African Tumbu Fly Larva

Posted on Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 07:20

I did my research and found pictures and a description that fits that gross thing that came out of my arm. At first my research was leading me in the direction of a bot fly - thankfully that was NOT it. That is one of the things Jason described.  The African Tumbu Fly is along the same lines and probably similar to what he was talking about with his dog in Zambia.  From what I learned my guess is we picked this up at Matema Beach. The climate isn't right in Mago or Mafinga. The tumbu fly lays its eggs on wet clothes or laundry and that is why in some areas they iron everything including underwear before they wear them. The little egg hatches and it waits for some warmth. As soon as you put the clothing on the little larvae quickly and painlessly burrows in the skin in less than a minute. There it feeds on the tissue for about 12 days before emerging and falling to the ground. Then it turns into a fly to repeat the dreaded cycle!  The "head" of this thing is flat looking and it breaths through a hole in the skin. As soon as we put the wet charcoal on top of it, it couldn't breath and it tried to come out.  So there you have it; African Tumbu Fly.

Have you ever heard the famous Josephine Cunnington-Edwards tell stories? As I was doing my little research I remembered a story she told of being in Africa and of her warning a new missionary mother to iron ALL her clean laundry - even the diapers. But ironing cloth doesn't make for nice fluffy diapers and so this new missionary mom refused with dire consequences. Her poor little babe had 40 or so ( and don't quote me on the number but it seems like it was a LOT!) of these putzi larva  as I think she called them and that is the other name for it, and the child was very sick from it.

Someone has asked me to tell what a funza is and I keep forgetting, but here goes:

It's a flea that burrows into the toes or fingers around the nail and lays it's eggs there. If you don't get that egg sack out they will all hatch and lay their own eggs.... pretty soon the poor little African Children have very deformed fingers and toes! I will see if I can find a picture of the damage it can do to add to this post.

FREAK ME OUT!!!!

Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 at 05:11

Don't read this if you are easily grossed out.....I just pulled a worm out of my arm!!!

I have several flea bites and they look just like little red spots that are almost healed, but I thought that one of them was getting infected. Steve took a look at it and declared MRSA.  It was starting to hurt pretty bad so I took a charcoal tablet, wet it and taped it to the spot with a bandaid. As the charcoal got dry it felt like it was pinching me and I looked and something white was sticking out. Charcoal draws out toxins and puss and whatever, but I thought it strange that the head was coming out so stiff and firm!! However, I had seen it once before.

On the airplane coming home from Africa Teresa was complaining that one of her bug bites was looking infected and it hurt. I gave her a charcoal tablet and a bandaid and she followed my directions. In an hour or so she came back and said, "look this thing is sticking out". Eventually she pulled it out and thought it was the core of a MRSA infection or something... She has been using an antibiotic cream ever since and it is looking good.

I looked at mine with a magnifying glass and this thing was alive!  I called Teresa and told this wasn't MRSA we are dealing with. SO.... Jason, Antionette, Mom, WHAT IN THE WORLD IS IT? It's not a funza. Have you ever seen such a thing? My arm still hurts but not quite so bad. It is red and swollen and the center is a crater that's a little black - maybe from the charcoal. We would like to know what we are dealing with as I have 3 more red spots that I thought were flea bites grown out of proportion. They seem to be going away, so hopefully that is the case.

Forty-five Hours Later.... WE are HOME!

Posted on Monday, December 15, 2008 at 10:01

We are home!

So good to be home and it looks better than I remember!  There is a beautiful, fresh Christmas tree set up in our livingroom making the house fragrant. It inspired Steve to take out his guitar and play a couple of Christmas carols while he drinks his tea and unwinds. There are fresh baked loaves of bread on the counter, and homemade cookies and food in the fridge. I even think some of these tomatoes ripening on the counter came from the garden? The house is warm but it is fridged outside and there is plenty of squeaky cold snow. There is a new doorhandle on the house... and new keys. The car battery was being charged up. The plants - especially the Christmas catcuses are all healthy and in full bloom. The cat that hardly showed her face for our friends was happy to greet us. Many thanks to all our friends who took care of things and made our homecoming feel very welcoming!

My ankles are three times their usual size and my body clock is way off, but I am thinking a hot bath and few hours sleep will help me feel a little better. The kids are glad to be home... and Bethany is so happy to be with her family. Even her big sister was home from academy  to greet us at the airport.

Brianna's way of passing the time on the airplane.

Many thanks to Mom and Jason and Antionette for taking care of us in Africa! We miss you all already.

Goodnight!

We are in Ethiopia... bad internet here :-(

Posted on Sunday, December 14, 2008 at 09:25

A Quick Trip to Mago

Posted on Friday, December 12, 2008 at 08:35

Well, there is nothing quick about a trip to Mago except that we were back at Kibidula within 36 hours. Mom and I went to pay the fundis and take them back to their homes. The road is really rough since the rains have washed out huge pot holes and some places the ruts are sooo deep. We didn’t have enough in the truck to give us any weight so we bounced around quite a bit. The window on my side had fallen out of the bracket so I had to hold it up because it was raining, of course. I was really glad to see Ikonda because I knew we were getting close. Soon as we arrived there people started asking mom for a lift and she noticed this person and that person that she knew. She stopped to talk to a man about an obviously terrible abscess and make sure he had medicine. One the corner where we had left the little African Christina and her sister we found she was still there dancing and waving at us. Mattie and Maggie and Yulie were all by the roadside hollering greetings.

We saw Barasa and his son on one side of the road and on the other we saw Aruma. They were coming back from harvesting wheat. I thought it was weird that Miriam wasn’t with them. Mom asked Aruma if she knew her mother had twins and we were surprised to find out she didn’t know. She knew her mother had a baby boy…(the same sick baby we went to see the other day), but she had no idea that she had also had a baby girl and that she had died two weeks later. I think it was a bit of a shock because she packed up to go back with us right away. We found out from Brent the reason for Miriam’s absence. She has been very sick for 2 whole weeks so Shari gave her a pregnancy test J It’s positive and you never saw such a miserable looking woman. She is very ill! She couldn’t even smile at me, but we are assured that she is happy beyond words. They have been married 6 years and unable to have kids.  I suggested it was the change in diet while they ate with us for 6 weeks, but mom teased that it was because of the 6 weeks of Miriam having to live with us that he had had time to “put money in the bank.”  He only laughed and said, “Maybe.” We are happy for them. I asked if she had made Jonah and Sam’s shirts but she had only been able to cut them out.

Metu was very happy to see me. He and his sister were holding my hands in seconds, taking off my watch and asking to play with my camera. I visited with Shari and she was glad for someone to speak English to. We ate lunch with them the next day. Hannah was very proud that she has made great strides in breaking the thumbsucking habit. Shari has found some orphans to help. One little guy had a terrible ear infection and she has been treating it twice a day. She seems happy in her work.

Mom and I made a fire in the fireplace and cleared a spot amongst the tools to lay down a couple of mattresses. We woke up to the sound of the fundis stirring cement at 5 and peering in at us. The same donkey brayed his morning greetings, and the same birds sang their wake up songs, and the cho stinks as bad as ever, but it was strangely empty of all our friends. We ate pineapple and bananas and swept and scraped floors. We also worked hard at fixing the window. I am not at all mechanically minded but mom is and together we fixed it in time for our return trip.

We saw Disma. His face lit up like a lightbulb when he saw mom. He absolutely loves her. Mom over-heard the Godfrey at the Duka's wife tell someone else that if it wasn't for Mama Janet that kid would be dead. If only his parents took an interest in him! They don't care enough to know that she looks after his wounds. When we saw him she changed his bandages and they were very smelly. She got after him once again for leaving his bandages on too long. She doesn't want him to leave them on more than two days. His sores were doing a bit better despite the rottenness... Miriam took one whiff and went running for the cho. He had a funza but mom forgot to take it out.

The finishing touches on the buildings look very nice. I took lots of pictures. The fundis were not quite done so we waited until 1:30 for them to finish and they were not packed and ready to go until 3 pm. So it was a LONG trip back for us. The last part of the trip was through back road because that is where the fundis live. I thought we would never get off those rough roads.

We arrived to find everyone happy and picking the peeling skin off Steve’s back. He blistered pretty bad so there’s a lot to pick at. They had heard a bush baby (a little animal) scream in the night and Jason went to investigate but couldn’t see what the trouble was. The morning revealed that his dogs had killed the poor little creature.

We didn't get the phone number for Ethiopian Air until late last night and it is too late to get them to order us Vegetarian meals.... so pray for these 4 kids... we will probably be quite hungry as I don't have a single granola bar or anything for the trip. The dried fruit is down to prunes and things that are better cooked.

Winding up the Trip

Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 07:43

It's amazing that this trip is almost over. Yesterday the Kirbys got on a bus to Dar. They wanted to go to Slipway and the craft markets, etc... they had 11 pieces of luggage and had trouble getting on the bus, but they did make it. Talls leave today  because they want to try and break up the trip for Leila and see what they can see in Dar. They only have 5 suitcases and 2 or 3 carry-ons. Our family decided to leave Sunday. I am hoping we have 6 suitcases and some carry-ons. Jean-Luc will drive us because he needs to pick up his daughter at the airport anyway. We gave him our bus fare and motel money to make it worth going a day early. So no buses, no taxies, no YMCA, no hot muggy nights in Dar, no haggling for food....! Can you tell I am getting tired of that part of our trip? The best reason for staying here until our flight date is to spend a little longer at Jason and Antionette's as we have no idea when we will see them again this side of heaven.

Yesterday my computer cord was giving me trouble as usual and I was wiggling it like always, suddenly there were sparks and then a lot of smoke! So I figured that was the end of it. But Jason and Steve took it apart and Jason was able to fix it for now. It still has one short, but I can deal with that a lot better than two. The Lord has been good to us to keep this computer going.

Before supper Mom, Teresa and I went with a man to see his little 6 week old baby. He was quite worried about him. A few weeks ago the twin girl died. They don't live far from here. Antionette rummaged up a bag of clothes for the baby and we went to see it. He is so tiny. He has a cold and seems quite congested. I suggested they use camphor oil on his chest, so we went back to the house to find a bottle of camphor oil. The father is obviously a gardener. Even the inside court of their mud brick houses were decorated with shelves of beautiful potted plants. I have many of those same plants at home.  We may go back and see how he is doing before we leave.

I am going with mom this morning to Mago. She has some unfinished business to take care of and plans to be back tomorrow. It will be fun to see everyone  again. Christina is begging to go but I am not sure yet.

We enjoyed a real nice time with the Ross family and everybody here last night singing Christmas carols. It's so hard to believe it is almost Christmas. It's nice with all the Christmas lights and stuff, but it feels a little warm to be Christmas! I guess we "feel" Christmasy as soon as we hit the cold at home.

Mago Kids Update

Posted on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 10:10

 Mom gave us a little update on the kids on Mago when she arrived here at the lake. She had quite a time getting here as we had her truck. She managed to get to Ikonda, but then tried all night to get a ride on a truck without success. In the morning she found a trucker headed to Njombe. From there she was able to get a bus to where the road turns off to the lake. It’s an hour of dirt road and Jason went and picked her up. We are glad she is here. She has been working too hard and hasn’t had much rest lately. It’s nice for all 6 of the granddaughters to have her for some play time.

When she went back to Mago that last time she asked Yona how Metu was the next day when he woke up and found out all the Masungoos had left. Yona said, “He cry and cry and cry”.

Poor kiddo!

Alex has shown an interest in spiritual things. The African team has taken a real liking to him and has given him a Bible and he has been attending church. He has been doing odd jobs about the place, too.

Mom saw Disma and he had not taken off the bandages since Mom and Steve had wrapped them. Unfortunately, on the one foot he couldn’t keep the bandage dry so all the skin around the missing toe has sloughed off. The other leg looked better. Mom re-bandaged him up and told him to make sure he had Barasa take care of it in her absence every two days. She struggles to know what to do about him. His needs are great and she is only one person and he is one of many needy people. We are still praying for something to work out for him.

The End of Our vacation at Lake Malawi

Posted on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 10:06

  Our time at Lake Malawi is coming to a close. The girls and I, Mom and Jono were in the lake at 6:30 am playing freeze tag. Mom wore me out in a chase…I think we are about the same strength in swimming because she couldn’t catch up and I couldn’t pull ahead. We finally gave up in exhaustion. The lake is as calm as can be this morning and we swam near a few fishing dugout canoes.  During the night the fisherman have lanterns and it looks much like a town out there.

Last evening we played dare base. At first Jason and I were the only adults playing…and since we were the adults the kids had to play by our rules, which we found out are quite antiquated by the kid’s standards. Oh, well!! Fair or no fair we were the adults. J We had fun until it kind of got dark and there was a major collision. Brianna was the casualty and so it was back to kick-the-can.  The kids had a good game of Annie, Annie Over with the Kirbys earlier and I think it might be one of their favorites now.

The Kirbys ordered cake for Emily’s birthday from the lady at the restaurant. They ordered a chocolate cake with frosting and a cinnamon nut cake. Working along with other cultures makes life interesting. Cinnamon nut cake to a German lady here is actually cinnamon rolls – but they were very good.

Seems some of the kids have had a contest to see how many teeth they could lose while they were in Africa. Someone was always losing a tooth. This morning Sam lost his third one and a second later Bethany lost her third tooth. Brianna was getting after Bethany for not flossing well enough…. She took a look in her mouth and changed her mind. Too many missing teeth to make much of flossing.

Jon and Leila had a close call in the lake yesterday. Suffice to say the angels were on guard and helped Jon because with the crash of the waves none of us could hear his call for help. He said he only felt that out of control one other time in his life and that was his experience on the glacier with Tom.

We have enjoyed the calm and quiet time with Jason and Antionette and mom. We were able to sit and visit a lot on the beach which was very nice. The trip here to the lake was beautiful, so I expect a good trip back. We are using a Land Cruiser and Mom’s pick-up with a cap. We all fit – sorta!

More at Lake Malawi

Posted on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 10:02

 Emily’s birthday dawned wet and soggy.  She turns three today and she agreed with Jon that she looks a whole year older today than yesterday. She already knows what she is getting for a present. She found this brightly wrapped package the first day we were here and was quite delighted with the contents and sorely disappointed when her mother said she couldn’t have it until her birthday. It’s tough to be almost 3.

There was quite a light show in the night over the lake. The lightening stretched across the whole sky without a let up. I was too sleepy to watch long but some sat on their balconies and enjoyed it.  All during breakfast we watched dark columns of bugs come up from the water making it look like the lake was smoking.

The Kirbys provide glow sticks in the evening and most everyone joins in a game of kick-the-can in the dark. One glow stick goes in a water bottle so people can find the “can”. There is not a ton of hiding places so ingenuity is a must. I have seen glow sticks in the tops of trees and I have seen kids hiding their glow sticks and sitting in plain view amongst the spectators. It is not wise to lurk around other people’s cottages as Jonah and Abi found out. One tourist who thought his porch, which is very close to our porch, was private and must have forgotten his clothes indoors…. At any rate he disappeared fast. Abi never noticed but she sure wanted to know why Jonah was such a basket case silently shaking with laughter and totally unable to speak. Lying in the sand is not a great place to hide either; sand fleas and ants make waiting rather uncomfortable.

Jason and Antionette enjoyed their meal out. They said the food was good and it felt just like they were eating in this German lady’s kitchen. They figured it cost more for the lady to make the food than she charged them. The girls were good and easy to watch and the baby was also, at least until she got hungry. Then there wasn’t much anybody could do to make her happy. I wanted to keep her under the mosquito net but she didn’t like that idea. After all, the party was outside!!! Uncle Steve took a turn trying to sooth her and then Memere took over. Antionette could hear her screaming from the parking lot when they got back and Antionette was smiling… so nice to know that you are so needed and no one can take your place!

Since the rain stopped most everybody has been playing volley ball. Unfortunately my children have inherited my total disinterest in ball games. Vanessa won’t even go investigate and says she isn’t interested in broken fingers (it’s almost time to go home and she wants to play her harp and piano!!)  Brianna tried it for a bit but didn’t enjoy the pain in her wrists so she is busy with a sandcastle. Being a social creature, Christina is trying, but we won’t ask the boys their opinion of her skills. Steve played too hard as usual and one toe is black and blue.

Lake Malawi Continued

Posted on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 06:52

  Today is hot and sunny and the lake is behaving much like a raging sea. I can’t quite understand it since there isn’t much wind, but the waves are huge! There are storms in the mountains round about us, so I guess they are the cause. There are none of the dugout canoes on the water today, but we have played in the waves for hours. They are so much fun. Most of the kids really enjoy it, but there are a few who are afraid.  Bethany loves the water and gets very excited about snorkeling and watching fish, but she isn’t much for these waves. I managed to take her out for awhile but the force of the waves frighten her so much she can’t seem to battle them like Christina and Brianna do. She could feel the undertow and Steve had to drag her back to shore. I am thankful that all these kids are really good swimmers.

We saw the columns of “smoke” coming off the water again today.

Christina is a mess. Her eyes are so burned that she looks scary. She is restricted to the cottage this afternoon. She has her sunglasses, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. Bella is sick throwing up, fever and stuff, Emily is coughing terribly and I had a bug in my ear in the night. I put a little Tea Tree Oil in it to kill whatever and then it burned like crazy. It’s still not quite right, but better than before. Most of us are nursing a sunburn or two.

I made an offer to take care of my nieces this evening so Jason can take Antionette out for supper. She was craving pizza the other day and said that she had not had one since January – no one served pizza to them on their furlough, not even once. Chris and Abi have been eating out at a restaurant run by a European lady near here and said she makes a nice vegetable pizza. It wasn’t too hard to convince Jason to take his wife out to eat.

We all tried fresh cocoa.  On our way here we stopped to let the kids relieve themselves behind some trees. I called out to Izzy and asked her what kind of orchard it was. Evidently Jason had told her it was chocolate. People come to the cottages and try to sell us all sort of fruit; watermelon, pineapple, mangoes, coconut, papaya, pommelos, etc… and cocoa. The fruit of the cocoa isn’t much but it is quite sweet and tangy. We like to try new stuff. It’s almost too hot out to eat anything but fruit.

 some of the fruit after we had eaten half of it

By the way, Pierre had to shave his mustache to get a good seal on his mask and snorkel. He still has long sideburns, but not as long as before. He certainly looks better to me and yeah, he finally got a kiss, but the girls’ reaction was hilarious. They were sure his nose had grown longer. They said he looked funny. He just can’t win. Jon still calls him Pierre John Stephen all pronounced in French. I am happy for the new look since the last one seemed almost sinister to me. Jon shaved his beard and mustache, too for the same reason as Steve and even Jason has had to keep shaven.

Lake Malawi

Posted on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 06:50

  Everyone is enjoying the peacefulness of this beautiful place at Lake Malawi. The Lake is so massive it honestly feels like we are at an ocean resort. We can’t see to the other side of the lake and we listen to the splash of the waves day and night. The beach is all sand and stretches from our 2 story cottages to the water’s edge with palm and flowering trees for shade sprinkled here and there. When the sun is shining the sun and is too hot to walk on. We arrived Thursday and already everyone is slathering themselves with aloe vera to sooth the redness of their skin. We did remember the sunscreen this time!!

The water is just perfect! We swim all day long. Snorkeling is a big attraction. We are thankful we brought snorkels and masks. Lake Malawi is where most of the fresh water aquarium tropical fish come from. Cindy, I actually figured out the snorkeling and I only nearly drowned once… Teresa was panicky about learning to snorkel, too, but she has learned. The nice thing here is you can see lots of fish in a foot of water, so that makes the learning easier. So far, we haven’t persuaded Antionette to try it.  We can see a few fish here and there on at our beach; a red one here, a purple one there, little striped ones, but a walk down the beach past a village takes us to a place where the mountain meets the lake. Amongst the rocks are some of the most beautiful fish by the thousands. Jason has been here 4 times and he had no idea that the fish were so impressive here because he didn’t have a snorkel. He has been snorkeling in Zanzibar and other places and he said he hasn’t seen this many fish in one spot. We don’t know the name of a single fish and we don’t have a book, but there are a lot of blue and black striped fish and yellow ones, orange, green, white, spotted, striped, etc…

Antionette and Jason asked to borrow the binoculars yesterday afternoon. They were seeing smoke coming off the water which is a strange phenomenon of this lake. We had watched the Planet Earth DVD about Lake Malawi and it had shown that the smoke coming off the water was actually a certain kind of insect coming out of the water to mate. We all felt privileged to see this.

We have been feasting on common yellow mangoes. We have been eating so many that some have to stay pretty close to the restroom!! The stomach cramps hit at unexpected times and you have to run. We have also been eating pommelos – which I don’t really know how to spell and my computer doesn’t recognize, but they are those over-sized grapefruits. We have really enjoyed them. We have so much fruit it’s piled on the ground under a tree. We gave up on fruit salads. Everyone is free to go and peel and all they can hold. Common mangoes are the stringiest mangoes ever, so you can’t really slice them. They do wonders to braces!

We have a charcoal burner and cook breakfast and supper there. For lunch we eat at the cafeteria for about a dollar and half each. It’s pretty simple but they do all the cooking, clean up and dishes, so we figure it is quite worth it. This is our vacation, after all. Bread is too expensive so we do without.

Steve found a us a nice little scorpion in our room yesterday and then last night he caught a huge spider and all her babies. There are plenty of bats in the roof making an interesting commotion at night.

I have made my bird list ad I have seen about 70 birds here in Africa so far. Two of which we see back home. We were enjoying the African paradise-flycatchers yesterday. They are mostly orange with a black head and long tail streamers. There are not as many water birds here as I thought there should be. I have been watching pied kingfishers and cormorants, but not much else near the water.

It’s amazing we are only just over the mountains from Mago. We saw ladies in the next village stacking their pottery and getting ready to carry it over the mountain to nearby where mom lives. They planned to walk all night (about 8 hours) up and over the mountains to Belongwe to market. It’s about an 9 thousand feet elevation difference. You have to be really strong to do that! The people here are strong. You can see their muscles ripple under their black, suntanned skin.

The people by the lake are different from the mountain people. We walked through a village on the beach that speaks neither Swahili nor Kinga. They have their own language and culture. Just nearby is another village with another tribe altogether. In one village they are fishermen, in the other they make pottery. They all spend time in the water and are not at all ashamed to be naked! Jason felt a little out of place walking down the beach with a Jonah and Sam on either side of him. He just wanted to get them through the village quick, but then we have them bathing in front of our cottage at times. The people process their cassava and lay it out in the sun to dry. The smell is enough to make you want to puke. It’s bad! They ferment the stuff first and it is absolutely putrid. The fish smell is pretty strong, too.

Although there are cel towers all around, I can’t get online here. My computer keeps saying welcome to Malawi and that’s as far as I get. I know there are vodocom signals here, but the other signals are so strong they over-ride it. I can charge my computer when the generator comes on at night because 220 voltage is fine for computers, but the computer cord is so bad now it takes us a half an hour to get it to work. Every time I use it I really wonder if this is the last time the cord will work.

Emily turns 3 tomorrow. Antionette and Jason’s anniversary is just around the corner. We have really enjoyed our time with them. I was telling Twalisa that we have seen more of them this year than ever before. They visited our place on furlough twice and we have been seeing them off and on for the last two months.

It’s hard to believe one week from today we will be leaving Africa.

Safari Njema

Posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 at 11:28

Africa is definitely a land of diversity. When we left Mom’s we were amazed by the changes we saw in climate, fauna, lifestyle and houses. Heavy rains had turned the Mekete Mountain Region lush and green. Even Kibidula had undergone changes in the few weeks since our previous visit. Rain has begun to fall there, too, so the wild flowers and little creatures have begun to come out in abundance.

Once again we noticed a huge difference in climate and landscape as we journeyed towards Ruaha National Park.

Our game park adventure was a total success. We felt blessed and privileged beyond words for this unique opportunity. It was worth every penny and we were actually amazed at how little it did cost us. We couldn’t have gone to Yellow Stone for that!

The beautiful Riverside campground where we stayed in large tents with nice cots rented us two trucks and two drivers for our expedition. One truck was a Land Rover with room for 8. It was enclosed, but the roof had removable panels for better wildlife viewing. We stood up through the roof and could see everywhere. Vanessa was terribly sick with a fever (still is) so we chose to ride in that vehicle to protect her from the wind and elements on the first part of the long drive to the park. I really enjoyed the open roof feature, plus our guide was a super good spotter!

The other truck was also a Land Rover, I believe. It was open with a canvas canopy and had 4 rows of seats to hold 9 or so. (This morning we easily got 11 into it.)  Each row of seats was higher than the first so that it was tiered. It was exactly what Jonah had seen in a magazine and had dreamed of going on safari in, so everyone was happy.

I made Christina our little statistician and she made tally marks for each animal seen in our vehicle. She gave up on impala after 50 tally marks in the first hour. She never even got started on the baboons and monkeys as it’s hard to count them as they are scampering all over and raining down from trees. So here is what she managed.

Giraffes:  47

Elephants: 15 (three main groups of them and two in one group were little babies)

Crocodiles: 13

Bat eared fox: 1

Jackals: 6

Waterbucks: 22

Hippos: 24 ( plus a big ol dead one that jackals and eagles were feasting on)

Zebra: 37

Kudu: 17

Lilac breasted rollers: 7 (these birds counted because they are my all time favorites)

Grey crowned cranes: 4

Wart hogs: 4

Dikdiks: 2

 Yup!! No lions!

I am still working on compiling my list of birds, ducks, storks, etc…. I have to say it is an incredible experience an I don’t even know how to begin to describe it. The kids had a great time!!! All of them did, even poor sick Vanessa. She sometimes had to lay down in the truck and sleep, but she wouldn’t have missed it for anything.

The guide finally took us to a picnic site on a safe riverbank at 2 pm.  We ate in a banda and were thankful for the thatched roof because the insects were so loud we couldn’t think. But the thatch muffled some of the sound. We took care of that last jar of nutella Jeanne sent us in a hurry.

Leila had a major diaper problem… so bad her mom threw away her clothes. We traded vehicles at this point because those of us standing in the open were beyond sun burn and about ready for heat stroke. Having been used to the open view we were not so impressed with the other truck. However, it was more comfortable and we were getting a little tired of standing and balancing on the rough roads. I had sore back muscles that I didn’t even know existed.  Our guides finished up our tour around 5:30 and we headed back for camp. We no sooner left the park when we hit the rain storm I had been photographing from a distance. It drenched half the people in our truck and that included Leila and Teresa. There was already a deficit in the clothing department… but now it was time for the ride home in the wind and the later it got the colder it got.  They were very cold by the time we arrived at camp at 8:15.

I think Brianna and I took about 400 photos using her camera. Right now I consider the photos more valuable than the camera!! I can’t wait to download them.  I even have some good pics of some exotic birds.

It’s hard to describe the day and all we did, but there were funny moments… like when Jonah asked for some TP and I happened to have a nice new roll of white, soft TP that reminded us of home. Kristen gave it to me before she left and I had saved it for tripping around and was hogging it a little. I would give out pieces… but when Jonah asked for some I thought, “Ah, I’ll give him the whole roll, surely he won’t be too extravagant with it.” So I handed him the zip lock. Five minutes later he comes out with the roll still in the bag and sidles up to his mom and whispers, “I dropped the roll in the toilet!”  His mother didn’t whisper…. “YOU WHAT??!!!  HOW DOES A BIG BOY LIKE YOU DROP A WHOLE ROLL IN THE TOILET…AND NO, SHE DOESN”T WANT IT BACK!”  You would have to be here to understand just what that kind of TP means to this gang.

Like I said we left the game park at 5:30 but didn’t roll into camp until about 8:15, so, naturally we drove part way in the dark. Mister!!! We had some close calls! It is very dangerous to drive at night and believe me we have had quite enough of it.  We were barreling down a big hill and at the bottom a truck was stopped in the middle of the road with nothing to warn us. The driver saw it and tried to brake. He slid…braked – slid, braked slid… and pretty soon we were within feet and the thought crossed my mind to get in the brace position, but just as quickly I realized that should we hit- all my children were on the outside seats of the open vehicle and would go flying. I had little reason to protect myself when I couldn’t do a thing to save the kids. At the last second our driver made a sharp turn and barely squeezed through. If the guy lying under the truck had had his feet out any farther he would be missing them today. There was one more close call… similar, yet different, but I won’t bore you with the details. We sang Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow when we at last turned into the campground.

We were quite tired and hungry but the campground had a good hot meal waiting for us. They only serve vegetarian meals at this campground, I am sure it is not for health reasons or the owner’s wife would not be such a smoker. Whatever, it served our purpose quite well.  We ate in the thatched outside dining room. It was lovely. The campground is also a Swahili language school. You can go and live there for a week or 4 months, or whatever you want.

We arrived back here at Kibidula this evening and we are ready to leave for Lake Malawi at 5 in the morning. I have no idea what the internet connection will be like there, so I am writing this while everyone is asleep. I kind of feel like you all depend on me to keep you updated J .  There is more to tell. We have a few bus stories and shopping experiences to tell that would interest you, I am sure. I will keep it for later. Suffice to say we are all still here and mostly fine. Jason tested Vanessa for malaria this evening, but seems it’s just a bad fever that won’t go away. Poor kid was blue with the chills this morning and this evening is not much better. The Kirbys pretty much do their own thing – plan their own transportation and come and go as they please. They eat with us sometimes, but we never really know what to expect from day to day. I think we are a bit too frugal for their liking (okay – call it cheap or whatever. We practically didn’t eat until we got back to Kibidula today.  We are trying to make the money last or else we are too dumb to figure out how to get food to feed this gang. Teresa and I tried to buy bananas on Tuesday and we couldn’t even figure out how to do that. They see those masoongoos coming and jack the price up way out of sight! )   The Talls and the Fords stick together much like glue. We are in this together and we are thankful to share the experiences and friendship.  Pierre, as Steve has been permanently tagged, is joking that when we get home we would like to spend the weekend at the Tall’s house and then the next weekend they are to stay with us. LOL!

Catching up

Posted on Sunday, November 30, 2008 at 10:46

 I used up all my battery doing other typing so I couldn’t blog  yesterday, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t eventful. ( Jason's power is fine when the sun shines, but we haven't seen much of that, so I am trying not to wear out their batteries charging mine). The guys (Steve, Jon, Thomas, and Jason) got up at a quarter to 4 and got in the truck were about to go when they got a phone call. The truck with the container on it had broken a front spring and they were to wait to hear back. They waited in the car for 30 minutes and then another phone call came saying it was going to take them awhile to get a part. So the guys went back to bed. At 6 am we heard the phone again and the guys got up and left. Apparently they couldn’t get a part so they stuck some pieces of 2X4 in there and it was working okay. In the end the guys arrived at Mago 5 minutes after the truck. The stories of how they unloaded the container and got the container in place are something else, but I wasn’t there…I do know that all the village kids we got to know were there to carry stuff. Many hands make light work and the guys were grateful for their willingness. Alex used a wheelbarrow and carted things into the house. The guys were back here by 10pm. It took a lot of smarts and figuring out to get everything done right and well.

All the kids were busy here with household chores and then they set up the new trampoline and spent most of the day taking turns on it even though it has been raining almost constant. The little girls are quite pleased with it.

Teresa and I and some of the kids ate at Wabers for supper. We played games until bedtime with the Waber kids. They have different games than we know and we had fun.

Steve shaved off part of his beard one day. The next day he shaved off more. Now he has these really long sideburns and a funny mustache. He is enjoying all the attention, I think! He’s been called everything from a French man to John Wayne… I am just waiting for him to get over it and back to normal. He is enjoying his girl’s big ta-do about it all. They are not too impressed, I might add.

I took about 10 pics and not once did he keep his eyes open!

Twa with a interesting insect

The battery is dead once again. I would love to tell you all about the millions of little frogs here and the dragonflies by the hundreds, the purple crested turacos and the amazing wildlife we are experiencing in the rainy season… This computer is a little iffy now and many times I cannot charge it. Anyway, we leave after lunch for the game park. There are suppose to be over 500 varieties of birds and 10,000 elephants. We shall see.

Oh!  Would someone please tell us if Darl ever got a job? We keep praying for them and wondering how they are doing, but no has mentioned if he found a job yet. Thanks. And one more thing.... did paul survive the trip? no one ever mentioned him again. We don't know if he made it in one piece... if he hated it and declared he would never go with us again, or if he had a good time???!!!

A Big Thank You!

Posted on Friday, November 28, 2008 at 10:05

We just wanted to tell everyone who has commented a big thank you. You have no idea how many times a day kids and adults ask me if I got any comments yet. I have to remind them all the time that our day is your night and that I only check for comments in the morning and in the evening and we are far more likely to get comments Friday through Monday! Everybody loves to hear from home. They like to hear about Spanish rice and corn chips and they like to hear about church, family, orchards and pets. They want to know everything!!

I braided half a dozen braids this morning and we had nice thick cornmeal mush, fruit salad made of mangoes, pineapple, and banana. Antionette made a nice cheese spread for the bread. Leila scared me to death this morning. I was coming down the stairs and she was at the top and she decided to throw herself at me!! I had an open computer in one hand and I was four steps down. I lunged at her and pushed her back. Whew! Dangerous child.  Steve and Jon are taking the kids and walking to church this morning. It’s about 5 kilometers from here. It’s kind of nice that the house is suddenly quiet. Peace! LOL!

Jono was sick and miserable yesterday. He missed out on the unloading of the airplane and that didn’t help his mood. Teresa sent him to bed without any supper ‘cause Jason wasn’t here and he was feverish. He laughed at her, but she said she was serious so he went. This morning he is in much better health and spirits but he wouldn’t eat breakfast because there was nothing he liked at the table. The guy is skinny enough… hope he doesn’t fade away. We are having spaghetti for lunch so hopefully he eats.

What a day!

Posted on Friday, November 28, 2008 at 08:26

  What a day! It started off with a lot of excitement… Jason’s container was waiting to be unloaded and everybody was excited to be a part of the process. We rushed breakfast and flew out the door to see. It took awhile to unload all that farm equipment, and then the precious crate with the airplane in it was unloaded and taken to the hangar. It was carefully placed into the hangar and opened up. We all burst into song and sang Happy Birthday to Jason as we looked into that great big box. He thinks it is going to take several months to a year for him to put it all together and start flying it because he has so much other work to do, but you could see he was quite happy to finally have it.

We had jack fruit for breakfast. Very interesting; I like it, but not everyone does. I will show pictures sometime.

Some of the girls took an art class with a couple of people from the European Bible School. This was totally up Brianna’s ally. She came back with a pretty good portrait she had drawn of the teacher from Balgaria. I sure wish I could find her an art teacher. Nothing would please her more. She loves to draw and paint but I haven’t been able to find someone who can take the time to help her very much. What they taught in this particular class she had already learned previously but it was good to do something fun.

Kirbys and Talls went to Reiderers for lunch and all the Fords and Fourniers and Bethany went to Mafinga because mom’s container had arrived and there were things it in for Jason and his family. It was quite a job to dig out things without completely unloading the container. It poured rain!!! Some were so drenched you could wring out their clothes. We ate a nice restaurant. Some ate curry and rice, and or chips, and some ate chips-my-eye, or egg curry and rice. I had a Tangaweizy to drink. Very ginger! It was good. We got home tired and wet and hungry. We had to ride 10 in the cab and 2 on the back of the truck with all the stuff. All three of Jason’s girls slept in the car. We forgot to get diesel which was not so good considering we were completely on empty in a borrowed truck! Jason is going to find a jerry can with some diesel to help it along a little.

 Memere and her six grandaughters standing by her container.

It’s Friday night and I am looking forward to a restful Sabbath. The kids are all singing to welcome the Sabbath but also to calm them down so the adults don’t go nuts with their fooling around and get them in a more Sabbath mode!!  We miss our home church, far as we know we will be there at our home church the 20th of December! We look forward to seeing you all!