The day after the first emergency room visit I left for a 2 day / 1 night hike. We went along the Bruce Trail spending most of the hike along the Georgian Bay. It was absolutely beautiful! It was temperature was moderate but when you put a pack on your back and get down the trail you get hot really quick. Not to worry though, there was a wonderful cool breeze coming off the Bay that felt great. We also took a few breaks to jump in the water and really cool off (the water was ice cold)!
One of the aspects of the Jungle Camp program is the isolation living in the bush. For the most part, we were isolated from the outside world. But when emergencies came up, all of that ended. On two occasions we found ourselves in the emergency room with our 17 month old, Chesley. The first time was just a week into Jungle Camp when he pulled a steaming cup of coffee off the table onto himself.
The second time was just a few days before Jungle Camp was over. Chesley was playing outside for a few minutes when we found him eating some mystery red berries. No one knew if they were poisonous and we had no idea how many Chesley had swallowed. Off to the emergency room we went again. At the hospital the story didn’t change much. Again, no one knew what kind of berries they were either so we waited to see if Chesley had a reaction to them. In the end, he was fine. We did finally find out that the mystery berries were actually baneberries. Karl wrote more about them in a previous post.
Both times we rushed to the hospital our hearts were racing. Anyone who has rushed their own kid to the emergency room knows what I mean. There’s a part of you that wants to panic and scream for help.Thankfully, Chesley is now 5 years old and has yet to make another visit!
Part way into building week of Jungle Camp the men left for a 3 day/2 night hike. They went on the Bruce Trail along the Georgian Bay, braving the rattle snakes, bears, and the great outdoors. The guys packed in all their supplies including food, sleeping bags, and tents. Karl returned from the trip exhausted but with great memories he’ll never forget!
We had a little over a week to build our jungle camp home. Then we carried up our all supplies and lived there for 6 weeks. The damp bedding quickly became annoying so we stripped the bed and hung our sheets on a clothes line any day it didn’t rain. We brought our laptop with us so we could empty our camera’s memory card, enabling us to take lots of pictures.
The kitchen had everything I needed; running water, a stove, counter tops, and storage. I even hung a clothes line so we could dry things in doors on rainy days.
Washing our clothes was interesting. I wouldn’t say our clothes ever did get clean, but I did my best with laundry soap, water, a drum, and a plunger. In the last picture I want to draw your attention to the red lantern hanging above the doorway. Karl not only hooked up DC lights in the house, but he also put a car head light bulb in this lantern to work as a porch light. It worked better than we thought it would, lighting up half of jungle camp!
On day two of building we started our mud stove that consists of a wood frame, half of a 55 gallon drum, stove top covers, a smaller metal bucket for an oven, and another metal bucket as a hot water heater. We built the frame and then put the clay around the drum.
Then we added more clay, and more clay, and…
more clay until it looked liked this. Then I finished it off with an artistic touch to make it more homely. :o)
Our mud stove worked remarkably well. I used it for all my baking and cooking needs including baking bread and popping popcorn. On one occasion Karl fed the fire until our stove got up to a record 1000 °F!
In the summer of 2005 we went through a part of the New Tribes missionary training called Jungle Camp. The purpose was to get some practice planning for 6 weeks of being cut off from the outside world and to experience somewhat primitive living conditions. It’s time we show you what all was involved in Jungle Camp beginning with the building of our home. We had a little over a week to build our house out of poles, plastic, staples, twine, and duct tape. Our goal the first day was to get the roof up. We started out with a small plot of semi-flat dirt and a stack of previously used poles. You can also see the metal drum that we later used to make our mud stove.
Karl was up bright and early to get started while I stayed home and took care of Chesley who was 1 1/2 years old. I went up frequently to bring Karl snacks and to refill his coffee. Karl first put up the outside poles and then began attaching the roof poles.
After a full day’s work, the roof was completed with the plastic on and attached. We were given a used piece of plastic that worked really well until the first rain. But, that’s another story!
