The plan

So, what were you going to do today, Tanya?

Well, I had planned to print out and find a few literacy books in a local language for someone who wants to take them to his community to try to start some classes. We have a few in stock in a container here, but we have all of them in soft copy on the computer. So I was going to find samples of them all, printing out the ones that aren't in the container so Thomas can take them to his community and start getting some support from his community to get the books reprinted and used by the people!

After that, I was going to print out some handouts for the teacher training that we're starting at a local church on Saturday. Then I was going to get some other bits and pieces of follow up from our meeting at the Ministry of Education yesterday, and some other bits and pieces to prepare for a workshop that we're trying to get together in June, to train some teachers for a new pastoralist education program that's being started by one of the departments in the Ministry of Education.

But what did I really do today?

Thank you for asking. At the beginning of my book printing, our printer started malfunctioning in a big way. It's been acting up a bit, but today I couldn't get anything printed before it would jam. So Richard being the good guy that he is, saw me getting a bit frustrated with the computer. And he came along and offered to clean it all out for me. So I worked with him to give the printer a bath. Yes, I gave the plastic case parts an actual bath, with soap and water. In the meantime, Richard blew the dust out of the rest of the printer with the air compressor!

So, that took over an hour out of my morning.

Whilst having tea, I got asked, yet again, when I would be moving a new computer in someone's office. I told them I was trying to get to it... but I needed Richard's help, because I had to plug it into the UPS box, and I'm still a bit fuzzy on how those things work. But I told him I hadn't forgotten about it, so just be patient. Turns out he also asked Richard about it several times... so, we thought it wouldn't take too long, so let's just get it done with. So we gathered up the computer and marched over. The whole plugging into the UPS thing went fine... but then we realized that the network cable that the computer depends on to link into the whole system wasn't working.

So that started 3.5 hours of fun. Sweaty fun. Running back and forth to the computer office to get various bits and pieces. Running back and forth between the translation office and the access point to test out various things. Climbing up and down on chairs and filing cabinets to plug in network cables. And all to no avail. But Andy, the training that you gave me was put to good use! Richard and I changed the connector ends on the CAT-5 cable, repunched the port in the wall... too bad none of it resulted in any success :( But at least I felt like I had a bit of a clue about what to try and what to look for, and I could keep up to Richard as he was thinking through some possible solutions, too!

In the end, Richard and I opened up the desktop computer and stuck in a wireless adaptor inside, as the wired connection was completely failing. Richard, being the helpful guy that he is, was somewhat willing to climb up through the rat poo and bat droppings to run another cable through to the office. But that was asking too much at that point! It's really a disgusting job to get up there and pull cables. In fact, I would hazard a guess that the cable isn't working in the first place because a creature has probably chewed his way through it!

So then I tried to install the software to make the wireless adaptor run.

And still, no luck.

By that time, the generator was shutting off... so thankfully, I had to quit work on the computer for the day! Maybe tomorrow we'll have better success.

Thankfully, too, Friday is a holiday, so I'll have some time to myself to get all the things done that didn't get attended to today!

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Why I don't drive a car in Jb.

This morning, when I woke up, rather than the day getting brighter, as it usually does, this morning kept getting darker and darker and darker. So I hurried up and got myself ready to make the long commute to my office (about a 2 minute walk!), before the heavens let loose. I made sure to grab my beautiful new umbrella on the way out the door... and boy I was glad I did!

Just as I got to the office, the thunder and lightening shook the sky, and an amazing amount of water began falling from the sky.

Poor Matt and Pam were supposed to be leaving for Nairobi and then their trip to the US this morning... at the height of the rain storm! We have one gate in and out of the compound. However, that gate happens to be at the end of a driveway, down which an amazing amount of sand and garbage flood down with the rains. Which means that the gate gets completely stuck in mud, and we can't get out the gate without a whole lot of digging.

So dear James went out there in the rain and started digging. I don't think he got very far, as the river kept streaming in whilst he tried to dig it all out. In the meantime, Matt and Pam were itching to go. They were NOT going to miss their flight today, even though around these parts, no one moves in the rain, so I was doubting the folks from the airplane check-in were even at the airport yet!

But they were determined to get out... so determined, that Matt took the gate right off its hinges!

This is a picture of the aftermath of the storm, taken a few hours later when things had had a chance to dry out a bit!

Unfortunately, one of my colleagues drives a little car around here. This is why I don't drive a car:

Poor guy just sat in his car and spun and spun and spun, and got himself completely stuck. He ended up rather high centered - by the time the rescue mission got organized, his tires were barely even reaching the mud!

Thankfully, the posse came to the rescue again! Not only are these guys amazing at rescuing stolen phones, they're also good at getting cars out of the mud!


It's quite something to see how everything here becomes a communal effort - even if someone has nothing to contribute to the effort, one of our own was having a problem, so everyone had to go out and watch and stand together as those who had a solution tried to work it all out. They just had to "be" there, even if they didn't want to get their hands dirty!

I was there for a few minutes... except we had to leave because we had a meeting planned with one of the big wigs in the Ministry of Ed.! I told the guys that they would have to come and dig me and Jackie out next - I wasn't sure what the state of the roads were going to be like! But the truck already had his wheels locked into 4WD, so we were probably going to be ok, and wouldn't even have to step out of the truck into the mud in our finery to lock the hubs. And we were in our finery - you don't go visiting the big people in the Ministry in a t-shirt and wrinkly skirt!

Anyways, we made it back and forth to the Ministry without getting ourselves stuck in the mud, which was quite a feat! The meeting we had was even quite a useful one. It was amazing that the guy we wanted to see what actually there - he hadn't been there all day, but then came just in time for us not to leave before meeting with him!

I'm always amazed at how God brings these things together - in fact, had I made it through the mud to get to the village that we were planning to go to last week, I wouldn't be here this week, and I'd not have had that meeting with the big wig in the Ministry, nor would a lot of other things that had to happen this week have happened. Plus, I heard news from Adelino that the very truck we were trying to get on to get to the village ended up taking 5 whole days to get to the village a few kilometers up the road from where we would have been dropped. 5 days. I would have been sleeping on the ground, under the truck, eating wild fruits from the forest, peanut butter and mouldy bread for 5 days had we ended up on that truck! Thank you, Lord, that that driver was convicted not to take us! God really does work all things out for our own good!

But I'm still thankful for the big 4WD Hilux that I can drive here!

I love to go a-wandering...

Me, Jackie and Wes got up a little earlier than usual this morning to trade our urban jungle for the real jungle! The destination was the top of a mountain. Ok, so it was the same mountain top that we'd been been to on Easter Sunday... but there's not a whole lot of choice when it comes to finding mountains to climb around here!

Here's a photo of the intrepid climbers. As it happens, we are the three original inhabitants from our organization who were full-time permanent inhabitants of the city on which we are gazing down:


I've got a few more photos and stuff... but I want to get this posted before the lights go out! Maybe more later.

Malaria Awareness Week

Yup, it's Malaria Awareness Week here. Which means I've been getting text messages from the Ministry of Health all week, telling me to sleep under a mosquito net. The Ministry is getting high tech! I'm still not quite sure how they got my phone number, though!

Then today, they had a big celebration at the University, which is nearby our compound. One of our staff came back to the compound after the celebration, bearing gifts of baseball caps for everyone on his team. They were some of the nicer promotional caps I've seen - urging everyone to avoid malaria by sleeping under a net.

The guy astutely observed that if they really wanted to prevent malaria, the organizers of the awareness week should have spent the money on giving everyone a mosquito net to actually sleep under, rather than spending their budget on caps telling everyone to sleep under a mosquito net. Makes sense to me. But those caps sure did look smart. Too bad they weren't promoting sun-stroke awareness week.

Blog hampered by lack of electricity.

I've still got stories to tell from my misadventures to Trt, but my blogging has been severely hampered by a lack of electricity :( Actually, there's a story that goes along with the lack of electricity too... but I can't quite think of a way to tell the story that won't get me kicked out of the country if this post falls into the wrong hands :) The long and short of it, is that our electricity meter was changed to a different system... and due to a series of unfortunately events, it doesn't work. So the electricity is there, we just can't use it! So we're back to generator and are plunged into the darkness at 10:30 every evening.

However, since I decided to take the day off today (the first Saturday I've had off in a long time!), I'm sitting in my verandah, in front of the fan, listening to a little country music and playing on the internet (the generator will be on for another 30 minutes... just long enough to charge my cell phones and my computer battery).

So, where was I? Oh right, munching on poached bush buck... So yes, after a lovely dinner, we crashed in my bed, which was lovely! It's quite a bit cooler there, so I slept well, though there were lots of flies that somehow made their way into my mosquito net :( At least they were just flies, and not malaria carrying mossies!

The next morning, I woke up early (since I'd gone to bed early!), and packed everything up, waiting for my colleagues to come fetch me to take me to the market to find some transport up to the village. At least we all had cell phones, which made communication so much easier! I love cell phones! And they're relatively new in these parts, so I still remember when we first came here and there weren't any cell networks. Now you have your choice of 4 networks! Amazing how quickly things change... but I digress again.

Anyways, my people came for me, and we loaded up everything into the LandCruiser that was taking us to the market to meet the big lorry that had been arranged for us to travel with. Since we were in the market and I was already feeling rather conspicuous as the white girl with all the boxes of books, I didn't want to take out my camera and flash it around taking photos of everything. So I relied on my camera phone to get a few photos of the scene:

It's not very good, and I think I moved the phone before the picture was fully "captured" (I'm still learning how to get the best photos from the little thing!), but it gives a little idea of what the truck looked like that we were planning to take. When all was said and done, there would have been about 20 people piled on top of all the stuff in the back of the truck, plus me and the driver and who knows how many others inside the cab of the truck. My colleagues made sure to secure a spot inside the truck for me - I don't think they wanted to risk watching me bounce off the top of the truck! I appreciated their concern for me!

So while Peter and Adelino went off to make the arrangements, as well as to buy some things like some flour (for the staple porridge we would eat all week), as well as some beans and tea etc., to bring to the village with us, I was installed on a plastic chair in the shade of the tin roof of a little tea shop. I was quite happy to sit quietly in a corner, watching the frenzied activity of people chucking plastic buckets, cartons of washing soap, sacks of grains and sugar, beans and onions, tins of cooking oil, lumber, bamboo poles... all manner of things into the back of the truck. I was absolutely amazed at the nimbleness of some of the stooped old ladies as they swing themselves up onto the back of the truck! I was glad I didn't have to climb up there - everyone would have had a good laugh to see how the uncoordinated white girl hauled herself into the truck like a beached whale!

However, I was not to experience the joys of long-distance travel by lorry :(

As soon as everyone had packed the truck with their various bags, boxes and containers, the heavens let loose. And I mean, let loose with a vengeance! Lightening, thunder, and enough water to fill the Nile started coming down! I've not seen a storm like that in an awfully long time, and it came up SO incredibly fast! I was quickly ushered into the tea shop proper, along with our boxes of books, which we had, thankfully, had the foresight to wrap in plastic before we left Jb. And there I sat, for the next several hours.

Yes, hours. Adelino and Peter came back from where they had been, and we all huddled in the tea shop, making friends with all the others who had huddled there, taking shelter from the rain. While we were in there, the ladies were cooking some stew, serving tea and coffee to everyone huddled there, and keeping the charcoal going in the hubbly bubbly shisha pipes that people were smoking! It was quite the crowd! I was fearful that someone was going to fall into the charcoal stoves burning away in the middle of the jostling crowd. Thankfully, once again, as the white girl, I was given a chair in the corner to huddle on, whilst trying to stay away from the drips coming from the tin roof! Eventually, we had to hold things on our laps, since the water was coming into the tin shack, turning the dirt floor into a bit of a mud pit, as well!

In these parts, when it starts to rain, people don't move. You just don't go anywhere in the rain, whether you've got an umbrella or not, you just don't go anywhere in the rain. People here don't like to get wet and cold, and I can see why, since they don't really have nice weather proof houses to go back to, where they can change into dry clothes and be comfortable and dry. The trick to being comfortable and dry is to just not get wet in the first place!

Anyways, we eventually did have to move, but the rain was still coming down. The truck driver decided he wasn't going to go anywhere anymore that day - it was already past 1pm and the rain was still coming down in buckets. The road was not going to be a pretty sight, with all that rain. The road to the village, by all reports, isn't a pretty sight at the best of times, but directly following a massive downpour... it was most likely pretty much impassable :( So the truck went off to whereever he went off to spend the night.

So, we called the commissioner to see if we could use his car to take us back to our places again. We stopped for lunch on the way at a little restaurant. Adelino ate a lovely dish of intestines swimming in tomato paste, while I opted for the boring but more sure friend meat. It was actually quite tender, and there were little goat ribs to munch on! And it was all served with a starter of lentil soup! Not bad for $2.50 each, I'd say!

The Commissioner's driver dropped me back at the home of my friends in Trt. They weren't surprised to see me coming back, as they assumed the truck wouldn't be moving in the rain.

I spent the rest of the afternoon talking about literacy programs with my friends, and poking around their garden with them. I also had a chance to chat and visit with the folks who work on that compound - which was encouraging as it helped me realize how much of the local Arabic I'm starting to pick up, without really too much concentrated study on my part!

Just so you have another picture to break the monotony of this long, drawn out post, here's a photo of one of the literacy books that my friends use in their programs. They have an ABC book in the language that they're teaching in, and they've printed it on big paper, laminated it (they brought in their own laminating machine and go to one of the big NGOs in town to use their generator when they want to laminate something), and bound it with key rings, making quite a nice durable teaching aid for the teachers, which is big enough to be seen by most of the 60 students in the class!

That evening, my friends had been invited to a birthday party for someone who works for their mission organization, so I was also invited along! What fun it was! It was at the home of the white guy who had come to meet the plane we flew in on at the airstrip. So we had a good visit with some folks from that organization, got to eat some wonderful American food (steak, baked potatoes, tons of salad, chocolate cake and carrot cake!), and play some American style party games! A very relaxing evening with some new friends!

The next morning, we were set to try to go with the truck again. But again, it was raining. Sigh. Anyways, Adelino had told me to be ready, because they were coming to get me. So I packed my stuff and said goodbye to my friends again as they went off to their church service. And I sat in the house, at the ready to leave on a moment's notice. Yet no one came for me. Then I saw the truck that we had been planning to clamour onto drive by, loaded to the hilt with all sorts of stuff and people.

But still no Adelino or Peter. So I waited some more. I tried to relax a little, but it was hard to do when I was so uncertain as to whether or not I would start an epic voyage at any moment!

Finally, Adelino showed up. I gave him a cup of tea, as he looked a little haggard, and he reported the news that the truck driver decided he didn't want to attempt the last bit of road that he would have had to use to take us to the village. The final destination of the truck was a different town than where we wanted to go, but the previous day, he had agreed to do a short diversion to get us to where we needed to go. But considering the rain and the likely state of the roads, he was no longer willing to take the diversion. So that's why I saw the truck leaving without us.

So, by that time, the church service was over, and Adelino decided to go over to find some people that he knew to see if there were any other vehicles from any other NGOs or other organizations or businesses going up that road. I also went over to do some "networking" to see if I could find out any more information.

Alas, even after sitting around with a big group of people and guzzling yet another warm 500 ml of Coke, we were no closer to our goal. We did get an offer of renting someone's car for $300 and driving ourselves up the road. However, if a "professional" truck driver, who has driven the road for years was unwilling to attempt to get up the road, there was no way I was going to risk getting stuck up there! And with just the three of us, a borrowed car, the open bush, and no mechanical expertise among us... it just wasn't a risk I was willing to take. It's not like borrowing a car to drive a little ways up the highway - this is serious 4WD terrain, and no AMA to tow you out when you get stuck or broken down! There's not even a cell phone network once you get 5 km out of the main town. So out there, you're on your own. And all reports of people who had been on that road recently were saying it was taking 2 - 3 days to travel the 50 km! Crazy.

But I did get some contact information for a mission organization, based in N. Kenya, who often fly into that area. So I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to contact the folks who fly, to see if there were any possibilities on that front. Turns out, though, we would have had to charter the whole plane to come from N. Kenya, pick us in Trt, then fly us 15 minutes up the mountain side to the village. The cost of that would have been enormous... and we didn't have that kind of money in our budget. So that option was out, as well.

So back I went to stay with my friends! At that point, we basically decided to pack it in and head back to Jb the next morning. We would try again later.

So I enjoyed the rest of the day with my friends, and took them out for dinner at a little street-side restaurant to thank them for their flexibility and hospitality to me during those days! The food we had there was incredible! They had a little BBQ all set up, and we had the most succulent BBQed chicken, along with ful beans, little chick pea balls (like falafal) and loads of freshly baked pita bread. So yummy.

The next day dawned dark and rainy yet again. Adelino told me that he would arrange transport for us back to Jb. A little while later, he contacted me again and said it was raining too hard, so we couldn't go anywhere that day. So while I waited for news from him, I was put to work, putting together mini-ABC books for my friends. I can proudly say I put together almost 200 little books while waiting to leave Trt!



In the middle of my project, however, I received a phone call from Adelino - get ready to go, because we're going to the village now! Huh?! Seems the Commissioner had offered for us to use his car and driver that day to get to the village! Didn't seem like such a great idea to me... but if Adelino and the driver thought they could get through, then who was I to argue?

So I quickly got myself ready for a long road trip to the village again, including making sure the satellite phone was all charged up and that I had the, um, well, appropriate foundational garments on for a long trip over a very bumpy road.

So I sat and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Thankfully, I had my little book project to do, to keep my mind off the uncertainty of waiting for a few hours. Eventually, at about 2, Adelino showed up once again at the door. The Commissioner's car never showed up to pick us up, and by then, it was much too late in the day to start our journey. So, we made a firm, final decision - once and for all, we would leave the following morning at 8am to go back to Jb.

Finally, I could relax a bit, since I wasn't going to be called on at a moment's notice to go somewhere! Happily, I dragged my stuff back to the room which had quickly become "mine", and continued with my book making project! I also went for a little wander around the town, as I was then free to leave the compound (I had been staying at "home", in case anyone came to fetch me, I didn't want to be somewhere else!). So I spent a lovely few hours wandering down to the bridge, to see the little river where everyone in town washes their clothes and takes baths, I went to the little shop and bought some local yogurt and goat cheese for my hosts, and generally just stretched my legs a bit.

Since the town is much smaller than Jb, it's much nicer to just wander around - not as many cars or motocycles zipping around, people are friendly and are the type of people who will just stop you on the street to say hello and have a little chat, because they're curious what a white person is doing there. Here in Jb, it's not like that at all - people have the "big city" mentality here, where you stay out of people's business (that is, unless you're a young man and you feel the need to call out "hey baby" to every woman who walks down the street!). So it was really nice and relaxing to enjoy the small town of Trt. I think there are only about 20,000 people to live there, so in terms of towns in this country, it's quite big. But compared to Jb, it's tiny!

Anyways, I was getting a little tired of the uncertainty of not really knowing what was going on with our transport, not to mention wondering whether or not we were actually going to manage to pull off the training that we had planned to do! So I was a bit relieved when we made the final decision to just go back home. I think we did what we could to get there - goodness knows we tried various options for 4 days! But the rains just came too soon.

The generator is about to go off, so I'd better get this rambling posted.

I have a few photos from the way back to Jb, but I'll post about that later!

Powered by Potatoes

My friend Steve had a custom made t-shirt that said, "Powered by Potatoes". I think I'm also powered by potatoes! I was really dragging this afternoon - I was just so tired and worn out, and, dare I say it, even a little grumpy! But this evening, we went around the corner to my new favorite restaurant for a quick bite to eat, and I had a huge plate of chips (sorry, those would be "fries" for you North Americans out there!) for supper. And suddenly, I've got energy again! I realized that it's been nearly a week since I had a potato to eat... and I was really missing them! Anyways, now that I'm powered by my 'taters again, it's time to report a little on my recent 'misadventures'!

So yes, as I said before, it was a little touch and go as to where we would actually fly to - we thought we might go straight to the village, but turns out, the pilots couldn't land there as they'd never seen the airstrip, and weren't too sure about it's specifications. Better safe than sorry, I'd say, when it comes to landing and taking off in an airplane! So I sure don't blame them for not wanting to take us to an unknown place!

Turns out it was really cheap (as in, $10 more per person than the bus!) to fly us to the closest major town, Trt, as the plane was flying empty to another town and had to pass right over the Trt. From there, we'd quite easily find ground transport to get us the next 50 km up the road to the village in the mountains. Normally, this is not a problem! There are other organizations working up there, there are lots of church compounds, big lorries, even mini-busses going up and down that road.

So on Friday afternoon, we all loaded up into the plane - our own private flight to Trt! I've never been on a private plane before, and it was really cool!

I just love the views of my town from the air - and goodness knows, I've seen it from the air once or twice!


Here's a view of the pilot from where I was sitting, right behind him!

I took some photos of the landscape below us during our very short flight - it was only 30 minutes long! Here's a photo of some of the mountains, which are very similar to the ones we were trying to get to:

And here's the main town of Trt that we actually landed in:

Yeah, did I mention that we had our own little private plane?

Anyways, once we landed on the dirt airstrip in this little town, I don't think I've ever felt as much like a missionary as I did just then! As soon as we landed, the plane was surrounded by people, old and young, crowding around to see who would come off the plane and what they would bring! There was a white guy, too, who came out of his house next to the airstrip, bearing letters. He wanted to know if the plane was going on to Uganda, and could he send some mail with the pilot!

Turns out I'd see a lot more of this white guy in the coming days, as the organization that he works with does a lot of work in the region that we were trying to get to!

Because my colleague that I was with has good connections, the Commissioner of the area sent a Landcruiser to come and fetch us from the airstrip. The Landcruiser came, and we all piled in, with all of our boxes of books and various luggages. We went straight to the compound of the Commissioner to greet him. As we sat in the shade of his mud and grass house, we chatted in various languages - English, Arabic and his mother tongue. He was a very friendly guy, and very supportive of what we wanted to do. He's from the language group that we were going to do some teacher training for, so was very open to helping us out. Of course, we had to drink some Coke, too. Amazingly enough, you can buy Cokes in big glass bottles in that town! No wonder there's so little trash - people don't drink soda from plastic bottles or tin cans! It was really nice. But man, 500 ml of warm Coke... took me a while to get it all down.

While I was trying to suck back half a litre of Coke, there was a bit of commotion outside the compound. Turns out there was a drunkard bothering the Commissioner for something. He'd been back and forth all day long, so the Commissioner called the guards. They ended up having to tie the guy up and meting out a bit of "discipline". I'm glad I didn't have to see it, but I could hear it well enough! Anyways, I was glad to have finished my Coke and to be able to take leave of the Commissioner's compound!

I have some friends who I met through mutual friends at a literacy conference in Swaziland back in... was it 2005? Little did I know I'd be turning up on their doorstep 4 years later in this country! I had sent them a text message the night before, letting them know I'd be in Trt, and they said I was welcome to stay at their place... but they were out helping with some literacy classes in a nearby village, so wouldn't be back until later. But they told me that their house was open, and that I should make myself at home!

So I did! I got dropped off at their lovely little home, and made myself at home! I had the most wonderful warm shower - they have a black bucket of water sitting on top of their little shower room. So you get warm running water when the sun's out! Their home is made from two grass-thatched huts joined together with a tin roof, making a bit of a veranda between the two huts. I made a guess as to which one was the "guest" hut, and made myself at home, just as they said!

It was very relaxing, as they have a lovely garden, with nice clean huts! Really warm and welcoming! So after my little shower, I grabbed a book, put a plastic chair out in the shade and read until they returned from their time in the village. I haven't seen them since they visited us in Jb nearly two years ago, but we've been in touch through email since then. This couple is legendary in this county - they've been here for over 30 years, all the while doing literacy and education programs in the local languages! Really amazing people. So it was a joy to see them again!

They were hungry when they arrived, so we quickly heated up some of the stew and rice that the woman who works in their house had made earlier that day. We also had a salad with cabbage, tomatoes, carrots and green peppers. They were pretty excited about the carrots and green peppers, as they never get veggies like that in the town. A plane had come in a few days earlier from Kenya, and had brought some veggies for them. Had I known that was the situation, I would have brought in a load of veggies for them from here! We even get pineapples and green beans here, which they never see the likes of in Trt! Now I know what to bring for a hospitality gift next time I get stuck there...

Anyways, we had a fantastic meal together. Turns out what had been cooked up was a hunk of meat that a friend of theirs had brought them... dried bush-buck which had been killed with a spear in the forest! I've never actually eaten game meat in this country before (and, well, actually, I think it's technically illegal, since they're trying to get the animal populations back up to where they should be, after being annihilated during the war). But since it had been given to them, they couldn't exactly just throw it away... and man, was it ever delicious! It had been cooked in a light peanut sauce, with some tomatoes. Mmmm... my mouth is watering just thinking of it. The only thing that would have made it better was some roasted potatoes...

Misadventures

What, it hasn't been 10 days away from the computer yet? Well, I've been counting the days, and you're right, it's only been 5 days away from my computer! So yes, that means I'm back in Jb!

I was chatting on Skype with a friend who used to live in our fair city (now is living it up in Europe... I can't wait to go visit her and eat some waffles and chocolate... but I digress...), and she said the best thing about the last few days: "Misadventures are blessings in convoluted disguises".

Now, I'm still working through the convolution of the disguise, but suffice to say for now, the misadventure of the week is that we never actually did get to our final destination!

I still have lots to say, and several stories to tell, but I'm rather tired this evening, and my back is really sore from bouncing around on some seriously crazy roads all day today... so I'm looking forward to a nice cup of tea, a piece of chocolate and maybe an episode of West Wing whilst laying on my bed :)

The short story is that the rains came early. So the road that we were meant to take to get to the village was impassable! We tried for 4 days to find various means of transport there - but nothing worked out in the end. Yesterday we heard that it was taking vehicles three days to travel the 50 km to the village from the town where we were stuck! Me thinks we could have walked faster than that... except that we didn't have any rubber boots and we had about 100 kg of books and assorted supplies for the workshop (including a big bag of beans and sorghum flour which we were meant to eat and feed the teacher trainees all week!). So walking would have been a bit difficult!

We will try again next month, when there's supposedly a break in the rains and a little mini dry season. Anyways, we tried our best. But we didn't make it. There were a few misadventures along the way, but I trust that the Lord is in control and if he had meant us to get to the village to do this training this week, we would have gotten there. But for some reason, we didn't, so we'll trust that we'll get there when it's His timing!

And now, my bed and my cup of tea are calling...

Gack!

I forgot that we're on generator tonight! I'm in the middle of backing up my computer and I haven't even had my evening shower yet... and Genny is going to leave me in the dark in about 13 minutes. So I'll try to blog fast, since I probably won't get a chance to do it tomorrow or the next day or the day after that or the day after that...

My peanut butter and satellite phone are all packed for my big trip tomorrow! Unfortunately, I still don't quite know how I'm getting anywhere! I thought it was all worked out for us to fly in to the village where we're going for some teacher training tomorrow. But alas. I got a phone call tonight and there's been a bit of confusion about the actual location of the airstrip that we were hoping to land on. And now it seems we won't be able to fly there. But they can fly us to the main town that's relatively close... and we can see about getting land transportation from there, once we get there. Anyways, no decisions were made tonight, as my colleagues who are from the area are at home! We'll have a little meeting first thing in the morning tomorrow and make some decisions.

But yes, I'm off to a rather rural village for the next 10 days or so. We'll be doing some teacher training for about 10 teachers who are teaching in the schools. We want to encourage them to teach in their own language (as the gov't policy, plus good pedagogy dictates!), as well as to give them some more basic teaching skills. I'm a little nervous, as usual, as this is all new to me. I've never taught in the rural area before. I've never taught most of the material that I'm teaching before, and I've never stayed in a village for so many consecutive days!

So please pray for us! I'm going with two of my colleagues from the area, who I get along with quite well, and I know I'm in good hands. They'll take good care of me, I'm sure. One of them went to University in Nairobi, and has been working with expats for a long time, so he has a good sense of how to take care of white folks, and is really good at explaining cultural things and issues that could be, well, difficult for an outsider! So I'm not really worried about all that. But I must admit, it's going to be quite difficult for me to be out of touch - no internet, no phone network - for so long! In fact, I'm most likely going to leave my computer here! It will be the longest separation that I've had from my computer since... goodness, maybe even since I've had a laptop (which is about 8 years?!). Goodness, if I put it that way, it's probably a very good thing for me to have some forced separation for a while!

Anyways, please pray that I stay healthy up there - I'm not sure what the food is going to be like! At least I know there will be no fish, and I already have my jar of peanut butter packed! I'm also not even sure about clean water - I think there is a well in the village, but you never know. Also, it is pretty remote, so no medical facilities if any of us should get sick. I've been taking my malaria prophylaxis, and I have a mossy net with me. So I'm trying to take precautions, and I have a veritable pharmacy packed in my suitcase, as well. But we really do need the Lord's protection to get there and back safely!

But I'm really excited to go and do this training and to see the village! I'm also looking forward to the peace and quiet that's sure to be found out there. I'm planning on spending some time gazing at the stars and being quiet for a while... something I sometimes find difficult to do here in the big city! And I've been saying that I've been missing getting out in nature and camping for a while now, so here's my chance!

I'm sure I'll have one or two stories to tell, along with some photos, when I get back. But don't worry if you don't hear from me for a while. If I haven't posted anything by May 1, you can send in the troops to start looking for me! But I'm sure I'll be fine, Mom, so don't worry :)

A hike up the mountain

To celebrate Easter Sunday, we had our second annual Sunrise Jebel hike! It got off to a bit of a rocky start - it was pouring rain when I woke up at 5:45am! So that set off a bunch of phone calls and text messages to try to figure out if we would still go up or make alternative plans. Turns out, in the end, we all figured we were up anyways, so we may as well go!


It was an amazing morning, actually. While it was still overcast and cloudy, the Lord stopped the rain for a few hours while we climbed up the mountain, had a short service of worship, prayers and readings, and shared some breakfast together!

There were probably about 20 of us, in the end, who braved the clouds and mud and made it to the top of the small peak of the mountain that overlooks our fair city. It's a mountain that has a dubious history - it's called "Magic Mountain" in the local language, and was home to all of the witch doctors in the past. Once the war started, it became home to countless landmines.

Now that the landmines have been cleared, it's a favorite rambling spot for the expat community in town.

We went up the small peak, which only takes about 30 minutes to climb up. It was a lovely cool morning. And we all gathered in the shelter of the rocks (it was cold and windy up there!), to have a little service, which was wonderful. There's something about a group of Christians on the top of a mountain previously inhabited by witch doctors and landmines, praying for this city and for this country. This country needs more people praying for it, that's for sure.

Once we had our time of prayer, everyone broke out the snacks they had brought - amazing variety! Freshly baked hot cross buns, banana bread, crepes, fruit... and countless flasks of coffee! Everyone had so much to share, and we had a great time with it - I just wish I had more than two hands to hold it all :)

Being on top of the mountain, we had the advantage of seeing the next squall blowing in. So we quickly packed up our picnic and hurried down the mountain! We made it about 3/4 of the way down before the rain really hit! We ended up pretty soaked by the time we got to the cars again, but it was so worth it. I'm really glad that I made the effort to get out in the rain, and I'm so thankful that God kept the rain at bay while we enjoyed our time!

I came home, heated up some water for a little bucket bath, relaxed for a while, then made some brunch - complete with bacon that I brought in from Entebbe and a Cadbury's Creme Egg that I brought in from home! All in all, it's been a really good Easter!


I didn't take too many photos this time, but there were a few photos of me taken, which I will get from those who took them and post them later! Like I said, my hands were too full of yummy treats to take too many photos :)

He is Risen!

It's been, so far, a good Easter Sunday! Today, as I'm thinking about Easter, I've been struck by a couple of "themes"... so let me try to summarize my rambling thoughts into a coherent post!

First, I'm struck by Christ's love for me. For me. His love for me is what this whole day is about. He didn't have to do what he did. He didn't have to come and die. He didn't have to rise again. He didn't have to send his Spirit to me. He didn't have to bring me new life. He didn't have to promise to give me eternal life, to come again to bring me to be with him forever. He didn't have to give me the hope that comes with being a new creation, to be redeemed in this life and to be made perfect in the life to come. He didn't have to do any of that. But he did. And he did it because his love for me is completely and utterly extravagant! So I had to listen to one of my favourite Casting Crowns songs a couple of times to reflect on this...

Your Love Is Extravagant (Casting Crowns)

Your love is extravagant
Your friendship, it is intimate
I feel like moving to the rhythm of Your grace
Your fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place
Your love is extravagant

Spread wide in the arms of Christ is the love that covers sin
No greater love have I ever known You considered me a friend
Capture my heart again

Spread wide in the arms of Christ is the love that covers sin
No greater love have I ever known; You considered me a friend

Capture my heart again
Your love is extravagant
Your friendship, it is intimate

The other thing that's striking me about Easter today is the new life that comes with Christ's resurrection. And there are signs of it everywhere! I think we've turned a corner here into "spring" (or as near to spring as it gets here!). It's been raining a bit for the past few days, and it's amazing to see how quickly things get green! I've been so amazing by the tiny little green shoots that burst forth from the hard ground as soon as it gets sprinkled by a little rain.
Here's a photo from the side of our house during dry season (March):

Now here's the same tree and the side of the house today:

New life indeed! When I see those little buds of green growing so fast (seriously, I think I can actually see them growing!), I am so reminded of the new life that Christ gives. And I pray that I can also grow that fast... but I know I fail so horribly so often. But God knows that, and that's why He came, because he loves me so much and knows that I sure can't save myself! I need his new life!

A new facet to this new life that hasn't really struck me before is the fact that since Christ has been raised from the dead, so, too, will we (and those who have died before us) will also be raised to new life. The grass springs to life each rainy season, and dies... only to come back to life again, just as Christ sprung to life and will bring us each to new life once again. And that means I will see those who have passed from this life to death again, when we are all raised to eternal life. Steve and baby Cora have just passed from life to death before me, but we will all be raised to new life once again (truthfully, I don't quite know how this works, and in eternity, it seems like Steve and Cora are already enjoying that new life, 'cause I don't know how the whole time-space continuum works in Eternity!).

"... because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself. All this is for your benefit so that the grace that is reaching more and more people maye cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lost heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away day by day, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day..." (2 Cor. 4)

Like I said, these are just the rambling thoughts through my head as I reflect on the Resurrection today, so I thought I'd share them... maybe you will also be encouraged by them today!

I spoke too soon...

Yes, well, I guess I knew the boredom and "normality" would come to an end... just didn't know how soon that would be!

I woke up this morning to no internet. None at all. Problem was, I was the secretary for these meetings that I was in all week. So no time to put on my IT hat and go fix it until the tea break. At tea break, I mucked around with a few things that I know how to do, and then broke down and called some of the technicians from our internet provider. They've written emails to all their clients before to say that they don't deal with issues on the networks within their clients' systems - they only provide support for the actual VSAT modems. Which is fair enough. I also know that they're very short handed at the moment, because they have a lot of people away on their breaks. But they are also friends of mine... so on one hand, I hate to bother them, knowing how busy they are, when I had suspicions that it was a problem with our network, and not with the actual VSAT. But on the other hand, I had tried everything I know how to do, and couldn't for the life of me figure it out... and had 20 people on the compound asking me when the Internet was going to come back.

So I broke down and called. And the one guy there gave me at least something to start with, so I could plug my computer directly into the VSAT and get an SOS email out to our organization's IT guys in all their far flung corners of the universe!

Anyways, to make a boring story short... one of my IT buddies in the UK got back to me at our lunch break with exactly the information I needed to make things work! I felt a bit like a big dork, because it's something I should have figured out on my own, and in fact, when my UK IT buddy was here several months ago, he even mentioned to me what to do in this particular situation... I had just forgotten! Anyways, he said the key words that clicked in my brain, and we were up and running again!

I spent some more time later this afternoon fixing things up even more, as what I did over the lunch hour was a bit of a patch. Won't get into the details, though all you geeks out there are salivating to know what happened, I know!

Anyways, that was taken care of, but there was no electricity for most of the day. SO we were up and down and on and off the generator, which isn't good for anything, I don't think.

But to celebrate the end of our meetings, we went off to a new-ish Chinese restaurant and stuffed ourselves silly :) It was so tasty. We were going to end off the evening with ice cream at our favourite cafe. Well, ok, it's pretty much the only place to get ice cream over here. But alas. It was all barred shut! So, no ice cream. Of course, our roads are still closed, so we had to bounce around in the truck through all the muddy tracks to find our way there. On the way home, we saw an SUV that had gone head first into a ditch. Well, let me rephrase that... he had gone head first into a cavern in the middle of the road! His nose was stuck in the hole up to the doors! When we saw it, there was a crane there, trying to lift the SUV out of the hole!

Then we came back, all sweaty from the evening, and went to take our baths. But of course, there was no water. Seems there's a problem with the water pump. So no water has been pumped up to the water tank in who knows how long... and we have a compound full of people! I held the flashlight while Richard rummaged through his stuff to find an old bit of an old pump that was there to see if it would fit the part that's broken on the new pump. He finally found what he was looking for attached to an old bit of pipe in the dirt, in a planter next to the bore hole. After wiping the dirt away, he found that it wasn't the actual part that he needed. So much for that idea. So Richard went roaring off into the moon light (it was after 9pm already) to see if any of the shops were open. He was soon back, as there was no electricity in town, so the shops all closed already.

So, no water tonight. At least we have a big barrel full of water, which is supposed to be filled with rain water during the rainy season, but was filled with bore hole water before. So at least we have some water stored up, which puts us in better shape than we were before when there were problems with the water!

So everyone went to line up with their buckets this evening. We had quite a line up at the water barrel, but thankfully, no one tried to butt into the line, so no fights broke out! I hauled a few buckets of water over to our house (of course, our house is the farthest away from the water barrel, and I have certainly not yet learned the fine womanly art of water hauling, so it was quite the effort... causing me to work up even more of a sweat, which is going to require more of that water to wash away. So am I farther ahead? I'm not sure about that.

Anyways, it's now 10:38 pm and I have been plunged into darkness because the generator has been turned off. So I'd best go throw a couple of cups of water over my head to wipe some of the stickiness of the sweat away, and I'll crawl under my mossy net in order to start the day over again tomorrow!

It's Maundy Thursaday today, but alas, there's no water to wash anyone's feet except my own. But I did sort of miss having the evening marked by something. I hate to admit it, too, but tomorrow morning, I have a few other meetings planned, as the folks we need to meet with are going back to their respective homelands on the weekend. So it's tomorrow or never... but hopefully I'll be able to take the afternoon off to do something to mark the Good Friday. Any ideas of what I can do?!

Anyways, whatever happens, I'm sure it won't be boring!

It's all about the outfit

Today was a day full of meetings. They're non-stop this week, actually. But today we had a big meeting at the Ministry of Education, followed by the continuation of our "board" meetings for the organization that I work for. The meeting at the Ministry was one that we had been trying to get for quite some time, so we were very pleased that it actually happened today! I got decked out in my lovely brown outfit, which, if I do say so myself, looked rather smart.

I'm learning the value of looking "smart" around here. People are very professional looking, and they really dress up here, and the more important the person they're meeting, the smarter they have to dress. It's just not respectable to wear a t-shirt and capri pants to the Ministry. You don't get any respect that way. And I already get less respect than others because I'm a relatively young woman, so I gotta at least dress the part as much as I can! I'm sure I could do a very long analysis on the dressing smart and respectably, but I'm a bit brain dead at the moment... anyways, suffice to say, we had a big meeting. I dressed the part. It went very well. I got wet, though... and not because I was sweating all day, but because it was pouring rain all day! It was so cold and lovely the whole day. It's now 25C in my room at 11pm, and I'm considering getting out my sleeping bag tonight because it might be a chilly night! The weather has changed overnight, it seems... but I'm not complaining... though I do have some plans to go to a village in a week to do some teacher training, and I'm a bit fearful that the mud will also precede me if the rains start with a vengeance to soon!

Tonight was an almost otherworldly experience as well. I wrapped up in a shawl and went to the Cathedral, where there was a quintet putting on a concert of passiontide choral music. It was amazing - they did the same thing last year and it was such a moving experience. This year was just as good, though there was a much bigger crowd. The members of the music group are very well connected in the UN type circles, so they invited basically everyone they know to the service/concert tonight. It was an amazing way to get people who will never darken the door of the church actually into the church, and they were hearing scripture - through the readings and the songs.

And it was so well done that people really went away with a good "taste" in their mouths of the whole experience. It was a good time for me, too, to just sit and listen to the music and the words, and reflect for an hour on what this final week leading into Good Friday and Easter is really about. I want to make more space for reflection on these things, and to hear from the Lord before Easter. But it's tough when it's so busy here, and when there are so many people on the compound... but I don't want to make excuses for myself, so I will just stop here!

Sorry, I feel like I haven't had much of anything very exciting to write about lately. But that's ok. I don't want anything TOO exciting to happen any time in the next few days, I'm just sorry for you that it makes for really boring reading :( But stay tuned! Things never stay calm for long in this town...

My new favorite restaurant

I love this new restaurant that I raved about last week. I've been there three times now, and I have yet to be disappointed. OK, so we got a little wet when it started to pour when we went there on Friday night. But this afternoon, when it was hot and sweaty outside, that same open concept that allowed us to get wet on Friday, also made sure that the breeze was nicely blowing through, keeping us nice and cool whilst munching on our food this afternoon.

I'm wondering what the owners of the restaurant must be thinking... I found the place last Sunday afternoon, and popped in by myself to have a look at the menu and see what it was all about (didn't eat, though). Then the following day, I went back with Jackie. Then, a few days later, I went back with Jackie, Wes and Jim. Then today, I went back with a group of 7 other white folks in tow! They must be thinking us white folks are multiplying... and maybe I'll come back with 20 later this week!

I'm thinking they owe me a commission, too. Actually, I think there are a lot of restaurants and shops in this town which owe me a commission, as it seems I tend to find a place, and then bring all my friends to it!

I had a lovely relaxing day today, though. I slept in, made some french toast and coffee for breakfast (real Starbucks coffee which one of our visitors from the US brought for us!), then listened to a great sermon on my MP3 player (I wasn't able to listen to my home church's sermon today as our internet was too slow for the streaming), then had a lovely lunch, did some tidying up of my room, washed some bits and pieces... it feels so good to have a chance to clean some of the dust up now and again. This house gets incredibly dusty! I get more dust on my things in a day than had collected on my stuff in an entire year back home! I'm not exaggerating about that, really. When you live in a place with only dirt roads and sand around the compound, and you don't have windows that close (everything in our house is just screen - no glass at all), things get a bit dusty. So once in a while you have to do a really good clean! It took me a few hours to clear off the stuff that had accumulated on my desk and wash and wipe everything down (did I mention that I have a bit of stuff?!). But it feels so good when it finally gets done!

Then, for the rest of the afternoon, I read my book. I'm reading an incredible book at the moment called "Infidel". A really compelling story about a Somali refugee who ends up as a member of parliament in the Netherlands. I highly recommend it, if you can get your hands on it.

I also got to go over to my friends' house to play some Settlers with them! I made some tortillas while Kristina fried up some meat strips and we had some homemade mango salsa, some yogurt and fried peppers... amazing what you can come up with around here when you put your mind to it! Anyways, Settlers was great - I never win, but it's good fun to play! We cancelled our usual Bible study tonight, as all the roads in and out of our compound are closed at the moment! They're doing some road construction, and you really have to know the back lanes and alley-ways to get in and out of the compound. I didn't think anyone would find us tonight, so I cancelled.

It took me a couple of tries to get in and out, as well, as it keeps shifting as to what roads are open and which ones are closed. I had a bit of a frightening moment coming home, though, when I got a bit stuck in a mud puddle in the truck - there was a dry section up on the side, but the tires didn't get a good enough grip on the dry dirt on top, and I slid down into the mud puddle and stalled! Not such a good feeling to be stalled in a deep mud puddle in the dark. But I took a deep breath, restarted the truck, and was able to ease my way out of it, without having to get out and lock the hubs into 4WD. Oh yeah, did I mention that I live in a capital city?

And now, if I'm going to hit my bedtime, I'd best get going to the shower...

Can't think of a good title...

Man, things are getting a little too "normal" around here! Or maybe they're not really all that "normal", it's just that I'm so used to things as they are, I'm not seeing anything funny or abnormal to blog about these days!

I had a productive morning today - I got to take a new computer out of a box and get some of the preliminary bits set up so that a "real" computer geek can finish it up remotely so that one of the translation teams can start using it. So it was quite fun to take all the bits out - I got to unwrap all the bits and undo all those little twist ties from the cords. It was almost like Christmas all over, except that the present was just something for me to work on, rather than for me to just play with :) But there's just something about unwrapping new stuff that I love! (Actually, I just love "stuff" in general. I'm a bit of a "stuff" person, so it's probably a good thing I have the lifestyle that I do - otherwise, I'd probably be drowning under a pile of stuff - just ask my parents - their basement is full of my stuff!).

Anyways, stuff aside, once I finished unpacking that computer and starting to do some installation work on it, I had to go and help one of our translators who is taking some online courses. I've grown up with doing all sorts of things online, so the process of taking an online course isn't really new to me. And there are a lot of bits that go with it which I think I've taken for granted that I know. Things like which username to log in with, which "forums" you have to "post" to, and how to submit assignments using an online form. If you haven't grown up with the Internet or computers, these things are actually pretty difficult to get your mind around! And then, add on top the fact that the guy I was helping is not a native English speaker... it's all quite a challenge! So I sat with him for an hour to get him logged in and an assignment submitted. It's so good for me to sit with someone and go through something like that, because it does remind me of how much I take for granted sometimes with the computers!

And it has suddenly gotten very late... I will continue this tomorrow... though it might actually become rather anti-climactic that way :(

God's sense of humour?

(By the way, our internet has been TERRIBLE for the past few days, so I'm going to try to keep this a little short to try to use this window of working internet to post something...)

As "partners" with the gov't in education, we were invited to the Education Day celebration today. Conveniently enough, the celebration was held at the University campus, which is only about a 10 minute walk from our compound. Actually, at the moment, since all the roads to our area are closed off with huge piles of dirt, it would take about 20 minutes to drive to the University! The festivities, which was supposed to include a parade of school children, songs, dances, poems, and lots and lots of speeches by various people, was supposed to kick off at 9am. I left the compound a little before 10am, knowing that things like this usually start and hour or two late. It's a fine balance, because I hate being late for things, but at the same time, I don't like to just sit for hours in the sun, just wasting time.

Anyways, I had quite a pleasant walk, because it wasn't yet too hot (it was a bit overcast this morning!), and since the road was closed, there wasn't too much dust or traffic to navigate through. However, I arrived at the appointed spot, and the folks were still just putting up the tent. No plastic chairs in sight, which meant that the start of the festivities was a long way off.

So I wandered back home, but by then, the sun was out and it was getting pretty hot. I had one of my lovely African dresses on - they look great, but they're not really the coolest outfits in the world - heavy material, fitted a bit closely to the body. So I was quite drippy by the time I turned around and walked back. Of course, the place where the festivities were held was on the far opposite end of the University from our place, so it turned out to be more like a 15 - 20 minute walk.

But I got back to the compound, fortified myself with some cold water, followed by a cup of tea with my colleagues, did some work on my computer, and then headed out again just before noon. Of course, the conversation over tea centered around how many cows my father needed for my marriage. I set a price of 500, since that's a fairly unattainable price... at least for the folks who were asking me today.

This time, there were soldiers at the door, asking to see the id for everyone who was going in. So that was a good sign that something was happening - it meant they had the security in place for the "big guys" who would be making the speeches. So I had hope in my heart as I walked through the heat of the day to the far end of the University, sweat trickling down my back.

But alas, there were only a few people milling about. One of those milling happened to be someone that I know from the Ministry, so I went over to greet him. He told me that the festivities would begin at 3:00. He then invited me to sit with him and wait. However, I was not about to sit there for another 3 hours, waiting for the thing to begin! So off I went, back home again.

In the meantime, an email had gone out at about 11:45am which apologized for the inconvenience, but the festivities which were meant to start at 9 were now postponed until 3:30pm.

So, fortified with more water and some lunch, I had quite a long internal debate about whether I should go back or not. The main thing that was drawing me back was the fact that the person I talked with earlier in the day had told me that the Minister of Education was going to be saying something about our organization in his speech... so I figured I'd better go and see what he was saying about us this time.

But I was not too keen to walk all the way back again in the hot sun. I know a 15 minute walk doesn't sound like much... but when the sun is beating down and it's 38C and you have to walk through the dust, with the children following you and calling out, "morning, white person, good morning!", it's all just a bit much some days!

But, I didn't really have a choice - couldn't drive there, plus our truck doesn't have A/C, so it would have been just as sweaty in the truck on the way there... as I was leaving, I made a bit of a snide remark to Jackie about how someone needed to offer me a Landcruiser with A/C instead of cows for my hand in marriage...

So off I went, just after 4pm, trudging out the door. I have some Eritrean friends who have opened a little drinks shop half a block down our road, so I stopped there for a minute to say hello and get a nice cold bottle of water... and just as I was leaving the shop, a white Landcruiser with A/C pulled up beside me. Hanging out the window was someone that had been in the course I facilitated in Yay a couple of weeks ago! He saw I was "footing", so he asked where I was going... and lo and behold, he was going to the same place! So I hopped in and drove the rest of the way in the A/C!

When I got to the tents and plastic chairs which were set up for the festivities, things were just about to start... but I first had to greet someone that I know quite well in the Ministry. He's a good guy, and I've really appreciated the help he's given us in the past, so I always try to be friendly with him. Poor guy always gets stuck being the Master of Ceremonies for all these celebrations, too. I feel for him sometimes.

He ran off to do the last minute prep, and I went and found a seat, somewhere near a quick exit, in case I got too bored and wanted to leave a bit early. After a few minutes, I saw this MC fellow coming straight towards me. Sure enough, he was looking for me - turns out, the guy that was supposed to open the whole thing in prayer hadn't shown up, but they were ready to begin then and there. So he asked ME if I would open the whole thing in prayer! Good thing I didn't have a chance to think about it, or I would have gotten really nervous. But they were starting then and there, so I followed him up to the stage, he introduced me, and gave me the microphone. So there I was, opening these festivities in prayer, in front of some very big gov't officials, half the University, UNICEF and UNESCO people, NGO folks of all types... and me, praying.

Obviously, the Lord wanted me there, and even sent an air conditioned Landcruiser to get me there on time! But it's certainly not what I expected to be doing this afternoon, especially since I was debating whether or not to even go back the third time! But I must admit that it's nice to know that at least the folks in the Ministry recognize that I'm working with a "faith-based" organization, and that I am a Christian, who is open enough about my faith to pray in front of hundreds of people! It was quite the privilege to be able to lead those folks in a prayer for the education of the children of this country, and to pray for the teachers and the officials who are in charge of things, and to pray that the Lord would be glorified in the development of the education system here. So even though it was quite terrifying, it was also quite a privilege!

Another funny little bit to this story is the fact that last night, as I was praying together with my usual little group, I asked for prayer that I would be a bit more motivated in getting some more exercize and not being quite so lazy... and what do you know, I spent a good part of the day wandering back and forth to the University, and not sitting on my butt in front of the computer! I guess God's answering my prayers with a little external motivation to get things kicked off!