I checked the guard house; Justin our night guard wasn't there, nor were the dogs. He was obviously out doing his rounds.
It was all quiet, then I heard it again, growing in volume, coming from the building site.
I could make out a few Swahili words from the distance - "nyumbani... familia.. kanisa... mungu.. bariki..." (house, family, church, God, blessing).
By the time I got to the site in the pitch darkness, there was singing. It sounded like four or five in beautiful harmony. I thought our two guys must have invited folk to join them for a prayer meeting without informing us. Heart-warming ... but they should have checked first.
They must have seen my flashlight as I approached, but didn't ease up the singing until I shone the light directly on the "group".
There was only the two of them, Justin and James, our resident day worker.
(Justin, whose brother is a local pastor, has apparently taken it on himself to disciple young James. They sit up late into the night, their figures backlit by the kerosene lamp in the guardhouse.)
There I was, standing among the stacks of makuti (banana-leaf roofing), shining my light around to see where the rest were. There were only the two - both looking a little apprehensive about having woken me.
I said, "Wow, that sounded like more than just the two of you!"
Young James came up to me with a broad, sheepish grin, apologetically took my hand and said, "Labda Yesu pia?" (Maybe Jesus too?)
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