Further Adventures of Makandja and Bobasha visiting Lakeside and the Botanic Gardens

On Tuesday Makandja and Bobasha spent  part of the afternoon at Lakeside Congregation where they met Vanessa, Rabbi Ike and people who work in the office who have been so helpful encouraging and supporting our refugee project.

From Vanessa:  We enjoyed meeting Makandja and Bobasha as we showed them the sanctuary, the Ark and the Torah.  They had many questions and wanted to know what prophet we prayed to and asked if it was Jesus or Mohammad and I quickly said Moses. They have only been here for 6 weeks and can speak some English, it is amazing. 

Besides the tour of Lakeside, we spent time walking through the Botanic Garden. Exploring the farm area of the garden gave us the opportunity to see many fruits and vegetables growing; some familiar and many that were not familiar, but that we have seen in the grocery store, like blueberries and  strawberries.   

Makandja wanted to know if there were crocodiles in the water. I told him we do not have crocodiles here and showed him photos of turtles that can be spotted on the sunny rocks. We saw many ducks and birds. When we walked through the rose garden Makandja and Bobasha asked about snakes, and were reassured that poisonous snakes are not really a concern in our area.

After touring the garden we had plans to go to Gillson park, but the rain interfered with our plans. Instead we stopped in to see the beautiful Baha'i temple where we translated the words around the edges of the interior dome of the temple that explain the core beliefs of this religion.    

At the end of the day we stopped into the grocery store near the apartment to get some supplies they needed, including, soap, lotion and nail clippers, and then we headed to the apartment to put away groceries. We stored bulk grain and rice that they keep under a sink in large plastic bins. We repeated instructions about emptying the garbage, washing fresh produce, what foods need to be secured in containers and what needs to be stored in the refrigerator. 

We showed them on their calendar what time they will have a Saturday visit. As they began to cook dinner, we told them how much we enjoyed their company and said good bye.

    

 Marcie and Rob Bearman