Day 5

Day 5
Monday September 22, 2008
The day began with a morning conference with Sisters Jacintha, Christine and Baptista, which went very well. We shared our mission statement and discussed what we need from them in order to fulfill that. We also went over all the questions that the board suggested and received some valuable information and the promise of more. We’ll share all that with the Board when we get home.
Paula was still not feeling well so opted out for the day in order to fully recuperate. Sisters Baptista, Jacintha, Christine, and Bruce traveled out to the property which is to be developed and saw as much as could be seen. A large swath has been cleared and an even larger piece is still in bush. They do have two wells dug, one, to be used for a hand pump, is just a large hole about 4 feet in diameter going down about 20 feet or so where they hit a large rock which stopped further progress for the time being. The hole is covered with small logs for safety. The other is a bore hole with a 16 inch pipe going down 20 meters. It is covered with a cap and a mound of dirt awaiting a power line and the installation of a submersible pump.
Following that we went to the Tetekela Day Care Center, a major project of the SCJ, where they feed, teach and play with the 203 children of all ages who are registered there. These are all half orphans, under guardianship of some kind, or full orphans without any family support and living on the street. The daily attendance varies because some are in school for part of the day or some are sick or have just decided not to walk that far. When we arrived about 160 kids were lined up for lunch, being as noisy and active as any similar group of children anywhere. I took a few pictures and they seemed delighted to see themselves on the screen of our digital camera. The kitchen was busy filling plates which were handed out in an amazingly orderly and calm process. All the cooking was done on a small apartment sized four burner electric stove and an outdoor charcoal fire on the floor of the small cooking hut. Sister Beatrice, who gave me the tour, happened to mention that they could really use a commercial electric range!! The rest of the building consists of four small class rooms, a food storage room not particularly well stocked, and shower/toilet facilities, but the showers are not all now working. They have four teachers who are not paid (they don’t have the money). Out the kitchen door she showed me the large garden where they raise a lot of the food they need but it all has to be watered by hand. Some kind of sprinkler system would be useful. We go past a small building in which another single classroom is partially filled with bags of charcoal , and then see the large dirt playfield which will undoubtedly be the scene of some spirited football (soccer) games using the footballs we brought (as well as a place to sail the Aerobies). The back part of the property is reserved for construction of dorms. It is surrounded by partially built walls and contains small piles of bricks in anticipation of further construction.
I asked why all the children were not in school and was told they don’t have the money for uniforms or books and supplies. Besides they are hungry. What does it cost to make sure that one grade school child would be able to go to school? $50 but if you want to feed that child another $50 – per year!!! High school would cost a bit more.
Paula is feeling much better this evening, after spending the day resting and eating only rice and Coke, and expects to be able to join me tomorrow when we go back to the Tetekela Day Care Center. The weather is very hot, which is very draining, so Baptista graciously brought us a fan to cool our bedroom at night. Tucked under our new mosquito netting (the original one had many holes), we hope to rest well.
Love and peace to you all,
Bruce and Paula