An African's adventure in Manila

In Iloilo

Inviting a Ugandan to Manila was quite easy as Ugandans do not need a visa to travel to the Philippines.  But having a 69-year old African nun as a personal guest was a challenge.

I needed to find a place for her to stay since our flat has no extra room that will give her privacy.  (I don't really know what nuns do when they are indoors and not praying, and what sort of ritual they do when donning their habit.)

Padre Pio Shrine in Manila

Since it was not an official visit, I had to figure out what activities would be appropriate for her.  She has a very faint familiarity with the Philippines so she had no specific sightseeing preferences to speak of.  If she were not of the religious order, I could plan for shopping, swimming and swinging... all the Fun stuff in the Philippines.

I ran to my contacts and mentioned the visit, hoping to get some ideas.  Everyone was sympathetic and showed a willingness to help... but everything was tentative.  Nothing concrete to fill-in the 21 days that she will be in Manila.

With the Philippines'  iconic Jollibee

I must have embarked on something good because when the time came for her arrival, things fell into the right places.

The first visit to the Philippines of Sr. Angelina Akello of the Little Sisters of Mary Immaculate in Gulu during the Christmas holidays had been a memorable experience for our family.  As we took her around, we met  a lot of good people along the way, rediscovered new things about the Philippines, and got reunited with old friends.

In a "trisikad" in Bacolod

When she arrived she was limping and suffering from gout.  When she left,  she could outpace me during our hikes.  She attributed her "recovery"  to her adventures in the Philippines.  More of this on the next posts.

2014 promises to be a great year.  Happy New Year to all.