Coloring

Last week I took some coloring books and crayons with me on one of my visits to see friends. I thought the children on the compound would enjoy the pictures and colors. As I opened the coloring book I tried to find pages that didn’t look too complicated and then I demonstrated how to put crayon to paper. It was fascinating to watch the children try to stay in the lines and advice one another on different techniques. For many it was obvious that they had never even used crayons before. At this point I only know how to say the primary colors in Moru, but I am not even sure if other words exist outside of the basic colors. As I held up pink and asked the children what color, they responded with “oka” which means red. When I held up purple, they responed with “Läbuli” which means blue. The children were very proud of their pictures when they finished and made a point to show me their masterpiece. This of course brought a huge smile to my face.

Work Day

The land that was given to us here in Mundri has quickly transformed from a field full of long grass and bush to a lovely haven, or almost anyways. On Monday we all took part in a work day out at the land along with our two visitors from Bundi Ashley and Sarah. Most of us worked on one of the Dukuls, creating wire walls and the wire frames for the windows. I was looking forward to working with the cement, but we didn’t get that far. I guess I will have to go out there again in the coming week. It was great to have the opportunity to literally pore sweat into our future housing. We are all excited to see the finished product!

Liana and her level head was a huge help :o)

Just imagine that will be a nice screen window someday soon.

Friendly Faces

As I try to learn the Moru language I move around from home to home and sit with neighbors. There is one home in particular that I make sure to stop by almost every time I move around. The women of this home have become good friends and I look forward to seeing their friendly faces each time I go. Neither of these women speak even a small bit of English, which forces me to communicate solely in Moru, and maybe a few hand motions. Through these relationships that Lord continues to show me that it is possible to build friendships even with the language and culture barrier.

Few Words, Multiple Meanings

In the small book shop here in Mundri town you can find a Moru to English dictionary. This dictionary has become very handy for my teammates and I when needing to look up words we hear or read that are unfamiliar. Compared to our massive English dictionary this dictionary seems small with its 146 pages. I find myself thinking 'Moru can't be too difficult to learn if their dictionary only has 146 pages.' Although, I am sure not every single Moru word is listed and the dictionary was written some years back. I have also come to realize as I look up different words that many Moru words have multiple meanings. And when I say multiple meanings I mean drastically different meanings. Take the word dri for example, depending on how it is pronounced, used within a sentence, or what sound or letter is stressed it can mean: head, hand, on, through, bundle, or used to silence someone when they are talking. I confess that using words like this make me a little nervous because I fear I may say "Did you hand your firewood today?" instead of bundle firewood or "Put your book through the chair" instead of on the chair. But of course with learning a new language comes many many mistakes and lots of laughter.

Housing Progress

Our future and permanent housing is quickly going up. We are currently renting space, which is quickly becoming too tight as our team enlarges. Below are some pictures of what has been constructed to date.

Above is a picture of what we are calling the communial house. This house includes a shared kitchen, dinning, and sitting area. Along with a store room and library.

It is hard to picture just looking at this open space, but this will some day be our common kitchen where many tasty meals will be prepared.

You may think this looks like a cage at the moment, which is does, but soon it will be transformed into what we are calling a 'dukul.' This will be the sleeping quarters for two of the single women on our team.

Running for Shelter

The drops are starting to fall and the children who sit under trees for their lessons run for shelter at the nearby unfinished school building. Below, students are standing next to the current school building waiting out the rain.

Last Tuesday the temperature got to a cool 72 degrees. For us this means longs sleeves, jackets, and for some like Gaby Masso wrapping up in a snuggly blanket. With this cooler weather we have also had an increase in light rain showers. As I walked to school on Tuesday the sky above me was threatening rain. An hour or so after I arrived the showers came and the children scattered. Some probably ran home, while others just ran for shelter in the nearby unfinished school building. We are definitely thankful for every bit of rain we get, but I will also be glad when the new school is finished so that school lessons are not disrupted by weather changes. I'm sure some of the students didn't mind though, they seemed to enjoy checking out the new classrooms.