitality and love of my family in Imugan. He got to experience it himself, and ate at the tables of some of my best friends, an honor for them and him. Below is a picture of us during a big family get-together dinner and singing time with my host mom's family.
The day before I left, the school where I taught put on a "Bon Voyage" program in which the students made fun of me in hilarious ways - spoofs of my teaching style (all the boys wore long skirts like I always do) and skits acting out my future (wouldn't you know it - I return in 5 years to get married to an Ikalahan man :). It was totally unexpected, and I was glad to see that they were as fond of me as I was of them. I did feel guilty for those times I lost my temper with them though... Being a teacher really made me respect the profession, and convinced me I don't want to do it again! In the evening, my dad and I helped here and there with the good-bye service preparations - pansit - stir-fry noodles - and tambotambong of course, a must-have dessert treat. I was really exhausted that last day because of all the good-byes, packing, and getting ready to leave, but the service was a wonderful coming-together of my friends from all different areas of the town. Pastors Albert and Norma wanted another pastor to conduct the service in English for my dad, but I insisted that Ikalahan was what I wanted. So they had me translate, and I think it was better that everyone understood rather than just two Americans.
I didn't really know how to convey what those people and that place had meant to me. My host dad gave me some good words - to carry on what I learned here in the U.S., so that the memories don't become stale but live on in who I am.
It's been strange slipping back into home and home-self, and I'm praying that the changes will be manifest here too. I'm trying to remember and live out the community that made me a part of them, that took ownership over my life. Last year, I used to write "the Lord's" on my palm so as to know that I'm not my own, but I think this year it was written on my heart. Learning in a strong Christian community in the Philippines helped me to know better that our lives are hidden in Christ, but I know it doesn't take time abroad for someone to realize that we don't belong to ourselves.
Okay. That's all for now. Maybe this blog needs to shut down for a while, because I feel weird communicating this way. Write me, or call sometime. Otherwise I'll see you soon, especially if you're a part of the Wheaton bunch.
Love, Kat(y)
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
A prayer for adjusted eyes
Upon reading other interns’ assessments and reflecting on HNGR readings and the purposes of HNGR, I often feel that my experience in Imugan is almost too good to be true. One of my assumptions before HNGR was that joy is not complete or true without suffering. Yet in Imugan, I found myself caught in a joy that seemed incomplete – I had not yet experienced much injustice here or perhaps the vulnerability in relationships that would allow me to identify with a person’s suffering. My prayers for the place felt shallow. I found myself questioning my willingness to see pain: Have I remained at an easy surface level in my relationships, fearful of truly entering into the heavier side of Imugan’s life? Am I blinding myself in the brightness of joy instead of training my eyes also to the dark? I had a vision of myself sitting on a sparkling white beach, facing the sea’s shiny waves. My back was purposefully turned to the dark unknown jungle bordering the sand behind me. So I prayed last week that God would adjust my eyes to hardship, that I would not only see joy but that I would understand Imugan more compassionately by allowing my face to be turned to see the darker forest. Then last week, Manang D, a young mother whom I often sit next to at Bible Study, sought me out as a confidante. Though I have usually been the initiator in friendships since people here are generally shy, she sought me out and told me about her alcoholic husband, who tears her apart by becoming verbally abusive when drunk. Along with the sadness that I feel at her revelation, I thank God for this direct answer to prayer, an opportunity to help hold a friend’s frustration and pain in my heart and prayers.
In many ways, I understand myself better through getting to know Imugan. We’re a lot alike. God has gifted her with insuppressible joy and has written hope all over her face. It’s a true joy that can’t help but rise and overflow to all around. There’s something deeper, though, pains buried in dark corners that require much prayerful determination and intentional vulnerability before she trusts others to see these things. Yet these darker corners are nearer to the source of welling joy than some would think. I think the closer I get to the darker pains of Imugan, the closer I’ll get to truer joy and life.
In many ways, I understand myself better through getting to know Imugan. We’re a lot alike. God has gifted her with insuppressible joy and has written hope all over her face. It’s a true joy that can’t help but rise and overflow to all around. There’s something deeper, though, pains buried in dark corners that require much prayerful determination and intentional vulnerability before she trusts others to see these things. Yet these darker corners are nearer to the source of welling joy than some would think. I think the closer I get to the darker pains of Imugan, the closer I’ll get to truer joy and life.
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