Dear friends and family,
I apologize, it has been SOOO LONG since I have posted anything regarding my life here. Everything has been great, and I am definintely alive and well. (Somehow.)
This photo is of the line waiting to get into the clinic we had set up in Biharu a few weeks ago. During each outreach, we have a medical outreach going on at the same time as seminars and Kids Club (games, songs, Bible stories). Hundreds and hundreds of people line up to see Dr. Len and Adonith. (Our 2 doctors.) This clinic was really great, and a lot of people were seen.
This past week we were in Kashaguru- a village that can only be reached by boat!! We just got back today, so check Flickr in a while and photos from there should be uploaded. We took a 13-14 hour boat ride to the village on Wednesday afternoon. It's madness. The African way is absolutely RIDICULOUS. They pack seriously 500 people onto a boat, and 350 of them don't have rooms to sleep in. There are chickens and fruit and sleeping people ALL OVER THE DECKS. So annoying. When we got on the boat (when we were leaving Kashaguru) 1st of all it was 2 hours late, so we were sleeping on the beach until 11pm. Then it took an HOUR to get out to the ship in a smaller janky little boat that was packed with about 75 people (30 of which were ours, plus all of our luggage). Once we got out to the Liemba (the ship) we were pushed into the 3rd class cabins (which is where everyone loads in) into a MADHOUSE of people who are so rude and pushing and going insane. It's no way to get anything done. Seriously. Not to mention its about 85 degrees down there! Ugh. What a nightmare.
Back to the village. Kashaguru was pretty nice. They were SOOO welcoming. We hadn't been welcomed like that in any of the other villages we went to! When we arrived (which when we got off the Liemba going there, we had to get on one of those small boats to get to the beach) they were having a huge dance fest Africana style on the beach waiting for us! Then they ALL grabbed all of our luggage, threw it up onto their heads, and walked with us into the village. It was cool. While we were there, we had another medical outreach, which went really great, we had some seminars for the mamas and the babas, and we had kids club which was for the little kids. This village was SOO ready for us to get there, especially since the last 2 times Hope of the Nations tried to go there something went wrong and they couldn't get there! (Since it is only reachable by boat, and the Liemba is the only boat that stops near by there, they pretty much dictate everything, and the last 2 times they were unwilling to give H of N a place on the boat!!)
Anyways, we got back just a few hours ago, and it was a longggg journey home. I'm just thanking God that we made it safe and sound. Keep on checking back for some more photos!! I will be uploading pictures from the Kids Club Leaders Camp we had a couple of weeks ago, and also of the trip we were just on, and a FEW photos of the trip Derek and I took with a couple of friends to Bujumbura, Burundi!
Love you all, and if any of you talk to Janelle...TELL HER TO CALL ME!
XOXO
Mel
29 July 2007
02 July 2007
it's been a long time, my friends!!!
we (the interns, minus derek--there are 5 of us total, derek, shane, faith, jaquie, and myself) played a game called "amazing race". it was basically like a scavenger hunt around town, where there were certain locations (21 to be exact), and we had to find as many as we could in an alotted amount of time, with a limited amount of money. we had 2 teams of 2, and it was a lot of fun...although i got sunburnt, of course. we had to take taxis and buses (called the "dala dala" here) and take photos in front of all the places. the point of the game is to learn our way around town as interns so that we can take the teams where they need to go whenever they are here. and it worked! we know our way around!! haha. we tied! the prize was going to the nicest restaurant in kigoma, which was fun. it overlooks lake tangyanika and is super beautiful with delicious food. i had eaten there before, but the other girls hadn't yet. yum yum. then me and derek and harold and coni (the missionaries that we're working with here) watched the movie "world trade center"...hahah...it was sad, but an ok movie.
uhhh...i know that's not very exciting, but here's a better story!!!!!!!!
the first weekend i was here, we went to a village called sunuka, and we were there from thursday through sunday. we had a medical tent, and we did some training seminars for a thing called "kids club", and a seminar for the mamas (a women's seminar). it was awesome. the medical tent was out of control!! we played with the kids allllll day long, learning tidbits of swahili in the process. but anyways, as a "thank you" for coming, the village gave harold and coni 2 goats! a boy and a girl. we named them ken and barbie. so we had taken 2 land cruisers up there to sunuka, and we had 21 people between the 2 cars...so clearly, we were PACKED TO THE BRIM! it was quite intense. not gonna lie, a lot of sweating took place. anyways, as you can imagine, with 2 goats, we were all kind of bummed to have them INSIDE the car! SOOOOO...derek and i said, "no way. we're strapping them to the roof!" so the boys did, and it was cruel, but who cares. they're disgusting GOATS! they were tied down to the roof, and the roads here are literally the WORST roads ever...super super bumpy (imagine 32948723974 speed bumps in a row of all different sizes for 2+ hours). so we were driving for about 30 minutes, when all of a sudden, derek and i are talking (and he is right next to the window, and i am next to him), and one of the goats FALLS OFF THE ROOF, still attached by her neck and foot!!!!!!!! HAHAHA. it made a huge THUD on the window right next to derek and i---it was a little scary. especially since we had just been joking about how what if the goats smashed their heads open on the roof and there was blood running down the windshield. hahah. anyways, the goat was fine, and we were fine, and had a good laugh. that's a better story, right?
some stuff about my roommates/living situation...
i'm roommates with 2 girls who are from southern california (their names are jaquie and faith) and they're really awesome. we're all living in the same room in a family's house nearby. the family is so great. jackson is the baba (baba means dad, or mister), and he is a translator, esther is the mama (mama can mean miss, mrs, or mom. it's very common to call people "baba jackson" and "mama esther" even if they aren't your parents. i call esther mama all the time.), and they have 2 little boys- talent (who is 2) and joshua (who is 7 months). they are the CUTESTTTTTTT kids. seriously such a gorgeous family. mama esther is super beautiful and is sooo joyful and loves jesus soooo much. she hugs us like 20 times a day. hahaha. and she speaks hardly any english, which is fun. derek lives across the street with shane and moses (a national). they live at the bible college, and it's a stone's throw from where we are living. every morning (monday through friday) we go across the street for baba joshua (harold)'s devotions with the school. (also here, it is very common to call people baba and mama with the name of their first child. my momma and daddy could be called mama and baba melody. harold and coni's first kid is joshua, so we call them mama and baba joshua...usually just around the nationals though. it's really interesting...i like it.)
today the first team of people from northern california are coming in! 8 people, i think? 4 adults, and 4 kids who just graduated from high school. should be an interesting dynamic! and then this coming weekend we are doing another outreach in a village called biharu from thursday-sunday, similar to the one in sunuka.
speaking of, i have to go...it's almost time for a staff meeting.
bwana asifiwe! (praise the lord!)
melody
uhhh...i know that's not very exciting, but here's a better story!!!!!!!!
the first weekend i was here, we went to a village called sunuka, and we were there from thursday through sunday. we had a medical tent, and we did some training seminars for a thing called "kids club", and a seminar for the mamas (a women's seminar). it was awesome. the medical tent was out of control!! we played with the kids allllll day long, learning tidbits of swahili in the process. but anyways, as a "thank you" for coming, the village gave harold and coni 2 goats! a boy and a girl. we named them ken and barbie. so we had taken 2 land cruisers up there to sunuka, and we had 21 people between the 2 cars...so clearly, we were PACKED TO THE BRIM! it was quite intense. not gonna lie, a lot of sweating took place. anyways, as you can imagine, with 2 goats, we were all kind of bummed to have them INSIDE the car! SOOOOO...derek and i said, "no way. we're strapping them to the roof!" so the boys did, and it was cruel, but who cares. they're disgusting GOATS! they were tied down to the roof, and the roads here are literally the WORST roads ever...super super bumpy (imagine 32948723974 speed bumps in a row of all different sizes for 2+ hours). so we were driving for about 30 minutes, when all of a sudden, derek and i are talking (and he is right next to the window, and i am next to him), and one of the goats FALLS OFF THE ROOF, still attached by her neck and foot!!!!!!!! HAHAHA. it made a huge THUD on the window right next to derek and i---it was a little scary. especially since we had just been joking about how what if the goats smashed their heads open on the roof and there was blood running down the windshield. hahah. anyways, the goat was fine, and we were fine, and had a good laugh. that's a better story, right?
some stuff about my roommates/living situation...
i'm roommates with 2 girls who are from southern california (their names are jaquie and faith) and they're really awesome. we're all living in the same room in a family's house nearby. the family is so great. jackson is the baba (baba means dad, or mister), and he is a translator, esther is the mama (mama can mean miss, mrs, or mom. it's very common to call people "baba jackson" and "mama esther" even if they aren't your parents. i call esther mama all the time.), and they have 2 little boys- talent (who is 2) and joshua (who is 7 months). they are the CUTESTTTTTTT kids. seriously such a gorgeous family. mama esther is super beautiful and is sooo joyful and loves jesus soooo much. she hugs us like 20 times a day. hahaha. and she speaks hardly any english, which is fun. derek lives across the street with shane and moses (a national). they live at the bible college, and it's a stone's throw from where we are living. every morning (monday through friday) we go across the street for baba joshua (harold)'s devotions with the school. (also here, it is very common to call people baba and mama with the name of their first child. my momma and daddy could be called mama and baba melody. harold and coni's first kid is joshua, so we call them mama and baba joshua...usually just around the nationals though. it's really interesting...i like it.)
today the first team of people from northern california are coming in! 8 people, i think? 4 adults, and 4 kids who just graduated from high school. should be an interesting dynamic! and then this coming weekend we are doing another outreach in a village called biharu from thursday-sunday, similar to the one in sunuka.
speaking of, i have to go...it's almost time for a staff meeting.
bwana asifiwe! (praise the lord!)
melody
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