today i got to take one step further into a friendship with a new acquaintence.
we've been working for the past week and a half together at the roma school in topaana.
three times a week we serve lunch to circa 300 kids. in between groups and before and after we have a good chance to visit and relax. we have coffee together in the mornings and lunch together in the afternoons.
there are 5 of us that work together. i love all of the coworkers.
goron is the cook that works for the company that provides the meals. he's a short pudgy guy with kind eyes.
tresmia is the wife of one of the teachers at the school. she is gentile and strong.
'sheki' is what we call the older lady. her grey hair could be decieving for the amount of spunk she has. she smokes a lot and her laugh wears the scars. but she sure does laugh.
and finally there is igber. igber and i get along really well. she is a great singer. she looks younger than her life experience says she is.

so igber has been asking me to come sit at her house since the first day we started working. today was an off-day for the lunch program but i was at the school to photograph as some of the kids got their medical check ups. i bumped into igbera in the street and we agreed i could come over after i was done there.

their house is tucked away on a street that i have walked on so many times. it is clean and humble. the entire front wall and door is made of glass. doesn't give much by way of insulation but it lets a lot of light in. also their front walk is lined with white walls, very bright.

so we sat. her husband came home and she sent him to the store. he returned with cokkies and coffee. she laid out the cookies on a plate before me and started making coffee. they don't drink coffee. they are tea people... so that trip to the store was just for me. and i know that they don't have much. but they give with zeal and gratitude that you would be their company. it is humbling.
we visited and laughed. her husband got out some photo albums. it was so fun to look through all these old photos and learn about their customs.
in one of the bags of photos there were some old treasures from the husband's history.

i thought i would share.