| Turned out that Dennis' birthday party was really his farewell party. He gave no indications to any one, just left.
Apparently he was drafted and went back to Wisconsin. I had to break the news to Ernest and the Itos. While I was there a few boys,
Neil being one of them, showed me around Milo camp. We ended up in Kukui camp where we knocked down small plums from a tree with a football.
It was shortly after that I became ill.
Dewali - The Hindu Festival of Lights We drew in a lot of dignitaries. Joe Berland said a word
on behalf of Peace Corps, then the Hindi members went through the same ceremony as yesterday. Narayan and Jas told us
Dewali stories in Hindi (so with less than 20 days of lessons you can imagine how much I understood). We each lit a candle, carried it outside
and placed in inside a crepe paper box on the ground. If your candle went out you wouldn't prosper in the next year.
Once all the candles were in place on the lawn it was a beautiful site in the darkness - multi-colored globes of light.
Back inside for a meal - Fiji style: using fingers and food served onto large leaves. Jas and some of the Hilo staff
sangs us Hindi songs.
Dennis had moved in when Joe left and now he was gone. Mark moved in to take Dennis' place. I was wondering if he would be the
next to leave, as it seemed to be an unlucky bed. But in fact it was the bed on the other side of mine that held the next victim (Bob D). |
