Memories, Dreams, Reflections


I felt a little shudder of recognition and loss today, walking up the outdoor steps from the classrooms to the teachers apartments at the Bomei elementary school, where we have been working for the past week.

I realized that I knew these steps. I could recreate them in my minds eye; the tenon on the rail slipping from the post; the stringers held together with baling wire; the treads so narrow and the risers so steep you have to walk up the stairs with your feet sideways and climb as if you were on a ladder.

I know this whole place now, the stream where we wash, the latrine where we shit, the path we take to work every day and the people who greet us in one of three languages. But a week is a short time in my life, and I wonder how long it will be before I forget; how long before the images and memories will disappear from my conscious mind and come to me only in dreams?

Posted: Wed - October 8, 2003 at 08:09 AM    

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