Tuesday, May 22, 2018

There was no electricity again last night so we woke up to a dark house.  As I was fixing breakfast I could watch the community awaken from the kitchen window.  As it begins to get light people start walking from the community to the hospital and schools in large numbers.  The back of the Barnabas House borders the outside fence of the station.  The bell at the Knox church is rung at 6:30 and again at 7:00 a.m.   I am assuming it is a community “alarm clock”,   Starting about 7 a.m. market vendors start lining the street on the far side.  They will stay there until nearly sundown (6:30 p.m.)  There is a constant stream of people walking up and down the road all day long.  Today Steph has arranged for Hadyn and Sadie to be in the hospital observing.  Our haus mary today is Lena.  The project workers went to work about 8 a.m. The project is just a hundred yards or so from the Barnabas House so it’s easy to go back and forth.  Cheryl is volunteering to read to the primary students this morning during their reading time.  There are a total of 6 or 7 primary students from grades 1-6 at the MK school.  Charity is the primary teacher with parents and others assisting at time. The Crouches are only here this morning as they leave around noon for a drive to Hagen and then a short flight via MAF to Ukarumpa, a village in the Eastern Highlands where Cheryl and Jeff served as missionary hostel parents about 25 years ago.  Their oldest son was born while they were here so they are eager to show their family where they once llved.  Sadie is going with them.  As she rushed into the Barnabas House from the hospital she was yelling “best day ever”!!  She had been able to see the birth of a baby just before she had to leave the hospital.  Once they were gone and on their way it sure seemed quiet around here.  At the job site they are busy pulling nails, digging footing holes, digging out around the front of the building to help with better drainage and painting plywood.  Wonda and I were able to go to Rot Bung today with Tim to purchase some supplies and to walk through the outside clothing area.  We saw the school kids walking home…….girls carrying spades and young boys carrying machetes.   Apparently they have garden days at school and they have to take their tools with them.  Can you imagine letting kids carry big knifes to and from school in the U.S.?   We then drove to the dam and hydro station located on the mission station property.  The whole system is amazing.  The hydro powers the entire mission station.  Late afternoon some of us walked off station to see an area where national staff live and the school for their children.  It is on property right across the street from the hospital and is owned by the mission.  Years ago it was a grassy airstrip.  There are 4 small buildings for the school.  A couple of them have bamboo walls and a thatch roof.  After supper we learned a short song in Pidgen to sing later this week.