November 20, 2013
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Is arm hair attractive?
A child was touching my arm on Saturday. Usually it is awkward and uncomfortable. However, having been in the village enough, I am not bothered by it any more. In fact, I think I would rather have them do that then hang around the car and potentially damage it by writing their names with stones. Anyway, it happens so often, that I don’t actually even notice the sensation of the touch. But this weekend was different… as I was having a conversation, children were gathered around me, roughly six or eight. As usual, they were touching my arms, caressing the hairs (mostly because Ugandans do not usually have arm hair). But that was not what caught my attention, it was the whispering amongst themselves that got my attention. And so as I was having the conversation, I paused, and asked the guy whom I was speaking to, to translate what they were saying. And two things were said… “Touching this makes me feel better.” “I feel rich touching these hairs.” I don’t know what to say about that, but it surely caught me off guard!
Recap on the weekend…
I was just in the village on Friday, returning on Monday. We were mobilizing for the construction of the second floor on the school in Kayango. We arrived Friday morning and left Monday afternoon.
Friday was full of organizing the work force to start the tying of iron bars for concrete reinforcement. Because pouring concrete on a second floor requires such precision (because failure results in collapsed ceilings!), there was/is a ton of conversation and instruction leading to the actual pour. Half of the conversations this weekend were merely figuring out boring engineering calculations (which if you don’t know, nerds REALLY LOVE that!). Planning materials, organizing people and tasks… you know, productive stuff!
On Saturday, that was when I had the opportunity to really revel in the sheer magnitude of what the Lord has us doing in Kayango. As I usually would talk about it, I guess I internally minimize the impact unconsciously. Knowing that I don’t have the power to do such good things. But Saturday, I got to see all of it, all of what the Lord is doing through us in Kayango. On Saturdays we hold the discipleship program for the kids of Kayango. Where as of late, we are averaging over sixty kids per week! Well as I was walking back from one corner of the property, I stopped and noticed, noticed what the Lord wanted me to see, Him. I looked around; I saw a group of twenty kids singing praise to Jesus, I saw another group of kids sitting quietly as a teacher was telling a story of Jesus, to my left, a group of four men digging holes for footings for columns to support the veranda, behind me was twenty plus kids playing a game, directly in front of me was fifteen men working together tying beams and learning about how concrete requires reinforcement, and behind all of that was smoke billowing behind the building from food cooking to feed a hundred people! It was genuinely breathtaking! Seriously, it was like a sunrise or rainbow, just a little tid-bit of seeing what the Lord appreciates us doing.
Sunday was really nice! We attended church in the village where our friend Pastor Martine Owor preaches. He has been trained for a few years now by Global Training Network (GTN), specifically under the mentoring of Bill Wright. By far, the best understanding of theology and how to present what the Holy Spirit has to say (specifically in the village setting where the teachings are usually way far from the Truth). I applaud you Bill and your students in the Bugiri District!
The rest of Sunday was spent just hanging out with the guys. We spent a couple of hours just talking about the work for the week. Really, what was meant to be relaxed and sabbath, turned into a learning experience for all of us. It was reassuring to see the level of interest from all of the workers where we could just bounce ideas off of each other and build relationships. It was fun and fruitful!
Monday… like any other Monday should be, was spent starting up the week. We spent nearly three hours of our morning in the car. Had to go to one town to organize for aggregate purchase and delivery (which big purchases are usually quite stressful), then back to finalize the work plan in our absence. One last trip back to Bugiri to get some last minute odds and ends to send back to site. And finally, our five hour journey back to Kampala. But returning home to my beautiful family just before bedtime was a real treat. There is nothing like having your kids run up and hug you exclaiming that they missed you and excited to tell you about their weekend.
All in all, the weekend was pretty good. I am glad to be a servant of Christ!
