Serafina's house

A great day! Serafina is a widow with 5 children, last year when the GFR team was here, they built a house for a widow named Regina. So many of the villagers show up to help. One was Serafina, with a baby tied to her back, helping build a house for her friend. How wonderful to return the favor today! We had to walk a short distance from our matahtoo (mini van) to the building site. We walked through a field of sorghum, which looks like corn with a different, almost oval tassel. When we emerged from the field about a dozen women rushed over to hug us! Then more and more came from behind the house, the building was already in progress. We just kept hugging and hugging and I started thinking that this could go on for hours!! Serafina was so sweet and so grateful. We had several jobs to accomplish: making mud (!), making bricks out of mud (we had wooden rectangular forms), chopping grass with a sickle (to mix with the mud), adding the dried bricks to the top of the wall, carrying containers of water to the site, chopping down a big tree and filling a large hole with rocks. We made lines of people and passed mud or bricks down the line. Yes, I got dirty too! Ok, not nearly as dirty as the boys, but I did get dirty. My fondest memory was of Serafina's daughter, who looked about 3 yrs. old. She was hiding behind her mom's leg and I squatted down and started to tickle her, kinda poking her belly and she would laugh and smile so big. Then I would go back to work and soon I would see her watching me, so I'd go over and tickle her again...we made a connection. Before leaving we walked down another hill to Serafina's old house. It was 2 small rooms with a tin door, no windows. In the bright daylight I could not believe that it was pitch dark inside with the door closed. She had 5 rocks sitting in the corner that were all black, obviously her 'stove' . The mud walls were covered with soot (I can imagine their lungs). The roof was some type of dried plant...a fire waiting to happen, it seemed. Then we walked behind the old house to a smaller shack with a 'curtain' for a door, it was the latrine....a hole in the ground. This was a beautiful, simple woman, so happy and full of joy. So devoted to her friends and children. I hugged her and my 3 yr. old friend, but not before giving them and the 9 yr. old son a Luna protein bar! I had to do that in the privacy of her house or else all the other children would mob them to get some.

I wanted to mention that while we were busy building...Dr. Bill set up shop behind the house. There were many waiting in line to see him. He was able to hand out many meds, Ciprian interpretted for him. He even preformed surgery, removing a growth from one woman's hand! Now that's outpatient surgery!

We came home to cold showers, which I actually enjoyed! Joseph made bruchette (rwandan shish kabobs!) and rice for dinner. It was very good.

Tomorrow we do family interviews with many of the sponsored families in a village near where we were today.

We are truly blessed by all the comments!
Love, Pam