Wednesday Tree Work, Rain and Snails

Wednesday was another day working with Stapanian boys (the two men from the maintance crew were on public holiday). Most of our work has focused on clearing the power lines. Some trees were already touching the lines and other trees I cut to make space for years to come. Across the road from SOS property are many houses and shops. Because SOS brought power to their facility, for all the houses adjacent to the road, SOS kindly supplied power lines to the village. Therefore if their power trips, so does SOS. Here are a few pictures of some of the houses and families near the lines we were trimming. Some of the trees have been very tall. Below is a clip of a tree across the road that had a few branches growing downward close to the lines.

We finished most of the lines along the round right before lunch and before the rain came. It was a 10 minute walk from the last tree we completed, and it was already raining as we walked. It rained the full lunch hour, but it mellowed off in the afternoon so we were able to continue on. This is the truck that delivers the lunch from the kitchen. Today it waited until we finished eating before it took the plates and Shaffer dishes back to the kitchen. If SOS didn't make lunch (for normally 900 people a day), most of these people would normally eat Jack Fruit (see picture). By my observation, all the Jack Fruit trees are full of ripe unpicked Jack Fruit as everyone around here is so well fed. Todays lunch was beans and rice. I do not usually eat much lunch, so I haven't been able to eat less then half of my lunch each day. Since today was a holiday, most the crews were off, but for those who worked, everyone gets a soda with lunch! This is their version of ginger ale. Tangawizi is Swahili for ginger. They also had coke or grape soda to choose from.

Near the end of the day, John-Paul asked if I could cut down three trees in his backyard. They are some type of locust tree, as the trunk and all the branches had sharp thorns on them. After a prickly climb, I limbed the top of each tree and left the rope in the tree after I lowered down. Then the boy's pulled in the direction we wanted them to fell and away they went.

Before heading to the Basaba's house on campus for dinner, we went the Basaba's ranch up the road. Then up in the next village, we visited Danny's ranch, about a half mile north of SOS. A most impressive place. He has been there 4-5 years on 1.5 acres. It is amazing what he has done. During Covid19 he built his whole house out of bricks he made. He has planted all over his property banana's, vanilla, coffee, and many more. He also raises pigs! All this on the side as he is a primary teacher at Legacy. His wife Winnie makes tortilla's and other things for the missionaries. A very industrious family. They have two adorable children.

FYI. There are a few videos from Saturday's wedding and Sunday worship I missed publishing. If you go back, they should be available.