School Work

Saturday, June 23, 2012 was a day to gather up the lumber we had been accumulating and start work on repairing desks for the local public school.  We were so grateful that we had access to a table saw that is used by the construction crews at Galmi.

Other than Grace and Orest we also had Pastor John from the California and our friend Ali who teaches at the school.  Pastor John is here with his wife and two other people for a few weeks.  We were glad that he was willing to pitch in and help.  He is going to continue varnishing the wood we cut for the rest of the week.  On Friday we are planning to head to the school and start putting together the desks.

We do not have the best quality lumber available but we were able to cut out enough pieces to do 32 desks.  According to Ali it is so much better than what they have and they will be happy.  We were so happy that Ali wanted to be included in the work.  He worked really hard at ensuring that the wood was well sanded with clean edges for the kids.

John and Orest were doing the cutting, and when they finished they set to helping with the sanding of the pieces.  Grace and Ali were sanding but after a while Grace started varnishing the wood.  It is a lot of work but it was enjoyable.

Kids Club

Every Wednesday we host a Kids Club for village children who come from non-christian homes.  We have anywhere from 6 to 11 children attend.  Grace prepares a story, with a book or a felt display board, and practices her French and Hausa.  Saratou provides more specific translation.  Currently they are studying the book of Daniel.  After class we serve them water and usually fruit for which they are very grateful.

They are very attentive during class and you can see this amazing gleam in their eyes as they watch the stories unfolding before them.

Please pray for this club, these children and their families.

June 3 Service

Here are some images from the June 3, 2012 EERN Church service.

The adult ladies group were all dressed in the same outfit.  The Church got worked up for the Sunday School class - there was lots of dancing through their presentation.

Biki

So on June 9 we celebrated a Biki which is a local baby naming ceremony.  The lady who had the baby delivers food to the compound and her husband works in the hospital.  The Biki started at 7:00 a.m. but when we get there, on time, the place is already filled with people.  The place is the home of the newborns parents.  Outside all the men are seated either in chairs or on the ground on mats.  The women go inside.  The preacher is already giving his sermon which he completes in about 20 minutes.  After that the baby is brought out, prayed over, and his name was announced – Elisha.  Then comes the food, brought out on large trays that look like garbage can lids.  They bring out pails of water so we can wash our hands and then we eat the food with our hands – the right hand only.  The meal is mostly rice, and Toro which is a corn pounded into flour and cooked to the consistence of very stiff cream of wheat and sauce, thickened with okra to make it stringy and sticky – quite hot.  The platters are placed on the ground and people gather around and dig in and eat together.  Then we simply wash our hands afterward.  As the meal was going on a ram was brought through the area and slaughtered right next to where the men were eating – ah Africa.

The Friday before the Biki Grace had the opportunity to go to a home in the village and help prepare food for the Biki. 

The first picture is Grace with the baby.

Market Day

Here is a slideshow presentation of our recent visit to the Galmi market.

The Long Church Service

The other day we heard about the number of people who will struggle with little food to live on. It is a sad situation. Although we have now had a couple of rains the big problem for people is surviving until the next crop is planted and harvested. Of course, that depends on the rains in the future as well.

Grace and I have talked about trying to expand our garden and growing some extra food we can share in the future. Certain garden items grew really well and got a great response from those we gave food to in the past year. Our neighbour will soon be leaving and we want to see if we can use their garden for this purpose. We will just have to hire someone to plough up the land and then plant and water until harvest. This way you employ someone and provide food in the future.

The other day we had the opportunity to take a number of locals to a Church about 15 km’s out of town. It was an exciting ride. We did have 7 adults and 7 children in the truck. Even though we were driving an old truck for these kids it was like going to Church in a limousine. It was great to see their enthusiasm in the children, most of whom were not from a Christian family.

The day was extremely hot and the service was outside, with tarps overhead to hold back the rays of the sun. The wind would not only give refreshing bursts of air but also sand. We found that we constantly had grit in our mouths. There were people going around with trays of food for the crowd – almost felt like being at a sporting event. We left at 8:30 and got home at 1:30. The service ordained a number of pastors in the local area churches. At the end of the service there was a reception line to greet the pastors in the area and the officials from the national church. In the meantime, the young people got the music going and they were dancing and praising God in the Church.

The children – well they sang and clapped going to Church and after a long day they sang and clapped even more vigorously going home. What energy. It was so good to see and hear the excitement that included non-Christian children. When we were leaving Orest went to start the truck and open up the doors. When he did we had a mass of children jump into the truck. Fortunately, Sara’s aunt was able to come and sort out which kids belonged in the vehicle.

Rain

May 8, 2012 at 4:55 - it is raining. The first one of the year.

This is absolutely great.

I have a raging river of water outside my window - sort of - it's like 2 feet wide and about 20 feet long. But it is water, none the less.

Praise God.