Humbled… again

I may come away from my trips to villages having achieved a list of things, but I have also been enormously blessed by the people I have been with. Time and time again I am humbled by their generosity and their servant hearts. Here are some stories from our recent trip…and yes, the mud continues to feature in stories, as it featured in our journey!

Lunch: We had said we would come to lunch, but along the slow and muddy walk to the house of another expat couple, we were wondering if it was really worth it. When we arrived, we were blessed with soft chairs, fresh lemonade, a flush toilet and the offer of a shower and a towel. After recent outhouse adventures, this toilet in particular really was a blessing! We ate a wonderful cooked-just-for-us lunch and were able to catch our breath and revive our spirits before continuing on our way. The muddy walk was definitely worth it!

 About to leave with our chickens (Photo S.Pederson)

Chickens: As we left Aimei village, the children were busy chasing chickens... so that they could give us one each! It was a very generous gift for which we could not express our thanks sufficiently. We were also given a basket to put our chickens in, as they were about to face several hours of dinghy travel to their new home.

Crabs: We could have had fresh crab for breakfast, lunch and dinner, except that we asked nicely to only eat them once a day. I was humbled by the gentle tutelage of Joel, our dinghy driver, as he taught me how to use a spoon to break into a crab to get the good parts for eating.

(Photo D.Petterson)

Foot washing: With mud everywhere, we washed our feet several times a day, before we entered any sort of building. One time, I actually had my feet washed for me, as a generous lady poured water over my feet and scrubbed the above-ankle mud off with her hands. Such hospitality!

Welcome: When we arrived at Ubuo village, the tide was in. The school kids were gathered on the riverbank singing us a welcome song and showered us with flowers. We stepped straight onto the river bank and shook about a hundred hands as we were guided along a decorated walkway to the house where we were staying. All our cargo was carried to the house for us. As we ate food prepared for us, all the kids crammed into the house and continued to sing to us. We were the VIP guests and we were serenaded beautifully.

The hand rail and descent to the boat (Photo D.Petterson)

Hand rail: When we left Ubuo village, the tide was out. A single log reached down the muddy bank to the dinghy. As we looked at the log with trepidation, the community built us a hand rail and used an axe to hack some steps into the log for us. They then held our hands as we cautiously descended to the boat. Local kids and grannies can scamper up and down the log unassisted, but they generously added a hand rail and many hands to keep us safe.