21ST.JUNE 2010 FRACTURE CLINIC, "THE PRIESTS" AND CONNEMARA!
My visit to the Fracture Clinic today was good. Thank God all is well. The bone has knit, looking almost perfect. Its amazing to look at the X-rays. I am truly grateful for all the prayers. I met with the physio. and there is work to be completed. I came home armed with exercises while I await an appointment.
On Saturday night, four of us went to hear - "THE PRIESTS" at the Waterfront Hall in the city centre. They sang a number of religious pieces and then treated us to a few hilarious numbers that delighted the locals. We were almost two thousand in the audience.
Tomorrow, I go to Dublin en route to Connemara for a holiday by the sea. The weather is glorious and is set to continue.
Thanks again for your support and prayer.
Monday, 21 June 2010
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
KORCE, TIRANA, BELFAST
16 JUNE 2010 KORCE, TIRANA, BELFAST
A brief note to say my journey from Korce to Belfast was good, with a very early departure from Tirana at 6.15a.m. A late departure from a rainy Rome of more than half an hour, led to a gallop through Heathrow, with my name being called out three times en route to the plane! All went well and we arrived in Belfast right on time. I was met by Sr. Noeleen and a very excited 98 year old Sr Lelia who was delighted to come to the airport!!
A 'first' for today. I drove to Crossgar which is about 20 miles each way and felt fine. So, thank God, progress is being made towards return to normal life! I will add an update following my Fracture Clinic visit on Monday next.
Au revoir and God bless!
A brief note to say my journey from Korce to Belfast was good, with a very early departure from Tirana at 6.15a.m. A late departure from a rainy Rome of more than half an hour, led to a gallop through Heathrow, with my name being called out three times en route to the plane! All went well and we arrived in Belfast right on time. I was met by Sr. Noeleen and a very excited 98 year old Sr Lelia who was delighted to come to the airport!!
A 'first' for today. I drove to Crossgar which is about 20 miles each way and felt fine. So, thank God, progress is being made towards return to normal life! I will add an update following my Fracture Clinic visit on Monday next.
Au revoir and God bless!
Sunday, 13 June 2010
HOTEL ENKELANA POGRADEC CONFERENCE
13 JUNE 2010 HOTEL ENKELANA POGRADEC CONFERENCE
A very early furgon - minibus - got me to Hotel Enkelana, Pogradec, shortly after 8.00a.m. yesterday morning. The Girl's Leadership Conference had begun at 4.00p.m. on Friday. More than 40 girls, mostly in their final school year and from all over Albania, plus Peace Corps. Volunteers attended.
The morning opened with a talk from a former Supreme Court Justice who is now a University Lecturer; I met her afterwards and she spoke English quite well. Then, Lauren Ready, a Volunteer and I presented a 40 minute 'Rotating Break-Out Session' on Trafficking/Violence. This was very well received and we repeated it three times which took the morning! Following lunch, I was free until 6.00p.m. when we met in the full group for what was listed as Current Women Leaders Panel. There were four of us plus my interpreter. I was placed beside Elena, the woman that has an organisation in Pogradec, called "One Woman" and runs a helpline in relation to domestic violence. Each of us gave a 10-15 minute presentation of our 'organisation'. This was a great opportunity - Good Shepherd structure and geographical spread plus our main focus. Ours was received with great interest and in the question time that followed most of the questions came my way. A question about what we do for the women, opened up the whole area of preventive work with women and the Hands of Hope Project for HIV/AIDS in Thailand. Luckily, I had a few of the silk butterflies and cards with me and they were viewed with much interest later over dinner. I had been invited to stay overnight and got an early furgon back this morning. Our contact with the Peace Corps. will be ongoing.
Now I will prepare for Tirana tomorrow. I have a very early exit from Imelda's for the 6.10a.m. plane to Rome on Tuesday en route to Belfast. I hope to blog a little for a few weeks at least.
Au revoir and God bless!
A very early furgon - minibus - got me to Hotel Enkelana, Pogradec, shortly after 8.00a.m. yesterday morning. The Girl's Leadership Conference had begun at 4.00p.m. on Friday. More than 40 girls, mostly in their final school year and from all over Albania, plus Peace Corps. Volunteers attended.
The morning opened with a talk from a former Supreme Court Justice who is now a University Lecturer; I met her afterwards and she spoke English quite well. Then, Lauren Ready, a Volunteer and I presented a 40 minute 'Rotating Break-Out Session' on Trafficking/Violence. This was very well received and we repeated it three times which took the morning! Following lunch, I was free until 6.00p.m. when we met in the full group for what was listed as Current Women Leaders Panel. There were four of us plus my interpreter. I was placed beside Elena, the woman that has an organisation in Pogradec, called "One Woman" and runs a helpline in relation to domestic violence. Each of us gave a 10-15 minute presentation of our 'organisation'. This was a great opportunity - Good Shepherd structure and geographical spread plus our main focus. Ours was received with great interest and in the question time that followed most of the questions came my way. A question about what we do for the women, opened up the whole area of preventive work with women and the Hands of Hope Project for HIV/AIDS in Thailand. Luckily, I had a few of the silk butterflies and cards with me and they were viewed with much interest later over dinner. I had been invited to stay overnight and got an early furgon back this morning. Our contact with the Peace Corps. will be ongoing.
Now I will prepare for Tirana tomorrow. I have a very early exit from Imelda's for the 6.10a.m. plane to Rome on Tuesday en route to Belfast. I hope to blog a little for a few weeks at least.
Au revoir and God bless!
Friday, 11 June 2010
SR.GUDULA'S VISIT AND THE PEACE CORPS.
11JUNE 2010 SR.GUDULA'S VISIT AND THE PEACE CORPS.
Sr. Gudula's visit to us was truly blessed with magnificant weather and her week was most enjoyable. Mirjam travelled to Tirana with her today as her plane to Frankfurt is very early in the morning. On Tuesday we went to Pogradec, met the bishop and visited his site for the house. All went really smoothly and he was impressed with Sister's experience of building and planning. Our day ended with a very pleasant visit to Korca restaurant in Pogradec.
This is a busy weekend here. With Mirjam in Tirana, Lalini has travelled to Fier with ten young adults, and will return on Sunday evening. I go to Pogradec very early in the morning and will also return on Sunday. Mine is a surprise invitation from the Peace Corps. I was delighted to accept even though I had planned to pack my case!
Enjoy the weekend!
Sr. Gudula's visit to us was truly blessed with magnificant weather and her week was most enjoyable. Mirjam travelled to Tirana with her today as her plane to Frankfurt is very early in the morning. On Tuesday we went to Pogradec, met the bishop and visited his site for the house. All went really smoothly and he was impressed with Sister's experience of building and planning. Our day ended with a very pleasant visit to Korca restaurant in Pogradec.
This is a busy weekend here. With Mirjam in Tirana, Lalini has travelled to Fier with ten young adults, and will return on Sunday evening. I go to Pogradec very early in the morning and will also return on Sunday. Mine is a surprise invitation from the Peace Corps. I was delighted to accept even though I had planned to pack my case!
Enjoy the weekend!
Sunday, 6 June 2010
LEZHJA ASSEMBLY AND CLARENCE GILYARD!
6 JUNE 2010 LEZHJA ASSEMBLY AND CLARENCE GILYARD!
I begin by assuring you I had much help and support from Mirjam in getting the Lushne videos onto the blog - hope they worked for you!
Yesterday, I attended the General Assembly of Religious. This was held at "Hotel Rafaelo", Shengjin, Lezhja and about 60 religious attended. Shengjin is more than six hours from here so I stayed overnight, enjoying Sr. Imelda's Loreto hospitality in Tirana, both going and returning. As we arrived in the meeting hall I was on the lookout for someone to interpret, as everything, even the progremme was in Italian! Seeing a Dominican habit, I asked for help! In fact, I had approached the main speaker. He pointed me towards a check shirt, the wearer of which turned out to be a Father Ivan, Maltese priest in Durres. He did an excellent job and the focus of the talk was collaboration and the transformation that can take place if we are fully inserted in mission, even through the 'shadow'. I will type up the notes elsewhere. Mass followed, celebrated by the Papal Nuncio. At the end, he presented each of us with a little bottle of perfumed oil, symbol of the Word of God permeating our lives. An excellent lunch completed the programme!
As we left the Assembly at Shengjin, a Focolare member encouraged us to attend a drama later in Tirana, emphasising that Clarence Gilyard was responsible for the project. I had never heard of him and was amazed at the profile of his films and acting given before the show by the American Ambassador! The drama that followed was -"The Permanant Collection." It was excellently performed by Clarence in English and the other actors in Shqip, with the relevant translations on a side screen. There was a standing ovation at the end. What a surprise when this same Clarence turned up at our English Corpus Christi Mass in the Cathedral this morning and did one of the readings.
I have been back in Korce for more than four hours now. So far I have not seen any of the community or our visitor Sr. Gudula. I presume Mirjam has gone to Macedonia to bring back Lalini from retreat. The glorious weather must have tempted Gudula and Amira to make the journey too.
Have a good week - regret I cannot share the perfumed oil with you!
I begin by assuring you I had much help and support from Mirjam in getting the Lushne videos onto the blog - hope they worked for you!
Yesterday, I attended the General Assembly of Religious. This was held at "Hotel Rafaelo", Shengjin, Lezhja and about 60 religious attended. Shengjin is more than six hours from here so I stayed overnight, enjoying Sr. Imelda's Loreto hospitality in Tirana, both going and returning. As we arrived in the meeting hall I was on the lookout for someone to interpret, as everything, even the progremme was in Italian! Seeing a Dominican habit, I asked for help! In fact, I had approached the main speaker. He pointed me towards a check shirt, the wearer of which turned out to be a Father Ivan, Maltese priest in Durres. He did an excellent job and the focus of the talk was collaboration and the transformation that can take place if we are fully inserted in mission, even through the 'shadow'. I will type up the notes elsewhere. Mass followed, celebrated by the Papal Nuncio. At the end, he presented each of us with a little bottle of perfumed oil, symbol of the Word of God permeating our lives. An excellent lunch completed the programme!
As we left the Assembly at Shengjin, a Focolare member encouraged us to attend a drama later in Tirana, emphasising that Clarence Gilyard was responsible for the project. I had never heard of him and was amazed at the profile of his films and acting given before the show by the American Ambassador! The drama that followed was -"The Permanant Collection." It was excellently performed by Clarence in English and the other actors in Shqip, with the relevant translations on a side screen. There was a standing ovation at the end. What a surprise when this same Clarence turned up at our English Corpus Christi Mass in the Cathedral this morning and did one of the readings.
I have been back in Korce for more than four hours now. So far I have not seen any of the community or our visitor Sr. Gudula. I presume Mirjam has gone to Macedonia to bring back Lalini from retreat. The glorious weather must have tempted Gudula and Amira to make the journey too.
Have a good week - regret I cannot share the perfumed oil with you!
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
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