Day 453 - The road to Santiago...

The distance from my hometown to Santiago de Compostella in Spain is roughly 8968.49 km. That is - 5572.76 miles or to be even more precise, 4839.39 nautical miles. Actually, my personal journey consists of many more miles - in fact - as many as I can cover in the eight months until my plane finally takes of from Cape Town International!

My road to Santiago truly started the day I heard of the existence of the Camino de Santiago. This little blog was born soon after and I have trouble containing the huge smile that I feel coming on every time I think about the amazing people who have crossed my path since I first spoke to a recently returned-from-Spain pilgrim friend.

There is something about this pilgrimage that brings people together and the excitement, the expectation and the joy that the experience clearly brings to people who are in any way connected to the Camino, is undeniably contagious!

If you've been reading the blog for a while you'll know of some of my interactions with very special people, if this is your first visit, feel free to browse - there are some people who have already become a part of my life and I know I will be connected to them for many, many years. I have written here about most of them.

One person who stands out is my friend Ermanno from Somerset West here in the Cape. An extraordinary man who walked the Camino a few years ago and is still as excited about his experience as when he was actually walking in Spain! Ermanno is one of those unique people who is blessed with the gift of attracting people to himself and then in turn he ensures that he introduces those people to each other and in doing so he passes on the gift of friendship - a gift that you can't buy in any of the shops that I know of!

One of the most recent introductions that came to me via my friend Ermanno is probably to one of the most remarkable women that I have had the honour to meet. And as we have only ever communicated to each other via email and our respective blogs, you can imagine how big an impression she has made on me.

Her name is Sonja. Exactly one year ago, she was diagnosed with an illness that, until very recently, I knew absolutely nothing about. Three little letters. Three life changing letters. MSA.

 Multiple System Atrophy. A journey of a different kind. And the more I am learning about these three letters and what they mean when put together, the more I realise that you have to be a pretty special person to learn to accept this new travelling companion, if life decides to throw you together as a pair.

Hence my admiration for a woman that I have not ever met face to face. I feel so privileged to be able to direct you to two of Sonja's blogs - I feel that you should hear her story the way she chooses to tell it, she is being truly gracious in sharing this journey so that others can become aware of the illness and how it affects people.

Sonja's personal blog is written in Afrikaans but together with her (equally amazing) childhood friend, Karin, they have created a blog specifically to put a spotlight on MSA in South Africa and this one has entries in English for those of you who don't speak the language. (Google translate can certainly also help if you choose to use that for the Afrikaans entries...)

To read their blog - click here and you will find the link to Sonja's personal blog there as well.

Next Monday, the 3rd of October, is MSA Awareness Day. The idea is that people all over the world should light as many candles as possible at 20h00 (8pm), their local time. The organisers are hoping to make people aware of what MSA is all about. Even if MSA never features in your life, and that is my wish for you today, you never know when you are going to have to deal with it, perhaps via a friend or a loved one.

So. I've decided to educate myself and get involved. On Monday (3rd October) I am going to join Sonja, Karin and Ermanno - all new people in my life - on a walk on the beach in the Strand, a suburb here in the Cape. People all over the world are going to be walking the MSA walk on this day and you can join, wherever you are. Log your miles here, and you have helped to start making a difference!

In conclusion - Ermanno, you are truly making a difference! You are connecting people, creating awareness and the Camino and all that it stands for, is affecting people everywhere through pilgrims like yourself.

Sonja and Karin - I can't wait to meet you both on Monday! Your friendship is something that is special beyond words and your example is something that I truly value!

Here's to forgetting about our our own very insignificant complaints and joining hands in support of those who have been handed true challenges in life! We salute and support you - thank you for educating us and allowing us to make a difference in a very small but hopefully significant way!

Day 415 - All about trust...

A couple of weeks ago I had to give my husband full power of attorney to sign documents on my behalf abroad. When I had the papers certified at the embassy the lady behind the desk said to me: 'Do you realise that your husband can withdraw all your money from the bank, sign over properties to himself etc. with this document that you are signing right now?' I had to smile.

What happened to trust? Surely I should be able to trust the man that I've shared my life with for over thirty years! She registered my marriage in his country of birth all those years ago, so she knew how long we've been married, she even registered the births of the children and grandchild as well!

I suppose she has seen her fair share of foul play as well and perhaps the question was merely posed as a woman to woman - are you sure you know what you're doing - sort of warning or advice of sorts.

Remembering this incident made me think of the issue of trust. Here I am, planning a trip that involves 780 kilometres of walking in a strange country where they speak a foreign language. I'm not booking any accommodation and in fact, I'm planning to sleep in hostels that I've never been to where often 20-plus people sleep in dormitories and share bathrooms. In fact, there is no guarantee of available beds as it's a question of first come, first served in those establishments.

As for food - well, I'm hoping that there will be a meal available somewhere at the end of every day and I suppose if  breakfast and lunch can magically appear in some form along the way, that will be just great!

I'm hoping that there will be warm water for my showers and somewhere where I can wash and dry my two outfits that I'm going to have with me. In fact, I'm hoping that I will be able to survive for a month with the meager number of items I will be able to take along in my 'Camino wardrobe'!

There's a lot of hoping in all the above, so I've made a decision to start trusting, instead of hoping!

The three pictures I've chosen for this post were all taken on my hikes last week and they fitted in perfectly with what I wanted to bring home here (probably to myself more than to anyone else!).

Those beautiful flowers could only appear if we had enough rain at the right time. Our Cape West Coast is transformed into a wonderland every year round about this time but it can only happen if we have rain. So, we have to trust that it will rain, and so we do. Every year.

The San people who lived in this part of the world so many years ago and who are responsible for the magnificent paintings below, had to put their trust in so much more! Rain, shelter, food, health - nothing was pre-packaged or available online! My worry about finding a bed every night on the camino seems like a joke when I imagine their lives - trust me, I have pictures of leopard tracks just outside the caves where we saw these paintings!

If you have ever been fortunate enough to spend time in the magical Cederberg area here in South Africa you will know that rock formations like the one in the photograph below, abound. Some of these magnificent structures seem almost surreal - I pretty much had to trust that this massive rock would remain supported by that tiny bottom structure as I stood in front of it...

You get the idea. So, trust I will.

 Here is a lovely piece from Ermanno Aiello's book where he relates an experience that illustrates exactly why I trust that all will work out exactly as it should.

' I had planned to stay for two nights in Melide and, after I had made my way to the centre of town, I asked a passer-by whether he knew of any hotel or Casa Rural in the area.

"Yes", he replied and promptly led me to a hotel close by. Unfortunately this hotel did not have any rooms with en-suite bathrooms and I wasn't too keen to use a communal bathroom.

"No problema, Senhor" said the manageress, "our sister hotel does." and she promptly telephoned said hotel and reserved a room for me. "How do I get there?" I asked. "No problema, Senhor" said the man who had accompanied me to this hotel, "I'll take you there."

The sister hotel was at the entrance to Melide and was a fair distance away. My guide escorted me all the way to my hotel and, once there, refused any offer of payment for his help, drank a glass of orange juice with me and left.

Was this person another of God's angels sent on the camino to help the pilgrims, or was he just a man with a heart full of compassion? I could not recall when last I had received such help from a stranger.'

I hope that I will meet my own 'angels' in Spain and am reminded of two verses in the Bible:

Proverbs 3: 5&6 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

and

Hebrews 13: 1&2 - Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

I hope to add my own wonderful Camino stories to those of the thousands of pilgrims who have walked before me. If you are reading this and have walked the Camino - do share - I'd love to hear about your experiences!

Day 221 - Yet another Camino gift.

Today I received yet another Camino gift. Coffee with a pilgrim.

And affirmation in abundance (yet again!), that the call of the Camino is something to be taken note of.

Ermanno Aiello walked his camino in April and May of 2007. Today, four years after the experience, he is still overwhelmed by emotion when he recalls some of the truly special moments he had during those weeks in Spain.

I feel truly blessed by these encounters that I have with people who have answered the call of the Camino and so graciously share their experiences and emotions. Ermanno wrote a book about his journey, entitled 'Forever a Pilgrim' and I finally got my own copy from him today.

He has very kindly allowed me to quote from his book, just like Tony Kevin did and I can't wait to share bits and pieces with you in the weeks to come.

Together with Jeremiah's journal, Ermanno and Tony's recollections and the updates I'm receiving from friends on the Camino right now, I almost feel as if I'm already there myself!

For now, I'd like to leave you with the prayer Ermanno shared with me today - it really is one of the most beautiful prayers I've ever heard and so representative of what I hope to bring home from my own camino.

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen