NewDayNews Recovery Forum

Sicily

Posted By: Jane <Send E-Mail>
Date: Wednesday, 11 January 2006, at 10:47 a.m.

I remember exactly when the RNR came out. We were still living in Naples in that fabulous old house. Elkanah called all of us upstairs to the loft area to read the latest newest Mo letter. It was rather a shocker because it was the RNR letter and it basically said that the leadership chain was broken up. We were all on our own to do whatever we wanted to now. Decide for ourselves what colony or home we wanted to be in. I was in a bit of a panic because my husband Jeremy Jewel had just been thrown out a few weeks ago and now I felt like I was dangling on the end of a very frayed rope. My mind scrambled to find some security, some safety. Elkanah said that we were all on our own now and we had to decide where we wanted to go. Just like that. I asked Elkanah and Tamar if I could become their childcare helper and become part of their team. It seemed the safest bet and besides didn't Elkanah assure me that he would take care of me after he threw Jeremy out. They talked about it and agreed to accept me. Most of the people in the home decided to stick with Elkanah.

Then Elkanah announced that his group would be moving down to Sicily to live. I remember the boys fixing up the Landrover to pull one of the trailers from up at the camping area. They also built onto the back seating area of the Landrover and turned it into a mini camper type of thing. In the States that would never have been allowed but in Italy all sorts of interesting vehicles were driving around. Some of us took the train down to Palermo and others hitchhiked, the rest were in the Landrover. Elkanah said later the trailer was on it's last legs and barely made it to the camping area by the beach.

Our camping area by the beach was a bit out of Palermo. We had to take a bus from downtown. It ended up at some little fishing town right at the seashore. It smelled like fish and salt. The little boats were usually moored right along side the shore. The houses were very old and weathered, small and rickety. From this little town we had to walk alongside the water for a few kilometers until we came to the camping area. There were very few trees, some big boulders, dried grass, a chain link fence surrounding the camp. The camp owner had a patio area for the guests with a bar, ice cream freezer, and tables to sit at. He also owned a snarling, growling, barking, snapping german shepherd. We parked our trailer and Landrover/camper by the back fence away from anyone else, near to one of the shower toilet buildings. The ocean was right across the road but the beach here was solid rock with tide pools. It wasn't really a place to lay and get some sun.

Our schedule began to look like this; Up early, do whatever you needed to do before 10:30 and after that find some shade to lay in because it was going to be too hot to move for the rest of the day. I think we must have still been on the Mother Eve dole because we rarely raised money. I think Elkanah and Bithia may have passed the hat when they went out singing, but we never litnessed for donations. One time I remember we had a massive amount of lit to get out, HAD to get out! So we just went down streets in Palermo putting the lit under car windshield wipers. Again there wasn't much concern about money...at least not that trickled down to me. Now when we went on the road...yes...we litnessed for money. So I would usually have a few lire in my pockets.

The people who originally made it down to Palermo with us were...Elkanah, Tamar, their son Rex-Robie and their baby Venus; Bithia, Meshach, Ezra, Earnest the german guy, the Italian woman with her daughter who was about 8 or so, Meshach the American guy, and pregnant me. After awhile we got a new disciple. An Indian guy named Rainbow who wore a turban. He refused to take it off. He was a very wierd and creepy guy but since he cooked these elaborate Indian meals everyone liked him. Elkanah once told Rainbow that he could have sex with Tamar but Rainbow refused. That is until Elkanah was out of town and then Rainbow practically raped Tamar. It wasn't good.

Our lives in Sicily were basically just laying around trying to survive the summer sun. We did go on the road a lot which got us to other little remote towns. I was on the road a lot with Meshach. He seemed to relish being in the Italian atmosphere amongst the people and they really liked him. One trip brought us into the town of Agrigento in the middle of the night. We stopped at the first hotel we saw to try to provision a room. They were wonderfully nice about it and gave us a room right away. I was grateful because I was so tired. We took a look out the window curtain and were blown away. There was a ruin of a Greek temple all lit up only yards away from the hotel! It was so beautiful. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be there and to be able to see that.

Another road trip took us to a hill town. It was literally built on the side of a mountain. The town was too steep for cars so any cars parked at the bottom of the town in the parking lot. But I don't think there was much need for cars there. A public bus came once in awhile maybe one a day to the parking lot and then took people to other towns. The town itself had cobblestone streets that were terraced. I remember buying one of those fried rice balls from a sidewalk vendor. It was cold and good. We litnessed in this little town going from shop to shop. Eventually we needed to find a place to sleep for the night but this town was too small for hotels or pensiones even. One man invited us to stay with his family. We walked up and up the streets until we got to his place. It was a two storied house, the animals lived downstairs and we climbed a ladder to the upstairs where the people lived. They were very cozy and hospitable.

I was starting to get rather big pregnant. I tried real hard to eat as healthy as possible. I drank a liter of milk a day but in Sicily there wasn't any fresh milk. They had this stuff that was treated somehow, packaged into cartons and stayed on the open shelves. It didnt need to be refrigerated until it was opened. I developed a taste for this strange milk and it reminded of me of coconut milk. So everyday I would search out a liter of this milk and drink it down. For the baby. Also everyday we would provision meals in restaurants. They would always generously give us salad and a pasta dish. Once a day I would beg for a little bit of meat for the baby. Also once a day I would find an egg, usually a hard boiled egg from a bar. So through some diligence I was able to make sure that I ate healthy. One day I asked at a bar if they had any fresh milk. The guy said sure. I couldn't believe my luck and ordered a glass of fresh milk. He poured it from a pitcher that he took from the refrigerator. I took a gigantic gulp of this frothy white cold milk and almost threw up. It tasted like I don't know what. I politely asked the man what kind of milk it was and he proudly told me that it was sheeps milk. I humbly drank the rest of the glass. But I have never forgotten that milk.