The Saga of the Poor Shepherd Boy

There are days when nothing goes your way and Sunday was the day for this young man. He must be in his mid teens, and make a few extra shillings being the herder for the "Mosza" (big man) Mr Atheo, but he really was having a bad day.

It started out Sunday morning at Worship. He was there and not paying any attention to the goats, to the word being spoken, but only to the young women of the mission!!! That was his first mistake, and the rest was downhill from that.

None of the young women were looking back at him, and his goats were in the mission fields, making lots of noise, and a few were even trying to join us on the concrete slab. Mickey, the Tricarico's dog, who is a real prayer puppy, was trying to head them off the slab and move them away from the services so the Pastors could preach. But the goats started to run and Mickey was having fun trying to catch them. Then the trouble started...he caught one...by the neck...and wouldn't let go.......Craig was hitting him with a stick and trying to pull him off the goat and finally Mickey let go. The goat didn't look so good after all that excitement, so Craig and Ed let him "rest" there on the ground and came back to the service.

Pastor Dave was preaching and had to remind people to not be distracted by all the activity in the field. People were standing up and talking out loud and laughing and pointing at the chase scene. Ed tried to pick Mickey up by the scuff of his neck and put him in the van to take him back to the compound, and Mickey was not going to go. He didn't bite Ed though it sounded as if he had torn off all his limbs and was now going for Ed's neck. He was one mad dog...

Everything settled down and services went on as the shepherd boy, who missed all of this, went and got his bow and arrows and went into the field to try to find his goat. He wondered around for about fifteen minutes, and never found it. After services everyone who was there went out into the field to find the goat, and it still wasn't there.

It must have recovered from the "excitement" and left. But the shepherd boy couldn't find it, and now he was fearing for his job. He had lost a goat and had many people who saw how he wasn't paying any attention to his goats and let this happen. Well he was going to go after Mickey now. He was aiming his arrow at Mickey and waiting for a shot. The dog was going to die!!!!!! It took many people to tell him that he couldn't kill the dog because there was no dead goat. And that Mr Atheo would be upset if he killed the dog of his friends, the Tricaricos. People were standing in line to rebuke him for wanting to do this. Finally he left to be with his goats and Mickey was taken back to the compound to be locked up.

Later that night a group of adult thieves tried to kill and steal some of the goats for the home of Atheo. They were not successful and one of the thieves lost his life. The wages of sin is death.....................

We have not seen or heard about the punishment of the young shepherd boy, but we are hoping that the punishment is not too severe.

~Kris

Karamoja Happenings in a "nutshell"


The Wrights are in the States. They are home to be with Bob's father who is in poor health and in the hospital. We understand that it is only a matter of time before he may go home to be with his heavenly father. We are all praying for Bob and his family and all the things they must make decision about, this is especially difficult because there are no hard and fast answers to their question.

The teachers are painting fences and gates in their free time. Because the Wrights are gone their teaching time is about half of what it used to be. It is amazing what a little fresh paint does to brighten up the place. They are also spending extra time with some of the students to help tutor and do some fun projects with the kids.

Ed is working on a variety of projects. Vehicle repairs, trips to Mbale for supplies, electrical work on the teachers bondas trying to get the lights to work, finishing the roof on the new generator shack, and starting new parts of construction on the Wrights' work in progress. All while occasionally carrying around a puppy friend in his tool bag!!

Al is teaching some home schooling classes, he has finished teaching and preparing Katie for her SAT test. He continues to work with Pastor Dave on the lessons for membership classes which started last Sunday. He has village Bible study two times weekly in different villages, for the men, while others teach the children and women classes. This along with his weekly counseling and other pastoral duties. And he is very much enjoying grilling the family meals on their new brick B-B-Q in their back yard.

Laurie works very hard at schooling all of her children, which she has at least one class with each of the girls and does most of the teaching of the boys. She and the girls often spend a lot of time looking through cook books for new and exciting meals for their father to cook on the grill. (Did Al realize that cooking would now be left up to him with the addition of the grill?) And working hard on making her family's life here in Africa enjoyable and educational and fun.

The Tricarico kids: all are working very hard in school and doing well. We got to sample one of Maria's science projects about the effect of eggs in bread. She did an excellent job and all three loaves were great. She can come bake for me anytime!!!! James and Josh work very hard at playing and being boys. They are always building something or digging in the dirt and often are at the job site helping carry and get tools for every one working. They ride their bikes a lot and pull Lee (Kurgat and Betty's son) and Faith (Kyalo and Elizabeth's) daughter around the compound in their wagon. The place is filled with squeals of laughter and excitement. The girls are often found with a book in hand, curled up on the floor or in a chair. They love to read and their library shows it. The girls help or teach children's Bible studies and Sunday School. And they hang out with the teachers watching movies or baking or just talking.

Katie took her SAT test in Kampala a few weeks ago, so her intense study times are finished for awhile, until she decides she wants to take it again. All are looking forward to their summer vacation starting at the end of May. During which Katie will be visiting colleges and applying for her favorite one. Only one more year in Karamoja for Katie, and then it is off to college.

Craig is filling in for Bob as best he can. Working on the new house and answering all calls for fixing leaky faucets, and changing light bulbs that won't come out of the socket and what ever is broken that needs to be repaired. This along with the daily overseeing of all the construction, workers and keeping the Wright's current compound in order and taken care of in Bob's absence. There is always a guard who is late or has gone missing to deal with, or someone wanting help with a flat tire or no fuel, or needing to be pulled out of a ravine or a mission tree that is being hacked into pieces. They are currently working on the ceilings in the house, and this can be back straining work, but it is coming along and he comes home "freckled" with cement daily. Depending on what plans the Wrights make in the next few weeks, they may shift gears and concentrate on finishing a few rooms in the new house so the Wright household can be packed and moved there, allowing remodel and repairs to be going on at the old house at the same time as construction moves along on the new house. Field work will be starting in a few weeks, plowing and breaking up new fields for planting. Craig will be spending time in the fields and checking on the daily construction. He might have to be Superman for a while, but the work will get done. They have a good crew and although a bit slow they can do a good job. Maybe if Craig, Ed and I all go out into the fields and barring breakdowns, the work will get done quickly. It would be nice have one thing out of the way. But we can only do what we can. God will provide the drying that is needed and then the rains. Also waiting on supplies is very slow here, it does take a lot longer to get things in country and then to have it brought up to us is an additional wait. You would be amazed at how hard it is to find a good toilet!!!!!!!

I am working daily at the clinic, trying to work with the staff on new outreach programs, but deciding where to start is often hard as there are so many items that need to be addressed. Slowly by Slowly. (wadyo, wadyo) We went to the villages yesterday to visit and get ideas. We all were a bit overwhelmed, as the need is so great. Water, hygiene, nutrition, sanitation, living conditions, health issues, medical compliance issues, all of these are urgent items that need addressing, and everywhere, not just in one village. And there has been a huge increase in typhoid recently. Our CO is trying to identify a common cause, but after what he saw yesterday, he wasn't sure if there weren't more than one area that might be the factors for the disease increase. (He has also never been to the villages and this was abit of a shock, as he came from Kenya and most of the living conditions aren't like this.) Other than that clinic life has been good, still alot of patients, I think we will continue to see larger numbers daily, especially now that we are fully staffed and word is out that the service is even better now. We are seeing patients from greater distances, and more affluent people, those who own vehicles and dress "Mbale" style (street clothes, to you and I).

The baby blanket project has been a real blessing to the little ones who go to Tokora for further treatment. We have only had one problem with them. Where the mother of a 4 year old took the blanket of another when she wasn't looking. But the faces of the mothers says it all!!!! They cannot believe people from so far away care so much for them as to send the blankets so far, just to keep them warm. They know that they come with prayers for recovering health and God's protection. If any one wants to send more please do so, they don't need to be fancy, just flannel with finished edges. When they come and have nothing and receive one, it is as if you have given them new life!!!!! One father followed me several feet and asked why we would do this? I told him that God has moved people in America to want to help him here by helping his children stay warm and get healthy again. People are not resisting Tokora as much any more. They all say God is blessing them thru people in America!!!!! (This could be a great Sunday school or women's church project, collect blankets and then raise money to ship them.)

All in all Karamoja is good, hot and dry (for two days now!!). Pray for us and all we do. We miss you all.

~Kris