Yesterday we found out during our morning meeting that there would be no classes on Saturday. This means we will teach only one more day—Monday. One activity that remains to be finished is painting. Aside from this, Bill and Yasmin and I hope to be with the students for Saturday night worship. We will also attend Sunday church service.
With only one day of teaching remaining, I realized the end of our time in Ipalamwa is very close. I thought about our time here most of the day as I was in bed resting rather than in the classroom teaching. I thought about the obstacles our team has had to overcome. Roger’s illness on Wednesday made it necessary for Harran and Mohammed to drive him to Iringa for treatment. On Thursday night I was very sick with a stomach problem from midnight until about 2:00 am. Yasmin and Mama Toni helped me through this as Harran started back from Iringa Town to deal with this new health situation. Roger seems to have gotten past his crisis but will not be returning to our group. I was able to recover without medical treatment. Fortunately, Bill and Yasmin have not had major health issues in Ipalamwa.
There was a little rain during the day. It was the first rain since we have seen here. The rain came in periods of 5 minutes or so and then it would stop. It really id not affect the ground much.
In the evening we had a very good meeting with Harran. We reflected on our original goals and summarized how we felt we had accomplished them. I left with a good feeling, but immediately after the meeting there was serious accident involving two girl students. For some reason the girls were running out of their dormitory and two of them fell and were injured. Harran, Papa Toni and several other adults were frantically rendering first aid. The girls were transported to an emergency clinic in a neighboring village. They returned shortly before we went to bed. We were pleased to know that the girls had received treatment and would be okay, although they were still very shaken and in much pain.
As I saw this event unfold, I thought to myself: I want to go home. I was once again reminded of how difficult life is here and how fortunate we are to live in the United States. This made me not want to encounter more hardships and I just wanted to return home to the comfortable life I live.
Shortly after we all retired for the night, it started to rain again. It was a little steadier than it had been during the day. The sound of the rain on the tin roof was quite loud. As I lay in bed listening to the rain, it brought some much-needed comfort.
Eloise

Thought For The Day:

“Foot falls echo in the memory down the passage which we did not take towards the door we never opened into the rose garden.” (Eliot)