Thursday, May 14, 2009

"Toola Kaata" ( "the Girl Kaata") - Part 1

Kaata came from a Kawaja village in the year 2009 to Mabaan. And she stays in Doro with her friend Vicki. And she goes to Koongaji, village of Gasmala to stay with Pastor James Haruun Ewo.

Her heart is very good. She came from a country called Kenada, which is a village of Kawaja's. She stays with us even though there are many pigs. And she eats our strong (fermented) Mabaan food. And goats are there sleeping near to her house.

(more to come...)
*translation by Kata

Long Overdue

HI Everyone! I'm so sorry for my long silence! :) Hard to believe a whole month (plus a bit) has gone by since I last posted, there is so much say yet I know I'll never get it all out! Let me be brief... Everything is Fine. (haha, just kidding - that was more so to give my parents a flash back to my high school days where my answer for everything was "fine" :P )

These past few months have been filled with trips to Gasmala and a growing Mabaan vocabulary - Praise the Lord. We had a few really big dumps of rain, and then nothing for like a week and a 1/2... Needless to say, we're dyin' for rain again! What had been turning an incredible shade of fluorescent green has now gone brown yet again. This past week we were "dumped on" by the Sahara to the north of us... Sand storms up there created really really bad visibility and air quality for us for over 48 hours. We coughed and prayed for it to pass! In the picture I'll post here it looks like fog, but I assure you, it's dust. It's nasty stuff.

As you can see by that picture the construction of the hospital continues by the Grace of God! We have been encouraged by many things in this process and are getting excited as each stage comes and goes :) I'll have more pictures as things keep progressing! Keep this in your prayers during the summer (our rainy season). WE currently have a team from the US with us for 2 weeks, then a team from Scotland will be coming a week later for another 3 weeks - these people are great provisions and will keep things moving at a nice pace :)

So, that is my brief update :) The only other thing I wanted to tell you, is that I am having a book written about me :) Now, don't get too excited, I dont' think it will be ready for publication for quite some time...

Pastor James, my Mabaan Dad, came over to me a few weeks ago and said "Kata" (my name here...) "I am writing about you, and want you to read it"... He, quite literally, has started a book (he's about 2 paragraphs in at the moment) about me and my life in Gasmala :) How amazingly sweet is that... I just couldn't stop smiling. He was so proud of himself, yet excited to show me he cared enough about me to put pen to paper and chronicle my life with them. My cup Runneth Over. He says "Maybe, as I write it, little by little it will become a book... one day it will be published, I dunno. Then the children will always remember Kata who lived with us... is it not good?" :D How can you not love people like this?? I feel honored indeed.

I will start translating them, and little by little post what he writes :) Even if it's only ever published on my Blog, I'll feel like a million bucks. The Lord gives Blessings abundant, and don't ever forget it :)