Sunday, March 19

Yesterday, Saturday, the younger brother of a security guard was married. Actually, he was married Thursday, but they need two ceremonies here, one for each family. The first ceremony is at the bride’s house, and is a farewell party. The second, which we attended as guests of the groom, was a welcome and blessing party. There were several speeches, admonitions, and blessings, while the women of both families gathered in the house to counsel the newlywed girl. Then, we all ate a huge feast of traditional suckling pig. The bride price for this wedding was approx. $3000 US in cash, and then another $2000 in pigs and foodstuffs. I found out why at the wedding – as an honoured guest, I was given the choice parts of one pig. This means not only pork chops, but head, organs, tail. And I got to take it home if I couldn’t finish it! This was good, as I took it home, cut it up and gave most away to the staff.

This reminds me of another story – we were able to help a boy who was hit by a car and needed reconstructive surgery on his leg. After being hospitalized for two months, we finally took him home, to the joy of his family. He gave me his chicken as a thank you gift. Now, we have an extra mouth to feed. His may be the smallest, but it’s certainly the noisiest! When Paul came, he asked why we didn’t just get a dog…

Today was supposed to be the arrival of a much anticipated shipment from Medan – our sofa, dining table, water heater, and the block presses. Unfortunately, the boat was delayed, and will hopefully come tomorrow. Meanwhile, the UNHCR timber finally arrived, more than five months late. With the time for processing and unloading,. We may be able to get some wood on Thursday. I went down to the harbour yesterday to see the wood, and it looks so much better than what we’ve been using – straighter, drier, smoother, and better quality grain. I look forward to using it! Next weeks goals are to prepare our factory site and hire the staff, receive the shipment of timber, and finish our remaining 12 houses of those started. Tuesday the 28^th is the anniversary of the earthquake that destroyed Nias, and we have been asked to receive media at our project site, so that needs to be planned and prepared.