Free Love 101 Course - From Mama Kaya Rodrigues Love University - Established 1924

                                             Rodrigues Island 

    Where the love reflected by the glorious cross ascends in cloudless skies!

                                                             Spring 2014

At the Rodrigues Love University, not surprisingly, the word 'Love' keeps popping up in various questions. After my two previous posts, I received a number of requests to present the 'Love 101 Course' based on the curriculum of 'Mama Kaya Rodrigues Love University' -Established: 1924.

                                                         Love - Love - Love... 

Why does that word pop up so often on our campus?

Because:

a). That is what our University is all about. 

b) Love is associated with many aspects of our daily lives at home, at school, at university and in the work place.

In their search for the real meaning of the word love, our students often ask the following questions:

Who is Love? What is free Love? Why free Love? What is the origin of the word love? How is love defined? Which is the higher form of love?

Who is Love?

God is Love! Because we are created in His image, we are also meant to love and be loved. Therefore we reach our full potential and best reflect God's image when we rid ourselves of all hatred and live solely in His light to reflect His image of absolute love.

What is free love? 

It is the only form of true love. It cannot be bought for money nor bartered for favors. 

It is free because it is a gift from God to His creation.

Why should true love be free?

It has to be free. Because it is worth so much that it is priceless. 

If we had to attempt to put a price tag on the free gift of true love it would lead us to despair and hatred. Because we would quickly realize that we could never afford to buy that kind of infinite love. Indeed all the money in the world ever since the world began would never suffice to pay for true unconditional infinite love.

Therefore, it is because God does not want us to succumb to despair or to cultivate hatred that His merciful love has to be free.

What is the origin of the word Love? 

'Agape' is a greek word. It means selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. It is the highest of the four types of love visited in the Bible

The English translation of the word 'agape' is love. 

In the New Testament, 'agape' refers to the covenant love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God and neighbor.

What are the various definitions of love in the bible?

Bible definition: 

God Is Love as defined by his very nature. 

St. John's definition:

1 John 4:8 "God does not merely love; He is love. Everything that God does flows from His love."

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."

John 14:21 "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."

St. Paul's definition of Love:

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7: "4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

In the evening of our lives, we shall be judged according to our love for others throughout our lives.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of love: 

(1) :  strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties <maternal love for a child> (2) : attraction based on sexual desire :  affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3) :  affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests <love for his old schoolmates. 

The above are definitions of the word 'love' by the inspired disciples of God and by the  learned.

Now for the main exercise of this Love 101 course, we are to investigate the Biblical true meaning of the word love as opposed to the Merriam-Webster's dictionary definition. We are to do so under the limelight of Mama Kaya's living example under study below:

In the evening of her life, although Mama Kaya is mostly illiterate, what is her authentic definition of love by her actions and her words?

On the occasion of her 90th. birthday, during her party, I asked Mama Kaya to specifically clarify the word 'Love' for me.

Most happy to do so, Mama Kaya launched in her favorite subject right off the bat. Without a single pause to catch her breath and without taking any time to think or search for words, Mama Kaya spoke convincingly straight from her heart. It was blatantly evident that Mama Kaya lives her true love for God and neighbor so intensely, that at 90 years old, while nailing down the real meaning of love for me, she appeared completely oblivious to the loud music, the otherwise distracting brouhaha of the conversations that filled the space and the general effervescence all around her. In her passionate expose, Mama Kaya was 'the' only all effervescent 'cure it all' pill for the modern 'love' ills of our times. 

The following is a translated transcript of the recorded video of Mama Kaya's appreciation of 'love':

"I am thankful I have reached this age today. I am still here solely thanks to God and Jesus. 

He has given me His love to return to Him and share with my family and my neighbors.

I have had to count on God's love every minute of my life to be able to feed my 12 children and all of my grand children. I enjoy sacrificing and taking care of all of them because that is what God wants me to do. That is the least I can do in return for Him who has done so much for me.

I do not need to go into details about all He has done for me. That would be construed as boastful. Only look at the greatest sacrifice He has done for me and you and all of us here. God has sacrificed His only son Jesus and He even put Him on the cross for us! That is the ultimate form of love.

From that cross, every day, Jesus always watches over me and He guides me. He gives me courage to go on and on and on...

Over the years, Jesus has often given me additional unexpected gifts. Look! Now, even in my old age I have had another son and another daughter. That extra gift was so we can guide each other towards His infinite love. Jesus knows that the more of us are together, the stronger we are to encourage each other to reach our final destination.

Do you know why I have reached 90? Because in all things I am thankful. I have no hatred in my heart. Hatred makes you feel old quickly and it also makes you irritable all the time. Hatred is the mother of harmful stress in life. Stress born from hatred eventually kills you. 

Breathe, eat and share love and you will be happy. Breathe, eat and talk hatred and you will be unhappy. Before you choose between what to breathe - Remember: Our ultimate goal in life is lasting happiness.

That is why especially tonight, and every night, I am happy. I thank God for my happiness. I am happy and thankful for living through another day. I am thankful to God, thankful to Father Laval, thankful to all for all. 

Perseverance in love and constant thanksgiving addressed to God, that is the secret of my long happy life. How could I ever not appreciate, forget and dismiss the love of Jesus who died for me on the cross!" All who want to live a happy life must begin and end each day by loving and thanking Jesus for  dying on the cross for the love of us.

Mama Kaya had said it all. She ended abruptly by saying: "That is all I have to say. Now, give me a glass of champagne and let us drink to the love of Jesus."

(The words in bold are those Mama Kaya put emphasis on by the tone of her voice.) 

Wow! Yes! "Mama Kaya! Thank you for teaching me/us all, on this memorable night, never to forget the infinite love of Jesus for us. You are so right in your understanding of true love! Both in His words and His actions, Jesus taught us that: "There is no greater love than to give one's life for our loved ones." You are right on. In an unselfish display of absolute unconditional love Jesus freely accepted to die for us on the cross! How could we ever forget the infinite, profound true love that it took for the son of God to willingly accept to be crucified on a cross for the love and redemption of sinful humans like us! 

Mama Kaya, you must be a saint to inherently and intimately understand the true meaning of love so thoroughly! You remind me a lot of what St. Francis had to say about love? He said: "It is in dying that we are born to eternal life." To end up having a pure virgin like heart such as yours, filled with so much joyful love in spite of all the obvious hardships you have been through, dear Mama Kaya, you must have died to yourself over and over again many times. You must have repeatedly died to your own wants and even to your own basic needs so that all around you would continue to have life!

Is Mama Kaya's love of a Biblical or a secular nature?

Let us examine what parallels can be drawn between St. Paul's definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 and Mama Kaya's daily commitment to love throughout her long life?

St Paul: "Love is patient": - Over the last many decades just how much patience has Mama Kaya needed in order to lovingly care for her children, her grand children, her great grand children and a multitude of neighbors.

St. Paul: "Love is kind": - It is glaringly evident that kindness must be at the very root of the self confidence that most of Mama Kaya's children, grand children and great grand children exude. Their winning attitude and success in life, their lasting devotion and meaningful gratitude to their elderly Mama Kaya speaks volumes about the love, the patience, the kindness they have obviously received from Mama Kaya from the cradle up! It is edifying today to see to what extent each and every single one  of them unstintingly return that love to her 

St. Paul: "Love does not envy": - Envy is the source of all hatred. Mama Kaya's long life gives vibrant testimony to the intrinsic truth that she harbors no hatred towards anyone or anything. Freedom from envy and hatred empowers Mama Kaya to be naturally and continuously thankful for all of God's caring Providence.

St. Paul: "Love does not boast": - At 68, I cannot recall ever finding such down to earth fascinating and exemplary humility as I have found in the home and heart of Mama Kaya. What you see is what you get. And every one who visits Mama Kaya wants to soak in every bit of that humble abandonment to living entirely by God's Will.

St. Paul: "Love is not proud": - The only sense of pride Mama Kaya manifests is strictly for the love she has for God, her family and her neighbors. Mama Kaya is proud to be able to love so meaningfully. IMHO - That is healthy pride. It is worthy of note.

St. Paul: "Love does not dishonor others":  - My wife and I were originally regarded as strangers 'banne tranzer' upon our arrival seven years ago in Allee Tamarin, Rodrigues. This old long established tightly knitted community is made up of a number of families that seek to preserve their treasured proud Rodrigues identity. It is a society that is free of transients. Every new house built in our neighborhood systematically belongs to the child or grand child or great grand child of some local patriarch or matriarch. 

Yet, seven years ago, the fact that we were newly arrived 'flies on the ointment' did not deter Mama Kaya from offering us a warm welcome. It was foreign to Mama Kaya's loving heart to dishonor 'foreigners' 'banne tranzer' as we were initially referred to. Offering us a warm welcome, Mama Kaya would come to visit us and make us feel part of her Philippe family. In a charismatic display that could only come naturally from her undefiled heart, Mama Kaya would often raise her arms to heaven saying: "Praise God, you are here. In my old age God has given me a new son and a new daughter to come and live in my own neighborhood! Alleluia! Alleluia!"

The same warm welcome and humble thanksgiving were bestowed upon my daughter, Lynda, and my grand daughter, Wendy, by Mama Kaya when they came to visit Rodrigues recently and discover its unique 'Mama Kaya Love University'. During our visit, Mama Kaya told us: no matter where your daughter and grand daughter live, Love makes us all one with God and with each other. He is our father. We are His family whether we live in Rodrigues or across the sea.

St. Paul: "Love is not self seeking": - Mama Kaya never seeks any self glorification. Instead, she always gives all glory to God. She never seeks anything as she relies with blind faith on God's munificence and providence! After observing Mama Kaya for seven years, I often regard her as a living personification of St. Francis. Mama Kaya personnifies the lines of the prayer of St. Francis: "It is in giving that we receive..." Mama Kaya is always giving. Even in the middle of her party, at 90 years old, Mama Kaya was thoughtful enough to tell me: "I am sorry my daughter (meaning my wife) had to go to Mauritius and could not attend my party. But please assure her that as soon as she gets back, I will bake another birthday cake especially for her." It is clear that in giving constantly, Mama Kaya receives much from God. We have never seen her deep well of love and joy ever run dry! 

St. Paul: "Love is not easily angered.": During the past seven years  we have lived close to Mama Kaya. During that time, we have never seen her angry or speak angrily to or about anyone. Could that be another secret of her blissful longevity?

St. Paul: "Love keeps no record of wrongs.": Forgive and forget (certainly not due to her old age) seems to be the motto Mama Kaya lives by. We have never heard Mama Kaya condemn anyone or bear a grudge towards someone! Whenever, we listen to Mama Kaya talk, we are reminded of the saying: "If you have nothing good to say, you better not speak at all." Mama Kaya will only say good things about all the neighborhood.

St. Paul: "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth." Obviously living in God's light and under His mantle of love, Mama Kaya has rejoiced in His truth and shunned evil all her life? Had Mama Kaya not lived according to God's Will, how could she be the inspiring highly respected figure that she is today for our entire community? Full of God's love, Mama Kaya instinctively knows that to reach the City of God she only has to follow His Light, His Truth and His Way.

St. Paul: "Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." Mama Kaya has unfailingly protected her progeny over three generations. Mama Kaya has persevered relentlessly with her well placed trust in God's Will and Providence. With so much blind faith in God and by the power of her wrists and the pouring sweat off her forehead Mama Kaya has managed to suffice to the every daily needs of her descendants. Their winning attitude towards life today is vibrant living testimony to the protection, the trust, the hope and the perseverance Mama Kaya has permanently displayed as examples in front of them. 

Who could ever dismiss such a powerful and irresistible living example of love coming so naturally and with so much authenticity straight from the heart of the most senior dean of the love department at Mama Kaya Love University - Rodrigues - Established: 1924!

Because Mama Kaya's Love University in Rodrigues fascinates me so much, I am seeking a permanent lecturer's position within its fast expanding love department.

I hope and pray that I can teach there while pursuing my 'hands on' studies towards a master's degree in how to reach Mama Kaya's level of love that makes all things possible!

Conclusion:

Questions: 

Is Mama Kaya living proof that Biblical long lasting love far surpasses any form of ephemeral secular love? Simple answer: Yes!

Is the supernatural nature of Biblical love as exemplified by Mama Kaya's long life the key ingredient to lasting eventual eternal joy?

Answer: 

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Because I am convinced that Mama Kaya's supernatural form of love is the key to eternal joy, it is no wonder that if there is one living person I would want to emulate today, it would be Mama Kaya. I have already mentioned how through her exemplary love and commitment to her tightly knit, yet much extended family life, I am vicariously living my own original dream for how to spend the evening of my life. Obviously because I lacked supernatural Biblical love, even with education supplemented by lots of material means, I failed to realize my dream for my family. By contrast with basic instruction and in the midst of utter poverty, but obviously with a heart filled with supernatural Biblical form of love, Mama Kaya has succeeded to unwittingly realize my dream beyond my dream!

To further hammer the point home the question will be asked and answered again:

 

Why did Mama Kaya succeed with no meaningful material means and little literacy where this fledgling lecturer failed with millions of dollars and much education?

Simple obvious answer: Neither money nor brains, but Love (God) alone makes all things possible.

Thanksgiving:

It took a 90 year old most noble and grand illiterate lady to open my eyes, my ears, my mind, my heart and above all my spirit to the sheer power of the love. Mama Kaya reflects that power straight from the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise be to God! Today, I am most thankful to God for leading me patiently through any number of sinuous unchartered paths to Rodrigues,  if only to let me witness the power of His true love that makes all things possible.

Final observation: 

Is it not very revealing to note that persons who reach an advanced age give all tribute and credit to God for reaching their age! Over the last few years, most if not all the elderly that I have seen interviewed on the MBC TV have attributed their longevity to their faith in God and the reciprocal love they share with Him regardless of their religious denomination!

Please stay tuned for the next installment on our ongoing courses on our free love courses coming straight to you from Mama Kaya Rodrigues Love University - Established: 1924

The following themes will be on the agenda for our next free courses.

Has the word 'Love' been overly banalized by the secular world?

When and where light swallows darkness... Let there be light.

Travels From Eureka, Moka, Mauritius Island To Rodrigues Island:

Daughter Wendy - 7th. Generation Leclezio in front of our ancestral home still standing strong through the commitment of our cousin, Jackie de Maroussem. Heartfelt thanks Jackie for the continued upkeep of our patrimony!

Eureka:

That original cradle and tabernacle of the Leclezio family for well over a century.

Eureka, that temple and imposing edifice to the material wealth of the Leclezio family. One of the most notorious land barons of Mauritius! 

A family that boasts of a number of extraordinary people among its ranks.

Eureka, the place of my birth 68 years ago!

From: Bellevue, WA.

Bellevue, WA.

That sophisticated high end residential area of Washington State.

Bellevue, the home of the Bellevue Square Mall, that temple of consumerism, located within a short walk from our home.

Bellevue and Medina, home to Bill Gates and also home to our branch of the Leclezio family for over 25 years.

From: Faben Point, Mercer Island.

Famous Faben Point - Mercer Island on Lake Washington.

Once upon a time the home of Sam Israel, one of Seattle's most notorious land baron. (Google: Samis Foundation for this man's fascinating history.)

From the dream of ending my days surrounded by my wife, my children and my grand children, thoroughly spoilt by all the very best that money can buy on 300 feet of Lake Washington waterfront on exclusive Faben Point on Mercer Island. A property that I originally secured for a few million dollars from Sam Israel located only a short distance by boat from the Bill Gates Estate also on the sun bathed east coast of Lake Washington.

Feeding corn daily in the early morning to the migrating Canadian geese on the Faben Point only low bank Lake Washington waterfront property.

To: The realities of life very far from that rich and or poor past...

To: Allee Tamarin, Rodrigues Island!!!

From here:

I now yell: "Eureka!" Although far from my children and grand children, I have finally found: Peace, the meaning of real Love and the secret of lasting Joy!

For Rodrigues Island is where God has patiently led me to finally understand and find out that  true Joy and lasting happiness can only be born out of true love shared freely by all.  No amount of money can ever buy that conviction.

Dreams:

My unfulfilled dreams for my future with my family huddled around us on 300 feet of waterfront were born out of the unreal realities of my childhood and adolescence growing up in Eureka and Trou d'eau douce while also jetting all over the world living in the five star hotels of London, Paris, Geneva, New York, Toronto, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban to name just a few. Over a period of 68 years I have traveled from being born with a platinum spoon in my mouth to using plastic forks and knives at best nowadays.

Like my ancestors, for many years in the past, I thought that I needed millions upon millions of dollars to be happy. I believed that millions upon millions of dollars were needed to gather and settle our 5 children and our 25 grand children around us on the Lake Washington waterfront property that I had bought from multi millionaire, Sam Israel. That was my belief. That was what I worked for. That was my life's end goal.

Over the last fifteen years, God would prune and tailor my dreams to fit His plans for me. Thus, patiently, over those years God led me by the hand along most difficult, unexpected and unchartered paths. I would have never wanted to trace and, indeed, I would have never wished to find such trails had I been left alone to continue to mark out my road map strictly according to my travel plans through life for my happiness and that of my family.

But, obviously God knew best where to lead me and how and when to open my eyes to the rewards of letting Him carry me over those unchartered paths.  God knew that I needed to step into some of the footprints He had personally set out for me along difficult trails. Indeed, today I know for sure that God had already traced out a road map for me up steep hills and across some thorny scorching hot desert sands long before I was born. God wanted, the very best for me. He knew that I needed to go the full circle to fully appreciate and understand the different flavors of life. As the old Jewish saying goes: "No vase is whole until it has been broken!"

After seven years of soul searching in 'exile' on Rodrigues Island, very far from all of my originally very much missed and fondly remembered familiar past, God decided that it was time to open my eyes and my ears to His agenda for the sun set of my life. God wanted me to discover how to live a happy life in His light with very little on this anti stress tiny island. Like my neighbor, Mama Kaya who just celebrated her 90th birthday, (see previous post) nowadays I also feel light due to the immense love of God that fills all voids in my heart. To understand that love, I had to live it out and experience it first hand as it is portrayed by many of my close neighbors of Allee Tamarin, Rodrigues Island.

Peace! Peace at last! In Rodrigues, no more stress about either keeping up with my ancestors or my father's lifestyle. No more straining and stressing in North America to be 'up with the Jones'! In humble Rodrigues living among down to earth people placing all their trust in God's Love and Providence, there is no source of stress to disturb my inner peace. All evils and devils of vanity, greed, control, jealousy and hatred have been drowned by an ocean of love. The result is: No more need for cancer surgeries! No more life threatening heart problems through a vicious circle of anxieties. No more stays in ICUs wondering if I would live to see the next hour or die! All that bliss through the Providence and the power of God's love blatantly present within the heart and soul of most of my immediate neighbors. 

Today, at 68, I finally fully relate to St. Paul's advice: 'In all things be thankful". I praise and thank God for leading me to discover that it is never too late to finally happily accept and fully appreciate a lifestyle so very different and although so very far removed from everything I had ever known!

How I ever got to Rodrigues Island is in itself a miracle. 

I left America to go visit my birth place, Mauritius, in November 2005. There I was diagnosed with a cancer that, according to the surgeon, I had nursed for at least 5 years. After surgery and chemotherapy, I developed heart problems. All my health problems were possibly stress related according to my surgeon. Similarly, the doctors in the US had opined that the ALS my first wife, Wendy, died of after 35 years of marriage could have been stress related! Without medical insurance, my health problems made my return to America very problematic and I opted to stay in Mauritius. 

Eventually, out of the blue, in November 2007, God had, over two years, meticulously organized a varied set of circumstances that would lead me over the deep blue sea to land on the totally unfamiliar shores of Rodrigues Island.

There, over the last seven years God would put a number of illiterate and most humble extraordinarily ordinary people on my path.  In the winter of my life, the humble ways, the innocent words, the casual actions and natural examples of my newly found friends taught me the power of unconditional love free of all hatred and criticism. Without asking any questions or passing any judgments, the locals had accepted my second wife Eve and I as their own. Indeed, our close neighbor, Mama Kaya, loves to make Eve and I feel truly part of the family by calling us: "my lovely daughter and my great son". She will often add that she never would believe that, in her old age, God would give her two more children on and above the twelve she had already had! 

All these testimonies of love issued from the tabernacle of the matriarch of the Philippe family unequivocally demonstrate that to live a close knit family life you most certainly do not need millions upon millions of dollars. Quite to the contrary, my materially 'poor' neighbors vividly highlighted the many rewards of a truly rich life around an extended family circle. In Rodrigues, traditionally the family circle still reaches out far and wide to family members across generations. The elderly need no homes to be parked into while waiting for their meter to run out of time.

Today, after I have witnessed the strong family bonds that tie 'poor' families together, I understand that much needed unconditional love is an essential ingredient in their recipe for survival. I believe that what is generally regarded as 'poverty' is in fact the greatest wealth of those families living together and depending on each other around the clock. It is precisely because different generations of families have very little that they have to share all of whatever they have with all around their table. That truly then becomes a table of plenty. For love is at the center of that table where all is shared and shared and shared. Because they are always looking out for each other, without measure, each and every one will freely and happily share his time, his labors, his sweat, his fruits, his bread, his corn, his beans, his cassava at that familiar table of plenty. That is the  tradition of many families in Rodrigues. I believe that Rodrigues is blessed with so much because sharing with love is at the very roots of the Catholic church. The embryonic tightly knit Christian community brought forth all they had to share in common as Jesus and His disciples had taught them to do.

Table of plenty - Voirons Monastery

Mama Kaya, the matriarch overlooking over the welfare of three generations of descendants identifies best with St. Paul when she tells me: Our entire family is just one body. No one can say to another I am more important that you or you or you or again, I do not need you or you or you. We all need each other and we all need to be full of Christ's mercy and forgiving love for each other in order to stand up and to stand out as one family. 

Mama Kaya went on to explain: God created us because He is Love and He needed creatures to love. Likewise, without the love we show to each other we cannot live happily and pass on God's love. No family can stand solid like a rock unless it is full of that love. In fact nothing can stand unless it is full of something. Then chuckling and with a lively twinkle in her eye, Mama Kaya pointed to an empty 50 kg bag of corn and said even that old bag of corn can no longer stand! Look it lying down as if dead. That is because it is empty!

Now, thanks to Mama Kaya's extended family huddled together in a tight circle around the matriarch of our community of Allee Tamarin I am, to some extent, vicariously fulfilling my own dream of living surrounded by our children and grand children all located in homes just a stone's throw away from me. This is how my great, great grand father, Eugene Leclezio lived after purchasing his huge estate of Eureka, Moka. This is also how my great grand father, Sir Henry Leclezio had lived in old days Mauritius. In Eureka, Moka, up on the hill, he lived surrounded by his 17 children living all around Moka and St. Pierre during most of the hot summer months. For part of the winter, he and his whole family would migrate twenty miles down to their second homes on the east coast of Mauritius to Trou d'eau douce. My grand father had walked in his ancestors footsteps and lived accordingly. Tight unity and strong family bonds had been the enduring strength and the hallmark of that transcendent Mauritian family for generations.

Obviously most of the old fashioned world has changed since. However in 2014, it is clearly evident that what makes the incredible strength of Rodrigues society is definitely the strong family bonds that have endured the test of time here on this remote island lost in the Indian Ocean. 

A slow moving clock ticking slowly and only marking Rodrigues time has to this day left the old fashioned society of Rodrigues unaffected by the modern voids and stressful  ills found in the transient societies of the modern world. 

I regard it as a rare privilege, a true gift from God, nowadays to see so many neighbors living out daily my dream of close family unity. Those neighbors, especially Mama Kaya and her large family circle fulfill my vision and hope to be surrounded in the evening of my life by our children, grand children and great grand children. Although, that was not to be God's plan for me, He alone knows how I delight daily to watch Mama Kaya and her progeny share so many precious moments of their lives on each other's doorsteps! In gratitude for the joy that brings to me, I am thankful to be able to still say: Praise be to God for leading me to warm bright sunny Rodrigues Island to fulfill my dream even if only vicariously in the winter of my life. 

The irony of it all is that my 'rich' neighbors view me as rich and consider themselves poor. Obviously, paradoxically, I regard them as very rich while I feel very poor in their midst. Whenever Mama Kaya's words: "My family is my only wealth' ring in my ears, I wonder just to what extent does Mama Kaya realize the vastness of her precious wealth in today's world.

Mama Kaya's 90th. Birthday celebration on September 6, 2014 was to be the culminating point of all that I had soaked in and all the oral lessons I had listened to over the last seven years. Over that period, God had led me to observe numerous details of profound humble love in action daily through the joy of sharing everything and listening to all everyone had to say.

Indeed by the time I walked away from Mama Kaya's birthday party, I felt like I was also walking away from my graduating ceremony from a very different school of higher learning. I had personally never attended any, set in the same mould, typical University. But going home up the hill on the night of September 6, 2014, I felt that I had just come from the cream of any Ivy league University sitting atop any famous hill of any number of cities in any number of large fully industrialized country. I looked at my immediate recently found highly civilized world and loving neighbors as capable of lighting up anybody's way to the City of God. 

By contrast, I have met a number of fellows who have graduated from Ivy League Varsities atop famous hills. Unfortunately, 'learned' folks typically tend to look down upon the rest of the humble illiterate human beings that we are all and that I fully enjoy living with as being lost and rudderless in a dense fog with nowhere to go. Ironically Mama Kaya maintains without any pretension or sophistication that it is precisely because she can neither read nor write that her only rudder has been Love. With God as captain of her ship and Jesus, Mother Mary and Father Laval as crew, she has been able to sail through mighty tropical storms and still waters without hunger or thirst to the present safe harbor she has reached at 90!

In the dark of the night, with no street light to show the narrow way, I felt so light that I felt like I was walking on thin air. The steep hill I was ascending was no longer steep at all. At 68, I felt proud to have finally graduated from such a stand alone university, The 'Love Varsity', on minute Rodrigues Island lost in the middle of the Indian Ocean. My diploma was etched deep in my heart. It had been passed down to me by the most senior dean of this very private school of high learning on the occasion of her 90th Birthday. What a memorable event!

Mama Kaya had explained to me that because she could neither read nor write, she had had all the time in the world to be impregnated by all the natural beauty around her open air 'Love University'. All God's creation around her were her professors to enjoy for free. That is why she is constantly singing the praises of the Creator of her vast campus from where she naturally acquired her wealth of priceless knowledge. Because Mama Kaya had been too poor to ever have a TV or a radio, she had had the time to listen to and to communicate full time without distraction with all of God's amazing creation. During our conversation, Mama Kaya reminded me so very much of St. Francis. A living instrument and messenger of God's peace, Mama Kaya talked to God, talked to Father Desire Laval in her home and backyard every day. At length she talked to her children, her grand children and her great grand children counseling them as best she knew straight from her heart filled with love for them. Mama Kaya talked to the birds, those beautiful gleaming red Cardinals that flew in and out of her yard to share food with the chickens, the ducks and the guinea fowls. Mama Kaya loves to listen to their singing. It mingles melodically with the notes of the wind whistling through the narrow leaves of the Gum trees that shade her house and animals from the blazing summer sun. At 90, the joy of listening to nature, the art of sharing  and of dialoguing with family or stranger alike, the art of teaching with contagious palpable love had all come to her naturally!

Mama Kaya further explained that all hills and all rough paths she had had to travel across had always been leveled out by the awesome power of the love within her heart. Her heart was so filled with so much love that it could act like a gigantic grading blade over any hill or rough rocky prickly path. Such a grading blade operated by a heart filled with love is the only one that, in the end, is capable to put us all on the same level and make us all one in the eyes of our Maker! 

No wonder, I had felt light going up hill on the night of Mama Kaya's 90th birthday. Mama Kaya had successfully taught me how to turn my own heart into a powerful grading blade capable of leveling all paths playing fields. That came from the awesome power of the priceless diploma I was finally carrying in my heart. I was filled with such intense joy that not only the hill had been made flat but the dark night was most bright. I could hear an inner voice telling me: "You are alive. You have been set free. Mama Kaya has rolled away the stone. Go tell it up all over the hills and the mountains. 

The next day Mama Kaya confided in me that although it was extremely rare for people with my background to come to Rodrigues Island to attend and graduate from her most unique Love University, the mere fact that I had trampled over so many social taboos and stigmas was part of the reason why she felt that I deserved to graduate ' Summa Cum Laude'. 

After seven years of devoting myself to intense learning and after seven years of many sacrifices in 'exile' far from home, far from children, grand children and family, only the intense love of God and neighbor could have made me feel light going up the hill. My seven years of commitment and patient learning and sacrifices had all paid off beyond expectation. 'Love University' had bulldozed away the crippling weight of years of stress from my shoulders. I was ready to yell to the whole world that on September 6, 2014, I finally held a rare 'Summa Cum Laude' in the field of free love where lasting happiness blossomed without fading. And all I had to pay was attention by way of fees! 

For years, I had symbolically portrayed my years of being weighed down by stress in American society through the table in our living room. The table top is a 512 year old Douglas fir cross section I sawed from Snoqualmie Pass in 1983 in Washington State. 

I cut the supporting base from a huge log that had landed on  a lonely white sandy beach in Rodrigues. It comes from a century old Sapele Mahogany that drifted here carried by wind, currents and waves along maritimes routes marked out for it by God. I love to show off my table as being an illustration of my own life. Tiny Rodrigues is carrying the heavy weight of years in America on its shoulders.

The table will remain as a souvenir of the past. But the weight of years of life in America has been cast off by the power of love found after I drifted on to Rodrigues shores according to God's agenda.

Love given freely is love received to be passed on just as freely...

With a Summa Cum Laude degree, may be, I can in turn follow in Mama Kaya's footsteps and share and teach for free what I studied and learnt over the last seven years only at the cost of paying attention to God's beautiful creatures and creation.

But, how could I possibly put in meaningful enough words the naturally magnetic and electrifying compelling actions of Mama Kaya?

Nonetheless, I hope and pray that I can now, through words, actions, pictures and prayer reach out and touch the heart of all those craving for and chasing after happiness and lasting joy along all the dead end high ways of the modern world.

After I obtain the curriculum of 'Love University' from the most senior dean of the free love department, Mama Kaya, I will start offering free lectures on this blog. Mama Kaya's dream to go international with her curriculum vitae will have been fulfilled within her lifetime.

Praise be to God! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Madame Marguerite Philippe - (Mama Kaya) Rodrigues Island

L

          Mama Kaya: "Because I have Love in my heart, I feel light.

I live free of any hatred in the light of God. 

That is why I am full of joy.

God alone can make all things possible... 

All my life I struggled to feed my 12 children. I could never dream of ever having such a party for my 90th. Birthday... 

I cared and carried them all through their youth. Now they all come together to sustain me in my old age!"

My family is my only wealth... Only God, Father Laval, my family, my friends and neighbors matter to me!"

Preparations for the celebration began many days ahead!

The contributions of children, grand children, great grand children, neighbors and friends from everywhere highlighted the belief that: Love given is love received... Especially so over a lifetime...

The house was transformed to receive and accommodate the many guests!

Cooking on the open fire went on for two days. 

Hands burning with love cannot get burnt even when handling a huge cast iron wok straight off the open fire without any protection!

Finally at exactly 19 hours on September 6, 2014 a loud burst of fire crackers coming from Mama Kaya's house called all to hurry to the party.

By the time, I got there, a short walk down the steep hill from our house, I missed the family shot of Mama Kaya surrounded by her children. 

But I was just in time to capture Mama Kaya at the head table with some of her wonderful grand children around her.

That lovely picture portraying Mama Kaya and the joy of her many grand children was followed by a snapshot of Mama Kaya with a few of her great grand children all around her.

Worthy of Note:  

Once I asked Mama Kaya: "Mama, how many grand children and great grand children do you have?"

Mama Kaya answered: "Ayo! I have never learnt to count that much! Whatever God gives me, I say thank you Jesus!"

But family pictures were not enough. Mama Kaya wanted all guests to share the limelight with her and feel equally important. So she insisted to invite many guests to spend a precious moment by her side to soak in her special words of wisdom and love of Christ and Father Laval! 

It is during that precious time that I managed to record a few lessons of tremendous love for all from dear Mama Kaya!!!

(A transcript and translation of the video will be found at the end of this narrative.)

Then it was champagne and toast time to the living and the dead. 

Grand daughter Maurine who has very obviously inherited Mama Kaya's inherent joy and winning attitude popped the champagne cork. As she did she flashed her million dollar winning smile to all. Before serving the living, Maurine symbolically remembered the dead and departed by pouring some champagne on the soil. We are dust and to dust we shall return but at such a special family gathering, it was important to remember the departed with love.

At 90 years old, after Mama Kaya had more than a single sip of champagne, grand daughter Maurine led Mama Kaya and all onto the dancing floor. Mama Kaya opened up the dance and invited the guests to join in and celebrate with her to the notes of a lively Sega.

All who know Mama Kaya also know that she always talks about her faith and about the glory of God!

At the end of her 'tour de dance', how so very fitting for Mama Kaya to raise her arms up to heaven as she does so often giving all praise to the Lord!

That is the very source of the earthly joy that flows abundantly in her heart from above.

Thank you dear Mama Kaya for being you.

Thank you for reflecting so much the immense love of God for all His creation!

Thank you for passing on your contagious joy of living to all around you.