Friendswood United Methodist Church
Sharing the life-changing power of Christ everywhere, and every day.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Today was another blessed day! After breakfast we walked to work at the hospital compound. First we attended chapel and were introduced to the workers there. All employees at the hospital are required to attend chapel time. We then got a tour of the 19 acre compound. It is an incredible place that serves so many people. The people who work there share the love of Christ in their work. They get paid very little and at times in the past I learned that did not get paid some times. The hospital has a litte over 200 beds. There are times when 2 people have to share a bed! And there was a point when 4 people were in the same bed! The main kitchen for the hospital had large kettles over fires and some smaller kettles over charcoal. There is no refrigerator for the kitchen. All foods are prepared fresh. A new kitchen is being built and will have a refrigerator. The cost of the appliance is very high but the cost to run the appliance can be too much for the hospital to afford. The area where the linens are washed has a few large washing machines and 1 dryer. The dryer is rarely used. There is a large area outside where clothes lines have been put up to hang all the hospital laundry. Some of the area is cover for when it rains. We learned some about the morgue in the compound. The hospital employees are careful to follow local customs about the disposal of bodies. We had 'morning tea'at Jim's home (the new missionary). Some of the hospital administrators welcomed us and visited for a while. When tea time was over we were split into groups and sent to our job sites. I was assigned to work on the flats along with Kent Ping and Tatum Garvin (one of our youth). The flats will eventually be a 4 story apartment complex for hospital staff. The first floor is complete and residents are living there. It is hard for the hospital to attract doctors and nurses because of the housing in the local area. The housing in the community is poor and not real safe. Hopefully the new flats will make a difference and more staff can be brought in. We were honored to get to sling mud in one of the rooms of an apartment. It was very hard and dirty work. We learned about the process used for finishing the walls and it was very different from the construction at home. We were literally putting 'mud' on a trowel and throwing it at the wall. Sometimes it stuck and sometimes it did not. It was very hard work but our small group had a great time doing it.


Another thing I never dreamed of saying: I am in Maua, Kenya slinging mud for Jesus and learning about Shakespeare!! Tatum shared with me and Kent her passion for theater and Shakespeare so we got her to recite some lines from a play and then she explained the Taming of the Shrew to us. We learned more about the three in our small group and were also pleased to help in the building of a home for a new staff member. When we left to return to the hotel we were filthy and stinking and very satisfied that we could help out. I got to face the awful shower again. After scrubbing all over I started to shampoo my hair and small pieces of the dried mud started to fall out so I started the whole shower process again. I did my laundry for the day by hanging the clothes on the clothes line we strung across our room and sprayed everything down with Fabreeze. No need in doing serious clothes washing when you know the clothes will get really dirty again tomorrow! My backpack is packed for the morning. My peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch tomorrow is made and in the backpack also. My water bottles are filled and ready to go. I can't wait to see what God has in store for my tomorrow. I can't wait to see if I can even get out of the bed tomorrow. I know I am going to be sore! Blessings, Rosemary

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