Day 2 In Africa

Today we started our day off with breakfast around the huge butcher block table. It consisted of every cereal that everyone brought, toast and even coffee. Our conversation was in laughter about the events that occurred in the middle of the night. David fell out of his bunk bed, causing minor injuries to his head and shoulder, then Kelli decided to faint due to lack of sleep and jet lag. Ed definitely had his hands full with plenty of patients. =)

After filling our bellies and our soul with laughter we gathered around in the living room for some beautiful worship music and indulged in our bible study, “A call to die”. The bible study is going to stretch us to rely on GOD instead of our selves. The study challenges us to be less selfish, self-centered and worldly.

Dressed and ready to tackle our first set of chores, we headed outside the compound to dig 13 holes for our trees that we will be planting tomorrow. Megan picked out Jackaranda and red flame trees that will line the driveway to the compound. They will be absolutely beautiful when they are grown and in full bloom. While digging the holes, we were accompanied by Richard, Petty and Bonafas. All three of the men work at the compound and were a tremendous help in digging the holes. The holes were about 21/2 feet deep and approximately 11/2 wide. While most of us stayed behind to dig holes, Megan and Dave went into town to purchase more tools and finalize the deal for the tractor. As we attempted to dig the holes, Abigail and Gift, two little girls, played in the wheel barrel. Then of course, we got distracted and started playing with them, giving them wheel barrel rides and recited the English alphabet. Grandson (a local 15 year old boy) who Megan refers to as her “little brother” also helped dig the holes while barefoot and enjoyed every minute of it.

Around 1pm we stopped for lunch after digging all of the holes. Megan brought back several shovels (all short shovels), 2 picks, a rack and some other useful tools. We enjoyed tuna and egg salad sandwiches and flavored water.

After lunch, we went outside the compound to dig our new latrine. The hole consists of 5 by 8 feet in with and 10 feet deep. Sean, Marty, Grandson and Megan went down the road to pick up some steer manure. The manure owner only had two bags to put manure in and the team had to search for bags. We were able to borrow some bags from Grandson’s father and were able to get enough manure for the projects. It was about 4pm and lots of the older children were collecting water from a faucet near the manure place and carrying it home on their heads. As we collected the manure we were greeted with smiles from the passing children a wave and couple of “Hey Mzungu!!!!” (Which translates “Hey White People”). We have all learned the local way to shake hands which consists of a regular hand shake then rotating up to grasp the thumb and then rotating back to a regular hand shake. Marty and Sean shook all the kids’ hands this way at the manure spot and all the kids thought this was hilarious.

Needless to say, we did not finish the hole today. We managed to get down about 3 feet with the help of everyone! More kids from the adjoining neighborhoods came around and we must have had about 20 kids. It was so much fun playing with the kids. We played “duck, duck, goose”, “red rover, red rover”, tag and a couple of other local games the kids enjoy playing! Nuvia and I also got to experience how hard it is to carry a child strapped to your back. Little Gift (his name) is the youngest of 6 children who live down the road. His mother Joy is a single mom.

After a hard day of work, we got to partake in a large pot of chicken soup, left over crocodile bread and salad. Before the meal was prepared the lights went out and Megan got to cook the soup over a fire in the backyard and dinner was by candle light. Having the lights go out in this area is very common.

Authors for today- Kelli and Marty =)