Goodbye the Haboub..

The rainy season, and the wild, wooly weather that comes with it, has officially left town. 
I am sad to see it go. I really enjoyed the afternoon build up of hot restless air and then the dramatic explosion of the storms that swooped in from the desert and would cool the air down for at least a heavenly 24 hours.  Now its just still... and Hot... 


The Last Haboub - 

The Wolf

In the glance of the speechless animal, 

there is a discourse that only the soul of the wise

 can really understand. 

- An Indian Poet

I recently received a care package from a lovely friend who is a fellow animal lover, which included this wonderful book: The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons from the Wild on Love, Death and Happiness by Mark Rowlands. 

It is essentially the story of a man (who happens to be a philosophy professor) and a wolf, called Brenin.  It explores not only the relationship between people and 'pets', but also the comparison of human nature, or 'Ape' nature, to that of Wolves and what we can learn form them and apply to our lives. I learnt the most important lessons of my life from two four-legged kindred spirits, one of whom left me one year ago this week,  and so this book really touched me.  

"Think of the wolf as the clearing in the forest. In the bowels of the forest it may be too dark to see the trees. The clearing is the place that allows what was hidden to be uncovered. The wolf is the clearing in the human soul. The wolf uncovers what is hidden in the stories we tell about ourselves - what those stories show but do not say."

He explores that amazingly admirable ability that wolves and dogs possess to embrace a single moment. To realise the utter joy in a simple, temporal, snapshot of time. To cast off preconceived ideas and concerns for the future, from the past, to rid oneself of the wider connectedness of all of the influences in our lives - to allow oneself to simply be. In a single moment. 

"For them, the moment their jaws closed on the pain au chocolat was complete in itself, unadulterated by any other possible moments spread out through time. It could be neither augmented nor diminished by what had gone before and what was yet to come. For us, no moment is ever complete in itself. "

My dogs taught me that. And while some days I get lost in all the complexities of this busy nomadic life I lead, and begin to forget that most important lesson, it always finds a way to  come back to me in some way or another and remind me that pure joy can be found in a single moment.  If I stop, and let the pureness of the moment gently wash over me, let it be simply what it is, with no complications. Let it bring me this freedom and clarity. And I need that. These days more than ever. 

Wills and Rip, Uamby 2004

Need some Hope? Some Inspiration?

Grab a cuppa (or three) and settle in for a good read:
DIY Foreign-Aid Revolution
And...
Greg Mortensons Ideas for Afghanistan

Enjoy :)

Nations United

I live in a big house. 

With people from all over the world...

America, Australia, Belgium

Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, France

Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Netherlands, Portugal

Senegal, Sierra Leone

South Africa

Uganda

An Old Dinka song and a New Dinka song.

"In the time when Dendid created all things, 

He created the Sun

And the sun is born and dies and comes again; 

He created the Moon

And the Moon is born and dies and comes again;

He created the Stars

And the stars are born and die and come again;

He created Man

And man is born and dies and does not come again."

~

We'll adjust the Sudan flag

We'll alter the Sudan flag

For Sudan is confused herself

Sadiq El Mahdi is corrupted

Wol Wol is corrupted

SPLA has a knife - fixed at the barrel tip of an AK-47

Courageous men who fear nothing

These are the men that will liberate us through bloodshed

Red armies - soldiers of the Doctor

We'll struggle till we liberate Sudan

The man who suffers form mosquito bites, thirst and hunger?

He is a genuine liberator

We'll liberate Sudan by bloodshed.

Looking into the face of evolution..

When you realise the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.   

Dian Fossey 1985

A Beat for Peace