Choices, and Hope.

Personally, I don't like too many choices. When there are too many good things to choose from, it's hard to decide on just one. Which is why I had to smile when I saw the first-ever food menu posted at the intensive seminar this week. Now that's a good menu! Straightforward. I also liked that someone was considerate, creative about the content, and went to the effort to write it up.

Translation: SBF (Faith Bible Seminary): Menu/Notice Board

Lunch (but actually means "Breakfast", in Mozambique terminology)

*Pina Bread, Large (baked with firewood in a clay oven in Pina, a neighboring community).
*Sri Lanka Tea (not from a neighboring community. Not even from a neighboring country!)

Big Lunch ( Mozambique terminology for "Lunch")
*Pemba Beans (Not a neighboring community, just further north in Moz.)
*Baue Rice (also from further north)
*Quelimane Orange Juice (large city further north in Moz)

As you can see, there's not many choices. But in rural Mozambique, where hunger is rife...especially now as rains are just arriving and crops still being planted--people are just happy for whatever food is available at all.

So, the dust has been flying (figuratively speaking, since it's currently raining) here this week with the busyness of seminar plus us trying to organize the many, many last minute things we need to get done before we leave on Thursday.

Dwight sharing in the general session in the NEW general sessions room.

Attentive listeners.

After a week of intensive class time and learning,

certificates are handed out to those completing their course(s).

Today, these leaders all head back to their homes. For some, this means a 2 day ride in very cramped, overloaded vans. Many of them are from rural areas where living conditions difficult, and there is hunger. As they study however, they become better equipped to address these issues and help bring hope to their churches and communities. Hope is a wonderful thing to share!

And speaking of which, I need to share another thing that made me (all of us) smile this week. One of our partnering churches (Fort McMurray Gospel Assembly, in Canada) found a very creative way to celebrate this Christmas and share hope with people in Mozambique.

For donations made toward Unique Christmas Gifts,
cards with those gift items were hung on beautifully lit Christmas trees in the church lobby.

This gets my vote for "Most beautiful Christmas Tree, 2011".

Before I end this post, I need to share one more item on the "choices" topic. I was busy organizing my little medications/camp bedding store room here in our house yesterday and when went to fling a pillow on the top of an already very high pile, something strange caught my eye. So I got up on a chair and to my dismay, at the very top I discovered this extensive and craftily spun spider web. It even has an entry tunnel and all. Ni-i-ice. I shudder to think of the size/shape/look of that spider. I dislike spiders more than I dislike too many choices.

So right now especially, I don't like my choices. Do I get rid of him with a:

*Broom?
*High-powered vacuum?
*Can of Baygon?
Shoe clobbering session?

Just too many "good" choices there...

May you have hope, and only good things to choose from this holiday season.

But mostly, Hope.

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.

Unlocking the Mystery

I have a hobby that some people here find rather curious: I collect old pieces of weathered or burnt wood. To me, they're fascinating.

My "beautiful wood"

Not everyone shares my enthusiasm. "It's just firewood," they say. That's true, it does look like "just firewood". So much so that at times when these odd pieces are discovered in the back of our truck, they get chucked onto our firewood heap by mistake. (At the moment I'm trying to track down a piece of ebony I got the other day that I fear has ended up in smoke.)

The reason old pieces of wood fascinate me so much is that they have a lot of character. Each one has a story to tell. They all possess a certain beauty, too...albeit a bit hidden. If you're willing to invest the time and effort though, the beauty and some of the history comes through. In a way, they're a bit like people.

But back to my story. I took the following photo 3 years ago and forgot about it.

A few months back while on a walk I discovered a "new" piece of beautiful wood and brought it home, washed it, sanded it, and varnished it.

I was pleased with how it turned out, but it was obviously part of some sort of structure. There were "missing pieces". Curiosity got the best of me so I went back to the area where I discovered it. In doing so, I realized that it was the lintel for an old door when I actually managed to find and recover the two adjoining sides to the door jamb. One of the pieces still had the rusted padlock attached (top photo). I felt pretty privileged to have recovered all 3 pieces of wood which have survived countless bush fires, intact.

Anyway, once I was done cleaning, sanding and varnishing the lintel, I took a photo. When I took the photo, I realized I'd taken a photo of this piece of wood before.

July 2011

I went back through old photos and sure enough...

August 2008

It was rather uncanny to realize that I'd found and photographed this piece of wood 3 years before in its original location and state.

Let me catch up on the week's news though.

I took the usual mid-week trip to the school clinic to work with Ernesto for aawhile. I packed up my emergency box and tool box with the plan to do health assessments AND install the much needed counter top. But half way there, I realized I'd forgotten the drill. Well, we used all our allotted time just doing paperwork and seeing a some sick people anyway.

The mission was donated reams of orange paper some time back. Makes for a colorful desk top!

Ernesto changing dressings on chronic leg wounds on one young man. The rickety table to his right is where the counter top is supposed to go in. Next time, when I remember to take the drill. :)

There was a bit of local excitement also this week as our area was visited by the provincial governor (governess, actually). Here, Dwight and Joao await her arrival.

She is welcomed to the community with brightly colored banners,

and crowds of people.

Since we've been away, it's been awhile since I posted photos of progress on any of the construction projects. Here, the training center roof trusses are all up and roofing tiles are now being put on the 2nd and 3rd sections.

View from the opposite side.

Foundations were poured for the maintenance workshop. Foundations never make for exciting photos, but they're important nonetheless.

And last but not least this week, Alta and Urs celebrated their birthdays so we got together and made an evening of it. We had supper and desert, then planned to set off the "fireworks" the guys found in Chimoio that day.

They were mysterious fireworks, really. The tube looked like the normal fireworks variety, but it clearly stated: "Fun! Fun! No Firework." Words around the top of the tube also read, "New edition nil powder environmental protection type fireworks display." (Just a hunch that this company's first language is not English...) We weren't sure what to think. It's dry at this time of year so we were a bit concerned about taking it outside where the bush is like tinder and could catch fire so easily...IF there was any kind of spark involved. But the more we read the label, the more it became apparent that this was pretty low key, safe, and spark free.

So we decided to take the plunge inside the house. We curiously peeled back the top foil, slowly eased the release button, and POOF! Out came a ton of brightly colored confetti!

Haha, that was fun! Happy birthday Alta and Urs.

And happy birthday to our son too, who turns 25 today.

Bye for now.

Pouco-pouco

There's a saying here, "Pouco-pouco vai longe". Its English equivalent would be, "Slow and steady wins the race". That saying is used a lot here because speed is a luxury we simply often don't have in the developing world. Speed, one can generally live without. Persistence, on the other hand, is essential. Because without persistence, you have nothing.

These were the thoughts going around in my mind yesterday as I watched the backhoe at work. Let me state at the outset that work with the backhoe has far outpaced moving soil a shovelful at a time, which is the way we were doing it before!

This is how it used to go. A group of guys, each with a shovel in hand, would loosen dirt then swing it a shovel full at a time up onto the truck. The soil would then be driven to the training center site where it would be unloaded in like fashion...one shovel full at a time. It was a bit like ants moving a bowlful of sugar one grain at a time. Not ideal, but you can get the job done if you keep at it.

With the backhoe, things are moving much quicker. Even if not "speedy" by some standards.

Imagine the work and time the backhoe saves here.

Dumping the load of dirt.

Returning for more soil.
(The "sugar bowl" empties a lot quicker when you have a scoop!)

Here, the guys spread the dirt as it gets dumped.
The goal is to fill with dirt to the floor line (at the bottom of the doors).

Future classroom currently being used to store roof tiles.

With more roof tiles up, and plastering in place, it looks more like a "real" building.

Sometimes though, we're happy if something goes slowly here. Like the speed with which a Puff Adder moves toward you. They're poisonous, and there are plenty of them, so it's good that they're not a fast snake. It would be nice if they moved out of the way a bit quicker, but then, you can't have it both ways :)

A puff adder that was found on the road leading to the airstrip.

Dwight discovered him just minutes before Mushu (our little dog) and I came waltzing happily along.

In strike pose.
(Photo credit for Puff Adder photos: Paul Middleton of Mercy Air)

They may not move fast but they do strike fast. But first, they huff and puff in warning (hence the name).

I mentioned in a previous post that there have been a lot of snake tracks around here of late.
This is on the airstrip. It was only one of about 6 snake tracks I saw.

A bit more news:

Francisco and Mateus stopped by the mission the other day. They both receive sponsorship so they can stay in school. Here, Mateus (who is blind) reads a note from his sponsor done in Portuguese AND in braille. He was very pleased!

It was such a busy week I didn't get to go see my friend Robert for dressing changes. But the health workers say he's doing well. "He even brings the grass mat out himself now for us to sit on for dressing changes. Usually a family member would bring it out for him." He's been getting home visits for about 3 weeks now and soon won't need them anymore. Slow and steady wins the race.

Mushu agrees.
Slow and steady. And how about a bit of soft too, please?

Happy weekend everyone.