26 Days and Counting

Children's sleeping quarters.
Me with a pastor and his family
Pastor's son

May 8, 2007
Email from Executive Director Trudy Marshall to family, friends and supporters:

I just wanted to check in to let you know that we will be leaving shortly. Your name is on my Travel list, so that you will remember to keep us in your prayers while we are in Africa.

We have a total of twenty volunteers making the trip. We will be leaving June 2nd to create four libraries for over 5,000 children. My team (consisting of people from Austin, Kansas and Illinois) will stay a little over two weeks and I will stay an extra month. After the completion of the library, many of those going are looking forward to sharing their faith with the students and staff at the schools, as well as in church. The entire team is excited about having time to just play and visit with the kids! Their beautiful smiles will definitely put sunshine in your day!

After the team leaves, I will spend at least a day at each school meeting with classes to instruct the students and staff on the organization of their library, as well as letting classes check out books for the first time.

Later, I will travel to Kenya and spend time "way" out in the bush with a Maasai pastor and his family. The purpose of the trip is to look at the challenges of creating libraries in Maasai schools next summer. Just for fun, I am attaching a picture of my future bedroom. The pastor has two small houses, made out of a mixture of cowdung and mud. I will sleep with the kids in one of the houses. The nicer home has a small living area. Behind the living area is a "mud" wall with a small door leading to the pastor and his wife's bedroom. I visited with this family last year while I was in Kenya.

As I mentioned, it will be difficult to create libraries where we have no electricity, running water, etc. However, all things are possible, aren't they?!

For those who have been receiving my ramblings for many years - you deserve a medal. :) For those new - good luck! It's always fun. I usually manage to throw in a couple "near-death" experiences - even though I swear each year I will travel more safely, along with great "toilet" happenings. Africa is just one adventure after the next and I can hardly wait for my feet to touch down on the tarmac in Entebbe.

Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare to go. I will shoot emails back whenever I can find a computer.

Thanks for listening,

Trudy