Monday 29th - A very early morning

Today started very early for myself (Vanessa) and Abi.....12.45am to be precise. That was when Abi came into our room saying that she felt very sick!! That was the start of a very long 6 hours...most of which was spent in the bathroom; Abi being very ill and myself being the support system. Andy accompanied us with his gentle snoring and the odd encouraging words....I guess he would say that he played a part during the long, dark hours!

We worked out that it was probably the fish we had eaten at lunchtime in the restaurant we had gone to after church. Abi had felt a bit funny after eating it but seemed alright during the afternoon. I had had the same thing but thankfully escaped the food poisoning...a real blessing as 2 of us being ill at the same time would have been awful (and Andy would have had to be on the front line!). What was ironic, was that we had only been saying at lunch how great it was that we had all stayed so healthy!!!

I managed to grab 2 hours sleep in the early morning and then we had a lazy morning. We had been planning to spend the morning at Little Ahope but those plans had to change...a real shame but it was the way it had to be.

In the afternoon, Wit and Azeb took myself, Andy and David to see the rest of Addis Ababa. It is quite a large city with both old and modern sections. There is also the largest outdoor market in the world...the Merkato. We had imagined something a bit like Covent Garden but it was far busier and open to both pedestrians and vehicles....absolute mayhem! It was actually fairly grid-locked in places, which meant a lot of “horn honking,” and Wit said that it was a real hot-spot for pick-pockets. We drove through the market and we were actually quite pleased not to be walking. Anything and everything is sold at this market and we were met with many interesting sights....one man carrying 3 mattresses on his head and another carrying a large amount of egg boxes on his head. There were also other modes of transport such as wheelbarrows and donkeys...anything goes in this fascinating and amazing country!

One thing that struck us was how one minute you are driving past nice clothes boutiques and the next minute you are faced with children begging by the car, trying to sell you a packet of chewing gum, or a woman with her baby, explaining to you that they are hungry. Whilst driving through the Merkato there were mothers with all their children sat on the road and crippled beggars trying to get whatever money they could get. Theses sights were very upsetting and it was so sad to see so much poverty and need.

It is hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day here before we fly home. We have been so blessed since being in Ethiopia and it has been far more than we ever expected. There are so many things about this wonderful place that we will miss and so many things that we will try and incorporate into our lives once we get back to England. One thing we have realised is how busy our lives can get and how we are always rushing and “clock watching!” Clocks and time-keeping don’t feature much here and I think that the people here are happier because of that....there is far less stress and worry! And for many, Jesus is also right at the centre of everything that they do...we have a lot to learn!

Sunday 28th - Church and Cookies

This morning we returned to the Eden Genet Church in Addis Ababa as I (Andy) had been invited to preach. We quickly realised that this would become another “Chigga Yellum” day when we arrived to find the Church in darkness – the electricity had failed. This did not deter the Ethiopians as they started the worship with no instruments, microphones and in semi-darkness ....the only light was that which seeped through the corrugated iron panels that clad the building.

The worship was the usual blend or enthusiastic praise and fervent prayer...although we could only work out the odd word.

After about half an hour we started to hear the gentle patter of rain on the roof and as I stood up to preach the rain became heavier....Vanessa suggested that I would have to shout so that everyone could hear. After 5 minutes of speaking the leader of the Church suggested that I stop...., and for a minute I thought that I must have said something offensive, but he explained that the rainfall had increased to the point where the translator couldn’t even hear me .... let alone anyone in the congregation. So I stood there for about 7 minutes trying to smile and look relaxed, but I think i must have looked like a Cheshire cat.

Once the rain had stopped, I decided that I should simplify what I was planning to say to ensure that I made the main points before the next rain arrived. This seemed to give me a greater liberty and I am sure that it sounded far better that what I had originally planned

After Church we discovered an English speaking family in the congregation from Canada, and enjoyed a good time of fellowship with them at a local coffee shop.....although in future we must remember not to put the teenagers on a table of their own as we adults ordered coffee and then saw pizzas being delivered to theirs!!

As the coffee shop was one of the better establishments we have visited Vanessa decided to use the toilet facilities, which was fine until she discovered that there was no handle on the inside of the toilet door and it had locked behind her. She shouted and banged on the door, but none of us heard her. Eventually a man arrived but seemed to misunderstand her “I’m stuck in the toilet, and the door is locked “ as “I’m using the toilet and have locked the door”. Finally she persuaded the man that she needed help and he kicked the door until it opened

On the way home from church we took the opportunity of stopping at a restaurant for lunch. Here we discovered an interesting anomaly. The Steak meals were cheaper than the Pizzas....apparantly this is because Pizza is considered as a foreign meal and therefore they can charge more for it. So I had the Fillet Mignon (sounds French to me and therefore surely foreign!!) for 55 Birr, whilst David had a Chicken Pizza for 57 Birr. As there are 27 Birr to the Pound both of these meals cost 2 pounds each....bargain!

The afternoon was spent watching football with Wit and  the boys, whilst Vanessa and Abi made their famous chocolate chip cookies. As with their earlier attempt at making Victoria Sandwich cake, these also did not quite turn out as expected. The cookie mixture obviously does not cook the same at altitude and the cookies came out looking like wafers with the chocolate chips looking like rabbit droppings

Oh well........Chigga Yellum again

Saturday 27th - relaxing Saturday

Today has been a fairly relaxing day...definitely what was needed after our climb yesterday! David, however, still got up ready for football at 7am with Wit. They were home though by 10am (2 hours earlier than last week) as not many had turned up and they had had to play every game....they were tired! Also...the losing team had to do 5 press-ups each time and David was regularly on the losing team! They were ready for the pancakes and maple syrup which were served for breakfast....and breakfasts are great over here.

Abi and I had to go the supermarket for a few things, and we were pleased that we managed to do the taxi-bus all on our own. We are getting good at the public transport and know all the names of the stops and pick-up points. This information along with the word “waraj” which means “get off” has made our life easier. It seems a long time ago now that we got lost!

In the afternoon we took Dodi out for chips and ice cream to say “thank you” for all her help translating for us during the holiday bible club. She has been brilliant and has done a fantastic job for someone who is only 13 years old. The ice creams were great although we didn’t all get what we ordered....another “chigga yellum” moment! We also found out that they had given David hazel nut ice cream instead of caramel and we had made every effort to explain about his nut allergy...even Dodi had explained in Amharic!! Not such a “chigga yellum” moment!

The evening was spent making homemade lasagne and garlic bread. Abi and I were a bit heavy handed with the garlic. We used 5 cloves instead of 1 or 2.....let’s hope we don’t stink too much at church tomorrow!

Friday 26th August-Wassells climb the mountain

Hi, David blogging today

Today started as usual with mum coming to wake me up and me being reluctant to get up. As I came down I was greeted with the smell of sweet bread or Ethiopian scones, another recipe to take back to England.

Our morning was spent at the church with a very humbling thanksgiving service in recognition of the bible weeks the church had put on. We listened to a probably very interesting preach by the pastor apart from the fact I could only understand a few words. After the preach we were all brought up on stage and given gifts to thanks us, Mum and Abi were given hand bags and scarf’s and Dad and I were given T-shirts with the Amharic alphabet on, It was really nice to see all the children so happy and dancing in the service, I just hope what we did made a difference. After the service we were given coffee and popcorn, it was a really nice and enjoyable morning.

Afterwards we headed back to the house for lunch before climbing the mountain, it seemed quite daunting but wasn’t so bad when I went up. I realised if I was at the front I would get a rest when we waited for the others to catch up. Mum, Abi and I made it up but Dad was unable to manage as he had a really bad headache due to the altitude, it was a shame as the view from the top was quite spectacular, you could see the whole of Addis and it gave a real sense of size and how big the world really is.

On the top of the mountain we were greeted with food and a man gave a preach whilst we all sat on the wet ground as the skies rumbled above. Once again it was a shame I didn’t understand what he was saying. It was really amazing to see people singing without a band and a preacher without a lecturn or warm church. It kind of took the song “I’m bringing it back the heart of worship” to a whole new level.

After this the rain was beginning to fall and as we were at the highest point under trees we decided to make our way down in case of lightning. Mum did suggest we hide under the trees if lightning struck and me and Abi just looked at each other. On the way down we slipped around a lot, many people ending up in the mud and one boy hiding behind a rock and pretending to be a hyena which are found on the mountain. On a particularly steep bit Mum decided to walk on a grassy bit to stop slipping and Abi had to shout at her to get off as it was someone’s crops.

As we arrived back it was a race for the showers and a relaxing evening before football at 7 tomorrow.

Thursday 25th August-Chigga yellum!

Today we awoke again to the strains of the chanting from  the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. I don’t know whether it is a one-off or whether Vanessa had put in a request for an “encore”.

It seems that the weather pattern has now stabilised to a mixture of glorious sunshine, thunderstorms and torrential rain, overcast afternoons and then another thunderstorm overnight....and I thought Ethiopia was a dry country !

This morning we arrived at the MKC Church to lead the Children’s session, only to find that there were no other adults and many of the 67 kids seemed to use this as an opportunity to misbehave. We have now discovered how difficult it is to control a crowd of Kids when you don’t speak their language. Dodi tried bravely to assist, but the sessions seemed to descend into confusion on more than one occasion.....Oh well as they say...Chigga Yellum!

Lunchtime was again interrupted by an incredible thunderstorm that prevented the teenage session from starting on time. (We have discovered that timekeeping in Ethiopia is not an exact science) and so we finally convened back at the Church at 14:30 with 50 teenagers.

Before we arrived in Ethiopia I had planned to teach 4 sessions using parts of the Letters of paul to the New Testament Churches

-          Galatians 3 & 4 - we are Sons of God, Called to live in grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit

-          Ephesians 2       - We are Gods workmanship and any works we do for him need to come from the overflow of his grace and love in our lives.

-          Philippians 2     - We are to imitate the humility of Jesus and align our attitudes with his

-          Colossians 3      - We need to set our hearts and minds on the things God wants us to and change our behaviours to be those the God wants us to have

When we arrived here, we discovered that they only required me to teach for 3 sessions, so today I merged session 3 and 4 into one session and although it lasted for 75 minutes (with a translator), most of the teens were attentive. However I later discovered that Vanessa and Abi were sat at the back drawing cartoon characters of various creatures... they obviously don’t have the attention span of the average Ethiopian teenager !!

This evening we were due to meet with the worship group from the Eden Genet church in another are of town and travelled the 25 minutes to get there. Just as we arrived we got a phone call to let us know that it was not going to be happening as many of the group could not make it.....Chigga Yellum again. We are learning that plans do not always happen as we expect.

This evening we have discovered that Abi and Dodi have been sharing their room with a Gecko. This only came to light when it scuttled down the wall from its hideout by the top of the curtain. This has led to much hilarity, squeals and attempts to catch it. Azi finally captured it and released it on the balcony....but I think it will find its way back in fairly easily.

Tomorrow we are meeting at the MKC Church for a thanksgiving service with all the Kids, Teenagers and Parents and then all of us are going to climb the mountain behind the Church..... Apparently the view is well worth the climb.

Wednesday 24th - party time with the Kids

Today dawned bright and sunny and felt hot very early on. We started our day with delicious pancakes and home-made maple syrup...definitely a good way to start the day!

We set off for the church bible club in the dry and arrived to find that there were 72 children waiting for us!! It has been so encouraging to have so many children coming and today we had 7 children from non-Christian families. We had only prepared enough craft for 50 children, so it was all hands on deck as we created enough for everyone. Thankfully they have a photo-copier, but that soon became obsolete as we lost power (quite a common occurrence over here) and we had to resort to drawing multiple copies by hand.

Their worship was exuberant as always and they were experts at remembering the bible verses we had taught them. Using actions along with the words has really helped them to learn and remember.

We did the story of the Prodigal Son today, and they helped us act out the story again. We are never short of volunteers and they seem to love getting involved. Hopefully, by acting out the story, it will help them to remember it more easily.

We finished early today as one of the little boys was celebrating his 6^th birthday. We thought that the English knew how to party, but the Ethiopians definitely do it better. Every child in the room was given a party hat, mask or a party blower and all the party food, drinks and amazing birthday cake were laid out in full view while “Happy Birthday” was sung at least 20 times...accompanied by clapping and dancing. There was a real sense of celebration and even though it was the boy’s special day, it felt like everyone’s party...a real feeling of community. Every child was then given a plate of party food and a drink, but as we were “English guests” we had a whole bottle of fizzy each and a huge platter of party food to share. It was obvious that they had saved the best slices of cake for us and ever since we have been here we have always been looked after and served first...hospitality is done beautifully here and the Ethiopians are a very selfless race. We have a lot to learn from them and they certainly practice what they preach when it comes to Christianity. They don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk.

The afternoon session with the older youth was another “chigga yellum” time! Andy found out that he was without a translator, but thankfully the older kids know a fair amount of English so he just went for it and hoped that they would understand. He wasn’t met with a sea of blank and bemused faces so we presume that his message got across. We then made bracelets with all the children. The boys weren’t keen at first, but soon joined in (as did some of the adults.)

Dodi (the 13 year old daughter of the family we are staying with) has been translating for us in the morning sessions. She has been amazing as she is fluent in both Amharic and English. These 3 weeks would have been much harder without her as the extent of our Amharic is about 10 words. David has a few more as he has learnt quite a few useful football phrases! It has been great to be able to greet people in Amharic, but unfortunately they then think we can converse further...not a chance! At least we are having a go and people are happy that we are trying to speak in their language. It can get a bit confusing though as “ow” means “yes” and when one of the orphans kept squeezing Abi, she automatically shouted “OW!” She meant that she was being hurt but the young boy thought that she was saying “yes..do it again!!” She soon learnt!

Tomorrow is our last session with the children at the church as Friday is a Thanksgiving service, followed by a hike up the mountain. We are praying for an overcast day as we don’t want it too hot. Everyone tells us that the climb is well worth it so it will be a great end to what has been another amazing week.

Tuesday 23rd - Face painting at Ahope

Hi it’s Abi...

This morning there was another thunderstorm, but as I have been so tired because of all the energy I am using, I slept through it again (much to my annoyance). Also for the first time since we arrived we were not woken by the ritual chanting! (During the orthodox church season of fasting, the faithful are called to prayer by their priests chanting scriptures over a loud speaker from 4 am!!!) Mum, who had complained about it on the first morning, actually woke up feeling quite upset and moaning that it was too quiet!

 We were eventually all up and making our way down to the main road; thankfully today there were more buses running. The mad rush for seats was somewhat quieter, yet it seems that our idea of queuing doesn’t work here. 

We were back at Little AHOPE in the morning and as it was raining slightly when we arrived all the children were sat inside waiting for an early snack. The babies were crawling around and I ended up with one on my lap finding my hair fascinating as I don’t have it braided like all the girls out here.  David was sitting on the floor becoming a human climbing frame for about 5 children so I left him to it.

The American girl was there again teaching another story with songs, questions and prizes. Again all the children wanted toys rather than chocolate and even the boys didn’t care if the toys were bracelets; they just wanted something that was theirs. We all got taught our numbers up to 10 in Amharic by children ranging between the ages of 6 and 11; admittedly we still aren’t very good after about number 6.

Today the kids had a special treat. The American girl had brought face paint so we had a queue of children waiting to have the design they had chosen. For some kids we ended up with a purple and blue tiger as we didn’t have the right colours but they loved them anyway. Some boys washed their pirates and tigers off once they realised there were better designs in the book that they hadn’t see like “spiderman” and “batman”. Again we didn’t have the right colours so we had a pink and blue “spiderman” and a purple or pink “batman!”

In the afternoon we were back at Big AHOPE to do some sewing in the guesthouse. Today we decided to pick the children up and walk with them down to the guesthouse so we had a group of children to teach. They were making a decoration to hang on their beds made up of two hearts sewn together with their name on one side and ‘JESUS LOVES ME’ on the other. They were all finished within the two hours and seemed to enjoy themselves; the boys were also better at sewing this time. David didn’t take part, his excuse was that he ‘didn’t want to waste our materials’, so sat there drinking coffee out of a small cup with 4 sugars in it.! 

As we arrived back at the taxi rank we said goodbye to the kids. I told a couple of the girls that I would see them on Monday as we were going to do another project with them. A man in a butcher stall behind where we were standing over heard me and told me that he would ‘See me on Wednesday’ (ie tomorrow!). He looked quite downhearted in a cheeky way when I replied to him ‘err NO’. I think that must have been about the 16^th man to tell me he loves me since I arrived. It is getting quite funny as whenever I say hello to someone they turn around saying ‘come with me’.

We are going to be leading the kids club tomorrow at the MKC church so it is another early morning and a busy day.

Monday 22nd - Back to Ahope again

This morning we were woken at 3.30am by a spectacular thunder storm. These are very common over here during the rainy season and even more so at night when the lightening lights up the room like a strobe light.

The rain during the night meant that it dawned dry, which made our trek down the road easier. The main problem today was that there were very few taxi-buses as it was a religious holiday for the orthodox church. Any bus that did come along was mobbed and we soon learnt to abandon our British way of queuing politely and to just push ourselves forward and pile on! These small mini-buses can seat 12 but it’s not uncommon to find 14 people squashed in. There are also the small taxis which are motorbikes with a small cart like thing at the back...great fun, especially when they do a fast U-turn in the road!!

When we arrived at Little Ahope we got stuck in with playing with the kids. They were pleased to see us and we were soon part of a game of rugby/netball (with no set rules) and frisbee throwing. One of the American girls who is also out here did a bible story with the children and also some songs. She had brought some prizes with her for those children who could answer questions about the story correctly. They had a choice of chocolate or a toy. It was interesting that they all chose the toy. We realised that the chocolate would be gone in seconds and that the toy would last for longer and become a prized possession, as they have so little that they can call their own.

In the afternoon we were meant to meet a group of the older children from Big Ahope at the guest house to do a sewing project. When we got there, the man on the gate knew nothing of these arrangements! It was rather frustrating (especially as they had typed out a schedule) but we have come to realise that in Africa, plans change and you have to learn to go with the flow. The phrase “chigga yellum” is very common. It means “no worries!” We are so used to making set plans and sticking to the plan and we always try to be on time. In Ethiopia it is not uncommon for something to start 2 hours late, and no-one seems to get annoyed. It is all part of the culture out here. We are learning to take each day as it comes and are having to practice a lot of “grace.”Hopefully tomorrow things will work out a little better. If not it will be “chigga yellum” again!

Saturday Football and Sunday Church at Dukem

Saturday dawned bright and glorious, and David set off at 07:00 with Wit to play football with the lads on the green. Unfortunately the storm during the night had left the field more sodden than a Chinese paddy field, but this did not even cause a moment’s hesitation; a simple rearrangement of the scattered rocks to make some goalposts and the game started. As only twelve people turned up for the football they played 6-a-side, and it only took 20 seconds before the first person slipped over like a giraffe on ice. Within 5 minutes the only way to recognise that David was not African was his white face.

Throughout the morning various distractions attempted to interrupt the game; firstly the glorious weather turned cloudy and then started raining, then the herd of cows who normally occupy this piece of land decided that they wanted their field back and started wandering across the pitch. But none of these succeeded in stopping the game for one minute, as it continued unabated until 12:00 (5 hours). David and Wit returned with all the other players for an impromptu African shower – a hosing down outside the front gate using the garden hosepipe. Even this did not completely clean off all the mud, so David was dispatched to have a shower.

After lunch David joined the other young boys for a game of street football for a further 2 hours – I don’t know where he gets all his energy from !!

On Sunday Wit drove us to Dukem (about 25 miles south), where we had been invited to take part in the morning Church service and I (Andy) had been invited to preach. The journey was certainly one to remember, as within 2 minutes of leaving the house the heavens opened and the daily downpour began. The main rule of the road seems to be “whoever is biggest , wins!” as no-one seems to yield to anyone else. Cars overtake lorries on blind corners, whatever white lane markings still exist on the roads were hidden under the 2-3 inches of water that covered the road. Horses, cows, goats donkeys and people seem to wander at will across the road as cars, busses, lorries and buses drive at speeds up to 70 miles an hour, honking loudly at anything that seems to stray across their path. I think Vanessa may have prayed more in this 45 minutes than ever before! She said that the ride was a cross between being in a formula 1 race and a ride at “Alton Towers!!” I was just enjoying the ride!

After 45 minutes we arrived safely and entered the building..... well actually it seemed to be a barn with corrugated iron sheets for a roof and the sides filled in with large windbreaks. The people were very friendly and the worship was led by a man with an Ethiopian instrument similar to a guiter. We instantly felt welcome and at home

Even though we didn’t understand any of the words of the songs, we were able to join in the worship by singing along with them using our own words.

As I stood up to preach, the thunder started to rumble and the heavens opened once again...I didn’t know whether to take this as an encouragement or a warning!

I preached on Luke 15 (the story of the Prodigal Son) and expanded how all of us are like one of the sons at various parts of this story

-          The son who wants nothing to do with God

-          The Son who has messed his life up but is too proud to return to God

-          The Son who wants to return to God, but on his own terms (as a hired servant)

-          The Son who repents and in the face of the overwhelming love of God is willing to yield everything, and is freely accepted by God because of what Jesus has done

-          The Older Son who is trying to please God through his own efforts

o        Living like a slave, when he is the Son

o        Trying to make God love him more

o        Trying to abide by rules when he is the freeborn son

I summed this up with Gal 3 v 26 – 4 v 6, that when we return to God through repentance we become Sons of God, and “because we are Sons God sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” who confirms that we are his Sons and helps us relate to God as our father.

After Church the children swarmed around us, all wanting to touch our hands, seemingly puzzled at these strangely coloured people.

The journey home was far less eventful as the rain had stopped

Friday 19th - Kids work and Ethiopian celebrations

Today dawned sunny which made it a far easier walk to the church for the holiday bible club. It was still muddy but at least the roads weren’t rivers! When we arrived we found that we had 56 children...that’s 20 more than the first day which was very encouraging. We tried to sing one of the worship songs in Amharic but we were obviously pretty bad as they all carried on in English after the 1^st verse!

It was a great morning and we did the story of “Daniel in the lion’s den” letting the children act out the story. They are now very keen to be involved and they love watching each other being the characters. We then had great fun making lion faces on paper plates...it is a case of find a spot to sit on the floor and get gluing. There was wool everywhere as they stuck on the manes and the finished results were fantastic. They also loved the team games and today there was less cheating but still the same amount of squealing and laughter. They have also been great at learning a bible memory verse and one boy was even brave enough to say it on his own...and he was word perfect!

In the afternoon it was time to meet the older youth and Andy was speaking. It was the first time he had preached with an interpreter but it was great. There were a few sticky moments when he realised that the interpreter didn’t understand what he was trying to say and it made us all realise that we often use very English phrases and jargon. Andy soon learnt that silence and a puzzled expression meant “please can you try and re-phrase that!” Their worship was very exuberant and their youth worship group was excellent...especially the boy on the keyboard. Any excuse to worship and they are on their feet clapping and dancing!

Each session includes tea and biscuits and the tea is amazing. They boil the water with 4 cups of sugar and then add the tea bags. The result is an incredibly sweet tea which we all thought was delcious. It’s like a very hot nectar...just what we need after a hectic session with the children.

David finished his day with another game of street football and after supper we went out on the streets to watch the children light sticks to celebrate the end of the harvest time. The neighbourhood had come out to light bunches of sticks to make a fire. They then chanted and clapped while the sticks burned. They took turns chanting good things about each other that they had witnessed during the past year. There were often bursts of laughter so they were obviously remembering funny things each other had done! It was yet another example of the amazing community feel there is in this wonderful country. It is something we will definitely miss as it is something very special.

Tuesday 16th - AHOPE again (missing post)

This morning we returned again to “Little Ahope” (0-10s) to spend time with the orphans. As the weather was overcast and drizzly, we found that all the younger children were inside drawing, an activity that they gladly dragged us into. My attempts at drawing Mickey mouse were greeted with hilarious laughing, but I was firmly put in my place when I attempted to draw a cat, only to be interrupted by a 5 year old who took my pathetic attempt and corrected most of it. These guys can really draw!

Vanessa’s attempts were similarly greeted with hilarious laughing, and after drawing a flower, she was firmly told “No, draw a proper flower!” Again the children then proceeded to draw fantastic flowers with perfectly formed petals, stems, leaves and bits that my pathetic knowledge of Biology prevents me from describing!

The children then had a mid morning snack break, and during this time I took the time to wander round the grounds. It was during this time that I reflected on what was happening around us. We have travelled to one of the poorest countries in the world, and are with the most under-priviledged members of society (the orphans) who are also stigmatised by our world by the disease (HIV) they have, which was none of their doing. These orphans are the “least of the least of the least”.....yet their pure and unadulterated joy at the simple pleasures of life, provide a testimony that has challenged and provoked each of us.

I am reminded of the verse in Matthew 25: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matt 25 v 40)

So when a child with a scabby head and eczema wants to try my hat on then the answer is “Yes”, when a child with a runny nose want to climb all over me, then the answer is “Yes”, when I am tired, struggling with the heat (27 C) and altitude (2000m) and just need to sit down and a posse of children decide that now is the time to climb all over me, then the answer is “Yes”

After the snack break, the children were all allowed outside to play games. We took this opportunity to get out some of the toys/games that we had brought for them. They have very little and what they do have is pretty old and worn out. We immediately learned a lesson; that if you bring Frisbees, then bring one for every child or explain before you give them out that they are to share.....there was mayhem, as some children took the Frisbees and were not going to share – it took a good 15 minutes to bring the situation under control and teach the group how to enjoy Frisbees together.

We learned our lesson with the foam baseball bats and balls and eventually managed to teach them the importance of taking turns.....although I am not sure they will remember it by the next time we go to Ahope (Next Monday).

By lunchtime we were exhausted and left little Ahope for a well earned lunch, although the waitress did look a bit puzzled when we asked for 8 Pepsi’s when there were only 4 of us.....I guess they had a laugh on us (the strange “Fereng” ).

During the afternoon, we visited the other Ahope home (“Big Ahope”), which is about half a mile away from “Little Ahope” to spend time with the older orphans (11-16’s). When we arrived, we found that the 16 girls had all gone out for the afternoon, leaving 30 boys and seemingly only the kitchen/laundry support staff to oversee them. The boys initial reaction to us was seemingly very cold, as every attempt to start conversation was met with one-word answers followed by a turned back and a shuffle away to do something else. David and I finally persuaded 2 of the boys to join us in a game of table football and this seemed to break the ice. Soon there were small groups of boys coming out with basketballs....although this got very hectic with 4 balls being thrown at one hoop at the same time.

Eventually some of the kids challenged us to a game of 4 on 4. Not a wise challenge to accept at 3pm in the mid afternoon sun....I was soon exhausted and gasping for breath, but the game was fun.

There were still some boys not joining in, so I wandered over to talk to them, and found out that their game was soccer so I suggested they got a ball out and we started a game of keepy-uppy.....again they were far better than us.

Eventually we left for the journey home, and were glad for the opportunity to sit down with a glass of cold water.

Tomorrow we start the sessions with the local MKC church kids...This is another challenge that we are all looking forward to.

Missing Post

Our blog entry for Tuesday has been lost - I will repost this as soon as I can recreate it

Wed / Thur 17/18 - Holiday Bible Club

Yesterday and today was the start of the holiday bible club for the kids at the local church. The younger kids (3-11 years) meet in the morning and the older kids (12-16 years) meet in the afternoons.

We were meant to start at 9.30am but the heavens opened at about 8am and we got a call to say that we should stay put until the rain eased. Apparently the children aren’t allowed to be out and about in the rain...probably due to the risk of thunder storms and also because the roads resemble a very muddy river! Try and imagine a rough dirt track with no tarmac in sight, full of pot holes and shared by both people, livestock, carts and the odd car brave enough to tackle the terrain and you have an idea of what the roads are like!! When it is dry and sunny they are fairly o.k. but when the rains come then your main priority is to stay on your feet. We have abandoned trying to stay clean...mud is now our friend!

At 10am we got another call to say that we should set off as the children had all arrived and were ready for us.

We were welcomed by about 35 smiling, eager children so we introduced ourselves and got going. We had been asked to teach on the subject of “A loving God” so we had prepared bible stories, craft activities, English worship songs to teach them and some fun games to play. We wanted to act out the stories and once David had taken one of the parts the other children were eager to volunteer and we were met by a sea of hands shouting, “me...me.”  They really enjoyed the craft activities we had organised and they were fascinated by the glue and all the tissue paper we had brought.

Our first activity was to make a huge picture of God’s creation and each child was responsible for making a part of it...flowers, trees, fish, birds etc and one group had to collage the sea. The church is more like an outhouse type building with a rough and dusty floor...so dusty that the wall- paper wouldn’t even tape to the floor...we took for granted that we would have a carpet or polished floor along with tables and chairs. Here, the children sit on wooden benches, which then become the tables as they kneel on the floor. The dusty floor is the favoured place to sit and all the glue, paper, and crayons are placed on the floor in the middle for them all to share. They have all taken so much care over their work and have been very proud of their finished product ...it was great to see them all pointing out the parts they had contributed to the big picture,

The adults were more fascinated by the blu-tack we had brought, to stick stuff on the walls...they took bits and spent the rest of the morning playing with it!!

The main difference we have found is that the children are able to sit for long periods of time and listen. The younger ones will sit and listen for an hour and the older ones think nothing of listening to someone preach for 2-3 hours! In our culture, children struggle after 15 minutes and need to have a varied program with lots of interaction to keep them focussed.

We want the children and the adults to see that we can learn about God and have fun at the same time...and they certainly seem to be having fun. One little girl squealed with delight when we got out the glue and crayons and when we played some team games, there was much laughter (and some cheating!!) Today the head count was 48...we seem to be getting more children each day which is great.

We have yet to do a session with the older ones...that starts tomorrow. Hopefully we won’t have torrential rain in the morning!