Boring….boring….boring….

03/31/2008

I say boring in the sense of the mundane details of life here, but far from boring when you can actually experience it. I have an audio recorder, and I’ve started to record some of the various sounds, because the pictures do not tell the whole story and you really can’t get a sense of life here with a little sound. I have no idea how to just post the sounds, so I’ll take suggestions from things that have worked for you in the recent past. So, I’ll do my best to describe today for you.

Today was the first day to work in the clinic and it was a lot of fun. We began at 6 am, with the ringing of the morning bell. Now, the morning bell is nothing more than a piece of sheet metal and also a metal pipe being struck with a large stick. Then all of the children walk over to the cafeteria while sun light is barely peaking over the horizon. Even though it is only a hundred yards or so to the cafeteria from the cabin I am staying; you can only hear the faint sounds of children singing. The rustling noises of flip flops over the gravel trails drowns most of the sound out until I pass the few trees in between and also begin to walk across the grass.

You walk into the cafeteria from the opposite side as the orphans through the kitchen at the narrowest portion of the building lengthwise. Shortly after the singing stops, a man begins the morning discipleship time; speaking in Juba/Arabic; the most common local dialect The children listen intently while the older ones day dream, much like back in the states, and small children cry; usually for attention.

Afterwards, thick cream of wheat was served for breakfast. I did not notice if the older children used utensils, but from some of the pictures you can or will soon be able to see that the smallest ones did not. Remarkably a few of them were extremely careful and did not even spill the smallest bite. They would methodically use only 1 or 2 fingers to scoop up small bites and gently place into their mouths. You could see the joy in their faces after each successful delivery of food.

Older children get ready for school, clean up on their own. While the youngest immediately go outside and begin day filled with adventure, wonder, and I feel questions that can’t quite be comprehended at their age, yet the thought is there. They were very interested in my stomach, probably because it is white and hairy, and I think a little too big.

Once the youngest were done pulling the hairs from my belly, I realized that I was late to breakfast, only in the sense that I will be eating alone. I am here with Pastor Dennis, Mamma Lilly, Pastor Pooshani , Tara from Minnesota who is a teacher, Emily from Dallas who is a nurse, Farrah from the Duncanville who is a nurse, Mirjam from northern Switzerland who is also a nurse, Mike from Colorado who is here with His Living Water working with the water wells here (these bring us fresh water and therefore does not require the orphanage to buy bottled water), Lance who is the son of Dennis and Lilly but currently in Terakeka where I’ll be going for a short time in a week or so.

The guest house I am staying in is almost as big as my old apartment in Dallas. It has 2 twin beds with mosquito nets hovering over each, 2 plastic deck chairs and table, one wooden chair with thin cushions cover the bottom and back. The wells supply fresh water to the sink, toilet, and the shower has both hot and cold water. Windows are everywhere with wood shutters on the inside of light curtain, and heavy screens.

The clinic opens at 9:00 am for villagers to come in for 1 Sudanese Pound, or $0.50. There was a regular stream of malaria tests and treatments, dysentery, various cuts and scrapes, and not seen today but anything else from child birth, broken bones, and the current cholera breakout. At 12:00 we break for lunch and then pass out medicine for orphans and students, which is also done at breakfast and dinner. At 1:00 pm, or 13:00 here, school children can be seen until 14:00. Anything from an infected wound to a pin prick will be used to get out of class. We break again until 15:00 and see if the students have any other illnesses or those seen earlier have improved or not. Bath time for the youngest is at 16:00 and one of us just need to look in and check for fungal infections or scabies that cannot be normally seen.

It is the rainy season, rather, the rainy season came a few weeks early this year. This means rain every day, often multiple times, and typically all day. There are many pockets of sun shine and those come daily too, but all in all, there is a lot of rain.

Well, that is an awful lot, but perhaps it will give you a glimpse of life here. It is absolutely amazing, and I have barely begun. I am doing my best to pick up on the local language. The oldest boys tend to find me about now, 6:00 pm or 18:00 to play soccer. It has been a very long time since my last marathon and even my last half was way back in December….wow I am out of shape and these guys are really good too. I miss you all very much. Thank you to everyone who has emailed me. Please keep everyone at Harvesters in your prayers.