Update #4

Thursday, Dec 29

Caleb mixed more concrete today and Timmy played more soccer with his friend, “E”. Hannah continued to play with the little girls in their playground area. They adore her! 

I was asked to go to the local village where a lot of kids in the orphanage are from. Two of the house dads took us to the village to buy corn and beans to divide out into bags to distribute in the community the next day.

This was one of the most interesting days of my life! “M” (one of the house dads) prefers to buy grains from local farmers instead if stores. He truly has a heart for the people he serves and you wouldn’t believe how many hours we went up and down tiny little streets to find what we needed in order to support the farmers in the village.

We traveled in a school bus and “J” backed down many narrow roads to get to the various farms off the beaten paths.

The crops are not good this year. The farmer he normally buys from did not have any grain. He asked around at other neighbors and they were all in the same situation. Whatever they did have, they were consuming themselves or using to pay rent.

Finally, “M” found a farm that had 26, 100 pound bags of corn and beans. It seems that this farmer may have been the ine collecting it for rent, but I’m not quite sure. These two dads hauled bags on their backs from the farm to the bus one by one. They could have more easily gone to the local store and been done in an hour. Instead, we were gone 5 hours or so!

“J” brought his 2 sons with him, “M” and “R”. They were about 10 and 12. Those boys were incredible. “R,” the 12 year old, hauled a few bags as well. They never once complained and understood the important mission of their dad.

As we were running around the village, my heart felt the burden for the house mothers who were home taking care of the 13 children all day while their husbands were out. 

On our way out of the village, “J” had to back up the bus into an alley. Unfortunately, the bus hit the awning of a business and they were MAD (banging on the bus and cursing). These dads could have driven away and not faced what might happen, but they didn’t. One of the dads got out of the bus to fix the situation. I thought that was so honorable.

By this time, it was dark. Hundreds of motorcycles were zooming around with young men driving them. I was getting fearful and I could tell “J” was a little nervous. I asked if he though if he should go help “M” and he did. He didn’t want to leave us Americans by ourselves, but it was taking a long time.

When “J” got off the bus, “M” immediately went to the drivers seat and closed the door. “R” went to the back of the bus. Although they didn’t say a word I saw their protective instincts kick in and they were looking out for us.

We prayed and the situation was finally resolved for about $11 dollars. Crazy.

In one of the photos, you can see “J” holding a machete. There is also a photo of some girls we were playing with in one of the alleys. We were playing catch with a small piece of rubber balloon. And the girls were full of giggles and smiles and hugs.

One thing that has stood out to me is that even though these people have virtually nothing they manage to find happiness and kindness towards others.