Day 31: Walk to Kopetatum

Hannah left on her way to South Africa this morning after a scary loss of a passport and a wonderful answer to the prayer of finding it. This leaves Rebekah and I on the construction team until a guy named Matthew joins us on Thursday along with the other team coming to do VBS type stuff.

Bob and his family are gone till tomorrow, and since there was not much we could do without him or Bobby he said it would be okay for us to follow Taryn around this morning. Taryn is the MA here that teaches preschool and trains Karamajong men and women to teach. Their program is called KEO (Karamoja Education Outreach), and they go to different villages to teach the kids. They also have an actual building near the clinic where we were digging the ditch that first week. Today, though, we went to Kopetatum, a village that is about a 30 minute walk from the mission.

We got there and set up tarps as mats for the kids to sit on. Then one of the teachers told me and Bekah, "Okay, now we go to mobilize de cheeldren." (I love their accents!) So we followed the teachers into the small villages, called homes, and they called "Potu!" which means "(you all) come."

I followed the feet in front, 

Walking through the sorghum fields. 

Sounds of children in the village
Get nearer and nearer.

To my left is a thorn fence
Separating us from a hut.
To my right, I hear low humming of a girl 

Between sorghum plants.

I follow the bare feet in front
Walking through the village.
Goats in clumps bleat;
Children run on tiny feet,
And they stop and stare.

In that state of eyes so wide,
Isee a look, reflection of what's inside. 

Big, brown eyes, looking at white skin,

 Maybe for the first time. 

But there's something deeper.

I follow the bare feet in front,
Calling to children to come and learn, 

While holding the gaze of the longing child.

A secret is hidden behind those eyes, 

A secret that may not be so secret --
May not be so different from what's seen outside.

I want to know the secret; 

I want to hold those hands.
I want to be the one she goes to
When her world makes no more sense.

Bring me back here
To this beautiful place,
A beautiful land filed with so many needs...
And this face.

I sit surrounded by comfort
When I am at home,
But I want to leave it behind
And follow the bare feet in front.

I want to be a part of them 

And live like they do,
Be able to love them and
Find out the truth
Behind the secret in their eyes.

I took some pictures, which I can attach to Facebook because it still won't let me attach here. The children were precious. The little ones had boogers running down their noses and only had half as many clothes as the older ones. The older ones which were not that much older but still carried babies on their backs with blankets, trying to shush them when they cried. I think the oldest there may have been around 8 or 9, although it's hard to tell age across cultures. (They look older than they are too us and we look younger than we are to them.)

 The teachers sat older and younger kids on different tarps and told Bible stories and read books. The teacher I was with with the younger kids told the story of Abraham and Isaac and how God told him to sacrifice his son. Then another teacher translated an English book into Karamajong about a girl named Lila who tried make rain fall for her village in Kenya that was in drought by telling the sky the saddest stories she knew so it would cry. We didn't get to the end because each teacher had 20 minutes. Another taught them the letters, A through N, and another taught them numbers up to 5. I remember 1 and 3 from that lesson, epi and uni. :P The Karamajong language is nice because the pronunciation is similar to Spanish.

It was about 10:30 when we left the village and around 11 when we got back. Oh excuse me, its starting to rain, have to save the laundry!!

Okay, I'm back now! So I have been here in the room I share with the girls since then having a nice, long quiet time and debating with Rebekah about things like how long people lived in Genesis and when Mt. Everest was formed.

Today's been a much-needed, restful day. I don't think my back could have handled any more hoeing of the rocks. XP Tomorrow, depending on what Bob says, Beckah and I may be able to follow Leah around to the villages.

Prayer requests:
David has been feeling not so good lately. He slept like 12 hours last night after having a 4hour nap. He has been tested for malaria and it came up negative, but he is still sick.

Prayer for the rest of us to remain sane and unsick in light of Ruth coming back from the clinic with diseases on her clothes and not taking until after dinner and then sitting on my bed with said diseases :P no seriously

Hannah, as she travels to South Africa. Thanks that her passport has been found *whew* and for her archaeological dig to go well

I have been leaving lunch early so I can read my Bible. Sometimes I even get to read before bed if I am in bed before 10:30, which sometimes happens. I am very thankful for the extra time I have in quiet. It's hard sometimes when you go on a mission trip to find time with the Reason you went in the first place... Thanks for your prayers!

Until next time,
Keelaire

Day 21 - Day 26

Today we pulled out the pipes from a borehole (basically a narrow well), about an hour from the mission, along with the drill bit that was attached to it. Then we lowered the casing that's supposed to keep all the dirt and things from contaminating the water and keep the walls from collapsing into the borehole. Eighteen cases, each ten feet long. My job was to grease both ends of each case so they would screw on easily, so I didn't not really see how the casing was lowered, but I know they used the drill rig and chains tied around at least the top end. It is hard to describe the rig without pictures, but I did not get any pictures because I did not have my phone on me. I know Hannah and Rebekah got some pictures . Maybe I can attach later.

After the casing was set in the hole, we poured silt around the casing so it wouldn't wobble in the hole. At a certain point in this process, water came GUSHING over three to of the casing. This we took lots of pictures of because Bob Wright (our boss) says this doesn't happen too often, and when it does, we know we have a winner. That's a good thing too because this job has taken a LONG time to complete. And that ground was hard! Took about 30 minutes on average for the drill to move one foot down!!

Then we dug around the casing and cemented a metal cylinder over top of it. There was a cover over it to prevent kids from throwing dirt or rocks into the water. Note we are just waiting a week for the cement to dry fully. (It's rainy season here so it rains pretty much every day.)

I wrote this blog on Friday before we took a 4 day long trip down country with the Knox's, going I could post the blog before then but wasn't able to. For some reason, it won't let me post pictures here, but maybe I can pay some to Facebook.

It is 9:46pm right now, so I am going to go to bed soon. Here, everyone gets tired early. I don't know if I've said this, but 9:00pm is "missionary midnight". :P Pretty accurate too. It does feel like midnight.

I will hopeful be able to write more later. As you are praying, please keep us and the team that will be coming next week in your prayers. Thank you so much!!!

Day 15 in Africa: Finally Settled In

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Today is a cooking and cleaning day! Our room is mostly cleaned, the kitchen is swept, and the smell of bread has made its way into the sitting area in the main house. Ruth and Hannah are sitting with me, uploading pictures and entertaining an MA couple's precious baby girl. Hannah and Bekah are still getting over a cold/some other type of disease, and Hannah's voice is hilarious. It sounds like what a guy's voice on helium would sound like or Hannah Montana. Take your pick. ;)

It's been a long time in coming, but I am finally feeling settled in here. Ruth and I are getting more familiar with the MA's here, the missionaries and their kids. There are 4 other MA's besides Hannah and Rebekah. Leah Hopp, the sister of Ben Hopp, who is in Haiti with his family, is a community health instructor. She goes around to different villages around Nakaale (where the mission is) and teaches people about how they can prevent getting sick. Shes been living here for about 7 years now. Taryn Deekman is a preschool teacher in a school right next to the clinic that Dr. Knox works in. She's been living here since 2013 and goes back to the US to visit family during the summers. Chris and Chloe Verdick have been here for about 3 years, 11 months of which have been with Carmel. Chloe is the money lady and keeps track of the money the visitors spend in groceries, room and board, and little things we buy. Chris is a little bit of an everything man, but mostly, I think, he supervises the Karamajong people the mission has employed as guards or other things.

There is one visitor at the moment besides Ruth and I named David. He is a 23-year-old former homeschooler who is studying to be a doctor and just completed his first year of medical school. He and Ruth both help out Doctor Jim Knox at the clinic during the week.

In about 3 weeks, a team of 9 will be coming from South California. If I am not mistaken, all of them, with the exception of one, will be doing some type of VBS thing with Pastor Al Tricaroco and Pastor David Okken at the schools around here. One of their guys will be joining Hannah, Rebekah, and I on the construction team.

At the moment, the MA's, Ruth, David and I are fed dinner on Mondays at the Wrights, Tuesdays at the Okkens, Thursdays at the Tricaricos, Fridays at either the Knox's or the Verdick's, and Saturdays is a combined dinner with all the families at the Tricaricos. Sundays and Wednesdays we make dinner for ourselves in the kitchen in the main house that is connected to the Tricaricos place.

 It will be interesting when the team comes because on these days we will have to coordinate food and who does the dishes with them. It is kind of hard with 6 people as it is; I guess we will have to get more organized. :P On the other days of the week I think we are taking turns with the California team going to the different missionary families' houses so we don't overwhelm them. Oh, and when the Tricaricos minus Pastor Al leave tomorrow to visit family and friends in the States for two months, I guess Pastor Al will keep cooking for us on Thursday and maybe we can cook for him on Saturdays.

I am excited to meet the team coming, and I am also a little apprehensive. I'm sure we would all appreciate prayer that we will all get along with them in the small space we have to share and that, above all, we would all be lights to each other.

I was surprised in coming here that we seem to have more interaction with each other, especially on the weekends, than

we do with the Karamajong. I have found that to be the hardest part of being here, since I am already so familiar with Hannah, Rebekah and Ruth. The time I have have spent with Jesus has been wonderful, but I am finding out that I have so little time to myself during the day that if I don't actively make time by giving something up I will get to the end of day after exhausting day without opening my Bible. I would greatly appreciate prayers for wisdom in what I can give up and what would be best to give up. It can be hard sometimes because a lot of that time is time getting to know the missionaries and MA's better. Saturdays and Sundays we have more time to ourselves and with each other since we only have a half day on Saturday for work, so it is easier on the weekends.

I am so looking forward to a full day of rest tomorrow and worship in the church with the Karamajong in Karamajong songs, a sermon by Pastor Dave and Sunday school with Pastor Al. Then there's evening service later and more singing, this time in English :) I love Sundays.

Please pray that God's Word would be fruitful here and that the nations would be glad and sing for joy, in Uganda, at home, and all around the world.

Psalm 67:4

Day 6: Digging a Trench

Last week, we dug a trench for the clinic to drain all the water from the sink down to the stream area more than 300 feet away. Bob Wright, the head of the construction/all-around handyman team, wanted to stop the kids from playing underneath the sink in the dirty water, the dogs from drinking the water and just to stop the muddy mess around where people walked. Rebekah, Hannah and I were the only ones digging for 6 days. We woke up every morning stiff and sore, ready to go back to work for another 8 hours.

The clinic is next to a small village called Moru Grace. Moru means “mountain,” and Leah (one of the Missionary Associates here) says that there used to be an old woman living in the mountain named Grace, so they basically called the village Grace’s mountain. Some kids and adults from the village and around the area would come and watch us while we dug, commenting in limited English on how hard the work was and asking if we were tired -- a question with an obvious answer, but they were trying to make conversation. :)

To ensure the piping we put in later would not be crushed by vehicles and/or people driving and walking over it, we dug the entire trench two feet deep and deeper in some places. The goal was to start out at two feet and gradually slope down so that the water would run down the pipes toward the stream behind the clinic fence. We measured this by pouring water in the trench every once in a while to check if it was going downhill. This worked while we had no pipes in the trench, but because of the unevenness of the trench at the bottom, the pipe did not necessarily lie flat the whole length of the trench… SO the water may pool in some areas of the pipe, but Bob said we don’t have to worry about it leaking because the dirt around the pipes will act as a glue once it is fully packed in around the pipes and eventually the water will build up and run out the end of the pipe into the stream. We are hoping this is the case. It was a long, hard week of work.

While we were digging one day – I believe it was the fourth or fifth day, the day we had to hack through a network of thorns to continue the trench on the other side of the clinic fence – I was thinking about the thorns that are all over Africa. They are a result of the curse, which are a result of Adam and Eve’s sin. They wouldn’t have been there if sin had not entered into the world. We would not have had to deal with them. I was stuck with thorns several times as Bekah and I were hacking through them, trying to clear the ground for our shovels, and I thought of the crown of thorns Jesus wore when he died for me on the cross… the crown of thorns that was jabbed so brutally into his skull, piercing skin and drawing blood. Huge thorns, like these I cut through with my machete – thorns that were a result of our sin. A curse that came upon the world when that first sin was committed and the first blood of an innocent lamb was shed to cover Adam and Eve’s shameful nakedness – a curse that has stayed ever since -- was jabbed into my Savior’s head thousands of years later, shedding the blood of the true innocent Lamb to cover our shameful nakedness and clothe us with his righteousness so that we could stand before his father, unashamed. What a wonderful Savior we have…

Our next project is to fill the potholes and deep groves in the dirt in front of the Wright’s workshop with stones we are hauling down from the site where we will be building a new clinic. The leftover rocks will be used to mix with cement to make concrete for the floors and ceiling.