Fishing in the Sahara

Making good with my research here. I have turned a corner in it and it is very exciting. I should be able to share in some form at some point.

Reading a book on the doings and sayings of the Mzabites. That sand is used for cleaning, like water. Quite literally "dry cleaning."

"Sur cette aire de prière on étend une toile de sac propre sur laquelle on pose un petit plateau avec du sable pur pour les ablutions sèches, on y pose les mains (à plat), on fait une invocation, on lève les mains pour se frotter le visage, on place les doigts aux oreilles en disant "Venez, ô anges de Dieu! Partez, ô démons!"

"On this prayer area is spread a clean sackcloth on which is placed a small tray with pure sand for dry ablutions, putting hands (flat), invoking, raising hands to Rub the face, we put the fingers to the ears saying "Come, oh angels of God! Go, O demons! "

I'm not sure how bishops are made, but I wish I could attend the bishop'ing of Fr. John MacWilliam when he becomes the new Bishop of the Sahara. It will likely happen in the UK somewhere. To think that I had lunch with Bishop Claude just the day before he received the message from the Holy See. And it has taken a long time for the message to come. I read in a newsletter dated last year (Pax something...) that he though his request for a successor had fallen to the bottom of the pile at the Vatican. I'm neither a Christian or a Catholic. While I know that only baptized Catholics are to partake in Communion, I do here, and nowhere else. Oops. I cannot overemphasize that the Christian community here is truly, truly amazing. With such a small flock, and such intensely shared passion, there is a lot of love. They could have left like everyone else. But they did not, do not, and will not leave their friends in times of danger and need.

Last lunch with Z and her friend F, and quel bel surprise, Father Guillaume came too. We went to what is now my favourite little restaurant in Algiers, quite close to where I live, and the Museum Bardo, Museum of Antiquities. I've passed by it lots of times, but never went in. On the outside it looks like a fast food pizza joint. But the thing is, usually the ground floor / rez de chaussee is just that, but on another floor, it is more of a dining place. A comfortable, unpretentious place with lovely decor - Z said that this is where she can just be herself - with very good dishes, particularly the sardines and merlan. The owner said that quite recently the Belgian foreign minister came for lunch. Things are never quite what they seem here, or really anywhere. Hiding behind a pizza joint could be a petit palais...