Lesplansie

Last week around this time I went to the interior of Suriname. As stated in a previous post the organization I work with, NAPS, has built a church in the village Lesplansie where we are committed to developing.  From Lesplansie we will branch out to other villages and lend a helping hand where needed. Everything is pretty much done with the church except the windows that need to be put in, a toilet needs to be dug out, and the church needs a good paint job. I think we will do some electrical work, but I don't know much about the details. I was there to cook. While the men were doing the digging I was in the kitchen preparing some good meals. The facilities weren't the best, but you use what you have. 

The Kitchen

The Stove

The kitchen got a little smoky at times, but I step out and get some fresh air so that I can breathe. The villagers work in this kitchen 24/7 and don't seem to be affected by the smoke that flares up from the firewood. The stove was obviously not conventional, but I learned the way to put the fire on high is to add a lot of firewood and fan really good. The way to turn down the fire is to pull out the firewood where just the embers are in the middle and the ends are not touching each other anymore. Life in the interior is simple, sometimes too simple. Over time hopefully through technology and education there will be advancements for the villages.

Enjoying the simple life...

Hot Road

Today I just came back from the interior and it was such a beautiful experience. It was hot, but the trip was definitely worth it. About 90% of Suriname is comprised of "bush". Leaving only about 10% developed. To me if you come to Suriname and haven't visited the interior then you haven't really visited Suriname. Traveling on the road though is pretty difficult, mainly because of the heat. Where I went was a little village called Lesplansi. To get there, from Paramaribo, you have to drive for about 4 hours south to Atjoni, a little pit stop dock to all the Saramaccan villages. From there you get on a canoe and drive or ride rather for about 40 minutes to Lesplansi. There enjoy the love of simplicity!

Back to the heat...When I said heat the road is HOT! Unfortunately there hasn't been any rain for almost a month now. So imagine the pavement just being beaten by the Amazon sun day in and day out. Depending on the type of tires you have, one of them might give out on you. This trip I experienced just that. As we were driving back this afternoon we saw about 5 tires just give out. Our tire is actually included in the 5. The driver had good control and thank God we were safe. The rubber gets so hot that the tire just explodes. Explodes is a really strong word, but it will give you an idea of the heat. Regardless of the heat I would take that road just to see my friends in Lesplansi.

Praying for rain...