African Farming 101

Last week on our day off, Ali and I went with Karl to visit the Agriculture site we are helping with. Karl is an Aussie friend of ours who is in charge of the construction projects the ship does. We drove 1.5 hours out to the site. I could sit in a car for days here and never get sick of it....you just never know what you are going to see. The last 30 minutes was on a pretty pot-holed road and I felt like I had shaken baby syndrom by the time we got there....and that is even riding in a landrover.:) The whole time we were in the car we were on a mission to see how many random zemidjan pictures we could get. Zemi's are motorbikes that everyone has or uses to get around here...you rarely see a car taxi. On any given road trip you always see these bikes carrying the most unusual things...for example full size refrigerators with a microwave on that. That is a whole new blog though so stay tuned.


So Mercy Ships helps out communities in many different areas. This project is using our construction skills and agriculture skills. We are working with another Christian based organization called Bethesda for this ag program. We just finished training a class of 30-40 Africans about agriculture in Africa...planting, fertilizing, etc. We also trained some teachers as well, so when the ship leaves they can carry on this class. We are currently building dorms to house 40 students and 3 teachers as well as a classroom in the building. It was quite fun heading out into the country and seeing the men hard at work...I can't get over how hard manual labor is in Africa....no cement trucks here and the guys make their own bricks, etc. Karl showed us where the training field is...each student has their own little plot where they practice planting and yielding a crop. They planted the corn 2 weeks ago and already haver a large sprout. It is good for the fatalistic nature of many Africans to be able to see results and fruit of their labor so quickly.

It is cool to see a part of what the ship does that is not as publicized, yet will leave a lasting contribution to Benin. Although, I did enjoy the old man on a motor bike driving by with a shirt that said, "stop picturing me naked." lol....my guess is he he doesnt speak english or know what that means...but then again, who knows;)

Best care package EVER!

So, this week after the hard un-screening day we had Monday I got back to the ship to find out I had a package. I knew my friend Jenn had sent one to me so I ran to pick it up. My friends Ali, and Suzanne and I were all hanging out in Ali's room so I got the package and ran it back to the room. It was pretty much like Christmas. We all sat around the box and were in awe as we pulled out all the goodies one at a time...including magnets, a shirt, tank tops, twizzlers, cookies, pictures, music/video cds, stationary, note cards, magazines, sticy notes, cards people at church had written and sent, gum, and jolly ranchers. Thanks SO much Jenn...it made my day...and everyone's day with whom I shared the goodies. Thanks for those who contributed notes and a few other things as well. I have been so blessed by the support here. Thanks also to Dave, mom, Kari for their amazing care packages and the letters I have recieved from some of you as well! I can't tell you how much that means to me!

Priceless

And just another reason I love Africa......

Un-screening day

Tomorrow, Mon. June 8 was going to be the second and final screening day here in Benin. They had a 2 days screening at the very beginning of the outreach and at that point decided they should have a second half way through the outreach to fill the rest of the surgery schedule. Well, in the meantime we have booked the surgery schedule plum full. This is good...in the sense that we will be running at our full potential, but tomorrow is going to be a hard day. They have asked for extra volunteers to go help out as they have to trun away EVERY person who comes. The word has been spread since the beg. of the outrach about this screening day. We are praying there will not be a big turn out. But no matter what, there are going to be quite a few people showing up tomorrow hopefull and excited with anticipation that they may get a free surgery and we have to tell them all no. If you get this in the next day please pray that is goes well.

This is a very hard thing to do here. Just last week as I was the charge nurse on the ward I got called up to the dock. There were parents of a small boy with a hernia as well as a woman with a goiter. Both were asking if they can get surgery. I had to tell them both no. I can't even begin to describe the looks on their faces. They were so hopefull that we could help them. It is not just an easy "Im sorry, our schedule is full." They often plead with you that they have no money and cannot get help elsewhere. Just that moment was heartbreaking, so I can imagine how tough tomorrow will be.

I will be at this screening tomorrow, but not to turn people away. I will be screening the VVF women again. I love doing this as you get to know the VVF ladies. You get to know so much about them although most of the time their stories are pretty tragic....and I can't even begin to imagine myself in their shoes. I will actually be helping these women get surgery...the only patients in our schedule are looking for. There are a few we still have to turn away, which again, is devistating as they try to plead with you. Most of the women we will see tomorrow will be able to get surgery though. We have some VVF women now on board now and they are just so delightful. I love working with them.

Reminded

I have been keeping a list of my prayer requests this year in my journal and actually keeping track of how they are being answered. I have been doing this for some time now, but last week as I was praying through it, I stopped to look at my list. It was so cool to see how many requsets I had been able to write "praise" next to. I just stopped what I was doing and again, was reminded at how amazingly faithful God is. I always take it for granted. If you do not do this already I encourage you to keep track of your prayer requssts on paper and how they are answered. Many of these were not answered overnight..in fact some I had been praying about for a few years...but God in His timing answered that prayer. I had also been reading in James this same day and want to share with you some of the verses I had read. The power of prayer really is amazing! I was again reminded this week just how important it is. May this be an encouragement to you as well to not give up...be persistant and patient...God does care and will answer in His timing!:)

James 5:16 "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

James 4:2 "You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not recieve, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."