PAMA: Day 3 -- "Don't Ask Me How Long It Lasted"

08-09 blog

Today brought us some new challenges. Our teams that we have been serving in have been rerouted just a bit so let me catch you up.

Jill and Sue moved today into Dispensary work, namely, they are working in the clinic caring for everything from small cuts and scrapes, to some more significant wounds. The kits we were able to use came from the children's ministry at Grace, sort of neat how even the children of our church are giving back in a global fashion.

I asked Jill at lunch how she thought the morning went, and she confessed that she thought maybe some of the "injuries" were all about getting a chance to have the attractive white girl pay attention to them. Funny, Jill seemed like she was in a really good mood at lunch today:)

Actually there were more than just curious cuts wandering in as one fella had three oozing sores on the front of his leg, Jill attended to those with peroxide when someone that was watching told her to squeeze his calf, (warning: if you're a bit squeamish you might want to skip this part . . .), but as Jill pulled his calf forward, yellow infection type of puss squirted out of all three of what were actually holes in his leg. Yet, another reminder of the fact that while at times it feels like we are making no difference at all, really any care or assistance that we have been able to provide has been a real blessing.

Time for an announcement from our sponsor: While there may be just twelve of us actually here serving in Africa, we are keenly aware that we are representing both the Lord Jesus, and our church here in the village of Pama. It is through the Lord's strength, and the prayers and support of many who are praying with us that we are able to give back in to the many lives and stories here in Pama. We have taken the privilege of those not yet able to come, seriously and believe that we are standing in your places in this village. Thanks for standing with us, thanks for praying along with us, thanks for sending us here.

Teaching in the school setting today was Jana, Sonia, Natalie and Sarah. The ladies are reporting this to be a very rewarding time for them as well as the children. They taught outside today, so there was plenty of daylight to help them along.

Jim continues to work on the school roof as he has been requested by the project foreman each day we have been here. Rumor has it that it's just because Jim is a single guy and all his new African friends seem to have a sister or two that they want Jim to meet...

All joking aside, it always amazes me how uniquely prepared each of our team members is for the task they are being asked to do and Jim is a great example of that.

Another one is Chad, who continues to roam from project to project taking video and pictures for what will hopefully be a great tool for telling the story of Pama, both for our church and other ICDI supporters.

Going to the fields today was Matt, Dave and myself. This was quite the interesting experience as we just didn't walk and see fields today but we had the chance to interact with many from Gaston's family as we planted Manioc, dug and harvested peanuts and then of all things, picked and shucked corn. It was blazing hot and a really, really long walk both to and from the field.

On our way back to camp we were able to cut a couple of pieces of sugar cane. This a true African delicacy was shared by all the members of our team. Once we finished the chewing, as you don't swallow sugar cane, we were grateful for the taste, but decided we probably wouldn't be planting any when we get home.

After a full morning, everyone returned to camp to grab a bite of lunch and a little nap as that is part of the African culture. Besides, most days it's just way too hot to do anything else, except for today.

We were just finishing up lunch when the rain clouds, big, dark, serious rain clouds started rolling in. They rolled, and rumbled, the wind blew and we buttoned down the hatches, putting on any warm clothing that we had left as this was a pretty serious storm. How long did it rain? Don't ask me or anyone else on the team because all we know is that it was still raining when we went to bed that night. Rain through nap time, rain through games, rain through dinner, rain through devos, raining when we went to bed. In Pama when it rains everything stops and you could feel a general stir crazyness brewing amongst our team as we all hung together in a damp, cold, close quarter environment.

I closed out my day just praying for the team by name and asking the Lord to send us some sunshine tomorrow to help lift our spirits and that we might be able to assist in moving forward the work for which we have come.

RAD