Blog 7, Manual Labor…. By: Megan, Abbey, and Devon
Today started off great because we
got pineapple for breakfast!!! This morning we went to our work sites, Upendo
Orphanage and Agano Preschool. Devon would like everyone to know that we got
lunch in between and didn’t starve. After, we went to our manual labor site.
Our goal for our manual labor project this year is to help the local women’s
group plant new fields. Baba Dick has been very close with this women’s group
for many years, doing many different projects for them. The women’s group does
many things including making coffee, clothing, and growing food. These Mamas
all have different backgrounds and different reasons they’re in the group. It’s
interesting to connect with them and get to know their past. They are very
welcoming and Baba Dick made sure they showed us the correct technique to hoe.
He had many doubts for our group on our hoeing skills. The women, at first,
laughed at us but they stepped in and showed us how it’s done. They are very
nice women and are willing to talk to all of us even though most of them don’t
know much English. They are amazing and some of the strongest women we have
ever met.
Our first
impression of the field that we are working on was “oh shit”. To say the least, we struggled to even find
the field. We started off by clearing out the dense amount of weeds. Once we
cleared a good amount some people started to hoe. It was a fun and tiring first
experience and all us of lasted about 30 seconds before we had to switch with someone.
Groups of us got together as a team and took quick shifts. (The boys of room
110 and Timmy were by far the greatest group. – Devon) Once we got the hang of
it, it actually went pretty smoothly. Jesca and the other Mamas thought Abbey
was an outstanding hoer. Megan was a good weed picker and Devon excelled at
seed placing. After the first day, the women told us we did two days of work in
one day and they were very impressed. The second day we figured out we should
bring a speaker to pass time. The Mamas enjoyed teaching us how to dance.
Today, Jesca picked “the best of the best” to move onto the other field to
start more weeding. The group was Devon, Jacob, Hallie, Megan, and Kate. I’m
sure they did a greeeeeat job. The others stayed at the original field and had
to hoe through already planted corn. It definitely tested our hoeing skills.
All of us were very impressed with the Mamas and how efficient and easy they
make this all look. They walk through the fields barefoot and some of them have
babies on their backs. They make weeding gardens back home look like a breeze.
We planted corn. The seeds were red. Overall, Devon was the fittest, and
handled himself the best. Most of the class was pretty sore the following
morning after hoeing, however Devon was even stronger than before which is hard
to imagine (as reported directly from Devon)…
Overall, the Mamas appreciate our
service to them and are thanking us constantly (Asante Sana). We have 3 more
days left of our manual labor and it’s caused us to have a lot more respect for
the women around here and all that they do.
It makes us appreciate all of the unnoticed luxuries we have back home.
Hello Mom, Dad and also Dominick. I don’t miss you at all.
But I do still love you.
-Devon
Hey Mom and Dad! I hope you guys aren’t missing me too much
and make sure to give Bella a squeeze for me. Love you!!!! - Abbey
Hey Dad, Rachel, and Ella! I bet you guys are having a great
time without mom and me! Don’t worry, I am taking good care of Mom! Love and
miss you! - Megan
Comments
Post a Comment