Greetings One and ALL!
This is just many excerpts from other ‘personal email responses’. I know that some of you want to know a bit more than just the surface items…so maybe this will give you a bit more between the lines to know what I’m up to on this side of the world. There may not be much flow from one paragraph to the next.. but again, they are separate email responses that may interest more than the original inquire.
SNOW… I can’t imagine that. Today it was really really sunny AGAIN, than for 1-2hours it cooled off maybe into the upper 70’s and we all joked that it could snow. Needless to say it’s still warm and the rain is holding out for the night time, so my nose is still being sun burnt along with the on going tan lines from my flip flops. J I can’t complain, as the warmth is easier to bare with my COLD bucket baths each night and it’s easier to dress and not feel so miserable while walking to and from (in fridgid temps like you have).
I listen to BBC news often while I’m in my mud house.. I LOVE the solar radio and I’m SOOOOOOOO thankful that you sent it my way! It gets it’s use, to say the least. BBC news is from the
Street boys are still doing (as good as can be). More of them have jobs now, which is a HUGE blessing, but the question and concern is where they are spending the money. A good portion of the older boys are going in together and renting homes (of some sort) which again is a HUGE blessing. There are just SO many needs and SO many different facets to helping them.. that I know I can only do what I CAN do… and allow God to do the rest with others or through others that come in contact with these boys. I still love them more and more… and this week I gave one of them a foot massage after he stubbed his toe really back while playing football (soccer). Others couldn’t believe that I was willing to massage the foot of a dirty barefoot street boy, but the love I have for them, didn’t even allow me to think twice about doing it. I’m really praying for the chance to find housing and jobs for 5-8 of the older boys that really want OFF the streets, but have no where to go, or job to get… PLEASE pray that the doors will open for me to be apart of this some how.
My spirits are higher than before, and as much as I’m (on my own) My life hasn’t really changed, as most of what I do now… I did before… and on my own for that matter. The only difference is before I would tell people I worked ‘under the name of BG’… and now I just say I’m on my own when they ask. While working with BG I paid for the programs I ‘ran’… and now I do the same. So life is good and getting better. I’ve stayed the past two weeks with an American family that is also here for the LONG run, just to assist them with the building project for the street boys. So again, I’ve been surrounded with plenty of white skin to keep me on the up and up… Not to mention they have a ‘large American’ trampoline that was shipped in a large ship ‘container’… so me and their 9 kids have had a ball of a time night after night!
Robert Compound is GReAT! I was born to camp and be out doors so this kind of life/style is just up my ally. The lack of electricity, running water, plastered walls, or windows with glass or security bars wasn’t too hard to cut ties with. The best way to describe it, is just simply imagining an endless camping trip. You are living to survive and surviving to life. Hauling water, cooking with charcoal one pan at a time, boiling water to drink (then allowing it to cool off enough to drink), washing clothes by hand, doing dishes in a bucket and cutting food on the floor (no counters)… the list is full of camp type experiences that have become apart of my daily lifestyle. Some may say that I’m living the ‘True’ African lifestyle, but those that live here say I’m still a ‘step’ away. My life in the compound still has a bit of luxury compared to life in the village itself, or say they tell me. But compared to the life of an American… it’s a ‘True Blue African Adventure’.
My house is a mud rectangle with three rooms, tall enough from me to stand up straight, but not a lot of room to grow. I use one room as a bedroom, one as a ‘sitting room’ and one as a kitchen/laundry/shower room. I paid a carpenter to ‘screet’ the floors (plaster) so they weren’t ‘dirt’ any longer. He also plastered the walls in my bedroom, as many bugs live in the mud and come out and bite you at night… Which I’ve experienced many times while sleeping over at others homes in the compouond. I don’t own any ‘sitting’ furniture, but I had him build a small table for me to use in the kitchen. When there are many (in the house) we just sit on buckets, watering containers, or my yoga mat. I like it this way, because it shows them (in the compound) that I have less than most of them. I’m living w/out all the luxuries of a ‘white man’ or even most Zambians.
Hospitality means a lot to them, so they put money into sitting chairs, coffee tables and proper dishes to serve others from. I’m willing to serve others and have them over as often I can, yet there are times they have to bring their own dishes. They don’t complain, and again it just shows them I have ‘less’ to steal.
My toilet is an actual out house, that I share with my neighbors. It’s a proper building but it’s SO small that if I were to gain weight I wouldn’t be able to fit in the door. However, It serves its purpose!
My shower is a large bucket/bowl I stand in while using a cup to pour water out of. Those from the compound use a community shower shelter that isn’t ‘proper’. All it takes is for some one to walk by and look in, with out the effort of standing on their tippy toes… So for my safety and the ‘curiosity’ of the locals… I thought it would be best to just bath in my house. So far… so good
My neighbors are really sweet and willing to help me and protect me. The kids are always over (when I’m home) and I pay them for ‘peace work often’…[ they sweep, cut or clean vegetables for meals, pump my air mattress (bed), water the garden etc…] and I pay them (peanuts to me, but gold to them) They then go running to the near by Ntembe (snack shack) and buy candy ‘sweets’ for themselves. The neighbor boy thought too many folks where coming by to snoop in my windows (wooden shutters), so he placed a fence in the ground to block the ‘public path’ and the trespassers. How sweet of him!
I’ve got a proper door to the outside that has a ‘real’ lock at night and I even had my carpenter place a door and lock on my bedroom so it will keep people out of my ‘personal space’ when they’re over. I have three windows.. The one in my bedroom is a 2” X 12” just enough to let rain in, sun rays in, and thieves out, the other two have wooden shutters that are secured by a few nails that are bent over… Not much in the way of security.
I thought I’d have another American moving in with me next month, but she doesn’t feel safe being there, not really knowing those in the compound. So I’ll be on my own a bit longer and that is a-okay with me!
Nights that I stay with other missionary families or friends I have two ‘younger boys’ that house sit for me to keep the thieves out at night. Again, I’m just becoming ONE of THEM… and it’s a blessing to see how the Lord has bridged the gap between ‘them’(those in the compound) and me. We’re just becoming ONE BIG happy family!
Sorry to drop to bomb (of leaving) on you with BG, after the fact… I let a good number of people know of the issues that weren’t going away, but not all 300 on my MASS email update list. I kept it on the down low as I thought it was just a learning experience (in many ways) in the beginning. Even I didn’t expect to ‘leave’… I just thought that I had to endure the conflict and make the most of it.. (Building Character, remember!) Until I started to see some dishonesty in a few financial areas, and that was the final straw. Had I only planned to stay for a few months, I could have over looked most of it.. but having ‘years’ ahead of me, it was too much to bear.
I’m hoping to look for a new PO BOX this coming weekend in (second class) …(as the main Post Office are out of Boxes), so keep the mail (for now) and I’ll keep you informed once it changes.
I only have one ‘real’ lead with another NGO at this time and that is with the SOS Children’s Village. To be honest I’m following my gut feeling and have peace to know that it will work out. After my first two meetings with them and plenty of prayer, I feel all will work out in the end. Due to my own assistance with another NGO (an hour out of town), I’ve not had the time to send my letter to the National Director, but I plan to do that next week. The local director said that I was a ‘shoe in’.. but time will tell. One thing if for sure. I believe with all my heart that God will keep me with in the continent of Africa and not bring me back to the states, as my life becomes ‘All about ME’ and not as much of others…
So there you have it… A few between the line updates… I’ve loved all the personal responses each of you have sent me, and I will always make a point to make a ‘personal’ responses to each of you.. sooner or later! Not having electricity has left me with less computer battery to just sit and type for hours on end.. so just be patient with me, please!
THAT’S ALL FOR NOW!!!
