Decker’s Diary on the Mission Field

February, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

I got back to the States just in time for the cold winter to dump several
inches of snow on two/thirds of the country. It brought back childhood
memories of walking home from school with snow banks higher than my
head and not wanting to walk on the path cut into the snow that led to my
house. As I look back, I wonder if the Israelites had the same hesitancy
starting out the trek through the high walls of water as the sea was opened Barb Decker
to them.

It’s a good thing that I like to shovel snow. This place, in Missouri, got 5 Thank you so very much for your sup-
inches on Christmas Eve and 17 inches on the first of February. Unlike be- port that made the existing water harvest-
fore when the indicator to “quit” were cold feet, now my knees tell me when ing gutter system a reality at Abba House.
they’ve had enough cold. It must have something to do with the metal post of Some of these children have come from
the replacements that is anchored into my bones. When that gets cold, it villages where they have retrieved water
seems to radiate that cold up into my thighs and all the way to my feet. from distances of a mile away. It’s a new
The flight from Uganda went well and I went from sweating at the Equa- and wonderful thing to have a spigot right
tor, to freezing in Missouri in one day’s time. On my last day at ABBA outside the door. The system still needs a
House, as they were preparing the food for their supper, they told me that down-spout addition that will allow the
every time they fixed greens, they would think of me. That was good to hear. first water to be filtered out, as they tend to
I had learned enough of the national language, Luganda, to successfully give a drink it. We don’t want them to be drinking
proper goodbye as I was leaving the property—not a final goodbye but an the roof dirt.
“open-ended” goodbye. Those were two high points of that day; what a nice
memory.

Starting Over—
In some ways, I feel like I’m starting over in this children’s home.
Though now, due to efforts of House of Friends through me, the kids have a
pit latrine and bathing stalls inside the
security fence and between Abba House
One, for girls, and Abba House Two, for
boys. Now they don’t have to go way
down the path at night, nor on vacation
days to use the school’s latrine. But
mostly, I found the home to be without Thank you also for your confidence in
rules and the kids without chores. me for the garden project that enhances
Abba House meals with vitamins and min-
The property is in need of a multi-
erals from home-grown vegetables. When
purpose dining area. It just needs to be a
I return, the other project I would like to
concrete floor and a roof, with some tables
-- somewhere that all can sit to eat, or do
their homework, or have devotions. When
they are served food, they sit where they
can—on the front stoop, or on the ridge of
the old sandbox, or inside their respective
houses. I did a few random room checks and found: 1) Dirty plates—the
girls are better about them; they wash them immediately and store them in
see happen would be an irrigation system
their closets until the next meal. The boys fling them into the bushes, like
that would make available longer growing
Frisbees, or slide them under the beds, or hide them away in cabinets. I even
seasons and a better garden. Oh, such pos-
found a dirty plate hidden in the stack of new mattresses. 2) Leftover food—
sibilities are exciting. Will you help me do
predominantly “posho”—gets thrown out on the ground for the dogs, chick-
these things?
ens, pig, or ants to eventually eat; but I found a neat (continued on back)

I will support Barbara Decker’s work on the mission field with House of Friends in the following way.

___ Barbara Decker Mission Support (Monthly) $_________(One Time Gift) $________

___ Abba House Project (circle) Multi-purpose dining/kitchen Gutter System Parts Missionary Quarters $_________

___ Mission Trip Expenses to Uganda $_________

___ Please send more information about House of Friends.

All donations are tax deductible. Please write checks payable to: House of Friends and send to P O Box 228, Alma, MO 64001
Thank you for caring!
stack of posho portions in one girl’s locker, next to her trin-
kets and clean clothes. The boys, I think, “save it” for later,
either under their beds or in the wooden cabinet. Sometimes
plates left in “save mode” begin to stink. I reminisce back to
Urenya, Venezuela—and even to El Zunzal, El Salvador—to
the dining rooms and dishwashing sinks and the orderly fash-
ion of putting the dishes away. I want Abba House to be-
come as those homes were.

The Projects—
A new kitchen is also badly needed. During my last week
there, Pastor Kaaya and I worked on a plan for such a multi-
purpose area and adding a new kitchen to one end. With the
rain collection projects—the one completed for Abba House

Washing Station

I truly hope to be able to stay at Abba House, or at least

Current Kitchen /Cooking Shed
One and the proposed system
for Abba House Two—I can
easily envision sinks for wash-
ing dishes and hands (all food
prepared is eaten with their fingers), and I get excited with
the possibilities of the “orderly fashion” that I long for. The
kitchen part will also have a storage room, therefore getting
the food out of the boys’ house, along with the rats. They
would like to use an energy efficient stove—that would still
use wood but more efficiently. As houses are coming into
the area, trees and firewood are getting less available and a
gas stove, using propane, is too expensive even to consider.
Another project started was the construction of a Latin-
American style washing station. Unfortunately, it was
finished about the time I was winding down and preparing to
leave. After only explaining it to the kids, I hope that when I
return, I will see evidence that it has been used for laundry
and not just as a stuff collecting table. I hope this station will
be the first of many to be used at the home.
near the home to be able to help out with the children in their
devotions and daily lives. There is an unfinished, roofless,
“annex” to the Abba House Two. Pastor Kaaya would like
to finish it as living quarters for long term missionaries, like
myself, to be similar to an apartment on the property. Plans
are to include flush toilets for visitors. Since my knee re-
placements, latrines and I are not friends. In all the places I
have been, as a missionary or as a tourist, Uganda is the la-
trine capital of all my travels.
I am telling you of all these worthy projects to invite
you to invest into the cause. I hope to be going back to
Uganda in May. Do you want to come? House of Friends is
getting a work team together. A monetary gift to any of
these projects or to my personage, through House of Friends,
would also be appreciated. Your prayers for the physical,
emotional, and spiritual aspects of projects and missionary
are coveted.
Shalom, Barb Decker
Visit our website at
www.houseoffriends.org

Alma, MO 64001
P O Box 228
House of Friends
Barbara Decker, Missionary