Sunday "The Big" Day

Sunday was the big day. We were going to the church where we have been working for the past week. They finished the roof and built almost half the pastors house. They also plastered the alter area of the church. We drove for 2 hours again and walked up the very long path and were met by the people of the village who we have been working with. This time however they were all dressed up especially the women. They have very fancy dresses they make. The boys also are more dressed up as well. The church was decorated with fancy linens and had wooden benches. It was very interesting to see this building complete compared to just the walls that stood for close to 10 years with no roof. The service in the church was packed this tiny church had over 200 people in it. The little children sat on the alter and the rest of the people had to be outside and I took pictures of these faces looking in the windows.

The service was supposed to be for 4 hours but we needed to leave after 2 hours. The village then wanted a representative of our group to be honored to sacrifice a goat. So they bring this goat in from the jungle on a rope to the front of the church. I’m sure the goat thought “hey it must be my birthday I’m going for a walk” Then when he saw all of us he must of thought “hey look at all the people here for my birthday party” Then he thought “hey look at all these people surrounding me for birthday cake”. Then he thought “hey what is this guy coming at me with a real big knife? It must be for my birthday cake”. Then BAM they cut the goats thought and strung it up in a tree. What the? I guess I’m in Africa. Then we tried to leave and the village did not want us to leave. They wanted pictures with entire families and to hold their children. We then had to go as we were headed to another village. I had no idea what it must be like to be a rock star, but as we started for the bus it was like the concert was over and the fans were surrounding our tour bus. As we drove drove the dirt road through the jungle the village people (not the disco Village people) lined the road and we threw shirts, soccer balls, shoes, water bottles, and other things out the window of the bus. They ran to get these items like we were throwing $100 bills out the window.
We were then off to a very very remote village and a widow and her children were waiting for us. We drove for a very long time on the jungle dirt road and then the bus could go no further. We then walked to what I thought was Europe to get to her home. Along the route I warned all the goats of this village not to visit the other village especially if anyone asked them if they wanted to take a walk. We again we met by about 60 people who sang songs and were so happy we were there. The group then had a suitcase full of clothes for her kids. We then were presented by the widow a chicken we had to take or she would be offended. After about an hour we tried to leave but they followed us to the bus back where we left it. This is beyond sad here. These people have nothing. They live in mud homes and have nothing. It’s not just a small remote area, its everywhere. You wish you could help every person you see, but you can’t. Again it’s beyond sad. We then took our chicken and boarded our bus. The chicken was a nice chicken and we even took it to dinner. We had dinner at a place called I Love New York Pizza. This is located at the mall in the parking garage. I don’t mean the restaurant was on the same floor as the parking garage. No it was in the parking garage and it was outdoor eating in the garage. Wow I’m eating pizza in a parking garage with diesel fumes from cars and a live dirty chicken. I’m not sure I had a shot for this. We came back to the compound and go to bed until the dogs wake me up or our chicken flips out.