Living in a rural village

Yesterday afternoon, our five families hiked into a rural village -  crossing a raging (creek) rapid with just a slippery log for a bridge, and passing through a very tight border control customs office.  Once in the village, we got a tour of Liberia, the Philippines, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Uganda - - not totally realizing that we were going to be staying in the huts / houses and using the open fire or rocket stoves to cook our dinner and breakfast.

The houses that represent each country were built over the years by a combination of the respective county nationals and visiting students.  They are authentic - so much so, that when leaders from the countries come to stay at SIFAT they prefer to stay in the global village, vs. the lodge.

Around 5 (not totally sure of the time as possessions like watches were confiscated at the border when we entered the global village) - we were given a family portion of beans and rice and a potato.  Any of you who have done a rice & beans packing at CUMC -- the portion we were given was about 1/4 of a bag of rice, 1/4 a bag of beans and the potato.  We had to use the cooking technology in our respective house.  For example - Philippines had an open air fire pit, and Uganda had a low-smoke rocket stove.  We had about an hour and a half of daylight to gather wood, get our dinner cooked, eaten and get our sleeping bags laid out in our hut.  We needed all of that time to get our dinner cooked - it was dark when we were eating.  Children started out saying 'I don't like beans' -- but funnily enough, when it was dark and cold and that was the only food offered - they changed their minds.  Each family had one plate and shared a couple of spoons.

There was strength in numbers, families stayed together to offer support and community.  And this really helped keep the children busy - they played in creeks, in forests and helped where ever needed - while the rice and beans cooked.

Sun sets - and it is very dark.  And very rainy (did I mention it rained on us during all of this?) - and the mud is very red.  A couple of families slept on bamboo floor - apparently not recommended for it's sleep number properties -- and a couple of families slept on adobe floor - also not the best for a springy pillow-top feel.  I think for the most part the children all slept well and seemed to pop up ready to attack the day.  The adults may have struggled a bit more - there was no pot of coffee; enough said...

We cooked breakfast -- two apples and a small bag of oatmeal, per family - did some work around the village, moving fire wood, and heavy logs, cleaning trails, and then we left the village.

We've adjourned to the comfy lodge (bunk beds and sleeping bags - seems like a Hyatt now...), and most of us grabbed showers.

We'll be capturing the reactions of the children on video and sharing them.  What the SIFAT team told us is that the experience is a way to connect to the rest of the world.  It is one thing to read about a situation, and a totally different thing to live it.  I believe living it will change a few lives.

We'll share our video collections later in the week - we're off to collect those from the children now.