We have just come back online after being cut off last Friday, so we haven’t been able to get much info out about our eventful weekend!
We had great plans. We had a full weekend with prayer days, youth group, hiking and even a Christmas carols night planned outside on the Friday night – we had about 50 people all staying at our place to make the most of the occasion. Friday went well with a Chiyawo grammar course to assist all of the budding Chiyawo learners in the area. We finished mid afternoon and began to setup for the outdoor Christmas carols at out place and youth group up the hill at the Falconers place.
All was going well until about 3:30pm – Kath had set up her Christmas bunting in the trees and I even had my Guitar and amp set up ready for carols. It was looking great until it started to rain a bit. It wasn’t too bad, just normal rain that stopped after about 30 mins and gave us hope that we may still be able to continue with our plans until this loomed over the mountain.
In a few minutes the storm hit with a vengeance!
The storm continued like this for quite some time – we cancelled out outdoor plans, moved everything inside and generally sheltered until it died down. We did however need to get the kids to the falconers 100m up the hill, so they all piled in the car… it seems this is when the storm got really serious and started to do big damage to property down in the village.
We got up early the next morning to go and see what had happened to our friends in the village. The destruction was absolute with roofs ripped off buildings and walls smashed by the wind. What made it more heartbreaking is that many of the houses ruined have only just been built as building season always occurs in the driest part of the year just before December.
We made a plan to help with the immediate needs of helping clear debris and provide some food. Some people headed off to help with chainsawing and shifting trees off houses and others headed off with a bucket of sweet hot tea and bread rolls to give to people.
More in part II
The Beeck Brief 
I miss your sense of humour Cam. Does it translate across cultures? Do the Africans get it?
Merry Christmas!
Humour it seems translates ok… as long as you keep it simple. Plus seeing you names reminds me I need to post something!!