Day 7: Blog Post by Aeri

Day 7 – Monday, July 13th, 2009

Today was the first day of construction. The day began in the dark as there was a power failure from the night before. And we had no water because the tank was empty and they had no electricity to pump more water into the tank. Even though folks did not get to wash up or flush their toilets (!!), we had a beautiful start to the day with Hoang-Anh’s letter and excerpt from the Little Prince. The letters from the home team have truly been a source of great encouragement and joy for the team members. Donna (aka ‘Donut’) commented that she couldn’t imagine being here without the support of a home team. “Eyalama (Thank you)!!”

As the team members got to the work site and saw the YCVM land and the foundation work that had already been done, they were impressed with how large the actual building was. Dustin commented that the pictures he’d seen of the site did not do it justice. Papa Peetah (many elders are called ‘mama’ and ‘papa’ out of respect and affection) made us all proud with his expert knowledge of masonry and other construction related tidbits of information. We exchanged greetings with the workers who had already been there before us. Soon the materials for the day arrived, and we set to work in the blazing Sun. Papa Bu-ut resisted wearing a hat or a sunscreen, so we had to elect lovely Valene to sneak up on him from behind and spray some sunscreen on his head!

Today’s construction assignment was tying re-bars. When Patrick Olupot, our building engineer, told us that, I did not have a clue what that was. I believe we will be attaching some pictures of the work we did, so you can see for yourselves what we did.

Some of us scored and cut thick metal wires into about 2 feet long sticks. Then others of us took those sticks and bent them into these hooked squares. Then the really thick re-bars were fitted into each of the corners of the squares and tied together with thin metal wires that were cut each by hand. In fact, all of this was done each one by hand. We had very little tools. And the team from the US were the only ones working with gloves. We only had a couple of small wire cutters which were used to cut what I think must have been a thousand little pieces of wire.

I was working alongside Valene, bending the metal sticks into squares, and she was an absolute machine!! I thought I’d see smoke coming out of her ears! In fact, the local workers were totally impressed with her too. They said she didn’t even look tired (like we all were!) afterwards. Peter devised new and more efficient ways of cutting the wires.













After a bit of rest, we spent the afternoon and into the evening hearing a year-by-year account of the life and experiences of Patrick Okore, one of the YCVM members. Patrick is now a second year student at the prestigious Makerere University and a volleyball star of national recognition, as well as an amazing worship leader. But his life, which took over 3 hours to tell, was one of overcoming one insurmountable challenge after another. Everyone was so gripped by the story of his life that we felt it could become a movie.

Our days here in Kumi have been full in so many ways. There have been so many ‘firsts’ for many of our members, from the youngest to the eldest. Each night we fall into bed absolutely exhausted, but also filled with gratitude and thanksgiving.

As a team leader, I must report that the CCUMC VIM team has been truly amazing. I had heard so many horror stories of VIM teams behaving in ways that tarnish the message of the Gospel. But I have been witnessing moment after moment of God working God’s amazing grace through each members of the team. I have witnessed them stepping out in truly admirable courage and faith into the unknown to speak, sing, dance, and give witness to the love of Christ. I know also that we are held up by your unceasing prayers, for which my gratitude overflows yet again. Thanks be to God!

Answers for Day 6 questions:
1. Donna and Peter: their mosquito net was touching their faces, so they switched their pillows to the foot of the bed.
2. Donna: folks in Kumi have been pronouncing some of the members’ names according to various words that they think the names sound like. The most notorious being Burt – he’s been called variously, ‘Boat’, ‘Butt’, ‘But’, or ‘Bu-ut’.
3. Dustin, who called out to Valene, “Help, I’m naked in the dark with a gecko!!”
4. Aeri – The YCVM members gave her an Iteso name, “Asianut” (pronounced ‘Ah-see-ah-noot’) which means ‘Grace’, but Ben calls me “Asian Nut”.

Questions for the day:
1. What animal rode on the bus with us for 2 days?
2. Why did Silver have to spend the night at the construction site?
3. How many meals do typical Ugandans in the village have each day?
4. What is the name of Donna and Peter’s new adoptee?