Aloe Giveaway

My aloe plants continue to thrive and multiply, and we continue to give them away. Since our first giveaway three years ago, my co-labourer in health ministry, Agau, and I have given dozens more plants to church members and other neighbours.





They use the aloe to treat burns, sores and various other skin problems. It grows well here. One advantage is that it doesn't need protection from hungry livestock, as many other plants do, since they don't like its spines.






Last Sunday, Agau announced after church that anyone who wanted aloe to plant should bring some kind of container and come to my house (which is very near the church). This time, a lot of children from the congregation came, as well as some ladies. Agau explained to each one where to plant the aloe, how to take care of it and how to use it. Here are some snaps of the happy recipients.

My Morning Class

This year the class I am in charge of each morning has just 15 students, which is so nice since the past two years I had twice as many. The picture below shows all of the students, along with my junior teachers Abuk and Achol (back row, far left, in white).

My class is the third year at our school but is a grade one level: the children learn English phonics and reading in English, as well as math and social studies. (They learn to read in Dinka, their mother tongue, during the first year, then spend a year learning oral English.)


There are eight boys and seven girls in the class, and, as in previous years, there is quite a wide range of ages, from 8 to 16.




Junior teachers Achol and Abuk, who do their own studies in the afternoon, have made good progress in learning to teach the grade one curriculum. They are able, with supervision and some help, to teach most of the class.

Having Achol and Abuk teach gives me some time to spend in the three Dinka literacy classes. I mentor, encourage and help the local teachers who teach these classes.

Planting a Patch of Purslane

For the past few years I've enjoyed eating a leafy plant that is sold in our local market. I only recently found out its English name, purslane, and that it grows wild on our property. It looks kind of like a miniature jade plant.


With a little research on the internet, I discovered that purslane grows in many places on the globe, including North America. The stems, leaves and flower buds are all edible. It's got lots of nutritional value (beta carotene, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin C and more). However, many people are unaware of its nutritional value and consider it to be simply an unwelcome weed.

Awan

One Saturday recently, I hired Awan, a student from our school who is also a budding gardener, to pick some purslane for me to eat and some to plant. I'd like to have some close to the house that I can water it and keep alive in the hot, dry season.



If the plant is picked carefully with the roots attached and then re-planted, it takes root again and continues to grow.  The plants spread out and multiply as the seeds fall onto the ground and easily germinate.

While Awan was picking the purslane, another teen, Abuk, was clearing grass from a patch of ground near my house, next to my clothesline.

As Abuk was finishing her work, Awan hoed a patch of the freshly-cleared earth.

Then Awan planted the purslane that had the best roots.

The purslane patch, a few days after planting.  All the plants survived being transplanted and are growing.