miscellaneous "stuff"

You are probably wondering what we have we done in the last couple of days. So have we. Not really…..we took Esther to the government hospital because several of the children have a water borne illness you get from snails in the river (bilhazia??). We have also taken part in planning for a wedding. The government social worker (John) who oversees the orphanage is getting married on November 1. Because of his work, he has gotten to know Bishop Stephano and Esther very well. They are now like parents to him so he has involved them in the planning of the wedding. They have also asked Ray to drive the wedding party from the church to the reception and asked Ray to give the toast at the reception. He and his fiancé are very nice people and we are happy to do it. However, this raises a problem…………I (Alice) have nothing to wear!!! I brought clothes to work in and clothes for church but nothing extra nice for weddings, etc. Therefore, I had to go shopping. Instead of shopping for clothing, Esther and I looked for fabric to have the tailor make something for me. So tomorrow, we will go to the tailor and talk to him about my options. (The fabric cost me $15.00 so I am sure the tailor’s costs will be just as reasonable.)

When they found out we have a video camera, they also asked us to video tape the wedding and the reception so they don’t have to pay for someone to video. We agreed and will teach Limbani (Esther’s right hand man) how to use the video camera also so he can assist us.

Ray is still working with the contractor and the carpenter to fix some pretty major issues at the boys’ dorms before the rains start. Today (Wed, Oct 8) Ray & some of the boys spent quite a bit of time sifting sand for the contractor. They sifted probably ¾ ton of sand with a handmade sifter they made out of corrugated sheet metal with holes poked in it and a wooden frame around it. The sifter itself was heavy and required two people to carry it and sift with it.

I have been spending quite a bit of time helping Esther and bonding with the girls. We are starting to go through paperwork to organize it and I have a game I play with the girls. I pretend I am going to go into their rooms and they scramble to clean it before I get there. I give them a while then I go in and check. They finish cleaning while I am standing there. If that’s what it takes to get them to clean their rooms, we’ll continue playing the game. The kids and I had a huge card game going the other day too. It took me a while to catch on, but I did, with their help of course.

Our housekeeper, Zione, has a son, Vincent. Vincent is about 2 and when we were here in March, 2008, he screamed every time he saw us. Well, he did that for the first couple weeks we were here this time also. Then on Saturday, Zione had Vincent over at our house. Ray dropped Zione and Patrick (our night watchman) off at the mill to get some maize ground into flour and Zione & Patrick got out of the car. Oh no, Vincent was now alone with Ray. Ray got out of the car, opened Vincent’s door and held his arms out. Vincent came right to him and has been Ray’s friend every since. As a matter of fact on Sunday at church, Vincent immediately came right up to Ray and held his arms up for Ray to hold him. He sat on either Ray’s lap or my lap the entire service. Then Monday, we went into town to the store and Vincent wanted to go with so we took him. We now have a new friend and it didn’t take as long as we thought.

Gotta go. I have to prepare something for the bridal shower about being a Christian wife. I had my choice. I could talk about health and hygiene or being a Christian wife. Wow – what choices I have.