Today we went to the Village with the goal of building them a couple benches and desks to be used in their school.When we got there, the kids were so excited, the teachers decided to cancel school for the rest of the day! Some people worked, while others played with the kids.And though we ended up only making 1 bench, 1 desk, and 1 teacher’s desk, I think we can all agree that our time was well spent.
A couple of us tried to get the kids to play duck, duck, goose – which was hilarious in and of itself.Most of them didn’t know English, so the language barrier was hard to get over.Eventually, we settled on a game of “red light, green light.”In the end, since I was the one giving the “go’s” and “stop’s”, I was completely tackled to the ground by all the kids.It was insane! And they completely loved all the attention they got.
One of the most interesting things that happened that day came through a little boy that lived in the village.He wanted to see what all the commotion was about and so he was hanging out close by.Another one of the interns noticed him and went to go pick him up.Well, as soon as she touched him, he screamed and ran to our driver crying!So then I went over to see what was wrong, and as soon as I got close to him, he screamed again and buried his face in the driver’s legs!It turns out, from our best guess, that this kid had never seen white people before.He was so intensely afraid of us!For the rest of the day, anytime he saw one of us, he would scream and then run to the nearest African for support, whether or not he knew them.
I feel like, as funny as that is, it is such a foreign concept to me.I can’t imagine the fear he must have had in seeing us for the first time.It makes me sit back and realize how different our world views truly are.
When we got home, it was time to prep for the night’s festivities.We invited the CLAPAI kids, their matrons, and staff over, as well as a bunch of other people we knew in the area for dinner.Dinner consisted of Suya (thin pieces of grilled meat on a stick), irish potatoes, and puff puffs (think doughnut holes but without the sugar or sweetness; so, fried dough).It was all delicious and very new.
We also brought in a group of dancers who performed some tribal and local dances.People could join in as well.So no worries, once again, I have pictures and video of not only the group, but me looking ridiculous and uncoordinated as well.It was an absolute blast!
Today we went to the Village with the goal of building them a couple benches and desks to be used in their school.When we got there, the kids were so excited, the teachers decided to cancel school for the rest of the day! Some people worked, while others played with the kids.And though we ended up only making 1 bench, 1 desk, and 1 teacher’s desk, I think we can all agree that our time was well spent.
A couple of us tried to get the kids to play duck, duck, goose – which was hilarious in and of itself.Most of them didn’t know English, so the language barrier was hard to get over.Eventually, we settled on a game of “red light, green light.”In the end, since I was the one giving the “go’s” and “stop’s”, I was completely tackled to the ground by all the kids.It was insane! And they completely loved all the attention they got.
One of the most interesting things that happened that day came through a little boy that lived in the village.He wanted to see what all the commotion was about and so he was hanging out close by.Another one of the interns noticed him and went to go pick him up.Well, as soon as she touched him, he screamed and ran to our driver crying!So then I went over to see what was wrong, and as soon as I got close to him, he screamed again and buried his face in the driver’s legs!It turns out, from our best guess, that this kid had never seen white people before.He was so intensely afraid of us!For the rest of the day, anytime he saw one of us, he would scream and then run to the nearest African for support, whether or not he knew them.
I feel like, as funny as that is, it is such a foreign concept to me.I can’t imagine the fear he must have had in seeing us for the first time.It makes me sit back and realize how different our world views truly are.
When we got home, it was time to prep for the night’s festivities.We invited the CLAPAI kids, their matrons, and staff over, as well as a bunch of other people we knew in the area for dinner.Dinner consisted of Suya (thin pieces of grilled meat on a stick), irish potatoes, and puff puffs (think doughnut holes but without the sugar or sweetness; so, fried dough).It was all delicious and very new.
We also brought in a group of dancers who performed some tribal and local dances.People could join in as well.So no worries, once again, I have pictures and video of not only the group, but me looking ridiculous and uncoordinated as well.It was an absolute blast!
This entry might be kind of long, so I apologize in advance.I’ve been trying to make separate posts since so much has been happening over the past couple of days, but have been deterred by the fact that the internet has been inaccessible.I’ll try to narrow it down to the highlights.
Tuesday, we spent a lot of time at the CLAPAI house.I was so excited because I got to draw water from a well for the first time today! I know that’s incredibly ridiculous and somewhat silly to say, but it was such a highlight of my day.I mean, we’re talking about throwing a black plasticky bag attached to a rope down into this deep hole, letting it sink, and then pulling it up as fast as possible because there were holes in the bag! Haha Oh, I wish I had taken a picture!
One of the other projects of the day was to fill in a giant hole in their “yard.”Most of the team worked on that for a majority of the morning, and to celebrate, decided to start a game of football (soccer).Holy wow are some of these kids good at soccer! I can’t get over how quick and coordinated they are, or how they play barefoot! It was a blast!
That night, I also had to take a shower by the light of a flashlight since, once again, we had no electricity…It was a wind-up flashlight, so it kept dying.It really was the most awkward shower of my life.
Yay for Tuesday!
On to Wednesday….
Our theme this summer is “Shelter” as I may have mentioned before.Well, today, God showed me His shelter firsthand.I was so frazzled this morning and just feeling pulled in 7 different directions. I couldn’t seem to find a quiet moment to just gather my thoughts and ask God to give me strength for the day.At our meeting this morning, I was really blown away by the statement our staff made.They told us that today was going to be trying and wear on us.So if we hadn’t spent any quiet time with God, tell the other interns, drop everything we were supposed to be doing, and go do that first.It was THAT important to them.
Of course, though, I didn’t do that…. I’m so stubborn.Instead, I took 2 minutes out (while making water) to send up a prayer that God would quiet me and just fill me with Him.Well, that’s about all the “me time” I had before getting on the bus to go pick up the kids.So I was feeling drained and tired even before the day really started.Well, one thing about me: I feel that God tends to use music to speak to me.That’s just one of the ways that I get to connect to Him and feel renewed.So, we picked up the kids (we had 3 buses), and I was trying to figure out ways to entertain the 10 in our car for the full hour drive.Well, god decided I wouldn’t have to.As soon as we started rolling away from their house, they started singing.They sang the whole way! It was amazing.God was able to turn my whole day around by providing me shelter with all those moments.
Our day with the kids consisted of a 2 and a half hour hike, with lunch somewhere in the middle.It was a beautiful, slow-paced hike.I was walking across this rickety bridge at one point with the kids, and Teyei, one of the girls I was holding hands with, was apparently afraid of heights.As we crossed she kept gripping on tighter and tighter until we reached the other side.When she let go of my hand, I could still see the marks from where it had been! It was just so crazy to me how much she trusted me in those moments and how scary it must have been to her.
When we got back from our hike, we realized we had some extra orange slices. After handing some out to the kids, we decided to offer the rest up to the villagers who so graciously allowed us to park our buses there to go on our hike.It’s so amazing how love spans the boundary of language.I don’t think either side understood the other, but the looks on their faces spoke so loudly.What was just “scraps” to us, was like treasure to them.The joy on their faces captures a moment and a hope my heart wishes it could capture and recreate forever.
Finally, we said goodbye to the kids.On our way over to the Oasis house (their new home just recently purchased), we took a shortcut through the Jos Army division, including the barracks and weapons area.Well, we got stopped by a security guard who told us that white people were not allowed to cross there…. Did we look that threatening?? Things worked out alright, no worries. It was just an odd situation.
When we got to the house, I worked with Tina, Jenny, and Marybeth to cut rebar with a grinder – never done that before! I was so excited.Don’t worry, there are pictures and video. There were sparks everywhere! We went through all four batteries before resorting to a hack saw.Haha Oh it was so much fun! Big picture: we were working to build a form to cover the septic tank.Once we finished, we helped the other teams tie together the rebar frames until it was time to leave.Just before leaving, we were certain to pray over the house.We (Tina and I paired up) went from room to room, laying hands on the walls and praying blessings over the future residents of the house.I hope the kids find a home there, a place they really feel that they belong.
Debrief also went well.I’m surprised how much I look forward to them and how much my attitude has changed about them since high school.Corrie told a story about chickens tonight.In Mexico there were these chickens that they would watch every morning as they tried to cross a pipe over a river to get to their food.They would take a wobbly step forward and a few wobbly steps back, then a few more steps forward, etc. until they finally made it to the other side.Apparently, it was a painstakingly slow process that would occur every morning and every night.Well, one day, someone decided to have some fun and scare the chickens.Upon doing this, their reaction was to fly across to the other side.Logically, one would think that this would make them realize the value in flying.But no, the very next day, they were back to wobbling across a pipe, very, very slowly.
Corrie related this to us and asked what we thought we were holding onto as our “pipe” when it could be so much easier (and quicker) to fly.What has God been asking us to let go of or what do we use as a crutch or what is holding us back? I think mine is believing the lie that I have nothing good to offer.I feel that holds me back from so much.I sell myself short all the time because I lack confidence in my abilities.I pray that God uses that realization to make a change in my life and begin transforming me in that area.Though it will be painful, I know it’s worth it.I think he calls us to put ourselves out there and always offer our best. My problem seems to be that I don’t know what that is in relation to me.Anyway, it’s something to think and pray over.
In other news, we have (well, as of 5 seconds ago, had) electricity!
I promise I’ll get the rest of the updates up as soon as possible.Thanks so much for reading (I know it’s long…).I also really appreciate the emails – they are such an encouragement here!
I’ve spent the last few days sick and not feeling well. Luckily, I finally decided to take some cipro last night and am feeling so much better!
Yesterday was the craziest as far as power goes thus far. We lost power in the morning, gained it back for about 2 hours, and then lost it again. We weren’t able to get the generator working for a while either – it’s funny how little it affected us. Life continued on as usual, though with a few struggles like not being able to see in the bathroom without a flashlight or being careful not to open the refrigerator too often. Finally, power came back on at 1am – haha. But then went back off at 6am. As of this morning, we also had no water. Fun times. That was a little harder to deal with. So the guys (once they got back with the EKU group) set off to fix what was going on. Currently, it’s about 6:15pm and we just got power back! Yay! We’ll see how long it lasts….
Today was an amazing day though, in spite of electrical and plumbing issues. Yesterday, we (the girls) made a bet with John that if we were able to put together an entire 1000 piece puzzle before they returned, he would have to buy us ice cream; otherwise, we would have to buy all the kids ice cream. Well, we completed the puzzle with just over an hour to spare! So, ice cream is in our near future. *smiles* So once the group got here, we ate lunch and took off for Gidan Bege again. The girls got fitted for Nigerian dresses and we all looked at bags and skirts. I might buy something else later, but I don’t know for now.
After that, we took the group to the CLAPAI house to hang out with the kids for a few hours. It was one of the best times I’ve had since being here. We taught them sardines and the junior bird man games (which they absolutely LOVED) – it was SO funny to watch!! Then we sat around and colored and read some books and just loved on the kids. Whether that meant playing football (soccer), pushing them on the swings, taking pictures of them, or just giving them a hug, they really enjoyed us being there. I wish I could better describe the looks on their faces – they really are very precious.
This is the group of kids who are all in some way affected by HIV. They don’t fit in elsewhere and may have been picked on or misunderstood all their lives. But they are all beautiful! They just love being found captivating and worthwhile in other people’s eyes. We’ll be going back the next two days, and I can’t wait to see them again!
Even though today was really tiring and busy, I somehow felt energized after hanging out with the kids. They have such innocent hearts and it’s refreshing to my spirit to see.
For now, I’m glad we have the power back on. It’s nice to be home and able to rest after such a full, intense day. I’m glad the group arrived safely and with all their baggage. I can’t wait to get to know them more and help them have an amazing week here!
Today was another rather adventurous day! The staff took us to SherryHills (I’m not positive on the spelling) to climb another mountain.I thought maybe it would be as easy of a climb as the mountain we climbed earlier, but I was definitely wrong.I’m so glad I wore my hiking boots! Haha
At one point, we had to jump from one rock to another over top of a small river with maybe a 5 foot drop underneath. The jump wasn’t too bad, but it was a great team building exercise as people were helping us across.
We saw a dead snake at one point – I was SO glad it was dead. Ew! And walked past some construction workers who apparently yelled at us “I want to marry a white woman!” in either Rakuba or Hausa (not sure which it was – we were told about this later).
But the craziest part about the hike, hands down, was when we have to go through this really narrow passageway, wedged between rocks in order to continue on our hike.I was carrying a backpack, and at one point ended up getting stuck because combined, myself and the backpack were too big.I’m really proud though of how everyone helped everyone else out – with trying to get footing to boosting someone up onto a rock to pulling each other up on the climb.It was impressive and I think we all felt really accomplished when we finally made it to the top.
Once up their, we continued our discussion on our community values and God’s shelter.How would we define shelter? God’s shelter? Would our view of His shelter change if our biggest fear came true? What does His shelter look like? How can we shelter our fellow group members? Where in our life do we need to see a “good work” and avoid legalism to set in?
Psalm 91 (shelter) is the theme for our summer. Pray that God opens my eyes and the eyes of our team to what He has to teach us about His shelter.We want to seek not only it’s meaning, but be able to live out it’s application in our lives.
Today was a pretty simple day. We (the interns) started off by getting up at 5:55am to go running with Corrie. When we got back, we made French toast (YUMMY!) and had some more training.
After lunch we went to this place called OLA (Our Lady of Apostle). It is a hospital and orphanage. We got to interact with some of the kids there. They were shy at first, but got really excited when we brought out our cameras. They kept yelling, "Snap me! Snap me!" They really enjoyed being able to see themselves on the screen - it was so cute. One of the little boys actually grabbed my camera and went around taking pictures of everyone while I played with a little girl named Agnes - she LOVED being flipped upside-down and spun around. The boy is bound to be a photographer one day though. He took his time in setting up his shots even to the point of closing curtains to adjust the lighting! He was awesome.
Another really neat thing is that we are currently traveling with 6 kids, and I think that brings out a whole other dimension to our interactions. The kids here in Nigeria seem just as curious and excited about meeting them as the kids with us are. It's really fun to watch!
After that, we went to this sweet store called Gidan Bege, which means "House of Hope" in Hausa. It's a ministry that teaches widows and orphaned, abandoned, and abused street children how to sew and use their skills to make amazing products like skirts, reversible bags, wallets, aprons, journals, etc. They truly are beautiful! I bought a gorgeous patchwork wrap skirt that I am super excited to wear!! I can't wait to go back!!
I'm so surprised by how many goats we see roaming the streets! Maybe goats are Nigeria's squirrels...???
Ok, I'm off to play cards and hang out with people. Hope you are all doing well. Miss you!
I don’t even know where to start right now! I’m just SO excited to be here!! Things have been going really well, and it’s been quite the adventure – I love it!
I guess I should start at the beginning. The trip getting here was quite the ordeal. I left Dayton at 10:50am, arrived in Chicago at 10:40am (haha time change), sat for about 5 hours and then found another intern. Shortly thereafter, we met up with the rest of the intern team. The flight to Frankfurt was long….. sooo long, but we made it… 2am our time and 7am theirs! After that, it was another 4 hour layover and a 9 hour flight. We arrived in Abuja, Nigeria at 7:45pm, eventually made it through immigration and customs, grabbed our bags and found our ride.
That night, we stayed at the Baptist house in Abuja and made the “3” hour drive the next day. After arriving at the B2B house, we made peanut butter sandwiches, had a mini meeting and went to visit the future site of the B2B campus. To do this, we hiked up this mountain made of boulders – it was so awesome! The view was breathtaking! Cori gave us each these beautiful handmade journals to log in while we talked to God and reflected on things thus far. A bunch of kids from the village also swarmed us on the mountain and just wanted to chat. They mostly spoke Hausa with a tiny bit of English. We’ll be working with them more this week.
I was on dish duty with Sara which was a whole ordeal in and of itself – it’s so crazy what you have to do when you can’t drink the water! We would wash and rinse dishes in one sink and bleach/sanitize them in another before letting them dry.
To hang out, we played squidge (or group solitaire) and then attempted to send emails to people letting them know we arrived safely.
Also – really fun fact: we have a guard dog named Rocky. Because of this, we are not allowed to be outside while he is on patrol – how crazy!
That brings us up to today –
Today we did a lot of training. We played get to know you games all morning, including human foosball. Then we went over house rules and went to the Guckenberger’s for lunch. While we were there, a mass storm rolled in – total downpour! However, it really cooled things down and was very refreshing
Later, we went to the CLAPAI house (formerly known as CLAF). It’s a school for kids who have been affected by HIV or AIDS. Some of them are orphans, some have the disease, others know people or are directly related to people who have it. There are about 20 kids. A few come to the school daily while others live there throughout the week. They’re really sweet kids who LOVE visitors. As soon as we got there, they grabbed our hands and led us around. It sounds like we will be spending much more time with them – I just hope I’m able to master all of their names! In the short time we were there, another storm rolled in – the weather is so fickle here haha
A really cool moment at the CLAPAI house was when the Ramos family was able to present a bunch of toys and stickers and rewards in a “treasure chest” to the kids. They were also able to give some boxes of muffin mix and formula to help out the staff. The most amazing part about all of these things was that everything was purchased with money that the Ramos boys received instead of birthday presents.
When we got back to the house, we (the interns) learned how to make water that’s safe to drink. It’s quite the process too! This was one of my favorite activities today – I think it was because this was one of our first big intern group efforts.
I’ve been really enjoying things so far – it’s so different here than anything I’m used to. We can drink the water, the electricity may or may not work at any given time, the water also decides when it wants to work or have any pressure. Grocery stores are literally nonexistent. There are so many quirks to everything.
I’m sorry this post is so very long. I figured it’s been a while and a lot has happened since I got here. I feel like a little kid, just constantly wide-eyed, trying to take it all in!!
I hope you are all doing well, and if you would like to email me, I suggest using Dizzygymnast4now@aol.com …. My emich address isn’t working, but I’d love to hear from you!
