Life In Doro

This description by Andrew of life in Doro is passed along from his wife, Shirley:

I want to give you a glimpse of what life is like here. Overall, it feel a lot like camping but because it is a enclosed compound here. This reminds me of what I imagine what a colonial life is like. I sleep in a small canvas tent. I have 2 beds, one of which has a mattress. The bed is made of wooden sticks and the inside area made of colorful nylon strings. The compound is enclosed with wood sticks and straws. There are permanent tukkuls (made of straw roof and mud walls), and small all straw tukkuls that serve as cooking and storage areas (like a kitchen and pantry). There are 4-5 tents like the one I am sleeping in. There are shower areas made with straw enclosure. There is no roof but a bucket on top that we have to get water to put in the bucket for showers. There are 2 "outhouses". There is one big "community room" where we all eat and have meetings. Every morning we have morning devotion and morning prayer. After some breakfast of bread and PB, I'd go to the clinic. I'd walk outside the compound and walk about 10 minutes, I'd pass by pigs, goat, beautiful Nim trees and Baobab trees. The baobab trees now doesn't have any leaves. I'd pass by children who'd call out "kwaja, kwaja" (foreigner, foreigner). I'd pass by women with heavy buckets on top of their head, maybe a few donkey carts. What an interesting commute?! Huh?! Once I get to the clinic, there would be a bunch of people waiting for us just outside the clinic who had already gotten a number to be seen. I have seen all sorts of diseases, some common in US, some not so common, and some I have only read about in medical school. Dean is very good at building all sorts of things and he is very much a blessing here as he is building shelves, fixed a hammock for missionary here, and making the clinic easier place to work. now the heat, the dust, the inconveniences of daily living is starting to get to me. I have to borrow a basin or bucket for simple things such as washing my face or doing my own laundry . I know I am coming to the difficult stretch and I just need to grind my way day to day. God will provide the strength and endurance I need.