Resolutions and moments

I remember how awestruck I was when I first learned what New Years Eve was all about. The idea that one year was gone forever and a brand new one was about to begin fascinated me. I sat practically on the edge of my seat waiting for midnight. And when it came, it seemed appropriate that firecrackers went off, people toasted and hugged each other, etc. It also seemed the right occasion to make resolutions—major commitments that were just so difficult to do at any other time. As if starting a difficult task on a certain date somehow made it easier to tackle than at another time.

That was then. And even though New Year’s Eve is still a time when I enjoy looking back at what has been and looking forward to what could or may be, that sheer awesomeness of the moment has faded quite a bit. Now, I find I’d rather be peacefully asleep in my bed than wide awake when the clock strikes midnight. Yes, we say farewell to the old year and stand expectantly on the brink of a new one, but is that really just cause to ruin a perfectly good night’s sleep?? It’s really just about moments, one after the other one, right? And even though I believe that New Year’s resolutions are better than none at all, I’ve discovered that if I need to make a commitment to some sort of action, it’s best done, well, at the moment!

Now, just so you don’t think I’m a total New Year’s Eve bah-humbug, here’s a shot of our New Year’s Eve celebratory dinner table (artistic talent: Keren).

Done in one of my favorite themes: Guinea Fowl. Thanks Keren!

After dinner, when the clean up was all done, and we’d talked to any of our family who were online, and when my husband (who was sick with ?flu ?malaria that night) was tucked into bed and asleep, and since my mind wasn’t ready to switch off yet for the day anyway, and since it was nearing midnight, I decided to see the New Year in outside on our veranda. The moon was beautifully full. Apparently we had a “blue moon” that night which means the 2nd full moon in one month. The crickets chirped, I think the neighbour’s cow mooed once or twice, and guinea fowl squawked restlessly in the trees below our yard, near the river. Midnight came and went, and with it that awesome changeover from one year to the next, all in peaceful quiet in the African bush under the bright, silent moon. No fireworks, no bells tolling, no “woot’ing” or music.

So did I make any resolutions for 2010, anyway? Well, sort of. One was: “Get to bed and go to sleep as soon as possible.” The other, was: “Enjoy the moments. Seize the moments.”

I'll close with a few shots of the week:

We've had a fair share of health related calls this week, one was the first-ever delivery of a baby at the health post. The mom was trying to make it to the nearest hospital but local transport drivers refused to take her since they figured she was in advanced labor. The traditional birth attendants and Keren worked together to ensure a safe delivery.

Magnum waits to seize a few moments of play with Mushu. Mushu not so sure...

This is the friendly agama (dubbed George, by me, for no reason whatsoever) that hangs out in our yard. He's had a few lucky moments this week since he was caught first by Magnum, then by our cat. He was rescued unharmed. Here's hoping 2010 is a kinder year for him.

Best wishes for 2010!

Novelties and Gifts

Since we are in relax mode now that Christmas Day is over, I’ll just give you a quick recap of our week. It was marked by novelties, busyness and, not surprisingly, the giving and receiving of gifts.

Novelty #1: Darth Vader type helmet in Mozambican bush


This photo speaks largely for itself. My cousin Murray, who motorbiked his way back here from South Africa last week, shows some of the guys his motorbike and helmet. Clearly, the bikes and helmets they’ve seen locally are not quite like this!

Novelty #2: Skype


Mateus, one of our sponsored students, gets to chat on skype to his sponsor in Canada. Carey (left) set things up so a bit of Mozambique-Canada chat could take place. I think Dwight and I were about as impressed by the live conversation capability as Mateus was.

Novelty #3: Puff Adder in the yard


We discovered this little guy hanging out by our back door just after turkey dinner last night. He was very cute when he huffed and puffed (hence the name), but he’s also poisonous. It was quite the commotion as we all gathered around to take photos of him. From a safe spot, of course.

And then, some gifts. There were many kinds of gifts this week--both those that were wrapped and set under the tree and actions that were done.

I was very grateful when Carey and Keren helped me out and did a splendid job, I might add, of decorating my Christmas tree. It was one of those jobs last week that I found neither the time nor the gumption to tackle.

Murray and Dwight worked on finishing the kitchen island counter top. It's beautiful and I can’t wait 'til it's ready to use.

Here I am, checking on my Christmas baking (well, ok, I paused to take a photo too). The reflection in the oven glass tells the story of my unfinished, rather chaotic home in the background! It was made even more chaotic by bringing in armloads of items long since stored in our shipping container, like Tupperware, baking pans and platters that I needed for preparing and serving a Christmas meal or two! I’m looking forward to a bit of a change of pace while the mission staff have the next week off. They’ll use the time to tend to their fields at home, and I’m hoping to get a bit of uninterrupted work done.

Anyway, let me sign off by mentioning just one last special gift we got this week:

A photo from Canada of our kids. ☺

Blessings on you all as you enjoy this special time.

Sick Bay, Party Day

For a number of reasons, I’ve worked at maintaining a well-defined scope of nursing practice here in the African bush. For one thing, I knew that if I jumped into all the health tasks that came my way, I’d end up being the local dentist, vet, etc. and that would make getting other work done more difficult.

You see, in the past my husband has rescued and taken in a wide assortment of creatures. Some were cute and warm blooded like orphaned duiker

bush rabbits and mongoose. But then there were the snakes, both the constrictors

and the poisonous. And there was even a crocodile once too. The day we were bandaging a neck wound on one of Africa’s protected and most poisonous snakes

(“Gabby", the Gaboon Viper)

I decided it was time to put my foot down and define the boundaries of my role as nurse/missionary/mom/wife! (By the way, the wound healed and the snake was eventually released to lead a fat, happy, productive life.)

One of the other creatures to be rescued several years ago was a female sheep (named “Andreas” after the guy who brought her condition to our attention). She was destined for the staff celebration stew pot until the original Andreas discovered that she was pregnant. Lucky her! She gave birth to “Adam” and thus begat the mission’s current herd (I refer to them as a rabble) of 180 rapidly multiplying sheep. Some cattle have also been bought over the years. The sheep and cattle now form vital elements of the mission farm’s sustainable agriculture and animal traction program. And although in the past I have brought premature or sick lambs to my home to be cared for, for the most part, I have maintained my nursing practice boundaries and let the men and herdsmen do the “vet-ing”. But there are always the exceptions.

This week we had several busy sick bays—both for animals and machines. First, a bull got sick on our shepherd/vet’s day off. So out came the medicine vials, needles and syringes, and the “Merck Veterinary Manual” (not as helpful as the human Merck Manual). I gave my input on possible treatment and dosages for antibiotics on hand, then Keren graciously and willingly stepped in to prepare and give the shot.

Sterilizing and preparing the shot...in our kitchen. Where else?

Samuel rounding the herd to get the bull in the squeeze (sick bay).

Keren giving the bull his shot. (Check out her account of the event here.)

We had a few sick dogs this week too, one of which had a nasty allergic reaction to something and proceeded to swell greatly and get wheals just about everywhere except on his tail! Keren and I had just sat down to discuss progress on the health manual when we got the urgent call. So out came the medicine vials, needles and syringes, and the “Merck Veterinary Manual” again, and off we went to make our house call. All ended well and by the next day Magnum was down to normal proportions again.

Evidence of the chaos.

Also in the sick bay this week were the health bikes. First, Keren’s motorbike “The General” had a few hiccups that had it laid up for several weeks. Thankfully, after replacing/repairing a few parts, it seems to be back up and running again. Secondly, the new health bike’s pedal broke when on its maiden voyage! All the bolts had been tightened and it was deemed ready for use, but I guess there was a defect in manufacturing. Let’s hope it won’t sit stationary for too long!

Here Keren peels away its new-bike wrapper before heading to her meeting with local birth attendants.

And last but by far not least this week, we had the annual Christmas Party Day for the orphans and widows in the mission program.

There was lots of fun to be had, but first order of the event: food!


Here, the Christmas story is told.

Dancing in a circle and singing to express joy. And in my opinion, there is no finer time for a joyous celebration than Christmas!

Widowed grannies, who care for orphans, get to hang out together for awhile.

There was face painting...



For everyone



The limbo


And many other fun activities, finally, the gift opening!

And with all this happening, my Christmas baking and tree decorating have taken a back seat.


Hoping to tackle those today though with a little help from my friends!

I better run for now. Blessings on you all as we celebrate our saviour’s birth and all this means to us! And in the words of Simon, one of the health care workers, “Celebrate, but stay healthy!”

It'll be a greeeen Chrissstmassss without snow...

It’s a good thing there are other reminders that it’s soon Christmas time, otherwise it may pass me by completely. I have spent most of my life’s Christmases in the tropics but even so, unless it’s white, it really doesn’t feel all that much like Christmas! A few odd events this week got me humming Christmas carols though.

The first was, “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”

I was doing a routine morning sweep of the house since we had been inundated with a gazillion flying ants the night before. We had a heavy rainfall and, as always happens after it rains here, flying ants emerged in droves from the ground. Because they’re drawn to light, and our house is lit at night, they descended on our house beating their translucent wings in a frenzy around our lights. They do this until their wings detach and they fall to the ground. Multiply 1 ant and 4 detached wings times 100 or more! It’s always a laborious task sweeping up ant wings the following morning. I imagine it’s a bit like trying to sweep downy feathers--you almost can’t because even the tiniest air current picks up your “dust pile” and carries it where you don’t want it to go! And then there are the bugs, that are still alive, trying to crawl out of the dust pile at the same time. Oh the joys. Anyway, turns out that this week, Edmonton had 4 foot snow drifts from a blizzard and they’re told to expect -40C temperatures. ☹ Maybe heat, rain and sweeping ant wings isn’t so bad afterall…

Then a few things got me singing “The twelve days of Christmas” even though it’s a bit early for that.

The first was that we managed to catch those pesky pigeons that had decided to move into and nest on our veranda. Poor shot here, but there they are nestled in "their" corner.

The song mentions gifts of a variety of birds so it seemed an appropriate enough song at the time. Catching the pigeons took a bit of climbing and risking of life and limb in the dark when they couldn’t see us

Chasing them down off the roof

Ebony, the cat, waits wistfully

but in the end we were victorious. (Dwight did most of the climbing and the actual catching of the birds, just didn't have my camera ready at the time.)

Here the pigeons are, safely in our kitchen in a “gift box” (read: any box big enough to hold them til morning). They were given to a very happy Raimundo the next day.

The next event was when Dwight started building a closet in our fairly-bare house. The closet is far enough along now so we can hang our clothes rather than stack them on the floor.

Many things are gifts. In fact, every day is a gift, Christmas or no Christmas.

A few other items this week:

Here Bero, a student who is doing summer volunteer work, helps me gather information on health post consults. While he does hours of counting and adding of figures for me, I will be putting together a brochure about him to help raise the funds needed for his corrective surgery.

Roof sheeting was picked up in town this week. Its job will be to cover latrines at the school, guardhouse and training center.

The health work finally got to purchase this bike and bring it “home” to be used. Its job will be to facilitate home visits by health care workers in villages when needed. But first, all the nuts and bolts need to be tightened and the headlight needs to be checked. Oh yes, and the gift wrap removed ☺

“It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas”…if only there were a little snow.

ttyl

PS: Check out the Unique Christmas Gift donation opportunities.

PPS: Also, check out the mission farm on Google Earth.

PPPS: If you're on facebook, we are too. Look up S.A.M. Ministries Inc.

Pairs, tools, and working together

A pair of pigeons was left at the mission in June this year as a thank you gift from a local family to the Prairie team. Of course, when the Prairie team left to go back to Canada, the pigeons stayed here in a cage beside the guinea fowl.

I’ve never kept pigeons before though and, as with anything new, there’s been a learning curve.

Lesson #1: Just because pigeons come together as a pair does not mean they’re a “pigeon pair”.

Turns out we had 2 males, so we had to look for a female. Oddly enough, there is a shortage of females and the nearest we could find was from someone who lived beyond our road, across the highway, down a footpath, past several villages, across the valley and over some hills. I didn’t hike there myself but a kind staff member brought the female pigeon on his bicycle for me.

Lesson #2: Pigeons don’t understand “personal space”.

Some of the staff felt it would be best to move the pigeons into a proper pigeon house in our yard. “They do better when they live by people,” they said. So we got them a house and moved them down.

“Perfect for pigeons”

As soon as they got moved, they promptly hopped down off their stand and set about exploring our yard. I wondered exactly where all they felt they needed to explore so decided to keep an eye on them. Turns out they needed to explore everywhere including the car-port, window ledge,
veranda, ironing board, table and pile of clean, folded laundry.

If I'd let them, they would have even been inside the house!

Um, no guys, “shoo, shoo, shoo…” I gently chased them away. “No exploring MY house, thank you very much. Go back to your own home.”

Lesson #3: Pigeons are more stubborn then me. (I think)

They went away only to come back later, while I was gone. I shooed them away again. Then they came back again, and on and on this went. This morning they were up several hours before I was, sitting on the veranda, making their pigeon noise and making it really hard to sleep in on an otherwise peaceful Saturday.

*Sigh*

Anyway, onto more important things.

This week was Intensive Seminar week at the mission. We host two of these each year here at the mission then the remaining seminars are held in remote areas at other times of the year. It’s always a great time to get together to learn,




...To get to know each other better

...To exchange ideas


and of course enjoy good food!



Keren shared a session on women’s health since she's developing that part of the health manual right now.

She used the illustration of a truck that needs all its tires in good condition (good health) in order to get the job done. She also talked about men and women being equal but unique in their gifting and purpose. She illustrated this by showing how tools are used for specific jobs too. It was a good session and one to remember, often. (But we couldn’t help but chuckle about the tool illustration on the way home. The sessions were held in Portuguese so it meant nothing to the monitors, but in English referring to someone as a tool carries a rather different sort of meaning).

Actually, unique jobs and working together characterized this week since as the seminar was running, the routine work of the mission carried on.

Rick had to make an emergency trip to town to get diesel for the generator. Last month’s use was heavier than usual so we ran out of our supply a bit early. No fuel = no generator = no work and no water!

Alta and the litchi orchard staff harvested some of the first litchis and Jeff hauled them to Chimoio to sell. He and a team of guys also dug loads of dirt and hauled it for backfill at construction sites.




Here, high school students who are sponsored by the mission help with meal preparation.

Besides contributing with a few of his skills, including his IT savvy to revive a dying computer and taking photos and video footage of the week, here Carey demonstrates one of duct tape's many uses :)

Joao (to Keren's right), a sponsored student who attends university, interprets for Keren. He spends his school breaks here at the mission and helps us with his skills in administrative work. We appreciate his servant heart.

So what unique job did I do this week? Well, besides editing the Portuguese handout for the women’s health session, organizing my house some more, meeting with health staff, treating a few sick people and a smattering of other tasks, I’ve been chasing stubborn pigeons off my veranda.

Sorry to say it, but the pigeons may have to go. At least I know they’ll likely make someone else happy. After all, they come with a cute little pigeon house, and since we managed to track down that rare female, they are now a proper pair.

Ready for stuff

1. Sometimes, you’re ready for stuff.
2. Sometimes you’re not, but stuff seems ready for you.
3. In that case, take a deep breath.

After a wonderful week of anniversary celebrations with the people of Mercy Air S.A., U.S.A. and Switzerland,

Dwight shares our appreciation and a bit of our history with Mercy Air.

Everyone enjoyed good fellowship and food!

...and after a flight to Maputo with the Cessna for an inspection by Mozambican authorities, then some mad dashing around here and there to attend to and pick up last minute things, it was hugs all around and we were ready to head back home Friday morning.


Return trips can be a mix of us being both ready and not-quite-ready, usually due to an unforeseen last-minute-dash to do something. Our trips to South Africa are characteristically busy with things that need to be done for the various mission programs. Things need to be dropped off, repaired, looked for or picked up, people need to be seen, calls need to be made, etc. It’s a tight schedule. And then just about the time we think we’re done and we’re packing up to return, there may be that urgent call or email from home. Something needs to be picked up, if at all possible, before we leave. A critical machine burned out and needs replacement or parts, a rare (in Mozambique) fuse or pipe-fitting is desperately needed for a job to continue. The possibilities are endless and any of us who travel from Moz to the land of plenty (South Africa) face the same thing. It seems that no matter how much time you have on these trips, last minute issues follow you right up to the moment of take-off.


I love take-off because it’s that silent (except for the hum of the engine) invisible cut off point where there is no longer anything “to do” except watch clouds float by.


It's nice to leave but it's nice to come home, and I was quite ready to be back home again. Especially since we had just moved into our house 2 days before we left on this trip and furniture (sparse as it is) needed to be rearranged, books needed to be put away in shelves, and so on. Somehow though, I’d forgotten just how much finishing work remained to be done as well.

A moment back inside, especially a glance at the corner (below) stock piled with tools, paint and electrical/plumbing fittings, told me that our house was quite ready for us too! Ready and waiting for the work to continue.

Carey and Jeff (photo compliments of their facebook group page)

Short termers, Carey and Jeff, who are here for a few months had arrived just the day before us so we took the chance yesterday to meet with them and have them over for supper. They expressed their readiness to tackle the work they’ve come to do, so we decided there’s no time like the present ☺

Carey organizes a light on the veranda for us to dine (and attract bugs) by.

Jeff and Dwight get the hot water "donkey" hooked up to the house (and pose for the shot).

But I don’t think they (or we) were ready to face the likes of these critters:


We found this big scorpion nestled in our doorway last night. Guess he figured he’d just come in and check things out.

And as if that wasn't bad enough...


This morning Dwight found another one while he was looking for something in his drawer. “Aaaaagggghh!”

Take a deep breath, and hope that:

1. they were a couple (to me this seems better than 2 singles looking for 2 others)
2. there’s only ONE such couple
3. if there are more of them, that they decide to hang out somewhere else.

And on this exciting note, let me wrap up this post. On Monday we begin a week-long intensive seminar with pastors, so there’s a lot more getting ready to do!

TTYL

Our Oasis

It’s supposed to be hot in November, even real hot. And it was, one day last week, when temperatures reached the high 40’s (Celsius) while we were in Kruger park. That kind of heat is suffocating! In the bush in Mozambique when it gets that hot, people start saying, “Eeeesh, with this heat, it’s ‘cooking up some rain’.” Then we usually get a torrential thunder-clapping downpour that threatens to wash us out to sea, and everyone is proven right.

Last week was no different. After a few days of stifling heat, loaded storm clouds moved in and we had some good rain. That would have been fine, long as we weren’t washed away with it, because it cools things off a bit and then the sun comes out again and life goes on. But no, last week things went bizarre when it poured for nearly 3 days straight and our temperatures dropped by 30 degrees. At one point it was colder here than it was in Edmonton, Canada. And that’s not so far from the North Pole! Mind you, they were having unseasonably warm weather at the time. Either way, it is supposed to be summer here and that’s what we packed for. We thought we would freeze, or get washed away—all that splashing through puddles of water and getting repeatedly doused by sheets of rain every time we stepped outside. As my mom would say, it was real duck weather! But strange weather aside, we couldn’t really complain since we were staying (as we always do when here) at Mercy Air—our home away from home—which means we could soak in a hot tub to warm up and crawl under cozy blankets to sleep at night. Ah yes, an oasis is a wonderful thing!

I’m glad to say that we survived the whole weather event thing and now the sun is out heating things up again. And it has since snowed in Edmonton too, so things are as they should be. Hot here, cold there.

I mention Mercy Air especially because this coming week they’ll be celebrating 20 years of service in Southern Africa. When we first moved to war-torn Mozambique and life for us was up-side-down and very difficult, we connected with the folks here at Mercy Air. It was in its early years too and we used to come here to get important business done, for doctor & dentist visits and last but not least, to recover and catch our breath before heading back to “the big M” (Maputo).

(Maputo 1993)

Above: the highway between Maputo and Nelspruit (close to Mercy Air) 1993

Below: map showing Maputo-Nelspruit routes.

In time, our new acquaintances became good friends and very dear to us.

(The Mercy Air family has grown and I don't have pictures of everyone--hopefully this week--but this one below is of our kids with Mercy Air founders, Ron and Barb Wayner.)

In the early years, Mercy Air was (and even now still is) an oasis for us. It was not unusual for us to arrive here weary or sick and in need of a number of things, and we were always blessed by this place and by the people and left here recovered and ready to go back.

We have often wondered if, all these long years, we could have coped without them. Maybe, but it’s hard to imagine how.

The original Mercy Air main house that had a very much appreciated guest flat in the back.

This week we will share in Mercy Air’s 20th anniversary celebrations as we wrap up our time here. The plane’s annual is nearly complete (after one more check in Maputo), and we’ve done and picked up just about everything on our list, even picked up boxes of training materials in the pouring rain without getting them wet. It’s been good, as usual, to be here, but we’re anxious to get back home again too. We still have a house we barely got moved into that needs to be settled, and of course, all the other work that awaits us.

Ttyl

Oh, I’m adding Keren’s blog to my blogroll, so check it out if you have time.

Above: Us and some of our family with Ron and Barb and some of their family too!

Bye for now.