My friend Amani

Amani means peace.  It’s funny how I met Amani from the Congo.  I did not realize that he was a major figure so when I picked him up in my yoga clothes and immediately started joking with him and trying to speak funny French; we connected.  I was just a volunteer helping with a fundraiser in Santa Monica.  Now I am a friend of Amani.  He thanked me for my joy and said that I have a love and light that was genuine.  He also said not to be angry over things that we have no control over.  After hearing about how is mom and dad were killed by rebel groups in the Congo and his work to educate women and children by creating a peace market… he is the living example of not being angry over things for which we cannot control. 

We shared stories as we discussed life, love, and family.  He told me a funny tale about a fertility mask.  A woman came to visit the peace market in the Congo and shared how she was unable to have a child.  Amani gave her a fertility mask.  He told her that it was supposed to bring her luck and blessings and that if she believed she would get pregnant.  Then Amani looked at me and laughed… He said, Katie – the next year she was pregnant. And then he said – there is no such thing as a fertility mask…  I just wanted her to believe that she would be able to have children.  The mask was a means to an end. 
I can still hear him laughing. 
 Amani then invited me to be his friend and come to the Congo.