Home again!

Yup, I made it home. 10 minutes after arriving home from the airport, I was called to a 3 hour marathon meeting on the compound. Phew, it was tiring. I have to admit, I was pretty anxious to get that meeting over and done with! I was meeting-ed out! But the meetings last week in that small town were really good. And even the marathon meeting back here at home was good - there are so few times when all the appropriate people are in the same place at the same time, so it was good to sit and talk face to face about some of the things that are going on here.

This morning started out a little strangely, too! There was some sort of house to house search for weapons going on this morning. So all the roads were closed, and everyone was just supposed to stay home. However, we had some people coming and going from the airport! So we couldn't just leave them there... and there was supposed to be some special permission for the airport runs.

But the average soldier on the street doesn't really care that you're going to the airport. So I was stopped several times on my way there by soldiers carrying really big guns! I just stopped the truck, and tried to speak politely and flutter my eyelashes a little at the soldiers that stopped me. One guy was pretty fierce. But there were a few others who just joked around with me a little and were really quite friendly once I told them what I was doing!

And it was probably a really good day for one of our visitors to come - he's the director for the project funding from our international organization, based in the US. He's also lived before in Africa, but there's something somehow satisfying when we have visitors and they can see how crazy things are around here!

We're living off the generator again these days, so I only have a few minutes before the lights (and my internet connection!) go out. So I'll get this posted and climb into bed. Have a great day, and I hope it's less crazy than mine was today!

But more seriously

This has been a good time at this conference to talk with people and network with various folks who are working to build God's Kingdom in this country. I'm pretty tired, and in a way slightly discouraged just because I keep seeing SO many opportunities where our organization could do SO much good. But we're just so think on the ground that we can't do anything more than what we're already doing. Language really affects EVERYTHING that every one of the 120 people and the organizations that they represent, does. But I can't do hardly anything about it, except encourage people to think about what language would be most effective for them to use in the work that they're doing.

But it has also been incredibly encouraging to hear the stories and to see what God is doing in this country, both through expats like me, but more importantly, though the church leaders and people from this country. There are so many people here with such amazing vision and passion for God and for their people. It is encouraging to see what I am part of a bigger thing that God is doing here in this country. And it's amazing to see the unity that there is among the different organizations and church denominations in this country.

I was also especially encouraged by the devotion this morning, and I want to share it now, just so that I also remind myself :) One of the Bible translators who works with us shared the devotion on... um... uh oh, what was the passage now... I think it was 2 Kings 4 (I have it written down in my notebook!), but anyways, it's the story of Elisha and the widow whose sons were going to be taken into slavery to pay the debts of her husband. Elisha asked her, "What do you have?" "Nothing," she replied, "except this little bit of oil." And of course, God did a great miracle and took that small bit of oil which she didn't even count as an asset, and multiplied it so that it bought the very freedom of her sons.

I was so encouraged by that, because I keep feeling like I really have so little to offer. When people ask me here, "So what can you offer", I feel like that woman - I have "nothing", well, ok, maybe some expertise in language and mother tongue literacy and translation. So I just need to keep reminding myself that God can use these things which I hardly regard as an asset, and use it to bring freedom to the people in this country.

Some Sillyness

I'm sitting here watching a DVD about a ministry that I've already seen a few times before, so I thought I would surf facebook for a bit. And this is what I came across. A site that tells you "what kind of guy you would fall for". So, since I've been all serious and "missionary-ish" for the last three days... I thought I would take five minutes for some recreation :)

What Kind of Guy Will You Fall For?
	You would fall for the gentleman. Keep an eye out for your love at your next formal or field trip to the opera. Watch out for bad boys who walk on the inside of the curb and don't hold the door for you, and you'll end up with the guy who's suave, sophisticated, and classy through-and-through.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Know anyone like that? My computer, for some reason, still thinks I'm in Italy, so all of my Google and Blogspot interfaces are still in Italian. Maybe it's preparing to meet an Italian speaking gentleman sometime soon?!

safe and sound again

After a wonderful ride in the little plane (I was by far the most excited one on board!), we arrived in a nice little town, a town where I've been before. I had SUCH a nice time here last time I was here, and this time promises to be a wonderful time, as well. Already, I'm cold :)

The plane landed around 4:30 pm, on a red dirt track. The airport was a single brick building, with a few plastic chairs under a little shade. It was manned by one soldier, who said hello to us. Then we waited. The airport is quite a ways from town, and we weren't quite sure what was going to happen and how we would get to town. At least there were 11 of us all together, going to the same place. Thankfully, I also had the phone number in my phone of the person who I stayed with last time (and one of the organizers of the conference!) and they sent a car for us. I still get amazed when phone communications work here!

We did have to wait for close to an hour for the person to come fetch us from the airport, but it was SO nice out there at the airport, that I didn't mind. We were standing out in the sun and not even breaking a sweat. And we were surrounded by lush trees and high grass... so peaceful and quiet. Not a single plastic water bottle or bit of trash anywhere to be seen! So refreshing already.

It's now 9:30 pm, and I'm sitting in the conference room and making use of the wireless network that they've set up for this purpose. I tell you, life is good. My toes are cold and I'm using wireless. And, I've already had some good, encouraging conversations with people about the work here... I shouldn't forget that I AM still on "duty" :)

And, for some reason, my blogger site has turned into Italian. Strange, especially since I was just talking to someone tonight about some mutual friends that we have in Italy. It all makes me start craving a good capuccino...

Generators, banks and other fun stuff

So we're back on the generator for electricity. City power has been out for three whole days now, with no end in sight :( Oh well. I've delegated the task of buying diesel this week for the generator to someone else, so hopefully that will work itself out! But that also explains why I haven't blogged much lately - between the limited electricity and the internet not working in our house... it's pretty hard to get my daily dose of internet surfing time. It's probably good for me, actually!

I also went to the bank today. I learned that when going to the bank here, make sure you bring your own pen, and your own folder to leave with the bankers so they can keep your papers all together. They don't provide photo copies, pens or file folders at the local bank, so you have to come armed with your own stationary shop.

And other fun stuff... hmmm... there's not so much fun going on lately! Poor little Zane has been stuck in the guesthouse all day. He's scared to go to our house because every time he gets near our house, Scamper comes and tries to pick a fight. Zane seems to be getting a little fatter, and he's always hungry, but we're trying to make sure he doesn't get too fat. So far, his only advantage over Scamper is the fact that he's lighter and quicker at running up the trees! But if Zane's belly keeps growing... well, I'm afraid he won't be so quick getting up the trees.

Anyways, it's getting close to the generator shut off hour, so I'd best get the guards their tea, get my kitty safely home and fed, and throw a few things in my bag for my trip tomorrow! I'm so excited to get to fly in a little plane tomorrow!

Phew.

I'm all meeting-ed out, man. Three solid days of meetings just takes it out of me. But I think they were relatively good meetings. It's always good to "network" and hear about what other people are doing. And to tell them what we're doing. So we can all work together. But man, it makes me tired!

Yesterday I just found out that I've been nominated to go to a different town to go to three MORE days of meetings next week! But I've been to that town before, and it's a very nice place, so it will be nice to be there again, and to see some friends there. AND, this is the best part, I get to fly on a charter plane :) The roads are just too terrible, and I might not even make it there by bus, so one of the mission organization has chartered a little plane to go there! That means I get to fly (for cheap!) on a little plane. I'm sure it will be good fun, and hopefully I'll get a window seat so I can take some pictures from the air. So since I'm tired of meetings tonight, I'm thinking about the fun that it's going to be on Tuesday morning going to the next round of meetings. Oh yeah, did I mention that I have a full morning of meetings on Monday, as well?!

I've seen a book called, "Death by Meeting". If you don't hear from me next week... you can assume that's what's happened.

On the funny side of life, when I came back today from the meetings at about 6:30pm, one of the girls who works in the guesthouse was on her way home. She was sporting a serious Afro hair-do. I've never seen such big hair worn so proudly. She's never done anything like that before, and it was, well, quite the sight! I'm not sure if it's the influence of our Ugandan cook on her or what...

Did someone say, "Mother Tongue Education"?!

Yup, I got a real platform to get on my soap box today! It was GREAT! There is an association here of NGOs and churches who are working in education programs, and we had day one of our three day "workshop consultation" today. I was given an entire HOUR to get on my soap box and talk about mother tongue education and the value of teaching first in one's own language. And yes, Jonathan, it does work best to teach in one's first language before transitioning and bridging to a second language.

It was great - a little scary, but I got into teacher mode, and I think my presentation was one of the more interesting presentations of the whole day. I love teaching and being able to get people interacting and discussing and doing things with the material that I'm presenting. It always takes longer, but it's so much more fun than simply standing up and going through a power point in a deadpan. I don't know where the whole "lecture" style started, but I'm moving more and more away from lecture style in any teaching and getting much more into participatory learning. It's way more fun!

Who would have thought that me, of all people, would be so excited to have the opportunity to get up in front of a group of people and teach?! I'm not even terrified by the questions that people ask me afterwards :) But man, the discussion gets pretty heated when you get people here discussing their language. We're planning two week workshops for people to start discussing their languages, and if today was any indication of what those workshops are going to be like... phew... we're going to need a lot of prayer to get through them!

Anyways, rejoice with me tonight for the opportunity to talk with people about the value of mother tongue education, and thank Him with me for the crazy ability that he's given me to be able to actually stand in front of people and enjoy teaching them!

I'd better go and get some sleep. Tomorrow is another day full of meetings, and I don't want to fall asleep!

I'm a servant, really, I am...

I have to admit something publicly today. I've been reading about the power of confession, so I'm going to practice. I wish that I could be the type of person who really, truly, was a servant, with a humble heart who was willing to serve in any way, shape or form, and not expect to have any kind of recognition from the people around me! But today, I failed miserably at it.

There are a lot of "big-wigs" from my organization here this week for some big meetings. Of course, they're all staying in the guesthouse, which me and Jackie are NOT the managers of... but since there's no one else to manage the guesthouse, we are the managers. Sigh. We've already fielded a few complaints about the cleanliness of the guesthouse... but we're really doing the best we can, and even with a full time manager, it's just impossible to keep things spic and span around here. So I've been feeling slightly under-appreciated for everything that me and Jackie have been doing around here to keep this place running.

And then, today, at 6pm, just as I was closing up my computer for the evening, I saw a stream running from the bathroom out through my office and one of the guestrooms, and into the veranda. I put out a mayday "SOS" call to Richard, and he came running towards the toilet, which is where all the water was pouring up from. Yup, up from. There was a back-up somewhere along the line between the toilet and the septic tank... and it was all coming back up the toilet. So Richard had to start digging in the back, to figure out where the plug was, and I had to start mopping in the house. It took me over an hour of mopping (with lots of bleach!) to clean up the yucky water that was pouring through the house.

And I noticed about 45 minutes into my mopping that the whole time, I had been looking around, waiting for some big-wig to notice my servant leadership, my humble heart that was so willing to help where needed, my smiling, happy attitude at being able to do the dirtiest job, to really be the lowest of the low. I was waiting for some sort of recognition of the crappiest job that I was doing, so that someone would take notice and say what a wonderful person I was.

But then I felt so convicted that I was obviously doing it for the wrong reasons. I mean, I really DO want to be a person who doesn't seek recognition from the people around me. I just want to seek the recognition of Christ, to please and honor Him in all that I do - whether it's making a presentation about the value and worth of Mother Tongue education, talking with Ministers in the government, or mopping up sewage from the guesthouse! I just want to do things humbly, in His service, to bring Him glory, and not to seek glory for myself. So please pray with me that I can do that - because I have a feeling there's going to be a lot more sewage to mop up before I'm done in this country!

Sunday?

Another typical day… Today started with a run to the airport, but this time, our phones didn’t let us down! It’s amazing to be able to communicate by phone. Richard just called me when they landed, and I had time to finish my coffee before jumping in the truck to fetch some friends from the airport! I almost didn’t recognize Richard at the airport, as he was wearing a fancy shirt with real cuff-links! Very smart. But Grace, you’ll be happy to know that he’s getting big hair again, so he looks like a local :)

The day continued with a cup of tea with all the people who are gathering for the meetings this week. They’re coming from all corners, I tell you… I did manage to listen to a John Piper sermon for a while. What a good, convicting sermon, once again. He was talking about the kingdom… and what a JOY it is to give up everything, for the sake of the kingdom. As John Piper often talks about, this sermon was about the fact that yes, we do make sacrifices and we do things that are hard for the sake of Kingdom… but in the parable, the man gave up everything joyfully. And that’s something that I’ve been forgetting about lately. I’ve been grumbling a bit about certain things here. I need to stop doing that, and really do my work, no matter what it is, with more joy! I think if I spend more time praying for more joy in the silly little things that I do every day, God will help me to change my mind, and will have more joy. So this week is going to be an experiment in finding joy in all the crazy circumstances I’ll find myself in!

My first opportunity for being joyful in all things came this afternoon, when I had to try to fix the internet again. The wireless isn’t working in any of the houses on our side of the compound… thankfully, it still works in the guesthouse, but now I can’t sit in my bed and use the internet. No more late night chats with friends, unless I walk over to the guesthouse and sit in my office L But we had some fun trying to fix it – me, Richard and Jackie all took turns climbing up and down the ladders, changing all the cables and boxes that we know how to do. Turns out, it seems to us that the actual fibre optic cable is broken – probably munched on by some rat in the ceiling of one of the houses. That’s the one thing that we don’t have the extra equipment here to fix L But anyways, I had a bit of fun trying to diagnose the whole thing!

Adventures in Art

Then, this evening, Jackie and I had yet another adventure! Jackie had gotten an invitation earlier in the week for… get this… an ART EXHIBIT! Wow, right here in our own town. Real art. So we were pretty excited. We took the map that was posted on the internet and set off into the night. Now, keep in mind that there are NO street names, no street signs, no street lamps… and hardly any streets in this town. Most of the roads here are barely more than tracks winding their way around mud huts. Remember, we had to use the 4 wheel drive to visit our translators houses a few weeks ago… and it’s been raining since then. And it was dark. And we’ve never been to this place before.

But for the sake of art, we were willing to try. We almost threw each other out of the car, arguing over where we actually were at one point. I guess Jackie’s German stubbornness and my Dutch hard-headedness don’t mix too well in certain circumstances – driving (could you really call creeping over the rocks, through the ravines and fields driving?!) around the back-tracks of the town in the dark is one of those circumstances!

Anyways, after we both got out of the car on two separate occasions to ask various people if they had any idea of where this place was, we managed to find some lights in the distance, and we sort of drove towards the lights, assuming that the place we were going to had a generator! There were a few iffy moments where we weren’t really sure which track to choose, as we didn’t want to get stuck in a ravine or in a muddy mire. Twice we passed a landcruiser, surrounded by a group of men, digging and shoving and pushing. It was really, really stuck… me and Jackie certainly didn’t want to end up like that!

We had almost given up hope of finding the place, especially since the exhibit was supposed to be over at 8pm… and it was now going on 8:02. But finally… the lights in the distance were right next to us, and we had managed to find the place. And happily enough, they were still serving up drinks and samosas!

This place was really quite posh – beautiful wooden tables and chairs with cushions, and a handful of lovely photos on the wall. The photos were of some of the cattle camps in the area, and some were really stunning. We enjoyed the company of the manager of the place more than the art, though! She’s a lovely woman from South Africa, who is actually friends with our South African friends who stay in our guesthouse from time to time. She obviously has very high standards for her guesthouse and restaurant, and has made the place into quite a posh place, with a lot of the comforts of home. You can even get a hot shower there! Yup, hot water falling from the shower head! Amazing.

She’s trained the cooks there to make all sorts of wonderful things with what’s mainly available locally. So we sat for a couple of hours over Coke and samosas and exchanged recipes and where to find things in which market, and which little supermarkets have the best selection of whatever. Funny, since even things like oats and yogurt are specialty items, and you have to know just which shop has which specific item! She gave us some good ideas for some new food things to try, and we told her about the joys of “jibna” goat cheese (tastes a lot like feta) and the new shipment of strawberry yogurt that’s just come in.

She was so laid back and easy to chat with, even though she obviously has a lot of very wealthy guests in and out of that place! But I really like anyone who can sit and make jokes about the reinforced sports bras that you have to wear when driving around on the roads here! It’s always fun to get out and meet new people like her. She’s trying to get their cappuccino machine going, and when that happens, she’ll open a proper café, with lattes and muffins and internet. Wow. Of course, our Coke cost over $2, so who knows what it would cost to get a coffee and a muffin?! Maybe I can get a part time job as a barista there, to save enough money to have a coffee and muffin once a week - I’m certified, after all, from my days at the Second Cup :)

Even though the evening was supposed to end at 8, and everyone had already gone home, our new South African friend sat and talked with us for quite a long time, and her waiters kept bringing me more samosas… so I just kept eating them. Hope I didn’t make a pig of myself. But they were filled with ground beef! First ground beef I’ve had since leaving Nairobi a month ago!

Eventually, though, it was getting late, so we had to jump back into the truck, and find our way home again, though the ravines, over the rocks and boulders, past the poor guys who were STILL stuck in the mud, past all the sleepy goats and burning trash piles, back home. It felt like such a lovely night out – for a few hours I completely forgot which city I was in, which is sometimes a welcome diversion.

A few lessons from the day

1. When trying to wash a pick-up truck, do NOT choose an African translation consultant as your truck-scrubbing buddy. Choose a Montana farm girl instead.
2. Eating with friends is good, as it can prevent you from having to actually cook anything for several nights in a row.
3. When you find a good Chinese restaurant, get the phone number so you can have take-out anytime you want.
4. The internet CAN be used to book flights on the local airlines... but I wouldn't recommend it.

More good times...

We had a fantastic party that we had at the guesthouse this evening. I feel so blessed to have a place at my disposal where I can host 35 people for a sit down dinner... and then have a good friend to help me wash all the dishes afterwards :)

Here are some photos of my friends' birthday party. We celebrated 2 birthdays tonight - one a Canadian who lives on the compound, and the other of a Dutch man who does not live on the compound, but works for an NGO with whom we are well-acquainted!Jackie, Ian (a former neighbor who's back to visit!), and Karinya, my age -mate :)
Kendrah, the birthday girl is on the left. She's quite sick, but managed to stay upright through the entire party! Paige and Ruth are also in the photo, though Ruth is looking like she's not having too much fun...Rhonda and Kristen and two of the other birthday boys' friends that I didn't actually get to formally meet!

Why don't you come and join our next potluck? Doesn't it look like fun?!

Handy-girl

I just have to say that I'm quite proud of myself today. I figured out how to fix a towel bar in one of the guesthouse rooms today! It feels good to be able to be self-sufficient and do things on your own sometimes.

Of course, my nieghbor came over after work this evening and had a little chat. She was feeling happy because she helped immunize 300 children today against polio and other crazy child-killing diseases that they have here. So she saved the lives of 300 children. I put up a towel bar.

Oh well, like I've said before, we all have our own part to play in rebuilding this country!

I also worked on my presentation that I'll be doing about mother tongue education to a group of Christian educators next week. I hope that it will be a good conversation starter so that people start thinking about the HUGE issue of language in education. It seems that people, even teachers from "outside", still just assume that "education" = "english".

I'm trying to convince them that learning in their mother tongue FIRST is actually a much more educationally sound policy! People keep talking about "access to education", but they fail to realize that no matter how many schools you build, if the children can't actually understand what their teacher is telling them, or what's written in their textbooks, that they don't have any access to education.

But I won't get started here. It's definitely my soap-box of the year! If any of you want to know more about this topic... I have a few articles that I can email you :)

Spill over from last night

I didn't get around to telling you about the rest of my evening yesterday. I went with my buddies from the compound here to the poshest restaurant in the whole city for dinner. Really, sitting there on a raised platform over the Nile, with candle-light, in cozy chairs... you feel like you're in a completely different country. And you pay like you're in a completely different country, too! Entrees are between $25 and $30, and piece of Apple Pie with Ice Cream will cost you $10! I had no clue that it was THAT expensive, though I knew it would be a little pricey. So I just ordered a salad, actually. But in the end, my neighbours blessed me and picked up the bill :)

Anyways, we had a really nice time together. I enjoyed their company immensely. There are some really, really good, interesting people around here, and it's a privilege to get to rub elbows with them day in and day out. I'm sure going to miss them when they move off our compound and into their new homes.

Anyways, we didn't get back till quite late, and that's when I finally sat down and thought about all that had happened through the day. Phew.

This evening, as I was making the tea for the night guards, I was chatting with another woman who's staying in our guesthouse. She's English, but has been in this country for a really, really long time. In fact, she preached the first sermon that I heard when I moved here - the one that was a real message from God about his purpose for me here. I think it's the only sermon I remember from the last year! Again, she's just a really amazing, good woman who cares for the people here and has done so much for them.

She is quite highly respected in the Anglican church here, and was actually invited to the baptism dinner of this Major General yesterday! So she was sitting around in the house of the man who had been baptized, together with the President himself, and all of the other Ministers who had been present at the occasion. She had wonderful things to say about how God is moving in the ranks of the government. She's completely convinced by what this man had to say at the dinner that he is truly converted and is willing to stand firm with integrity as a Christian in his powerful position! She also believes that some of the other Ministers who were present are seeking the Lord and are also coming close to making decisions of faith. Wouldn't it be an amazing answer to prayer if all of these powerful men did actually decide to live for Christ, and rule this country on Biblical principles? That would give me some real hope for this land and for its people. What an encouragement it was to hear about what God's doing in the government. Let's keep praying, 'cause God is answering :)

A weird day

It's been a strange day all around. It's late tonight, and I really should be fast asleep... but I'm still trying to get my head around all that happened tonight! It's really been a very, well, "classic" sort of day when anything and everything seems to happen all at once.

First, it started out with church. I was going to jump in the truck with Wes and a few other folks from the compound. Of course, trying to go anywhere with 4 individual people is rather difficult and takes time for everyone to gather. Whilst waiting, Kristen was munching on an apple. Yup, a lovely green apple. I think she saw me eying her apple, so she ran back to her house and brought me one. Wow, amazing little fruit. It's only the third apple I've had since leaving Canada, I think. That would be one apple every two months. Whereas at home, I eat an apple every day - like, 30 a month!

Anyways, it was a good apple, let me tell you. I happily munched all the way to church. Once we got to church, it was clear we weren't getting a seat inside! It was a special baptism day today - one of the big Ministers in the government, who also happens to be a Major General in the local military, was being baptized today! It was really quite something, actually, 'cause this man is a powerful man here. And if he ends up doing his job with Christian principles, and trying to do things that will honor God in this country... things could actually go somewhere! He even said in his short testimony that he wasn't doing this for political reasons, but because he really does have a relationship with God. So I pray that there will be more Christians like him taking a public stand and acting on their beliefs.

Anyways, it was quite the day - so we ended up sitting outside under a tent, in plastic chairs, watching the thing on a tv screen. The drama involved in getting the tv positioned to the right place at the right time, and actually getting any sound out of the tv... well, that's a whole 'nother story. It seemed like it would have been a really funny story to blog this morning while it was all happening - just imagine a crowd of angry church-goers trying to give advice to a group of priests in their collars and Sunday suits, in the hot sun, as they fiddle around with various configerations of tvs, tables and extension cords.

Needless to say, we missed quite a lot of the service, and I really have no idea how the actual baptism went, or even most of what the guy being baptized had to say. So I didn't come home from church feeling real edified... but I DID see the president as he arrived with his entourage! It was also quite another thing to see the president's body guards all dressed up in their Sunday finest. Normally, they're wearing guard/army uniforms. But today they were all decked out in their safari suits. It was also interesting to note that the armoured truck which follows the president everywhere he goes had to stay outside the church compound, along with the armed guards. I didn't see a single armed guard within the church compound, which is unusual when the president is around. There are usually a large number of large men with large guns in the immediate vicinity of this president! So I can officially say that I have attended church with the president here!

[The section that was here before has been edited from its previous version... just wanted to say thanks to those of you who prayed for my friends. God has softened their hearts and they are working things out, but it still burdens me a bit, knowing that my friends are struggling!]

Phew, man, that was enough to really take it out of me today. But I had also planned to have an "art afternoon" with another friend here. So she also came over, and all of us spent a few hours creating some lovely things with watercolors. I think it was good for P to spend some quiet time doing something completely different. I know it was good for me. We had some great worship music playing on my MP3 player, and all of our creating felt so worshipful. Here's a sample of what I created - I have to admit that I was quite pleased with the results! The green leaves are from an avacado tree named Alvin, and the flower was based on the frangipani flowers that grow on the tree outside our house.
The painting of Alvin isn't quite done yet, and I've been completely inspired to make painting more of a regular hobby. It was really so relaxing, and I just really like what I created today, which is, in itself, somewhat unusual!
It was quite a rush to get my paints cleaned up, get the tea ready for the fellowship time and get all the chairs together etc. But I made it! I got to sing two songs together with everyone... and then a big old van arrived full of people.

Hmmm... they were looking for me. A young white guy jumped out of the van and told me that Richard had said to find me, and could 8 of them sleep in the guesthouse tonight!? Gulp. 8?! We had already turned people away earlier today. But these poor people had been on their way to a workshop, which is co-sponsored by our organization, in a town about 5 hour drive away, and they had been stopped at a checkpoint. Someone at the point took their passports away, and locked them in a drawer and wouldn't give them back. So they couldn't carry on their journey, and instead had to come back to the city to get things sorted out. Keep in mind, this was after 6pm on a Sunday evening in a town where you normally have to pay over $100 per person per night to stay anywhere. So I caved, and told them they could all sleep on the floor in the room where Richard's tools are stored! Jackie about killed me when she found out that I let 8 extra people stay in the guesthouse... but I simply couldn't turn them away into the street when they came begging... This American guy didn't even ask for a room - he just asked for a piece of floor where they could lay down...

Anyways, it took me quite a while to get them all settled in, and I was seriously scraping the bottom of the barrel to get them mattresses, sheets and anything else that they could use for sleeping! So once again, I worked up quite a sweat trying to get these folks settled into a room for the night. I hope they manage to get on their way tomorrow, because we are packed to the rafters for the rest of the month. And I really WILL have to kick them out tomorrow, regardless of whether or not they have a place to go!

I tell you, the life of a guesthouse manager ain't easy when you just want everyone to be happy! I've really gotta get some sleep, 'cause tomorrow is already looking like it's going to be another crazy day...

Rugby in Africa?

I just witnessed the New Zealand "All Blacks" haka (not sure how you spell that!) on satellite TV, as I sit here and use my wireless Internet :) Yeah, life is tough here. Actually, the satellite tv is on loan from a guest here in the guesthouse who is a real Rugby fan from South Africa. I'm hoping that there will be a break in the World Cup of Rugby so I can watch some "real" tv for a while! I'm gonna become a couch potato here yet. Of course, the tv is going away in 5 days, so, for the next few days, you know where to find me when I'm not in my office.

I actually went to work this morning, though. I had to go and represent us at the "World Literacy Day Celebration". I'll post some photos of it... if I can peel myself away from the rugby game on tv!

OK, I DID peel myself away from the TV, but it's a few days later... I have some photos of this whole event, so I'll just post them now, even though it's a few days too late!
Here's the band (which was surprisingly good - a little reggae feel), warming up and waiting for something to happen on stage.
And here's the armed forces section. They all got t-shirts. I didn't. Notice the plastic chairs. There must be thousands of plastic patio chairs in this city, as you find them EVERYWHERE you go - government offices, stadiums, church services...

Just a few comments

So just a few comments for the day.
As I was helping one of the translators with his computer issues, he turned to me and said that Bible translation is burning in his heart. It's the only job he could ever imagine doing. It's what God has made him and called him to do. And slowly, together, we will get it done. And it was just amazing to sit there and realize that as I was teaching him how to attach a file to an email, I was actually a part of his call to translate the Bible for his people who have not yet had any Scriptures to read at all. It was such another good reminder of why I'm here! In the past few days, I've felt like all I do are little administrative taskettes - keeping track of the pages printed, taking care of the guesthouse, helping the teams with their computers... but it all culminates in the translators and literacy workers who are part of the language teams here!

Tomorrow, I'm planning to do some more literacy related work - I have to finish a presentation on Mother Tongue education for a group of "Christian Educators". It will be a good opportunity to chat about the importance of language in education again. I'm afraid I'm going to start sounding like a broken record... but people need to keep hearing it until they start to do something about it :)

My second comment for the day is that I am very thankful for the house that we have to live in. I visited the pre-fabs that are going in on the property that the folks who rented this house before us are moving into. Man, those are ugly white metal boxes! And there is no ventilation... so when the A/C goes off, it just roasts everything inside. I'm liking our house more and more, with all of its character and open, breezy windows!

Now I'm going to bed, as that's all I have to comment on tonight :)

SA pupils burn 'witches' to death

I just saw this tonight on the BBC Website. This is some the sort of thing that I was learning about in the course that I took last month in Nairobi - witchcraft and other 'traditional' ideas are still very much alive and well in many parts of Africa, even in places like South Africa, which we think are so "Westernized" or "Christianized"! I could make a few more comments... but I won't 'cause it's late and I gotta get some sleep.

Two South African women have been burned to death after a group of students accused them of bewitching their high school with evil spirits.

Msaba Zungu and Thabitha Thusi, both 60, were seized from their homes near Manguzi in KwaZulu-Natal province.

Students and adults dragged them to a sports field where they were doused with petrol and set alight on Sunday.

Manhlenga High School pupils accused the women of being witches after they began to suffer strange crying fits.

Investigators said Ms Zungu died at the scene and Ms Thusi later succumbed to her burns injuries on Monday.

Police captain Jabulani Mdletshe told the BBC News website: "On 17 August, the students at the mixed high school began to cry randomly and they did not know why.

"The students held a couple of meetings and allegedly decided the problem was these two women were witches who had cast a bad muthi (spell) on the school.

"At 8pm on Sunday, some of the students and community members allegedly took the women from their homes to a football field and set them on fire."

No arrests have been made but police are following a positive line of inquiry, said Capt Mdletshe.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6980439.stm

Small, small world

This evening, the neighbor (the same one who fashions BBQ grills out of fuel drums) had a friend over to play frisbee golf. I was invited along to play... turns out the friend is a guy who works for the UN. I've met him before... in Asmara! I probably met 3 UN people the whole time I was in Eritrea. And I've met maybe 5 of them here. And one of them happens to be the same person. Crazy small world.

Weekend Part 2

On Sunday morning, I skipped church, since Richard had to go the airport. He's going back North to finish some work up there. Of course, once we got to the airport, there was a little sign, written with an old magic marker, which indicated that the flight would leave later in the day. So we got back in the truck and came home again. Good thing we live near the airport! I listened to a sermon on my MP3 player, which was really good. It was about perseverance, which seems to be the topic of just about anything that I pick up to read or any sermon or devotion that I hear lately! I really hope God's not using it to prepare me for something that's going to require some serious perseverance on my part...

Anyways, it was a great sermon, and I had a wonderful quiet morning in the house. It's SO nice to have a house! I think I really have the best of both worlds now - my own space and privacy in a house, but yet if I want to find someone to talk to, there are always people in the guesthouse! Zane seems to like the arrangement just fine, as well. Anyways, it was good to just sit and be quiet and to be alone with God for a while in the morning. It's hard for me to make time to just sit and be quiet in his presence, so it was refreshing to do it for a while yesterday. Funnily enough, our evening fellowship devotion was on that very topic, too!

K spoke about Elijah, and the story of when he was all tired out and running and then God spoke to him, not in the wind, not in the fire or earthquake, but in a quiet whisper. As she was talking about that, I was wondering why God bothered to send all those powerful noisy bits first - why didn't he just speak to Elijah in the whisper in the first place and save himself some trouble? I'm still not quite sure of the answer to that. I'm a rather distractable person, so I sort of puzzle over these seemingly intentional distractions that God put in the way of Elijah hearing his quiet voice. Why did he do that? What was he trying to teach us in that whole thing? If you have any grand ideas on this topic... please feel free to share!

Anyways, part of the evening's worship service was to just sit in a quiet place on the compound and be still, and to listen. Goodness, it was good. I really need to make more time to do that.

Before the fellowship, though, we had a wonderful BBQ in the compound! K and Chris had gone to the market on Saturday to try to find some meat to throw on the BBQ. However, they went too late in the day to find any meat. On the way back to the compound, though, they spied with their little eyes, three little goats tied up behind a restaurant! So they went and bargained with the cook to buy two of the goat legs :) And I have to admit, it was some of the best goat I have ever eaten! I made some guacamole, we had a ton of salads, some wonderful fresh bread from the woman down the street... it all just felt like such an afternoon outing in the park! I really felt like we had gone out to play in the park. We even had a game of badminton afterwards!
As you can see, our BBQ was lovingly crafted by our neighbors out of two metal drums that they use to store airplane fuel in!

I love these sorts of gatherings on our compound - we had about 12 people from all over the world - Sudan, UK, Canada, the States, the Philippines, South Africa, the Netherlands... quite a few countries were represented, and yet we all have a great time together!

Weekend!

Once again, I've had quite a good weekend here. Of course, it's not a long weekend, so it's right back at it tomorrow morning... but I have had some good fun this weekend anyways!

Friday night was movie night in our new home! I set up a screen which had been welded together for us from extra fence parts. One of the Kenyan chaps who was building our fence this past spring thought we needed a screen for our movies - he was tired of watching dvds which had crazy distorted faces from our makeshift screen in the guesthouse! It's quite a clever design, and all it needed was a white sheet stretched across the frame. Some good-meaning soul sent up some pure white sheets to be used for the guesthouse on the last truck. Personally, I would never send white sheets to be used in this guesthouse - I probably bathe more than the average bear around here, and I know how filthy my sheets get. I know that after one use, these pure white sheets are going to be grey and are just going to look awful.

So I had one of the brand new sheets in my hand, ready to be cut up to be made into a movie screen. But my conscience got the best of me... I just couldn't bring myself to make a brand new sheet into a screen. So I compromised and used one of the old plastic table clothes that's already falling apart. It used to be quite pretty, with a nice floral design... now it's so faded that it makes a perfect white-ish screen!

Of course, the grey sort of screen didn't help our movie look any brighter - we watched "Wuthering Heights", which is quite a gloomy movie! I didn't realize that story was so dark. We've now added a name to Scamper the cat - he's now known as Scamper Heathcliff.

Anyways, it was good to watch a movie together with our nieghbors. We have good nieghbors.

Yesterday, we were pleased as punch to realize that the barge coming down the Nile from the north, carrying all of the cooking gas cylindars had arrived in the city! For weeks now we've been waiting for this barge to come so we could get some gas for our house, and refill the cylindars in the guesthouse. In fact, we were getting pretty desperate- Vicky has already been cooking our lunches on the charcoal stove to conserve the gas, and while I was making lunch for everyone (pasta for 9 people!), the gas ran out just as the pasta was cooking. Fortunately, it caused the pasta to come out perfectly "al dente"!

Richard and I loaded up the truck with the old cylindars, including 2 from the Christian Blind Mission clinic, who were also completely out of gas for sterilizing their eye surgery instruments, and took the gas cylinder place by storm! We came out of there with so many cylindars, it was amazing the truck didn't bottom out on the way home. Anyways, it's nice to be able to cook again... and for the first time, we can use our new stove and cook in our house :)

We had great plans to cook dinner on the new stove last night... but then we were invited out for Chinese food instead! I'm still amazed that I can actually get sweet and sour pork in this city. At least if there's no gas to cook on, and no food in the markets, there is still sweet and sour pork! I think they fly in their food, since they have meat and produce that's certainly not available here in the city. In fact, this past week, even the pineapples and bananas were almost impossible to find. The rains have been really bad over the past little while, and the roads on which the trucks have to travel to bring the produce to the city are atrocious. Most of the produce is just rotting on the trucks on the way, since it's taking them so long to get through.

Oh, my battery is almost finished - better post and write more later!