by Steve Bakunas
Well, I had an interesting start to my day today - - we arrived at the hospital about 7:30 AM and after gathering our tools and equipment needed for that days work I noticed one of the missionaries, Doug, walking around in the hospital's dirt parking area with his head down as if he were looking for something he'd lost. As I approached him I shouted "hey Doug, is there something I can help you look for?" ....his reply was no - - he hadn't lost anything, he was just looking to see if "The Snake" had been through the compound during the night. "Snake", I replied, "what Snake would that be?" .......he began to tell me that over the course of the past few days the locals had pointed out to him that a rather large snake had been moving through the property during the night time hours and had left his trail in the dust of the parking lot. "Any idea what type of snake it might be there ....ah, Doug?" "Well"....he began to reply ..............probably just a COBRA .........maybe a PYTHON". Well, guess what, I don't do snakes very well so I quickly headed back to the safety my ladder and started my days work on the roof. Well, hey ......that's just Africa - - and I'm happy to report that no snake was seen and life goes on at the hospital.
The construction team had another good day today and I'm happy to report that the crew from "Triple-C" Had It Goin' On - - half the roof is now up......we only stopped due to catching up with the iron workers ........although they were there working today we won't be able to resume work on the roof until sometime on Monday ......after they've gotten some additional trusses in place.
Tonight the team was invited over to Batama's house for an authentic Malian meal - - Batama is our house keeper and he, his wife and children live in a section of town that isn't too far from the mission house. The team really appreciated the opportunity to spend some time with a "true to life" Malian family. The dinner was fantastic ! ! ....it consisted of rice w/ pork, sweat potatoes, cabbage, okra, peppers and an out of this world peanut sauce - - all eaten with your fingers. There were probably about 25 us there and it was a great opportunity to share a meal with some of the locals right there in the court yard of their home.
Tomorrow we attend church services beginning at 9:00 AM followed by a BBQ lunch at the Braffharts', pool side, with all the missionaries - - yes, I said pool. Between the time I was first here, and now, Bob has installed a very nice sized swimming pool in his back yard - - I'm guessing that its the only one of its type in the entire town of Koutiala. After lunch and visiting with the missionaries we're going to take a trip out to the village of Baramba to visit the girls boarding school and the new church - - I'm really looking forward to seeing Pastor Simone again and I know the team will enjoy their time there.
Well, that its for now - - its about 10:55 PM and I'm running out of gas quickly......hope all is going well for everyone. Hope those of you located in Omaha make it through the next snow storm - - up to 6 inches? ......yuck - - probably won't snow here tomorrow ( - :
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