Mombasa

Saturday, the 27th, was a nation wide service project for the church—meaning that all the branches and wards of the church held a service project in their area to help the communities. It was the first time many of the people had been involved in a service project—doing something nice without pay. They were excited and felt the wonderful feelings that come from serving freely. We joined the Mombasa branch at an orphanage where they were moving poles from the yard to the roof so they could add another floor. I’m not sure how it was all to work, but they seemed to understand. I heard that they stack the poles, then cover them with a tarp, then pour concrete on top of the tarp and let it harden for 2-3 months. They say it works. But probably not seismically up to grade. We worked there for 45 minutes, then drove to the site of the other branch. The Bamburi branch was cleaning up the garbage on the side of a road. They would shovel it into some handcarts and haul it off to the dump. Those of you who spent time in Central America or the DR know how deep the garbage gets by the side of the road. The branch members had reserved a spot under a tree to have a “fireside” after the clean up, so we drove there and parked the pickup, they walked back to where they were cleaning. I was helping them pick up garbage, when I stepped into some ants. They started crawling up my legs and biting me. One of the members hurried me across the street into a little tailoring shop where I was able to get the ants out of my garments. I was a little more careful after that. Bill got a little light headed after working for a while, (It was really hot and humid) so we walked back to the pickup and the shade. That was a little weird. Here we were walking along a road in Africa, surrounded by Africans (no whites), and it seemed almost normal. After everyone finished, they broke out the refreshments: pop for the dignitaries, punch for the children and biscuits (cookies—but more like a cracker) and bread.