“Papa, can I go with Uncle Nasa to drop off his family? We will come right back!” Verity looked up at me with hope-filled eyes.

I had loaned our canoe to my friend Nasa for the day, and he and his family had stopped by our place on their way home to get clean drinking water. He planned to take his family to their home with all their things and bring our canoe back. Verity, always up for an adventure, really wanted to go along with him for the ride, so we said yes.

When she arrived home quite a bit later, she told us about her adventure.

As they made their way back into the lagoon where they lived, Nasa and his family noticed that a lot of fish had gotten trapped in the tall grass that clogged the channel. Without missing a beat, everyone jumped out and started grabbing the trapped fish with their hands and throwing them into the canoe. Verity had never seen anything like this before and watched with great interest as fish flew. Soon they arrived at Nasa’s bush house, where Verity was delighted to discover that Nasa’s cat and dog had recently given birth. So while Nasa and his family carried things to the house, Verity and Nasa’s little daughter had fun playing with the kittens and puppies.
After getting dirty and enjoying the baby animals, it was time to go. Nasa could see some storm clouds gathering in the distance, and he hoped he could get Verity home before it rained.

He and Verity said goodbye to everyone, hopped into the canoe and started back. Along the way, the canoe got hung up in some of the tall grass in the lagoon. Nasa jumped out into the shallow water to push the canoe. He took one step — and sank up to his neck in the water. Apparently, a certain type of local fish dig deep holes in the lagoon bottom where they lay their eggs, and Nasa had stepped into one of these holes. He and Verity thought this was very funny, and they laughed together as he swam out of the hole and climbed back into the canoe.

Just as they were getting close to our home, the sky opened up, and the rain poured down, only adding to the delight of the adventure. A few minutes later, Verity stood on the porch drenched and dirty, but her face was glowing. “I had so much fun with Uncle Nasa!” That night, we all had a good laugh as she told us about her adventure, and we thanked God once again for the blessings we experience living in such a wonderful place.

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