Chief Bawa

Chief Bawa is the tribal chief in the district that we were working in. He is a great man. He cares about his people. Before he was chief, he used his own money to finish the road to Tenzuk Hills so that his people could have better access to water. He does everything in his power to make sure that his people have what they need. He cares about everyone. He has so many kids living in his house because he just takes them all in when they have nowhere else to go. One day while we were talking to him, one of those kids curled up right beside him and fell asleep. He has such a tender heart. You cannot meet this man and not absolutely think the world of him. I SO wish I had a couple of our encounters with the chief on video because I think that is the only way you would truly believe me. But, imagine this.....you're sitting at the chief's feet as in the picture above feeling like you've gone back in time about 500 years.....when all of the sudden a very high tech cell phone rings and the chief stops all conversation and answers it!!!! It just cracked me up!!!
Here is the chief's palace:His chair:His weight room: And, don't forget solar power:On our last day up north, the chief had asked us to come to a festival in our honor. They were going to dress in the traditional tribal clothes and dance for us around the fire and everything. Unfortunately, the village lost someone that day and had a burial on that day. They aren't allowed to have a festival and a burial on the same day. So, we just stopped by the chief's house to say good-bye. While we were there with the chief and his elders......John was translating for us. John all of the sudden broke into much laughter and looked at me and said, "The chief just said that from the way things look.....you should be his wife!!!!!!!!" WHAT??? Yep, crazy. He then proceeded to give me a dress and Chris, Scott, and Tommy all got shirts. The chief did point out to me that my dress and Chris's shirt matched. So he assured us that he wasn't trying to break up our marriage! Whew! But, please look closely in the picture above and you can see Chris giving me a look during the picture where I'm having to sit by the chief.

One more funny story from our time at the chief's palace that day....we were not expecting gifts. And, we had nothing particular to give to the chief as we had actually already given him something earlier in the week. But, we felt like we had to give him something when he presented us with our gifts. I looked at Scott and said, "your watch." He said, "good idea....it's just a watch from China." So, he took it off and handed it to John who was translating for us and John presented the watch to the chief and said, "here is a watch that Scott got for you in China!!" How funny.......I wonder if they know that everything is made in China!!! Just another one of those funny moments and good memories from the trip.