Where there is no Bridge (Matt)

In June, Laveryl Voss (an experienced builder here), Kay Hapawo  (a local carpenter), and myself went to Lae to work on a house for Nathalie and Foreting Simonsson. They are both deaf and are working with about 80 deaf people in Lae, a large port city. They said that number should be much higher, but many deaf children are believed to be mentally handicapped and many times pushed out of a village or abandoned.They asked us to help assist in finishing the outside of their house.

   We drove 4 hours and brought in all of our materials, tools and equipment. There is no power there so we brought a generator, too. We forded a river to get there. When we went there, there had been little rain so the water was low.

Almost all the people that we interacted with there were deaf. It was exciting to see a world that I was unfamiliar with. Many wanted to help us build. At times, it was quite a challenge to communicate while building, but we really enjoyed it and made friends too! We were only there one week but we got a lot accomplished. The last three days, there were heavy rains and when the morning came for us to leave, it was pouring. Foreting's father came and told us that the river was impassible. We went to check it out after a larger vehicle came through.  Several people from the village waded across to find the best route for us and then we went for it.

I was really happy to be able to work on a village project. It's fulfilling to help other missionaries on the field.