Moving Day and 100 pounds of flour!

 Last Friday, with help from a few dozen Didinga friends, we managed to move almost all of Jonathan and Lauren's furniture from our mountaintop compound to the airstrip in the valley.
  

 Naboi, who delivered her eighth baby last month, carried this solid wood kitchen table.

 Joyce may be skinny, but she is certainly STRONG! 

Empty gas cylinders are not easy to handle.

 Two wicker chairs on the head and one newborn baby hiding under that gourd on the back...

 

 Over the river and through the woods to the airstrip we go...

 Taking a break at the halfway point.

 Break's over.  
Reloading.

 I carried a chair and Yaya.

 Nearly there.

 I wasn't exactly sure how long it would take all of us and the bed, tables, chairs, washboard and high chair to get to the airstrip.  Keeping time here in Didinga is a bit difficult.
So, we left plenty of leeway.

It took us about an hour and a half to travel from the compound down to the strip.

We left around 11 am.

The plane was scheduled to come at 3pm.

.

 We waited.

Some slept.  Some reveled in the comfort of Western chairs.

We had a humus, naan and lavender tea picnic.  

We were all comfortable.

 

And then, it threatened to rain and we weren't quite as comfortable.

Then, it only sprinkled and we were all relieved.

 And then at 4 o'clock ...

 

 The plane came and we were all VERY relieved!!!

 Pilot Jon managed to load the bed, tables, chairs, washboard and high chair onto the plane and unloaded a pumpkin, box of canned goods, two ziploc snack bags of strawberries!!!, our mail and a 100 pound bag of flour!

Our big, strong, adult Didinga helpers had wandered home hours before, exhausted by the wait.
Which presented us big, but not so strong, adult non-Didinga whities with something of a transportation problem.

However, I hear that necessity is the mother of invention, which just happens to be great because we eventually invented 3 somewhat lighter sacks of flour, rather than one incredibly heavy (as in some humans weigh that much) bag of flour.

With our groceries on our heads and little helpers in tow (with our groceries on their heads), we set-off for home, racing the incoming rain.

Fiona, our visitor from Australia, was a real trooper. 

Here she is with her flour load.

It should be noted that Fiona took every last picture on this particular blog post.

Thanks Fiona for all the great pictures!

The trail was pretty horrible.  

The rains have been so heavy this year.  

It often feels like we are drowning in mud.

Slippery... and oh, so precarious with that 47 pound bag of flour on top of my head.

My skills need work.

I must have dropped that bag of flour at least five times...

Nyokolaci is a professional.

He never dropped his load.  

He did however get a good laugh from watching me drop mine.

I am constantly reassessing what it means to be a child.

.  

Tired and muddy, but home again!

Home again with ALL 100 pounds of flour.