Magic in a Bottle- A Holiday Craft

It’s a strange and turbulent time of change for me; my family is moving again over the holiday and I am trying to keep myself calm at the center of the storm. 

This is when the true pain of being a Myalgia Mommy hits and here is the fun of the the blog. I'm all about magic and recycling. 

It’s time for a quick and easy Holiday craft to keep the monsters busy. I have a six year old and my Little Man will be 3 soon. I am hosting the kindergarden at our house for a special farewell party and trying to be present to their little needs. 

I’m leaving Niger after a year that I’m sure I will be processing the rest of my life. Over the course of this year I became involved in volunteering at a local orphanage. Initially, I went alone as part of the group from the US Embassy that makes a monthly visit. Other members of our party brought their families and inspired me to do the same.  This past weekend my entire family as well as our friends helped me prepare an activity for our last visit to see children I have come to know and love. 

The craft we did was inspired by MySweetArts mommy and me class years ago. (There is no recycling in Niamey, but I have been conditioned to sort my things so I have a closet full of bottles for crafts)(My recycling closet needs to be it’s own blog)(It’s actually more of a small room). These are their projects. 

The classes lifted me up at the time and we have carried the bottle full of glitter that Mimi made in class years ago with us to Africa. 

Something I made a point of saying was that it was possible to do the same craft here with the children in the orphanage that my friends came up with for a class in Chapel Hill. I sourced everything locally. All children deserve the chance to make a bottle filled with magic at the holidays. 

For the toddlers and youngest we filled plastic bottles with pom poms, glitter, small metallic trees and stars then filled them with water. When you shake the bottle it glitters and the pom noms float at different speeds. 

We brought and shared a Santa snow globe and the older children made fake snow with an instant science kit. Then they grew crystals to keep them busy. We used a kit but there are wonderful sugar crystal tutorials to follow.

The craft was snow globes. For older children we had science kits with instant grow crystals and balls that expanded. 

For those that were ready to craft it was the magic of glitter, something shiny, more glitter, some water and a small animal. 

I told the kids I sat with that the gold glitter was a sandstorm and Africa was full of Holiday magic. We should all make wishes on stars. 

Over the weekend my children first made the snow globes I found at Target on my medical visit (I should really blog about going home to North Carolina every three months to see my doctor…it’s complicated.) Then we separated and cleaned our bottles for the activity with the children. We had to soak labels off bottles a friend brought over, it was a group effort with our kids being busy and engaged. 

On the day of the activity we had a large group of volunteers. Many friends and some teachers accompanied  us on the trip and we spread magic and glitter everywhere. 

In one spilt bottle and a poof a dozen children were covered in golden specks. 

One of the kindest men I've ever met, who runs the REMAR center and has adopted many children of his own asked us to please stop with the glitter. 

Wherever you are reading this, happy holidays. I highly encourage you to put some glitter in a bottle or make a snow globe with your kids. It’s an easy win. I should be packing. 

Blessings, 

ALJ 

P.S.  The magic part of the bottle was in the glitter. I was unpacking with our pre-school teacher-who came on the trip to see our kids- and would be repeating the snow globe activity. She had been surrounded by children asking for more glitter and we carefully poured it out, watching it spill across the water, or fill the little bottles. Only adults could hold the glitter. We filled the 70 bottles we brought the children and the jar of glitter is still half full…

My Butterfly Effect

One of the fun things about being a parent is that you can teach your children facts and reality as you perceive them. I have named our new home in Africa "La Maison Des Papillons" (The House of Butterflies) and am proceeding to teach them a completely incorrect version of the Butterfly Effect. 

Life in Africa has been a daily struggle and adventure. I have taken the opportunity to create my own butterfly effect of small acts of kindness and goodwill to try and always teach by example. 

Initially, we basically stayed within the walls of our house following strict security guidelines and what we were told about our neighborhood. In this time I decorated our metal interior doors and the wrought iron stair rail with dozens of lifelike and life sized butterflies to remind my daughter of home (she had a butterfly room and we used to visit the butterfly pavilion at the local Museum of Life and Science on a weekly basis)  and break up the whiteness of our new embassy provided house. When we did go out I try to smile at everyone and greet each person I see with a smile and "Bon Jour" or "Bon Soir" depending on the time of day. 

In our first month here I met an artist, Boubacar Djibo, who has a small metal shack where he sells his paintings at one end of our street. He was patient with my broken French and we found a way to communicate. Boubacar loves Niger and it is reflected in all of his paintings of local scenes and nature. He wants the rest of the world to see the joy and beauty here. I asked him to come and paint a mural in our living room; now we have large trees, some bright flowers and two large butterflies adorning the walls. My children were enthralled by our artist in residence and painted along with him as they rediscovered their love of art. 

In an earlier post I described how one of the first plants I recognized to fill my new garden with was a lantana, so we have a butterfly garden. I finally had an open house and in the invitation told everyone that we lived in "La Maison Des Papillons." Our first party was also a showcase of Boubacar's recent works to support the artist and share some of the bright colors with all in our acquaintance. I also printed out the wikipedia definition of "the butterfly effect" and scattered it on coffee tables. 

As each day brings whatever new challenge or pain for me, I try to be as relentlessly positive and friendly to those around me as I see so many other people who struggle to survive.  That is the challenge of living in Niger: we are surrounded by profound poverty. Outside our walls are naked children. When I drive around the city, children swarm my car every time I am stopped in the chaos of traffic. I try to keep extra bars, candy or change to always give them. When I don't have anything I smile and apologize. I never ignore them or pretend they aren't there. I also can't stay home; somehow I still need to go to the store everyday for milk, juice or bread. Now, when I run this errand I am grateful of the luxury of affording whatever food or whim my children have and being able to quickly meet that need. 

I've tried to unlock the city by driving around and being courageous. Others in my position have retreated to their homes but I want to understand where we are and in each interaction give a positive impression of Americans who are compassionate and good. We have a military presence in Niger and a travel warning that had scared away the tourists that were one of the main sources of income for many different sectors. If shopping for handicrafts can be a force of good then I am a superhero. With the help of a missionary friend I ventured into the local fabric markets and have had long skirts made.  It only took one assisted trip before I had befriended a few merchants and have since returned numerous times myself and with others, my daughter has a wardrobe of new dresses. The bright fabrics are addictive, I love to buy them but lack the vision to design interesting things to make with them so for now am hoarding fabric. 

We have found an orphanage to help, they are on Facebook at REMAR Niger. Initially the trips were planned by someone at the embassy but she has moved on and now the activity is mine to plan. When we arrive the children line up and sing to us, in order of size the rock back and forth while bursting with a hymnal. The local law prevents Americans from adopting. Last month I prepared for our trip by purchasing candy, a bushel of mangoes and printing out sheets of Maya Angelou and Serena Williams to color. I also found a French translation of the poem “Still I Rise" and printed out several copies for the older girls. After the children sang to us one of the older girls read the poem and the everyone colored a picture. On a previous trip when we gave them bunnies to color they gave us back the pages at the end of the visit. This time they focused on coloring a picture of a woman who looked like them and wrote famous words with reverence and concentration. As they finished I noticed them slipping away to put the finished pictures in their private hiding spots to treasure, no one offered to give us back their finished work. 

Niger has recently been rated the worst country to be a female child. I don't want to blog about the sadness I have witnessed. Each day I try through my actions to send ripples of a little joy and inspiration. 

Here I have a gardener, a nanny who helps with the housework and a lovely woman who comes to make dinner. I hoped that this help would give me space to rest and feel better. It may be the heat (average temp last month was 110) or that I still wake at 5:30 to make pancakes and interact with my children, but I find that I am overcome by fatigue and pain every afternoon. Fortunately, I can sleep for a few hours. 

A decade ago when I was very sick, a family member asked "what would you do if you lived in Africa?" trying to imply that my fibromyalgia wasn't real and that as a twenty something I needed to "tough it out" for the sake of the family. Now I know what I would do in Africa. I keep a positive outlook, take care of my children first, and help as much as I can before the pain and fatigue drag me into bed. 

Valentines from Africa

It's been a few years since my traditional Valentines Day blog. 

Even in Africa my tree is still up. I haven't managed to organize my usual mailing this year. Instead, I’ve been inspired to write poetry again lately and I’ve decided to share it here as my Valentine’s Day gift to you. The first poem was inspired by our new life as an Embassy family living in Niger.  We are strangers in a strange land. So I wrote this poem about kindness: 

The Feather of Kindness

A feather fell from one of my dear ones cages
“An Angel is near.” she said with a smile of love


She sees feathers everywhere.


I found a pile of feathers in our new home
Are angels everyday acts of grace by friends?


I was profoundly grateful.

We saw a feather on the playground 
She said: “Don’t touch that, it’s filthy!”


Did I miss your kindness?


We try to do our daily act of good
to help who we can and those I love


I find feathers everyday.


Here in this desert Oasis I have seen such wonderful
exotic birds, I can’t wait to explore...


What feathers have you found?

This second poem is my gift to everyone. Especially myself. 

The Bubbles of Forgiveness 

Forgiveness is like Champagne 

when you truly feel it and let go of

all those knots of fury into light

and then it just bubbles and bubbles 

and floats away

The euphoric feeling of bubbles 

Reaching like a child to hold forgiveness

Laughing at how easy all the anger 

was to simply let go, like so many

Bubbles on the wind

Champagne impedes dementia they’ve

found and so I’ve put my faith as always 

in the magic of science

I only drink Champagne and always savor it for the bubbles

I’m believe this forgiveness will have some 

Salubrious effect on my mind, but I 

Know that bubbling away that anger was good for my soul

Bring on more Champers!

Happy Valentines Day, please have a glass of something bubbly and try the euphoric feeling of forgiveness if you haven't lately. It has done me a world of good. 

This year I didn’t mail many cards, I’m still getting settled, but do know that I am thinking of you constantly and sending all my best. 

ALJ