Up and Gardening by 5AM!
This week has been interesting, to say the least.
On the third try at getting someone to train as gardener and general all-around worker here, we have a young man who is working well.. Adama is a former street boy who knows what it is like on the street and seems to understand that a paying job requires a full day's work-- tho in truth, I don't think we have done a full 8 hours any day yet. Part of that is the reality that the rain interrupts, or the ground is too wet to work, or we don't have the supplies that are needed to do more fencing, or..... whatever. Partly it is because, at this point, either Ray or I have had to be with him to assign a task and then work with him to show him how we want that task to be completed. He has been a willing learner and we are working on getting a list of the repetitive jobs that he can do each day when we are not available. He understands little English and so we communicate slowly, using hand motions and a mixture of Bambara and English, but that is improving as well.
We also have a group of almost-young-men who are full of energy and fueled by testosterone. These guys need useful work to do that will allow them to show their strength and expend some of that energy. I had talked with them about helping to plant some more sweet corn in the upper area of the base, where weeds and grasses coexisted with a bumper crop of rocks. We began the process of clearing the ground one evening but had to quit at dark. Flexing their muscles and flapping their shirts over bare chests, they announced that they would get up at 6am (remember that they usually have to be called to get up at 7) to complete the work the following day. So I agreed to get up also and have the tools available. Because of many little hands that are used to taking whatever knife or tool they see and using it to dig in the ground, or cut a piece of wood they have picked up, or chop against the rocks that litter the area, we have kept the gardening tools in our apartment so that they don't walk off on the little feet attached to those little hands. We are also working on the concept of respect for property, and proper use of things. That is not a cultural issue so much as it is an issue of lack of training. I dare say you have had to do similar training with your little ones. It just happened at a younger age with yours, perhaps.
Crawling out of bed at 6am (I am NOT an early riser myself, and my bed is still a mattress on the floor) we got the tools out to be available for these 3 teenage boys. I glanced out the kitchen window and wondered if I just hadn't noticed how huge the weed pile was last night. And had we made that big of a wall of rocks along th edge? The area looked much better by morning light. Maybe there was hope for a garden there after all!
In just a few minutes Ray came back and announced that they had already finished the job!! Turns out that the 3 of them had gotten up at 4:30, washed and dressed, and were attacking the garden plot before 5 o'clock.
What good bragging rights they had that day! Surprising Mimi and Yakou, showing off that they were strong and macho workers, and gaining attention for completing a job well ahead of expectations. We soon hoed and raked an area and planted three 50foot long rows of corn, and in front, a row of green beans. Now to get some more “misi-bo” to boost the rocky ground's nutrient level and we should have a good stand of vegetables for this summer and fall.
Thanks again to our MOST TEAM for sending the seeds to us. God reminded us of the principle that a provision of more than enough means He has supplied some to share with others when we asked Anco and Ewein (Dutch missionaries who were putting in the solar panels for us) if they could use some. Anco received it with gratitude, commenting that they had actually been looking for some. God reminded me that He supplies for all of us, His children. What a neat thing to be a part of that chain of provision.
So today, look around at your “more-than-enough”s and see whose need God may be intending to supply thru you.
I know you are richly blessed! Be a blessing as well!
Mim in Mali
Up and Gardening by 5AM!
This week has been interesting, to say the least.
On the third try at getting someone to train as gardener and general all-around worker here, we have a young man who is working well.. Adama is a former street boy who knows what it is like on the street and seems to understand that a paying job requires a full day's work-- tho in truth, I don't think we have done a full 8 hours any day yet. Part of that is the reality that the rain interrupts, or the ground is too wet to work, or we don't have the supplies that are needed to do more fencing, or..... whatever. Partly it is because, at this point, either Ray or I have had to be with him to assign a task and then work with him to show him how we want that task to be completed. He has been a willing learner and we are working on getting a list of the repetitive jobs that he can do each day when we are not available. He understands little English and so we communicate slowly, using hand motions and a mixture of Bambara and English, but that is improving as well.
We also have a group of almost-young-men who are full of energy and fueled by testosterone. These guys need useful work to do that will allow them to show their strength and expend some of that energy. I had talked with them about helping to plant some more sweet corn in the upper area of the base, where weeds and grasses coexisted with a bumper crop of rocks. We began the process of clearing the ground one evening but had to quit at dark. Flexing their muscles and flapping their shirts over bare chests, they announced that they would get up at 6am (remember that they usually have to be called to get up at 7) to complete the work the following day. So I agreed to get up also and have the tools available. Because of many little hands that are used to taking whatever knife or tool they see and using it to dig in the ground, or cut a piece of wood they have picked up, or chop against the rocks that litter the area, we have kept the gardening tools in our apartment so that they don't walk off on the little feet attached to those little hands. We are also working on the concept of respect for property, and proper use of things. That is not a cultural issue so much as it is an issue of lack of training. I dare say you have had to do similar training with your little ones. It just happened at a younger age with yours, perhaps.
Crawling out of bed at 6am (I am NOT an early riser myself, and my bed is still a mattress on the floor) we got the tools out to be available for these 3 teenage boys. I glanced out the kitchen window and wondered if I just hadn't noticed how huge the weed pile was last night. And had we made that big of a wall of rocks along th edge? The area looked much better by morning light. Maybe there was hope for a garden there after all!
In just a few minutes Ray came back and announced that they had already finished the job!! Turns out that the 3 of them had gotten up at 4:30, washed and dressed, and were attacking the garden plot before 5 o'clock.
What good bragging rights they had that day! Surprising Mimi and Yakou, showing off that they were strong and macho workers, and gaining attention for completing a job well ahead of expectations. We soon hoed and raked an area and planted three 50foot long rows of corn, and in front, a row of green beans. Now to get some more “misi-bo” to boost the rocky ground's nutrient level and we should have a good stand of vegetables for this summer and fall.
Thanks again to our MOST TEAM for sending the seeds to us. God reminded us of the principle that a provision of more than enough means He has supplied some to share with others when we asked Anco and Ewein (Dutch missionaries who were putting in the solar panels for us) if they could use some. Anco received it with gratitude, commenting that they had actually been looking for some. God reminded me that He supplies for all of us, His children. What a neat thing to be a part of that chain of provision.
So today, look around at your “more-than-enough”s and see whose need God may be intending to supply thru you.
I know you are richly blessed! Be a blessing as well!
Mim in Mali
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