Wageni Wakaribishwa

In Swahili, "wageni" means guests, and "wakaribishwa" means that those guests should feel welcomed... or at least that's my rudimentary understanding of the phrase. And I have had the unique experience this week of being both a guest AND one of those doing the welcoming!

I am always mindful, both literally and figuratively, of approaching Cura as a guest. When I arrive there, I am greeted as a returning friend, and I'm given the courtesies that most cultures hold sacred: my physical comfort is attended to, and I am invited to eat, eat, eat!

But I am aware that my presence can also be disruptive. A parent meeting at the primary school could easily be derailed by my appearance at the headmistress's office door, instigating a round of welcomes and speeches and even prayers.

My ideas and approaches to problems, as well, can be unhelpful if I'm not taking the lead from those who live and work in Cura and know the place far better than I do.

Still, I have returned as a guest many times now, and this returning puts me in the position of also being able to knowledgeably welcome others into the circle.

I could answer for Jenny and Jason -- a lead team for Construction for Change -- general questions about Cura's history, but also more specific ones like whether the spiders in their room were likely to crawl on them at night or how many hours the housemothers spend making chapatis every Saturday.

I could and did walk Jenn -- a volunteer there to coordinate an art project -- around the grounds, explaining how many eggs the chickens produce each day and what's in githeri and how recently the primary school was re-roofed.

Coming back to Cura gives me the opportunity to experience the joy of welcoming new well-wishers into the fold in a meaningful way. I'm still a guest, and I'm not moving in, but Cura might want to set up a drawer for my toothbrush.
-H