To allow us to catch up here's a pick of the best photos from the last 6 weeks, which will give you an idea of what we have been up to.
In early October the district Commissioner paid us a visit in the compound, to show his thanks he sent us a goat, which we enjoyed as a team the following week!
Here's a cute picture of Bethanie playing on the swing outside the compound beside our house.
We were all thrilled when Dau (our Arabic teacher in Nairobi) came to join us in Doro, once his construction course had finished. He is working for the water project for 2 months. It is so lovely to have him around and he is working hard and is enthusiastically soaking up all the experience he is getting.
Soon after he arrived we went with the kids to a "Global Handwashing Day" event organised by one of the NGOs. We were the main attraction! We also found ourselves running a quiz with 20 minutes notice... very African!
We continue to find creative ways to play and enjoy our free time. One hot Saturday we built ourselves a swimming pool - we were the envy of the compound!
At the end of October we had to say a sad farewell to our British team mates, Rob and Emily Hinton. They have been a great example to us in how they spend time with the Mabaan, and a meal was held in their honour by the village.
Justin and Dau have had a couple of interesting trips into the bush to show two churches how to use a hand pump to irrigate their fields. The pumps are being hired to the churches for a small fee and can be onward hired as a source of income. We'll wait and see if it is a success.
One of the trips was in conjunction with the CHW students who were heading to Gasmalla to undertake a anti-natal and growth monitoring clinic. We had a great time, with 13 of us piled into the Toyota Landcruiser!
A visit to Gasmalla the following week with the kids wasn't so successful. The truck got stuck in the mud within sight of our destination, so we walked the rest of the way! Once we had sat for an hour and some of our friends returned from the fields we managed to get it out, but then had to rush a little girl with cerebal malaria back to the clinic. Not quite what we had expected!
At least we got to introduce them to the children and allow Caleb and Beth to see somewhere a bit different.
We continue to find creative ways to play and enjoy our free time. One hot Saturday we built ourselves a swimming pool - we were the envy of the compound!
At the end of October we had to say a sad farewell to our British team mates, Rob and Emily Hinton. They have been a great example to us in how they spend time with the Mabaan, and a meal was held in their honour by the village.
Justin and Dau have had a couple of interesting trips into the bush to show two churches how to use a hand pump to irrigate their fields. The pumps are being hired to the churches for a small fee and can be onward hired as a source of income. We'll wait and see if it is a success.
One of the trips was in conjunction with the CHW students who were heading to Gasmalla to undertake a anti-natal and growth monitoring clinic. We had a great time, with 13 of us piled into the Toyota Landcruiser!
A visit to Gasmalla the following week with the kids wasn't so successful. The truck got stuck in the mud within sight of our destination, so we walked the rest of the way! Once we had sat for an hour and some of our friends returned from the fields we managed to get it out, but then had to rush a little girl with cerebal malaria back to the clinic. Not quite what we had expected!
At least we got to introduce them to the children and allow Caleb and Beth to see somewhere a bit different.
A highlight for Justin has been four Saturday mornings with local pastors following a course on teaching the Bible. They have all really enjoyed it and it has been a great opportunity to get to know them and understand more of the issues facing the church.
Normal life has been interrupted a couple of times the past week or two by bush fires that have come a little too close to the compound for comfort. Thankfully with some help from friends in the village there were no serious consequences.
Dau and Justin have enjoyed getting stuck into a project to provide a piped water supply to the clinic. Here's a picture of Dau looking justifiably proud of his brickwork!
They have also been spending time fixing up an office and store at the old building that used to be used for the Basic Education course. They are sharing its use with the HIV project and another pastors training project, and everone is very pleased to have a clean and attractive place to work, with working lights and fans!
We had an 'office opening' yesterday, inviting friends to drop in for a soda and find out about our projects. Justin enjoyed demostrating some of the water projects water treatment and testing equipment, making a bucket of river water safe to drink (he's still feeling OK this morning...!)
Normal life has been interrupted a couple of times the past week or two by bush fires that have come a little too close to the compound for comfort. Thankfully with some help from friends in the village there were no serious consequences.
Dau and Justin have enjoyed getting stuck into a project to provide a piped water supply to the clinic. Here's a picture of Dau looking justifiably proud of his brickwork!
They have also been spending time fixing up an office and store at the old building that used to be used for the Basic Education course. They are sharing its use with the HIV project and another pastors training project, and everone is very pleased to have a clean and attractive place to work, with working lights and fans!
We had an 'office opening' yesterday, inviting friends to drop in for a soda and find out about our projects. Justin enjoyed demostrating some of the water projects water treatment and testing equipment, making a bucket of river water safe to drink (he's still feeling OK this morning...!)
Enough for now! Hopefully you won't have to wait so long for the next one...
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