tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75752863919353182822012-02-16T18:09:52.826-05:00A modest attempt to share my journey in life - to places geographical and spiritualJeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.comBlogger811100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-37928748384658364412011-12-08T20:36:00.001-05:002011-12-08T20:59:32.929-05:00

Last week I pushed the "buy now" button for 13 tickets to Rwanda.  In May 2012 our group of eight Christ Church members along with five from Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester will set off together for a shared experience among people living the good news of reconciliation and forgiveness. We will hear stories of genocide -- and of redemption and reconciliation.  We will visit projects

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-3482225926224131322011-11-23T21:08:00.001-05:002011-12-08T21:01:48.881-05:00

Beginning to think of Africa again I have not blogged since our trip to Haiti in January. My only travel since then has been within the US -- three trips to Oregon to see our kids and our new grandson, a trip to Louisiana for continuing education, and a couple of trips to Indiana to see my parents. Otherwise, I've been busy right here on the job at Christ Church in Andover.  The building

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-28844705701113851562011-04-03T17:30:00.002-04:002011-04-03T17:34:40.456-04:00

Monday, January 24 -- Up at 4 am, on the bus by 5 to go to Port au Prince. The 2 bour drive was filled with a combination of breathtaking beauty of mountains beyond mountains on the one hand -- and hair-raising adventure as our driver barreled through people and vehicle-strewn streets and narrow alleys at speeds that would be criminal back home. George loved it! Said "I want to come back and

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-77555849477975710492011-04-03T16:41:00.009-04:002011-04-03T17:28:39.939-04:00

Sunday, January 23, 2011 -- Got up at 6 am, had breakfast, and went to church at Bon Sauveur. Fortunately, Fr. Lafontant had a box of collars since I had forgotten mine. We began in his office/vesting room where he and Fr. Michelin were preparing for the mass. He had hymns playing on a tape player as they sang along. He showed me pictures on his wall of the church when he began here in 1970. It

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-58942850715667208112011-02-12T15:24:00.004-05:002011-02-12T16:06:38.574-05:00

January 22, 2011 -- I woke up late today -- about 7 am. It's Saturday, and there are no rehearsals taking place outside my window. After our pancake breakfast we took an excursion with David Waters, a young engineer working here with Partners in Health for the past six months. We went down the pumping station that provides water up here. We walked a mile down the road, then down the hillside 600

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-70384462606708656122011-02-06T20:30:00.004-05:002011-02-06T20:54:21.343-05:00

January 21, 2011 – After breakfast we went to Jackie’s studio. On the way I noticed a large gathering in the church, and walked up the steps to see a full church where a funeral was beginning. The singing was beautiful. Clergy and servers were lined up across the front in good Anglican fashion. I didn’t go in, because I was clearly not dressed for the occasion. Hard to believe that people who

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-6802862951064041372011-02-02T12:54:00.013-05:002011-02-04T12:01:29.976-05:00

January 20, 2011 – I woke up around 4 am and never really went back to sleep. Not long afterward the Zanmi Lasante community began to come to life. Roosters crowed, voices began calling, musical instruments began rehearsing, and the whole place was humming by about 6 am. I showered and went down by 7:30, but no one from our group was around yet, even though breakfast was to be served at 7:30.

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-1530230949137864172011-02-01T21:25:00.012-05:002011-02-13T20:50:35.742-05:00

I was not able to blog from Haiti, but I did keep a journal, which I'm now posting here as I am able. January 19, 2011 – Got up at 2 am to get our shuttle to Logan airport for a 5:30 am flight to Haiti via Miami. We made the trip with no problems, leaving Andover in a foot of slushy snow, icy roads and sidewalks. Landed in Port-au-Prince in 85 degree weather. What a switch!We were met by a

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-30352113899549420292011-01-18T17:49:00.005-05:002011-01-18T18:43:07.000-05:00

Tomorrow morning, we leave for Haiti. There are nine of us going from Christ Church. We'll be staying in the village of Cange in the Central Plateau for five days. After arriving in Port au Prince tomorrow around 1 pm, we'll be paying a brief visit to the Sisters of St. Margaret and dropping off some supplies for them, seeing the Cathedral, and stopping at an orphange in the city before making

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-2968434520837352562010-06-15T16:13:00.006-04:002010-06-15T16:49:47.158-04:00

This is my friend Martin. He's standing here with two child soldiers in the eastern Congo -- former members of a militia headed by the dreaded leader (or fearless liberator, depending on one's perspective), Laurent Nkunda. In his work with Save the Children, Martin went into the bush to find and meet with Nkunda on numerous occasions to negotiate the release of some of these kids from his army.

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-57975291447451695222010-05-19T14:14:00.002-04:002010-05-19T14:18:13.962-04:00

Thanks to JJ Kercher for her fabulous photos and the video here on YouTube. These were all taken at this year's Amahoro Gathering in Mombasa, Kenya. .Great memories. Incredible people. Unforgettable stories. Inspiring ideas and creative ministry going on that give me hope -- for Africa and for the world.

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-62783050850797251422010-05-07T06:25:00.020-04:002010-06-17T18:20:10.687-04:00

He came up to me with the awkwardness of a young man who was experiencing a place like this for the first time. We were together at a modern 5-star resort hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, for an annual gathering of emerging church leaders from across Africa, together with friends from around the world. We were from 22 countries total. I’m from the US. He is from South Sudan – I could tell that by looking

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-8302350986372635362010-05-01T03:14:00.006-04:002010-05-18T14:40:38.958-04:00

One of my hosts has said several times in the last couple of days that Kenya is a land of many contrasts. That proves itself true over and over in countless ways. I'm staying in a lovely home outside of Nairobi in the midst of lush green tea plantations. My hosts, Maggie and Charles, could not possibly be more gracious and hospitable. They have shared their lives and their ministries with me in

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-65798106257843931062010-04-25T18:02:00.006-04:002010-04-26T15:23:01.158-04:00

In a phone conversation with my dear friend, Martin Masumbuko, just a couple of days ago, we talked about our adventures in Kenya, Sudan, and Rwanda. Martin is a Kenyan friend I met during graduate school at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and we traveled together for a week during my 2008 month-long Africa experience. As we talked I became aware once again of how hyper-alert I was to

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-48061530452933476202010-04-08T22:09:00.002-04:002010-04-18T18:45:52.111-04:00

> Painted bunting> Red shouldered hawk> Anhinga> Pileated woodpecker> Turkey vulture> Sanderlings> Black skimmer> Black bellied plover> Willet> Royal tern> Laughing gull> Herring gull> Osprey> Kingfisher> Reddish egret> Roseate spoonbill> Tri-colored heron> Double-crested cormorant> Blue-winged teal> Snowy egret> Ringed plover> Black-bellied plover> White pelican> Brown pelican> Little blue heron

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-41141050421139024732009-08-05T15:11:00.003-04:002009-08-05T15:24:18.985-04:00

Home just over a week now, I'm thinking a lot about the places I've been and what these experiences over the past five months have meant -- and will mean -- to me, and to the way I live my life and practice my ministry. St. Augustine is reported to have said, "The world is a book. Those who don't travel read only one page." (I can't find the reference, but it's all over the web so it must be

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-36996809626556937042009-07-06T17:29:00.007-04:002009-07-16T13:03:39.826-04:00

As some of you who are following this blog realize, I haven't been keeping up very well with blogging my recent travel adventures. It has all been a little overwhelming, frankly. Last week I was bicycling through Danish farm country. Three days ago I was kayaking in the fjords of Norway. Two days ago I flew from Bergen, Norway, to Manchester, England, via Copenhagen, and then drove up through the

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-8172174782639421982009-06-30T17:33:00.005-04:002009-06-30T17:38:38.323-04:00

I might have left the impression in my last post that Burundi is a joyless place – because it ranked last among the world’s countries on the “happiness” index. I know a lot of people who would take offense, for a variety of reasons, with this assessment. I’m actually one of them. It’s true that based on the criteria used in the study out of Leicester University I referred to, people in Burundi

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-25377219007938085692009-06-29T04:21:00.010-04:002009-07-17T07:27:52.274-04:00

About a year ago I had just returned from a month in Africa when I read a story on the BBC website about a British social psychologist who had created a "world map of happiness." The author had studied the subjective sense of well-being in people all over the world to determine "the happiest place on earth." Countries are rank ordered from highest to lowest.I had just come from the country at the

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-8331874828407922542009-06-22T01:48:00.002-04:002011-12-08T21:04:25.075-05:00

We continue to have slow connections to the internet, so uploading pictures is hard. I've reduced the size of a few here just to give some of the highlights of our three day stay in the Pilanesberg National Game Park. Carolyn was able to get some to load to her Facebook, so check them out there, too, if you're on Facebook with her. Pilanesberg is one of

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-54303310525897450542009-06-20T17:05:00.004-04:002009-07-07T12:48:23.783-04:00

It's going to be hard to do this one justice with words, so I'm going to let the pictures do the talking. We've just finished a three-day safari at the Pilanesberg National Park in North West Province, not too far from the border with Botswana. It was an amazing experience. We saw all of the "Big Five" game -- the lion, African elephant, Cape Buffalo, the cheetah, and rhinoceros -- and hundreds

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-86225068372161863512009-06-16T15:38:00.005-04:002009-06-20T17:03:39.600-04:00

At last week's Amahoro Gathering, many of us were taken aback by comments made by Trevor Ntlhola, a pastor from South Africa, during a session having to do with the role of money in the relationships between Africa and the West. Trevor is a pastor in Soweto, made famous by the Soweto Uprising on June 16, 1976 -- 33 years ago today. More about that later. But what Trevor said that caught our

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-66791177471429609632009-06-11T16:12:00.003-04:002009-06-20T12:36:47.759-04:00

We've been in South Africa now for three days, and I've hardly had a minute to blog. Lack of time, combined with problems of slow internet connections and keeping batteries well charged have made it more difficult to share it all here than I had expected. Consequently, this will be short tonight. The program has been very full -- and powerful. Just as we heard stories last year of people who

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-28641989966447305982009-06-07T12:14:00.003-04:002009-06-07T13:11:51.319-04:00

Early tomorrow morning Carolyn and I will leave for Johannesburg, South Africa, on the next leg of our sabbatical travels. We're packing our winter clothes (didn't we just put them away?!), and preparing ourselves for winter in the southern hemisphere. Friends on the ground there warned us today to "bring your woolies!"Some of you have asked, "so what are you going to be doing in South Africa?"

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-48088805479149614802009-05-21T14:06:00.005-04:002009-05-26T18:49:45.945-04:00

George and I rode across the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco on Sunday afternoon, the 17th of May. What a feeling! And what a way to wrap up this incredible adventure we've had together. Our odometer tells us we biked almost exactly 1200 miles since we left Vancouver, BC, on the 22nd of April. If you take out the days when we were not riding, either because we were with Liz and Duncan,

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-49368479526848945622009-05-10T23:24:00.003-04:002009-05-17T00:36:48.152-04:00

It would be a lot jazzier to say that George and I were going to cut our trip short because of... I don't know -- swine flu in Mexico, or forest fires in Santa Barbara perhaps. But, yes, we are going to cut it short, and no, those are not the reasons. The reasons are time and money.We lost almost a week in the beginning, hanging out in Vancouver waiting on George's bike to arrive. Since then,

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-22769453981494305672009-05-05T19:56:00.003-04:002009-05-23T11:57:28.849-04:00

But, alas, we're riding south. Strong sustained headwinds of 20-25 mph kept us working hard today. The good news is that the rain that was forecast for today never found us! And, the best part is that we had a spectacularly beautiful ride on the central coast of Oregon. It wouldn't have been nearly so dramatic without all that wind, either. But, wow, are glad we decided to ignore the

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-13659701135231567092009-05-01T22:45:00.004-04:002009-05-21T15:36:52.037-04:00

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-85062574613656872072009-04-28T01:53:00.005-04:002009-05-21T15:44:22.227-04:00

Last week in Canada I got my hair cut... well, not totally off, but very short. I didn't want to have to mess with hair -- you know, shampoo, combs, and all that -- while on a bike trip. I got two very different reactions to my altered persona from the first two people who commented: one said I looked like a monk; the other said I looked like a jock. I've never pretended to be either, but frankly

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-30576534652374095092009-04-24T22:30:00.004-04:002009-04-25T11:10:42.104-04:00

I know this is true, because George and I have been riding for three days now, have logged 190 miles since we left Vancouver on Wednesday morning, and we still aren't to Seattle yet. They make states a whole lot bigger out here in the West than they do back East!And they have much bigger mountains, too. I have the sore legs to prove it. I have discovered, however, that there is apparently an

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-43481658924091451562009-04-19T21:26:00.002-04:002009-04-20T11:16:02.855-04:00

Still stranded in Vancouver. But if you have to be stranded somewhere it's a great place to be.So, I got up this morning for some breakfast in the hostel refectory, then trekked off to Christ Church Cathedral for the 10:30 service. It's the cathedral church for the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster. I had stopped in already a couple of days ago, so I was familiar with the space. I was

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-35170773929346815842009-04-14T17:52:00.002-04:002009-04-21T22:00:15.255-04:00

Wet cherry blossomsfall on the pavement tellingus goodbye for nowSayonara is a beautiful word in Japanese, but it sounds just a little too final -- like it could be the last time you see someone. There's a hint of sadness in it.The sadness feels appropriate now. But I hope not the final parting. Tomorrow morning we leave Shimoda on a train to Tokyo, then Narita Airport. From there Carolyn will

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-56216242364788189482009-04-12T22:28:00.001-04:002009-04-12T23:32:58.169-04:00

It has been years since I went to a sunrise service on Easter, but it’s a tradition for many Christians on this holiest day of the year. There are many things in nature that inspire awe for me. It happens nearly every day, in fact. But today, on Easter morning, it reached a new pinnacle. Carolyn and I set our alarm for 5 am so that we would be up when the sun rose. We were staying in a

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-37377544757284233572009-04-08T04:17:00.003-04:002009-04-08T21:02:47.127-04:00

Carolyn and I fell in love this week – with Sawako. She’s our two-year old Japanese “granddaughter.” Her mom, Junko, lived with us for a year in 1991-92 in Topsfield as an exchange student, and is very much a part of our family. Our last trip to Japan in 2004 was for her wedding.This past Sunday evening, Junko, along with her parents, Shunichi and Keiko Nakao, and, of course, little Sawako,

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-67352639825807674612009-04-05T02:48:00.004-04:002009-04-07T04:46:14.985-04:00

It's Palm Sunday. You wouldn't know it for the most part here in Japan. But I do -- even if I didn't go to church today. First time probably in my whole life that I wasn't in church on Palm Sunday. I've been thinking about it all day, however.I don't really have any words to share today -- but I do have some pictures. Intimations of Easter -- if that's permitted when the rest of Holy Week is

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-26101940089347302682009-04-04T01:43:00.004-04:002009-04-04T01:55:01.810-04:00

A hawk swoops down totake the apple from his handI saw it happenThis actually happened a couple of days ago. Carolyn and I were walking along the big beach (Ohama) with a couple of new friends. Like us, they’re gaijin – foreigners. I had wanted to believe that the out-of-the-way neighborhood where we’ve settled for this month was a place that no other foreigner had found, but I wasn’t here more

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-56079110113114948402009-04-02T01:13:00.001-04:002009-04-02T01:16:59.806-04:00

When I was an undergraduate at Indiana University doing East Asian Studies and Religious Studies, I wrote my senior thesis on a man named Neeshima Jo, who was the founder of Doshisha University in Kyoto. I was interested in him because in many ways he characterized the convergence of Japanese and American cultures at the time of Japan’s Meiji Restoration in the mid-19th century. He was an

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-35283002721364880392009-03-31T22:22:00.003-04:002009-03-31T23:38:44.456-04:00

Nothing makes the Japanese heart beat like the sight, or even just the anticipation, of the sakura – the cherry blossom. I had never been to Japan during cherry blossom season before, so one of my specific intentions in the planning of this trip was to be here to experience it. Within the first couple of days of being here, I was asking around about where the best places were to go and see the

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-50057727926688936282009-03-31T01:14:00.002-04:002009-03-31T23:29:42.083-04:00

You'll never guess where I've been spending a lot of my time in Japan. Makudonarudo – that's the Japanese phonetics for McDonald's. It's not that I'm a big fan of McDonald's. I'm not. But it happens to be the only (or the most convenient) place to find wireless internet access here in Shimoda. We've tried everything else. I can get wireless access via my phone otherwise, but I pay for data by the

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-68997248248239905672009-03-30T16:00:00.001-04:002009-04-04T02:03:02.921-04:00

Yesterday on the train to Tokyo I started wondering whether this had been such a good idea. The trip to Tokyo, that is. I started thinking about our wonderful, peaceful place in Shimoda, and how relaxing it all is -- and then what a big, complex "city on steroids" Tokyo is. And in our plan for the next 48 hours we had at least three engagements planned, so I was just imagining ending up on Sunday

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-41327351863741389392009-03-27T20:16:00.004-04:002009-03-29T01:41:08.900-04:00

I blogged on Sunday about meeting my Japanese host family again after 38 years ("Family"). It was remarkable to me how their personalities had not changed one bit. They have grayed (as have I), and perhaps grown wiser with age. None of the cells in their bodies (or mine) are the same, and yet there was instant recognition. I share their picture here with you all, because every time I look at it,

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-4947458760058359302009-03-25T05:06:00.002-04:002009-03-29T02:15:36.151-04:00

Perhaps you’ve seen the Nicholas Cage movie by this title. It is set in Japan. It’s a complex and nuanced movie about communication in general, but so particularly relevant to the challenges you face on a daily basis here in this fascinating and infinitely complex country. Monday and Tuesday of this week were the perfect example.Carolyn arrived yesterday (Tuesday), but it was not without more

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-30957752381013526172009-03-22T23:27:00.003-04:002009-03-28T21:09:21.346-04:00

I'm on a train going up the coast of the Izu peninsula nearing Ito on my way to Tokyo, then another hour or so to Narita airport to meet Carolyn. It's a beautiful day along the coast, so here are couple of haiku to try and capture the day's experience.This first one is in Japanese:Itoh madeUmi utsukushiiKumo ga aruTranslation:Journey to ItoBeautiful ocean waves crashClouds in the distanceSurfers

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-42923418884891864282009-03-22T17:52:00.002-04:002009-03-22T09:11:20.643-04:00

Gotta tell ya'll what happened today. Couldn't have dreamed this would be possible.To start with, the place where we're living for this month in Japan is on the Izu Peninsula only about 40 miles south of Ito, where I spent the summer of 1971 -- 38 years ago -- living with a host family. Apart from the fact that the house we're in was the only one listed on vrbo.com in all of Japan, the fact

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-24019969312061247432009-03-21T06:47:00.002-04:002009-03-20T19:10:18.214-04:00

It's a beautiful Saturday morning at Goishigahama. Sun up at precisely 6:00 a.m. on this vernal equinox.I didn't hear any Westminster chimes this morning, but just in case I've left the impression that I have something against Westminster chimes, I certainly do not. When I'm walking through Trafalgar Square I LOVE the sound of Westminster chimes. I even love them coming from the grandfather

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-49884581490654865322009-03-19T21:23:00.005-04:002009-04-03T03:18:39.378-04:00

Westminster chimes ringat GoishigahamaDid Perry bring these?Day before yesterday I met for about an hour with Rev. Daiei Matsui. He is the Buddhist priest in charge of Ryosenji temple here in Shimoda. Ryosenji is important because it served as the guesthouse for the occasional foreign visitor during Japan's 250 year isolation from the rest of the world, and more specifically as the residence for

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-12643389789537554702009-03-18T09:44:00.002-04:002009-03-28T19:55:51.108-04:00

Eucharist at dawnlooking toward the rising sunPatrick would love it At home it is St. Patrick's Day (the morning after here in Japan). Patrick exemplifies the Celtic spirit -- a spirit I find has remarkable similarities with the Japanese spirit, particularly with respect to its sense of the divine (kami) in all of nature.I started the day with something generally reserved for life in community

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-45650988481343766922009-03-17T20:20:00.000-04:002009-03-17T07:20:53.314-04:00

A few weeks before leaving for Japan, a package showed up in the mail. I opened it, and it was a book. I took a close look at it, not remembering ordering it myself, but being very interested in the title, Tsurezuregusa of Kenkō -- Essays in Idleness. Sounded timely as I was about to begin a sabbatical -- and intriguing -- but I couldn't remember buying it, and had no idea where it would have

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-71542352493910247782009-03-15T09:55:00.001-04:002009-03-15T09:55:30.946-04:00

Made it here, safe and sound. More later!

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-90911058687674797352009-03-10T19:46:00.004-04:002009-03-10T22:11:39.810-04:00

A family leaving church early on Sunday morning caught me getting ready to pull out of the rectory driveway at about 10:45 am. Carolyn and I had decided that we'd go into Boston to Trinity Church for our second Sunday on sabbatical. Well, now that we're so relaxed and unplugged from everything, we had forgotten about the time change, and it wasn't until about 10:20 that we realized it was 10:20

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-22766792506889450972009-03-06T18:58:00.008-05:002009-03-11T00:33:08.915-04:00

Red toes in the sandten inches of snow back homeI take a deep breathA week in Florida behind us now, we're home in Andover -- but just for a week. My thoughts now turn to Japan.Japan has been part of my imagination since I was a child growing up in the Midwest in the late fifties and sixties. Maybe it was Tomiko, the Japanese war bride who went to our church. Perhaps it was the National

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-92138377785196845322009-03-05T11:01:00.004-05:002009-03-11T00:31:32.297-04:00

Having lived and worked in a predominantly Roman Catholic area of the country now for over 25 years I've become accustomed to hearing people talk about "Catholic guilt." It comes up anytime when I, for example, mention to a former Roman Catholic in our church (of which there are many) that "I missed you last Sunday." Ooops. I just evoked some "Catholic guilt." It comes up a lot around matters of

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-58938604023286034462009-02-28T22:34:00.005-05:002009-02-28T23:36:49.595-05:00

You should have heard the crowd. The announcer began: "The temperature in Boston right now is... 31 degrees -- and 26 degrees with the windchill. In Fort Myers, it's 81!" A roar goes up as thousands of current and sometime New Englanders (Red Sox fans all) pump their fists into the air. They are so happy to be warm! So am I.Everyone around us here at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers was from

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-16073248329459912732009-02-27T22:46:00.007-05:002009-02-27T23:04:05.385-05:00

Carolyn and I walked out of 29 Central Street at four o’clock this morning to go for a week’s vacation in Florida to begin my six-month sabbatical. (Thank you, Iris, for the ride to the airport! You are a dear!) Walking through the airport Carolyn asked me how it felt not to have to “go to work” for the next six months. That had not really sunk in for me, frankly. Not yet anyway. I’m still

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-82275862015898835192009-01-02T01:10:00.002-05:002009-01-03T17:21:36.788-05:00

Ah, 2009! – It's here -- the year in which I’ll take my long-anticipated sabbatical. Beginning March 1st I will have six months for rest and renewal, generously supported by a Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Grant. Having now worked out some of the details, I’m ready to talk about what I’ll be up to. Here’s a brief run-down of our timetable below. I have also put up a Google map of our travels

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-72658359708197984622008-10-25T16:46:00.003-04:002008-10-26T18:22:15.851-04:00

At this time, the "Jeff's Journey" blog contains only one "journey" -- the one I made during the month of May to six countries in Africa. Anyone visiting here to read about that journey will find it most helpful to start at the beginning and read chronologically -- beginning with the pre-trip description posted in April, and then the (almost) daily blogging during the month of May, along with a

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-44575459790501122262008-06-11T22:49:00.000-04:002008-06-11T23:11:24.501-04:00

I had fun tonight showing pictures and telling stories from part of my recent African adventure. About 50 people gathered in the Parish Hall at Christ Church in Andover where I spent about an hour talking through pictures and some video from roughly the first half of my month in Africa. I talked through parts of my experience in Kenya, including Nairobi, Korogocho, Masailand, Lokichokkio and

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-14812426565171435942008-06-06T13:26:00.001-04:002008-06-06T13:26:30.190-04:00

Zimbabwe is in crisis.  Our bishop, Tom Shaw, has just returned from a visit there to stand alongside the Bishop of Harare, Sebastian Bakare, during this extremely tense and difficult time leading up to the run-off election next week.  An article about his visit appeared on the front page of today's Boston Globe.  You can read the article and also see a brief video clip by following this link:

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-34651803513642487592008-06-04T21:05:00.000-04:002008-06-19T17:47:34.571-04:00

Yesterday was the feast day for the Martyrs of Uganda according to the Episcopal Church calendar of saints. I hadn't realized that until I arrived at church early yesterday morning to prepare for our 7 am Eucharist. Seemed awfully convenient for that one to pop up on my first Wednesday back from Africa. Now I have to say that I'm struggling a bit with how much to talk about my recent experiences

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-8213450810960951172008-06-02T17:55:00.000-04:002008-06-02T21:20:48.516-04:00

Maybe I'm just a bad photographer. I don't think so, really, but pictures never tell the whole story. Maybe they come close, if you're a really first-rate photographer. Today, relaxing at Woodsea Place on Peaks Island, Maine, I finally had the chance to look back through the 1200 or so photos I took over the past month, and some of the hour or so of video that I shot. It was really good to see

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-15887328401409605162008-05-30T05:19:00.000-04:002008-05-31T09:50:15.581-04:00

I'm back on US soil! Well, US pavement. I'm not sure I've seen any soil yet. I'm in New York City. After arriving at JFK airport yesterday afternoon, I got on the Air Train to the Jamaica Station in Brooklyn, where I got on the E train and rode for about an hour till I ended up at 23rd Street and 8th Avenue on the Lower West Side. Amazing how that works. From there, I walked about four blocks to

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-16841627571087250692008-05-27T16:10:00.000-04:002008-05-27T17:20:27.154-04:00

Tomorrow's the day. I'm leaving Kigali and beginning the long journey halfway around the planet for home. As eager as I am to get home, I'm feeling kind of sad about leaving this place. I really do love it here in Rwanda.Since my last posting, I have also been to Burundi for two days. That was a very moving experience. Going from Rwanda to Burundi is something like crossing the border from the

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-46957154633269184942008-05-21T16:16:00.000-04:002008-05-21T17:56:44.908-04:00

I've grown impatient -- with this computer in the conference center lobby. It's painfully slow, which is why I haven't blogged in a couple of days. Takes an hour just to check email. I'm also at a bit of a loss for what to write tonight -- there's just so much to say. And, I think I'm running out of steam, too. I'm very aware that within the week I'll begin to focus not on my next African

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-42870545631140919722008-05-19T16:51:00.000-04:002008-05-31T09:59:14.396-04:00

Amahoro means Peace in Kinyarwandan -- in the same sort of way that Shalom means peace, or Salaam, or Paz, or Heiwa, or any of the other hundreds of languages in which people express their deepest yearnings for being at one with the universe. It's the name of the gathering I'm now part of here in Kigali, Rwanda. And they are calling this a "gathering" -- not a conference -- because it's all about

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-44121304140729264392008-05-18T15:40:00.000-04:002008-05-18T17:55:40.515-04:00

Okay, now my heart is really broken. I've been to Goma and back, and I'm going to have to be careful what I write, because I'm not going to be able to describe what it was really like. It would take a better writer than me. And I'm not sure I want to try anyway. Or that anyone reading this would want me to either.I spent a "dark night of the soul" last night after having spent the day going from

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-52513856061764423822008-05-16T14:08:00.000-04:002008-05-16T14:58:40.554-04:00

Just the name is likely to send shivers up and down the spine of people whose only knowledge of Rwanda is what happened here in 1994 -- 100 days of absolute mayhem and killing, at the end of which a million people had been hacked to death -- the infamous Rwandan genocide. And it was genocide, by any definition. It was calculated, planned, and carried out with a specific intention to rid Rwanda

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-11273912269370151512008-05-15T17:26:00.000-04:002008-05-16T02:50:17.821-04:00

Today has been a travel day. We spent half the day in Yei, Sudan, doing a variety of errands with the NESEI staff, having espressos and cappuchinos at the Yei version of Starbucks, meeting and greeting a whole host of people on the streets, and getting ready to welcome a group of about 15 Americans coming for the grand opening of the school on Monday. We did meet them, including Atem Deng (one of

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-66117042597415149252008-05-14T13:18:00.000-04:002008-08-04T10:28:32.257-04:00

I thought I knew a fair bit about the recent history of Sudan, particularly the South, where a brutal civil war was being fought for the last twenty years. I knew about the forced Arabization of the South by the North, the attempts at Islamicization of the Christian and animist populations, the racist policies that favored the northern Arab populations over the black African populations of the

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-41260423840982317852008-05-13T13:32:00.000-04:002008-08-04T13:12:36.056-04:00

Martin and I got up at 5:30 for a taxi to the airport this morning, where we thought we were going to meet other muzungu (that's white folks in Swahili) from the US who were going to Yei on the same flight. No one. We got on the plane anyway, imagining that they had already gone, or at least that someone in Yei would be at the airport to meet us. It is because I am an irrepressibly hopeful person

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-38456439661751139432008-05-13T13:11:00.000-04:002008-05-30T19:09:46.649-04:00

Monday, May 12, 2008I'm writing this from a bus on my handheld Pocket PC at the Kenya-Uganda border. It has been important to me not just to "fly over" Africa but to be with the people, in their homes, seeing and experiencing their lives -- the joys and the frustrations -- from their perspective as much as possible. Buses are a really great way to get some of that perspective, believe me. You

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-69521482000611621902008-05-11T15:52:00.001-04:002008-06-06T22:38:06.997-04:00

"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place... All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability... Dinkas, Nuers, Ethiopians, Somalis, Rwandans, Congolese, Burundian, Kenyans, and even one lone Muzungu, speaking about God's deeds of power" (a paraphrase of Acts 2:1, 5-11).Today is the Day of Pentecost,

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-13758213681520610802008-05-10T16:38:00.000-04:002008-05-30T18:55:11.125-04:00

I am, right now, almost literally at the end of the earth. At least it seems that way. Somewhere near the border of Uganda in the northwest corner of Kenya, far from even the faintest signs of civilization, is a refugee camp called Kakuma. That's where I am.This morning we met Martin in Nairobi and ran a few errands. Downtown Nairobi isn't all that different from any major metropolitan downtown

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-71916515278728889552008-05-09T12:54:00.000-04:002008-05-09T13:43:15.756-04:00

Life operates on a different kind of clock in Africa than it does at home. It's not uncommon to see someone standing by a tree along a road. They are waiting for someone who said they would be there to pick them up -- sometime late morning or midday, let's say. Eleven o'clock comes -- nobody. Noon -- nobody. Finally at one, the person shows up, and all is well. They explain that the traffic was

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-62008886619260952102008-05-08T15:30:00.000-04:002008-05-08T17:24:51.089-04:00

I mentioned yesterday my "colonial-like surroundings." Kenya was, of course, a British colony before independence was gained on December 12, 1963. From the late 1880s when the British East Africa Company arrived here until independence, British influence was widely felt in Kenya. English is used extensively here; anyone who has been to school speaks it. Virtually all signs and billboards are in

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-45601213923523397032008-05-07T14:09:00.001-04:002008-05-07T15:14:32.921-04:00

Ah yes, have I mentioned the smoke-belching vehicles in Nairobi? Any of us who are over about 40 years old or so (pre-catalytic converter, pre-emissions standards in the US) will remember (or not) what it used to be like when we were kids. My best friend in 5th and 6th grades was Terry Richardson, and he used to love to run behind city buses as they took off from the corner, sniffing wildly

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-17676557904092854112008-05-06T13:07:00.000-04:002008-05-06T15:47:44.186-04:00

All I knew when I woke up this morning is that I was going to go with Alice to meet with a couple of families whose children are prospective students at the school. I thought we were leaving around 11 and would be back in a couple of hours. I had slept late after staying up very late last night trying to post some video to YouTube (unsuccessfully). I felt very rested, but I didn't have any

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-11416637648396870042008-05-05T16:01:00.000-04:002008-05-06T15:29:48.452-04:00

Today we made our visit to the Beverly School of Kenya in North Kinangop, about an hour and a half from Nairobi in the Rift Valley. The Beverly School started, much as the Esperanza Academy did, with a dream. This was the dream of Abdi Lidonde and Alice Mudiri, two native Kenyans who both were working in Worcester, Massachusetts, he at the College of the Holy Cross, and she at the Nativity School

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-90508743389414054922008-05-04T14:37:00.000-04:002008-05-30T18:13:54.915-04:00

Ah, the Sabbath. I don’t really get to experience it at home, because it is a work day! Not today. It’s a beautiful day here in Nairobi, and I’m enjoying sitting in Alice’s garden – in the shade – where there is a nice breeze and it feels around 70 degrees – more like 80 or 82 in the sun. Just awoke from an afternoon nap for an hour or so. Still getting used to the time change and I’m getting

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-77411704295308059522008-05-04T01:07:00.000-04:002008-05-30T18:10:31.432-04:00

I had no idea when I woke up Saturday morning what an experience I was about to have. Having slept very well through the sound of barking and howling dogs throughout the neighborhood, I woke up early -- right about first light -- and was soon treated to the sound of singing birds and the sight of my lovely surroundings, which I hadn't seen as I arrived in the dark the night before. Quite a

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-82103238364047093832008-05-02T16:13:00.001-04:002008-05-03T01:22:43.705-04:00

I arrived in Nairobi and was met at the airport by Martin, Tom, andAlice. Now back at Alice's house in Karen (named for Karen Blixen,whose house we just passed). Long trip and I'm pretty tired, so willkeep this short for now. Already learning a LOT. Tomorrow we'll bevisiting the Masai area. This comes with lots of love to you all fromKenya!Jeff

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575286391935318282.post-66673012563691911702008-04-03T22:24:00.000-04:002008-04-23T17:27:28.219-04:00

I guess with this first posting, I'm now a blogger! Always thought that was for other people, and wasn't (still am not) sure I had all that much to say. But I'm getting ready for a unique experience, and I not only want to be able to share it with others, but I really want to create a space where I can process the experience for myself, too.I'm going to Africa. For a month -- the month of May

Jeff Gillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13535119242985483120noreply@blogger.com0