SIFAT is ìServants in Faith and Technologyî.† I had heard about them a couple of months ago and wanted to go on a field trip there so badly.† Then for November our Homeschool group planned a trip!!† I was so excited and signed up immediately.

As the day drew nearer I was less excited about being at a field trip at 9:00 am to a location 3 hours away!† I hemmed and hawed about it back and forth.† Kei and I went to youtube and searched for some videos and got excited and we made up our mind to go!† We planned to ride with Heather and her boys and made plans to meet them about 20 minutes from here.

After a few problems; waking up at 4:30!, dog trying to escape at 5:00 AM, Dr. Pepper exploding in kitchen, running late, Kei getting car sick and Heather not feeling well, getting lost a couple of times; we finally arrived at the SIFAT campus.

This is a Christian international organization that provides training to people from all over the world.† This training helps people meet basic needs such as food, water, shelter.† They have summer camps and day field trips and also train missionaries.

They have a global village where you can visit parts of Latin America, Africa and Asia.† They have a representation of homes of each area, along with flags, furniture, animals, etc.† It was truly amazing.

After meeting as a group in the Quonset Hut, we divided into smaller groups and went with our first leader.† Our first stop taught the kids how to make mud bricks.† This involved sifting the dirt, chopping straw, getting water from the stream and mixing all together.† Kei, Zach and J.J. didnít mind getting dirty at all!† Our guide told us that smoke inhalation from cooking fires was one of the leading causes of death among women and children in some of these countries!

Next we moved on the Uganda where we saw a waddle and daub house. They have no electricity or running water.† They have goats for milk.† Children start helping at a very young age.† They have storage ëwellsí to keep grain in.† Our guide told us to get the grain out someone has to actually go into the ëwellí and wait until someone pulls them out.† We also learned about the rocket stove.† These are easy to construct, with low-cost materials. These are low-mass stoves designed to burn small pieces of wood very efficiently. Cooking is done on top of a short insulated chimney.† The people of Uganda keep goats for milk and food.

Next stopÖthe slums. These slums were not indicative of any one place; there are slums all over the world, even in the United States. They are made from whatever can be found.† We saw old tires, pieces of cardboard, old couches, doors, bed pieces, anything they can find.† We learned about dirty water and what a huge problem it is for so many places in the world.† She told us how people die from diarrhea all over the world.† They get parasites and get dehydrated.† †We learned 3 ways to purify water.† The first uses a car battery, salt and water to produce ëchlorineí that purifies.† The second was using a mixture of rocks, gravel and sand that filters the water into drinkable water.† The one that surprised me the most was using solar power.† Just fill up a plastic water bottle and leave in direct sunlight for at least 6 hours.† This makes the water 98.99% purified!

We then moved to Bolivia which we loved!† There was a guide who had actually spent 10 years in Bolivia. He had a guinea pig in a cage which he said that families ate! The people who live in the Southern part of the country, which is in the mountains, have a hard life.† They live in circular rock huts with thatched roofs that are extremely small and cramped. They surround their huts with goats to help keep the hut warm.† They father and sons would go work in the field while the mothers and children would tend to the house.† They would cook breakfast and lunch at the same time.

We then went for lunch.† Kei found a dog to pet.

Guatemala was next.† This was very cool because Sophia, who was cooking, was originally from Guatemala.† They explained the entire process of making tortillas.† First you have to grow the corn, then harvest and let the kernels dry.† Then the kernels are removed and it is boiled in a mixture of water, lime and ash.† This produces hominy! The outer shell is then removed and the inside is ground to a flour consistency by hand.† You then have Mesa flour and you make your dough and roll a section into a ball and press on a tortilla press.† Then they are fried on a cast iron griddle.† It just amazed me since the hardest part of OUR tortilla shopping is which kind to buy.† We take so much for granted.

Kei got picked to actually make a tortilla.

Then we went to the rope bridge.† This was unlike any rope bridge I had ever seen!† It had a single, very thick rope going across with runners coming up from it.† The guide told us that even llamas crossed the bridges!† We tried to convince him to let us go get the goat to experiment but he nixed that idea.† Zachary is afraid of heights and I was so proud of him for making it across.† Kei had no qualms and just took off.† I wasnít afraid but it was harder than it looked.† I think the fact that I had on big, clunky boots may have had something to do with it!† All of our group crossed and we were very proud of ourselves.

Our last stop was the Philippines where the homes are constructed of bamboo. They were very cool and felt like a tree house because they are raised off the ground by stilts.† Bamboo is everywhere in the Philippines and it was on the walls and floor and even the furniture was made from Bamboo.

There are 7,000 islands in the Philippines but only about 1000 are inhabited.† The other 6000 island are under water when the tide rises.† Definitely a deterrent to living there!†† After we explored the house and discovered that the Philippines way to greet someone is to shake hands, touch your forehead to their hand and vice versa and say, ìMay God go with you and bless youî we went outside for a demonstration of tinikling.

This is the native dance of the Philippines.†† First they learned how to move the sticks and then Kei was picked to TinikÖumm to tinikling?† She was pretty good at it.† She tried to get me to try but visions of broken bones as I slammed to the ground prevented that.

It was just an amazing day.† The best field trip ever.† I truly left feeling I had visited, if only briefly, all of these places.† Kei and I talked about how lucky we are, how hard people have it.† The lifestyles that are so foreign and difficult for us to imagine.† I roll out of bed and grumble at my few measly chores I have.† I cannot imagine living like these people. SIFAT is doing an astonishing job of improving their health, the way they do work, and their very way of living.† I admire them so very much and pray that their good works continue.

I wish everyone I knew could experience SIFAT, it was that moving and heart wrenching.† It makes me want to do something, anything.† I told Kei this morning that the money we blow at Wal-Mart a couple of times a week could change these peopleís lives.† God bless the people of SIFAT and the wonderful work they are doing.

Be a blessing ,

A pessimist, they say, sees a glass of water as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty. – G. Thomas Gale

Hunger allows no choice
To the citizens or the police;
We must love one another or die. ~W.H. Auden