Brandon is in Tanzania - and many have asked how things are going. I'll give you the update on the few things I've heard, but I'll make him blog and show pictures later so you get it first hand. The highlights I know are what I receive in a text message when I wake up and he's finishing a day for work (8 hr difference). We've talked for a few minutes here and there too.
The first week they worked hard at Huruma Orphanage, where the main task was digging a latrine. They got it down to ten feet deep, but needed to stop there for lack of ladders or means of getting out of a 10 ft hole. The goal is to be 30 feet deep, but they won't personally dig much beyond 15 as armatures. They'll leave money for Zachariah to hire it out. Problem is, knowing Zachariah, he's going to try to keep working on it himself because it needs to get done. That's not good work for a man his age or build.
On the weekend they went on safari. The highlights I heard about there were the white monkeys with blue balls - also known as blue-scrotum monkeys, apparently. The elephant they watched push down a tree with it's trunk (look for footage on that later) and lots of good giraffes, lions, elephants, etc. Sounds like they had lots of luck finding the 'good stuff'.' They're with our same driver from last year - who is an excellent tour guide and really funny, nice man - so I know they're having a good time whenever they're travelling, and especially on safari.
This week they're in the small village of Minjingu, and a neighboring village. In Minjingu is the preschool we helped clean up and clear out last year. They have been doing improvements and final touches there. I guess Robbie and Amy built 2 picnic tables from scratch! Cha was painting some original art work on the walls, which is incredible I'm sure. Everyone else was running chicken wire along the fences to keep out the goats (always a concern), and once again dealing with the bats. They 'smoked out' the bats, literally with a flaming paint roller on a long stick. They were trying to find the opening to close it up - Brandon was standing guard to watch for the bats' exit. I guess they came flying straight towards him, he tried to duck out of the way, but tripped on a rock and fell and rolled and made everyone laugh at him for what seemed to be a big over-reaction to a few bats flying overhead!
In the second village they're constructing a new preschool building. Some were laying brick, some clearing land - like cutting down trees with machetes, some picking rocks and mowing the grounds. All in all, it sounds like they've stayed busy. They've also found time for fun. I've heard of at least one volleyball game, that they lost. They taught some local kids the basics of baseball with a stick and fruit from the ground. I guess that was a neat evening because there were about 8 kids around when they started playing, then about 15, eventually over 30 kids joking around with our team and learning this new sport.
They'll finish work in the villages tomorrow, go back to the main city, work again at the orphanage, attend a real African church on Sunday, and head home. From my time they begin travels on Sunday around 1pm, they'll arrive in Sioux Falls about 7:00pm on Monday. Please keep the team in your prayers, and ask God to bless the projects they're working on and the people they're with.
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