First Days at Yehebi

Day One

       We flew into Yehebi a little before noon on July 8th along with Pastor Sefasui who had been waiting for us at Rumginae Hospital Station. After landing, our old friends we knew who greeted me were staring pretty hard as if to say, “Is this old man really Dale?” Of course they didn’t know that I was looking back at some of them with the same thought. They all looked a bit older and wrinkled...a bit like me, I guess!

     Rick, the MAF pilot wanted to see the station, so I showed him around. After he left, everyone helped get our things into the little two-room house that we had used as a guesthouse and a schoolroom for our children. We took time to sort things and get a little organized. I told everyone that once we got somewhat settled, we would walk up to the village to visit with everyone. It would be too hard to unpack once darkness came, so we wanted to get that done.

       It was hard to believe that we were looking at our old house and the other buildings that we had put up so many years ago. The house we had lived in, now the living quarters for the community health worker, looked good and proved that it had been “built like a tank.”
       When we pretty much unpacked and organized, we left to visit with everyone. Arriving in the lower village, about ten people walked around house to house with us telling us who lived in each house. They also showed us where Abalai was buried. (He had been the village sorcerer, but had come to the Lord, along with his wife Suya, during our early years there.) We kept walking when they told me, too late, that I was standing on Hawi’s grave. Nice guy that he was, I’m sure he wouldn’t have cared, but I jumped off quickly not wanting the ground to collapse under my weight.

       We then walked across to the second village. They showed us the big traditional longhouse that belonged to Kuyab...and his two wives. Although he had professed to be a Christian, after we left in late ’94, he decided to take another wife following in the “tradition” of his father. We visited the rest of the houses taking with us the group of folks that had been guiding us.
       Then we returned to the little schoolroom, repaired some holes in the screening with a piece of screening I had brought along, tied up our mosquito nets, and covered some gaping holes in the floor with the leftover screen. (We really didn’t want to get bitten by malaria-carrying mosquitoes if we didn’t need to!)
By this time, it was 6:30 and pretty dark. We retrieved our brand new kerosene lamp, only to drop it on the floor and break the glass globe, making it about useless. At least we brought three flashlights and batteries. Having nothing else to do, by 7:30 we went to bed to read.

Day Two

       That morning we got up and kept trying to organize our food and other things. This was not my gift, but to keep from getting discouraged with messes and missing things, we felt it was important. David decided to go off fishing with a couple guys. I then worked on a message and reviewed some of the language.

       Then I went to do an inspection of the tractor and lawnmower and tried to understand just what the problems were. The tractor has missing radiator hoses, but nothing else was obvious as to why it might not be running. The tractor and lawnmower are both important for cutting/maintaining the 1900 foot airstrip, and they had been cutting it by hand for the last three years, a monumental task with grass knives.
       At 3 o’clock, we decided to go the river for a wash. We hauled down our dirty clothes and dishes to wash. David insisted on swimming across the river to a little lagoon where we used to hang out, but couldn’t get to it because you would sink into muck up to your knees trying to get there. He gave up and swam back.
       Finally we arrived back and tried to get our new kerosene cooking primus working, cooked our rice and then mixed in a dark oily can of tuna. Certainly not home-cooking, but it didn’t taste too bad.