long Egypt update
from her mother:
July 21, 2006
Better get a cup of tea, this will take a while! (If you are privy to my yearly epistles, this is similar!)
Just a reminder to keep checking the TMI link below - they have another update posted today! There’s lots of info there which Shannon didn’t include in her emails to me. (They post updates twice a week.)
http://www.teenmissions.org/latestnews/overseasreportsteam.php?pageNum_Recordset1=0&totalRows_Recordset1=2&REPORT_TEAM_NUM=06012
I’ve received several emails from Shannon in Egypt - an advantage of being a leader! (our internet was down due to storm Mon. night, so this is the first chance I’ve had to send out an update. Here’s the gist of them (most recent, first):
July 21, 2006
I'm doing ok, feeling better, the team has been really sick... The team is great - there have been a few issues and a lot of problems with cliques, but I don't have time to elaborate...just pray for them please, and for patience...also pray for positive attitudes for the kids.
There are lots of sick people on the team, we consistently have around 8 or 9 people (often different people sick for a couple of days) in the sick rooms...oh yeah, we're pretty much a holiday inn team...we have showers (cold, but I wouldn't want hot showers cuz cold is SO much more refreshing) and leaders only have washing machines (plus occasional use of the internet), and we have beds, its so much easier than boot camp.
If you’d like to write Shannon, you’ll now have to use the Switzerland address because a letter sent now wouldn’t reach Egypt in time … she’d love mail. She just told me today that Christian references are fine in letters to Egypt, but it’s too late now anyway! I was really careful with what I said, just in case! This is the address (write until Aug. 1):
Teen Missions Team 06012
Shannon Brandon
c/o Willy Droz
Boite 706, Gueuroz
1920 Martigny
SWITZERLAND
Here’s more information from another female assistant team leader, Cat on July 18:
Things here have been looking up, we are staying in a dorm of some sort with showers provided and a kitchen with running (though not filtered) water and a stove/oven. I really enjoy all the cooking I get to
do with all these kids on their Kp days.
The flies here can be a little annoying especially in the day time and
mosquitos take over the night shift. We have soon found out that the dorms can be extremely stuffy at night so a few of us took our mattresses to the roof top and now sleep there. We are sure to spray bug spray on us before going to sleep. The noises around here are very different compared to home. The calls from the mosques start about 4:30 and go on 5 times a day at 1 hour intervals. They also have a bazaar that goes on almost all night and the music is really
neat to listen to. Our group has all ready done several presentations and the kids really like Shout to the Lord and Every Move I Make. We are also given the chance to volunteer in the nursery during our free time and the team members are jumping at the chance.
Our project when we had gotten here had changed. No longer are we
renovating a boys cafeteria but a dormitory in one of the other buildings. The first day they sanded the walls, and have been painting them with different kinds of paint (one latex and the other oil base). They are doing a wonderful job of it too. The cultural sensitivity was taken a little too extreme at boot camp. Though the girls of this area are flocking around our boys asking to marry them lol. It's so funny to see the guys' reaction. The other day when a group of them went to see the doctor, there were about 5 girls flocking one of our boys (named Garrett) He was so scared he hid behind our nurse, Shannon
asking her to be his "wife" while they were there. We have not had problems with guys flocking the girls. Kind of ironic I think.
Shannon: July 17/06:
I've gotten to use a lot of nursing skills while being here...unfortunately quite a few kids are sick (and not because of bad water). The head leader, Anna, got sick, so I was in charge of the kitchen for a few days.
So there are 25 kids on the team, and 4 leaders (3 female, one male). We have some amazing kids on our team...the guys caught a 3 foot long alligator at boot camp (yes there are pictures of me holding it).
The orphans are great, a lot of them are older, we can't look at the guys, which is hard...and the problem is that some of these male orphans are very good looking! The babies are adorable, but there are only 3. The kids only get to leave the orphanage once they're married, or self-sufficient if they're boys (because anything else is unsafe). So there are some orphans that stay here for life. The orphanage is HUGE and mainly self-sufficient they have a farm (beef and dairy cows, goats, sheep), they make some clothes, they have a bakery, and a university on the property. Lots of kids marry each other, and they frequently stay here and are involved with the orphanage. I met one of the men on the board of directors...he's chairman, has been since 1961. He's 89 years old and still a practising lawyer!
July 11/06 update from a parent (Cat’s mom) who attended commissioning (the night before they leave Florida:
While we were at commissioning the local newspaper, Florida Today, did a full story on the Teen Missions Boot Camp and projects. This is the link to that story:
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060710/NEWS01/607100321/1006
(This is quite a lengthy article but it’s well written and includes background on TMI, as well as details about Boot Camp.)
During team time on Saturday night, it was so wonderful to ear
multiple team members praise God for the unity that has been a character trait of the team. Besides the normal requests for health and safety, there were several heartfelt requests for numerous family situations and challenges of several kids on the team. The kids know that there are folks praying for them because the team unified from day one! Even one of the kitchen helpers referred to them as their favorite team to have in KP because they worked so well together! This is a really great team!
July 21, 2006
Better get a cup of tea, this will take a while! (If you are privy to my yearly epistles, this is similar!)
Just a reminder to keep checking the TMI link below - they have another update posted today! There’s lots of info there which Shannon didn’t include in her emails to me. (They post updates twice a week.)
http://www.teenmissions.org/latestnews/overseasreportsteam.php?pageNum_Recordset1=0&totalRows_Recordset1=2&REPORT_TEAM_NUM=06012
I’ve received several emails from Shannon in Egypt - an advantage of being a leader! (our internet was down due to storm Mon. night, so this is the first chance I’ve had to send out an update. Here’s the gist of them (most recent, first):
July 21, 2006
I'm doing ok, feeling better, the team has been really sick... The team is great - there have been a few issues and a lot of problems with cliques, but I don't have time to elaborate...just pray for them please, and for patience...also pray for positive attitudes for the kids.
There are lots of sick people on the team, we consistently have around 8 or 9 people (often different people sick for a couple of days) in the sick rooms...oh yeah, we're pretty much a holiday inn team...we have showers (cold, but I wouldn't want hot showers cuz cold is SO much more refreshing) and leaders only have washing machines (plus occasional use of the internet), and we have beds, its so much easier than boot camp.
If you’d like to write Shannon, you’ll now have to use the Switzerland address because a letter sent now wouldn’t reach Egypt in time … she’d love mail. She just told me today that Christian references are fine in letters to Egypt, but it’s too late now anyway! I was really careful with what I said, just in case! This is the address (write until Aug. 1):
Teen Missions Team 06012
Shannon Brandon
c/o Willy Droz
Boite 706, Gueuroz
1920 Martigny
SWITZERLAND
Here’s more information from another female assistant team leader, Cat on July 18:
Things here have been looking up, we are staying in a dorm of some sort with showers provided and a kitchen with running (though not filtered) water and a stove/oven. I really enjoy all the cooking I get to
do with all these kids on their Kp days.
The flies here can be a little annoying especially in the day time and
mosquitos take over the night shift. We have soon found out that the dorms can be extremely stuffy at night so a few of us took our mattresses to the roof top and now sleep there. We are sure to spray bug spray on us before going to sleep. The noises around here are very different compared to home. The calls from the mosques start about 4:30 and go on 5 times a day at 1 hour intervals. They also have a bazaar that goes on almost all night and the music is really
neat to listen to. Our group has all ready done several presentations and the kids really like Shout to the Lord and Every Move I Make. We are also given the chance to volunteer in the nursery during our free time and the team members are jumping at the chance.
Our project when we had gotten here had changed. No longer are we
renovating a boys cafeteria but a dormitory in one of the other buildings. The first day they sanded the walls, and have been painting them with different kinds of paint (one latex and the other oil base). They are doing a wonderful job of it too. The cultural sensitivity was taken a little too extreme at boot camp. Though the girls of this area are flocking around our boys asking to marry them lol. It's so funny to see the guys' reaction. The other day when a group of them went to see the doctor, there were about 5 girls flocking one of our boys (named Garrett) He was so scared he hid behind our nurse, Shannon
asking her to be his "wife" while they were there. We have not had problems with guys flocking the girls. Kind of ironic I think.
Shannon: July 17/06:
I've gotten to use a lot of nursing skills while being here...unfortunately quite a few kids are sick (and not because of bad water). The head leader, Anna, got sick, so I was in charge of the kitchen for a few days.
So there are 25 kids on the team, and 4 leaders (3 female, one male). We have some amazing kids on our team...the guys caught a 3 foot long alligator at boot camp (yes there are pictures of me holding it).
The orphans are great, a lot of them are older, we can't look at the guys, which is hard...and the problem is that some of these male orphans are very good looking! The babies are adorable, but there are only 3. The kids only get to leave the orphanage once they're married, or self-sufficient if they're boys (because anything else is unsafe). So there are some orphans that stay here for life. The orphanage is HUGE and mainly self-sufficient they have a farm (beef and dairy cows, goats, sheep), they make some clothes, they have a bakery, and a university on the property. Lots of kids marry each other, and they frequently stay here and are involved with the orphanage. I met one of the men on the board of directors...he's chairman, has been since 1961. He's 89 years old and still a practising lawyer!
July 11/06 update from a parent (Cat’s mom) who attended commissioning (the night before they leave Florida:
While we were at commissioning the local newspaper, Florida Today, did a full story on the Teen Missions Boot Camp and projects. This is the link to that story:
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060710/NEWS01/607100321/1006
(This is quite a lengthy article but it’s well written and includes background on TMI, as well as details about Boot Camp.)
During team time on Saturday night, it was so wonderful to ear
multiple team members praise God for the unity that has been a character trait of the team. Besides the normal requests for health and safety, there were several heartfelt requests for numerous family situations and challenges of several kids on the team. The kids know that there are folks praying for them because the team unified from day one! Even one of the kitchen helpers referred to them as their favorite team to have in KP because they worked so well together! This is a really great team!