Saturday, April 5

Up around 8 a.m., but skipped my exercises and went ahead and got ready for the day. Sis and Mother came over mid-morning, and they went to the jigsaw puzzle until lunchtime.

Hubbie went to a plant dig this morning at a Master Gardener's house. I tried to call him on his cell phone, but of course he didn't have his phone on. Sis and I were scheduled to attend the film festival at the college down the road, beginning at noon, and Mother wanted to attend the 2 p.m. screening about a group of Rwandan women who form the country's first and only drumming troupe.

I wanted Hubbie to come and fetch the van, then bring Mother to the college. Since I couldn't reach him, I left a note on the kitchen counter. He found it and brought Mother at the appropriate time. He chose not to stay for the film, since he preferred to be in the yard.

This film was very well attended, and was worth seeing. The women were great as drummers, and were in great demand, but they needed another source of income to help support their families. So they decided to start an ice cream shop. After a struggle, they succeeded in opening Rwanda's first and only ice cream business. It was wonderful seeing Rwandan folks' expressions upon getting their first taste of this cold treat.

The noon feature was about a high school dedicated to new immigrant arrivals, and follows several of the children in their journey learning to speak English and create lives in a new land.

Following these films, we returned home to have a supper of a smorgasbord of leftovers. Mother was ready to go home afterward, and Hubbie wanted to stay home to watch basketball games.

So Sis and I went back to the college for the evening screenings. The first one was about reconciliation efforts in Sierra Leone after a brutal civil war that turned neighbor on neighbor, and created horrible atrocities. The reconciliation was based on a tradition of the people of talking through their differences and problems...only in this case, victims were called upon to forgive the torture and killing of their family members, and accept the perpetrators back into their communities. It's a powerful idea that seems to be working for a people with tremendous capacity for tolerance and forgiveness. It's a powerful documentary.

The second film was a lighthearted story that begins with a tragedy, when a Lebanese-American man is murdered at his gas station business. His son takes over the business, which he conducts behind a bullet-proof glass cage. He meets a girl, and they fall for each other. But her over-protective brother threatens to derail the relationship. They try to conduct their relationship secret, but finally the whole thing comes to a head, and they must make a decision.