It's been a few days...

It's been a few days since I've blogged, which gives a bit of an indication of what these past few days have been like!

There have been a few things going on around here, not the least of which has been losing 4 of our neighbors to Nairobi! Two couples have left us, and I'm sorry to see them go, as they've all been very good neighbors. One young couple went off to give birth in Nairobi, but they'll be back with the little one in a few months. The other couple, an older couple, have switched positions in their organization and have relocated. They also left in more of a rush than they otherwise would have because of the wife's health. So we're praying that they'll figure out what's causing all of her problems. It's always sad to see people go from around here, but I guess that's just part of life - especially in this type of life, people are constantly coming and going. You learn to appreciate people for the time that they're with you, and be open to making friends with the next people who come along to take their place!

But there have been some fun activities - Boggle with my fellow Canadian on the compound. You'd think that being a literacy specialist, I'd be better at Boggle than I am. I actually really stink at it! Maybe there's an online version that I can practice with... :)

We've also welcomed two Americans into our little "family" for a few weeks. They had quite an adventure getting here, which I don't want to get into the details of. But pray that we can all help them work through some of the difficult things that they experienced on their journey here.

We had a little fun with Zane the other day, too, since our neighbors brought me some vaccinations for the little guy! He didn't seem to mind the shot, since Grace did it all without much ado. She did, however, make much ado about posing with the syringe, giving me and Richard shots! Silly girl. It amazes me the things we find for entertainment around here.

I HAVE done some work this week, too, though! I went to an NGO forum meeting the other morning. Once a month, reps from each NGO here gets together to try to coordinate our efforts and discuss issues that pertain to the whole NGO "community". Seems like most people hate the meeting, but, well, quite honestly, I quite enjoyed it! It's just nice to get out to meet some different people and hear about what's going on the in NGO world, since we're quite set apart from a lot of the things that most other NGOs are involved in here. We don't have people in "the field" and move medical supplies around and all that sort of thing. It feels a little like we're very much on the fringe of the NGO world, but I DO think it's good PR for us to be at those kinds of meetings. Most NGOs don't think too much about the language issues... and they'll do health training, or teacher training or whatever, in English or Arabic, and don't quite realize that their work might be that much more effective if they use a language that the people in the communities actually understand! So at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'm trying to advocate for the use of local languages wherever possible :)

I also have heard a rumor that one of my friends from where I used to live has been released from where he was. It may be that he has been released for a two week "holiday" for Easter, and then he'll have to go back again. But pray with me that it will be a real release and that he'll be free to go on with the rest of his life after a year and a half in captivity! I'm hoping to learn a bit more when my friend in Egypt calls them tomorrow and then he'll email me with the news, since I don't have any way to call them myself... Keep praying for Teddy, for those of you who know his situation.

Um, ok, there's plenty more I can say, and I realize this post is a rather boring one! I think I'm still dehydrated from my sleeping last night! I tried sleeping with a little frozen bottle last night, since my neighbor said it worked wonders for her the night before... but, well, yeah, it was too hot for even the neighbors deep freeze to freeze my water bottle yesterday! So much for that idea. Richard dragged his mattress out to sleep under the trees last night, and he said that he got so cool that he even had to use his sheet in the morning. So that might be an idea, but I'm not sure if I would sleep any better in the middle of our parking lot, knowing that the guards and the neighbors would all be watching! The search for a nice cool sleep continues.

Since it's Good Friday today, we're just sitting around and resting. It's nice to have an excuse to really just sit around and languish for a day! But I do hope to make some space to celebrate a true Easter this weekend, as well. The resurrection is just too important to not spend some time pondering...