Today's adventures

Today the team split up into two groups. The women went to visit St. Cecilia's preschool. This is Peter's preschool that just opened in January. It is named after his late wife. The women went with Polycarp, our interpreter. We visited with Peter about his vision for the school. He showed us the grounds, the buildings, the new classroom which recently had a tin roof installed. We thought we were going to install the roof while we were here, but it was already done. Peter also shared with us his desire to dig a well. The cost here for digging a well with a machine in order to provide for clean water is $12,000. If he digs the well himself, it will be much cheaper, but the water will be unclean and not usable for drinking as he would not be able to dig as deep. There were about 33 children enrolled at one time, but now the number has dwindled to about 20, with 16 being present today. Many of the families cannot afford to pay the small monthly fee that covers basic expenses and salaries for the two teachers. The small room contained some benches and small tables, and no supplies that we could see. There were some charts on the wall with some English words as English language is one of the subjects they teach there. We were blessed by the children and their eagerness to engage in our Bible storytelling efforts. Polycarp was definitely enthusiastic about his role in interpreting, and turned out to be quite the actor as he enacted some of the stories. Vernie also came into her element as she was an excellent teacher and interacted well with the children. Peter even invited her to stay in Africa and work at the school full time.

The men stayed at Steve's house and worked on the solar panels on Steve's house. They visited the lumber shop and built some more secure brackets for the solar panels. Steve hopes to install at least 2 more solar panels in order to reduce the cost of electricity that he has to pay each month. We praise God that there were no accidents--no one fell off the roof, though there was one member who slipped and almost fell. Apparently, there is a slippery patch up on the roof.

We drove to dinner tonight and had to drive through a rough part of town. Steve warned us about the dangers of hanging out in this area, and immediately locked the car doors. Not two minutes later, as we were stopped in traffic, someone came up to the vehicle, bumped into it, and ripped off the sideview mirror. We were shocked and saddened by this thievery.

We look forward to visiting the nursery school tomorrow. The men will continue to do some labor at the house that Steve needs done.

Continue to pray for our safety and for God's will to be done in us and through us.

Also, our interpreter, Polycarp, was not feeling well this evening so keep him in your prayers that he will recover and be able to go with us to St. Cecilia's tomorrow.

Bwana Asifiwa!