Tales of the sickbed and the construction site

Here it is: the fourth day of my intestinal flu, and even though feeling quite a bit better than the first three days, I have taken care only to eat rice and beans. This happens to be one of my favorite combinations, and not just because it is what half the world's population eats. There is something soothing about rice and beans. Your body takes one fond look at it (from a chemical, not emotional standpoint) and says to itself: here's something easy to digest!

My neighbor Bernard said that this kind of flu, which will last for about a week (yeah, great) is best handled by eating rice. He also suggested red wine—and yes, even the Bible says that a little wine is good for the stomach. So it has been rice, beans, and wine, along with a lot of fluids, and I think I'll survive. Unfortunately, my single-burner stove broke for the third time (Chinese-made), so I haven't been able to cook and pretty much lost interest in doing so. When my ship comes in, then I'll get a place with a nice kitchen, fully stocked with proper equipment, plenty of space—and no more washing dishes in the bathroom! However, that is just a dream.

One thing I have learned here is: trust the advice of the locals. After my first month here preaching and walking long distances in dress shoes, I realized that 2 hours was about all I could handle. Then, someone recommended thick rubber-soled Safari shoes for preaching, not something I would even think of in the States. What a difference! Now walking 6 hours is no problem.

Another example of local advice: when I first got here a big question was, what will I eat for lunch during those full days in preaching? A young brother told me he has a milk and two cakes. That's it! For the whole day! I thought, no way is that enough for me. I need to go to a buffet. But, you know what? A milk and two cakes at midday really does hold you for many hours! They have this thick, unsweetened cultured milk here called ikivuguto. You can get a half liter of it, either in cartons or freshly made, for around 300Rwf ($0.43). That, along with two pieces of banana bread, or maybe two muffins (as they are called in the U.S.), will set you back less than a dollar. And you won't be hungry, I guarantee it, the rest of the day.

But back to the flu: this is the third time I have had it in the last 7 weeks, plus a fourth time about 9 months ago. (Coincidentally—or maybe not—I have gotten sick every month since the Chinese class started.)  Each time is different, though mostly respiratory. They are not relapses. And sometimes with weeks of coughing. It is a real pain, especially when you want to get out in the ministry and you can't. Well, this is Africa. There is a lot of dust in the air and that's how many of these illnesses are spread.

So right now it is pretty much sleeping, staring at the four walls, and wondering when the next cockroach sighting will take place.


--------------------------

But ... before I got sick this last time, I had a great experience at a Chinese construction site. My former Bible student, Mr. Jia, had to close down his restaurant because he wasn't getting customers. Sometimes he would go two full weeks without a single customer. This was due mostly to his location; it was not in a heavily trafficked area. So after a year or so trying his hand at the restaurant business, he gave up and returned to what he used to do: construction. He went to work at a place called CCECC (Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company), which manages many of the large construction projects in Kigali. The downside is that now Mr. Jia would be working 7 days a week, with no time for Bible study. The upside is that we would discover a whole new territory with Chinese people....

So, last week, Ernest (who has a car) and I went to CCECC. We drove inside the large blue gates and the first person we met was a lady at reception, whose name was Zhang Lan. She called us into another room, and we sat and talked for 45 minutes! I kept telling her, you must have work to do, and she said, no problem, I have time. She is from Shanxi province—though also worked or studied in Beijing—and her English is decent. Our conversations were half in English and half in Chinese. I showed the video, placed two magazines and a brochure. She said she thought it was reasonable to believe in God, but had scant knowledge of the Bible. Probably due to conversations she had in the past with Chinese friends who were Christian, she said she had many questions about the Bible. So we made arrangements to return the following week.

Then, we followed a steep dirt path up a hill to a construction site where, finally, after a couple of tough-to-understand phone calls, I located my student Mr. Jia! He works with making concrete block, explaining that during a 3-year period, they made 2 million of them. We sat in the trailer where he lives. The work schedule is every day from 7:30am until 11:30pm, with a few breaks. It is hard work to make concrete blocks, and Mr. Jia, who is about 50 years old, showed us the scars on his arms. I wonder how long he will be able to keep this up. Anyway, even though it appears for now that he will not be able to study, I said that we will try to come by every so often and visit him briefly. According to him, there are 80 Chinese workers just in his sector—who knows how many in the entire company.

I will try to get some photos of the place and then update this post. Meanwhile, the main focus now is just rice and beans....