Leaving

(Stuff and the chaos of leaving.)

We've been in the process of leaving Mozambique for several weeks now to go on a 6 month furlough in Canada and the US.

Preparing for one's absence in one place so work can carry on as smoothly as possible while preparing for one's arrival in another makes for some very busy times. There have been many meetings, email writing, job description detailing, photo/video taking/editing, schedule/transport planning, govt/legal paper work wrapping up (as much as possible) on a number of fronts, and so on.

Generally, just organizing stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. And so it seemed like the logical time to do my spring cleaning and organize my entire house too, including medical supplies(!).

The bottles of medicine are for treating microscopic bugs.
The can of DOOM, for treating bigger bugs.

Which leads me to tell you how I dealt with last week's discovery of a big, thick spider web in some stored linen (see previous post).

First, I ignored it for a few days. I was either procrastinating or just too busy with other stuff. I kind of figured Spidey wasn't going anywhere far with such a plush home anyway.

But when all my other work was done, I had to deal with him. I (smartly and) off-handedly mentioned the situation to my husband who dutifully headed straight into the storage room and pulled Spidey's newly claimed (aka OUR) bedding onto the wide open floor and opened it up. At that, Spidey started jumping and scurrying about wildly like I thought he would. But I had my mini-vacuum ready in hand and, um, "air lifted" him to the safety of the outdoors. And that was the end of that saga.

It is not logical to take on mini-construction projects while preparing to leave on a big trip, but we decided to do that too. Tiling needed to be done around the kitchen sink and newly placed curtain rods needed to be secured. Oh, and curtains for the mission office needed to be cut and made ready for hemming too. With all that taking place in my kitchen over several days, finding an appropriate spot to put the dish rack became quite an adventure.

In the end, it all came together and we said our farewells.

Last missionary staff meeting before leaving: left to right
Dwight, me, Joao, Leila, Tony, Heather, Rick, Alta, Francois, Ron,
Allan (Mercy Air SA director)
Front: Tendai and Barb

Our leaving coincided with a long-time staff member having to go for emergency surgery.
Seems like a bad time to leave, but I know he's in good hands.
(thanks for the photo, Heather.)

Before we knew it, we were off flying south.

Odd photo taken from the cockpit with my cellphone.
I assume the black lines must be the prop?

We were on a tight schedule on our way down (because we always are, but this time because of weather), but got delayed at Vilankulo Airport. They were having power troubles and we had to wait for their electricity to be reconnected so we could fuel up.

We weren't sure how long our delay would be, but either way, we had a bit of time to kill at the brand spanking new airport. Air conditioned with white, shiny marble floors and restaurant inside instead of outside in the hot wind. Wow.

Here's what it used to look like:

What we feared may be an overnight stay turned into just a 2 hour delay, so we got to leave shortly after lunch. Here we are, wind-swept on the tarmac. We look a tad excited. :) That's because we'll be seeing our kids and family soon.

We're now in South Africa, still in the process of leaving, but enjoying our last bit of summer before we hit the land of cold, snow, and ice.

We will be traveling the width and breadth of north America sharing about the the needs and wonderful things happening in Mozambique between January and July. If you want to get together with us at some point, please email us at dwight.lagore@gmail.com.

Not In Kansas Anymore

Or rather, not in Africa anymore. I'm in Canada on a short, personal trip. And although the weather has been far from warm and inviting--our family has been.

It's quite a shock to the system to go from a muggy, +30-ish C African summer to a -30-ish C land of cold, snow, and ice! This is more or less how the progression looked:

Green Chimoio Airport.

Sunny and hot Beira Airport.
(Figures we'd have to walk 1/2 km to the aircraft!)

That's the mission's little Cessna to the right :)

Grey, chilly Heathrow. (web photo)

White, Edmonton Airport. (web photo and I think this is
actually Halifax, but you get the idea...)

Meanwhile back home in Moz the pace is very busy as usual. I'm very grateful to my husband and Barb Wayner who took the time to take and forward the following photos for me to post:

Dwight, and Pastor Tome (school cook) on a visit to the mission school/clinic.

Progress being made on training center trusses.

Here, the thatched camp dining "gazebo" (lapa) gets the last section of its floor coated in nice, red wax. This will make it look better and make it easier to clean.

Good thing because the mission was visited by some local VIP's like the Comandante

And the new Chefe do Posto.
All very important relationships to have.

This is a recent photo of little Cris with his Auntie (below). He's been in our milk program since he lost his mom.

He was teeny, tiny at the time. Here he is with Nurse Keren when he first joined the milk program.


This is him several months later during a home village visit.

This is his sleepy face :)

Cris with his Auntie and Health Worker Celestino

This is his bright-eyed, "big boy" look. Too cute!

We've had a sudden increase in the number of needy babies in the program this year, and we and the concerned families have been so thankful that help could be offered.

Young mother who received help for her malnourished child.

Moving along here...another orphaned wild baby was added to our strange pet mix. She's a baby Red Duiker.
Dwight was the one who picked her up, but somewhere along the way she found her way into the Wayners' arms, hearts, and home.

Ron Wayner and his new pet :)

Guess she figured since that worked so well with the Wayners, why not try her luck with the big-black-horse-dog Magnum next door?


Yeah little Red Duiker...you're not "in Kansas" anymore either!

Read the latest news in our newsletter, and in blog posts from Dwight, Rick, and Andy.

Until next time.

(If you're interested in donating to the milk program, click here.)

Adventure

If this picture doesn’t make sense to you (note padlock on car door), you obviously need a bit more adventure in your life ☺ If it does make sense to you, then you probably need a bit less. And that’s where I stand, though I’m not complaining. I’d rather be nowhere else in my life right now than where I am, doing what I’m doing.

But I have to tell you about my little adventure last week. We were in Nelspruit, South Africa, getting business done (check previous blog post). There’s usually nothing riveting about business-errands because they involve a lot of city driving, parking, going into buildings, asking questions, sourcing supplies (boring stuff, like water pipes and pieces of metal for construction), paying bills, driving some more, etc.

(Dwight and Ron Wayner poring over Training Centre plans last week. Hanging out with Ron and Barb added some fun to last week's business errands.)

Anyway, at one of our stops I decided to stay in the vehicle while the guys ran inside. Within about 5 minutes, I heard a thump on my car door. A guy had pulled the handle trying to open it but since it was locked, the handle just snapped back down. I glowered at him while I tried to size up what exactly was afoot. I could see his buddies in my side mirror, hovering like vultures around the back of the vehicle. I’ve been through this before so will summarize more or less how this type of thieving routine goes (this is the least violent version):

Plan A:

Guy 1- Open passenger door and grab stuff.
Guys 2, 3, etc. – Take stuff from Guy 1, and while passenger is distracted, defending her/himself, open other doors and grab whatever else there is to be grabbed.
Plan B (if door is locked):

Guy 1 – Point below vehicle to indicate something is seriously wrong.

When unsuspecting victim opens door, grab!
Guy 2, 3, etc. – Hover and wait. Otherwise, same as Plan A.

As I stared at the nearest guy, he started pointing below my vehicle. I’ve been robbed before by falling for that one and it wasn't about to happen again too easily, so I just leaned over and honked the horn to alert the whole world. At this, the little mob shrunk considerably in size. Thankfully, Dwight came out to see what the matter was and immediately moved the vehicle to a safer spot in the loading bay. The guys still lurked in the parking lot but weren’t brave enough to come close to the building. And thus ended my little adventure for the day. Phew. (Very thankful Someone was looking out for me!)

That was my most memorable moment, but there were other noteworthy moments too.

Dwight, Andy and Paul flew the Cessna to Joburg to have a peto-tube?-something-or-other checked or calibrated. To me, it was just more boring machine/pipe/metal business, so I stayed home and studied for an upcoming exam. I guess one man's boredom is another man's adventure. Good thing because it's very important that these things get done!

The trip also gave Andy a chance to fly a bit in Joburg airspace. And from a look at these photos of Dwight’s, I'm not sure it was such a boring trip after all.

Coal-powered electricity generation

Andy and Paul

(Not sure how best to label this one...)

By Thursday we were ready to head home with the Cessna.

Packing up.

The flight went well and while Dwight and Andy manned the controls, I studied some more.

We landed in Chimoio to discover that while the Cessna was on its mini-summer-holiday at Mercy Air, the grass in the surrounding area had grown to 6 feet high making it impossible to taxi through to the hangar. There was only one option: push!

Keep pushing...

I'm thinking it was pretty tough going. I don't know for sure though...I was guarding the car. (Ok, that's an excuse. I wasn't feeling well and was tired. :))

The next 2 days were a blur as we unpacked, got caught up on things at home, and I wrote my exam. Saturday came around soon enough and we welcomed some guests by "touring" some of the mission's sites.

Left to right: Rick Cogbill, Shephen and Caitlin Mbewe, Dwight, and Bob.

We welcome Rick and Bob who are here for a month to help specifically with their skills in construction and mechanics. (You can check Rick's blog by clicking here.)

There has been good progress on the Training Centre with walls going up on another wing. We now have an "L" shaped building.





And with that, I will close.

Remember to lock your doors. Unless you want a little more adventure, that is :)

Mug 'n Bean, a restaurant chain in South Africa, was running a promotion called "who made your day?" last week and participants were invited to identify someone special who had made their day. We were pleasantly surprised when Tim and Barb left and gave us this mug, some chocolates and a kind note saying that we had made their day. We had felt they had made ours by coming so far to help get the cessna's annual done. That got me thinking about who had made my day and the thought has stuck with me all week. The possibilities are almost endless. It's like counting one's blessings. It is counting one's blessings!

After about 3 weeks in South Africa, we were finally able to finish up all our business and get packed up to head back home. We had lots of stuff to try to fit in the plane but since planes can only take so much weight, everything had to be carefully weighed. This is the scale in Mercy Air's office and those few bags weighed 14.6 kg. (What an arbitrary bit of info to have memorized...wish I could remember more important numbers that well.) Ann's dogs were very excited by the activity so I decided to get a picture of them but I couldn't have if she hadn't helped them settle down a bit.
While we're at it, here's a shot of Ann holding the fort down at Mercy Air's usually very busy office. Mercy Air has "made" so many of our days that we've lost count.

Loading the plane. 

Stuff, stuff and more stuff, and this was just one of several loads brought from the house to the plane! These boxes are full of study books for church leaders. They were heavy, so some had to stay behind and will be picked up on another trip.

Under Toby's watchful eye. His ever-present question is not "who made your day?" but, "is it walk time yet?" Not that he cares so much for walking, per se, because if we do go for a walk he bounces around for just awhile before bounding off at full speed across the fields to hunt monkeys in the bush nearby. 

Once loaded, we head for Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport to clear customs and immigration and get fuel. I prefer take-off's to landings because they seem more fool-proof to me. I've never experience a bad landing, but even so, at times I'll close my eyes while we squeak onto the runway.  

Take-off:

Above: out the front window. Below: out the back window. 

The cockpit. This is where Dwight does all the work and I read, study or nap.

Just after take-off. 
Arriving in Vilanculos where we clear Mozambique immigration and customs, and buy more fuel. It's right on the Indian Ocean so the view is always spectacular. This is a popular holiday resort area in Mozambique. From here, home is about an hour and a half away (as the crow flies).

The wind was whipping quite nicely when we landed. Unfortunately it was blowing right across the runway which doesn't make for an easy landing. I'm quite proud to say that I kept my eyes open for this one.

We're now home safe and sound, and it's time to shift into Mozambique-bush mode again. 

So, what made my day today? Well, today we visited the orphan home that I blogged about in my last post (the one getting its foundation done). We were amazed at the progress made by the builder (far left) in our absence. This home boasts 3 bedrooms and a huge veranda. Compared to the rickety shack (behind Dwight) that the orphan family is currently living in, and compared to every other place in the vicinity, this is an absolute palace! 

And if that's a palace, then this is the Prince Charming who will soon be moving in. 

He really is very charming. And chattery.  And happy. His bright little personality and that nice house helped make my day :)