Sunday is the day of rest.
Due to a lingering bad cold, I decided it would be a good day to stay in
my room and rest. At 9:00am I heard the
distant rumbling of a large truck and knew the long-awaited shipping container
had finally arrived. Resting will have
to wait until kesho. After downing a
bowl of Rice Krispies, I headed towards the action over at the health clinic
and found more than I bargained for. The
shipping container looked like my car moving to and from college—every nook and
cranny held some kind of treasure. In
order to drop the container in the prepared area, we had to unload everything
first, Red-Neck the container off in its permanent spot, and then reload most
of the items back into the container… doesn’t seem logical but TIA (This Is
Africa)! We started unloading the
container around 10am. Medical equipment
for the new health clinic, desks, school supplies, 1,800+ pieces of bed parts,
clothing, you name it and it was probably in that container! 2pm rolls around and we’re finally ready to take
the container off the flatbed. How does
one offload a 4 ton container without a crane?
Unfortunately our attempts at videoing the epic drama were thwarted, but
I’ll post a few still pictures on FB soon.
Basically we jacked up the container, put wood and metal pipes under it,
hired a tractor, and had the truck drive forward while the tractor did its best
to hold position, and pulled the container off the flatbed. The only problem was the tractor was not
powerful enough and was jerked backward, causing the container to miss the
concrete footings it was supposed to rest on.
So then we had to rectify the situation by jacking up the container,
having the tractor pull and the truck push to get the container closer to where
it needed to be. A broken jack and
several hours later, the container was situated and we still had to move
everything either into the health clinic or back into the container. By 8pm, we still did not have everything
moved, but by the grace of God and a few tarps, we bedded everything down for
the night. Again, words cannot fully
describe the spectacle, so you’ll have to check out the pictures. I, of course, neglected to apply sunscreen
during this whole ordeal. 10 hours
later, I was feeling the effects of major sunburns all over my arms, face, neck
and a bit of my chest. While I
appreciate a good farmer’s tan, this is a bit overboard. Good thing I’m good at finding inside
projects to do!
In amongst all of the goodies, we found some fabric to make
curtains to block the vicious sun in the veranda, and some fabric to make new
curtains for Carla’s kitchen. So today, in
Lou of going outside and continuing to fry myself, I started on the
curtains. I was able to complete two
panels for Carla’s kitchen and get some ideas for the veranda. Despite being kicked out of 4H, I do alright
in the sewing department. Thanks mom for
not giving up on me and kicking me out of being your daughter!
A quick update on Wanjiku:
Today she stood with the leg braces on for 15 minutes, and a few days
ago she was trying to pull herself up!
This girl will walk, and soon by the looks of things! Thank you for all your prayers and keep ‘em
up!
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