"Danger"

This past week was very eventful...here are a few highlights with more to come.

This is Mora Mora or "Danger" from the drilling crew. He is 20 years old and I have been working beside him for two weeks now. This guy is so AWESOME and I don't use that word lightly. He is my "son" on the crew because I clothed him, only with one shirt, and "Mimi ni baba Danger," which translates I am Danger's daddy. That phrase goes along way when trash talking in soccer and slap boxing. Danger is the flat out fastest guy on the field and has mad skills. I have seen him chase down fish in the river  100 feet away and catch them with his bare hands. He got his nickname because he night fishes, which is very dangerous.

Something that I have learned about Danger is that he has an amazing will or willpower. When he was 11 years old he had a nephew, Abe, our missionary's adopted son, whose mother had died shortly after his birth along with his 2 year old brother. Abe was 18 months old at the time and sickly small. There was a long drought in Turkana and food was scarce. Abe at 18 months old was very sick and just short of dying; he was starving to death. Abe's father wasn't willing to leave the few goats the family had to take Abe to get medicine in Lodwar where Gene and Melba, our missionaries, were at the time. The value of life is very low in Turkana. However, Danger at 11 years old, skinny as a rail, starving himself started on a journey from Nakor with Abe on his back to Lodwar. Nakor is a 3 hour drive in a 4-wheel drive Land Cruiser from Lodwar. Danger, 70 lbs. soaking wet, walked for TWO DAYS to Lodwar stopping only for willing nursing mothers along the way to breast feed Abe. When I put this story to a face, the only thought that I could think of was...wow! This boy was willing to risk his life for a nephew, not even a brother, when his own father wouldn't. Danger is AWESOME!

Children from the area that came when we finished the well. Made Todd and I think of the movie Blood Diamond because of all the children and girls with machete or knives. The garden with the solar pump is in the back left.

This is a picture from the 3 o'clock bible study that takes place every day. Most of the guys on the crew speak some English. Danger is on the left. Akai is sitting on the water jugs. Sammy, our translator, is in the purple behind Todd, the only white guy in the picture. Paulo the oldest guy on the crew is in the back right. First Peter, yes that is his name and its biblical...think about it, is in the white shirt. And Michael "Second to Last Born" is in the black shirt. Except for Paulo all these guys are between the ages of 20 and 25. Our wonderful tree refrigerator is in the back left corner. These guys know the bible well, but we are challenging them daily to make it personal and not so theological, which is trying to break through a major cultural barrier.

This is Little Michael. He is always singing and happy. He never shys away from the camera, so when we got our spears of course he wanted to show off. He is about 5 feet tall and works like a champ. he is out little leprechaun.

A picture from one of our nightly soccer games in Safari.com Stadium.

A picture from one of my celebrations after scoring a goal. The more animated you get when you score the more fun the Turkana have. 

This is the River Kerio that we cross when going to dig wells. Two and a half hours before we crossed for the last time the water was at our ankles. It rose to Little Michael's neck. The picture is of the women carrying some of the crew's material on their head through this river. The water is filled with diseases because when it begins to rise it is filled with waste and urine. Many people who don't have access to wells will drink this water. These women are very skilled.