During Christmas Break

Since we are on break, we have had some extra time on our hands. The other day, we decided to try out our new cricket set we got for Christmas. We do not have much yard space, but we do have a small concrete slab by the back of the church. Usually, we do not have much access to it because there is a preschool in the same yard and they use it, but now that both the preschool and we are on break, we can use it all we want. When we were playing cricket, we found an old rusty chair to use as a wicket. The wicket is placed behind the batter's bat. If the bowler (pitcher) hits the wicket with the ball, the batter is out. In real cricket, the batter runs after they hit the ball, but since that is next to impossible to play for runs with only two people, we did not. Instead, we counted up the number of hits the batter got. Once the batter got a wicket (or if the bowler caught their ball), we switched positions. Yesterday we passed a good portion of the day cutting out Biblical characters from felt. One of our neighbours had gotten a mini felt board set identical to the one at the church, except everything is a lot more tiny. She was overwhelmed by having to cut out the whole thing, so she gave it to us. We had forgotten about it until yesterday, but we got a lot cut out then. Some of our other neighbours gave us some games to play over break--Monopoly and Rummy-O. We haven't actually gotten around to playing those games, but we have played some others. We have been finding lots of ways to keep occupied.
~Roxy & Olivia

Today may not be the twelfth day of Christmas, but it is our twelfth day without water. That actually may sound a bit worse than it is, but the situation has been quite frustrating for us. They way the water system works here is that every home and business has their own set of water tanks. Here at the church there are two large tanks that hold, I believe, 1000 gallons between the two of them. These tanks are connected to the city water line that is supposed to refill them as they get low. However, since at least the 19th of December, there has been no water coming into the tanks. Instead, we can see the water that is supposed to be coming to us running out from under the road and into the ditch. We have called the water authority every day they have been open, but so far no one has even come to look at it. They did send out a truck to refill the tanks once, and another is supposed to be on order. In between, we were able to run a hose from the neighbor to refill the tanks once completely and another time partially. As a result, we actually do have water most of the time, but are very conscious of how much we use. We have also borrowed some large jugs that we keep filled for those times when the water does run out completely. The last time the tanks were empty, we took advantage of the opportunity to clean them out. It was pretty disgusting to realize how much sediment had collected in them. That became obvious when the fire truck refilled our tank, and the pressure of the hoses stirred everything up. The water was noticeably brown for several days. A load of laundry that we did without realizing how dirty the water was will probably never be white again. I've told many people that there are times that I can forget that I'm not in the United States. We have access here to many of the same things we would at home. But as we deal with the water situation, I am reminded that Trinidad & Tobago is still a developing nation. The infrastructure here is clearly not as developed as it is in America.
~Richard

Another thing that Richard and I have done this week is to attend two funerals of two different neighbors. We did not know either neighbor personally, but in both cases knew their family. The funerals were very different in many ways. One similarity is that they both took place at the homes of the persons who died. It is common here to set up tents outside the house beside the veranda which everyone has. Friends and family gather first for a night or two of a wake. Then finally for the funeral. In both cases during the funeral relatives came by during the ceremony and passed out water bottles to everyone.
The first funeral was for the brother of our neighbor Jameel. He was a young man who was found murdered. Only Jameel and his grandmother are left in the immediate family. They are Muslims. The Muslim funeral was brief. There were a few prayers in Arabic and a sort of homily by the Imam. There was no singing, no sharing about the life of the individual and not much emotion expressed outwardly with the exception of the immediate family. We did not accompany the body to the next house where there was to be another short ceremony before moving to the cemetery. The part of the funeral we attended took place at the grandmother's house. We were told that then the same would happen at the house where he had been currently living. We were also told that I would not be allowed at the cemetery because women were not allowed according to Muslim tradition here. I asked if that would be true even if it was my husband or child. I was told yes, but that I would not be sad about that because I would understand it.
The second funeral was for Joyce , who was a member of the Charlieville Mennonite Church where we live. In fact, before this building was completed, the church used to meet in her house. She beloved in her community. Her funeral was very much like those I have attended in the US. The amount of singing both by the group and by individuals sharing special music and the amount of sharing of memories about her was probably greater than most I've attended. But there was a lot of love and care expressed.
I doubt one can over-generalize from these two very different situations. I can only share what the two experiences were like for me. Our hearts go out to both families.
~Barb