Yesterday I went to the Nairobi National Museum, and it was jam packed with school children, K-12, and they were loud with excitement, but polite and their faces were clean with hope and promise, clad in bright uniforms in various colors of purple, red, yellow, green, blue and white; it was a joy to squeeze between and among them, and to see Africa’s future.

It is an extensive museum, with a snake park, a gallery of modern local art, and it takes about 3 hours if you want to get all the information it contains.  A very large section of the animal life, the history, culture and music.  A must visit whenever you are in Nairobi.

From there went to the Village Mall, behind which is the Massi Market, with its incredible array of art in so many forms, so much talent, so much desire, so much restraint, so much questions about who owns what and whom, and who can afford what, and why are these people so evidently prolific, creative and master crafts persons and artists, with so little material means, and many lack basic, domestic necessities that I and so many others take for granted. 

This morning as I sat on my host’s patio in Nairobi, facing the tree that frames and shelter the spot where I sit to meditate, I was lost for a moment –not really disoriented, but thinking to myself I am here but could very well be there or there, meaning Jamaica or St Croix or any island or any country in Africa or even elsewhere…

It is all so familiar, so the same and yet so distinctly different, and I have the wonderful fortune to experience it because I decided to accept the gift that came in the form of an invitation. I said thanks even though when saying so I wasn’t sure where the money would come from to make it possible.  I said thank you and so it is and will be.

There was a time I didn’t always accept gifts without some kind of protest or  false humility, which sounded like, “You really didn’t need to…” What was that all about? False manners taught and accepted without question.  What an insult!  I now apologize to all whom I made such remarks.

Thank you is the only response even when the gift is not something you need or like.

Thank you.  Thank you for your thoughtfulness.  Thank you for caring.  Thanks you for taking the effort.

Thank you.  Period.

All gifts are about both the giver and you the receiver, and it sets an abundance flow into the universe that benefits all.

So accept the gift and travel from St Croix to Ethiopia, then push further east to Kenya and on the way you will be gifted familiar flowers and lovely little girls whose sharing stamps laughter on your heart.

I was born to travel and I have never considered it a luxury, rather an essential part of my life. At the end of my first trip to Ethiopia, the beginning of all beginnings, the birth-place of all life, the importance of travel is once again confirmed.

I suspect Ethiopia is no different from the rest of Africa, or even other places in the world in terms of modernity and antiquity and where they meet, collide and separate.

I was thrilled to go to The Blue Nile in Bahir Dar, with its lush greenness, and its people who exist in a world far removed from Addis Ababa.

Of course, this being the rainy season, the water was gushing to overflow, 75% of which is being redirected towards the dam. My guide, a college student, studying Business Management, working this summer to secure his tuition, explained that the Blue Nile was so named by the European who came during the summer when the water fall appears Blue, similar to the White Nile in the Sudan, but this being the rainy, winter season in Ethiopia, the water is muddy as it overflows the banks.

So much to see, to understand, to learn, to measure out, and certainly not enough time to absorb or discover it all. But it was a happy note to end my six day Ethiopian whirlwind trip at the University of Addis Ababa, the former palace of Haile Selassie, and to stand in front of his bed.

My goal is to visit all the countries in Africa, so having only visited seven, I have a long way to go, forty-seven.

I often wonder about those people who claim they have travelled around the world, and have only visited one or two countries in each continent – which world have they seen.