Monday, April 13, 2009

Divine appointments at city college

I had been waiting for over an hour and a half, sitting in a chair at the city college registration office, shifting my body weight from side to side. my butt was getting sore and it was the only thing i could think to do to keep myself engaged. i noticed the man across from me had been waiting for quite some time as well, but i made a point of not talking to him. i was growing bored with myself, still fascinated with foreigners.
but i couldn't help silently challenging myself, and trying to figure out exactly which country he was from without having to ask. he was dark, but not black dark like a Ugandan or a Sudanese- more orangey dark. he was short and his head was full of tight brown curls, Ethiopian looking. i couldn't place him. he was a mixture. he caught me looking at him so i smiled and said hello, i asked him which courses he was registering for. he was there for english, and algebra.
"you speak english well though."
"yes but i want to know more."
i nodded an okay. i could feel myself reserving friendliness and i wasn't sure why. as if he knew the game i had been playing earlier he offered up his answer.
"i am from the Congo." he said.
the Congo, hm, i was wrong.
i didn't know much about the Congo, i knew it was in central africa but the rest was hazy.
"welcome." i said. "how long have you been here?"
"I came last year. Do you know Alliance for African Assistance (AAA)?"
i found it odd that my world had shrunk this small.
San Diego is a large city. AAA is a small organization. I was at the city college, far away from there, working on pursuing my dreams, my other dreams, the dreams which did not include working with refugees. I had eliminated those upon my return from Ghana. It was my third day back.
i answered tentatively "yeeaah."
"You know it? Alliance for African Assistance?"
"Yes, i used to volunteer there."
"Oh really?!"
"Yes."
"and now what is it that you are doing?"
"This." i said, pointing around. "Going back to school."
"You need to call Jimmy."
"What?"
"You need to call Jimmy." He said, referring to Jimmy the Chief Operating Officer of AAA.
i didn't know how to respond. he was speaking to me as if he knew me, or as if somebody had told him to relay this message to me. i tried to wiggle myself out from his command, but something registered it Divine, in an unexpected simple sort of way.
and just before i could think about it too much, a counselor called my name and my wait was over. as i walked away from the man he said it again. "When you leave this place, you need to call Jimmy."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In AA we like to call that kind of thing a God Shot. Congratulations :) You deserve it.