I know, I know. I've been saying that the rainy season is coming to an end. Really, it should have come to an end already. But we're enjoying a deliciously long rainy season this year. And I'm certainly not complaining (though it would be kind of nice to get rid of this pesky hayfever which thrives when the plants are green and growing!). This time, though, I think it's coming to an end. It was HOT today. At 9:30pm, it's still 30C out there (and in here, too!). The forecast is calling for upper 30s tomorrow and Tuesday. That's 38C tomorrow, folks. 38C. A little hot, I'd say, when one lives without air conditioning!
The butterflies have also told us that the rainy season is nearly finished. My new neighbor, an American (I'll forgive him for that, since he's actually from Seattle, which is practically Canada!) loves butterflies. He brought his own nets and makes up a concoction from pineapples to feed the butterflies and lure them into his traps. This man knows his butterflies. Yesterday, he caught two butterflies in the same trap. Apparently, they are the same species of butterfly - but one is the "rainy season" butterfly and the other is the "dry season" butterfly. I honestly had no idea that butterflies changed from one form to another depending on the seasons. But since the butterflies are in process of changing over, then I think that means the weather is really in the process of changing over, too.
Zane's fur is getting a bit thinned out, too, and he's not as puffy anymore (well, I mean, Zane is never very puffy, but he's a lot less puffy by his standards), which means that the heat is on it's way. He's started sleeping in funny corners during the heat of the afternoons, too, instead of on his table, which indicates to me that it's getting hotter, too.
I just hope my leaves can grow for a few more weeks. I spent some time watering my pumpkin and the leaves this evening. The leaves are really growing well, and I've been eating of them each and every day. I'm going to start giving them away, though, as they're not going to last too long once the ground starts drying up :(
I also know the dry season is coming because I washed some clothes today, and almost before I had all of the clothes up on the line, the shirts that I had put up first were almost dry! It's quite a nice feeling to pull sun-dried clothes off the line, as things have been so damp lately! While I'm not looking forward to the heat, I am looking forward to the dry air and getting rid of all the mustiness and mould which has started to form everywhere during this extended rainy season.
Sorry, nothing of real note to mention today. I just had a lovely weekend, enjoyed a few meals with good friends, had some rest, read a good book, listened to a good sermon, and have now layed my clean pajama-clad body on top of a clean sheet, with my cat at the foot of my bed... I have been satifactorily weekend-ed, which hasn't actually happened in a long time :).
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
A little bit of irony
Yesterday afternoon, R had to go to the Ministry of Roads and Transport to sort out a little issue about a new road that's going in next to some of our property. The engineer there was very kind and seems to be a good guy. I just thought it was really ironic that the road going into the compound was, well, rather difficult! I had to sort of hold my breath as I drove the LandCruiser down over the lip of the road and through the potholes, while navigating our beast of a LandCruiser through the gate. When coming back out, I sat there and stared up at the cliff in front of me, while assessing the position of the gate, and watching all the motorcycles, busses, cars and pedestrians crawling all over the road onto which I needed to cross while getting over the cliff. I was driving because R, with his wounded arm and hand, isn't able to drive. But he looked at me and saw me hesitating, and said, "Are you scared?". I'm woman enough to admit to R that yes, I was scared. I was more scared of getting stuck and rolling back into the fence and getting blamed for denting the relatively new LandCruiser than anything else.
So, the man who I was driving to the Ministry of Roads and Transport swapped places with me to get the vehicle out the gate which was such a bad road that I was scared! Of course, R is a much more aggressive driver than me, and he just went for it and had enough momentum to get us over the cliff and pushed through the traffic. Once we were across the road, we got out and swapped places again!
I chuckled to myself the entire way back to the compound.
So, the man who I was driving to the Ministry of Roads and Transport swapped places with me to get the vehicle out the gate which was such a bad road that I was scared! Of course, R is a much more aggressive driver than me, and he just went for it and had enough momentum to get us over the cliff and pushed through the traffic. Once we were across the road, we got out and swapped places again!
I chuckled to myself the entire way back to the compound.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Simple Pleasures
I was a bit worn out yesterday, so I didn't blog. I had a tiny unexpected adventure in the afternoon once again! Unfortunately, one of my colleagues was out driving one of our pick-ups yesterday afternoon to get some supplies for the office. While he was stopped to make a left turn onto our road, he got hit from behind by a big dump truck! Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the truck got pretty smashed.
There just happened to be quite a lot of people sitting around on the corner (actually, there are ALWAYS a lot of people just sitting around on street corners here), who saw exactly what happened. Matt called back to our office and since I was the only person on the compound with a driver's license, I was pressed into service to bring along an Arabic speaking colleague and see how we could help at the scene of the accident.
It all turned out ok in the end, and the manager of the company was brilliant about it all. He's a local chap who went to University in Salt Lake City ("but I'm not a Mormon"), and is going to get our truck fixed, in exchange for us not pressing charges and making his driver sit in prison until the court case goes through! As we sat at the police station, I saw the driver of the dump truck actually get locked into the cell, which was a bit traumatizing, and it took a few hours for R to convince the police that we really didn't want to press charges and that really, it was ok to let the guy out of the cell! I think the driver was pretty relieved when he got let out - I sure wouldn't want to spend much time locked in a cell here, that's for sure.
Anyway, it was quite interesting sitting in a little plastic chair in the compound of the police station for a few hours. It's times like that where I can't decide whether or not I wish my Arabic was better! Do I really want to know what's going on around me, or is it better to be blissfully unaware? Thankfully, most of the folks around here, if you're really in trouble, and actually hauled into, say, the police station, can either speak enough English to help you out, or find someone who can translate!
But that's not actually what I was going to blog about today :) I was planning on blogging about a lovely little moment I had this afternoon. I started cooking my potatoes for supper, and while those were cooking, I wandered over to the garden patch and harvested some leaves with which to make a salad. There's just something about getting down low to the ground, choosing the best little leaves from the patch, bringing them in to wash the sand off, and then eating them. From ground to mouth in about 15 minutes. So simple. And yet ever so satisfying! Thank you, little leaves, for growing and filling my belly with lovely nutrients and for tasting oh so delicious!
And this is my pumpkin vine yesterday, after the rain storm. No pumpkins on it yet, but I'm hopeful!
In a week or so, I'll be eating these ones, too: (I still haven't a clue what they're called in English - you have to cook them, can't eat them raw)
There just happened to be quite a lot of people sitting around on the corner (actually, there are ALWAYS a lot of people just sitting around on street corners here), who saw exactly what happened. Matt called back to our office and since I was the only person on the compound with a driver's license, I was pressed into service to bring along an Arabic speaking colleague and see how we could help at the scene of the accident.
It all turned out ok in the end, and the manager of the company was brilliant about it all. He's a local chap who went to University in Salt Lake City ("but I'm not a Mormon"), and is going to get our truck fixed, in exchange for us not pressing charges and making his driver sit in prison until the court case goes through! As we sat at the police station, I saw the driver of the dump truck actually get locked into the cell, which was a bit traumatizing, and it took a few hours for R to convince the police that we really didn't want to press charges and that really, it was ok to let the guy out of the cell! I think the driver was pretty relieved when he got let out - I sure wouldn't want to spend much time locked in a cell here, that's for sure.
Anyway, it was quite interesting sitting in a little plastic chair in the compound of the police station for a few hours. It's times like that where I can't decide whether or not I wish my Arabic was better! Do I really want to know what's going on around me, or is it better to be blissfully unaware? Thankfully, most of the folks around here, if you're really in trouble, and actually hauled into, say, the police station, can either speak enough English to help you out, or find someone who can translate!
But that's not actually what I was going to blog about today :) I was planning on blogging about a lovely little moment I had this afternoon. I started cooking my potatoes for supper, and while those were cooking, I wandered over to the garden patch and harvested some leaves with which to make a salad. There's just something about getting down low to the ground, choosing the best little leaves from the patch, bringing them in to wash the sand off, and then eating them. From ground to mouth in about 15 minutes. So simple. And yet ever so satisfying! Thank you, little leaves, for growing and filling my belly with lovely nutrients and for tasting oh so delicious!
In a week or so, I'll be eating these ones, too: (I still haven't a clue what they're called in English - you have to cook them, can't eat them raw)
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The never ending rainy season
It's Sunday night, and it's trying to rain outside. I really do hope it rains, as my pumpkin vine is getting nice and big (no pumpkins on it yet, though), and the green leafy veggies that R planted behind his hut are growing nicely, too. But I don't want to have to water. It's a pain to haul water, especially to the field where the green leafy veggies are growing! I'm SO looking forward to these greens, though! One kind is a sort of spinach, that you can cook into all sorts of things - a bit bitter to eat raw, though. The other kind can also be cooked, but is really tasty raw, like lettuce in a salad. I have no idea what we call it at home, but all the British folks here call it "rocket". It's good stuff, I tell you, and will be SO nice to have fresh from the garden, without having to worry about disinfecting it and everything else.
Ooooohhhhh, here comes the rain! Whoo hoo! In theory, the rainy season should be over. But a few months ago, when I was contemplating planting my pumpkins, one of the old team leaders here, a former agriculturalist, told me that rainy season would last this year until November. Seems he was right! I don't know how he knows these things, but he was certainly right about this one. Everyone else was laughing at me for planting my pumpkins when I did - said I was much too late. But I have high hopes for these pumpkins.
And I will sleep tonight dreaming of green leafy vegetables :)
Ooooohhhhh, here comes the rain! Whoo hoo! In theory, the rainy season should be over. But a few months ago, when I was contemplating planting my pumpkins, one of the old team leaders here, a former agriculturalist, told me that rainy season would last this year until November. Seems he was right! I don't know how he knows these things, but he was certainly right about this one. Everyone else was laughing at me for planting my pumpkins when I did - said I was much too late. But I have high hopes for these pumpkins.
And I will sleep tonight dreaming of green leafy vegetables :)
Thursday, October 21, 2010
The rats are back
I found some disturbing remnants of rat in unexpected places today. The worst one was some little muddy footprints on the bottom of the upside down clean mugs on the dish towel (left out last night to dry). The second worst one was the little muddy footprints on my bar of soap at the bathroom sink. Thing about the bathroom sink one is that it's a pedestal sink, so I think the little guy must have either come up or down the brick wall to check out my bar of soap. Which means that he's probably one of the many creatures I've been hearing in my ceiling. I don't like it that they're venturing down again.
My housemate isn't around to set the traps (or, more importantly, empty the traps, so I'm not quite sure what to do if I get over-run! Zane's been doing a good job in keeping the creatures at bay, but it's been a while since they've been making forays down from the ceiling and actually into the house, so he's a little out of practice! But I hope he gets back INTO practice before the rats start eating my stuff again :(
My housemate isn't around to set the traps (or, more importantly, empty the traps, so I'm not quite sure what to do if I get over-run! Zane's been doing a good job in keeping the creatures at bay, but it's been a while since they've been making forays down from the ceiling and actually into the house, so he's a little out of practice! But I hope he gets back INTO practice before the rats start eating my stuff again :(
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Not too much to say again!
I was completely excited because I had a relatively normal day at the office today! I actually ticked two, yes, that's TWO things off my list today! Whoo hoo! And I didn't add a single thing. Amazing. Which is good, because we're getting a whole slew of visitors again tomorrow. While I don't have to do anything in particular to "host" them, I still feel somewhat responsible for them, mostly because I just have a hard time knowing that people are hanging around in the guesthouse with no one to feed them and no place to cook for themselves. I have compassion for hungry people.
That being said, though, I had a hard time this afternoon as I was in one of the local shops with a couple of our new folks. There is a woman around who wanders around our streets begging. She's been around for a long time. In the past, I've tried giving her some bread or other bits of food. But she refuses the food, and only wants money. And for better or for worse, I have a hard time with that. I just don't quite know what to do with that! My friends didn't have any money more on them, but they had just bought some bread, so they gave it to her. She didn't seem to want the bread that they gave her, either. But they literally didn't have any more money! It's one of those situations where I never know if I'm doing the right thing or not. Should I just give the poor woman some money every time I see her? I don't know. She refuses food, so I really don't know what she needs the money for. I can't really communicate with her, so I really don't know. I just don't know.
And on a completely trivial note, as I was watching the No. 1 Detective Ladies' Agency tonight, I saw that one of the cloths Mme Ramatswe was wearing on her head is the exact same material that my bathrobe is made out of! How weird is that?
And I just realized that I have a new neighbour on the other side of my wall. Literally on the other side of a very, very thin wall. He just called out "goodnight!" to me. Hmm. This could be interesting. I sure hope he doesn't snore!
That being said, though, I had a hard time this afternoon as I was in one of the local shops with a couple of our new folks. There is a woman around who wanders around our streets begging. She's been around for a long time. In the past, I've tried giving her some bread or other bits of food. But she refuses the food, and only wants money. And for better or for worse, I have a hard time with that. I just don't quite know what to do with that! My friends didn't have any money more on them, but they had just bought some bread, so they gave it to her. She didn't seem to want the bread that they gave her, either. But they literally didn't have any more money! It's one of those situations where I never know if I'm doing the right thing or not. Should I just give the poor woman some money every time I see her? I don't know. She refuses food, so I really don't know what she needs the money for. I can't really communicate with her, so I really don't know. I just don't know.
And on a completely trivial note, as I was watching the No. 1 Detective Ladies' Agency tonight, I saw that one of the cloths Mme Ramatswe was wearing on her head is the exact same material that my bathrobe is made out of! How weird is that?
And I just realized that I have a new neighbour on the other side of my wall. Literally on the other side of a very, very thin wall. He just called out "goodnight!" to me. Hmm. This could be interesting. I sure hope he doesn't snore!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Just been doing stuff...
I know I haven't blogged much lately, but that's primarily due to the fact that I've been on my computer for so many hours during the days, working, that I have actually switched it off in the evenings and talked to real live people instead of blogging. And, admittedly, a few evenings (including my Saturday evening!) were spent working. I've really been partying it up here, you see - last night, I made grilled cheese and ham sandwiches (found some actual whole wheat bread at a new bakery in town, ham that came up with someone from Nairobi and still the cheese from Uganda!), and then spent the rest of the night helping R put together salary sheets and contracts.
For various reasons in the past, Excel formulas haven't been used for salary calculations, nor were any of the spreadsheets that had been used actually consistent enough to be effectively used. Things like that bother me - something that has been taking someone days and days to do with a calculator could so easily be done using a few formulas and some mail merges! So last year, I started helping R put some order to the whole system. And this year, we started where we left off and got even more order to the system! I realize that I'm admitting my utter geekiness here when I say that I felt much joy and satisfaction at 10:30pm on a Saturday night when I was able to work with R to get a mail merge properly working with a salary sheet that accurately reflected the new salaries for this fiscal year. It was pure joy to see how, at the touch of a button, hours of work was saved :) We spent quite a few hours last year getting bits of the system together, and this year, I feel pretty satisfied that we've got something together that can work effectively for next year, as well.
We didn't quite get one section done, though, as we were both tired and wanted to tackle it with fresh brains today before R flew off to the city this afternoon. However, that was not to be. He called me at 8:50am and said, "Oops, I have a little problem..." He thought the flight was an afternoon flight, and that he had to check in at about 2pm (2 hours before the scheduled departure). But, he looked at his ticket this morning, and realized that in fact, he was booked on the morning flight, which was scheduled to leave at 10am! So I quickly tried to wake myself up (I was sound asleep, enjoying the sound of the rain and the cool sleeping weather!), pulled on some clothes and went out to bring him to the airport. I was pretty impressed by the fact that we were at the airport by 9:15am, and they were still checking passengers in for his flight. But I guess the rest of those contracts will have to wait until we can work on it by email... only minor problem is that the poor guy can't type because he was injured last week - hurt his left arm and dislocated two fingers on his right hand! So, we'll see how it all gets done!
The rest of my day was spent cooking, eating and sewing curtains! After 3 years of living in my house, I've finally decided to put some curtains up in my verandah/living room. However, because it's such a big room, and ONLY screens (that is, no walls, just a screened in porch), it's taking a while to get this whole project done. In fact, I think I didn't quite buy enough fabric for it, either, so it's going to be back to the market for me. The curtains themselves are quite simple, and it's looking quite impressive in here so far. But I'm not even halfway done with the necessary sewing... and I have to admit, if anyone came to look too closely at them, they'd be a bit disappointed with the quality of my stitching! But I love the fabric I've chosen, and am enjoying sitting here and admiring the patterns!
For various reasons in the past, Excel formulas haven't been used for salary calculations, nor were any of the spreadsheets that had been used actually consistent enough to be effectively used. Things like that bother me - something that has been taking someone days and days to do with a calculator could so easily be done using a few formulas and some mail merges! So last year, I started helping R put some order to the whole system. And this year, we started where we left off and got even more order to the system! I realize that I'm admitting my utter geekiness here when I say that I felt much joy and satisfaction at 10:30pm on a Saturday night when I was able to work with R to get a mail merge properly working with a salary sheet that accurately reflected the new salaries for this fiscal year. It was pure joy to see how, at the touch of a button, hours of work was saved :) We spent quite a few hours last year getting bits of the system together, and this year, I feel pretty satisfied that we've got something together that can work effectively for next year, as well.
We didn't quite get one section done, though, as we were both tired and wanted to tackle it with fresh brains today before R flew off to the city this afternoon. However, that was not to be. He called me at 8:50am and said, "Oops, I have a little problem..." He thought the flight was an afternoon flight, and that he had to check in at about 2pm (2 hours before the scheduled departure). But, he looked at his ticket this morning, and realized that in fact, he was booked on the morning flight, which was scheduled to leave at 10am! So I quickly tried to wake myself up (I was sound asleep, enjoying the sound of the rain and the cool sleeping weather!), pulled on some clothes and went out to bring him to the airport. I was pretty impressed by the fact that we were at the airport by 9:15am, and they were still checking passengers in for his flight. But I guess the rest of those contracts will have to wait until we can work on it by email... only minor problem is that the poor guy can't type because he was injured last week - hurt his left arm and dislocated two fingers on his right hand! So, we'll see how it all gets done!
The rest of my day was spent cooking, eating and sewing curtains! After 3 years of living in my house, I've finally decided to put some curtains up in my verandah/living room. However, because it's such a big room, and ONLY screens (that is, no walls, just a screened in porch), it's taking a while to get this whole project done. In fact, I think I didn't quite buy enough fabric for it, either, so it's going to be back to the market for me. The curtains themselves are quite simple, and it's looking quite impressive in here so far. But I'm not even halfway done with the necessary sewing... and I have to admit, if anyone came to look too closely at them, they'd be a bit disappointed with the quality of my stitching! But I love the fabric I've chosen, and am enjoying sitting here and admiring the patterns!
My idea is to make more plain green panels and divide the patterns with plain green in between. I still have about 8 panels to sew, and I have 7 done already... just to give you an idea of the amount of curtain we're talking about here! But already, especially in the evening sitting here with my curtains closed in my one little corner, it's feeling a bit more cozy than it did before. I guess I should have tried doing this a long time ago!
While I sewed, I was watching the "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" dvds! I highly recommend them if you can get your hands on them.
After sewing, I went to set up the chairs and tea for our International Fellowship ground which meets here on Sunday evenings. It's such a great time of prayer and Bible study with friends from all over the world, and I look forward to it every week. However, this week, we set things up and went to wait for folks to come over. We waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, the guy who was supposed to lead called us, and said that he was stuck over on the other side of the road. The road was closed by the police and they wouldn't even let him drive across the road! Eventually, he locked up his truck on the other side of the main road and walked the two blocks to our compound to drop off the study materials that we were supposed to use tonight. The road closure explained why no one else had showed up yet, either! We waited for a little while longer - sometimes they end up opening the road as suddenly as they close it - but to no avail.
The leader guy and I had talked earlier in the week about trying out a place to eat supper after the fellowship tonight, so we decided to go and have our supper instead, since there were only 5 of us (out of a possible 25 or 30) people around! So we walked back to his truck (no way our truck was going to get off our little side street!), walked across the closed road and took all the little back-tracks to get to the eating place. I say "eating place" because it's not really a restaurant where we ate. The place we went is a collection of plastic tables and plastic chairs which get set up each evening in an open space near the main road. Every evening, they start up the grills and charcoal stoves and cook up huge pots of beans, fried meat, greens, and roast chickens on the grill. It's one of the most popular eateries in town these days, and I've wanted to try it, because there are literally traffic jams caused by people trying to get into this place to eat every night!
And now that I've eaten there, I can see why it's so popular! The chicken was amazing - a bit spicy, but juicy, tender and perfectly roasted. And it was HUGE (well, ok, not huge by the likes of Swiss Chalet chickens or anything, but for this part of the world, we were talking some big chickens!). They just put half a chicken on a big platter, give you a bit of bread, some broth in which to dip your bread, and voila: dinner. It was delicious. Though I was taken out for dinner tonight, I'm sure the price was reasonable, like no more than $5 per person. I will definitely be tempted to stop there again, though we were a bit conspicuous being the only two white folks sitting on the side of the road chowing down on our chicken!
So now my belly is full, I'm sipping my Earl Grey tea (which I brought back from the City last week) and am admiring my curtains. I somehow feel like I've been rested and relaxed and am ready to face another week at work. I wonder what the week will bring?
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this past week we had meetings which were supposed to be held in the City on Monday to Wednesday... but we all know how that turned out! The meetings themselves were good, and went surprisingly fast for 3 days of meetings. I've been on this Executive Committee/Board for quite some time now, and it's actually quite encouraging to me to see how things get done and how we are actually providing some leadership to this little organization of ours. While a lot of people might complain about so many days of meetings (and I admit, I used to be one of them!), these particular meetings are becoming more and more enjoyable as I learn more about how they work and why we do them. There's something to be said for a bit of longevity and continuity, and a whole lot of good to be said about sitting down and talking face to face, rather than trying to do all our business by email! Imagine, ME, saying that I would prefer to talk face to face with someone rather than sending an email?!
Right, this blog is getting rather long and probably rather boring. So I'll stop here and perhaps watch just one more episode of No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency before I go to sleep :)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
A little foodie
So, I know this blog often centres around food. But, well, what can I say, food is a major feature in my life!
Here's a photo of the lovely plate of dessert that I had in the City on Friday evening:
Mmmm... doesn't it look delicious? I mean, seriously, who would have thought you'd get kiwi fruit over here?!
Tonight, though, my dinner was almost just as delicious, and made up from just as many imported bits:
The broccoli came from the City. The butter which was drizzled over the hot broccoli came from the City. The bread with actual grains and whole wheat came from the City. The cheese inside the bread came from Entebbe. The peach/orange juice which I washed it all down with also came from the City. I can't believe just how good that broccoli was. Seriously good. Just stirfried in a bit of olive oil (bought in this town, but imported from somewhere in the middle east) and a pinch of salt (bought here but imported from Uganda) and a bit of butter melted over top. Wow. So good.
I had a little sandwich and veggie for supper tonight because I feasted at lunch today. We have a new couple here to join us in the work. They're Kenyan and are just really wonderful. I love 'em. I took them to meet a chap who's half Ghanaian, half Burkinabe, who somehow grew up around Canadian missionaries. He's here recording a New Testament in one of the local languages. It's so cool to hear about his work, as he goes all over Africa making recordings of New Testaments, making the Word available to people who, for whatever reason, can't read it. Such an amazing work that he does, and faces a lot of challenges while doing it. He and his colleagues from all over Africa just go around to various countries, recording entire New Testaments in something like 25 languages per year. Because so many of the cultures here in Africa are primarily oral (that is, they LOVE to talk and listen, rather than read), having the Word available in audio format is so incredibly important.
Unfortunately, with this particular language group that he was recording here, he had a hard time finding enough people who could read their language, especially women, in order to get the entire New Testament recorded. This language has had a New Testament published for several years, and has so many literacy books produced... but literacy in the language has yet to reach the masses. Someday, I hope, it will. But I'm so glad that there are people like Caleb who are running around Africa making sure people get their translated Scriptures in a format that they can access quickly and easily.
I know, sounds funny that a LITERACY specialist is extolling the virtues of recordings. But it's all a piece of the puzzle that's so necessary in making sure people have the resources they need to figure out who God is. Both literacy and listening are equally as important!
Anyway, I started on this because I was talking about our lunch... we were chatting and chatting, and I was hungry, so I invited everyone to lunch. So it was me, this Ghanaian/Burkinabe, and two Kenyans sitting together around the table eating Ethiopian food in this country, and all working towards the same goal and purpose. What a beautiful picture it was. It's moment like that where I really do feel so incredibly blessed to be given the opportunity to work and live where I do!
Here's a photo of the lovely plate of dessert that I had in the City on Friday evening:
Tonight, though, my dinner was almost just as delicious, and made up from just as many imported bits:
I had a little sandwich and veggie for supper tonight because I feasted at lunch today. We have a new couple here to join us in the work. They're Kenyan and are just really wonderful. I love 'em. I took them to meet a chap who's half Ghanaian, half Burkinabe, who somehow grew up around Canadian missionaries. He's here recording a New Testament in one of the local languages. It's so cool to hear about his work, as he goes all over Africa making recordings of New Testaments, making the Word available to people who, for whatever reason, can't read it. Such an amazing work that he does, and faces a lot of challenges while doing it. He and his colleagues from all over Africa just go around to various countries, recording entire New Testaments in something like 25 languages per year. Because so many of the cultures here in Africa are primarily oral (that is, they LOVE to talk and listen, rather than read), having the Word available in audio format is so incredibly important.
Unfortunately, with this particular language group that he was recording here, he had a hard time finding enough people who could read their language, especially women, in order to get the entire New Testament recorded. This language has had a New Testament published for several years, and has so many literacy books produced... but literacy in the language has yet to reach the masses. Someday, I hope, it will. But I'm so glad that there are people like Caleb who are running around Africa making sure people get their translated Scriptures in a format that they can access quickly and easily.
I know, sounds funny that a LITERACY specialist is extolling the virtues of recordings. But it's all a piece of the puzzle that's so necessary in making sure people have the resources they need to figure out who God is. Both literacy and listening are equally as important!
Anyway, I started on this because I was talking about our lunch... we were chatting and chatting, and I was hungry, so I invited everyone to lunch. So it was me, this Ghanaian/Burkinabe, and two Kenyans sitting together around the table eating Ethiopian food in this country, and all working towards the same goal and purpose. What a beautiful picture it was. It's moment like that where I really do feel so incredibly blessed to be given the opportunity to work and live where I do!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
I just finished Skyping with my family back home - they made my mouth start watering when they started talking about carving the turkey and getting the mashed potatoes out of the oven, and I heard the wine glasses clinking. But I had my own little sort of Thanksgiving celebration tonight. With a fellow Canadian from my compound, we joined two other Canadians from a different organization (plus an American - but she's from Minnesota, which is practically Canada!) to have a nice dinner of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and corn.
I had even left the office about 30 minutes early today and made a pumpkin pie! I must admit, I'm happy to be able to use that last bit of pumpkin from my freezer (seriously, it's like the pumpkin that almost never ended - still not ended as I have a few pieces of pumpkin cake and a whole container of pumpkin soup left in the freezer!). The pie actually turned out really well! I was quite pleased with the results, and so was everyone else. They were all pretty amazed that I baked a pie from scratch, using pumpkin that didn't come from a can. I have to admit, I'm pretty amazed about it myself.
I even stopped at the ice cream shop on my way from the immigration office today and got a little container of ice cream, so we had some vanilla/chocolate twist soft serve on top of the pie. Not quite as authentic as whipped cream, but we're flexible :)
So I had a nice Thanksgiving celebration, even though I'm far from home again.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May you all find countless things to be thankful for today!
I had even left the office about 30 minutes early today and made a pumpkin pie! I must admit, I'm happy to be able to use that last bit of pumpkin from my freezer (seriously, it's like the pumpkin that almost never ended - still not ended as I have a few pieces of pumpkin cake and a whole container of pumpkin soup left in the freezer!). The pie actually turned out really well! I was quite pleased with the results, and so was everyone else. They were all pretty amazed that I baked a pie from scratch, using pumpkin that didn't come from a can. I have to admit, I'm pretty amazed about it myself.
I even stopped at the ice cream shop on my way from the immigration office today and got a little container of ice cream, so we had some vanilla/chocolate twist soft serve on top of the pie. Not quite as authentic as whipped cream, but we're flexible :)
So I had a nice Thanksgiving celebration, even though I'm far from home again.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May you all find countless things to be thankful for today!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Let the Adventures End!
Yes, I'm ready for a bit less adventure for the week. Without getting into too much detail (lest I give away my top secret location and freak all of you out!), I've had adventures this past week which has resulted in no less than 2 missed nights of sleep. Now, when I was 18, that was no problem. What's a missed night of sleep? But now that I'm, um, well, a little older than that, 2 missed nights of sleep out of the last 6 gets to be a bit wearing.
Last night's adventure was a bit crazy. Months ago, our Board meetings were planned to be held in a different City in a different part of this country... a part of the country that you need a separate visa in your passport to visit. So off I went with R to the appropriate offices here in this city, and dutifully filled out all the paper work and got all the stamps and signatures and handed over the fees. No problem. But due to the previous weekend's adventure which resulted in a missed night of sleep, I was super-duper busy this entire week. And partly as a result of that last adventure, I decided to go a few days earlier than planned to the City, to get some things done there. Anyway, I didn't have time to start packing for my big trip to the City until about 10pm on Thursday night. We were due to leave for the airport at 7:30am on Friday.
Anyway, I managed to get it all done, and it worked out well so that I was leaving at the same time as a team of volunteers who came to help us build on the centre was leaving. So I got myself all checked in with no problems - no one even asked to see my visa or passport. And then I helped this group get all checked in and through the whole immigration process. No problems.
Eventually, it came time to board my flight - it even left more or less at the time that it was supposed to leave! So I was amazed at how well this whole trip was going, so far. The flight up there was fine - got a little food, had a little nap. No problem. When we landed at 11am in the City, it was already 38C outside! Wowzers. So I was sweating a little by the time I even got to the terminal (you have to walk off the plane onto the runway - no big gate things that snuggle up to the airplanes and connect you to the terminal here!). One of my colleagues was right there waiting for me, and my luggage came out, and still, no one asked to see my passport or anything. So it seemed I was free to go. I was feeling rather uneasy about the whole thing, because surely, nothing in this place is THAT simple!
Anyway, to make a long story short, after some time of deliberation, one of my colleagues thought that it would be necessary and good to get someone in the airport to stamp my passport, to make sure I had an entry date stamped in there on my visa, so that I could get registered etc. So I tried to go to the International arrivals area and find an immigration person to talk to. No can do. The security folks wouldn't even talk to us, not to mention letting me actually INTO the airport!
Now, due to the circumstances earlier in the week, this particular colleague who takes care of all these immigration and visa issues for us was actually in the hospital in the City! But he's actually doing quite well - they're basically just keeping him in the hospital so that he gets an injection of antibiotics twice a day, and they can make sure his wounds stay clean. But he was starting to get bored sitting there. So when I wasn't able to even get into the terminal, I called him, and he said, "Come and get me!". Fortunately, the hospital he was staying at was quite near the airport, so we jumped in my friend's car and went to spring R from the hospital :)
I think he was quite glad for the expedition out of the hospital, as he'd been sitting there for 5 days already without leaving! He got us actually into the airport with no trouble, and past the security guards, but once we reached the immigration desk, I could tell there was going to be trouble. Of course, I don't understand much of the language they speak up there, but I could see from R's face that things were not going well. When they both got out their phones and started dialing up different numbers, I knew that was going to be the end of the situation, one way or the other.
Eventually, R just looked at me and told me that they were putting me on a plane back to my home here in Jb first thing in the morning. That was the end of it. I don't know all the issues involved, but apparently what I had stamped in my passport and the form I had wasn't good enough to allow me to stay.
Of course, while all this was happening, the immigration guy started to ask me if I was married, and then proceeded to tell me that I should marry a local man... to which I responded, "How can I marry a local man if I'm not allowed to stay?!" He didn't have an answer to that one... He did, however, ask my colleague for my phone number. My colleague is smart enough to know what the guy wanted, so he gave him my wrong phone number :) Anyway, after a few hours of sitting there and getting guarantees from the airlines and from R and signed papers etc promising that they would all personally ensure that I got on the plane back to Jb today, they allowed us to go.
Not too long after we left the airport, the immigration guy called R and casually mentioned that he had tried to call me but couldn't get through...
By this time, it was getting to be dinner time. So we dropped R back off at the hospital, and my friend brought me to the home of some other colleagues where I was planning to spend the night. It was so nice to spend some time with my colleagues there, as I don't see them very often. And this particular couple sure do know how to make a girl feel welcome. They immediately made plans to take me out for dinner!
And wow, did we ever go out for dinner! I felt like such a country hick girl going to the big city for the first time - we went to a beautiful 5 star hotel - complete with an elevator and fountains in the lobby. Amazingly beautiful. Just being in a place so fancy and clean was soothing balm to my frazzled little soul! We took the elevator up to the top floor of the hotel where there's a gorgeous restaurant, and we watched the sun set over the river. And then we ate. And boy, did we eat! It felt a little funny, though, because when presented with the choice between seconds on the salad greens (lettuce and spinach), fruits or chocolate cake, I actually chose the salad and fruits over the chocolate cake!
Man, what beautiful fruit they had - I probably ate the equivalent of 3 kiwi fruits last night! Kiwi fruits! Do you realize how long it's been since I've had a kiwi!? There were plums and oranges and clementines... so lovely and delicious. It really was a beautiful place to eat. Good food, good company and good atmosphere.
Following our lovely dinner, my friend took me shopping to a new supermarket in town. Amazing to see what was available and how much cheaper things were there than they are here. I stocked up on treats (and some necessities, too, for instance, lentils were half the price there as they are here!) and enjoyed looking at all the North American brands that were there. So many different cereals, and even NutriGrain bars were on sale :) And I got some broccoli and some bread with whole grains and seeds on top! Yummy!
By the time all the eating and shopping was done, it was nearly 11pm, so it was home to pack up my stuff... because I had to be at the airport again at 4:30am! I didn't actually sleep a wink. Of course, since R had guaranteed that he'd bring me, we had to swing by the hospital again to pick him up, so he didn't sleep much either. He just waltzed out of the hospital at 4:20am as tho it was a hotel or something. So odd!
The airline personnel were there to meet us when we arrived - they certainly weren't going to take any chances that I wouldn't get on that plane! It was quite an odd feeling, actually, getting "deported", because they really were keeping a very close eye on me, making sure that I was escorted all the way through the check in and security and that I wasn't going to go anywhere! They eventually handed me back my passport, I guess once they were sure that there was no way I would leave :) And the whole time, I was just shaking my head, thinking, "huh, so this is what it feels like to get deported..." (except for the rather significant fact that I had stayed in the City for less than 24 hours and didn't actually have a home and a life there!). I really feel a bit more empathy for so many of my friends who have been actually deported from places that they've called home for years. How traumatizing it would be to be escorted out of a place like that, knowing that you were leaving behind so much.
So, now I'm back home, after a whirlwind trip to the City. I am a bit disappointed, as there was so much that I wanted to do in the City. I love that place and I was looking forward to spending some time with people I know, and wandering around the markets and shopping and just enjoying a change of scene for a while. I'm such a city girl at heart, so it was awful to spend such a short amount of time surrounded by bright lights and big city, only have to leave so suddenly! I do hope I get another chance sometime to visit again... hopefully for more than 24 hours next time!
Last night's adventure was a bit crazy. Months ago, our Board meetings were planned to be held in a different City in a different part of this country... a part of the country that you need a separate visa in your passport to visit. So off I went with R to the appropriate offices here in this city, and dutifully filled out all the paper work and got all the stamps and signatures and handed over the fees. No problem. But due to the previous weekend's adventure which resulted in a missed night of sleep, I was super-duper busy this entire week. And partly as a result of that last adventure, I decided to go a few days earlier than planned to the City, to get some things done there. Anyway, I didn't have time to start packing for my big trip to the City until about 10pm on Thursday night. We were due to leave for the airport at 7:30am on Friday.
Anyway, I managed to get it all done, and it worked out well so that I was leaving at the same time as a team of volunteers who came to help us build on the centre was leaving. So I got myself all checked in with no problems - no one even asked to see my visa or passport. And then I helped this group get all checked in and through the whole immigration process. No problems.
Eventually, it came time to board my flight - it even left more or less at the time that it was supposed to leave! So I was amazed at how well this whole trip was going, so far. The flight up there was fine - got a little food, had a little nap. No problem. When we landed at 11am in the City, it was already 38C outside! Wowzers. So I was sweating a little by the time I even got to the terminal (you have to walk off the plane onto the runway - no big gate things that snuggle up to the airplanes and connect you to the terminal here!). One of my colleagues was right there waiting for me, and my luggage came out, and still, no one asked to see my passport or anything. So it seemed I was free to go. I was feeling rather uneasy about the whole thing, because surely, nothing in this place is THAT simple!
Anyway, to make a long story short, after some time of deliberation, one of my colleagues thought that it would be necessary and good to get someone in the airport to stamp my passport, to make sure I had an entry date stamped in there on my visa, so that I could get registered etc. So I tried to go to the International arrivals area and find an immigration person to talk to. No can do. The security folks wouldn't even talk to us, not to mention letting me actually INTO the airport!
Now, due to the circumstances earlier in the week, this particular colleague who takes care of all these immigration and visa issues for us was actually in the hospital in the City! But he's actually doing quite well - they're basically just keeping him in the hospital so that he gets an injection of antibiotics twice a day, and they can make sure his wounds stay clean. But he was starting to get bored sitting there. So when I wasn't able to even get into the terminal, I called him, and he said, "Come and get me!". Fortunately, the hospital he was staying at was quite near the airport, so we jumped in my friend's car and went to spring R from the hospital :)
I think he was quite glad for the expedition out of the hospital, as he'd been sitting there for 5 days already without leaving! He got us actually into the airport with no trouble, and past the security guards, but once we reached the immigration desk, I could tell there was going to be trouble. Of course, I don't understand much of the language they speak up there, but I could see from R's face that things were not going well. When they both got out their phones and started dialing up different numbers, I knew that was going to be the end of the situation, one way or the other.
Eventually, R just looked at me and told me that they were putting me on a plane back to my home here in Jb first thing in the morning. That was the end of it. I don't know all the issues involved, but apparently what I had stamped in my passport and the form I had wasn't good enough to allow me to stay.
Of course, while all this was happening, the immigration guy started to ask me if I was married, and then proceeded to tell me that I should marry a local man... to which I responded, "How can I marry a local man if I'm not allowed to stay?!" He didn't have an answer to that one... He did, however, ask my colleague for my phone number. My colleague is smart enough to know what the guy wanted, so he gave him my wrong phone number :) Anyway, after a few hours of sitting there and getting guarantees from the airlines and from R and signed papers etc promising that they would all personally ensure that I got on the plane back to Jb today, they allowed us to go.
Not too long after we left the airport, the immigration guy called R and casually mentioned that he had tried to call me but couldn't get through...
By this time, it was getting to be dinner time. So we dropped R back off at the hospital, and my friend brought me to the home of some other colleagues where I was planning to spend the night. It was so nice to spend some time with my colleagues there, as I don't see them very often. And this particular couple sure do know how to make a girl feel welcome. They immediately made plans to take me out for dinner!
And wow, did we ever go out for dinner! I felt like such a country hick girl going to the big city for the first time - we went to a beautiful 5 star hotel - complete with an elevator and fountains in the lobby. Amazingly beautiful. Just being in a place so fancy and clean was soothing balm to my frazzled little soul! We took the elevator up to the top floor of the hotel where there's a gorgeous restaurant, and we watched the sun set over the river. And then we ate. And boy, did we eat! It felt a little funny, though, because when presented with the choice between seconds on the salad greens (lettuce and spinach), fruits or chocolate cake, I actually chose the salad and fruits over the chocolate cake!
Man, what beautiful fruit they had - I probably ate the equivalent of 3 kiwi fruits last night! Kiwi fruits! Do you realize how long it's been since I've had a kiwi!? There were plums and oranges and clementines... so lovely and delicious. It really was a beautiful place to eat. Good food, good company and good atmosphere.
Following our lovely dinner, my friend took me shopping to a new supermarket in town. Amazing to see what was available and how much cheaper things were there than they are here. I stocked up on treats (and some necessities, too, for instance, lentils were half the price there as they are here!) and enjoyed looking at all the North American brands that were there. So many different cereals, and even NutriGrain bars were on sale :) And I got some broccoli and some bread with whole grains and seeds on top! Yummy!
By the time all the eating and shopping was done, it was nearly 11pm, so it was home to pack up my stuff... because I had to be at the airport again at 4:30am! I didn't actually sleep a wink. Of course, since R had guaranteed that he'd bring me, we had to swing by the hospital again to pick him up, so he didn't sleep much either. He just waltzed out of the hospital at 4:20am as tho it was a hotel or something. So odd!
The airline personnel were there to meet us when we arrived - they certainly weren't going to take any chances that I wouldn't get on that plane! It was quite an odd feeling, actually, getting "deported", because they really were keeping a very close eye on me, making sure that I was escorted all the way through the check in and security and that I wasn't going to go anywhere! They eventually handed me back my passport, I guess once they were sure that there was no way I would leave :) And the whole time, I was just shaking my head, thinking, "huh, so this is what it feels like to get deported..." (except for the rather significant fact that I had stayed in the City for less than 24 hours and didn't actually have a home and a life there!). I really feel a bit more empathy for so many of my friends who have been actually deported from places that they've called home for years. How traumatizing it would be to be escorted out of a place like that, knowing that you were leaving behind so much.
So, now I'm back home, after a whirlwind trip to the City. I am a bit disappointed, as there was so much that I wanted to do in the City. I love that place and I was looking forward to spending some time with people I know, and wandering around the markets and shopping and just enjoying a change of scene for a while. I'm such a city girl at heart, so it was awful to spend such a short amount of time surrounded by bright lights and big city, only have to leave so suddenly! I do hope I get another chance sometime to visit again... hopefully for more than 24 hours next time!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
A bit too much adventure
So after my "bonus" day, things got rather busy!
Since I was convinced on Saturday that the literacy celebration wasn't actually going to happen, I followed through on a different commitment that I had made - bringing a group of Americans who have come to help us with some manual labour on a little tourist outing to the market.
Of course, not too long after we got to the market, indulging ourselves in the beautiful colours and patterns of fabric, my colleague who was organizing the literacy day celebration called me to tell me that O was going to be at the compound to collect me for the celebration.
Great. So I tried to herd everyone back to the truck a little faster than I normally would have (which was a bit like herding cats!) and got myself back to the compound. I found O waiting for me to take me to the celebration site. Our Hilux truck was gone with someone else to a different market, and I wasn't about to drive our enormous LandCruiser through the village ('cause I had a feeling we'd be going on some pretty tiny roads), so I was stuck driving the old Nissan pick up. This poor truck has been through a few rough roads and has already lost the bumper a few times. I was already completely high centered in it once when I tried to cross a ditch, but thankfully, Sean had been with me to coach me through driving it out of the ditch (in 4WD, of course).
But, I didn't have much choice, so off we went to the village. Now, the place was only about 5 km away from our compound... but it took me over 30 minutes to drive there! I'm always a bit wary of getting in a truck and taking directions from people who have never in their whole lives driven a vehicle. Often, non-drivers aren't quite aware of some of the unique challenges that come with a big metal box on four wheels, as opposed to their own two nimble feet!
But, anyway, off we went. I must say, I was surprised at what that truck could handle! And I actually ended up having a bit of fun splashing through these enourmous mud puddles, crawling up and down through ditches and ravines and squeezing the truck through the grass-thatched mud huts. I was not as confident as some drivers obviously are, though, and I have to admit that once I actually got out of the car and walked out to look to find the best "line" through a ditch (a very deep ditch with a very steep up hill on the other side), and once to find out just how deep the mud pool actually was. My poor colleague was a bit surprised at my lack of confidence, he was like, "Don't you have roads like this at home?". So I explained to him the fact that people don't NORMALLY drive on these sorts of roads - they only drive on them when they want to go out for a bit of fun in their 4WDs and boast to their buddies about what their truck could do! Seriously, though, after living in this CAPITAL CITY, I feel like I could keep up with the best of those 4WD enthusiasts :)
Anyway, thankfully, we didn't get stuck, and I managed to arrive at the literacy day celebration just in time to see some of the traditional dancing.
Well, so the microphone isn't exactly traditional, but the singing and the dancing and the drumming (of which I don't seem to have a photo!) were very traditional. It was really great to see- I don't see much of the traditional dancing and singing since I live in the "big city"! Of course, most of their songs centre around cows. They were singing about their cows. While the young people danced back and forth together, the old people were prancing around with their arms held above their heads, representative of the big horns that all their cows have.
At certain points in the dance, the men come racing through the line and do this really aggressive cow horn pose thing, which was really quite shocking at first. Again, no picture, but this chap in the toque did a rather frightening bull imitation!
Following the dancing and singing, it was already my turn to give the speech (since I came, well, rather late!). I got to give a little motivational speech about how wonderful literacy is, and how I've seen their literacy classes and how wonderful it is for them to be celebrating their language and culture. You know, all the usuals :) I've become rather adept at giving these little speeches, and am actually starting to enjoy the chance to get a microphone in my hands and get up on my soap box!
Following my speech, some of the women from the community got up to read some stories from the literacy books that have recently been produced. How cool was that, to see everyone sitting there with a copy of their books, which we just worked so hard to get produced a few weeks ago! And already, in the hands of the people who were reading them. It was very, very encouraging to see some of the fruits of our labour.
And then another woman stood up and made a very stirring speech about how she's just a mother, but she knows how to read in her language, and how she has sent her children to school. Now her daughter is one of the few young women from this community who is attending University! She encouraged others to send their kids to school and to go to the literacy classes themselves.
I think she's a pretty fiesty woman, and one that people just might listen to :)
There were a few more speeches, and some more dancing. There was a pretty popular pop singer who's from this particular language committee, so he was there to "close" the program, and had a song to share about literacy and education. It was really actually quite good - not something that I often say about pop music from this part of the world! Maybe it was just the sight of all the people dancing around with the books that we've worked on in their hands that made the music sound sweet :)
By this time, though, it was starting to get dark, and since I knew it might take me some time to get back through the "village" to the main road, I was a bit anxious to get out of there. Thankfully, someone was sent to accompany me out to the main road - someone who knew a better road this time :) He's one of the young men from the community who I know a bit from some teacher training that I've done with them. I also know that he doesn't speak much English, so it was a good chance to also practice my Arabic with him. At least I know enough Arabic to get directions and figure out the way to go! Thankfully, the road he directed me on was much, much better than the way I had come in, and I was out at the main road in no time. Don't ask me to find the place again, though, even with my good sense of direction, I don't think I could find my way back to that exact spot in the "village"!
But all in all, it was a great day! I really enjoyed the time with that community. I've been working with them for quite some time now, and am starting to know more and more of the church members and people involved in the work. So it's encouraging to have had that growing relationship with them, and to see how literacy and the materials that we're producing actually are getting used and are benefitting the community. I guess that's why I'm here, isn't it?!
Since I was convinced on Saturday that the literacy celebration wasn't actually going to happen, I followed through on a different commitment that I had made - bringing a group of Americans who have come to help us with some manual labour on a little tourist outing to the market.
Of course, not too long after we got to the market, indulging ourselves in the beautiful colours and patterns of fabric, my colleague who was organizing the literacy day celebration called me to tell me that O was going to be at the compound to collect me for the celebration.
Great. So I tried to herd everyone back to the truck a little faster than I normally would have (which was a bit like herding cats!) and got myself back to the compound. I found O waiting for me to take me to the celebration site. Our Hilux truck was gone with someone else to a different market, and I wasn't about to drive our enormous LandCruiser through the village ('cause I had a feeling we'd be going on some pretty tiny roads), so I was stuck driving the old Nissan pick up. This poor truck has been through a few rough roads and has already lost the bumper a few times. I was already completely high centered in it once when I tried to cross a ditch, but thankfully, Sean had been with me to coach me through driving it out of the ditch (in 4WD, of course).
But, I didn't have much choice, so off we went to the village. Now, the place was only about 5 km away from our compound... but it took me over 30 minutes to drive there! I'm always a bit wary of getting in a truck and taking directions from people who have never in their whole lives driven a vehicle. Often, non-drivers aren't quite aware of some of the unique challenges that come with a big metal box on four wheels, as opposed to their own two nimble feet!
But, anyway, off we went. I must say, I was surprised at what that truck could handle! And I actually ended up having a bit of fun splashing through these enourmous mud puddles, crawling up and down through ditches and ravines and squeezing the truck through the grass-thatched mud huts. I was not as confident as some drivers obviously are, though, and I have to admit that once I actually got out of the car and walked out to look to find the best "line" through a ditch (a very deep ditch with a very steep up hill on the other side), and once to find out just how deep the mud pool actually was. My poor colleague was a bit surprised at my lack of confidence, he was like, "Don't you have roads like this at home?". So I explained to him the fact that people don't NORMALLY drive on these sorts of roads - they only drive on them when they want to go out for a bit of fun in their 4WDs and boast to their buddies about what their truck could do! Seriously, though, after living in this CAPITAL CITY, I feel like I could keep up with the best of those 4WD enthusiasts :)
Anyway, thankfully, we didn't get stuck, and I managed to arrive at the literacy day celebration just in time to see some of the traditional dancing.
Following the dancing and singing, it was already my turn to give the speech (since I came, well, rather late!). I got to give a little motivational speech about how wonderful literacy is, and how I've seen their literacy classes and how wonderful it is for them to be celebrating their language and culture. You know, all the usuals :) I've become rather adept at giving these little speeches, and am actually starting to enjoy the chance to get a microphone in my hands and get up on my soap box!
Following my speech, some of the women from the community got up to read some stories from the literacy books that have recently been produced. How cool was that, to see everyone sitting there with a copy of their books, which we just worked so hard to get produced a few weeks ago! And already, in the hands of the people who were reading them. It was very, very encouraging to see some of the fruits of our labour.
There were a few more speeches, and some more dancing. There was a pretty popular pop singer who's from this particular language committee, so he was there to "close" the program, and had a song to share about literacy and education. It was really actually quite good - not something that I often say about pop music from this part of the world! Maybe it was just the sight of all the people dancing around with the books that we've worked on in their hands that made the music sound sweet :)
But all in all, it was a great day! I really enjoyed the time with that community. I've been working with them for quite some time now, and am starting to know more and more of the church members and people involved in the work. So it's encouraging to have had that growing relationship with them, and to see how literacy and the materials that we're producing actually are getting used and are benefitting the community. I guess that's why I'm here, isn't it?!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
A bonus day?
I'm sitting here in my verandah, all dressed up, with no where (yet!) to go!
I was supposed to go and make a little speech and take part in a literacy celebration with one of the language communities that I work with here. They said that they would come for me at 10am, to show me the place where they were setting up the celebration.
However, a little wrench in the plan was that a few weeks ago, we also decided (before the date for this literacy day was decided) that we would have a little ladies brunch, to be hosted at my house, this morning.
Knowing that 10am doesn't always mean exactly 10am, I figured I could still do both, no problem. So I got up quite early, got the house all tidied and make up some pancakes (with pumpkin!), made the coffee and boiled water for tea, and put on my fancy "speech making" dress and beads. Sure enough my friends all came over at about 9:45am, bearing fruit, more pancakes, juice and even a loaf of wonderful homemade raisin bread! I ate right away, and had arranged with my neighbor to sorta "host" the remainder of the party in case I got called away.
At 10am, I was called by my colleague, who was supposed to come and get me. He said, "We are running a little late, so you go and do other things, we will call you when we're ready." I expected they would be late, but I didn't expect a phone call to tell me that! So I just enjoyed the brunch with my friends and just waited for a phone call. About 11:45, I called my colleague. Nope, still not ready for me. He would call me. But again, he said, "Go and do other things..."
So I enjoyed my time with my friends. They even ended up washing up all my dishes for me!
It's now 2pm, and still no call. I'm going to call them and see what's going on. I had also promised to lead a bit of an expedition of some of our new folks here to the market to shop for fabric. So if they still need me to make a speech for them at this literacy day thing (over 4 hours late!), I may just have to tell them, well, sorry, you've missed your chance to hear from me! In the meantime, I'm still sitting here all dressed up with no where to go (yet!).
So I feel like I've had a bit of a "bonus" day!
I was supposed to go and make a little speech and take part in a literacy celebration with one of the language communities that I work with here. They said that they would come for me at 10am, to show me the place where they were setting up the celebration.
However, a little wrench in the plan was that a few weeks ago, we also decided (before the date for this literacy day was decided) that we would have a little ladies brunch, to be hosted at my house, this morning.
Knowing that 10am doesn't always mean exactly 10am, I figured I could still do both, no problem. So I got up quite early, got the house all tidied and make up some pancakes (with pumpkin!), made the coffee and boiled water for tea, and put on my fancy "speech making" dress and beads. Sure enough my friends all came over at about 9:45am, bearing fruit, more pancakes, juice and even a loaf of wonderful homemade raisin bread! I ate right away, and had arranged with my neighbor to sorta "host" the remainder of the party in case I got called away.
At 10am, I was called by my colleague, who was supposed to come and get me. He said, "We are running a little late, so you go and do other things, we will call you when we're ready." I expected they would be late, but I didn't expect a phone call to tell me that! So I just enjoyed the brunch with my friends and just waited for a phone call. About 11:45, I called my colleague. Nope, still not ready for me. He would call me. But again, he said, "Go and do other things..."
So I enjoyed my time with my friends. They even ended up washing up all my dishes for me!
It's now 2pm, and still no call. I'm going to call them and see what's going on. I had also promised to lead a bit of an expedition of some of our new folks here to the market to shop for fabric. So if they still need me to make a speech for them at this literacy day thing (over 4 hours late!), I may just have to tell them, well, sorry, you've missed your chance to hear from me! In the meantime, I'm still sitting here all dressed up with no where to go (yet!).
So I feel like I've had a bit of a "bonus" day!
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