Unpacking stored items

One of the first things that I’ll be doing when I get to Buka is taking things out of storage and repacking them for going back to the village. There are my own personal belongings as well as the things that Rebekah and I share, such as pots and plates, etc.

It will be interesting to see how it goes – we put everything in the metal shipping container back in December last year – that was a long time ago! The main challenge will be to see if I can find everything that belongs to me/us. I’m not sure if the contents of the container have been rearranged since we left, and if that’s the case, it will be REALLY interesting to see where our things are, but even if they’re where we left them, it’s still going to be a challenge, because the container is full of other people’s stored items too, and our boxes were just packed in various spots around the container, not just all in one corner.

The shipping container is all metal, so on a hot, sunny day, it’s like an oven in there (and most people would think it is hot enough outside)! So as you can imagine, you don’t want to be in there too long, but because I don’t know how many boxes to look for and where exactly they all are, I will have to spend some time standing in there, scanning around to see if something jumps out at me as belonging to us. Some things will be easy to find, others may be a bit more of a challenge.

I also wonder how the heat and humidity has treated my clothes – will they be covered in mould and falling apart? Will have to wait and see.

Forever packing

Packing is something that is just a part of my life now. If I go to the village, I have to pack; if I return to Buka, I have to pack.

In the village, our bedroom is too small to spread out and do any packing in, so the night before we go to Buka, we take over what would be the living room if it had couches in it. It’s just a big open room which the bedrooms are adjoined to. During our village stay, our food and cooking items are stored in a corner of the large open area.

We don’t completely pack up everything that we have in the village every time we leave, so that makes it a bit easier, but it involves looking at everything and deciding if it is staying or coming with me, so I need to spread out and put things in their separate bundles.

In these two photos you can see how much we spread out in the large room. It’s not a problem really as nobody ever spends any time in there, so we’re not getting in anyone’s way (except for when they want to get something from a bedroom and have to negotiate our obstacle course!).

Preparing to leave

Well, it’s only 3 more sleeps till I leave for Buka! I’ve packed up everything that I want to ship to Buka, and today I’m going to pack some of the things I’m leaving in Ukarumpa, and the things I am going to take to Buka with me in my luggage.

I’m also getting rid of some things. I’m sure it’s impossible to time your food purchases so that your cupboard is bare on the day that you leave, so I have some food that I have to give away. Tonight I am having the other singles over to my house and I will ‘auction’ off my leftover food and some other things I don’t need. The way it works, is I hold up each item, and if it’s a popular thing, people’s hands shoot up to claim it. If it’s something no-one really wants, it is given to the first person who says something about it. We call it an ‘auction’, but everything is given away for free.

Here’s a photo of some of the food I am giving away. I know that it looks like a lot, but I’ve done my best to whittle it down, and I did sell a few unopened items. I have benefited a lot from other people’s auctions though too, especially by getting lots of sunscreen that I am shipping to Buka. Sunscreen is so expensive here, so it has been very exciting to get it for free – great value! I have enough to last me for ages now.

Yesterday in the church service we had a commissioning for Rebekah and I now that we are going to work with the Teop language. We shared a bit about the history of language work in Teop, and how we decided to work there. We showed a Powerpoint slideshow with nice pictures of people and the area. I wish I could show it to you, but it is 6MB – a bit hard to send! After the slideshow, one of the directors invited people to come up the front and surround us, while he prayed for us to send us off.