Monday Prayer

At Cush Christian School, we've been taking time on Monday mornings before classes start to pray for the construction of the new building. This is the only time the children are allowed to come right up close to the actual building site.

Here are some of the things we've been praying for:
- safety and stamina for the workers
- that the contractor would oversee the work well
- that the workers would work hard and do good work
- that the supplies necessary would be available when they are needed
- that the building would be finished by the start of the next school year (early February)

Please join us in prayer!

New School Building Construction - 2

This week's work involved the brickwork for the building's foundations, which was pretty much completed.

Monday 9 November, view from southwest corner

Friday 13 November, view from southwest corner

Saturday 14 November, view from northwest corner

Bare Feet

Most of the kids in my class slip off their shoes (composed almost entirely of flip-flops) when they arrive in the morning and don't put them on again until they go home.




I had a good chuckle a few months ago when teaching the word "toes." My teacher's manual suggested having the students "take off their shoes and socks and count their toes."

The manual is written for an African context, but obviously a more developed, and a cooler, one!

Anyway, accessing their toes was much simpler for my students. :-)









Turquoise seems to be the most popular colour for girls' flip-flops these days.

Notice the chalk art on the legs and feet of one of my teenage girls. :-)

New School Building Construction - 1

Construction of the new Cush Christian School building began in earnest this past week. What an answer to prayer! We all look forward to seeing the work progress during the coming few months. Lord willing, the building will be ready for the start of the new school year in February.

View from the northwest corner of the new building looking towards the current building

View from the southeast corner of the new building towards the current building

Two weeks ago, workers dug the trenches for the foundations of the building. The new building will run parallel to the current one and be similar in size. However, the division of the space will be different. There will be four classrooms, a storage room and an office. And there will be a veranda running the whole length of the front (west side) of the building.

Last week, trucks began arriving bringing sand, gravel, rocks and bricks to the site. This was pretty exciting for our students (and quite a distraction at first) since they don't often see such large vehicles up close and in action, particularly dump trucks.

The kids also enjoy watching anything the workers are doing.



The school walls will be built of bricks and covered with a layer of cement.

On Thursday of this past week, workers lined the lower end of the foundation with crushed rocks (the terrain slopes down). What back-breaking, bone-jarring work! Fortunately it was a cloudy day.

On the right is the foundation for the veranda/roof supports, on the left that of the west wall of the building.

Friday was a very busy day of making concrete and pouring the bottom layer of the foundations. This included workers filling countless jerrycans of water at the hand pump near the radio station next door and transporting them by wheelbarrow to the site. Mixing the cement with sand and rocks is very tiring, so the workers spelled each other off.

I plan to post weekly updates on how the work is progressing, so stay tuned!

Seen on My Walk Home Today

I took a leisurely, roundabout walk home from school today, passing by an open space on one side of our village that is often used as a soccer field in the late afternoon.

The cell phone tower in the picture below is in our market town, Wanyjok, about a 10-minute walk from where I was standing.

The rainy season is almost over. There are still places where water covers the paths, but it won't be that way for long. The rains will stop soon, and the ground will become bone dry and hard until they start up again. This usually happens some time in April.

Dried grasses of various earthy tones predominate at ground level, with a few remaining patches of green.

Cucumber Lentil Stew

I've never done a post like this before, but thought I'd try it. My friend Nyibol recently gave me a few cucumbers from her garden. They are more oblong and have a thicker skin than typical North American cucumbers. We have found that they're quite good cooked. I made one into a meal one evening last week by combining it with some lentils. So here is my recipe for Cucumber Lentil Stew.

Ingredients: cucumber, oil, onion, garlic, tomato paste, orange lentils (to provide some protein).

1.  Dice the cucumber. You can see in the photos how thick the skin on these local ones is. 

2.  Sauté the cucumber in oil until it gets slightly soft and golden.

3.  Add the onions and sauté with the cucumber for a few minutes, then add the other ingredients.

4.  Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, covered, then turn off the heat let sit for about five minutes more.  That's it.

I served the cucumber/lentil dish with some Ryvita (whole rye) crackers. And enjoyed it with candlelight and a good book.

Cloudy Day Photos

One cloudy day towards the end of July, I walked home from school around 6:00 enjoying the lovely sky and vivid colors. I picked up my camera and went out to shoot some photos. Here are a few of them.

The large tree on the right in the photo below loses its leaves during the rainy season and looks out of place amidst the abundant vegetation.

I love how the walls of the Dinka huts tend to disappear as the vegetation grows up, leaving only the thatched roofs visible--makes me think of mushrooms or of "Hobbit" huts.

I like the clouds in this picture, and also the way the top of the hut on the right is leaning over. They tend to do that as time goes on, giving each one its own unique shape (kind of like people as they age!).

Some of the local young guys, hanging out at a favourite place near the village well.

One of my older neighbours preparing pumpkin greens as her grandson watches.