The weeks are flying by very quickly and here we are at the end of August. Summer is fading fast for those of you who live in the northern part of the earth.
We can feel it getting a little bit warmer here, although the mornings and evenings are still a bit chilly. The wind continues to be strong, and so the dust doesn’t all stay outdoors but seems to seep into the house more than I’d like. I’m happy to see that as people build their houses, they also plant trees, so that should all help as the years go by.
We had a fun time after Mass yesterday morning. Last week the children were all asked to bring something that could be auctioned , and the proceeds would go toward the building of the church. I’ve mentioned before how the people of this outstation are building the church little by little. Since we arrived the visible progress shows up in that the grillwork for the windows is now in. That, of course, doesn’t prevent the wind from blowing in but anyway it’s a step. They’re now trying to raise money for the glass for the windows and for the door. After that will be the plaster, the floor, and who knows what else.
Anyway, the kids participated wholeheartedly, bringing notebooks, pencils, candy, boxes of juice, jars of jam, peanuts, and even one live duck! And everyone soon got into the activity, with the adults bidding on the items. As with these kinds of charity auctions, items are sold for more than they’re really worth. Everyone tried to raise as much money as possible, and so many who might get the winning bid would then donate it to be auctioned again. When the items were finally given to the highest bidder they were then donated to the children at the Village of Hope (orphans who are HIV+), so there was a lot of generosity exhibited. The fellow who bid highest for the duck gave it to Father for his dinner. The children who gave the items were thrilled with the response and with the considerable amount of money that they generated, the equivalent of nearly $300. They were promised that some thing (like certain windows or pews or … ) would be bought with this money so that they can always remember what they contributed. And the fellow who won the bag of candy distributed it to them after Mass, so that was a happy moment!
On Saturday we spent some hours at an outdoor market that sells mostly cloth things, both new and used. The used stuff comes from the US or Europe, many items that stores are getting rid of, and is bundled in big lots and shipped here, although other things were definitely previously used by someone. The vendors buy a bundle not knowing what quality of stuff they’ll find inside, so it’s kind of a gamble. I was looking for curtains for my bedroom, and not looking forward to sewing them so I had hoped to find some readymade ones that would be just perfect. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but I did buy some cloth that I’ll try to sew up and hope they’ll look ok. We also bought some secondhand fitted sheets for the beds. The mattresses that we bought are foam, and they are covered with a very slippery cloth. So when you make your bed with a flat sheet, in the morning the sheet is all bunched up and all over the place because it slides on the cover whenever you move. I had finally sewed four pieces of elastic on each side of the bottom sheet and tied them together to keep the sheet on the mattress since fitted sheets are not to be found in the shops. We consider these sheets a really good purchase. And hey, we have a safe bed to sleep in so who needs to complain!
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