Friday, February 01, 2008

More "fun" stuff...

The fun never ends here. Today we had to fire our guard/yard guy. He had been kind of slacking off lately and coming in really late and then Sunday night he didn't come in at all. Saturday night someone cut one of the metal bars of our fence so now people can come in. Wonder where he was when that happened? But the real reason we have to fire him is because he was found to be fooling around with women in the middle of the night when he was supposed to be guarding our house. He would quickly run out and then come back afterwards so we never knew. There's an older Papuan MAF worker who facilitates the hiring of guards and yard workers here. He said that he called together all the people around, I think they're all related, and they punished Yoben. He has to pay four million rupiah (4 juta), one for each woman, by March. Apparently he also has to marry one of them. Soooo.... While back home we would never be allowed to fire someone over a moral issue such as this, unless it was interfering with work, which actually this was, it is important for us to stand behind the community on this issue. If we were to say, "Oh, we'll let him continue working for us in spite of everything." That would have a very detrimental effect. We have to be an example here and we have to show that we also agree that his actions were not right and that he should be punished. It's really too bad because when he did do work for us, he did a pretty good job and he has made our yard look quite nice. But like I've said before, this is a huge problem here and we need to help change that in whatever way we can.

On another note, I'd like to ask you all to remember the MAF programs in Chad and Kenya in your prayers. The political situations in these two countries is very volatile right now and there is much violence and senseless killing occurring. MAF planes have been busy evacuating people who are in danger but at some point may need to evacuate themselves. Please pray that the situation could be restored to a peaceful one and that the work of spreading the gospel in those countries may continue.

2 comments:

Lisa said...

Oh dear. I can't imagine having to live behind bars! Takes some getting used to, I imagine.
Hope you find someone new to do your yard work...

Mary said...

It is amazing all the unrest in the world and how hatred progresses into so much killing. Life does not seem to mean much...one day you are neighbours and the next you hate one another because of your tribal heritage. So we can see how life without God in the center is so hopeless. We pray that God may keep His children safe in His care where ever they may be in this world and that His Word may be spread to all nations through the working of the Holy Spirit.
We hope that a new and trustworthy guard may also be found to protect your homes in the compound where you all live.
Good to hear that you are all doing well and Hugo is busy doing what he loves to do.Take good care and God bless.