We have had a tremendously busy week here. It has flown by in one great big blurr!
Last Saturday, we went to the Carnivore to eat lunch for Trevor's birthday. It was great! We got to try crocodile, ostrich, camel and lo and behold Ox balls. As we were eating, the kids were enjoying it all. When it came to the Ox, Timothy tried it with enthusiasm. He didn't really ask exactly what they were (just assuming the name was not totally descriptive)! After we ate, we told him that the name was totally descriptive! You should have seen the look on his face! At this restaurant, they keep bringing the meat until you put the little flag down on the table. We were about 1/2 way through what the boys ended up eating and Sallie puts her head on the table and says, "Can we Pleeese put the flag down!" It was pretty funny.
Sallie's birthday was the next day after church. We gathered most of the girls right after the service and headed down to the house (about a 10 minute walk) and picked up some other girls along the way. When we got home, there was an extra kid with us that I had no idea who he was! He said hello and shook my hand. When I asked him what his mother's name was he said, "Mommy." I was stuck! One of the little girls recognized him (he was a little Kenyan boy) and said that her mother knew where he lived. I had my neighbor take him to her mother and she was able to get him home. It was quite bizarre! After that we ate Mac and Cheese, had a few games and a very loud 3 hours of fun! I walked them all home after the party, dropping them off as we went. I felt like the pied piper or a mother ducking!
Work was very busy but productive this week. We spent quite a bit of time cleaning out an attic space above pathology where we intend on raising the roof to make a new pathology lab. Once they are moved, we will move the new CT Scanner into the old pathology space. It sure was dirty work! We got 7 workers and some lab guys (to take care of the old chemicals) and got started. Originally, we thought that a lot of the stuff up there needed to be stored, but it turned out most of it was so old, we just threw it out. There were old records from the 1980's and lots of dust! I wore a pair of Jim's pants and an old shirt and was glad I did! The first day, we got about 1/3 of it moved. We have discovered that you need to me very specific with the workers here. They are great if you tell them exactly what to do. We had an issue at the end of the day, with a very large pile of garbage/papers. We loaded it into a bus to take it to the incinerator. Since a lot of it was loose and the wind was kicking up, it was a very crazy time. Jim had to hold the guys till after 5pm and get it all loaded into the incinerator room. They did a great job, but he came home looking very frazzled!
We also had another meeting with the Architect for the new Bethany Kids Children's Center. It went very well and we are zooming in on the final design.
One of the guys we work with gave us a great comment this week. He said he had seen more things change around here (meaning good changes) then ever before since Jim and I came. It was nice to hear some feed back that people are actually starting to see what we are working so hard on!
We love driving around here sometimes. When we go into areas where they don't see Wazungu (white people) very much, we get a lot of attention. Just seeing a car for some people here is exciting. If we are stopped, the kids will come up to us and just stare, or want to touch our skin or hair. They will come up to you with a blank look on their faces. As you look into their eyes and say "Hello" with a smile, they will give you the biggest African smile. It is great! Even if we are driving past kids (or adults) slowly and look at them, wave and smile, they will almost always give you the biggest smile back and sometimes you can see the kids running to tell their mom or friends, "Look at the Wazungu, they waved at me!" We have been in some situations with younger kids where they go and hide behind their mothers because you are there. It is a very strange situation. We just smile and wave and sometimes they get brave enough to actually touch you!
Here are some pictures from this week:
Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support.
In His Hands,
Jullie T.
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