November 12th

So this morning was fun. I’ve been enjoying chapel this week with the visiting
pastors have been giving the “thought for the day” message each morning. I know
that shouldn’t matter but I can’t understand half of the things pastor Jarr says
when she normally gives the message. Anyway, at about 10am we started the march
pass for the hospital celebration. It was crazy; there were hundreds upon
hundreds of kids. Most of the students from the Wesleyan schools, both primary
and secondary, were there. That alone was probably nearly a thousand. It was
similar to the march pass that the secondary school had, obviously larger, we
walked from the hospital to Kamakwie 3 and back. I got all the kids on video but
unfortunately you won’t be able see it for months, should you want to see it. In
order to get it I had to walk down the line of students, it’s still about a 7
minute video, and then when I had recorded it all I had to run back up to the
front where the hospital staff were. It felt kind of good running up there at
first but the instant I stopped the sweat just started running in rivers. I
should have just waited for them to turn around and come back to me. It also
left me feeling like crap for several hours, my body didn’t take well to the
exertion in this heat. But I feel fine now that it has cooled down and I went
for a little walk in the “bush” this evening before dinner. I met a man who
reminded me of ten second Tom from the movie 50 First Dates. I ran into him and
he said hello and asked my name, I told him my name and asked his. He said that
he loved my friends, which I think means he wants to be my friend. He then
proceeded to say hi, told me his name and asked for mine. I felt bad because he
didn’t seem to be all there, but I was laughing on the inside. Anyway, I
continued on my walk exploring some paths I hadn’t been on, probably not super
bright but I was told by one of the Africans the path I was following leads to
Kamakwie, and it did after I met a man who said his name was Mr. B.A. Turay he
lead me back to Kamakwie, I would have gotten there because he lead me along the
path I was going anyway, they like to lead you to where you are going if you ask
them how to get there. Mr. Turay told me he used to teach agriculture at the
Kamakwie Wesleyan School and is now a principal at another school, an all girls
Christian school. Then he started talking and said that God arranged our
meeting, because he needs assistance. Not that I know what I can do, he told me
his first need is a manual typewriter. I told him that I don’t know if I can be
any help at all, it’s not like I really have resources for things like that, and
the Ashers said they probably don’t even have manual typewriters here, let alone
electric typewriters. I’m supposed to talk with him later but I don’t know what
I can do really. I’ll just have to see what his other needs are to see if I can
help; he said he has a few. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him more because I
had to return home for dinner, I am supposed to talk to him later this week.
After dinner we went down to the hospital where they were showing a movie, they
are having one every night this week. Tonight they showed a slide show with some
photos from the hospital when it was built 50 years ago and some from the 60s as
well, it was kind of cool. They were going to show a Nigerian movie, which I’ve
been told are like extremely cheap soap operas. Apparently they have a term for
movies of the type, Nollywood. They are low budget movies produced usually in
one room of some place. I haven’t watched one yet, but I saw a bit of one and I
couldn’t stand it. Now Karen, Rebecca and I are watching 50 First Dates. We
paused momentarily to go down to the staff quarters where a bunch of women were
working on cooking the food for the celebration tomorrow. Can you imagine
cooking for 1500 people using nothing but camp fires and huge pots? They had
sooo much food, onions, carrots, green beans and a ridiculous amount of chicken.
I got a few pictures, it’s so much food! Anyway, going to finish the movie and
then go to bed. Have a great day!

Greetings from Kamakwie Wesleyan Hospital,
Ryan Brooks