Day 20 - Saturday 7, 2007

Greetings Calvary Family:

    

We have had a busy time since our arrival at the children’s home. For me (Sarah), the most esciting things is to see baby Jonathan, who is the little boy we saw brought into the home last year when we were here. He is a bouncy little boy with a big smile. That is a far cry from the infant we saw a year ago whose life was in peril due to malnutrition and neglect. It brought tears to my eyes just to see him.(As it did for Clydia, who saw him two weeks ago for the first time.)

  

Our team is busy with the kids of the home, playing, making friends, teaching and cooking. Yesterday evening we were all fairly exhausted from the busy day.I think our e-mail left you with Melissa dehorning 30 kids (goat kids), along with Rebecca yesterday.

This morning, Saturday morning, the children are on a different routine. I enjoyed watching choir rehearsal with the older kids, then I was able to teach them a new song, which they enjoyed. Before lunch I spent time with about 7 of the older girls who wanted to continue learning guitar lessons. This afternoon I will continue teaching an in-depth Bible study on Mark, which Rev Dennis began the last two weeks.

Carol and Jackie have been busy int he kitchen. The new cook for the children knows how to cook rice, and rice, and more rice, so they have been busy showing the some new things that the cook can make in large quantities.

This morning Courtney was able to bring out all of the tap shoes which she brought and teach tap. The kids did very well. Both boys and girls began learning what to do…they were amazingly quick at learning.

Kevin is going to be teacher all summer for the early grade, about 2nd grade through 4th grade. Usually Gary teaches this level, but Kevin will be able to give him a break for the summer. Kevin is busy today with a visitor who heads up the curriculum which they teach. He is learning about how that works.

Our other teens, Jamie, Melissa and Linnet have been busy at playing with the children this morning: reading, playing ball, board games, pushing little ones on swings, etc. There is never a lcak of anything to do.

Frank is busy fixing all of their computers here at the village, so that they can all run with a little bit of efficiency.
Once again, as the last team has stated, it is amazing all that takes place in a day here at the Children of Zion Village. Gary and Rebecca Mink are constantly "on" with either the children, their own children, fixing things, the volunteers or outside things for which they are responsilbe. I imagine that Rebecca gets tired of hearing her name called out every five seconds…or is it every two seconds?

They both rely on their faith, which is the only things you can rely on when you are in these circumstances. They are teaching the children to do the same. It is exciting to hear the children sing praise songs, almost all day, as a form of nurture and fun throughout the day.

I must get ready for the Bible study with the older kids, which begins soon.
Tonight we are responsible for "family fun night", which we are planning as a form of "Namibian idol", but we will call it Namibian showcase. Kevin will be the MC.

blessings
For the team
Sarah

————————————————————————————————–

Mom,

   

   Everything is fine here. Carol is limping around on crutches but running the kitchen at the orphanage at the moment. Her distance of easy movement went from about 40 ft to 200 ft immediately upon landing in Africa. The new kitchen help doesn’t know how to cook that much and Carol is giving her recipies. The food each kid gets is not overwhelming for each meal, but three meals a day is a lot more then many of these kids would get elsewhere. The countries here are very poor, and the landscape looks a lot like you see in the movies. There are a fair number of people however, but having jobs for everyone is a problem. Namibia is not bad compared to its neighbors but there are many needs. They have worked hard on the infrastructure here. There are 7 or 8 substantial buildings (including the one we are building) and there is even a large diesel generator to run the facility when the electricity fails. There is hot and cold water. Drinking water is normal water run through a 1 micron filter and that is all it takes.  Its cold in the morning and warm (or even hot) in the afternoon. Africans do not build houses with heat. They just get cold at night - the season doesn’t last that long so they don’t care and can’t afford it. The kids are great and are hungry for attention. Most of my attention has been either laying block (yes Dad, I’m not very good at it), or working on computers. Most of which I have cleaned up today. We went on a boat ride and saw some hippos not far from the orphanage, so that was fun.

    

 Love you all.

Frank

About this entry

You’re currently reading “Day 20 - Saturday 7, 2007,” an entry on Mission In Namibia

Published:
7.7.07 / 7pm
Category:
Team 2 Mission e-mails
Tags: