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SAPC — NEWSROOMPilgrimage to the
uMariya uMama weThemba Monastery By Elizabeth Vaden One day after touching down in South Africa , I am sitting in a straight-backed wooden chair in the chapel of the uMariya uMama weThemba monastery outside Grahamstown. It's my first visit to Africa, traveling with nineteen other pilgrims from St. Columba's, Christchurch Georgetown, and St. Margaret's of Dupont Circle. Gazing out the picture window next to where the three brothers and their new postulant sit, I see brown-black hills across a small valley; beautiful red-streaked tiles cover the sanctuary floor. A handful of other pilgrims are scattered around the room. The chapel is silent: candles burn in front of a wooden statue of a black Madonna and child, and the smoky breeze makes their candles flicker. The smell of smoke from bushfires nearby is heavy in the air, mingling with the faint odor of incense. As the brothers begin to sing, I stumble through the liturgy, but leave feeling at peace. Six days later, I'm back in the monastery chapel for Sunday worship before leaving the Eastern Cape for a week in the Cape Town area. The chapel feels very different than it did that first morning. The seats are filled to overflowing with pilgrims, local children (some of whom have walked three hours to get here), and various adults. Two girls are stationed at a pair of drums. The music begins, and we are transported: brothers, pilgrims, children, and adults alike. The singing is joyous, energetic, passionate; it swells and rises and fairly bursts from the small sanctuary. I've never heard anything like it, and the harmonies wash over me and through me and fill me up. (Brother John , I say as I leave, if we worshipped like that every Sunday, I'd never have to shush my boys again! ) My worship experience here has changed, and I, too, feel changed. In the past week, we've been welcomed into the homes of some of the children and spoken with their families about their lives and opportunities. I've shared pictures of my family with children in the monastery's after school program. We've been led through the College of the Transfiguration Seminary in Grahamstown by its five proud faculty, and heard about their hopes for expansion. We've been bowled over by the fierce commitment and deep love of two women who created an after-school haven for AIDS orphans in an isolated community three hours from here. I've sat with other pilgrims by the fire in the evenings with a cup of tea or a glass of wine, sharing the amazement and excitement that built every day from our experiences, and marveling at the ways God was touching us, speaking to us, and binding us together. What a gift it has been to travel with other pilgrims to this incredible place, and to the places we subsequently visited in the Western Cape . It is the pilgrims' hope and prayer that this pilgrimage will help foster many more relationships—nurtured in South Africa and here in Washington , DC , and involving many more St. Columba's parishioners! # # #
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