A “Typical” Week
So often Cathy and I get asked the question, “What is a typical day/week for you guys?” Well, quite honestly there is nothing typical about any of our days – and that is usually our pat answer. But I have been thinking about that this week and I’ve decided to try and “track” a week of our working. So, here goes…
Sunday – Off to church with the six new journeymen who have just come into the country last week. The week prior was in no way typical as it involved orientation for them the whole week so I am starting with this week. This is their first time in an African church so they had to stand up in front of everyone and introduce themselves. They all forgot to mention that they work for the Baptist Mission but no one seemed to notice. Just the white faces (and they were white) let everyone know they were strangers to this place.
Back home to cook Sunday lunch. The J-girls were learning to cook chapatis on the outdoor charcoal stove we have. They couldn’t seem to get a fire started though they used half a box of matches so I had to demonstrate how to light a fire with one match. There was even one of the j-guys helping – to no avail. In the end the chapatis were the perfect complement to a delicious meal of lentils and rice.
After an afternoon rest some of us headed to a local tented camp to do some Internet chores. By the time we were finished it was pouring down tropical rain so hard we couldn’t see the front of our vehicle. We got home to a front yard flooded about one foot deep in water, and a new pool in our house. One of the j-girls and I went outside, where is was still raining, and began to unclog drainage holes and knock the water off of the tent covers (among other fun things). The others were mopping up the new pool in our house and removing all the soaked cushions and rugs. When the rain finally stopped we all sat on the verandah and marveled at how beautiful God had painted his creation that day.
Shortly before nightfall three of our church leaders, who were going to be translating for a team, showed up – tired and ready to eat, shower and sleep. We had to scramble to prepare their beds and tents because we didn’t think they would make it in the rain.
Sleep was sweet that night…
Monday – More house cleaning and preparation for the volunteer team that was coming in today. The j-guys, translators and I loaded up our vehicle to the max and headed out to a village (Malek) about one and a half hours north of Rumbek – on roads you would not enjoy traveling on. I had to get them up there, help with introductions, and put them on a path to setting up camp. Then I had to return, on that bad road, to the airstrip in RK to meet and pick up the team coming in. Cathy was already there (thankfully because I was a bit late) but I pulled up just as they were being checked through customs. Good thing as they would not have all fit into one vehicle.
Off to the house where we had lunch, did some team orientation, went over the week’s plans – and rested. Late that afternoon we headed to the tented camp to send emails to family and church members notifying them that everyone was safe and secure in Sudan. Back home for dinner and a good night’s rest – though it was pretty hot until early morning.
Tuesday – Another day on the road to/from Malek, this time with the j-girls and the team. We loaded up both vehicles to the max (and beyond) and headed out at around 8am. Upon arrival in the village the guys had the tents set up, food being cooked, and stories about bathing at the water well the night before. Cathy and I spent several hours there with the team helping get things in order, making introductions, and assuring ourselves that everyone would be OK for the next week or so. At least we knew that we were leaving behind one vehicle and a SAT phone for emergencies.
Upon arriving back home we both collapsed in bed and took naps until later in the afternoon. Then Cathy went into town to do emailing (I didn’t want to see any more roads that day) and when she got home we had dinner before a sweet night’s rest. While she was gone we had another downpour and our compound guard was helping me with some digging for a new drainage channel. During the process he sliced one of our water pipes clean through – which meant we would be without water until I could find the materials to repair it. God was good and I had one connector in my storage shed. Unfortunately when Malith cut the pipe he mangled it and I had to cut about two inches out of it to make it straight. My connector was two inches and a quarter long! I doubted very much that I could make it work but after I glued it I wrapped it with duct tape and we prayed….an hour later when we turned on the water it held.
Wednesday - I have to go into town for various reasons; finding out where our journeymen are going to live for the next two years, locating PVC pipe and fittings (no luck), doing my emailing, meeting some new Americans who have recently moved to town and arranging a vehicle to pick up our team next week (a truck can do it in only one trip – it would take me at least two). Not a bad morning as I was successful in all but one of the tasks. That is a huge plus in any day.
Home for lunch and some rest. The rest of the afternoon is computer time to get emails and other documents written before going to the Internet place. Home by 7pm to another rainstorm – though not as heavy as the previous two. Our garden is certainly enjoying all the heavenly attention. We have never had this much rain in the month of April since I have been living here. We just hope the volunteer team is doing OK because some of their tents don’t have fly sheets. Thankfully we haven’t sprouted any more indoor pools since the last one.
The night is cool thanks to the rain and we sleep well. The past month had seen us going to bed with the temperatures around 97 degrees and waking up in the mornings at around 88 degrees. Those are three-shower nights! Tonight it was in the upper 70’s. God is good.
Thursday – We wake up to a beautiful sunrise. The day looks promising for clothes washing and battery recharging. Since our house is totally on solar power we rely greatly on God’s day-four creation to keep us supplied with water and electricity. With all the rain and clouds the past few days our solar batteries had gotten very low - to the point that we were turning off our fridge for long stretches of time. We would charge our computers at the Internet place so we didn’t have to use our home supply.
This morning Cathy is out washing the clothes (by hand) and I am cleaning the inside of the house. We don’t have any house-help so we have to do this stuff by ourselves. It takes up an inordinate amount of our time during any given week simply due to the environment we live in. Since we carved our house out of the bush we share it with spiders, bats, moths, scorpions, lizards and occasionally a snake or two. Cleaning up after them is as much work as cleaning up after a volunteer team!
In between her clothes washing Cathy is preparing lunch on the charcoal cooker – making chapatis and lentils for our guests who are coming over today. I am busy typing documents and emails that I am sadly about a week behind schedule with.
Lunch with our Samaritan’s Purse guests goes well except for the blood vessel that burst in the woman’s eye during our meal. We were all quite concerned but she kept saying it was nothing. We will need to check on her tomorrow. By the time they left her eye did not look good.
Off to the Internet place for a few hours of communicating with the outside world and then home for the night. We are in bed by eight as usual. Not a lot of night life in the bush. The early to bed, early to rise adage is quite apropos out here.
Friday – Since there is no one around the house for a few days I have the joy of being able to actually have a quiet time that is quiet. The early mornings are often beautiful here. The birds and roosters wake up just prior to sunrise with a harmonious intermingling of heavenly sounds. This past week thousands of bees have been pollinating a large tree outside of our house and they have added their own bass sound to the chorus. So yes, it was quiet from human sounds yet alive with nature’s ensemble.
After checking out how the volunteer team is doing (SAT phone check in each day at 7am & 7pm) and trying not to fret too much over the fact that they have been rained on for the past couple of nights (all the tents soaked through except the safari style main food tent which everyone crammed into) I deal with a generator that ran perfectly before we went on furlough….it isn’t running now though. Being the smart guy I am I drained all the fuel out before storing it away for six months. Now I’m thinking that wasn’t such a good idea. All the jets and fuel injector holes are rusted and clogged. This is a several hour job, with help from a friend, to remedy. Next time I’ll just leave the fuel inside of it.
We learn that there is some “unrest” to the north of where our team is at. Tribal fighting again. One clan raiding and killing another. Tim has been through this before and knows the precautions to take – but then again, they don’t call it raiding for just any reason. This has the distinct implication that it is unknown when they are coming. So, we are monitoring the situation closely. We are talking with UN and SPLA security personnel every day to keep abreast of the latest knowledge in the area. (A few days after the team leaves the fighting gets real bad with over a hundred killed in one area and many more in a separate area close to our house).
Sleep is not so easy tonight. We know that God has His angels standing guard at the camp but our humanness makes us toss and turn.
Saturday – we usually spend this around the compound catching up on all the maintenance work to be done. Broken wheelbarrows, vehicle repairs, storeroom cleaning, snake killing, etc. Today is much of that type work. After checking that all is well with the team (no rain, no fighting) I help Malith put our “fly sheets” over our safari tents where our visitors and teams stay while they are here. Fly sheet is somewhat of a misnomer – it is actually more of a PVC tarp, that weighs about 100 pounds. Not the easiest thing to put over a seven foot high tent frame with just two people. It takes us a couple of hours to do the two tents but at least now when the rains come (and they did that next week) the tents won’t look like used green sponges. I’m happy to report that the covers work great – mostly – we still have to improvise some bamboo supports in between the steel poles due to the heavy weight of the material. That is a job for another day.
Much of the rest of the day is preparation for our six journeymen returning on Monday (yes, another fun drive in the bush) as they are flying out to Zambia on Tuesday. While they were here the past couple of weeks we had them staying in our house (it was pure joy) as their accommodations are still in limbo. I have made solemn oaths that this will not be a permanent arrangement but God has strange ways of teaching me “life lessons”.
Late afternoon we head to the Internet place to communicate to the outside world. Not much communicating goes on which is good. After last night’s restlessness we are looking forward to having minds that are empty of new challenges. We again check on security up north with the UN folks and communicate with Tim on the SAT phone. All is well. God is good.
After watching an episode of CSI Miami on our portable DVD player we fall asleep outside, on our bamboo beds, under the canopy of the Big Dipper and the Milky Way.
