Day: August 18, 2017

“Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:

– I shall not fear anyone on Earth.
– I shall fear only God.
– I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
– I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
– I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

Yesterday, two men from the Congo, their names are Mawulidi and Isaiah, came to my farm. i am getting to know Mawulidi, and I admire him greatly, I hope one day soon to be able to call him my friend. With him was a young man from Mawulidi’s village in the Congo, I do not know him well, his name is Isaiah, but I see that Mawulidi  has taken Isaiah under his wing, and is beginning to teach him the carving skill that his grandfather taught him.

Mawulidi is a wood carver by trade, now working as a bread maker at a bakery in Albany, N.Y. For the past few weeks, another of people I have never met have been working with me to restore to Mawulidi the tools he needs. He needed about $500, he didn’t want more or ask for more.

I am not sure I have known many men or women like Mawulidi. He is shy, gracious and unfailingly courteous. He never speaks unless spoken to. His eyes are always scanning the wood around him, from the firewood in my shed to every tree he passes. He smiles and laughs in a joyous way when he sees the wood he wants and needs, I like to see him rub his fingers and hangs over the wood to get a feel for it.

It is a great gift to see someone who has found his bliss and knows it. I think nothing will keep Mawulidi from carving his wood, and I will work hard to sell it for him.

Mawulidi is a smart and determined man, he survived 20 years in a brutal and dangerous refugee camp, and made it to America.

Many people, some in our government, believe that this is the kind of person who should never again be permitted to live in America. He is not wealthy, he speaks little English, he has no skills that most Americans consider valuable. He is a wood-carver, and I don’t know many people as or more skilled than this gentle and creative man.

Over the next few years, I will be eager to follow Mawulidi’s story and see whether or not he becomes a United States citizen, whether we find justice or injustice. I think Isaiah is fortunate to have Mawulidi as a mentor, and I am fortunate to know him as a potential friend.

I am eager to see  first carving as he hastens back to his life.

We all have our ideas on justice and injustice, especially lately, we all struggle to find common ground. I can’t tell anyone else what to do or think, only what i do or think. And if there is justice in the world in my mind, Mawulidi and others like him will continue to struggle to come to America, and America will continue to open its doors to him.

It is really a miracle to see someone like this man, who has spent half of his life in a kind of cultural prison hell work so hard and graciously to put his life back together again. If you want to help, you can do so my donating to my refugee fund:  Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. We are doing good, I promise you that.

After Mawulidi came by for a tour of Bedlam Farm, we drove over to Pompanuck Farms. Scott Carrino volunteered to cut down an ash tree for Mawulidi for his wood carvings, and Mawulidi was delighted by the wood. We packed about a dozen of these pieces into the van and some larger ones for his taller sculptures.

Mawulidi left a very happy man. He said he would start work on his carvings right away. He asked me to thank everyone who helped.

He’ll come back to Pompanuck and to my farm in a couple of weeks to get more wood. Mawulidi says he will start out by carving birds and flowers and small animals. Maria and I will sell his work on our websites until he figures out a permanent way to show his work.

Mawulidi is not  tech savvy, nor he is political. He says nothing about the immigration battles raging in Washington. But he is the prime target for the new administrations proposed new immigration policies. Under the new proposals, the immigration of unskilled workers to the United States would be drastically cut in favor or wealthier and more highly skilled immigrants.

A refugee or immigrant’s willingness to work hard would no longer be a factor. Almost all immigration experts favor choosing new immigrants carefully, and seeking out skilled workers. But under the new proposals, there would be few or no Mawulidi’s. I have been getting to know the refugees and immigrants in my area recently, and I can testify they are model citizens.

The new legislation would also decimate the number of migrant workers permitted to come to America and work on farms. Wealthy, skilled immigrants cannot replace them and Americans are not interested in applying for these jobs – just ask any farmer you know.

For one thing, it is not simple to survive as a refugee and get to the United States now. Only the most remarkable and determined people get through a long and arduous process.

There are scores of hoops to jump through, it takes time, patience, intelligence and a lot of hard work to get here. Mawulidi was working in a bakery within days of his arrival into the United States, he has supported his wife and four children ever since he arrived. He is working to learn English, and now has the tools to also renew his carving work and supplement his income further.

The refugee and immigrant parents I have met are obsessed with getting their children a good education and living a meaningful and independent life – they appreciate America in a way even many Americans can’t.

Mawulidi is a law-abiding, quiet family man with a lot of talent. It is a privilege to help him regain the tools he lost to do his life’s work. I can’t think of a better citizen for the United States, I couldn’t begin to relate the suffering he has experienced and never complains about. In the coming weeks, I hope to offer some of you his beautiful art work.

Mawulidi Diodone Majaliwa is an argument for permitting people like him to continue to come to America. He is not here to do us harm or take our money, we have nothing to fear from him.

 

It looks like Maria and I will be in the wood carving sales business shortly.

Yesterday, Mawulidi Didodone Majaliwa came to Bedlam Farm to see the dogs work and meet the donkeys, we planned to over to Pompanuck Farm where he could select a tree for his larger carvings. Mawulidi came with Francis Sengabo, left, the director of RISSE, the refugee and immigrant support center, and Isaiah, a young man from his village in the Congo, who is now also living in Albany, N.Y..

He loved the donkeys and the sheep, but he really lit up when he saw the huge stack of firewood we have gathered to heat the wood stoves in winter. He loaded up Francis’s van with firewood before we headed over to Pompanuck Farm. The firewood is perfect, he said,  for making some of his beautiful birds and small carvings. He just lit up when he saw it.

All three of these many are refugees from  some of the awful genocidal conflicts in Africa.

Francis founded Risse after spending 11 years in a refugee camp, Mawulidi was in a refugee camp for 20 years, half of his life. He learned how to carve wood from his grandfather but had to leave his carving tools behind in Africa when he came to America last November. Isaiah arrived in America last year.

I tried to talk Mawulidi into a blog or website, but he has no computer and has never been on one, so that won’t fly. Maria and I decided to sell the first series of carvings that he makes, if they are anything like the one I have already seen, they will be scooped up.

Mawulidi has all of the tools he needs now, he just needs an electric drill to bore some holes in the wood, he needs to go to Home Depot with someone who speaks better English and who can help him. I volunteered but Francis thinks he knows someone in Albany who can help.

Mawulidi is a gentle and gracious men, you would never know what he has been through. I look forward to getting to know him better, and I thank the Army of Good for supporting this project. We spent about $500  replacing the tools Mawulidi had to leave behind in Africa when he came here.

I suppose he is precisely the kind of immigrant the new government is trying to keep out of America. He hasn’t learned much English yet, but he is no drain on our resources. He works long hours baking bread in a bakery in Albany and he hopes, with these tools, to resume his work as a carver.

After we loaded up his car, we drove to Pompanuck Farm where Scott Carrino had cut down an ash tree. More photos coming. It was a great and successful trip, and I thank you for your support. If you wish to help some of the new refugee and immigrant arrivals to America, you can donate directly to RISSE, which is doing difficult and critical work, made all the more urgent by the deep cuts in aid from the federal government that are already being felt by refugee families.

You can donate directly to RISSE here, or donate to my separate work by sending a donation to my post office box, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or through Paypal, [email protected]. Thanks.

September 11 to 15 is Assisted Care Week, and the Mansion is one of the few facilities celebrating it that I know of.  I am proposing a week-long series of events,  supported by the Army Of Good.

I’m sponsoring a “Pizza Party” at the Mansion on September 11 to kick off the week. We have invited the 30 current residents and 15 staff members, most from the Mansion, some from its sister facility a few miles away. I’ve asked the Round House to provide a mix of pizzas for a lunch-time celebration beginning at 11:30 that day.

I’ve been invited, and Red of course. We checked with the staff nutritionist, we are ordering three kinds of pizzas, some with sausage and/or pepperoni, some plain, some with vegetables.

Scott Carrino is giving me an estimate this week.

On Thursday of that week, I’ve arranged for the Mansion residents who can handle it to go on a boat ride  from the Lake George Steamship Authority, the Lac Du Saint Sacrament. It will be a tour of Lake George and lunch in the boat’s big dining room, from noon to 2 p.m.  The residents have wanted to do this for a very long time.

I’m going to help out and take some photos. Everyone would like Red to come, and as a certified therapy dog, he could go, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. Red has never been on a boat, and I won’t wish to find out that it spooks him, not on that day. That trip, for 14 people, cost around $425 dollars. I find that I am enjoying helping out with the resident’s care when it’s appropriate and non medical. One of the staffers says I have a nurse in me.

There’s also a chance that week that our new book “Tales Of The Mansion” will be printed and available for the residents to have, they are excited about the book, so am I. (You can pre-order a copy (I will sign them if  you wish at Battenkill Books, right here online, or on the phone, 518 677 2515, the book is $10 plus shipping, they take Paypal and major credit cards, they’ve already sold 150 copies.)

If Connie’s rehab continues to go well, she may also be back at the Mansion during that week, which would be fitting.

I’m thinking some of your creative and much appreciated decorations and balloons and favors and gift bags would be much appreciated during these celebrations. So would your cards and messages and photographs, the greatest gifts of all. The residents on the list for letters, etc. are Winnie, Brother Peter, Bruce W., Brenda, Tim, Dorothy, Barbara, Alanna, Shirley, Robert, Connie, Helen, John K., William, Allan, Joan, Madeline, Jean, Alice, Diane, Jane, Sylvie, Gerry, Mary, Ellen, Jean. The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

We hope to pick a winner at the end of the month for the winner of the best animal photos contest. The members of the Army of Good and readers of the blog have been invited to send photos of their favorite animals – theirs or anyone’s – to Julie Smith, Activity Director, The Mansion, 11 S.  Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. The three top winners will be chosen at the end of the month, they will each get a prize. The residents wanted to pay something back to you good people who have been so good to them.

But we’d love to display the photos during Assisted Care Week, so feel free to send them in. I have funds for the pizza party, and the boat trip, thanks. Donations for this continuing work are welcome. There is about $1,500 left in the fund. If you wish to donate, you can send a contribution to me at P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]. You are doing a lot of good, and thank you.

The Farm Dog has a tiring morning pushing everybody around, supervising his new kingdom, giving orders. Small dogs may be small in size, but not in ego, at least not this one. When the border collies took the sheep out of the newly groomed and replenished Pole Barn soil, he decided to rest. He’s a momma’s boy, for sure, but he likes to hang out with me and see what I am up to.

In this case, he lay still while I got on the dusty ground and pointed the camera at him. Classic Gus, he is no longer a puppy, really, he is graduating to King.