It’s Rudolph. No…it’s Donder, or Blitzen

We weren’t sure what to name this newest addition to our pet collection. It’s a baby Duiker who is still learning to drink from a bottle and walk on the tile floor (hence the “flat-buck” or “Bambi-on-ice” position). This was unplanned, as many late additions are, but there he was at the side of the highway a few days ago being held up by a small boy for all passing traffic to see. When we asked how much they wanted for it, he stated (obviously verbatim as per his dad’s instructions), “100.00 or 90.00 MTN” (about US$4). I smiled, and then we started the process of negotiating the final price. As it turns out, this is the most vocal Duiker we’ve ever had, hence the toss up between naming it (her actually) Donder or Blitzen. Donder relates more to sound, but Blitz, in this part of the world anyway, is a term used for giving someone a piece of your mind. I think Blitz may just stick!

I guess New Year’s wishes are in order. Our new year is starting off with lots of rain and a long list of work that urgently needs to be done. We had a terribly hot December with very little rain. There were threats of thunderstorms, but that’s all they did, thunder. No rain. But yesterday, on New Year’s Day, it must have been THE day to rain because it poured cats and dogs for awhile, then continued a steady rain for several hours. It’s still raining today. Everyone is rejoicing because it’s a perfect rain and it’s covering large area instead of the sometimes spotty rain we get during drought years. A few more rains like this at spaced intervals will certainly reduce the threat of hunger this year.

The rain also increases the urgency of the mission’s prospective roofing projects. Thankfully our little cottage has its roof up, the mission office as well, but the school’s roof and a needy family’s home desperately need attention…now! So today we chose a “roofing team” from our staff who will start tackling these projects. Their first job will be to pull the old thatched roof off the school and take all the supports, posts and beams down. This should only take a few days…if it doesn’t rain all week! I’ll post pictures of their work as it happens. We’ll use the opportunity to put much-needed dividers between the classrooms as well. It’s always exciting to see things develop!

Well, my time is up so I better run along for now. TTYL.