Got up at 5:00 to climb
Ocholoy, a rock formation nearby, and watch the sun rise. It was lovely. We could see for many miles and the sky was
beautiful. The sun rises and sets very
quickly here so you could watch the sun rise over some distant mountains very
quickly. Lots of lizards came out to
bask in the early morning rays. Val must
have been laying in a lizard trail as several ran up her leg and over the top
of her!
We met several young children as we were leaving the
rock. One was 4 or 5 and was carrying a
baby on her back. Another was no more
than 8 and was carrying her little brother piggy back. Children get a lot of responsibility very
young here. Their parents were quarrying
rock by hand from the base of Ocholoy.
The children will probably never get the chance to go to school or learn
to read or write. Liz talked to Jennifer,
the nurse missionary, about them. She
said parents will send children that young out to tend the cattle and goats by
themselves all day. She sees a lot of
snake bites in children. The cattle stir
the snakes up and the children following get bitten. Most snakes here are very venomous and most
of the children don’t survive.
Andy spent the day finishing up projects at Val’s house. Liz
spent several hours doing computer work for Val in the morning. In the afternoon she went with the rest of
the team to visit women and children who had received goats, sheep and cattle
in a revolving animal loan project. The
people are given a goat, sheep, or cow and must give the first offspring back
to the project to be given to another.
Local pastors select the people who are to receive the animal based on
need or opportunity to reach them with the Gospel. We dewormed the animals and treated them for
various ailments. Many of the people had
just received their animal 2 weeks previous.
We handed out Bibles to all who could read. It will be the only book most of them will
own till they get to secondary school.
One lady started with 1 goat in 2005.
She showed us the brick house she had built over the years with the
proceeds from breeding that goat.
Another lady showed us the new metal roof she had put on her house
thanks to the goat she had received several years ago. Another told us about the business she had
been able to start with the proceeds.
Usually the animals are given to the children in the family so that
should the mother every marry another man he can not claim the animals for
himself. At dusk the pastor invited us
to his home for sodas. As it got dark
and we talked the sky was filled with shooting stars. Another expression of God’s majesty and
power.
Prayer Requests:
-Pray for good weather as we travel to Karamoja tomorrow. It has been dry there for almost a week and
much of the damage done by the rains to the dirt road has been repaired this
week.
- Val’s vehicle to be fixed soon. The computer checked out OK and she has an
idea what may be wrong
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