Jackels and Chickens and Dams, Oh My!

We have had quite a busy week!! To start with the dam directing the water into the channel for the pool has started to leak. I don't understand all the details, but they are having to fix it this week. This means we have been praying for no rain until they have it fixed. All week long it has either been sunny, clouds threatening, or light and short rains! God is so good! We also have visitors from Scotland this week. One of them happens to be an engineer and is able to help supervise the work on the dam. It's amzing how God provides the right people even before we ask! It rained quite a bit last night, but I haven't heard anything about it wrecking the work they have done so far. I assume no news is good news!

Yesterday, the the seniors and some of the staff went through the process of slaughtering the chickens. I don't know what the number was, but I'm sure we have a full freezer now! Even the girls got into beheading the poor chickens! I have heard that chickens still run around after the head is chopped off, but this was the first time I had seen it! The chickens had to be held still, upside down, until it stopped moving. If they moved around too much we would end up with broken chicken wings. At the end of the term break we had killed another batch, and I helped pluck those ones. Only I forgot my camera then so I don't have any proo so you will just have to take my word for it. This time I didn't dress for the occasion, but I did get pictures. Even though I didn't actually help my dress still smelled like chickens at the end of the day.

They were in the middle of killing the last batch when I jackel came around! Jessica and one of the workers were the only adults there. Jessica is used to seeing foxes in Scotland so she thought nothing of it, but the kids were so scared! The worker quickly ran to a bamboo plant and broke off one of the branches and threw it like a spear in the direction of the jackel. All I saw of it was the kids and Jessica walking back, with no chickens, and Mr. R walking back to the chicken coop with his rifle. I had no idea what was going on. I was trying to firgure out why they would need a rifle for killing chickens. When Jessica was telling me about it later I wished I had been there. It would have been interesting to see it all firsthand!

Last night, after all of that excitement, we had the gr 7-9s at our house for games. We definately do not have enough chairs in our small house for everyone so we had them all bring a chair from the hall. We barely had enough room for the 24 people who came. Four of the visitors from Scotland are teens so they came for the evening as well. We all had a blast!! We played Signs, "Not Me Sir", and Mafia. It was the perfact number for the games to to work. Hannah made cookies, I made popcorn and there was pizza left over from supper. We had just enough food. There was one cookie left over, which is great because I didn't have one earlier. :) It started pouring about 5-10 min before the kids left so they borrowed our umbrellas. Hannah was originally going to walk up to the dorm with the girls so she could bring the umbrellas back, but one of the girls lost her shoe in the muck. They had a flashlight, but I ran out with my flashlight, for extra light, to shoe hunt. We found the shoe and I ended up taking the girls to the dorm and bringing the umbrellas back home (with a couple more lost shoes).

We ended the night with "Annie" in the dark becasue the power had gone out. I had just enough battery on my laptop to finish the movie. I'm ready for my weekend off.! :) Praise the Lord for is goodness, providing, and protection!

Miss Russell's first time plucking chickens! :)

Miss Russell's first time beheading a chicken! :)

Posing with the poor chicken on the way to the chopping block.

 

Have a heart!

Shoes!! We had so much fun with all the kids!!

Food after all the fun!

 

How On Earth Did Women Wear So Many Layers of Petticoats?

04/10/12

(Sorry for the delay!  The internet was out for a week and I have been quite busy lately!)

Last night was Sakeji’s tri-annual birthday party.  This term’s theme was Wonders of the World.  A few people came over from Kalene on Tuesday to decorate cakes.  There was the pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, and many more.  There were 15 cakes decorated in total! 

We had a day full of regular classes with only half of the usual attention from the kids.  Swimming lesson finished early so the teachers could get their costumes ready.  Supper was at 5:00 instead of 5:30 to give extra time to enjoy the special birthday meal. 

All the teachers looked great dressed up in their various costumes.  I took the suggestion from a friend and dressed as Mount Everest.  In order to add dimension, I wore many layers of skirts under the grey dress I wore for the actual mountain.  This brings me to my title.  How on earth did women wear so many layers of petticoats?! I had five layers of skirts on, and I was roasting all night!  Miss A. made up a new version of the song “I may never march in the infantry”.  She sang “I may never see the wonders of the world” and had all the teachers who dressed up come on stage and yell out their wonder.  The temperature went up a few more degrees when she called us on stage!  Then after the song was done the MCs had a costume contest.  The kids had to hoot, holler, and cheer for their favorite costume.  Mr. and Mrs. T won hands down.  They were dressed as the Tung Su Warriors who guarded the tomb of the first emperor of China.  I was standing at the end next to them so I got quite a loud “hoorah” as well from the overflow of their cheer. 

The kids did very well with their skits and songs.  Usually the seniors’ skits go on and on and the MC has to start clapping to cut them off because they are going on too long.  This time, however they were all short and very funny.  They had me in stitches with every skit!

As promised I have added a picture from the birthday party of my costume!  Thanks Em for the idea!

 

 

September Update

Dear friends and family,

I have been quite busy this term.  I am gaining more responsibility as the term goes on.  I am in a sort of student teacher position.  I am following Mr. R. in all of his classes.  He teaches 2&3, 4&5, and 8&9.  I am now teaching 3 classes with the 3^rd to graders, Spelling, Language, and Science.  I will only be teaching Science for the next two weeks, but the other classes I will have the whole term.  I will also be taking either the grade 3 Math class or the grade 4&5 Scripture class.  I haven’t decided which class I will take, but I am leaning towards Math. 

We have had a very interesting week.  We were told last week that a lion escaped from the Congo!  I sometimes forget that I live in Africa, but that definitely reminded me where I am!  There was a trail of dead cattle and other animals from the Congo coming towards the game park that is near the school.  The kids were quite nervous all week.  The seniors walk to the nearest church once a month.  They went this Sunday and Mr. R. was teasing them about the lion coming out of the bush to get them.  Then they saw the guy who was tracking the lion, and Mr. R said that he was pointing out where the lion was.  It wasn’t actually there but I don’t think the kids appreciated his sense of humour. 

Also, this week we have had an outbreak of chicken pox.  One of the boys came to school with chicken pox, but his spots hadn’t shown yet so it spread to some of the other boys in the dorm.  Now that the first boy is over them 3 more boys have it.  A teacher’s wife has a 7 month old baby, and she is trying to keep him at home so he doesn’t get chicken pox.  Between chicken pox and lions it has been an interesting term so far.

Jessica, one of my roommates, and I take the junior kids for games on Mondays.  It’s a constant battle trying to figure out games to play with 42 kids and have everyone enjoy it and play well together!  So far this term we have done a scavenger hunt and a water fight.  The water fight went really well.  I got totally soaked, but the kids had a blast.  This week Jessica took half of the kids, and I took the other half.  We split it grade 1&3 and 2&4.  We each took one group then switched groups half way through.  It seemed to work a lot better.  I had a lot more control of the kids and I didn’t have to yell quite so loud.  I actually didn’t lose my voice this week!  I think we’ll try it that way again next week. 

Wednesday is the big birthday party.  The theme this term is the Wonder of the World.  All the teachers dress up, and the senior students make up skits and sing songs.  I am going as Mount Everest.  I am wearing 4-5 layers of skirts with a grey dress over top, a grey sweater to make my arms the same color, and a tall pointing cone for the mountain top.  I have a feeling I will be very hot by the end of the day!  I am very excited to see all the other costumes!  The staff members here are very creative when it comes to using the limited resources they have at Sakeji. 

God has really blessed us so far this term.  One of the girls as either committed or recommitted her life to Christ!  We were all very excited to hear that she growing in her faith.  Her parents were very excited when she told them when she went home for the weekend.  The spiritual focus is really strong at the school.  The staff members may not agree on everything, but they agree on the most important point.  They all want the kids to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.  Since some have already become a Christian, they also have a huge focus on discipleship.  The grades 8s and 9s have a Bible Study on Monday nights with one of the couples.  I am so blessed that God has called me to work at Sakeji for the past few months.  I am really thankful that I still have over two months left.  I will be really sad when I have to leave, but I will enjoy it while I am here. 

God bless you all at home.  I pray that you are all living for God in the moments!  “Step by step He leads me, and I will follow Him all of my days.”

With love from across the ocean,

Yolanda