Changing times

    The roar of a bulldozer hit my ears with sudden realization that reminded me that I was in a place that has never had these kind of machines. Almost every day we hear it coming from the west and slowly heading to the east on the path. At least it was a path for a very short time. The broken concrete in front of our building is still in place, but the wooden bridge (as well as our dock) have not withstood the weight and have a few gaping holes. No problem for the bulldozer; it simply goes around the bridge on the ground. As Deirdre and I were on our way to Friday afternoon Bible time on Northside, we heard the bulldozer on the path in the bush. We usually took the path on that route, but on this Friday we had to make a medical stop in Seco. We could see a very small amount of yellow some distance down the path behind us with a little crowd watching. As we returned later we met a few island friends taking a stroll on the newly carved roadway. We were told there is talk of buying scooters and golf carts, and there may be a bus for our teachers to RIDE to school. I have never lived anywhere in all my lifetime where life was changing so drastically. Everywhere I have called home has had an infrastructure in place for over a hundred years or more. Can you imagine where you live without a road of any kind? To reach any destination you can only walk? Ok, well, there ARE boats. This is really fun, but our dinner table talk is all about how our island home is changing, what will be the effect and what will this do to life as we know it on the island called Helene.

    

a typical "untypical" day

A most typical "untypical" day is more the norm than the exception here. Many people complain about Mondays being another day in the grind. But in a third world country, Monday equates to nothing different than any other day. Some days do seem to carry more than a fair load. This seems to be exaggerated by our small team this year - only four compared to twice that many in the past. The stress usually happens when we're preparing for a big event like a short term team. Take a particular Tuesday not so long ago.

Larry had a trip downisland planned in a couple of days, but the weather, esp. the water, was not good. So he changed plans and left as soon as possible to buy supplies, groceries, diesal fuel (by far, the most important). that left Deirdre, Dominic and myself to handle anything that could happen - oh, Emily was here to lead Teacher Training. The medical clinic had a few unexpected visits to slow Deirdre from making her home visits for the morning. Dominic and I were busy in constant interruptions - we call them divine appointments sometimes. Emily was preparing for our Teacher Training in the afternoon and had a few tasks for us also. Since Dominic and I had a teaching period in the training, we were also scrambling for time to check our plans and notes. Before we knew it, it was time to eat a fast lunch (not to be confused with "fast food") and change into appropriate clothes for Teacher Training. As we sat in training we crammed for our own sessions with the teachers. Numerous times we left the classroom to "run the kids" - chase them off the deck near our classroom - it becomes a game, and took care of matters with islanders or other visitors to see Larry. Then, the real crunch. There was a water leak somewhere. Note: water is more crucial than even power here! So while TEacher Training was continuing quite well, Dominic was checking every faucet and toilet in every building on our property. After that, all the pipes under the buildings. Before dark, as Training dismissed, the boat arrived with supplies to be carried up the hill and stored, groceries to be put away, and supper to be fixed. All in a day's work. All in what God has for us here.