Let’s go Men!

3-21-10

Jarod here…so what’s new? Language…still tough, Rwanda…still beautiful, training…still intense but good, food…well…Anyway, I don’t
think I mentioned this before but out of the 36 people in our Health
group, only 5 are men. FIVE!!! Come on guys. So, needless to say I
had to bump up the testosterone level a few notches to just above
Johnny Bravo level. However, I quickly realized I may have overdone
it a little and that I reached the pinnacle of masculinity when a kid
called me Chuck Norris the other day. Not really but seriously…five.

I know I have mentioned it before but the landscape here is beautiful.
Every time we take a trip it gets better and better. Today, on the
way to the rainforest the hills were crazy beautiful. It amazes me
how every hillside, valley, mountainside is used to plant or grow
something. There is no hill to steep or mountain to remote. There
are hundreds of plots (squares) of different crops littering the
hillsides. It’s crazy. Every hill looks like a hand made blanket
sewn together with every patch a different shade of green…absolutely
beautiful.

In other news…saw a few monkeys at the rainforest. They were cute.
However, I got the impression they weren’t as excited to see us as we
them. Oh well…no worries. Also, I may have said it before but life
here is simple. Days consists of the bare necessities…you know the
simple bare necessities…forget about your worries and your strife.
Anyway, people work to eat to live. Kids push wheels with sticks,
kick around soccer balls they made from banana leaves…those kinds of
things. Everything else is just not important and really doesn’t seem
to exist…especially in the rural areas. There is not a day that goes
by that I am not amazed at what these talented women can carry on
their heads. It is not uncommon to see a women (or man) carrying a
kitchen table on their head. And, I have heard stories of them
carrying much, much more.

Oh, I learned something new at church today. So, I noticed last time
at church they were auctioning things off towards the end of service.
I finally discovered what this “auctioning” is. So, in Rwanda (like
many other African countries) many people have little or no money.
But, they do have other things like milk, beans or rice. So, the
people who do not have money to give in the offering will bring what
they do have and it will be auctioned off in church and the money will
go towards the offering. So, nobody is left out. What is even cooler
is that when people buy these goods, they will pay 3 to 5 times what
they are worth because it is going to the church. It is really cool
to see how the community comes together to help each other out.

So, overall the mood is good, life is great and I got a beautiful wife
to share it all with. Read her blog for more news. I hope everyone
is doing well back home. As you know we miss you all very much. And
if you miss us…well…just send chocolate. Love you guys!!!