Sunday stroll

After the exertions of the morning/ afternoon we all rested especially as the heat was great. But then I just needed to see how the work was progressing on the new toilet block. Bearing in mind they had all been at worship for hours what a sight greeted me. Young men were crammned around the area with pick axes and shovels and digging away, laughing and joking. Young girls and women continued to arrive with buckets of stones on their heads,  and then pick over the area for more. It was very moving to see the way they were working, and while I would have willingly dug, I don't think swinging a pick axe in bare feet would have been a good idea for their safety let alone my own.

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So time for a walk to stretch the legs. Along  the dirt pot hole road I made my way. I quickly found myself surrounded by children shouting and wanting to touch my skin. Every where I walked through this part of the village I was told I was welcome with  big smiles. Passing by homes out of which worshippers come looking so beautiful in their Sunday best. It still does not seem possible. Women were sitting outside washing their clothes, goats wandering everywhere ( surely goats cheese would be a  great industry), my host tells me they are too small to milk. I passed another village rubbish dump, dogs, chickens, birds rooting around for what they can find. In the morning I had witnessed children playing on a rubbish heap as well as using it as a toilet.

There is a beauty here as you walk along taking in the sights and smells. Some properties are better than others. Always there is building work. So where ever you look partly finished homes stand waiting for the next phase, no doubt when they have earned enough to purchase more materials. What always strikes is the way everyone is always on the move and it feels like a nation of small, and I mean small, shopkeepers.

But its Sunday,  and I see young men sitting in groups playing draughts, very serious about their game. You see this in the cool of the evening.  Its not quite like the draughts I was used to playing, hence I was totally beaten playing Eric the other evening.

So I walked in the late afternoon greeting and  being greeted as I went along, bumping into people who earlier I had led in worship. Reminding me again, that having been ill recently, and my enforced need to walk as not able to drive, walking means you meet and have time to talk to people. It reinforces my determination to keep walking when I return to ministry at home. Walking. Its good for the environment, its good for my body, it slows me down and its good  for conversations. Its good for people who want to make community. Jesus seems to have walked everywhere apart from the odd donkey ride into the city. Maybe we could all learn to walk his way.

Finally back to the mission house and chance for a shower as the water is back on. How refreshing a cold shower can be. Mind you it does not last long for once dried  the heat hits you again. So time to sit   in the shade and read. Yet still people come to work. So one final look at the work bearing in mind its dark and I need the torch on my phone to see. And yes there they are in the 'dark' working but perhaps not? They seem to live by 'the light' of Christ.

What a full and wonderful day I have had.