The Julie Wall

 

On our verandah, we have not spent the money to pour cement for the floor, so it is still dirt.  Since it has been a very large dry area in the rain, it has also become something of a storage shed.  Not pleasant to look at.  So before recent guests arrived, I had the idea to build a waist high wall about half way down.  Half would be the storage, junky area, and the other half would be a nice sitting area. 

 

So one Saturday, Julie (a volunteer from CO) and I went out to start using the discarded blocks to make this wall.  It didn't take me long to realize that this wasn't a job for me with the condition of my back.  So throughout the day, Julie worked away.  The string we ran to make sure things were straight was really a ribbon.  It seemed appropriate since ladies started the building.  It has proven to be a wonderful thing and now we have a table and chairs out on the verandah for sitting and also doing work.

 

On that same day, Paul (a volunteer from MD) was here.  He came up to the school to help me hang curtains.  As he said: seemed a little backwards – a man hanging curtains, and a woman building a wall.

 

Earlier in the school year I was told by the children that if we set up a play kitchen, that would be for the girls.  Some of the boys were quite surprised to learn that Benedict and Teacher Bossman's husband both know how to cook and make food.

 

So on Friday, I was working on landscaping outside the school/Community Center.  I had gone home to change from my skirt to pants and work clothes.  After I returned and started digging, Brighton said to me, "You are a boy."  I asked why?  He said because I was digging. 

 

So I guess no matter where you go in the world, there are definite ideas about what men do and what women do.  Sometimes these ideas are very different.  But I still love to dig in the dirt, and I love it when Benedict cooks and I don't have to!