short and sweet....for once!

this is against my nature to not publish photo's and a descriptive (maybe to descriptive for some!) update of the happenings of my journey but i am living the life of a tourist who has to pay outrageous amounts for a hours time on a computer that runs slower than grandma crossing the street, from a company that is paranoid about foreign devices, such as a camera, being plugged into their equipment.

but please don't be put off by my rather bland post and check in the near future for photo's of KRUGER PARK!!!! can you tell i'm a little excited?

the blind leading the blind

so i though it was about time i blogged about my English classes. it has been a bit of a challenge to teach basic English to Portuguese speaking people when i don't know a lick of Portuguese. let me tell you i have learned a few phrases pretty fast. with the help of Lynn i come to each class armed with some new words and phrases for them to write in their work books which they are to take home and study. the next class we run though the words, with each student getting a turn, to see if they remember. we are often overrun by side-splitting laughter when someone, very confidently, blurts out the wrong answer. i am always amazed at how well they do remember in such a short time and then my amazement is closely followed with shame that i didn't retain as much as they have. each week i struggled to find words and phrases that would be beneficial as well as personally interesting to them. i finally got smart and told them they where welcome, and highly encouraged, to write in their work books words that they would like to learn. the results where unbelievable; i was given enough material to cover my lessons for the rest of my stay here on the farm! and not to mention the amusement Lynn and i gained over some of the interesting, and some down right hysterical, requests that where made. words such as spit, lazy, and hygiene (hhhmmm, wonder where he was going with that one?) and phrases like "that old man is already old" or "you are a scoundrel". and less funny words that once again had me wishing i could hear the thoughts that occupy their minds. poor, war, shame, deny, envy, truth, rescue, win, accept, laugh, peace, and in love.
no class is complete without one thing we all dreaded about school....a test. only with these guys there was no dreading involved. in fact it was requested! the test was in English so they could translate to their own language.....actually, Portuguese would be there second language and English being a third! as i waited for them to work through the test i stared at a extra test sitting in my hand. i thought maybe i should have a go at this test......MAN it was hard!!
on one of our bike rides to Penna we stopped to get nat's bike fixed which, i might add for nat's sake, just goes to show that Taiwan doesn't make products any better than China. as i stood waiting a group of kids slowly gathered around me, a strange yet regular occurrence that i am growing accustomed to. the composure of this young girl captured me in a trance. as we stood looking at each other i was, for the first time, completely comfortable with the fact that staring is not rude or socially unwelcome to the bush living Africans like it is to those of us who live in a more developed society. i simply did not want to take my eyes of the beauty that stood before me. i studied her dress and i couldn't help imagining the young girl who most likely ware that dress to some fancy wedding in the western world. i wanted to tell her she looked like Cinderella. i know that doesn't sound like genuine statement, but she truly did poses a beauty that surpassed the tattered, dirt spotted dress and made her look like a princess. as she stared at me i wondered if she was as curious about where i came from as i was about hers.

i am always amazed at the strength possessed by the Africans. how do they hold all that weigh on their heads?! today my question was answered. how old are you child? look! she has bigger pipes than i do!

found my place in the world

I think I can honestly say the events over the last few weeks have been the biggest contribution to my personal growth in the area of self awareness and self worth. I tackled a task that I feel has help me discover the perfect environment that revels my true mental maturity as a person. I believe I was faced with possibly the most important subject in life and I tackled it with a sense of integrity and confidence I never knew I had. The intensity of this job, without a doubt, has reviled my strengths as a individual and showed me where I truly belong...... Doing arts and crafts with children!!!!

I know it’s only September but if we want all these 150 students to complete a letter and Christmas cards to their sponsors across the world we need to get a move on it now! Of course I took on this task thinking it would be relatively easy. I first started with a school list of names and I.D numbers that I soon realized was very out dated. No problem. I just contacted Carole, our sponsor representative in Edmonton, for the updated list. What I wasn’t prepared for was the response to this request being tagged with a counter request. You see, Carole was also missing some vital information and I was now her avenue to this information. Child ages, grades, correct spelling of names and school photo’s where needed. Plus some children on the list who are no longer attendance to this school and children who are attendance are not yet on the list.
I’d like to say that in this photo I am enjoying the freedom of artistic self expression with the colors blue, red and green but I am actually trying to find each child's name and I.D#, which is most likely not there, and label their letters appropriately so they don’t get lost in confusion. In this culture the child's last name is the first name of their father which, I have learned, can sometimes change from one year to the next. And since the child doesn’t have a government document, such as a birth certificate, with date of birth and correct spelling of the name, this information is often left up to guesstimation. I had children who gave me their age and I was pretty certain they added a few years. 10 seems to be the most desired age. In the western hemisphere, parents are often harassed for giving all their six children names that start with the same letter making the world wide mistake of running though all your children's names, before landing on the one intend, more probable. but try this on for size. how about naming your children Maria Jose and Mario Jose! in the Portuguese language the same name can be given to a boy or girl but the letter at the end "a" or "o" will determine if it is masculine or feminine.

You can leave it to me to make sure that even the adults don’t walk away without taking a least a few moments to jump back in time to the glorious days of childhood.

After traveling around the classroom to each student that had completed their task I finally learned a very important word. “linha”. though I had formed a line to make my job a little easier, eagerness and curiosity caused the children to fall out of this method of order and into more of a hovering crowd. At this point I would practice my new word…..and let me tell you I certainly used it more than a few times!
I can't tell you how much joy i received watching these beautiful children color their picture for the sponsors. A small enjoyment we had as children that we most defiantly took for granted.

I would also like to take this time to thank Carole who has been helping me get this job done. I often get praise for giving up my job and being out here on the mission field but truthfully the people back home are just as important, if not more important, than the ones on the field. We simple could not do our job without the support and assistance of those in the western world. Whether you are donating your time/money, writing a detailed e-mail about the events in your life or even writing a small quick comment on the bottom of our blog posts, letting us know that you are thinking of us, it is all supporting and encouraging us a larger way that you think.

Sleeping in quick sand.

I was lured out of a blissful slumber at 1:00 this morning by the ever growing awareness that my body weigh was not perfectly centered. The ground had sunk slightly in one corner at the head of my bed. It’s amazing how our bodies can pick up the slightest discomfort in a state of unconsciousness. when the attempt to ignore it only resulted in more tossing and turning then I was willing to endure, I grudgingly got out of bed and tried to fix the problem with a chunk of scrap wood. Satisfied with my efforts I slid back into bed and dozed off. It didn't take long for my body to notify me that my ability to level my bed with a sleepy eye was severely lacking. I spent the rest of the morning readjusting these wood ends a number of times. After one of the small wood chunks slid from it’s position, sending my bed to the ground with a loud thump, I gave up and got up to start my day. Besides, it was already 5:00 and there wasn't much hope of making up for the sleep that was lost. This is just one of those things that you learn to deal with when you live in a tent.
while others where trying to prevent catastrophes from fire, i was creating my own with a element called water. we have what is called a twin tub for washing our clothes. this handy little machine is the luxurious way have hand washing! all you have to do is fill the tub from the hose, let the machine do the spinning. when everything is clean you wring out the clothes and hang them to dry. on this particular day....my first time using this machine i might add.... the water pressure was extremely low because of complications with the water pump on the farm. i secured the hose in the tub and felt that i had more than enough time to wring out the first load and hang it out to dry. i did, however, check on it a few times...just in case. apparently i wasn't cautious enough. the hose fell out and, oh, look at that! the water pressure is back! this is out side the kitchen. the inside of the kitchen looked more like a wading pool. i had to push the water out with this large squidgy which was this was a bit of a challenge since the floor is not completely level (sounding familiar?) and it slanted down away from the door. Here is another fun moment. 25 Mozambique pastors traveled from afar to attend this years pastor training conference. I didn't have much of a hand in this even other than stamping together these booklets. Sounds like a easy enough but many seemingly simple tasks can be a challenge when liveing in the bush of Africa. The dilemma was that I didn’t have a stapler long enough to staple the middle of the page, or rather, the cress of the booklet. (very high quality pamphlets we make in Mozambique!) and with the lack of a office supply store down the road I was left to improvise using the staple side of one stapler, borrowed from Alta, against the metal guide of the other another stapler, borrowed from Lynn. It had to be done just right to prevent the hole contraption from slipping out from under my hands sending papers and staples flying.

Just a few weeks ago I purchased a top of the line bicycle from Chimoio. With three trips into town serching high and low, negotiating prices, and excepting broken promises to have the bike ready “tomorrow” we finally narrowed it down to what we felt was a quality bicycle that maybe needed only a few adjustments. Those few adjustments turned into the breaks being tweaked, the seat raised, the chain replaced and then later shortened, the gears tightened, several spokes removed to straighten the back wheel, ugly mud guards removed, the front wheel aligned with the handle bar and pretty much every screw on the bike tightened. After all that, the bike still served me well on our 72 km ride to Vanduzie! And the chain only fell off twice. Not bad! This warning on the front of my high quality bike should have been my first clue to what I was getting myself into.

rebuilding

Lynn and I have been taking frequent visits to Salete’s to see her progress in recovering from the fires that burnt down her home. This is Salete’s temporary abode while she works on building a more sturdy, fire resistant home. Fire resistant, as fire resistant as you can get with the materials available to a typically Mozambican living in the bush.…dirt and water.
Yep! Noth’n but the right amount of dirt and water mixed together, poured into this mold and dried for three days and you got yourself one sturdyish brick for a new house. But if you can bake the bricks, well, then your laughing.

This bucket holds enough water to make ten bricks. Salete has 600 bricks made and she will need another 400. You might think she is well on her way but one thing to keep in mind is that Salete has to walk with this bucket to get her water. Lynn was told that the water pump was far away. Lynn explained to me that when a local tells you that something is close you can expect to walk up to a hour so, if they say it’s far, then it’s far! It is likely that Salete only makes at the most two trips in one day.
All that work and she still finds time to enjoy the day with her grandson who seems to be getting cuter each time I see him. I think I have enough pictures of him to tack one on each of the bricks of their soon to be new home. Since Salete’s son found himself a job and is no longer free to help his mother build ASAM has contracted a young man to haul water and help with the building.

This area may look familiar to some of you. This would be the ASAM farm after encountering a bush fire of our own... and in the back is the wooden hut. (just a little too close for comfort!) With Lynn and Dwight in Chimoio and Francois and Alta in South Africa, Nat and I, along with all the workers, fought a blazing fire for four and a half hours. It started by Francois and Alta’s house and was gaining momentum in the wrong direction. We frantically tried to organize a constant flow of water buckets from two different water taps along with the one garden hose in the front yard. Just as the fire seemed to be subsiding around the house it moved with ferocity towards the wooden hut. I don’t think I have uttered so many prayers as I did in those long, intensity charged fire fighting hours. I couldn't help but think of the big red fire trucks that I have seen in the western world more times than I can count and how handy one of those beautiful trucks would come in very handy at this very moment. Still I believe those brave firefighters would be amazed how twenty men (and one woman J ) with water and tree branches can prevent the entire farm from becoming ashes. Though I don’t think they would have approved of my fire fighting attire…a wrap-around-skirt and flip- flops. Don’t worry, I have already been scolded for that one.

It’s a dinner party in the bush

I can’t tell you how much fun I had cooking for two local families. Steven and Mathew work here on the farm and speak English well so it has been easy to form a friendship over the last few months, however I was eager to connect with their wives as well. i have quickly learned that building a relationship with the locals is difficult, though not impossible, with the language barrier. To be honest with you, the effects of the inability to communicate on a level I am so accustomed to often has me feeling frustrated and empty. I realize how much I want to know about them when I can’t ask the questions that satisfy my curiosity of who they are and what they think.
Mathews youngest son, Prosper, spent most of the night moving from my arms to his moms and back again. I don’t think he stopped moving until it was time for him to eat. look at those scrumptious chubby cheeks! I was talking about Prospers cheeks but thanks anyway.
Out like a light! Must have been a good nights sleep because Prosper was in full swing the next day. And what a day it was. These three fine ladies and I enjoyed a day at the salon; Steven’s wife, Nora and Mathew’s wife, Pascoa as well as Tafadzwa, the young girl who helps Nora and Steven care for their twins. With no vehicles or strollers, it is very common for mothers with more than one child to have a girl as young as eight around for extra hands….or a extra back, since that is where they carry their babies.

The stylist working on Pascoa’s hair could not get enough of my camera. She had to take off her jacket to pose in her work uniform for this photo. Both Pascoa and Nora had to have their own hair braided flush with their scalp so the new hair could be sown in.
I am trying to decide if Nora is enjoying herself or if she is wishing could run from the ciaos of this bustling salon. Hhhmm, here is were language would come in so handy. I find it very hard to read the locals and how they feel about things. Not just because of the language but also because they are not really used to confidently speaking their minds. You are often left wondering if they just told you how they really felt or just what they thought you wanted to hear.
This is Tafadzwa, the most beautiful girl in all of Mozambique. I don’t think this picture does justice to the purity and gentleness in her eyes every time I see her.
After a few hours on her feet, my hair stylist needed to give her legs a rest. And I got to sit on the floor. Yep. Sit’n on the floor, braiding my own hair, in the high class salon of Chimoio, Mozambique. Actually I was not the only on who assisted in the production of my braids; it felt as though all the women of Chimoio had a hand in my beautification. I had everyone working on my hair; everyone from Pascoa, clients waiting for their stylist, and a few friends of salon employees who stopping by for a short visit. At Antoni’s we used to say that you were a pretty important client if you had two of us working on your hair at once. Well if that is true then I should have a red carpet rolled out when I leave because at one point I had five girls working on this project. we also used to joke that if two of us were working on one client then the client had to pay double so I better keep my mouth shut.
Well after a few hours…two for the girls….five for me, we were finally ready to head home. four hot babes ready to conquer the world......a little too tired for that...maybe tomorrow.

who's got who?

it may appear that Mr. Snake caught himself some dinner but if you look real close you can see that the gecko has got the snake by the tale! makes me wonder who started this war. i'm think'n the snake has got the upper hand on this one. With the snake season on the horizon i have been extra cautious, scanning the ground any time I hear a noise or see a movement out the corner of my eye. I was relaxing in one of Lynn’s old recliner chairs we brought down to make the wooden hut a little more cozy, enjoying a good book, when I noticed these two battling to the death by the front entrance to the wooden hut.

aaahhhhooo! that's nasty. we enjoyed watching the snake tackle his pray over the last 20min but now it was time for Nat and I to join Lynn and Dwight for dinner. i said we should kill it before we go but Nat was sure it wouldn't be moving after a dinner that large and that we could kill it when we got back. we left. eat some delicious pizza (and Nat's famous cabbage salad!) had some good conversations and headed home.... no snake..... not good.

this little fella has been living live in peace on our screen window for the last few days. he was too grows to touch and i didn't have the heart to kill him so i just left him in peace. you don't bother me and i wont bother you. but today he decided to venture out of the confined space of our 2f by 4f widow to explore the counter top. sorry buddy but this is my turf. you gotta go. i found a long stick and set my friend free.

i've been finding more and more of these as the weather worms. i am really not looking forward to the season of bugs but i guess you have to accept the good, bad and the disgustingly ugly no matter where you live. with all the snakes i have seen, spiders i have killed, rats i have heard, seen and tried to kill (o.k so i did more screaming than swatting but at least i wasn't running for a chair) i would say that i am starting to get used to all of God's beautiful creatures. or at least learning to live with them.

Nat and Lynn don't seem to have a problem with the bug season. they seem to be enjoying scrolling through Lynn's book on sakes to see what kind of snake this one is. unlike the last snake this guy didn't escape death.

o.k, so here are a few this to look forward to this summer. i didn't take these photo's but the birds i have seen defiantly have this vibrancy of color. and there singing is the most pleasant to wake up to in the morning.

leaving on a jet plane

I think this blog is going to be short and sweet because only pictures can describe this day. (Phew! For once she’s not going to write a book)

this is now officially the smallest plane I have ever flown in! scary? Uh, ya!

Nat was so kind to let me sit in the front because it was my first time in a plane so small. Dwight showed me all the cool gadgets and leavers that were calling out to my curious fingers. He then gave me some instructions to follow if I felt nerves or even down right terrified….“don’t touch anything!!” I was glad for the little handle beside me that I could grab in reaction to some sudden turbulence, or Dwight deciding to change directions. Ever hear of a plane turning on a dime?

This would be the coke a cola factory just outside Chimoio. Did you know that coke has a goal to reach every person in the world with a coke.

This is the school yard. The largest building is the school. The small building below that is the kitchen and below that a little to the left is the teachers house. The big square clearing below all that is where we play soccer. And I say “we” because I have injured myself twice on that field playing soccer so I feel I deserve to be regarded as one of the team.

This is were I am no longer having fun. And trying to keep down my lunch.

Just to give you an idea why.

This is the farm. The big green patch is the leaches, a fruit I have not yet had the privilege of trying but I hope to before I leave. To the right of the leaches is the office where I converse with all of you back home! To the left of the leaches is the wood work shop that is still being constructed. To the far right is Francois and Alta’s house. Just below their house is a clearing where Lynn and Dwight are digging the foundation of their house. Next to it is a small zinc roof that is covering their container. On the left had side a little below the middle of the picture is the new kitchen that was built for the teams. Further to the left is the showers but they didn't make it in the shot. Towards the bottom of the picture bellow the leaches is Lynn and Dwight’s temporary house which will become a guest cottage that short termers, like myself…wink, wink, nudge, nudge….can rent instead of a tent, or friends and family coming to visit the ASAM staff. At the very bottom is Nat’s house that is also still being built.

And just bellow alllll that is the beautiful wooden hut! Right now it serves as a kitchen for Nat and I as well as the current wood shop until the new one is finished. On the top left hand corner, beside the river, is the garden….well, some of it. And the top right hand corner is Nat's house...again.

Well this is a birds eye view of where I live.

All of Africa burns.

It takes one day for the sky to be filled as far as the eye can see with thick smoke from the bush fires of Africa. When the smell first hid my nostrils I wondered who on earth was barbecuing in the middle of the day. By the end of the day I smelt like a chimney sweeper. The reason behind this age old tradition is simple though maybe not logical. Some simply want to clear the tall grass on their land and, well, lighting a match is easier than coping a few acres with a slasher. I really don’t know how to describe what a slasher is other than it sort of looks like a machete only longer and the blade is curved. (gee why don’t I have a photo of this?) others who want to hunt for game find it easier to find their prey with less bush to block their view. Other than that it boils down to “that’s just the way we have always done it”.

Though each home owner burns their own border around their homes to control the fires and prevent the flames from reaching their valuables, it’s inevitable that a bush fire will slip from the grip of precaution. Salete, who was is caring for her three grandchildren that were abandoned by their parents, is now left with no home. She is living with her 18year old, newly married, son until she can rebuild. Salete is among the many who came to the ASAM farm seeking help in their own disaster.

The remains of house Salete's house.

And her maze. In the back is a man from the local church who has already begun helping rebuild a storage deck for her maze. Her 18 year old son is going to begin making mud bricks to build his mom a new home. With the assistance of her son, the church, and ASAM this woman will luckily be able to recover from this catastrophe. What impresses on my heart are the many who don’t have the help they need in a hopeless situation.

A few strange things!

As I drove with Lynn and Dwight down the main highway of Mozambique from Chimoio to the ASAM Farm, one my first day in this beautiful country, I noticed these bags dispersed at various points on the road. I could tell they were on display to be sold but what in the world are they? Dry grass sold to locals for starting a cooking fire. There was no shop keeper in sight but you better believe that he is some where close, and on the look out for a potential buyer.

This is a donkey! Yes, I said donkey and no I am not going blind. Why they call this apparatus a donkey I have no clue but I would never want to live in the bush without one! This, friends, is what warms the water I shower with. Every day a fire must be lit a hour or so before you wish to cleans yourself of the elements of the great outdoors. If you forget, or like I have done a few to many times, make the fire too small then lets just say it’s a very fast shower! A cold shower might be welcoming when the temperature climes to 4o over the next few months but in the winter months of Africa….not so much fun.

You ever tried carrying a heavy load….on your head? These crazy people will walk literally for hours with sakes as heavy as the largest flour bag you can find at Safeway…and then some! O.k. so your probably asking “ have YOU tried it?” this is me we are talking about…of course it tried it. I carried two chairs from the office to the campsite, got a few looks a long the way, got the best arm workout I have had in years, and nearly killed my back. How long did I walk? Five minutes. Ya, I’m a little envious of their physic.

This is our little box of power! This generator goes on from 8:00am to 12:00pm and then again at 5:00pm until 9:00pm and during those times we have electricity!!!!

Don’t see that on a Sunday stroll through the park, but here you do.

With the animals being tucked away at the back of the farm I don’t usually see them so I was a little quizzical when I saw these guys on my way to the showers on the weekend. The pastors are here this week for a training seminar and this is there dinner for the week. Come on people…it’s no different than what you buy at the grocery store except those vacuum sealed packets don’t look cute enough to pet.