Travelogue 8: Hitting the Wall

If you are hoping to be inspired by today’s entry, perhaps it is better you avoid this one.  Last night, around 6pm, I hit the wall.  A number of factors led to it. 

• We’ve been out of the country for 10 days now. That is the longest I’ve ever been away from home. Ever. I really miss my own bed and pillow. And, let’s be honest; I miss Starbucks.
• Teaching takes it out of you. It was an intense week of training. Although our students speak English, we often don’t understand them and they don’t understand us.  This leads to stressful facilitation. When you are teaching and training, you are always “on.”  Even at home, by Friday, I am toast.
• Having to be super safety conscious is also getting tiring. Washing all our food in bleach water, filtering the water, avoiding mosquitoes, and other pests all take energy. Another incident yesterday caused my adrenaline levels to spike. On our way to the compound, we stopped in Ndola to pick up some white fabric for a funeral. As we walked down the street, a sinister looking man tried to pick my pocket.  He wasn’t very skilled so I knew right away but only had time to gasp. Our team leader saw what was happening and yelled “hey” and the guy backed off.  The pick-pocket would have been sorely disappointed to discover he’d pinched a napkin of Purell hand sanitizer. My cash and passport are in a pouch around my neck.  Still, it gave me a fright.
• It is getting hotter every day. I love the heat so I’m not complaining too much. It’s just that the heat saps your energy. I’m literally sweaty all the time. Consequently, I feel dirty and grimy all the time.  The low temperature in our room yesterday was 79 degrees.
• Forced co-habitation is wearing. I love my teammates. I really do. They are a fascinating and amazing pair. However, Bart and I live a very peaceful, private life. We’ve shared space with 2 (now 3) other people for the last 10 days. We are together all day long. We eat together, we shop together, and we work together so everything has to be negotiated.  We have no transportation and we’re so far from town, we can’t even get away from each other.  While I’m learning a lot about truly living in community, it is difficult sometimes.
• Finally, even though this week was hard, we all know next week will be even harder. Our goal is to build 1 “institutional” latrine. That is a latrine that can be used at a school or church. We also hope to build 2 home-style latrines that people could make from local materials.  Originally, we’d hoped to build 6 latrines. Then, it was 4. Now we are down to 3. Even that may not be realistic. We have a Solomon’s choice to make. Do we build the latrines at the Mapalo school where most of the children are orphans? Or, do we build in McKenzie at the New Apostolic church? There are pros and cons on both sides. How do we choose? We’ve left it in God’s hands to help us decide.

 There is calm in the storm. Now that I have some of the complaining out of the way, I will share one observation. Yesterday, I was preparing my lesson, writing a role play, and creating a review quiz. These are all tasks I do every day at work. I was sitting in a plastic chair, sweating. I glance out the open door and suddenly realize, I’m RELAXED.  I’m more relaxed than when I went on a cruise. While I could be stressed, I wasn’t. Maybe this is what peace feels like. 

This morning is Saturday. Normally Seeds of Hope would not run classes today; however, so much work  needs done here. We are going to pour a couple of concrete slabs this morning. Four motivated students agreed to come to class to learn extra skills. 

 This afternoon and tomorrow we hope to have a break. A new person has joined the guest house. Her name is Heidi. She works for COST out of Alberta, Canada. Heidi, Karen, and I have planned a girl’s day.  We hope to go to town to see the African market and perhaps pick up some African cloth and gifts for friends at home. The Schuer’s have offered to take us to an ex-pat church tomorrow. That church just happens to be holding their summer picnic at a game park.

 I’m looking forward to the Sabbath. I need it.

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