Namibia Day 41, 42, 43

10^th, 11^th and 12^thof October

This week started off very different than any other week here so far. Monday was declared a half day at FHS. One reason because of all the time and effort the teachers put in to make Career Day possible, the second reason was because the floor of the school needed to be painted and this could only happen if the children were not in school during the painting process. That allowed me to go home, nap, catch up on some emails and prepare my mashed potatoes for Round 1 of Canadian Thanksgiving at Robert and David’s guest house.

Aideline, John, Anika, Corrie, Abigail, Anna and I all joined together for Thanksgiving. The menu included Fruit Salad, Boneless Chicken Breast (Turkey is extremely hard to come by in Namibia) Mashed Potatoes, Salad, Rice and Samp and Beans. Talk about an assortment! We had a great time having fellowship with most of the FHS staffers which was a lot of fun and what I felt like I really needed this week.

Tuesday we had the entire day off due to the flooring and an unofficial “teachers day”. Anika, Corrie, Robert, David, Tanya and I decided to explore the Namibian National Art Gallery for something fun to do in Windhoek. After the museum David and I went on a 2 hour adventure trying to find the movie Hotel Rwanda for “African Movie Time” (a tradition we started last week) of watching a movie that took place in Africa and talking about it afterwards, we gave up and decided to just go to Tanya’s empty handed for her Jamaican Sweet and Sour chicken YUM! We had fun hanging out and watching Criminal Minds before heading to the Greidanus’ for Round 2 of Canadian Thanksgiving. After a lot of eating and great fellowship we returned to our separate homes and settled in for the night of interrupted sleep due to the Turkey that Alisa seemed to find in the only store in Windhoek David did not check!

Today was a very emotional day for al of us at FHS. Ouema who has worked in the Kitchen since 2006 passed away yesterday. Not only was the day emotional for the staff, but telling the kids was worse than we thought it was going to be. Ouema was a woman who was loved by many and many of the children at the center looked to her as their own grandmother. She also took care of her own grandson who was orphaned at an early age. I have to say through all the emotion of the day I was very encouraged. A 6^th grade girl in my group, Franscina was so upset about the news of Ouema. I was not sure what to do for her so I just hugged her and scratched her back and finally ask, “What can I do to help?” and she responded, “Do you have a Bible that I can read?” At her age I never once would have turned to the Lord during such an emotional time and it was truly inspiring to see such a young girl have her priorities so straight. Even though the death of Ouema was emotional the Lord showed himself in miraculous ways today like he always tends to do. The comforting thing for us as staff member, the rest of the FHS family and Ouema’s family is that we all know she is in a better place with our heavenly father.

My prayer requests today would just be for Ouema’s family and her grandson especially that only knew her as a caretaker. Please pray for the children at FHS as well and for us as staff members to allow the Lord be seen in amazing ways through her death. Thank you so much everyone and God Bless!