It has been a busy week this week, physically and mentally exhausting. and today I know I need to post something but cannot use my first finger on my right hand so bear with me on mistakes I may make. It has already taken me 5 minutes to type this far! Cut my finger and it got infected and a pretty big chunk of dead tissue had to be cut out. But I am good! The pain before they cut on me was unbearable, but as soon as all the bad was out, there was relief!
We have new solar and it is so nice, Christian and I were both up in the night and amazed and frightened that the fridge and two fans were running. Our old solar wouldn’t do that, and it is quite a treat to have them all running without having to check the solar monitor and turn things off. Although it does come with a little guilt that in the middle of all this poverty we have so much comfort. I try not to let that get to me, and I am so very thankful for it! Cooking should be a lot easier now that I can freeze things.
The doors for the “barn” as Christian calls it have come and the guys should be getting them installed, and putting a second level around the sides of it so that things can be stored top and bottom and leave room for trucks to back in it if needed. We have high hopes for the mill when we get it going and want to have storage for rice and maize ready.
We wanted to help one of our workers who is trying to build a house – what is typical here for most people to live in is about a 5×7 brick or mud “hut” that they sleep in. So when I say someone is building a house, it is usually a little bigger than that and may have a living room and bedroom. But how to help was the question. Christian helped him one day with brick making but we can’t just give out money. So I did something that we hadn’t wanted to do (well, one of us didn’t want it!), I had his wife come and sweep and mop my floors and the floors of the other apartment. So that she could earn some extra money for the house. Well, the grapevine here as Christian says puts the Baptists to shame! Haha! For the next week I have had people at my door everyday wanting to do my dishes, clean my house. It’s exhausting and mentally draining having to tell girls that need school money no. We cannot make up jobs just to pay, but it is extremely hard to tell them that we just don’t have work for everyone. It has made it harder that all this has been happening while the solar is being put in, and the storage building being finished. When I say we just don’t have the money for everyone they don’t really believe me. To them it is me and Christian not wanting to help. The thought is white people have endless money. And they also don’t understand that when we look at the needs, a very sick child has to have higher priority than school fees. I have seen a little hope in that some of the 20ish generation are realizing the mistake and consequences of having so many children when you can’t afford it. It is hard for them though, because the culture demands many wives and children. Apparently that is what makes a man a man, even though they aren’t taking care of half of them – wives or children. Our day guard is 20 and his father has two wives. He says his father has been good to both wives and all his children, but that he doesn’t want more than one wife and he gets a lot of pressure about that. Here, he should already have his first wife. And women have no say in much of anything, nor should they be single. So many are stuck in these marriages because that is how it is. I made a mistake today, talking to the men building a wall in our new home because I wasn’t happy with how they were doing it. And Christian says that I undermined him because 1) they don’t understand what the home means to a woman and 2) a woman shouldn’t voice her opinions, Christian had already told them he didn’t want it like that and they were determined they were going to do it anyway. I would never intentionally undermine my husband, and I understand where he is coming from and it makes me very sad for the women here, to have all the hardship and responsibilities and really no rights or respect. It is extremely hard for me because my husband says I have an opinion on just about everything!
I did pay two girls to paint in the building we will be moving to since I hurt my finger and they painted the side I had left to paint. That was a big help to me and hopefully Christian will get the septic in and Raelee’s room will be finished soon and we will get to move.
Keep us in your prayers and may God bless you as much as He has blessed us this week!
His Grace For The Journey 