Margaret's War Widows

The Sierra Leone Civil War left many women widowed, including our friend Margaret. Margaret's formed her War Widows for Christ, a type for support group and co-op. They help and support eachother through a little farming and other projects. They also meet regularly for bible study. I adore they ladies!!! 

Saturday morning we walked down to the wet land where they were working up the ground to plant rice. You can see them way down there in this picture above. Gideon was excited about trekking down this huge hill! 

(Jedi was asleep on my back the entire time! Like a good little African baby, ha!)

When we finally arrived they all cheered, clapped and welcomed us with hugs and kisses. They showed the kids how to work! 

makes my heart smile :)

Chris 

A party for Margaret's Oldest Boys.

During our time here we have been spending special time with Margaret's orphans in small groups. 

The older boys have been patiently waiting for their turn! Saturday night we had them over for fun & games. These teenagers are fun and so easy to love! We had a special dinner for them- Gideon called it a feast and they did too. We were able to bless them with fried chicken & chips (fries). 

It probably doesn't sound fancy to our US friends who pick up drive thru all the time. But it was more extravagent than anything they have had all year. They we CRAZY excited and thankful- left full and happy! Isabel made them Jello and was smiling big as she passed it out for dessert. A first for them! So fun. They, of course watched a little superheroes with the boys, also another treat. They enjoyed themselves! 

Before they left they gathered around our family and prayed for us. Amazing young men! 

We are blessed to know them!

Chris

What I've learned about water by Zeke

At home in the United States if I want a drink of water I go to the faucet at the kitchen sink. Some people even have refrigerators that have drinking water in the door. Here in Africa we have to buy clean water to drink. They sell it in bottles but it cost more money, most people buy bag water.

 If they don't have money sometimes there is a well where they can pump water but it may not be safe to drink and it might be a long ways away. 

Even on the street where we live there are some holes in the ground by the road where we see some people get water but some people go to the bathroom on the side of road too. We have seen lots of people by the river and creeks washing clothes and taking baths. Some people have filters to clean their water when it's dirty. We have water in our Africa house because we have water tanks on the roof. Every day someone pumps water out of the well and fills the water tanks. This lets us clean our clothes, dishes and ourselves but it's not safe to drink. We even use bag water to brush our teeth so we don't get sick. We walk down the street to a little store to buy our water. Sometimes we buy water there. Isabel is in there buying biscuits.  Which are really cookies, they call them biscuits.  Sometimes Dad let's you buy a soda. 

 today we bought water from this little shop on the side of the road. Then we carried it back home.

People who live here carry water on their heads, everything else too. 

Clean drinking water is very important but not everybody gets to have it. Some people can get very sick from dirty water, some die. People can learn how to clean their water. 

Zeke