Today we brought closure to our first third of the residential program. The first part of the day was a surprise “naturalist Olympics”, which included three main events in a clan competition. The first challenge was to make a primitive fire using only our fire kits and wood from the dripping wet forest, underneath a water balloon strung from two trees above. The first clan to pop the balloon with the heat of their fire won. Though some clans were more successful than others, it was clear to see how far we’d come by the ways we all knew how to contribute, how we knew what was needed. And boy was it fun! The second challenge was a more traditional cerebral test of knowledge, the good old trivia quiz game. Like many of the activities we’ve done this fall, this one both made us realize that we have been learning a whole lot, and pointed out how much we still want to learn. Our final challenge of the day was less a test of skill or knowledge than perhaps coordination and awareness with a bit of luck thrown in. We played a sort of group tag game involving blindfolds and flying sock bundles that is just as fun to play as it is to watch after you’ve been tagged out. After the scores had been tallied and the winning clan rewarded with cheesecake, we were thankfully able to put our rarely seen competitive sides back to rest.

The afternoon was spent reflecting on our past season through sharing and recapping our favorites stories, discussions with the elders, and thinking our own thoughts while sitting together around that now familiar fire in Malalo Ya Chui, our usual meeting space. The elders, seeing us after all this time, agreed that we all looked more relaxed. Though this program has affected us all differently, some in very powerful, others in more subtle ways, we all at least know each other and ourselves differently than we did three months ago. Many of us had trouble trying to summarize our experiences just as I do every time I sit down to write these notes; sometimes there are no words to succinctly say anything that would be enough. Some shared stories of incredible inspiration and breakthroughs, others of frustration, others of gratitude. Most of us I think feel some measure of all of these. There is no mistaking that we are in this experience now, no longer at the uneasy and exciting beginning, but in the middle, the meat of the program, which is not always easy but is somehow more real. One of the elders summed it up very well when she said, “It’s a gift to be here when everything’s going well, and it’s a gift to be here when everything is going terribly. It’s all a gift.” That’s exactly how it’s felt to me. The days I’m cold and wet and wondering if I’m learning anything at all useful are just as meaningful as the days when I feel fully engaged and excited to be here. Some of it may not always be pleasant, but we are alive in ways that many people in the paved and electronic worlds couldn’t begin to fathom.

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