Someone asked about the camping experience from my (Jan’s) perspective.  In all honestly, this was not hard at all.  We borrowed a really great tent that endured ALL of the rain beautifully (as opposed to a few other tents that leaked).  We both slept pretty well thanks to some Ambien, ear plugs, good sleeping bags and thermarests.  The roosters started crowing after 3 in the morning but I usually didn’t hear them until after 5 which is when I would wake up anyway.  We averaged 6 hours of sleep each night which wasn’t too bad.  We were not doing a lot of physical activity due to the rain so we were not necessarily physically exhausted at the end of each day.  We estimate that it rained about 70% of time.   Most of that time, we were either in the church doing CHE training or hanging out under a tree or some other place of shelter.  The temperature was pretty cool while we were there.  I usually had a few layers of clothes on when I was out and about and then at night my sleeping bag was perfect for the weather conditions.  There was no running water or electricity.  They did have a light bulb which was run off a car battery in the room we ate in but otherwise, we all wore our headlamps.  Because it was raining so much, our team didn’t have to hike down to the creek to obtain water.  One of the buildings our church constructed last year had a metal roof and a gutter to collect rain water.  So, we used the rain water and ran it through a filter.  The water tasted like pool water so many of us would add Propel or Crystal Light single shots to flavor the water.   

As you know with camping, bathing isn’t always an option.  Wet wipes were our friend!  We did have a camping shower which by the 4 ^th day I had some people help me set-up so I could take a shower.  I didn’t plan on taking a shower the whole week.  I figured I would wash my hair on day 4 and that would hold me over for the rest of the week.  So, on day 4, a few of the girls on the team asked for some warm water from the Didinga girls who did all our cooking that week (we brought in our own food and paid them to cook it by the way).  Eunice, the pastor’s wife, heard that we wanted some warm water to wash our hair.  She came over and actually had us sit in a chair and lean back and SHE washed our hair for us!  I figured I’d have Brandon or another girl on my team help pour water on my head while I tried to wash my own hair.  I couldn’t believe she took time away from whatever she was doing to wash some of our hair!  Eunice was pretty funny joking that it was her salon.  Anyway, it felt so good having clean hair that after that I knew wanted to take a shower.  I didn’t care what kind of ordeal it was to set up the camp shower.  So, I admit it, I was the first to take a shower but several others went after me.   If I go again, and I hope I do, I will definitely make a point to use that camp shower more often because it really wasn't that difficult to set-up and use.

I had clean clothes for every day with the exception of my pants.  Those muddy things got re-worn but luckily the material was such that they didn't seem too dirty.  Probably could have washed them but since it kept raining there was no way anything would ever get dry.  With the exception of my pants, I left my clothes there.  After seeing so many people and kids in dirty and torn clothes there was no question as to whether I should keep my t-shirts or leave them.  I also left a pair of crocs since so many people I saw didn’t have shoes.  Those who did have shoes wore plastic type sandals which appear to be great for the muddy conditions because they are easy to clean and are durable.