Here's Amanda talking about our banana thief! If you have no idea what that means, check out the video and our journals from yesterday! Thanks for keep up with us...we LOVE you all!!
Friday
Amanda's End of Day 5 Journal - 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
2011 A-Dollar-A-Day-Challenge
I retired early last night because I just couldn’t find the strength to continue writing. For the first time since this challenge began, I can whole-heartedly say I went to bed hungry. The hunger was up in my throat this time. The hunger pain hasn’t really gotten any worse in intensity; it’s just more frequent. Now I am to the point of feeling hungry even while I’m eating or taking tea. The only thing that makes the hunger go away is to go to sleep. I couldn’t. I was too hungry. The rain began to fall on the tin roof and I was thankful until it got so loud that it was actually painful to my ears. Lacey even shouted my name as the rain was coming down and I couldn’t even hear her. Finally, the rain eased off and I fell fast asleep. I woke up early this morning, freezing cold from the rain. Anyone who thinks Africa is always hot is crazy. I was cold and wet from the moisture in the air. I didn’t want to move and I smelled horrible. A bath was definitely on the agenda for the day. I finally forced myself out of bed and Lacey and I walked to a small shop nearby for some sugar. That sugar sure has been a lifesaver for us. It gives us an energy boost, added taste to our diet, and quiet frankly a psychological boost. Again it was worth every shilling. After returning from the shop we had tea and then a bath. By this point my armpits were so nasty and I smelled like a matatu. I was wise this morning and put my basin of water out in the hot African sun to warm. It was nice to have at least lukewarm water. After my bath I went to sewing. It did help the time pass but at this point nothing cut through the hunger. At lunch today I ate the ugali but I didn’t even want it. It seemed like it took more energy to chew it than provided energy. And there was no satisfaction in the taste. I could no longer even pretend it was something else. All it was… a few hundred calories keeping me alive… that’s it. After lunch I returned to sewing and felt a sense of accomplishment for the day. Lacey and I went to the room for our evening tea and found that someone had stolen our banana. Now I’ve never been on to get upset over a missing piece of fruit, but this was serious business. Someone had stolen from the poor… it was all we had. Now I have been the victim of theft before, once when I was in the 8th grade and someone broke into our house, and another time a few years back when someone broke into our rental van in Dallas, but both times the thieves stole my excess. This was different. First of all we worked hard to buy that banana worth about 1 cent and 2nd of all, it was all we had. We were so disappointed. Then there’s the thought of stealing from the poor. It was awful. So we did all we could do… split our last mango. It actually lead to an awesome meal together where we were able to pray and thank God for his provision. After dinner we read our devotion to the girls and then headed to bed. It was the second night where the thought of hunger kept me awake for hours. This time to ease the pain we sang of God’s faithfulness. As I repeated the words of Rest in You, by Hillsong, over and over in my head, I thought this must be how they do it. Those in poverty have to cling to the only hope they have… that tomorrow holds the possibility that life can be better than today. They do always seem to find rest in Him. They greet you along the road with a smile and an extended hand, welcoming you into their home to treat you to the best they have to offer, even if it means they go hungry that night. It seems as if they know that if they honor God in that way, then He will continue to provide for them. I know He does and that’s why they find Rest in Him too!!!!
Lacey's End of Day 5 Journal - 2011
February
18, 2011 TMSC,
Kenya - Day 5 – Friday
Last
night was really cold. We fell asleep and not long after, a nice rain on our
tin roof awakened us. I love that sound…but it didn’t last for long. It was
followed by one of the hardest rainstorms that I’ve ever heard. It was so loud
that when I yelled Amanda’s name, she couldn’t hear me! She was only 5 feet
away! I am not a huge fan of thunderstorms, so I wasn’t particularly fond of
the loud, crashing on our tin roof. It was a good time of prayer for me,
though. I thought about all of the people out there with little to no shelter
from this storm. Those whose roofs leak and water gets in. Those who live on
hillsides - where water may be rushing into their homes. It broke my heart. We
are so fortunate to have what we do – even just on our $1 per day. As I sit
now, I can’t help but think of 2 of our sweet kids here at Tumaini. Their
parents were all killed in a mudslide a few years ago. That mudslide happened
because of too much rain on a unstable hill. The line is so fine with rain. It
can sometimes do harm, but without it, there is no life.
I had to
go to the bathroom SO bad right smack in the middle of the storm. Normally, I
would just walk down the hall and use the one that’s inside the house…not this
week. Like most people in poverty, we don’t have indoor plumbing. Our ‘toilets’
are about 50 yards away from our house. There was NO WAY that I was going out
in that weather! I decided that since it was raining so hard, that I would just
go right outside the door J
My thought was that it would be washed away by the flood…so what’s the harm?!
After that, I made a bed in our room for our sweet puppy, Roxy. She was SO
excited to be welcomed in. She was soaking wet and shaking from the cold. So
she laid right down and fell asleep….sweet girl!
When
morning came, Amanda set her bath water out to let it warm up in the sun. I, on
the other hand, had to use my basin to wash the shirt that I let Roxy borrow as
her blanket! We had run out of sugar the night before, so we decided that we
wanted more. It has really helped by making us feel like we were getting
‘something’ other than milk and water. We took a short walk up to the shack
where they sell the sugar in small amounts. We had to wait for a while bc the
lady had stepped out. After some video interviews, she came and sold us our
beloved sugar. After arriving back
at our house, we drank our breakfast of 2 cups of tea. My stomach has shrunk a
lot, so the tea is pretty filling for about an hour. After that, the hunger sets back in. It’s getting harder bc
the hunger is a constant feeling now. It doesn’t go away and only gets worse
over time. I can’t imagine a life like this. It’s miserable.
We took a
much-needed bath today. It’s amazing the odor that your body can produce :/
Even bathing over the toilet, as gross as it was, made me feel like a new
person! My bath was SPER cold though bc I didn’t set my water out in the sun. I
learned that lesson quick! This
afternoon I continued on with the books for the reading program. This program
is so important bc it gets kids reading…kids who have never had books before.
As soon as we walk in the door the kid’s faces light up. It is such a blessing
to see their minds and imaginations grow with each turn of the page. Natasha,
our sweet friend from the UK, is coming up with comprehension questions for
each book. My job is to read the book and answer the questions. This way we can
make sure that the questions are appropriate and also that the teachers can
have an answer key for all of the books. Once we’re finished, our hope is that
these kids will be able to read the books, but also understand what they’re
reading. It’s going to be great!
Before
lunch I helped fit some kids for their uniforms. A lady here, Dorothy, has been
making uniforms for weeks! Today, we tried them on the kids to make sure that
they fit. If they did, they could take them home. If not, they left them for
minor alterations and can pick them up tomorrow. Their faces were filled with
such joyful smiles! Some have never had a uniform before…and those that do are
tattered and torn. It was an awesome sight. Then I went back inside for some
more reading program work. It’s beginning to get tiring bc my mind is slowing
down. The lack of energy from our lack of nutrition is taking it’s toll on me.
My head is a big jumbled mess. It’s so hard to concentrate…so reading is quite
a challenge of it’s own. Even if it takes me forever, I WILL press on!
Lunch
today was awful. I am so suck of
ugali and if I never saw it again it would be too soon! Its almost worse to eat
it bc it makes me even more hungry. Once I eat it my body gets excited for
more…but there is no more. There is never more. Natasha told me today that our
4 cups of tea and handful of ugali is less than 600 calories. That’s 600
calories in 1 whole day. That explains why I feel so useless all the time. My
body is beginning to feel sick bc of the lack of nutrition that we’re
getting…it hurts. I can’t imagine how it feels to go more than a week like
this…a month, a year, ten years, a lifetime for some…I don’t know why they even
want to keep living…
As I
continued reading the books and answering questions my sweet Doro walked by the
door. Natasha brought her over bc she wanted to see me! I LOVE this little
girl. She’s still not feeling well so I just held her for a little while. It
was exactly what we both needed! Another AWESOME thing happened today…I
received my package from my parents!! It’s my birthday box that I’ve been
expecting! As soon as I got it I felt a tear run down my face. It’s been such a
hard week and to even just see my mom’s handwriting made my heart smile. I miss
my family and I am so thankful for their continued love and support. I’m not
going to open the package until I can call them…only a few more days! This
really gave me a boost to finish out this week ‘strong.’
Soon it
was time for dinner and we were really excited bc we had bananas left over from
yesterday! So we got our tea and headed to our house. When we got to our room,
we found that someone had STOLEN OUR BANANA!! We were in shock that someone had
come in our room and stolen our precious food. We have recently learned that in
Kenya, they usually kill thieves…now we won’t go that far, but we would like to
know who did it! This happens a lot to the poor, so we’ve learned. It breaks my
heart bc these people have SO little, and it’s its taken from them, they have
nothing. The good thing is that we still had 1 mango left from the other day. So
we had our candlelight dinner and split the mango and our 1 remaining banana. It
was really nice!
Our devo
with the girls tonight was a really good one – we talked about how God has a
perfect plan for each of us. We talked about how no matter what we’re going
through now, God has a plan for us and HE will work everything out for good. It
was exactly when I needed to hear tonight. Thank you, Lord, for your Word and
for your action in my life!!
As I ger
ready for bed I’m hungry – it just keeps getting worse. Lord, please help me to
sleep tonight and be rested for another day. This hunger is not fun and it
affects EVERY part of me. My emotions are high – frustrations are high – but my
energy level is low. Hunger is real. Poverty is real.
Day 5 Complete
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