I'm not ready to conclude my blog yet though, I'm not ready for my final thoughts and reflections on my trip. Instead, I just want to update everyone on the week and save the last lessons learned for when I am back home in my mosquito net free bed.
I will start off with the village mission in Zirobwe. Wow, what an incredible experience that was. We slept two to a mattress in a room in the Ebeneezer Primary School without electricity or showers for four days. Unlike the Rakai mission, where we traveled to our guest house after building each day, we stayed in the heart of the village, collecting water from the same well as the villagers and living with the community. From one aspect, it was exhausting because we had no time off. There was always another child to play with or another adult to talk to and we were never alone just as a team. But on the other hand, I really began to more fully understand the struggle of life in the village. After a long day of building, having to walk half a mile with a gerry can to the well, pump the water out using maximum exertion and walk half a mile back to the school with a full gerry can (which feels about the same as carrying 4 galloons of milk at once) to shower was dreadful. However, for the villagers this is their life. Retrieving water for bathing, cooking, drinking, cleaning, everything is as natural to them as jumping in the car is for us. Small children carry gerry cans on their heads without so much as a wimper. The work ethic and physical strength is really incredible. Another huge challenge of Zirobwe was the lack of electricity. While a couple of the girls brought flashlights, trying to make our way back to the school after our nightly bonfire or trying to get ready for bed in the dark was difficult and inconvenient. More so, realizing the people of the village do not even have flashlights, but really do navigate in the dark really showed me how blessed I am. I am so thankful for the experience on living under these conditions, and I am also thankful that I was born into the conditions I live in now.
While in the village we split into four teams and built four goat sheds for four families. Each of the goat sheds came with a male and female, in hopes that the goats will reproduce and continue to provide for the families. Building the goat shed was an absolute blast. We built it from mud, sticks and other natural resources. Day one we set up the campsite (which involved hoeing a field for tents and collecting firewood) and finished building the squatty we started working on last week. Day two we built the frame of the goat shed and made mud (which for me meant 20 trips to the well and back while the boys worked on the frame) and day three we stomped on the mud (for around four hours) and filled the walls with mud. Day four we went from house to house and admired the work, prayed with the family and delivered the goats and then headed home. The work was exhausting, but we had a great team and I had so much fun.
Leaving the village was hard yet again. Spending so much time there, we again got to know the kids by name and the community was sad to see us go. The nightly dinners and bonfires were really fun and special times for us all. However, I was happy to be back at the EAC house, my home away from home.
Saturday was a great day as well. I took my sponsored child, Miriam out shopping. Some of the facts I had about her were wrong, she does not want to be a teacher, she wants to be a vet and she is not in p4, she is in p7. Both her parents have passed away and she lives with a relative. She is Muslim and her favorite animal is the cow. She is absolutely gorgeous and such a joy to be around, once you get past her shy exterior. I love everything about her. We went to Owino or the crazy market where everything is cheap cheap cheap. For 100,000 shillings (or about 50 dollars), I bought her 7 shirts, 2 skirts, 2 bras, 5 panties, a backpack, nice shoes, a mathematics set and shoe polish. I also paid for the taxi to Owino for Miriam, Felix and myself and bought us all lunch. But most of all, I enjoyed getting to spend time with Miriam and laughing and sharing with her. It really is amazing how far a few dollars can go for someone else here.
Today has been a quiet day. Church in the morning, goodbyes and packing in the afternoon and the World Cup viewing at a cafe at night. Congratulations Spain! Also, please pray for the people affected by the bombings after the Cup. Luckily, no one on our team faced any dangers, but there are a lot of people out there that need our prayers.
I learned so many lessons just this week alone that I cannot even really begin to comprehend them all at this point. I'm sorry this blog is not more insightful or conclusionery, but hopefully when it is not 2 in the morning of the day I leave my home away from home here in Africa, I will have more revelations to give. I love and miss all of you and I will see you so so soon. Please check my blog within the next week for my final post!
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