Animal Encounters (of the smaller variety)

I was digging through some old videos and found the following. I wish I had a video of the rat who decided to crawl in bed with me but alas, in my panic, I neglected to document the event. The first video is of a toad we found in our bathroom and the second is of Milly burning the army ants out of their giant ant hill. Enjoy. Please note Trav's scream when the toad jumps and also my ridiculous fascination/narration of the petrol's effect on the fire.

I'm On a Boat!

Travis had this brilliant idea at the beginning of our trip to build a boat out of the jugs of water we consumed during our stay. So, from day one, we have been stocking up for the anticipated day when we would finally have enough to begin construction.

After hours of work and many improvements, the boat was ready to launch. Zumah told us that many of the children didn't think the boat would actually float. They called it "the submarine". Krystin and I found this to be quite funny but Travis just became more determined to prove them all wrong.

Here is the link to a better quality version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfFilYG87Qs

On the day of the launch, all the kids followed us down to the lake. Even Milly and her family came to watch the big event. Much to the children's delight, the boat DID float. It was somewhat unstable but with a few more improvements it will be perfect. Milly claims that soon there will be many boats like this one on the lake and that the use of trash to make something worthwhile is an inspiration to the children.

Medium Children Rummage

My mom's 1st and 2nd grade class, along with some primary Sabbath school class children donated enough money to buy 2 bundles of clothes for the L'Esperance children. I think these pictures do more justice to the children's excitement than my words ever could.

Library: Final Touches

One of our biggest endeavors during our time here has been to teach kids that reading can actually be fun. Gracious donors have given hundreds of dollars to buy new books for the children and they loved it! The books we were able to purchase are set in their culture and at their reading level. We have also made an effort to work with the teachers in organizing the existing library in the hope that they will continue to follow our lead after we are gone. Also, the 3 of us have read a TON while we have been here and I believe that our simple example has led children to understand that reading can be a pleasurable experience during their free time. 

I really wish that we had thought to take a "before" picture of the L'Esperance school library. Otherwise, you will never fully grasp the gravity of the task laid before us as we began to sort through the hundreds upon hundreds of books on the shelves. There were wasps, rats, lizards and other strange bugs living in every nook and cranny of the place. Mice had eaten holes in many of the books. Germans had donated hundreds of books in the hope that maybe someone would be able to understand and read them. No one does. The teachers editions were mixed in with Goosebumps chapter books and one large set of books had a very provocative, racist title which we quickly threw away. After days of work, hours of sorting, and the help of many excited teachers and willing students, our job was complete. 

                                Kid's Library

We had the kids carry the hundreds of unwanted books down to our house where we told them they were free to take what they wanted. I've never seen so many children get so excited about owning books that aren't even in a language that they understand. We told them that all the books they didn't want would be used in a huge bonfire this Friday night. That made them even more excited.

We even took the chapter books and put them in a separate library for the teachers and all of their teacher's editions went onto shelves that Travis built for the staff room. 

                           Teacher's Library

Progress Report

We have come to the end of another school term here at L'Esperance and proud students have come to show us their good marks. Jen wandered into our house one afternoon, her report card in tow. As it turns out, she is first in her class. We are so proud of her!

Alice and Mary-Bo have now completed their first full term back in school. Their mid-term scores were way below average but that was expected due to the fact that they hadn't been in school for years. Their marks were significantly higher for this final exam and we are so excited to see how far they have come just in the last few months.

24-Hour Walk-a-Thon. This Friday. On the Greenway. 4:00pm-4:00pm.

Yep, you read correctly, 24 hours. But don't worry, that doesn't mean that YOU need to be there for the whole thing. We totally understand that this is the weekend before finals, you've made previous plans, or maybe you fiercely guard your sleep time. All we are asking is that you show up. 5 hours. 2 hours. 30 minutes. You can bring a donation, get some sponsors to pay you for every mile you walk, or just buy a tee shirt and go back home. For those of you who don't live in Collegedale, it's OK. We need as much prayer as possible. Maybe on the day of the walk-a-thon you could just make an extra effort to remember the orphanage and this event in your prayers.

We are halfway to our $20,000 goal for the dairy project and whatever you do will help. Back in Arkansas, a pre-K through 2nd grade class has raised over $200. And that's just 4-9 year olds giving their lunch money away. In Collegedale, 12 college students raised $1,800. And one high school boy raised over $1,000. Some have donated the money they received from their tax returns; some, the money they were left with after a close relative died. What we are saying is that a lot of little amounts can make a HUGE difference. Check out this video:

Photo Update and Progress of Dairy Project

It has been over a month since we broke ground on the first of the structures at the dairy project.  Some days are slow and some days we work 8 -10 hours and get a lot done!  All in all I think that we have made a lot of progress and everything is coming along nicely.  Wilbroad and I spent the first weeks measuring out the first structure and digging the footers for it.  The first structure that is being built will have four different rooms, each at a different level because of the nature of the landscape.  Two rooms will be staff housing, one room will be for visitors, and the last room will be a storage room for supplies and animal feeds for the dairy and poultry.  After the first week and a half of work, Wilbroad decided to contract a few guys to help us lay the bricks and mix the mortar.  At the speed we were going, it made more sense and it would save money to contract some help.  The hired guys worked pretty quickly when they had mortar and bricks near them, but it took some constant motivation and supervision from Wilbroad to keep them moving and working, even when the mortar had run out.  Wilbroad was telling me later that the guys were surprised that the 'white boy' was actually working.  He said that they are under the impression that Americans don't ever do that type of manual labor, so they were pretty amused.  The foundation of the building is about finished and in just the next 3 days of work, they will have all of the walls up. After that, two of the rooms will be roofed so that workers can begin staying there permanently.  The following pictures are taken to show some of the progress we have made since we started.

  54 foot hand dug pit latrine.

When we began fund-raising for this project, we set a goal to raise $20,000, and since then we have raised a little over $10,000.  With a walk-a-thon fundraiser coming up to help the project and church groups and school groups helping, we are hoping to reach our goal before we leave in 2 and a half weeks.  If you are interested in hearing more about this project, let us know and we'll be happy to tell you more about it!  If you wish to make a one time gift that will keep on giving, please check out the "If You Feel Inspired..." section near the top of our blogspot, just below the list of followers.  Or you can always contact one of us.  And as always, we appreciate your prayers.  Until later...

Travis

To Kenya and Beyond...

Our visas expired at the three month mark which meant we would have to pay the entry and exit fees no matter what so we decided to take advantage of our predicament. So from the beginning of our Uganda experience we planned to go visit our friend Jared in Kenya during that period. A week and a half ago the 3 of us set off, along with Wilbroad and Violet, and 14 hours later we arrived in Nairobi safe and sound.

You guys remember Jared right? Our friend who got us settled in at the beginning of our trip? Jared has been over in Kenya for the past 16 months working for an organization called the Maasai Development Project (MDP). After he picked us up at the bus station, we spent the next few days at the MDP owner's guest house. We enjoyed warm showers and fri-chick, among other commodities. Sabbath morning, we made the 5 hour trek to Jared's project in Maasai Land.

The Maasai people are exactly what you picture when you think "African tribe". They worship their cows, and they eat only three things: 1) cow blood, 2) cow milk, and 3) cow meat. The men make the decisions and watch cows all day while the women cook, build the house, carry all the heavy objects, and take care of the children. At a certain age, both boys AND girls are circumcised in their journey to adulthood. For boys, the experience is miserable to say the least, but for girls the experience often leads to permanent pain, infection and sometimes death. Sexual promiscuity is so much a part of the culture that HIV/AIDS and other STDs are rampant. The Maasai Development Project was formed to both educate and reform some of these inevitably dangerous customs.

Two random Maasai women

The Jared's project land is fenced in with 11 strands of hot wire fencing. The fence keeps both the unwanted people and wild animals out. Just before we arrived, the fence battery had died and a lion had chased a zebra inside and had quite a feast. This area of Africa is so raw and exciting. Anyway, inside the fence is Jared's little shack along with his small kitchen building. On one side of his living accommodations is the guest house he is building for volunteers who come to work there in the future. On the other side lies the foundation for a girl's dormitory. Behind all of this is a giant water tank that runs on solar power, pumping water from a nearby stream from dusk until dawn.

Dawn at Jared's place

Right now there are 36 girls staying in a rented building that is about a 10 minute walk from Jared's place. A widow whose husband was killed by an elephant acts at the matron to the girls. Some of the children are partial or full orphans but the majority of these girls are ones who are taking a stand against their culture and refuse to be circumcised. They range in age from about 8-12 years old and being at the orphanage protects them from both circumcision and the marriage that would immediately follow.

The Matron

You hear all these things and you would expect the people to be harsh and unfriendly, maybe even a little bit savage if you're totally honest with where your thoughts go when you hear about such customs. But to the contrary, the Maasai people are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. The local pastor/social worker took us around to some of the huts in a nearby village. We met a young girl who had been circumcised just 2 days before. Everyone was so welcoming when we got to their hut. The hut was dark inside and the family was roasting a big cow's leg for the girl. They said she deserved some good food. I agreed wholeheartedly. I felt like adding that she deserved a lot of other things too - like the right to her own body - but I refrained from saying so. The social worker explained that he had been working on taking this girl to the orphanage but the family caught wind of it and when the girl came home from school one day, they grabbed her and did their deed. Dead flies, honey, ashes, and cows milk were placed in the incision for....good luck? You can google the whole process if you want more details but if you are under 18 years old, I would suggest having a parent in the room before you do so.

The social worker explained that when the girl healed, he would still take her to the orphanage because she was pledged to be married soon after and he knew she was too young. He jokingly told the girl that Krystin and I were there to take her away right then. She popped her head out from the bed she was resting in and excitedly asked when she could leave. We felt bad that we weren't taking her right then. This whole conversation took place in the hut, with the family right there. We asked the social worker how they were so relaxed about him coming and taking their children and he said that they were OK with it because they had already done what they wanted to do. On they way back to Jared's place we passed a man with some roasted cow parts on a plate in one hand and a mug full of cow blood in the other. He offered us some but we politely declined. The whole experience seemed so unreal.

The 3 of us and the girls

We stayed at Jared's for that whole week and had many adventures that included a waterfall expedition, his giant kite taking us for unexpected ventures 10 feet in the air, and a lot of quality time with the matron and girls at the orphanage. Some of the Maasai ladies made us belts from cow hide and jewelry from local beads. They helped us buy full Maasai garb and one day we all dressed up and walked the 3 miles to the local market. The Maasai people got a pretty big kick out of that.

Relaxing in the waterfalls

 Kristen receiving her belt

Sarah and me

Jared's uncle owns a luxury camp and non-governmental organization (NGO) across the Mara. For those of you that don't know, the Maasai Mara is a giant game park. It was a 3 hour drive from the project. Instead of paying the $60 fee to get in, Jared just got a transit license to pass along the edge the the reserve. To make a long story short, we got a little bit off track and found ourselves in the middle of the Mara. That is illegal for two reasons: 1) We didn't pay, and 2) We were sitting in the back of an open pick-up truck. On the bright side, we got to see almost all the safari animals on our list, minus the predators (thank God, I'm not sure what we would have done if a lion had come running towards us lol).

Volunteer side

View from the luxury side

We finally reached the camp, Mara West, and settled into our little huts. I had been to the camp 4 years ago but it has changed so much since then. There are now luxury cottages overlooking the Mara, amazing food, beautiful gardens, and friendly waiters. The luxury side of the camp is what makes the money and the other side of  camp (still really nice) is used for mission purposes. We met 3 other volunteers while we were there and spent a wonderful Sabbath hanging out with them. The work they are doing is inspiring.

The next day we got up to see the sun rise over the Mara and then headed back to Nairobi. We took Jared out for his birthday and caught a night bus back to Kampala, Uganda. All in all, the trip was incredible. We met so many good people who inspired us to come back and finish our last three weeks at L'esperance with energy and excitement.

We'll Be Back in Uganda Soon...

Hello faithful blog followers...have no fear...we are in Kenya for the rest of the week but we will return with stories that will make your wait worthwhile....=)

Just an Update...

For those of you who have followed the blog from the beginning,  you have come to know and love many of the main people in our lives. You have showed your support in more ways that we can count and we just wanted to give you a little update on how everything is going. You can see the many ways God has been moving and also note the areas that need prayer and support.

Zumah has been able to acquire all of the necessary paperwork to get a job. He has had many interviews and opportunities. His faith is strong and he has actually made the decision to turn down a number of jobs due to the fact that they required him to work on Sabbath. He has other opportunities and I am positive that the right job will come his way soon. We have not seen him in about a week, which is odd for him. We have heard through the grapevine that he has lost his twin bother. We aren't sure if the word lost is literal or figurative but either way, I think his family needs our prayers. A big thanks to Thomas Pyke for donating the money necessary for Zumah to get his paperwork finished up.

Henry is working hard at med school and from what he has been telling us, it has been going well. We have been in contact with him by phone, through facebook, and we actually sent him a postcard the other day. We are going to go up to see him in a few weeks. Thank you to all of you who have supported Henry in following his dreams.

For those of you that don't know, Alice and Mary-Bo are two girls that the director's family took into their home a few weeks after we arrived here. Their family life was pretty bad. When they arrived they each had only one dress and no money for school. We commissioned 12 of our friends from home to raise enough money for the girls to go to school for 2 years. Long story short, our friends raised enough for the girls to buy new clothes AND go to school for 3 years instead of just 2. Since then, the girls have been doing so well. They laugh and smile all the time and while being back in school has been somewhat of a challenge for them, they really enjoy it. Mary-Bo doesn't know how to swim. I told her that I have a certification to teach swimming in America and that I would be happy to teach her. I think we will head down to the lake tomorrow. Just today, Krystin and I brought up another fraction of their money to the director's house. As we were walking back to our house, Alice and Mary-Bo both came running after us. We thought we had left something at their house but it turns out that Milly had told them about the money and they just wanted to say "thank you". They had the biggest grins on their faces.

Zealand lives on in our memories but a whole new litter of puppies has been born on the L'esperance campus. We have finally given up our anger towards dogs and now embrace the adorable new puppies.

The dairy project has been going so well! Travis heads out to the bush each week for a few days to work on the building project. Remember we told you that the work would stop and go depending on how much money you guys raised? Well, it seems like at the start of every new week, there is just enough money to continue the work. So far, we have about $8,000 of our $20,000 goal. Keep up the good work guys!

For those of you who don't know much about the dairy, let me explain what it will do for the orphanage. It's kind of complicated but bare with me. L'esperance is owned by a company in Germany. They supply a monthly donation of about $1,000 to run the orphanage. This money isn't enough to cover the food, school fees, medical fees, clothes, and other necessities for each of the children. To make a long story short, the German company isn't always very cooperative or in touch with the needs of the orphanage. Wilbroad, the director here in Uganda, feels responsible for the orphans well being and wanted to start a project that would enable the orphanage to be completely independent of outside donations. Hence, the dairy project.

On top of all these money issues there have also been some land issues. When you buy land in Uganda, you are basically leasing it for 49 years. After the 49 years are up, the land once again becomes the property of the king. Well, in December, the lease ran out and the king wants to put a hotel where the orphanage sits. They offered to just take half the land and allow the orphanage to continue but the German company turned down the offer. Then the Ugandan board offered to give the orphanage 50 acres in another location AND rebuild all the buildings. For reasons unknown to us, the Germans turned down that offer as well. They have yet to offer a solution. So, as of right now, the king has every legal right to kick the orphanage off the property.  This is another reason Wilbroad wants to start the dairy. The dairy is on a separate plot of land close to the 50 acres offered by the Ugandan board. If worse comes to worse, he can take the offer for the land himself and sustain the orphanage on the money from the dairy. If everything goes well and the Germans come up with another solution, then the dairy will still offer much needed income to sustain the orphanage.

All in all, no matter where God leads, the dairy is a key part to sustaining and improving the quality of life for all of the orphans here. Thanks again to all of you who have offered so much support whether that be prayers, money, sending us mail and muffin mix, phone calls, spreading the word, or just keeping up with the blog. You guys are incredible!

A Library is a Hospital for the Mind

In all, over $300 has been donated towards the kid's library at L'esperance. With those funds we have been able to buy about 150 books for the children to read. They are all so excited! Some even turn hostile as they fight for the book they want. We have taken this to be a good sign. Haha! Due to the amount of dirt, the kids ability to lose the books, and our total inability to keep track of each book, we pass the books out at the beginning of class and collect them at the end. But not at day goes by that we won't hear a knock at our door with kids standing on the other side asking if they can sit in our living room and read. They have discovered the magic of reading and I hope, that from this time on, they will never lose that gift. A big thanks to all of you who made this a reality. 

Sam, reading and coloring while we work on his toe.