En Route

Last week I promised to update this "asap", but it's taken longer than I'd thought. We've been en route, from the Mozambique bush to Edmonton, Canada via South Africa and Brazil, so a few extra quiet moments to sort through photos and thoughts have been hard to come by.

I'm currently sitting in a preschooler sized chair, working on a preschool height table in a preschool classroom at the Mt. Horeb mission in Brazil. So here's an update on the last 2 weeks.

Just a few days before our departure from Moz, a small group made up from the Mercy Air USA and South Africa leadership team came for a quick visit to see as much of the work as possible during their short time with us.

Since it was a Mercy Air team who helped to put the roof on the Chitundo health post just a few months ago, it was exciting for them and us to accompany the mission’s carpenter 2 weeks ago to install the newly made doors.




The excitement over this health post in the Chitundo community is palpable.

When we arrived, a group of men were busy digging latrines that will serve the health post. This is a laborious task--no big machines to make light work here!

We had a few moments to talk with the community leaders regarding the running of the health post. They would like the running of the health post to be a cooperative effort between the community and the mission. Three staff members have already been selected to go for training at the district hospital in Manica.

On our way home, we got a picture of this demining camp. It is set up between the mission base and Chitundo.
Apparently a land mine was found recently by a local resident and the demining outfit was alerted. So far, 7 landmines have been found and detonated. It’s a bit sobering to realize how many people, including ourselves, have unknowingly bush whacked through that same area building roads, exploring the bush, etc.

Amid a flurry of activity, we somehow managed to pack our suitcases and leave.

Keren came along to make a side trip to Uganda and to start the process of getting her temporary resident’s visa for Mozambique. Here she is grabbing a quick lunch at Mugg and Bean.

And working on illustrating the health manual as well, of course. ☺

We grabbed a few days break at Kruger Park, just this side of heaven.

It’s always a pleasure! Then it was off to Brazil via Atlanta. Atlanta, U.S.A. is not on the way to Brazil. At all. But it is the most reasonably priced route if you need to make a stop in Brazil on a trip between Africa and Canada. So, just to clarify: 27+ hours of flying time and thousands more air miles is cheaper than 13+ hours of flying time and thousands fewer miles. Go figure. I don’t think even the complicated formulas in my statistics course could work that out!

Back home on the ranch, the work continues. Ron and Barb are staying in our house until their furlough time comes up, and in the meantime, Ron is making great progress on my kitchen cupboards. YAYYYY!

The Mercy Air house is coming along nicely too. Here, the slab gets poured.

So to wrap things up here, right now, we're in Brazil. In Itaperucu, to be exact. First and foremost, we'll be attending Mt. Horeb's annual general meeting. But simply connecting with the good people here and encouraging them is a close second.

The street outside the famous "Wooden Hotel".

This little wood slat house was lovingly dubbed "The Wooden Hotel" by mission staff and the many visitors who have stayed here over the years.

One of the classrooms at Mt. Horeb's primary school. (Yep, that's the size chair and table I'm using right now. Boy, do I feel big!)

Best cooks in the world and what wonderful, loving ladies they are too!

I better run for now. There are many more places to go, things to do and people to see before we leave here next week!

Dwight, my dad and I navigating Curitiba.

Tchau tchau for now.