Bees and Trees

Box full of honeycomb


We have a bee hive and the honey is very sweet.

I finally got the courage to climb a coconut tree! I even got both feet off the ground!

Maria and I both had our hair braided on Sabbath so we took a picture. I took a nap Friday evening and when I woke up part of my hair was braided. It was nice.

We really need a principle! Please pray that God will send one. He has someone in mind, I just pray that they will come sooner rather than later.

Keep sending emails! I try and get an email out every time James goes to GT but sometimes he leaves unexpectedly.

Love you tons! Thanks for all your prayers. I'm praying for you too!

Another quick note

Nov 6 08

Hey

James should be coming in today so I'm going to attempt to get an email out.

Since I just wrote you I'm not sure what to say. I've decided that I'm not a very good math teacher. and I've decided that you need to send one of our GP teachers here to be the principal. Or at least to help out!

It seems like these kids do not know how to be respectful. They tell you something and then they say "you hear?" and I don't know if it is just their culture or what, but it is very rude. I don't know how to get them to be respectful. They all call me Miss, and the guys Sir. but they do have a lack of respect. I don't know how to get respect, I'm so used to giving it. We need someone here who is older, that the kids will respect and do what they say. If James was here that is what they would do but as soon as he leaves everyone goes back to the old habits.

I still haven't gotten the mail from mama. If you are going to send Christmas stuff send it soon!

When James gets time we will work on the radio but who knows when that will be. He is so busy, did I tell you that he has like 3 leadership roles. His wife is coming tomorrow so hopefully that will help. She will always be here so that will be great.

Well I've got to go get the school moving.

love you all.

Karla

Cassava Bread

This is Maria after she picked an Edo, we only eat the root.


October 31, 2008
I have so much to write I’m going to try and get it all down.

This week we made cassava bread. It was quite a cultural experience. First we got the guys to go and pick the cassava. Then the next day the girls, all 17 of us, peeled the outer layer off (it comes off easy enough). Then we had some girls wash the root, and then there were 4 girls that grated it. They are serious about grating. They don’t use a little grater but they get these big boards with metal in them and grate with two hands into this big long wood container. I grated for awhile but I was too slow so I gave over my spot in favor of a more experienced girl. I tried peeling the root, but I was too slow at that too and I took too much off. So then I tried washing but I didn’t do well at that either. So I decided that I would take the clean cassava to the graters. Between that and taking pictures I kept myself busy.


The girls worked so well when we had cassava to work on. I was so impressed. I’ve never seen them work so well together or so diligently. It was fun to watch them at work.

The next day we did some more grating because we got more cassava picked. Then we started to squeeze the grated cassava. They have these squeezers that they call “mataphi”. It takes quite awhile to get the cassava dry and then once it is dried they shift it and then they “bake it” (I think frying it is a better term, but it is a dry fry). Then after they bake it they put in out in the sun to dry some more.

This has been the most culture that I have gotten.

Sight seeing

Yesterday the girls went to the village for industry; Maria walked them to the village and left them with their teacher. Then came back and we went down the trail to see some sights. As soon as we got on the trail and left the campus we hit jungle. I was in shock. I had been here for 2 months and I hadn’t seen this part of the campus. It was so cool! You all have to come and see it.

We didn’t walk far but passed though a massive field that was planted with cassava, with a house in the middle of it. Then came onto another house where they were making furniture in the yard. Then we got to a landing by the river. It was so nice. On the other side of the river is a nice sandy beach area. There are many rocks in the water and some fast water up the river that some Amerindians call waterfalls.

Maria and I got in the water then walked on the rocks until we crossed and then came back. We crossed the river in spurts, swimming, walking on the rocks, and then swimming.

As soon as we came back to where we got in the water Maria found gold! I thought she was joking, because who ever finds gold? Not me. But it was gold; it was little flakes of gold. I was like "I’m rich". And I took a little flake. But then I started thinking about how the land was not mine, how I was in Guyana for God and that the money would not be mine but God’s and DIIC. Then I looked down and the gold was gone. It would not have brought any money but I was acting like it was a big piece of gold. I felt silly but it was only Maria and I so I kept on in my silliness.

We got back just in time to head to the village to go get the girls. When we got to the village we started to play volleyball with the girls. It was fun. We haven’t played volley ball all year because we don’t have a ball. We have a net, but no ball. I have one on my list so that hopefully it will come soon.

Banana Harvesting

Mid morning today I realized that we did not have enough bananas. Farm time was over and I wasn’t sure how we could get more bananas. So after industries started Maria and I headed up to the farm to get some bananas. Now we are not nearly as good at getting bananas as the kids are because we are new to this whole thing. But we went up and tried our best to find some that were green enough. After searching high and low Maria spotted one that was partly yellow, which means we didn’t pick it soon enough. We got it and they were apple bananas, my favorite! Some of the yellow ones were ripe and fell off so we just had to eat them.

It is fun to fall a banana tree, I’m not an expert yet but with practice I’ll get better.

That is all the exciting stuff that has happened that I remember at this moment. Sorry that I didn’t write it very well but I’m just rushing so that at least it gets written.

You asked about my hygiene. I’ve been thinking about that lately, because it seems like I do not have time to take a shower, or to go to the outhouse. I’m always rushing to get to the outhouse. Not sure if that is because I’m avoiding it or because I don’t have time. I’m thankful for my gloves because I do not have time to dig the dirt out of my nails.

With one shower it is hard to get all 19 of us showered when we have to be rushed, especially when they do their laundry with them as they bath. When we get back from farm and have 45 minutes till classes, I don’t get a shower until 10:10 and class starts at 10:15. It is crazy. I do not like it. I want my own shower.

Good night for now. Not sure when James is going to town again, but I want to have something written before so I don’t have to rush later, just now.

Love you all, keep praying for me and this school and that we get a principle! I’m praying for you
Karla

For those who asked about donations

Some people have asked about sending donations to either DIIC or Karla, and here is the answer.

Donations can be sent to PO Box 506, Collegedale, TN 37315. Make checks payable to Gospel Ministries International, and include a note stating that this is for Karla Coupland at Davis Indian Ind. College in Guyana.

The money will be put into James Ash's account,if the donation is for Karla he can give the money to her.

It's just important that both Karla's name and DIIC are included so we know where she is.

Donations can also be made online at, gospelministry.org, through Paypal, as long as instructions are included that the money is for Karla Coupland at DIIC. Just be aware that if a PayPal donation is made, around 3% of the donation will be lost to fees, but with a check she will get the whole amount

Tangerine harvesting

October 27, 2008
For the last couple of days I’ve been craving tangerines. It seems like every time we go to the village we come back having eaten at least one tangerine. But I wanted some to share with everybody and myself. On Monday some of the kids showed me a tangerine tree, and we went to pick about 30 of them so that we could share with all the students. Much of the fruit was too high to reach by hand and so we used a stick to try and knock some off. But in this wonderful fruit tree are these flies called marbontus. They are about the size of a bee, brown and look dangerous. They are fast and they can barely touch you and you will get stung. One of the boys, Devenish, got stung but I didn’t so I was still trying to get some tangerines. Then I got stung and ran away like Devenish did.

Today I didn’t want to let the flies defeat me. So I convinced Maria to go collect tangerines with me. Because we have bee hives here on campus we also have bee keeper suits. So we got the bee suits and headed up to collect tangerines! We felt very silly wearing bee keepers garb to collect fruit from a tree.

It took quite a while to collect enough tangerines to feed all the students. At first the marbontus did not bother us. But after we gave the tree some really good shakes they were all over the place. One got in my hat and stung my head. And Maria got two stings on her arms because her gloves were not long enough.

I didn’t take my camera because I didn’t want to get honey or tangerine juice all over it. But maybe we’ll do it again and get a picture in our bee keeper’s suit.

New foods

I wanted to tell about the food I got to eat this week. I had a cashew fruit. It was ok. It reminded me of another fruit that I had eaten before but I don’t know what. But the texture of it was not nice. It left an aftertaste, like a green banana would. So it was ok, but not something I would go out of my way to get. I got the nut off the end of it and I’m scared to open it up and eat it because my friend, Stephanie, told me that the oil is poisonous. So I need to get someone to help me out when I eat it.

Also one of the girl’s mothers had squeezed some sugar cane and then boiled it. It was very sticky. But it was good. It reminded me of molasses, but very sweet. However, I’ve never eaten molasses plain so I’m not sure what that tastes like.

James got to talk to some of the students that we are having problems with and that is such a blessing. I wish he was here all the time because he knows how to discipline. Something I’m not good at. I like to have fun too much!

Because of James unexpected trip I’m racing with my battery so that I can get an email written before it dies.

Thank you for all your prayers. I love hearing from all of you!

Love you all! I’ll try and get some pictures on here tomorrow morning!

I also like getting news!

Love you all

Karla