18/03/2011 (posted 02/04/2011)
Slept in until 7:10am which is pretty much unheard of these days.
I could have gone for a shower; the water was there and everything, but I just couldn´t be bothered.
I helped make the porridge for breakfast. We had some vanilla flavouring as well which really made it delicious. I feel this may become a staple breakfast for me when I get home. Porridge, rice, coffee. All you need.
We spent the morning finishing off the painting at the school.
I say we. I mean Jonny, Jarett, Bonnie and Lissette.
The rest of us came back to prepare food/wash our clothes which I felt slightly guilty about but they seemed happy enough painting so there we are.
They had a tough time getting started as it was during breaktime so all the kids flooded to gaze at the gringos, We tried to pull them away from the paint/kerosene bottle by taking photos (which they absolutely love) but still they swarmed the small painters.
It was at that point that the four of us left to cook/wash our clothes. As I say, I feel slightly bad.
Lunch was quite good. We made burritos which were quite simple really - just a matter of boiling some rice, frying some beef and chopped vegetables and then we cheated by adding Old El Paso Burrito flavouring mix. The tortillas all stuck together which was a mini-disaster but apart from that, it was a good hearty meal.
We led a service tonight and so planned to leave the house at 2pm with the Pastor to invite some people.
We ended up leaving at 3:45 but I spent the time before sitting in a daze from yesterday (we were up for a good sixteen hours), so I certainly wasn´t unhappy with leaving later.
When we got to the church, the Pastor sat us down and told us about a situation that had arisen.
Some kids had been asking him for notebooks but he couldn´t get funding for them. He then asked us for funding.
It apparently costs $48 for a hundred books which, between the eight of us, isn´t too much money. However I really wasn´t comfortable with him asking us flat out like he did so we´re going to discuss it as a group tomorrow. He´s a decent guy with a big heart for his community but not enough funds to match his ambitions, that much is clear, but putting us in this position was unfair and unsettled all of us a little.
After we finally finished talking and praying with him, we went out to the community to use what little time we had before the service to invite more people to come. It made me slightly angry that instead of allowing us to invite people to the service, he instead told us a sob story and asked us for money.
When we got back to the church we gulped down some cold rice and salad and then it was 6pm, the time of the service.
No-one came until 6:30pm, when a handful of kids turned up. The first (and only, as it transpired) two adults arrived at 6:55pm.
By 7:30pm we decided that no-one else was coming so completely changed our plans for the evening to simply a kids event. They seemed to enjoy it which was the most important thing - they especially enjoyed mine and Andrew´s improvised disco dancing. I´m becoming somewhat of a dancer on this trip, just wait until I get home.
We finally finished at 8:30pm, bought an ice cream and got a taxi home. I have eaten so much junk food, biscuits etc. in these past two days so the next two weeks in the wilderness will hopefully be a much needed detox.
Time for bed - the mosquitoes are having a feast again.
JG
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