We got up at 5:30 A.M. so that we could be in the garden by 6:00 when the sun comes up. We all wanted to get our hard physical work done before the sun got too strong. We weeded our plots and discussed how we wanted to prepare the ground for seeding. After an hour of work we headed in to the dining hall for our white bread breakfast.
At tea break, around 10:00 A.M., we celebrated Rose’s birthday with a corn meal pizza. It actually had recognisable chunks of vegetable and sausage on it and was very good. I can hardly wait for the next birthday!
In class, we discussed the things that the Bible says can cause land to be cursed and one of these was shed blood. Rose then shared with us how one of the leaders on the base had been murdered in his home on the base about 11 months ago. He had hired some locals to build orphanage homes on the base and had told them he was going to the bank that day to get the money to pay them. A couple of the workers came back that night to steal all of the money that the base leader had said he was going to withdraw. The workers broke into his house and shot him in the leg. When they found out that their employer had not yet made it to the bank, they shot him in the head and neck in front of his wife and 2 children. After killing him, they proceeded to rape his wife. The guard was also shot but not killed. We were advised to keep our dorm room doors locked at all times which we are more than pleased to comply with.
There have been 2 other robberies at this base involving guns but only once did it result in death. Rose was very close to this Dutch couple and very upset about her friend’s death. She shared with me that in this past year she lost her Mom and then her sister from AIDS. Later the same year, she lost her brother when his boat capsized. He was in the army chasing Somali pirates that had kidnapped a Kenyan woman. I really like Rose. She is a real sweetheart even after all that she has been through.
We were assigned our chores for the coming week and I am on hospitality duty. This means that I will be responsible for washing the guest’s and guest speakers dishes, cleaning the hospitality suite and whatever else I am assigned. I went to the guest house where our present teacher is staying and found out from him that a rat the size of a cat was co-habitating with him. I can hardly wait to start cleaning in this suite!
When I got back to the dorm I grabbed my half bucket of water and went for my sponge bath. It feels so good to get cleaned up after having all of the fine soil blowing onto you all day. I saved my water after my bath to pour it on my garden as this will be our only source of water.
No comments:
Post a Comment