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.