survival of the fittest
Manual labour. You see the results of it on both men and women here. These people make great specimens for an anatomy lesson on the muscles of the human body. I have seen muscles I've never seen before. Little girls pound cassava leaves with a long pole (Pestle) in a container carved out of a tree trunk (Mortar). From the looks of it, it works the shoulders, upper back, and arms. These same young girls who can't be more than 10 years old go down to the stream, collect water in buckets, carry the water on their heads, and fill up large plastic barrels with water to be used for the day. They help their mothers in the kitchen - which is outdoors in many homes. If they can afford a coal stove, wonderful. If not, they'll have to settle for three rocks to hold the pot, and light a fire underneath. Their main diet consists of rice, cassava leaves, and potato leaves. I am not kidding when I say they eat this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When David and I arrive at the construction site at 7:30 AM, the men are spreading the sand and cement mix preparing to make cement. After they pour the water into the mix, as the water soaks in (they really could use those nifty cement mixers we see in the States), they eat their breakfast. Every day so far, they've had rice and cassava leaves for breakfast. They eat LARGE amounts of it as well. I see them like tractors, they consume a lot of fuel - if they're lucky enough to afford it, and work VERY hard all day and burn all the fuel. They are "RIPPED" as they say in America.Well we joined in to make concrete blocks today. I helped shovel the concrete, and pour it into the metal molds. The molds have to be tapped out and left to dry. We also helped clear some of the weeds that grew up to about 3 feet. A weed wacker alone won't do the job. We had to use a machete as well. My palms are callused from the work. Sorry Frank, I am not "diesel" yet. Two more pieces of sad news; I haven't ridden a Zebra, nor have I found an African bride.
Bro. Samuel and I walked around for a while visiting some of the local homes. We came across a family who wants to come to church but can't because she is afraid of what people will say if she came to church in the clothes she owned. When I saw her, she wore what looked like a sheet wrapped around her (Lappa). She had her baby strapped to her back - also in a sheet. The little boy is named Benjamin. The rest of the family wore thread-bare clothes, and some of them didn't even have clothes on. The entire family came out when I pulled out my Ziploc bag of Bazookas. It was a joy distributing them.
Almost every house in Waterloo was burned down during the war. Walking along the streets of Waterloo, you can see the destruction. Torn down houses barely holding up with no roof at all. Poor people have moved in and made it somewhat of a quarters. Several families live in one burned down house under individual family roofs they constructed with tree branches and thatch. Waterloo used to have electricity but the lines were all destroyed during the war. You can see the cables dangling from poles but this town no longer has electricity. If you see light in a house, it's the result of kerosene lamps or a generator.
If you own a generator, as the church does, many locals will bring their mobile phones to the church to get them charged. The church used to charge these phones, but had to stop because as you can imagine, word got around and they had a herd of people wanting to have their phones charged.
Well I need to recharge myself. It's been a tough day. Plenty of hard work. My somewhat puny muscles are aching. Maybe I can use some of this Tiger Balm I brought along.
posted by bthomas24 @ 3:46 PM
2 Comments:
You better ride one of em Zebras son! Better yet, find yourself a nice African wifey. ;-)
-Frank
I am trying. I am trying. I might have better luck if I was a White man! The Zebras are in East Africa! I am all out of luck!
Post a Comment
<< Home