First of all, Happy (late) 4th
of July! Believe it or not, we celebrated our country’s freedom with a good ol’
American BBQ, apple pie and some horseshoes. The only think that reminded me
that I was in Africa and not back home was the fact it wasn’t 100% humidity.
And I wasn’t celebrating my dad’s birthday with him and the family. Missed you
guys!
Last Sunday the interns split up and some of us
went to a village church with Brett and some to another village church with
Calvin. Dustin and I took the ridiculously bumpy road to a village called
Bupandwa. On the way we picked up two girls and baby Yoshua for a ride to the
village. One of the girl’s names was Rachel and she was my age. Immediate
friendship. We haven’t met many people around our age so it was neat to spend
some time with her and talk to her as well as I could. This village was even
more welcoming and hospitable than the others. We always get excited when they
make us chipatis and “froot loop” chai tea for breakfast. I don't know how they
do it but somehow their tea tastes like they used the leftover milk from a bowl
of froot loops. Brett says it’s the lemongrass, but I’m still convinced they
have a secret cereal stash.
Yoshua the preacher was very good about leading the
church to desire to know God’s Word over everything else. They didn’t want
dancing and singing to replace the goodness of truth found in scripture, so we
spent a lot of time studying straight from the bible. When Duane
taught on the story of Jesus calming the waves, he pointed out that even those
who were closest to Jesus faced storms. Yoshua really emphasized this to the
church, that a relationship with God does not promise a life without obstacles,
hardships, or pain. Especially since we see Christ himself enduring extreme
suffering. But He does say that persevering through these trials makes us
complete, not lacking anything, if we ask the Lord for wisdom and guidance and
trust He will answer (James 1).
While Baylor, Harper and I built houses out of sticks
and leaves, many of the kids came over to see what we were doing. Some of the
girls in this village were older so I really enjoyed trying to talk to them and
have them actually understand me. Rachel took Duane, Baylor and I on a walk
around their village. The small amount of communication we had was me asking
her the names of random objects in Swahili, and laughing at the kids calling us
Mzungu. That she didn’t have to translate.
Goodbyes
in a village are always a big event. It actually can be one of my favorite
parts of the day solely because everyone comes together and walks us to the car
to send us off. This time was extra special. You've never experienced true
generosity until someone gives you chickens as a parting gift. Yep, Yoshua's
family kindly gave us two living, breathing wakuku to take home. Not only will
it be delicious food one day, but it provided Baylor with entertainment for the
two hour trip back. Apparently she speaks chicken quite well and was even
willing to translate for us. Those little animals have a lot more going on in
their head than I thought.
Some days during the week we get to help the Groen girls (Kate,
Sadie, and Hailey) with their schoolwork. These girls are smart and disciplined
enough to handle all the work, but sometimes it's a little more exciting to
practice long division with a cool (not referring to myself) college kid than
your mom. Also it's a good refresher for us who forgot how fractions work.
What's even more encouraging about these girls is their ability to teach me. It
was humbling to have Sadie who's 11 offer to help me memorize part of James
because she already has all five chapters memorized.
One day after we finished doing school and sorting donated
clothes for Neema House, some of the neighbor kids wanted to play. I reverted
back to my 5th grade self and had a little too much fun playing catch and
making animals out of mud. My twiga (giraffe) turned out pretty good according
to the kids.
In Swahili class we’re learning colors and clothing items, so naturally
we had to put our skills to the test and attempt to go shopping at the mitumba.
While Alicia looked for clothing for Neema House, we got to search for an
outfit for our intern fashion show on 4th of July. To the boys disappointment,
we decided to buy for each other. Only one of the two guys ended up in a dress.
Dustin just had to endure wearing a small girl's tank top... with a British
flag. Oh the irony. It didn't last long as Dustin's patriotism led him to rip
the shirt in half mid-catwalk. With that and Harper's dancing, it was most
definitely the best fashion show I've been to in Africa. (And yes, this all
helped us significantly with learning our Swahili...)
Calvin took us to visit a
Tanzanian-run NGO called Nelico which provides care and support to people in
surrounding villages. They offer services ranging from helping kids get out of small
scale gold mining and back into school as well as providing psychological
therapy to women and children. It was cool to see a well-run group work so hard
for their own community.
A big thanks to Katelyn Groen
for turning 14 this week and giving us a reason to eat ice cream. Oh and to be
grateful for life. In the few weeks we’ve known her, we’ve already been blessed
by her genuine heart and incredible artistic talent.
The birthday girl (middle) and her two crazy sisters
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