Wind in the Buffalo Grass: A Journey Back in Time - Softcover

In her introduction to this memoir, S. Marian Bohen writes: "My life has taught me that perhaps by sharing our limited visions of reality, our memories, and by listening seriously to those of others, we may together approach a deeper understanding of the mystery of our existence, our world, our universe. If we can listen to the stories, learn about the life experiences of others, I have hope for a world where we move into circles of equals. Lines and `choosing sides' make for clear separations that are sometimes useful. In a world we now recognize as one beautiful round globe in a vast universe, my hope is that we can learn to sit in circles of listeners and storytellers, rising from these circles infected with a fever for peace and understanding." These reflections and learnings were gleaned from almost a quarter of a century of the author's life lived among various ethnic and religious groups in three major areas of Indonesia: Java, Kalimantan and Western Papua. This is a tale of almost endless river journeys, life lived on platforms above a muddy swamp, twice-daily baths in a river with soap, sarong, and a bucket - a life of seeming deprivation to the Western mind, and yet a life enriched by the wisdom and humanity of ancient cultures in some of the most remote places on earth. Bohen's respect for and adaptation to her adopted land are truly inspirational. It is her hope that her readers will come to taste the truth and beauty inherent in the unlikely places and events that she describes.

S. Marian Bohen is an Ursuline Sister who has been involved in the ministry of education throughout a long life. She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and at a tender age moved to Albany, NY with her parents and three older siblings. In her early years of schooling she was made very aware of the world beyond her borders. While on the way to earning a bachelor degree at the College of New Rochelle, in the middle of her junior year, she entered the Ursuline novitiate in Beacon, N.Y. After completing her college education she was sent on for further studies in theology in Rome, on the eve of what would be the fresh air of the Second Vatican Council. After further studies, and a year teaching at the College of New Rochelle, she was finally on her way to the experience of which she writes in this memoir, "Wind in the Buffalo Grass" It is an account of the twenty-four years she spent in Indonesia in several different cultural settings. She began the journey in Bandung, then in Jakarta, during the early years of an independent Indonesia. She recounts the time spent in Jakarta during the years of Presidents Sukarno and Suharto. Her work there was two-fold: teaching theology to the young Indonesian Sisters, and teaching English to students at Atma Jaya University, and occasionally working with students in other universities. In her later years in Indonesia, She moved to Kalimantan (formerly Borneo) to engage in Pastoral education in the diocese of Banjarman. This involved alternating between planning sessions in the Banjarmasin office and journeys to pastoral centers throughout the diocese, to the small communities in the interior of Kalimantan. The last four years of her time in Indonesia were also in the educational field: as "docent" in theology in the Inter-Diocesan College "Fajar Timur" (Eastern Dawn) in Papua. After four years in Abepura, at this Institute, she realized it was time to "move on" as Papuan men and wom