Konta-Makelben Day Two

Our first morning in camp was pretty relaxing because we had to wait for Jenny (the representative from a church in the US that raised funds for these wells) and a representative (Val) from Heifer International before we began work on the well.


I did get quite a crowd that was staring at me while I did the dishes.  Maybe 20-25 women and children just stood around and watched.  Made me feel a little uncomfortable but I new they were curious.  I said 'hi' to them in the local language but also wanted them to see that I am a normal person that has chores to do.  I was hoping they would get used to me being there after a day or two and not come to stare.


A little while later I brooked Aden's diapers (aka laundered them).  It wasn't that much different from when I would handwash Aden's diapers at home.  Getting the poop off was a little bit more of a challenge but definitely manageable.


Val and Jenny came much later than expected so we didn't get to start on the wells till about noon.  And when I say 'we' I really mean John and his well drilling crew because I actually didn't do any drilling.  It only gave us about 3 hours to work before we stopped to break for 'lunner' so we could get ready for our evening program.

Jenny, her son Nevin, and Val

 Abdul (not the Pastor... a different one) starting the well in Kontah

For dinner we were served more crain-crain over rice and the meet was a local bush animal that they call freetombo.  It looks like a deer the size of a small dog.  The proper name is Duiker and I think they kind they have here is Maxwell's Duiker but I can't be sure.

At around 5:30 we left for Makelben to have the program.  We stayed in the village of Konta (it is smaller only about 100 villagers while Makelben has around 500) We chose to have the program in Makelben because it is larger and so less people would have to walk the 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile to get there.

Here is our well drilling crew before our evening teaching.  Apparently we found these shirts on the container.  They were all XXL... I was swimming in mine.  One of the guys Usman had gotten his early and had taken it in to get tailored! John ended up asking Usman if he could wear his normal sized one since he was speaking that night.

The guys setting up a tarp where we played the Jesus film

The people that first gathered at the teaching

John in his tailored shirt that he stole from Usman (haha)

At the program John shared his testimony with the people.  Afterwards we planned to show the Jesus film in Krio (we couldn't find the film in the people's heart language which is Themne).  After John shared his testimony, he invited questions before the movie began because we had some time to kill before it got dark.  Here were some of the questions that were asked and then how John answered them:

John speaking and sharing his testimony of why he is here in Africa besides well drilling.  Pastor Abdul is standing next to him translating to Themne

 

Question: I am *uslim and why don't Christians take off their shoes at church and why do they sing and dance instead of come before God reverent?
 Answer: John explained that there are different subsections of Christianity (like Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals).  He told them that not all Christians worship in the same way.  For example, Catholics tend to be more pious at church while Pentecostals are more charismatic and like to sing and dance.  But as far as taking off one's shoes, Jesus points out that its not whats on the outside of the cup that matters... it is the cleanliness on the inside that counts.  It is the people's hearts that God is concerned with, not their outward appearance.


Question: Why don't Christians wash their hands after they use the bathroom?
Answer: John reiterated the point that it is not the rituals or the outside of a person that God is concerned with but what is going on on the inside and how people treat their fellow man that matter.  He also pointed out that he does wash his hands after using the bathroom :)


Question: Christian's say Jesus is the Son of God and also IS God. Can you explain this?
Answer:  After they asked John this question he laughed and said it was a hard question.  Pastor Abdul (who was translating) offered to answer for him.  Pastor Abdul was a *uslim at one point in his life and so had some insight into what the Qu'ran says about this.  Apparently the Qu'ran points to Jesus as both being God and being the Son of God.  He explained to us later what he said but I must admit I did not take good notes and it was pretty indepth.  Anyways the people seemed happy with the answer.


After the questions, we started the movie.  Unfortunately our sound wasn't working too well. Half way through the movie everything just turned off.  I found out later that a sheep had tripped over the generator knocking it over.  After a few minutes we got it back up and running.  Only in Africa would you have this kind of problem ;) People seemed to be really into the movie although most of the kids don't speak Krio so I know that there was a definite language barrier there :(


I really enjoyed my first full day.  I was glad that the well drilling men seemed thankful and easygoing/helpful about breakfast and around camp.  I think I had been a little worried about the simplicity of what we were doing for meals (2 eggs and bread for breakfast, African lunch, and then luncheon meat/mayo sandwiches for dinner) I was pleased that they seemed so happy with everything and had generally good attitudes about everything.