Orientation Day with New OMI Novices at La Vista
(Originally Posted on Facebook)
Sr. Maxine Pohlman with Oblate Novices, Democracy Mudenda and Mark Hernandez on the banks of the “Mighty Mississippi.”
On August 20, Sister Maxine Pohlman, SSND, Director of La Vista Ecological Learning Center, shared La Vista with the new OMI Novices, Brothers David Chisha, Democracy Mudenda, and Mark Hernandez. As we explored this local bioregion, we also connected with the novices’ home regions in Texas and Zambia.
This trio has a keen interest in the natural world and shared their knowledge readily as we visited the crow’s nest and the pollinator garden where monarch caterpillars were consuming the butterfly milkweed and a frog was peeking out of the wren house. Along the front drive, at the base of a stump, the hen of the woods mushroom showed itself grandly just in time for our visit.
At the end of the day, each one drew a map of his special part of our common home, showing an awareness of ecological concerns in his homeland.
(Thanks to David Chisha for these photos.)
(L-R) Mark Hernandez, David Chisha and Democracy Mudenda, each holding a map they created of their homelands.