Wednesday: Learning Computers and other things...

It is getting difficult to tell what day it is, but since yesterday was market day it must be Wednesday. Whatever stole my energy gave it back over the night and today I could be productive again. Praise God! Now it is Rick that has lost his so we pray that he gets a quick recovery as well. For several of us, much of today was spent preparing for our first computer class. For some unknown reason I am the head teacher of this subject, though others on the team are equally qualified: at home we all use a computer every day. Imagine trying to explain, step by step how one goes about using a computer to young men who have never in their life been on one. Fortunately, these students are very eager to learn and I don't think they caught on as to how foreign this teaching thing is to me. We had our first group of six students and each had a computer. We went through the basics of how to turn on a computer, how to open Word, how to type a few words, how to save the document and how to turn off the computer. All at the same time we have to teach about the battery and power because we are running off the solar panels and need to be on the batteries as much as possible to conserve the energy. Some were very reluctant to move the cursor around, some very aggressive. It is difficult not to get too wrapped up in correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation as these young men are still learning all these things (my family will laugh as I am still often corrected on these things myself!) Those that were making quick progress were beginning to write the stories of their lives. One had written that he "first came to earth in Sudan in 1986 when his family was shifting to the bush." I want to hear more of his story. Phalice and I discussed a future book with some of these stories put together.

Earlier in the day Val, Hanna and I had a marvelous experience out in the kitchen hut for the school. We had gone down to have morning tea (actually breakfast) with the students during their first break. The school does not have a bell and so things happen not so much on time. Since we got there early we entered the kitchen hut where two wonderful women, Mary and ?? were busy preparing for the mid-day meal. They were so tickled to have company. We sat down and did our limited visiting (limited by language that is). We learned each other's names (obviously not too well). Mary was in the middle of peeling garlic and Val, who I've learned cannot sit without doing something useful, started peeling garlic as well. Soon we were all peeling garlic. The other cook was straining lentils from water and putting them in a pot to cook. I wanted to get a picture of the three of us peeling garlic with Mary so attempted to show the other how to take a picture. While it was quite entertaining, we only met with moderate success. We got a picture of the wall behind us, but we pretended that was exactly what we wanted and the women were very excited. The whole encounter was precious.

We were then joined by the students who came on break. We had a nice visit with many of them. Peter, who had joined us, showed pictures of his home. One of the young men told me that he had a daughter also named Jennifer. I asked him where he got that name. He told me that he looked in a magazine and saw the name and it looked pretty in writing so he chose it. Another young man there told me that he had six children. This man appears to be in his early twenties. He told me that he started young: they were 14 and 15 years old. In discussing the situation with the team later, I learned that this is quite common because so much of their population was lost in the war. Something like 32,000 reduced to 8,000.

This evening, I just came from the student's worship service which I attended with Phalice and some of the other team members. Several of them gather on Wednesday evenings. The singing was beautiful: about a dozen young men harmonizing beautifully in a beautiful language. Often one took the lead. Sort of like the music I've heard from "Lion King" I believe. I was able to digitally record some of the music and when I have an opportunity (it may not be until I return to the states) I'll try to post it to the blog. When they came to a break, the student that I had visited with earlier at tea asked that "his daughter Jennifer" pray (he's the one with the daughter that I share names with). And so I had the privilege to pray for these young men and their families and the school and the teachers. Praying out loud is not something I've a lot of experience with but, just like so many things on this trip, God led me through.

Tomorrow morning some of us from the team are going with Bethany to the nearby Maban village where the women do bead work. Those that went to the market yesterday bought beads which we will take to them and ask them to create some jewelry for us. We will have our second round of first computer class in the afternoon, and in the evening, the women of the team are hosting a special Ladies Night for the women here on the compound. We will do our best to pamper them (which takes some mighty creativity with the resources here and with what we brought). I am just floored with how hard these ladies work. With their dedication to the people of this country. To their patience and acceptance of conditions here. I am very humbled.

Good night (good day for you back home).