What a fast-paced two weeks it has been.
One of the objectives Araceli and I have had since we are at Kasese now is to become more involved with the Catholic Church here. So last Sunday we went to mass at the local church.
As before (when we lived in Bowe with the priests) I was expecting a typical mass. Lots of people, unique odors and lots of singing and dancing.
The church is a mere 2 minutes away for the house so it did not take us long to get there. Once there we got out of the truck and I began to wonder where everyone was.
Well as it turns out, because of a series of unfortunate events, a lot of the parishoners had left the church.
At the beginning of this year there was a giant storm. One which did some damage to Kasese but along with that it almost destroyed the entire church.
The villagers were in the midst of finishing up the church. They just needed to build a roof structure and put a roof on and it would be finished. The storm stopped that from happening. After the storm most of the side walls were destroyed and the interior of the church was weathered by the rain.
So we ended up having mass here. There was no priest and in total there was about 10 of us. But it was a good feeling to be able to spend time with the villagers.
At the end we sat around in the church talking about life and such and began on an idea of re-building the church. At that point Araceli, Timeyo and I asked to be part of the committee for the church so that we could become more directly involved in the business of the church.
We continued to talk and then finished that day with high hopes and aspirations.
The rest of the day was spent building new storage shelves in our utility room for our clothes. One of the problems we ran into last year was that we moved to Kasese in a rush and did not have any time to organize our belongings. So every room was full of boxes and unorganized.
So we have been gradually cleaning everything and almost have the whole house cleaned. It is funny now because it looks like an empty house without any of those things. But it is more comfortable than with junk everywhere.
We continued through the week working. Elections are coming up this year in Malawi and there have been massive displays of "support" for each presidential candidate. I emphasize "support" because it is a false kind of support.
I would have to put more thought into this to make any political statements but I can just say that based on my experiences and observations I have seen people persuaded for Causes by objects rather than the ideals and values of the Cause.
Enough of that.
We have been chugging through the week. We had our student who we sponsor, Linda Phiri, come and stay with us out at Kasese. It was a great opportunity for her to get to know us more, interact with different people and of course, practice her English.
We enjoyed having her around as we could also learn more about her and what she wanted to do with her life, which is set on becoming a doctor.
We took her to school on Tuesday.
I cannot say too much of what else has been going on as we have been doing a lot of busy work preparing to start a whole plethora of projects here. Our goal is that within two months we can begin hosting mission trips here. There is quite some work to be done before that point.
It would be boring to list out all the projects here and would be better to update on here as we progress through them. One of the major ones I am looking forward too is to build a wall between the shower and the kitchen.
As of now, when showering, the overflow water from the shower drains into the kitchen, which is gross.
So that will be one of our first projects next week.
As for the rest of today we are meeting up with another student who is sponsored and having lunch with him.
After that I am going to build us an exposed pantry so we can store all of our food and such there.
I do have to laugh because as I am typing this a chicken jumped up on our window and is trying to get inside. For some reason the chickens like the area around our house. And the cat loves chasing them around. There is something comforting about having them around.
One of the objectives Araceli and I have had since we are at Kasese now is to become more involved with the Catholic Church here. So last Sunday we went to mass at the local church.
As before (when we lived in Bowe with the priests) I was expecting a typical mass. Lots of people, unique odors and lots of singing and dancing.
The church is a mere 2 minutes away for the house so it did not take us long to get there. Once there we got out of the truck and I began to wonder where everyone was.
Well as it turns out, because of a series of unfortunate events, a lot of the parishoners had left the church.
At the beginning of this year there was a giant storm. One which did some damage to Kasese but along with that it almost destroyed the entire church.
The Remains of the Church
The villagers were in the midst of finishing up the church. They just needed to build a roof structure and put a roof on and it would be finished. The storm stopped that from happening. After the storm most of the side walls were destroyed and the interior of the church was weathered by the rain.
So we ended up having mass here. There was no priest and in total there was about 10 of us. But it was a good feeling to be able to spend time with the villagers.
At the end we sat around in the church talking about life and such and began on an idea of re-building the church. At that point Araceli, Timeyo and I asked to be part of the committee for the church so that we could become more directly involved in the business of the church.
We continued to talk and then finished that day with high hopes and aspirations.
The rest of the day was spent building new storage shelves in our utility room for our clothes. One of the problems we ran into last year was that we moved to Kasese in a rush and did not have any time to organize our belongings. So every room was full of boxes and unorganized.
Storage shelves for the utility room
Timeyo and Araceli clearing an area for a gathering space
Timeyo and I sitting in the newly created gathering space
Enough of that.
We have been chugging through the week. We had our student who we sponsor, Linda Phiri, come and stay with us out at Kasese. It was a great opportunity for her to get to know us more, interact with different people and of course, practice her English.
Sitting around having dinner : Timeyo, Morris and Betha and Araceli and Linda
We took her to school on Tuesday.
I cannot say too much of what else has been going on as we have been doing a lot of busy work preparing to start a whole plethora of projects here. Our goal is that within two months we can begin hosting mission trips here. There is quite some work to be done before that point.
It would be boring to list out all the projects here and would be better to update on here as we progress through them. One of the major ones I am looking forward too is to build a wall between the shower and the kitchen.
As of now, when showering, the overflow water from the shower drains into the kitchen, which is gross.
So that will be one of our first projects next week.
As for the rest of today we are meeting up with another student who is sponsored and having lunch with him.
After that I am going to build us an exposed pantry so we can store all of our food and such there.
Visiting George a his University
In Aruba-desert island-the water from kitchen/shower are funneled to outside gardens.
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