Friday, March 13, 2020


Mach 13, 2020

A day more than a month has gone by and I am reminded of a saying I heard once long ago….the hurrier I go the behinder I get. Ha. The past month and a half have been super busy and rushed and beautiful.
Soon after I got back from a beautiful time in Cape Town (old and not so old friends and comrades—rereshing---still involved in trying to make the world a better place little by little) I was off to Joburg and Pretoria (Feb. 18 to 27).
 Without going into detail, a visit to the new Bishops’ Conference to visit old colleagues and in general to see what is going on especially with J&P. slowed down because less funds available for projects.    Mostly catching up with old friends whom I haven’t seen for years and years, and families that I have shared life with and comrades from the struggle, still struggling, trying to keep the dream alive. It was so soul refreshing it was like a retreat. My spirit was soaring and my cup was overflowing.
   One dear friend who has been hospitalilzed for most of the past 3 yrs. Had a setback and was conscious and trying to follow as we prayed and shared thoughts, …she never stopped fighting. What a courageous spirit filled woman. Her father-in-law, whom I  knew as Uncle Stan, the grandfather of her kids, I discovered is a well know academic, studied in various countries, including the States, has two masters degrees, and a list of assignments, including at the UN, that boggled my mind. I never saw him in that context . On top of it all, he is a graduate of St. Francis
College here at Mariannhill and couldn’t stop praising Mariannhill. You might want to check this grandpa out on Google---Stanley Skumbuzo Sangweni.Wow.
    Another discovery I made was that the son of a couple I married in exile in Zimbabwe (the same day that Fr. Michael Lapsley had his hands blown off by a parcel bomb, compliments of the apartheid regime) whose name is Kwezi, came up for honoralbe mention with the family I was staying with in Pretoria. The mother and father with whom I was having a meeting met the family I was staying with and when the name Kwezi came up, the one family said, oh is that your son?
    The family I was staying with works for the university of Pretoria and the son of the other family, Kwezi, was a student at UP and was the chairperson of the SRC (student representative council) and had made it a point to de-politicize the SRC , so that they were chosen not by their political affiliation (ANC, EFF. DA, ETC)  but by the students they were representing. What it meant, in effect was that there was peace on their campus when there was mayhem on other campuses. It was a delightful discovery and brought two families that didn’t know each other before, together. I was pleased, of course. We had many scintillating discussions into the night and tackled most of the world’s problems, topic by topic. Ha. It was soul fulfilling..
The day after I returned from Joburg/Pretoria, a friend from Italy, Rome, had come and she wanted to do interviews with people  regarding the post apartheid south Africa. She was a member of a groups of Romans who were anti-aparatheid and I had  met them way back around 1980 or so in Zimbabwe. So I spent a lot of time sharing time with her and trying to organize people to interview and it kept both of us pretty busy.
When she left to go back to Joburg for a month, I started to catch up on a few things here. I am back to my routine of Masses: Mon. 5pm, Sisters of Mother Theresa; Tues. & Thurs. 6am hospital St. Maryu’s; other hospitals visiting the sick, etc.
  I have had two acupuncture sessions so far and it seems to be helping a bit, but not seriously making a dent in the spasms. One more session this Saturday, the 14th, and then I think I will drop it. I was hoping but…..
     Anywy, that’s it for now. I had a cold / flu, but with antibiotics it was contained within 5 days. No coronavirus.
If you need any information regarding the coronavirus, you can contact Trump. He knows everything about it and tells all Americans how lucky they are to have him running the country because America is the best prepared of all the countries in the world and there is no need to fear. Test kits, he says, are easily available.
With such heartening news I can say goodnight to all you, my friends and loved ones, and will sleep well and have sweet dreams.     Fr. Cas.


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