Invited by a president to paint the town red

One of the things I like about our students is their intense desire to get as close to the loca

l cultures as possible. Father Vinayak offered us such a chance. It seems that a tribal village about an hour’s drive away planned to celebrate the election of a new local district president. The fact that the new leader was a woman and a Christian were very important for this village, which is about 90% Christian. So the students and I headed along for the ride with Carole Burns staying behind setting up the lab.

It turned into much more of a ride than we thought. The villagers had mounted a procession with several vehicles including a tractor pulling the new leader and a group of friends aboard a wagon. Everyone had painted their faces and often their hair with red dust in celebration. They urged us to join them so red-cheeked, we were hoisted aboard the wagon for a celebratory circling of the village complete with much drum

ming, horn blaring, chanting and fireworks. As Jen Solaris said afterward, “I liked being a celebrity.” She and the rest of us were that. We were stared at, waved at, called to, had our hands shaken by adults and touched by the braver of the children. It was an extraordinary afternoon that will never be forgotten. It ended with tea at the new president’s house.

We had our fans. My favorite was a little boy about 8 who warmly waved as we passed him. We waved back. A few hundred yards down the road, there he was again, waving with a huge grin. We waved back. Again, he was by the side the road. He kept it up most of the way around the village. Waving until we passed, then racing ahead of us. Others were fascinated by a man sitting on the tractor hood, then jumping up to dance and wave his arms wildly whenever it stopped. Others by the quartet of little girls behind us on the wagon who chanted a call and response refrain at the top of their voices throughout the entire trip. We were given flower leis. Andrea was given hers by the new president. They fit with the celebratory nature of this visit.