A NEW POST!!!!!

I don't know where to start. I have been having a lot of trouble knowing what to write about. Experiences seem to be coming at me a million miles an hour. People and places, seem to be colliding with sights, sounds, and smells.

Today we went to the nicest orphanage yet. It was the pinnacle of what this work is about. Loving people who had a passion to help local children coming together to build top notch buildings, establish good programs and do it all with a mind towards self sustainability. There where some very well thought out systems in place like solar power lights, a rainwater collection system, nice paint and decorations and very spacious sleeping areas complete with effective misquote mets. It was a great experience. So far Africa has been wonderful but I have a confession to make...

I am a borderline germ-a-phobe. Just ask anyone who has traveled with me. I spend more time washing my hands than sleeping or eating combined. Now before you get the wrong idea I say borderline because it does not stop me from touching or eating things. I have been known to share a tent with my dog for nights on end, not shower for weeks while backpacking, and eat lots of scary things (did you read about the kabob??). I just sometimes worry about germs. It really is kinda weird and something I don't quite understand.

There are also a few things I also don't understand about africa. The first is the SCARY showers. When I say scary I am not referring to the type, shape, function, or even the cleanliness. I am talking about the possibility of being electrocuted while showering. You heard me right. So someone in there infinite genius decided it would be a good idea to heat water using electricity. No problem there right? Wrong. The “water heater” is a electric unit installed ON THE SHOWER HEAD!!!!! Remember electricity here is not 110v like home it's double at 240v (think clothes dryer). So there is a 240v outlet IN THE SHOWER with a hot water heater plugged into it installed on your shower head. WHAT?!?!?!?! Don't get me wrong I love a hot shower but not enough to literally die for.

The other thing I don't get is more serious. Germs. Bare with me here. I understand germs. I don't understand how so few people understand germs. In the countryside where we have been working there seems to be no understanding of how germs spread, what they do, or even that they cause some very common illness's. Today we where driving through a small village when we saw a painful reminder. Most small villages are lined with small shops and stalls selling everything from cell phones to raw goat. Today while driving through a village we noticed many of the shops where making caskets. This was the first I had seen in Kenya so we asked Francis about it.
“This area has a very high rate of AIDS cases and many people die, so they need lots of caskets” This started us on a conversation about AIDS.

While AIDS was very unknown in the beginning we have a great advantage now in knowing how to prevent it. Here there is much confusion about AIDS. Many people in the villages still do not know how it is spread, how you get it, or even that it's contagious. To make matters worse many of the rural areas consider sex a taboo topic so those who do know about AIDS are sometimes ridiculed for talking about it with others. Its 's not just AIDS that is misunderstood, it's germs as well. Each day as we set down to eat with the church and orphanage leaders we are presented with a bowl full of water to wash our hands with. One elderly Kenyan man even said the other day, “We always wash our hands clean before eating.” The only problem is....we never get soap. So far we have not gotten soap once. What good is that?

Africa confuses me so much. It is filled with smart, hard working, wonderful people yet is infected with so many curable problems. AIDS....we know a lot about that, Germs.....got a pretty good handle on that one as well, agriculture, got some smart people working on that, the list goes on and on. There are so many examples of things the west has knowledge and experience with that much of Africa is still left to figure out on it's own. With all this political talk as of late on national exports I got one for the list. Lets start exporting knowledge. It's the perfect export. It's readily available, easily applicable, contagious, and just downright makes sense. Let's start a grassroots campaign to package it up and send it out before Madison Ave. gets a hold of it and tries to sell it or worse yet washington gets a hold of it and we try to make it a talking point.

There are some downsides to exporting knowledge however. Our profit to exposure ratio will be all asque and our bottom line will be nonexistent but on the flip side people will stop dying.....I mean, if that's important.

I know what your thinking at this point. “Paul how we will package this knowledge?” Well, that's a mighty fine question and I have a plan. Bare with me this might be a little “out there”. Are you ready?

Germs

Lets pass knowledge like a germ from one person to another. Germs are the perfect package. They are contagious, self contained, easily transferred, quick to adapt, and do not discriminate.

Better yet lets be germs for Jesus. We can be all contagious and gooey, clinging on to everything we come in contact with, slowly infecting the world with our cause. Lets stop being so dormant and become living, mutating, cultures infecting this petry dish of a planet. We tried the whole Christianity through example experiment where we assumed people would see how we live and live like us because of our example. Lets try something new and try and change people through contact with them. Let's let our contact, our living breathing, serving contact infect others. I can see the t-shirts now....

Jesus is a germ

Well that's all I have time for today. Now where did I put that hand sanitizer?