The start of 2014

Before I post anything about 2014, I should really close 2013 with a few photos of November/December. We spent a considerable amount of the time traveling between Mozambique and South Africa as well as quite a bit of time being in South Africa on business. We also got hung up for awhile checking up on health issues. I hadn't been feeling well for several weeks and my Dr. wasn't happy with the results of some routine tests, so I was sent for not-so-routine tests/procedures to rule out anything terribly nasty. Preliminary results seem to indicate nothing too nasty, likely "just" a respiratory virus. Just a virus that made me sick for about 2 months--right through our annual holiday and Christmas--nasty enough for me.

One of our stops on one of our trips between SA and Moz was at Messina just south of Zimbabwe. We "climbed" a rock. As you can see, I did it in flip flops so probably can't officially be classified as climbing. It's a unique part of the country and is full of Baobabs and rock outcrops. It's also HOT there.

 

   We received a container of mostly medical supplies from Sweden, among the items were some wonderful cupboards. Here the health workers and Tome deliver a cupboard to the one health post. I don't know about them, but I smile when I see this picture because I know it meant we could finally take health records/forms/etc. out of the paper boxes we've used for years and put them in a cupboard. Talk about civilized! 

 

One of the big items to tend to in South Africa (at Mercy Air) was the Cessna's annual maintenance. This doesn't mean just checking under the hood and changing the oil--it  means pulling just about every moving part of the plane off, or open, and looking inside its cavities, examining the wiring, testing this, testing that. I don't even know what all they do but it's a pretty big job. It is absolutely essential though since it's fairly impossible to take a pit stop if something goes wrong when you're 7000 something feet in the air over dense bush.

When the maintenance is done, the plane has to do a test flight or two to make sure everything's working well. Officials from Moz also came through to check the facility and do an aircraft inspection since the Cessna is now Mozambique registered. It was a busy time for the guys, and we were very thankful that everything worked out so we could fly home in time for Christmas.

We stick to as many Christmas traditions as possible out here where there is no snow or other things that are normal signals (for us) that it's Christmas time. And every year, I dutifully pull out one of my old puzzles that I've done and redone many times. This particular scene is a snowy church scene of some place in Germany. Doing this puzzle helped me pass quite a few hours of not-feeling-so-great-but-don't-want to-waste-time-in-bed. But apparently what you define as "bed" depends on whether you're a human or a cat.

To add to our Christmas and New Year's celebrations, we also celebrated the first landing of the Cessna on the mission airstrip. This was the culmination of quite a few years of hard work, money spent, document processing, inspection passing, and so on. So it was truly a joyous event! The plane has already made several "work flights" from this airstrip, one being to take essential supplies to pastors in a remote region north of us.

Moving along here. 2014 so far has been pretty busy and we're not at the end of January yet. There's been gearing up for the beginning of school for the over 300 students in our sponsorship program, making progress on construction projects, preparing budgets for the new year, reports for our AGM in February, etc. And then there's been addressing the crises that seem to pop up regularly.

At lunchtime one day last week, we heard a huge BOOM in the distance. We weren't sure what it was but in short order received a phone call saying there had been an accident between two big trucks on the highway right in front of the mission property. Could we please come quickly! The scene didn't look good, but surprisingly there was only one casualty and he was alive. The health workers who live and work nearby had already made it to the scene and bandaged up the guy's head and checked him over. As quickly as we could, we got him loaded into the mission vehicle (which we have also nicknamed our local ambulance) and took him to hospital.

I'll try to wind things up with one last photo that everyone will be fine with. But this is your heads up that the ones to follow are the "bug section" which I always try to put at the end of my posts so the more sensitive readers can stop scrolling down in time :)

We currently have a group of students from Prairie who are spending a few weeks at the mission ministering to needs and relating cross culturally. Last Sunday after an animated church service, we were all invited to the pastor's home (above) to enjoy a lunch of Massa & Caril (stiff maize porridge that you dip into a stewed chicken sauce). This is served hot off the stove and eaten with the fingers. We north Americans know how to eat with our fingers, but handling piping hot food that way takes a bit of practice and a very light touch. It was delicious though!

BUG SECTION:
It's summer here which means it's very hot, humid and rainy. This weather summons creatures of all varieties and sizes out from hiding (or wherever they were) and into our house. I'm sure they go other places too, but I especially notice the ones that come inside. Especially when they're oversized.

 This first one is a huge centipede. These guys pack a nasty sting, though I've never been on the receiving end. Thank goodness!

 The fork's sole purpose here is for comparison. Just clarifying.

Next is a cute chameleon. This one didn't come inside because they hate being inside, but we often find them in our yard busy hunting and eating insects. Good! :)

The one below came inside and even went so far as to crawl up and get  all snuggled into a fold in our mosquito net.  A scorpion in one's mosquito net is not a nice visual to wake up to. Thankfully he didn't decide to come snuggle in our sheets instead.

 He's semi-lifeless here. I have since discovered 2 others in the house :O

The stick on the wall below is actually a stick bug. It is rather disconcerting to spot a live and moving stick on the wall outside one's bathroom! Although they don't bite people, obviously they can bite and eat their prey (smaller insects...good!). I think this is the largest stick bug we've seen to date. This is a KAOS radio station pen from Fort McMurray, btw, where it's -28C right now.

And then there's the tarantula type spider. Actually, we've spotted several of these, one of which was crawling up a big window in our front room.  I should have taken a photo of it but I was too distracted at the time.

And to everyone's great relief, that's all I will post for now. All the best to you this 2014!

PS: There's lots more news at samministries.org.

about mud, and getting stuck, and other stuff...

I was going to start off talking about getting stuck in mud but realized I was stuck having almost 0 internet bandwidth first thing this morning. And my Movitel modem is out of time so...we'll see how this goes. Oh the joys of bush life :)

You wouldn't believe that the start to our rainy season was dry as a bone, but it was, for week after week after week. We were all praying and hoping for rain, and watching the sky as only farmers and those in drought times do. Sometimes storm clouds would threaten, and we would count the seconds between flashes of lightning and the clap of thunder so we could judge just how close (or far away) a bit of wetness may be. This went on for quite some time, and all the while, our soil was dry, hot, and hard as concrete. Everything with a hint of green withered, including local residents' maize crops that they so desperately need so they can have food for the year. 

Then, suddenly, things changed and it began to rain. Then it poured. And it poured and poured and poured. In Africa one never dares complain about too much rain since there's so much dry-time, but it really did come down. Our empty, sludgy river bed soon filled and roared to life with muddy waters. We were glad to see our irrigation source full of water again. But of course other dry riverbeds also filled to overflowing, including the one where we had recently built the bridge that burned down just a few months ago. And along with the rushing waters, went our compacted dirt support, leaving us high and, well, not exactly dry but definitely without a bridge. This is the road that leads to the mission's school.

Had things been not quite so over-saturated and soggy, we would not have got stuck trying to ford the river. Thankfully we made it through going and were able to attend the student/parent meeting. But during the meeting we had another massive downpour that made the river swell again, and made the mud softer along the banks, and that led to our getting stuck as we tried to plow through on our return trip. Try as we might, we couldn't get unstuck. The back of the truck was high-centered so we all piled out and it took a bit of digging and stone laying by the front wheels before we could wriggle free...

at least to the other side.

(We were all lugging stones and branches and our feet were sinking in the squishy mud. 

Here Eric and Elizabeth packing more stones...)

We tried and tried our best to free ourselves on this river bank too but the mud was too soft and the incline too steep to make it. Matthew had his Movitel chip in his phone and had reception on it (this place is notorious for poor reception and our Vodacom lines were dead), so he called Rick Neufeld to please come help! Then we waited.

Soon Rick was there and he had a truck-load of shovels, chains, saws, axes, what-have-you, along with several helpers, photographers, a certain little girl who needed to take Flat Tendai pictures or something of that sort, and even Joao who broke from his office duties to come tend to us in our plight. We felt very honoured. :) And yes, out here in the bush we generally want to partake in all possible adventures because that's how we cope. We really do need each other.

Keeping with the mud theme, I came across these photos that are now several months old. I was cleaning the veranda one day and a chunk of mud fell off one of our canvas camping chairs. Except is wasn't just an ordinary chunk of mud. it was a mud wasp nest that had obviously been laboriously and carefully put together. I've watched wasps build these before. The mom (I assume it's the mom) flies to the ground and scoops up as much dirt as you can imagine a wasp's tiny feet can hold, then she moistens it and packs the tiny glob of mud, just like a tiny bricklayer, row upon row.  She makes several chambers and in each one, lays a single larva. Then she finds a special type of spider, collects several of them for each chamber, paralyzes them with her venom (I guess), and places them inside as living food for her young. When she's all done packing the food inside, she seals it up.

I've always been intrigued by these nests, but only recently discovered that the chambers still holding larva are in fact warm. That little body in there generates quite a bit of heat! The empty chambers where the larva have hatched are room temperature. There's an empty one below.

While I was examining my find, I discovered this oddly colored insect on the floor. He was pretty small so I needed the close-up on my camera to really see what it was. It was a wasp larva. One of them had fallen out of his broken nest when it fell from the chair. I was rather sad that I had disturbed a baby (a mom is a mom is a mom...). His forelegs were more or less developed, but not his hind legs or his wings.

Sorry little guy!

We made another interesting find in January. On our way home from picking Eric and Elizabeth up in Beira, we found a fruit stand by the highway selling Jack Fruit (Jaca, as we called it in Brazil). Everyone was curious to taste it so we decided to give it a whirl.

Yes, it's a huge fruit! Turns out it's also full of latex which I dont' recall having to contend with as a child when we ate it. But oi oi oi, was it ever sticky! Worse even than mud. We stuck to the fruit, the knife stuck to our hands, and the rag we tried wiping with stuck to everything. And we remained sticky for hours afterwards while the natural latex just sort of wore away. We figured the trick is probably to grease your hands up well in advance (we did this toward the end but the latex by then was already pretty much everywhere it could go). Oh well, next time. The fruit itself was good though.

Other items of interest....ah yes. Our little Duiker, Punkin. She actually belongs to Dwight and she really does believe he is her mommy. But on mornings where he heads out early and I'm the only one left to beg milk from, she begs (rather cutely) from me.

Once she's had her bottle, she sets about snooping around the house and giving everything in sight the lick test. Typical little one!

Um, no. You've got your own bottle!

 

We just discovered how much she loves Cheerios so she gets some occasionally. Talk about a privileged buck! Sheesh.

I love the night sky, so this is just to share some of Africa's beauty.

The morning sky is beautiful too. Dwight got this one morning on our holiday at the beach in December. I think it was 5 some-odd-o'clock in the morning. *yawn*

In the last few weeks, we've seen some wonderful things coming together. For one, the mission's Cessna has completed the importation process. That is no small task either! Paperwork, permissions, inspections, etc. without end. But it is now done and the Cessna finally flew home after being out of Mozambique for over a year. Here's Tendai to welcome it and Dwight and Andy. (Thanks for the photo, Heather).

The maintenance facility is also making great progress and looking more impressive all the time. What a blessing it will be to have a stocked, drive-in maintenance shop for working on the mission's vehicles rather than having to crawl underneath them in the dirt, or mud. Next month, we will welcome Rick Cogbill back plus those coming with him to continue with the next phase of this good work.

Aaaaaand, the bridge gets rebuilt. It still has a ways to go, but things are going very well. Once these mesh cages filled with stone and cement are up, we will place hardwood logs over top and once again be able to drive over it to get to the school.

For now, the rain has stopped and things are a bit drier. We all needed that break though we do still need rain this year. But at least for now, we can get over to the school to make sure things are running as smoothly as possible.

This has been a long post so I should sign off for now. There is more to tell as there always is, but that will have to wait until next time!

Life's joys, life's trials

Oh hello, hope I'm not disturbing any important animal business here under the humans' outdoor kitchen... Will you all be long?

These Zebras and horses were occupying an outdoor kitchen at Bundu Lodge where we stayed on a recent trip to south africa as we had meetings to attend at Mercy Air and business to get done done...there's always business to get done! Janette Stone accompanied us and this sort of closed off her time in Africa as she left from here to go home to Canada shortly after we left to return to Mozambique.

We were driving and although we find the whole affair of driving for 2 x 9-10 hour days familiar and in some ways interesting, we're starting to think there are times it would best be done over 3 days. For one thing, it would make for no night time driving which in itself would increase the safety factor a lot since these roads are poor at the best of time and treacherous at night: no (or narrow) broken shoulders, pot holes, animals on the road, pedestrians on the shoulders, vehicles with no lights, no reflectors even, and there are always those who have had a few too many.

Anyway, we stopped at his place at about the half way point, mostly for old times' sake. We stopped here on our first ever trip up north while we and our friends were still "scouting out the land" for a possible move. That was shortly after the end of the war and things were in MUCH worse shape. The highway was a mere crumbling strip of asphalt being taken over by briars and littered with burnt out vehicles.  We were about 10 people on that trip, so we ordered sandwiches from the humble assortment available on the menu, mostly cheese sandwiches and egg sandwiches. The waiter disappeared momentarily then came back to say, "We have no cheese, and we only have some eggs, and we don't have enough cokes for everyone." Something to that effect, anyway. One of those cases where they really should have changed their menu before setting it in front of clients :)

Oh well, that's what keeps life interesting. Today, the place is fixed up nicely and the town is bustling with productive activity. We stopped for breakfast and turns out they had everything on the menu! Progress is a wonderful thing.

This is the place, in the Maxixe area.

We got home pretty tired but also ready to take on the next week's Intensive Seminar once again. We hit a sad bump over the first weekend though when one of our sponsored students who had been struggling with his health for awhile lost the battle and lost his life. It felt terribly wrong to have taken a boy to hospital in the back seat of our vehicle, and then to return him home in a casket. I dislike those difficult moments. There are lots of questions, and heaviness. But those are also the times that stretch and grow our faith like no other.  This boy was an orphan and had seen his share of difficulty, but his willing disposition and happy face bore testament to the hope he had inside and he will surely be missed. We are so grateful for the time given to us all to invest in him and love him and we look forward to seeing him again one day.

The following week, ready or not, rolled around. About 50 monitors attended the seminar, and it was a great time. Six of the monitors were ready for the health course (it's the last of 25 courses they have to complete in order to graduate), so that kept me busy for the week. They were a very engaged group and we had some discussions that were motivating for us all. At the end, they all passed their exam with good marks, yay!

Here's Dwight feeding our latest wildlife project: Punkin (we got her at the end of October). She's a duiker and was orphaned, so kids came looking to sell her and Dwight couldn't turn her away.

Our weather has been terribly dry and unseasonably cool this year, but a few weeks ago the heavens broke loose a bit and we got some much needed rain. Oh we needed it so badly, people couldn't plant their crops and animal numbers (wildlife and domestic) were dropping. Not enough to eat = sickness. 

One thing that does happen when it rains though is that flying ants come out in hoards! They beat crazily about lights, lose their wings, pair off, then that's the end of it and all you're left with is the job of trying to clean up those silly, feather weight wings. It's nearly impossible.

Once seminar was over, it was time for Dwight and I to get a bit of R&R time. Felt like it had been forever and we were really very tired and so ready for it. So we headed south to our favorite spot again.  It was a good trip except for the flying ants (I guess). We hit several "herds" of them, and oh my. What. A. Mess. You can't wind-wiper off, that just smears them. You need some soapy water and a serious scrubbing tool.

Service station shops are few and far in between, but when we found one, we'd stop and dwight would dutifully clean the windscreen. Once it's been real messy, it always surprises me just how crystal clear it looks once it's been cleaned.

So there's an elephant crossing south of the Save River. I have never seen an elephant cross there in all our years, but I like that they obviously must since there are signs. One sign even says "Afternoon Elephant Crossing", or something like that. Just so you know, in case you were wondering.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our getaway and prepare to pick up tomorrow where we left off.  There's quite a bit of driving to be done, so let's hope flying ant season is over.

Bare Necessities

Walls and floors full of bugs aren't my idea of life's bare necessities, but well, it rained and so they're here. So I'll just start this post off with them.

Two days ago, after a few weeks of sweltering heat, we finally got the blitzing thunderstorm. We were expecting it because rain usually follows intense heat at this time of year. In fact, when it's real hot (like into the 40's Celsius), the local people say "It's cooking up some rain."

I would like to add one other predictor of rain: ants. They emerge by the millions just before heavy rains and take over our world in their panicked search for food. They form wide swaths and go anywhere they want--be it inside or outside your house. They march across floors, into garbage cans, pet dishes, the shower, you name it. Outside, they're any place you step, look, or sit. And they'll crawl all over you too if you're in the way. (Which you always are because they're everywhere.)

So to sum it up and move on to more important things, this is how our rain cycle goes. Intense heat + billions of pesky ants > a storm (which should be measurable on the Richter scale) > cooling off + the emergence of a whole host of bugs that the rain unleashes > intense heat again.

Bugs on the veranda the morning after rain.
Where's my broom? Now that's a bare necessity!

With another pastors/monitors intensive seminar upon us, we've been flat out busy ensuring the training center had the bare necessities needed to host the event. So for the first time ever, it will be hosted at the new training center. Right where it should be.

If things still looks under construction, well, they are. But certain parts are finished enough to use. It beats the more rustic conditions everyone has had to put up with over the years while this has been in the planning and initial stages of development. Another major perk is that it's right here on mission property rather than a 30 minute bumpy drive away. So for all concerned, this definitely is a thumbs up.

Here's the latest tour:

Just last week, permanent white metal support beams replaced temporary wooden ones.

This section has had the most finishing touches since it will be used to conduct classes.
Window frames are freshly painted and glass panes are in place.

Primer was even painted on some of the cement trim crosses on the outside,
just in time for the seminar.
(Don't worry, this isn't the permanent color scheme.That will come later.)

A classroom, ready to be used, temporary light fixtures and homemade blackboard in place.

One of the bigger rooms with mattresses that will be used for sleeping.
It's not luxurious but it beats a grass mat on a tent floor!

Oh, and as a side note, I'd like to point out that oval, white table. For probably the first time ever, it is fulfilling a more important function than being my one and only dining room table for the past 18 years. We're temporarily using a "real" wooden one that's on loaner from Ron and Barb. Nice change :)

Tables and chairs to be set up in the classrooms.

Here are some of the temporary structures to cover the bare necessities:

Kitchen and dining area.
We plan to build a nice multipurpose kitchen and dining hall one day,
but for now, this simple structure will do.

Two monitors with program coordinator Pastor Ricardo (light blue shirt), Pastor Tome (the cook, in navy blue t-shirt), and 2 of the older sponsored students on each side of him.
(Left: Mateu P. Right: Bero).

Since it's school holidays, these students do volunteer work during the week of seminar.

Pile of lenha (firewood) for open fire cooking.

Temporary (to become permanent) tap brings fresh water from the storage tank to a central spot for easy access for cooking and bathing. Bucket style bathing, of course.

Bathing area.
Although our future bathing stalls will be made of brick and concrete,
these are the norm in rural Mozambique.

Inside a similar looking structure, are the latrines.

And no, they're not the sitting type. Yet.
But these are also common in these parts.

Tents for surpervisors to stay in.
Water tank in background.

Yes, there is still quite a bit of work to be done. But compared to where we were about a year ago, this multipurpose facility/training center has come a long way!

Oct/Nov 2010

Which brings us to another one of our current building projects: a home for Rick and Heather Neufeld. Good progress! Be encouraged, little Neufeld family.


Last few photos:

Welcome dinner to celebrate Ron & Barb, and Tony & Leila's arrival.
Thanksgiving, really.

We were pleased to spot this cute pair of Broadbilled Rollers
nesting in a dead tree right beside the Neufeld's busy construction site.

I hope they eat ants.

PS: It's that time of year again (Christmas), so if you're interested in helping provide needy people with a bare necessity or two, please consider giving a Unique Christmas Gift. Although our website is a bit broken and undergoing a revamp, you can still download the gift brochure. Click here.

Bye for now.