✂♬?
✂ - a vivid memory
They find the General nearKitguli’s borehole, face down and nearly lifeless, in the dirt. A handful ofvillagers stand around doing nothing, while the Elders mill about, uneasy. Mafalaproposes leaving him there for the lions, but Gotswana drags him back to theclinic, instead. Kevin trails behind, alone, upon Gotswana’s insistence, wishinghe were anywhere else.
The General has typhoid,malaria, and some sort of parasite that’s attacking his organs and shuttingthem down. There is no hope, Gotswana says, and then Kevin is staring down at a gun, balanced in thepalm of his hands.
Prophet Cunningham preaches compassion, is all Gotswana gives him.
Kevin feels sick.
In the end, he cannot do it- he does not want to do it - soKevin sits outside, instead, as small as he can make himself; hands pressedover his ears while he sobs and waits and regrets.
Once it’s over, Kevin doesnot know how to feel. He thinks he should feel glad that it’s over, and he’s on the otherside; he should feel relieved, feel some closure,but --
Gotswana puts a hand on Kevin’s shoulder,gives it a squeeze, then continues on like he didn’t just take a man’s life.
Kevin watches him go, chestheaving. He has nothing and no one to fear, not anymore, and yet he still can’t catch hisbreath.
♬ - a friend/best friend memory
When Elder McKinley first arrived in Uganda, he purchasedsome seeds at the market and planted them without knowing what they were. Inthe months that followed, the land behind the mission hut slowly turned into avast sea of yellow. Sunflowers thrive in Uganda, it seems, giving McKinley an idea.
“Just listen to me, Elder Price,” he says, bopping Kevinagainst the nose with a sunflower head; “- sunflowers rob the soil of nitrogen.Beans add nitrogen to the soil. Growing beans along with sunflowers seemspretty genius, in my book. So, we're going to do a trial run here, and if it goeswell, we'll plant a few different fields around the village for our friends. Ofcourse, we’ll have to make some sort of seed press. For the oil,” he adds, noting Kevin’s blankstare. “It’s just…if our friends can grow sunflowers, and beans, and make oil,we can leave knowing they’ll be alright.”
A pause. Kevin watches as McKinley squares his shoulders;“– I want to leave knowing they’ll be alright.”
Elder McKinley has been doing this a lot, lately. Brainstorming.Coming up with different ways their friends can make a living, once they’re gone.He is the only Elder in the district, aside from Kevin, to acknowledge they've been doing more harm here than good.
Like the mini-clinic the Elders hold after services onSundays, where they pass out band-aids and Tylenol and dabs of Neosporin; or allthe meals the villagers join them for, supplied by the generosity of Zelder’sfamily, who are the only family still supporting theirson.
When they leave, all of that goes with them. That isn’t somethingthe village can sustain, or the Elders for that matter; but sunflowers andbeans and oil – they are; and ElderMcKinley cares enough to do something about it.
Knowing that makes Kevin feel warm on the inside, andmakes him feel a little less alone in all of this. In his mission. So, when McKinley bops him onthe nose again, he doesn’t get upset. Kevin gets happy - pulling McKinley close and smiling against his shoulder, as he agrees.
