Stepping into the light

One December day in 2011 an email message came to me from Iris Landa:  

I am planning to go to Ethiopia at the end of March... maybe 3 to 4 weeks.  I know you are stretched financially, but wondering if you could raise funds to come.  It may be one of God's joyful surprises.!!

As a working artist, the mention of funds almost prompted dismissing the possibility out of hand. Instead I replied:

yes, i'd love to join you in ethiopia. ...  i'll wait on the spirit to light the next step of the journey. i'm open.

Iris knew then that I was meant to accompany her.  She took a leap of faith and began planning. Unaware of this certainty, I moved ahead with my quiet life homemaking, walking, painting and drawing, listening, and generating lots of joy and happiness but little else as an artist.


This past Wednesday, February 15, Iris called to tell me she had funding for another ticket.  She invited me to join her on the trip referenced in her December email.  My first thought: Wow.  Just wow. Followed by, "Yes! Oh, Iris! Of course, yes!" (I'm paraphrasing but the punctuation is correct.)  I stepped into the light.

Along with painting kindergarten rooms at a Learning Center near Addis where Iris has been once before, we will also spend time at a women's prison at Dembi Dollo near the Sudan boarder. Here is a photo of some of the women we will meet, taken by the sisters who help them and their children.

An artist and teacher I worked with in Kenya once told me, "So many circumstances in life are bearable if one is surrounded by beauty." The Happy Room Project strives to help make life more than bearable. It takes joy, color, and yes, beauty to places and people who, like you and I, need these simple, life-affirming reminders.  Thanks for joining the project and following this blog.