Sunny and Peter

We had SO much fun when Sunny and Peter were here!!!

In Chimoio we saw lots of old friends. (Larry, Victor, Christina, Sunny with Lisa, Peter, and Faith with Leslie.)

Sunny immediately dove into every conceivable cooking situation. (Silvia, Alfina, Sunny, and Dora making fried chicken.)

We got to spend (not nearly enough) time with Courage.

When it was time to drive back to Nampula Victor shook as much gas into the car as possible (very normal for filling up cars here).

Our trip went smoothly.

But we found an accident where a truck overloaded with people and goods had turned over. Peter got out his first aid kit and he and Victor tended to wounds. Some people needed stitches but refused to go to the hospital because they were scared since they had no I.D. Many rural people never get I.D. because of poverty and bureaucracy.

Back at the orfanato . . . (Graça and Dorcas, the new baby.)

We watched Mozambique lose to Tunisia in soccer (sad – it was the last chance to earn a spot in the World Cup)!

HUGE cooking began, starting with Janete showing us how to make cassava with red sauce. (Janete and Sunny peeling the bark off the cassava roots.)

Yum! It was SO good!!!

Next Janete taught us how to cook this delicious pumpkin thing with coconut chicken and rice!

Victor's favorite drink in the whole world (which is actually just fizzy grape juice) can't be found here so whenever he goes somewhere he searches for it. He was so happy to find some in Chimoio!

Sunny led the whole orfanato in a tae bo leson. The kids could NOT get enough of it!!!

June 25th was Mozambican Independence Day. Everyone ate good food and then had a very relaxing day. (Tercia, Minoca, and Gizela.)

New little Jose is still mesmerized by cameras.

Some serious conversations happened. (Peter and Estefano.)

The conversations did not stop.

Meanwhile there was TONS of drama involving Simba . . .

Which landed him at the vet (AMAZINGLY there IS a vet here!!!) After roaming the bairro Simba got really really sick and couldn’t eat or walk or anything. We had to take him to the vet four days in a row for antibiotic injections and we found out that he is the biggest cry baby ever! Every time Simba would sit on the examining table waiting for the doctor he would start thinking about what was going to happen (a shot) and cry and moan so loudly that even people passing by would peer in and then laugh when they found out it was a dog thinking about getting a shot. Simba had to be comforted by at least three people the whole time!

Sunny and Peter did a health survey focus group with some of the kids. We learned a LOT from this!

The whole visit ended with an ENORMOUS egg roll samosa production and eating! Sunny made HUNDREDS of egg rolls (a Mozambican version of them)

which the kids folded into samosa shapes! They were like nothing anyone has ever had before! And they were delicious!!!

Three New Kids

Last week an aid worker from Austria brought a small special needs child to the orphanage. She had observed a group of kids living on the streets and could not stop thinking about the littlest one – the others were beating him and taking away whatever he had. There are many aid workers and missionaries who come through Nampula and there are many street kids but only one other time have we ever had someone actually bring one of these kids to us (a great story which can be told another time).

Anyway – because of legal reasons and policies the orphanage could not take this little boy, Jose, when she first brought him because Victor and I were in Chimoio at the time. But she was so determined to help him that she delayed her trip until our return and in the meantime actually found his family.

As soon as we got back to Nampula she brought Little Jose to the orphanage. He is tiny. He is smaller (shorter and skinnier) than our four-year-old but has the face of an old man and walks like a teenager. His personality is HUGE. Jose appears to be completely in his own world, oblivious to all around him while at the same time it seems he’s in on a joke that nobody else is smart enough to “get.” He is a complete character to say the least. It is impossible to tell his age but he may be between 7 and 12. It is also impossible to tell what’s going on in his head, which may be a new challenge for us.

When the orphanage staff investigated where Jose had come from we found that his mother has severe mental disabilities that completely prohibit her from taking care of a child, his grandmother can not remember her own daughter’s name, and there are two more siblings including a baby sister who is named Covaella, which in Macua translates literally into, “this is what I was afraid would happen.”

After finding the other kids and the conditions they were living in the staff decided to take all three into the orphanage. Jose’s older brother is probably about 12 and is named Jordão. Victor changed the baby sister’s name to Dorcas. She is probably about one and a half years old.

Please pray for our three new little ones. Jordão is easy going and fits in as if he’s always been here. He acts like he’s in heaven now. Little Dorcas will get a check up at the hospital next week – she will probably need a lot of medication to overcome worms and malnutrition. Claudia, one of the older girls, is in charge of Dorcas and all the others take turns helping with her. It seems that they are all excited about having a baby to work with. Little Jose needs the most attention. Because he was living on the streets he can be pretty wild. He has been living by rules of survival, which are contradictory to the rules of the orphanage. But he is also adorable and funny and extremely entertaining. Whenever he thinks of it he bursts into a very serious and deliberate Macua song with a dance that goes with it. Sunny says she can’t even imagine the orfanato without Jose and I think that everyone else is beginning to feel that way too.

One more thought . . . when we were in Chimoio we visited Maforga where they are working with kids similar to ours. One of the people in charge talked about how “we” (people who have had Christianity in our families for many generations) have had people praying for us and the ones taking care of us for generations. My parents have prayed for me since before I was born - my grandparents and even great-grandparents too! And my parents were prayed for and their parents were prayed for. Think what a big difference that must have made in my entire life! Then think about a child who has never been prayed for (and their parents were not prayed for). Not only that but for children here - many kids’ parents did sacrifices to evil spirits on their child’s behalf. Parents and parents’ parents practiced witchcraft and engaged with evil spirits who they believe are angry dead ancestors. Imagine what kind of a difference this could make in a person’s life!

After Victor heard that Jose’s baby sister was named “this is what I was afraid would happen,” he explained to us that many people give their babies names according to how they want “the spirits” to interact with them. Some women believe that they have miscarriages because the spirits ate their baby, so the next time they get pregnant, they immediately name the baby a name that is something disgusting to eat so that the spirits will not find it tasty. For the rest of the child’s life he will walk around with a name like “rotten relish” because of the fear that drives the practice of animism.

When Little Jose was living in the streets he would imitate what a witch doctor does, which was funny and entertaining to people passing by (especially because he is so tiny). This is how he earned money to survive. But imagine what kinds of negative things have had an influence over Jose.

Your prayers for our kids are very very important. Thank you for all the times you have thought of them already and please continue to pray especially for our new little ones – Jose, Jordão, and Dorcas – they have come out of a rough place and they greatly need your prayers.

Jordão, Dorcas, and Jose

Sunny painted all the girls fingernails . . .
which they LOVED.
And just in case you didn't notice the puppy wrestle . . .

here are some close-ups.There is now a puppy wrestle going on in the background (or foreground) at all times.

Trip to Chimoio

Getting on the road – the road is nicely paved about 70% of the way between Nampula and Chimoio.

Mocuba, a large village in Zambezia province, looked beautiful and enchanting along the edge of a river.

The River Zambezi! The Zambezi is one of the largest rivers in Africa but the only way to cross it is on a ferry that only takes 4 cars at a time! Trucks can get stuck waiting to cross for hours or days before getting a turn on the ferry!

Sofala province on the other side.

The drive from Nampula to Chimoio was about 1100 kilometers and took us 14½ hours to drive.

We finally arrived at Simon’s house in Gondola (right outside Chimoio) at 9:30pm. Simon’s brother, Victor, and Simon talking; Alfina sitting on the sofa in the living room.

Three Friends from Nampula: Gracio, Felisberto, and Victor. Gracio and Felisberto are two young guys who became Christians through Evanjafrica after hearing Victor preaching in Nampula about seven years ago. They were in the group of the first young people to get involved in Evanjafrica Ministries. After discipleship training Victor saw great potential in them and sent Gracio and Felisberto to bible school in Manica province. During this time they felt called to different ministries. Gracio remained at Simon’s orphanage where he is still on staff today. Felisberto completed his studies at a bible school in Beira and is now the pastor of a church he has started here in Chimoio.

Felisberto, his wife Sara, and their baby girl Loide, with Victor and I at their house in Chimoio.

Sunny and Peter (my brother) are finally here!!! On Friday afternoon we picked them up from the airport in Beira and then ate lunch at the beach before returning to Simon’s orphanage where Peter has been coming for almost ten years now.

Busy Week

Staff Breakfast

Visado, Helder, Daniel, Silva, and Marta. We had quiche, breakfast potatoes, cinnamon toast, and tea. Nobody had ever had quiche before – they liked it, were all calling it pizza, and thought it must have more ingredients than any other food.

Painting

There has been a lot of painting going on. After our staff breakfast in the blue room we turned it into the yellow room.

Goat Update

Sorry people who thought the goats were cute. (Helder and Dionisio cutting up the raw goats meat . . . yummy!!!)

Hanging Out

There’s always a lot going on.

Boys Dorm Construction Update

Finally ready for the roof!

Constructing and placing the rafters.

Older boys doing the electrical wiring. Felix is in the green shirt holding the hammer. Zaqueio is in the blue shirt standing up on the scaffolding. Zaqueio understands and is in charge of all the electricity in the orphanage.

The tin roof starts coming on!

Visitors from Germany

On Friday we had a great day with a visiting team from Germany. There was a lot of hair braiding, a very lively soccer game, a good lunch, and a massive amount of multi-language translating (Macua, Portuguese, English, and German) – very fun!

Grass Comes Off Tin Roof In Our House

I could make this into a ten page story but instead I’ll just try to sum it up very quickly: Tin roof makes our house unbearably hot so we cover it with grass. Grass awesomely cools house down by at least ten degrees, ends indoor swimming pool formations during rain storms and makes it possible to hear another person talking over the sound of a rain drop. Everything is fine and wonderful for many months. Then rats discover space between tin and grass on roof is their ideal climate/house/playground. Rats multiply. Rats stop being scared of humans . . . etc. etc. (If you want all the gory details you can email me.) Anyway - it suddenly became very urgent to get the grass off the roof.

On Saturday all the girls were inside our living room watching the Parent Trap when Victor spontaneously decided it was the perfect time to take the grass off (without telling us). One drop of rain on the tin sounds like somebody is hitting it with a baseball bat so imagine what it sounded like when there were suddenly 10 teenage boys up there dismantling a bamboo and grass structure. Every step they made resulted in a huge deafening crunching sound and you could see the tin denting underneath. All the girls looked at each other and looked at the tin. Outside the window we could see the younger boys catching bamboo sticks and heaps of grass being thrown off by the older ones up above. We started gathering up our stuff to go outside when rats started raining down from holes in the roof!!! All the girls are Mozambicans so they didn’t start screaming and running around hysterically but there was still a commotion and we all ran out of the house one at a time, dodging the debris being hurled off the roof.

I tried to take a picture of the scene outside but it was kind of hard to capture everything in a photo. I think now all the rats are gone.

Water

Man using divining rods to detect whether or not we have water under the orphanage property. (There will be a big story about this later.)

Girls On Their Way To School

Terçia, Graça, Virginia, Anabela, and Cocas leaving for school.

Dia das Crianças

June 1st - International Children’s Day - is a really big deal here in Mozambique!
The night before we started a big cookie making production. (Cocas, Estela, and Mena.)
I was amazed and impressed with Mena’s determination to do every part of the dough mixing on her own!
Thanks to left over decorations from the Christmas box from Utah the cookies were very colorful and extra tasty looking!

Little V and Zaqueio bringing water into the house (we’ve been out of water for two weeks because of a broken pipe somewhere in the neighborhood).
Hair braiding and coconut rice making. (Nolita, Gizela, Minoca, Graça, Silas, Terçia, and Anabela.)
Helder, VoVo, and Marta preparing lunch. It seems like they’re enjoying what they’re doing.
A visit from Dr. Ferrão and his staff. Dr. Ferrão is the president of Lúrio University – a new medical school here in Nampula. He and his family have visited the orphanage many times and they really care about the kids. They have given the children special meals, provided the teenagers with computer training, invited us all to educational events in the city, and sent wonderful visitors our way. For Dia das Crianças Dr. Ferrão and his staff brought cake, apples (a great delicacy here), orange sodas, notebooks for school, colored pencils, and a huge bundle of clothing!
The girls with new notebooks and colored pencils!

Isac Pequeno, Celso, and Belson.

Goats

This morning I woke up to a big commotion outside. I went to the window to see what was going on and found that there were goats everywhere, kids trying to catch the goats, and Simba chasing all of them. It looked very chaotic and completely entertaining. Unfortunately for me and my blog pictures (though probably good for the goats) all order was restored by the time I got outside.

Monday is Children’s Day in Mozambique so the governor’s wife sent the orphanage a little herd of goats for a gift. Watching Simba with the goats was very funny because Simba is a good guard and he knows that other animals should not come inside the wall. All the goats were basically bigger than him and when they all baaa-ed like sheep he was very suspicious of them and what they were doing here. The goats were also very suspicious of Simba and kept giving him “the eye,” also kind of entertaining (I think more to me than to anyone else). Anyway – at first it was a lot of work keeping Simba from biting the goats but once he calmed down we all enjoyed watching him police them.

Samito and Mauricio with the goats.

Simba guarding the goats (very suspiciously).

Simba continued keeping his eye on each goat throughout the day.

Victor’s Broken Foot

There is one bad man in Nampula who wants to grab every foreign woman and kiss her. This may sound funny but it is not. He has done this to many missionaries and aid workers and last year he went to jail for these unwanted assaults. A few weeks ago he got out of jail and immediately started back at it. On Tuesday Victor and I were coming out of a store when the man tried to get me. No matter what Victor did to keep him away he would not give up and Victor had to physically fight him to protect me. After that the police came and got the man and we had to drive all of them (the man and two police officers) to the police station in our car (which is very normal for here). Now the man is back in jail and we hope that he will stay there. Also, Victor actually broke his foot protecting me – so basically he is the best husband ever!

Victor’s talking to my dad on the phone, telling the story about how he broke his foot.

Visit from USC Students

This afternoon we had a delightful visit from a group of business students from the University of Southern California. They are visiting Mozambique for about two weeks and we were very happy to get them for a few hours here at the orfanato! We are always encouraged and rejuvenated by visitors!

Visitors from USC with all the kids!

Boys Dorm Progress

We now have steps in front.

The porch wraps around the whole building. During the rainy season this will make a perfect place for clothes to dry.

We planted papaya trees in the space between the back porch and the wall. (I wish everyone reading this could hear the huge party that was happening on the other side of the wall when I took this picture.)

Today (all day and all night) the neighbors RIGHT next to us have been having a HUGE party with music blasting into the orphanage for about 20 hours straight. Besides some traditional African drumming and American hip-hop music I think a full Celine Dion album has now been played several times.

More Daily Life . . .

Nolita, Estela, Virginia and Mena carrying water to the shower hut.

Merecido and Canito hanging up laundry.

Janete and Gisela cooking.

One of today's big activities was finding out who could jump over the plastic toddler car.

Silas.

A Few Pictures From This Week

Unloading Wood for the Roof

We are ready to begin putting the roof on the boys dorm. It was really exciting to get the wood for the rafters this week!

African Dresses

Anabela, Clara, and Graça

We are finally getting special outfits for the kids in the band. We took the girls to the market to pick out capulana material and then went to the same dressmaker who made the bridesmaids dresses at our wedding. The girls chose styles they liked from pictures. Now look how beautiful they look in their new African dresses!!! The boys (and Sara’s) outfits will be coming up next!

Workers Day

Mama Maria, Marta, Miranda, Domingos, Da, Daniel, Silva, Helder, Janete, and Victor.

May 1st is Workers Day, a big holiday in Mozambique. Everyone chipped in a little money and then Janete made a great dinner for the staff. Some of the kids were “mad” about not being included and tried to hide cooking pots and knives and things, which was funny to hear about.

Simba

Simba walking under a banana tree leaf.

Sometimes Simba can be really embarrassing! This morning I went for a walk and of course Simba came too. He is so cute how he always accompanies us out of the orphanage, but walking with him is a little bit stressful because you never know what he might do! (No, there are no leashes here. Well actually I did get a leash for him once but he immediately destroyed it and that’s another story.) Anyway, today everything was going fine and he was happily trotting along down the road with me until he smelled some of those little dried fish (the ones I wrote about not liking the smell of in a previous blog). Well Simba does like the smell of those fish and was immediately attracted to the neighbor’s little fish stand. First I hear a little boy calling out, “Ola!” and then I hear his dad screaming “No cow!!! Cow no!!! Cow no!!!” (The word for dog in Portuguese is cão, which is pronounced like the English word “cow” – and yes this is always funny to me.) I feel responsible for Simba’s actions if we’re out walking together so of course I apologized for his embarrassing behavior (though the man chased him away before he actually ate any of the fish). Simba is a very unique little dog because people don’t have pets here. Many passer-by used to throw rocks at him but I think they’ve stopped because they’ve finally had enough experience with him to know that he’s not going to attack them. I think people around here also give him a chance because they know he’s from the orphanage and see him walking to church with the kids each week. More Simba stories soon to come.

An Interesting Drink

I found somebody drinking a refresco called “California Pine Whizz.” I was too scared to try it myself but it smelled kind of like lemon air freshener but more chemicallyish (no, that’s not a typo). Hmmm . . . in Mozambique they have the “California Pine Whizz” fizzy drink and in California they have the “Mozambique Steakhouse and Coastal Lounge” (in Laguna Beach) . . . hmmm . . . very interesting.

Scary Bugs

Bugs enter.

Bugs head to kitchen.

Bugs begin to climb.

"We should burn them."

Burning in the house is kind of scary.

This is why.

Just kidding (but I imagined it).

Bugs gone.

10 Foods I Love Or Am Not A Fan Of

Fresh Coconuts – the coconut flavors are SO delicious in Mozambican cooking. Nolita, Ronilda, Cocas, and Virginia in the kitchen.

MOZAMBICAN FOOD I LOVE

1.ChamusasChamusas are little triangle shaped pastries filled with beef, chicken, fish, or potatoes. I don’t know how long ago but they originally came here with people from India. The Mozambican version is SO good with just the right meat and spices inside each crispy pastry. When there’s a special occasion the girls spend several hours making chamusas together, which is really fun. Chamusas are not really like tacos but if you like tacos you will probably love chamusas. Claudia, Marta, Janete, and Graça making chamusas for a special meal.

2.Chicken Zambezia

Chicken Zambezia is one of the most famous Mozambican dishes and originally comes from Zambezia Province. The chicken is marinated, roasted and then served under a delicious coconut white sauce with rice and steamed vegetables or french fries and salad. We’ve never found a person who did not love this meal and I think it is something I will crave when I’m away from Mozambique.

3. Cassava with Red Sauce

Before I came to Africa I didn’t even know what cassava was. Now it is one of my very favorite foods. It’s probably bad to try to compare one unrelated food to another, but if you’ve never had cassava the closest thing I could compare it to would be a potato but with more strength. Sometimes people will bring us a fresh cassava root from their machamba (garden plot) and it is the greatest treat. I already loved eating cooked cassava alone. But then one day Victor’s sister, Carmina, made this red sauce (fresh tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, and a little oil) to go over it. This ended up being one of the most tasty and flavorful things I have ever eaten and now I want it all the time.

4.Rice and Beans

Rice and beans are the most common dish in Mozambique. They’re hearty, healthy, and taste really really good when they’re made well and with the right ingredients. Rice and beans are served about six times per week at the orphanage. I’m actually eating them right now as I’m writing this.

5.Santal Mixed Fruit JuiceThis is the best tasting juice in the whole world. It’s made from all the fresh tropical fruits that are abundant here, like mango, papaya, pineapple, guava, and passion fruit.

MOZAMBICAN FOOD OTHERS LOVE

6.Jumbo prawns/shrimpI am not a seafood person so I will never try these myself but from other people I gather that the Mozambican Coast is one of the world’s best places to visit if you like seafood and the jumbo prawns/shrimp seem to be the highlight.

FOOD I'M NOT A BIG FAN OF
(Just my peronal opinion)

7.Dried Fish

I don’t know if they’re anchovies or sardines or something else but there are millions of tiny, tiny dried fish imported from Angola being sold EVERYWHERE here. Just walking in any neighborhood you will find many make-shift stalls with people selling them. I don’t know if they are good for you or not but I have never liked seafood and the smell of these little dried fish almost kills me when I pass by (which is whenever I walk anywhere). My worst experience was being on a bus ride several hours long with a gigantic (the size of a person) bag of dried fish under the seat in front of me.

8.Xima

Xima (pronounced “shima”) is the staple starch food that goes with almost every meal in many parts of Africa. It seems like it is so common because it is cheaper than rice or bread, which most people can’t afford very much of. Xima makes you stop feeling hungry but it has no nutritional value. People make xima by growing corn, drying the corn, grinding it into powder, and then mixing it with hot water into something that looks like mashed potatoes. Some people seem to really like xima but it seems like most people would have rice or bread instead if they could afford it. I feel so guilty for talking bad about xima that I ate a huge chunk of it today at lunch to punish myself for not liking it.

9.Chicken Feet

I don’t want to say anything bad about chicken feet because I know that if I grew up in a place where we all ate chicken feet because we were hungry and couldn’t afford other parts of the chicken I would probably like them. But if like me you grew up in a place where you had the luxury of being a picky eater and had never even seen a chicken foot - when moms give them to little kids almost sitting on your lap on a crowded chapa for several hours, sucking on a gigantic chicken foot with huge scraggly talons the whole time and it’s dripping on your arm and they’re wiping their hands on your clothes – you might not like it.

10.Rat-Kabobs

Once again, I’m sure that if I grew up without the luxury of being able to afford and eat whatever I wanted I would not be so stuck-up and snobby towards things like rat-kabobs. But since I didn’t grow up with limited choices – I am putting rat-kabobs on my list of foods I'm not a fan of. On long chapa trips you stop every half hour or so and people with different kinds of foods sell you stuff through the windows. On my first day traveling in Malawi a boy offered us a stick with eight very small extra crispily roasted rats in a little row (yes, I counted them). I was relieved that nobody in our chapa (especially the lady squished in the same seat with me) wanted them. And I do have to say that I haven't really found anyone here (who I have talked to about this) who has ever actually eaten a rat (unless they are older and were in a hunger situation during the war or something). It seems like everyone here feels the same way that I do about rats. The only exception would be my own brother who is not a picky eater and did happen to be in Mozambique when he roasted and then ate a wild rat.

Illustration of Rat-Kabobs. Sadly I was not able to take a picture but I will never forget this image and I wanted to make sure whoever reads this will be able to visualize it correctly.

Easter Dinner from Alzira and Santos

Easter Dinner was extra special this year because it was a gift from Alzira and Santos, our two young teachers from the orphanage. Alzira and Santos were kids in the orphanage who grew up, finished school, and were then accepted into a teachers training college. They graduated at the end of last year and then both got jobs as fifth grade teachers in a school about 70 kilometers from Nampula. This week they returned to tell Victor that they had received their first paychecks and wanted to pay for Easter dinner for the kids. They also asked Victor to pray with them and continue mentoring them. It was really touching to see how they expressed their gratitude towards the orphanage and how they feel such a sense of responsibility for using what they now have in the right way (helping their families, saving for the future, and giving back to the kids who are in the same place where they were just a few short years ago). It is really wonderful to see a dream being realized - to remember a child in a seemingly hopeless situation who has now made it further than almost anyone they had ever seen go before them.

At dinner Santos told all the kids what an important role they and the orphanage had played in his life. He said that through the orphanage and the prayers of the kids he had received an education and become a teacher. He thanked everyone for continuing to pray for him in his job and said he wanted to be the one giving them Easter dinner to show his gratitude.

Alzira talked about how she had sometimes found herself in dangerous situations, walking in dark places at night where people had been killed - but God protected her and the prayers from the kids and others kept her safe. When she faced serious struggles at the college she returned to the orphanage for encouragement and said that Victor always gave her confidence to return and overcome whatever was most difficult. Knowing that she was covered in prayer made her able to succeed and she wanted to show her gratitude to the orphanage by providing Easter dinner.

It's hard to even describe how meaningful it is for the kids to see two of their own come back and provide a special meal for all of them. Alzira and Santos are now amazing role models for the kids, especially as Christians who take their faith seriously and genuinely try to follow the model of Jesus in their daily lives.

Victor dividing the food, which was made by Zaqueio and Helder.Me passing out refrescos.Lazaro and Ruben sitting in the window.In the rondoval. (Alzira is third from the left wearing a purple shirt.)Alzira and Santos with Victor after graduation last year.

Click here to see graduation pictures.

Kids’ Sunday and the Tcharuwani Choir

Believe it or not – this picture still doesn’t capture how many kids there really were on the platform.

On Kids’ Sunday children lead the entire church service. This year it lasted a little over four hours.

The girls leading praise and worship. (Marta’s little sister, Virginia, Graça, Anabela, and others.)

Isac, Virginia, Pilonte, and another boy did a skit showing the story of Jacob and Esau in Macua. Isac (playing Isaac) kept telling Esau to go hunt for very specific animals only found in the bush here. The congregation LOVED it and couldn’t stop laughing because only somebody from the bush would even know the animal names he was using.

After the kids went to Sunday School Victor’s dad, Pastor Mocala, preached about how to be a good parent. Victor’s dad always does lots of entertaining physical illustrations. He used one of those dried branches from the vases to demonstrate that you should not beat your kids and that you can teach them things like how to sweep by sweeping yourself.

Grupo Coral Tcharuwani

After church Victor and I drove the Tcharuwani choir out into the bush to take pictures. (Okay I need to back up with this story.) About six months ago a church in Nampula invited different choirs from all over the city to come sing for the anniversary of their choir. They invited our kids’ band to play and Victor and I went with them. This is how we came to hear the most incredible, beautiful African choir ever – a group called Tcharuwani made up of young people from several different churches. After hearing them sing we wanted to somehow get involved with them and invited them to come to the orphanage to participate in the voice class that Ashlie came and did in October and November. In December we were able to record our kids’ music and after building a relationship with the studio we were able to help Tcharuwani record their songs too. I LOVE their music so much – their range and harmonies are incredible and all their music sounds like an African lullaby to God.

On Sunday they sang in our church and then we drove into the bush to take pictures for the cover of their CD. This was really fun. We packed 10 people plus 1 baby into our car (which is designed for five people) and then drove a long way with everyone singing. Whenever I’m with them (or the kids band) and they’re all singing their hearts out – I just can’t believe that I get to be in the midst of it! I feel like I’m getting something really valuable for free. Anyway – we drove to this river and took pictures there. Then we drove to a place where you can just see the Mozambican landscape stretching to the mountains. The choir did a few different poses and then we took tons of pictures with them actually singing. The funnest and funniest thing about this was that though you are in the middle of the nowhere and it seems like it should be “empty” – if you stop somewhere for any reason at all, there will be a crowd of people there to watch within seconds. It is impossible to figure out where the people actually come from but this always happens no matter what. Grupo Coral Tcharuwani singing on the side of the road.

So we are driving in the bush with nobody in sight, in any direction. We stop at a scenic place and get out of the car. In less than two minutes there is somehow a crowd there to see what we’re doing. Then when the choir starts singing their INCREDIBLE music it is SO fun to see this random little crowd get to hear them for a few minutes. Everyone is smiling and laughing. Every truck that drives by is overloaded with dozens of people crammed into every nook and cranny and hanging off the back and sides. The trucks that passed would slow down to see what was going on and as they slowly drove by they would see this choir singing on the side of the road to no audience except for an impromptu group of whoever lives somewhere nearby and a mucunya with a camera. I didn’t realize the opportunity I missed in taking pictures of the “bigger picture” and now I’m kind of mad at myself for not capturing the little crowds and passerby. But nevertheless, Sunday was fun.

Visit from the English Fellowship Youth Group

Today we had a wonderful surprise visit from the English Fellowship Youth Group! A few weeks ago they came up with a project to help raise money for the orphanage and then spent a day washing cars and changing oil for donations. Today they came and told us what they had done and presented us with this gift, which is a great blessing to us! The kids got to ask them a few questions and sing for them too. We hope the youth group will come back again for some fun activities in the near future!
Victor’s health has been improving. Victor has been resting a lot and continues to get better. We can not thank everyone enough for all the prayers for his health over the past few weeks. It is evident that God is very involved here.

Victor giving Ofeita a ride on the orphanage bicycle.

He made me ride the bike too because nobody here can believe that I know how to ride a bike. I think there are some people who would not be surprised if I could fly a helicopter but are SHOCKED that I can ride a bicycle. This reminds me of the time Mama Maria showed me how to light a match – I guess it makes sense that she thought I had never seen a match before since I had never seen unrefined salt (and I'm not talking about "sea salt") or unroasted peanuts before I came here (you might think the peanuts still in the shells that you get at baseball games are in their natural state – well they’re not).

Francisco pulling a toy truck that he made from scratch.

Look – it even has spare tires!

Helder and Victor painting all the little boys’ hair with SuperBlack.

Look how cute Simba is with all the boys. And also – see the man standing in the background (with yellow pants)? He has made each one of those cinder blocks by hand.

The Boys Dorm continues to progress. There is a big porch, an inside hallway, and then six large rooms. We can’t wait until it’s time for the roof!

Cuamba

The least scary part of the road.

I don’t think there is any way for me to get to Cuamba without traumatizing myself. After my last trip there (3rd class 16-hour train ride more crowded than the most crowded New York subway with no bathroom because it’s 5 peoples’ seat) I don’t know if I can ever get on any train again for at least like five years. Since it’s only been one year since that experience, the train is out for me. Other options would be tiny airplane (which would for sure traumatize me) or bicycle taxi from Malawi (I’ve done this one too and it didn’t traumatize me directly but I was kind of traumatized on behalf of the guy who had to carry me and all my luggage on the back of his bicycle for several miles up and down steep dirt hills through the no-man’s-land that makes up the border). So my final remaining option would be driving.

Riding in a chapa could traumatize almost anyone but I thought driving your own car should be pretty safe. Well - this might have been true if it were not still the rainy season, but it is and we found out all about that. We also found out about these things I’m going to call “bridges” and that there are like a thousand of them between Nampula and Cuamba. I better apologize right now for misleading you by calling the thing that I’m talking about a “bridge” – it’s just that I don’t know any other word for something that’s not a bridge right where a bridge should be.

Beautiful Zambezia Province. We drove through Zambezia on the way from Nampula to Niassa where Cuamba is.

Victor’s sister Carmina, Victor, and I left Nampula at 10am and drove two whole hours before the pavement ended. The next eight hours were either hard dirt roads, soft dirt roads, mud, or just plain water. The scenery is spectacular and can not be captured in pictures. It is good that we passed less than ten cars in the entire eight hours because there is only about one foot of road to spare on either side of your car and the elephant grass is between 6 – 10 feet high almost the entire way. I thought this was really neat until we started noticing that about every 1 – 2 minutes we were crossing a “bridge” (or a thing that is not a bridge where a bridge should be). Because the road is so narrow and the elephant grass is so high you can not tell that you were ever on a “bridge” until you’re already off it. You are just driving along and then suddenly notice that if your car had been only two feet to the left or two feet to the right you would have fallen off a “bridge” and plunged ten feet into a little river crossing beneath you!!! There are no signs, warnings or indications of this! And the scariest thing is that these “bridges” are not built to arch up – they are either completely flat and covered with the same mud or dirt as the normal road or they are actually lower than the normal road and have a huge puddle. When you see a puddle you know you will be driving right into a huge pothole so your instinct would be to drive a little off the road to one side or the other – but if you did you would drive right off a “bridge” into a river below!!!

Our car ON a “bridge” – see? You can’t even tell it’s on a bridge!!! But if you look to the right or the left you will see this . . .

The rivers that go under the road (without warning) are beautiful but look how there’s no guard rail or anything that would stop your car from going over!!!

Me and Victor.

Carmina and Me.

More beautiful scenery.

We purposely took an extra long route to Cuamba to avoid roads and “bridges” that rivers might run on top of during the rainy season. Well it turns out those are impossible to avoid. I have read too many things that say you should never ever try to cross a river in your car (for tons of good reasons). So when we came to the first place where the river was actually running OVER the “bridge” I for sure would have been disappointed that our road trip had come to an end and turned around and driven back. But Victor is not scared of things like I am and he was driving. I think that Carmina thought just like me – when we saw the river flowing on top of the bridge – we thought our trip on this road is over and we will have to turn back. Victor got out of the car and went down to the river. He watched people walk their bicycles across it and it was only knee deep on top of the “bridge” part. Victor decided we would try to drive across the “bridge.” (This is the first time on the trip when I felt traumatized.) We weren’t going to be driving across a shallow river, we were going to be trying to drive on top of a bridge that a river was flowing on top of!!! A bridge with no rails or indication of where it was!!!

Victor walking down to the river to see if there was any hope for driving across the “bridge” – yes, supposedly there is a “bridge” under there.

Victor decides, “Yes, it’s a good idea.”

We drove across the bridge and we made it!!! Yikes!!! That was SOOOOOO scary!!! I am sure that I lost several pounds from sheer fear!

After that we drove along so happily in bliss from having successfully crossed an underwater bridge. About half an hour later as we were cruising along we could see up ahead that people had barricaded the road with tree branches. We approached cautiously – looking around to see what was going on. Victor stopped the car and got out. We had passed some kids a few meters back and he motioned for them to come so he could ask them why people had blocked the road. The kids were scared to come to our car but then some older braver boys appeared and pointed down a newly cleared path in the bushes. Victor turned off the car engine and as soon as he did we could hear a loud rushing river! Victor asked the kids what was going on and they told him that the bridge going over the river had been destroyed. Instead of turning around, Victor asked the kids to “show him” and left Carmina and I in the car while he followed them down the new path in the bushes.

Victor was gone quite a while and when he came back he told us that there is a huge river and since the bridge over it had been destroyed there were trucks stranded on either side. In the meantime the local villagers had made some kind of thing like a dam where they piled up bushes and shrubs and sticks and stuff to stop the rushing water in this one part where there is a fork in the river. They had built up things to make it about knee deep in the narrowest part of the fork, right before a smaller river meets the huge rushing one. There were other vehicles stranded on the banks of both sides of the river and the villagers were helping them unload all their goods, carry them across the dam thing they had made, and then load them onto trucks on the other side. There was a crowd of people larger than you’d think could possibly live anywhere around there standing on the river bank watching all of this. One thing that is so fun and funny here is how you can think you’re in the middle of nowhere but if you stop for even five minutes – a crowd of at like 30 kids will appear out of nowhere to “watch” whatever it is you’re doing. Since people don’t have T.V.s they can only see “movies” that are “live.” Victor calls anything that is watched by a crowd a “movie” and everything in Mozambique gets watched by a crowd so I guess everyone here gets to be a movie star at one time or another.

Anyway – once again Carmina and I were sad that we would have to turn back and horrified at the thought of having to go back across the first river AGAIN!!! I told Victor to at least go take a picture of what was stopping us from continuing on. But instead he said, “No, we’re going to risk it.” First I thought he was joking but then when I saw he was serious I tried to talk him out of it by telling him about all the things I had read about the dangers of crossing rivers. But there are certain things that people in America learn about in books while people in Africa learn about them through experience and what the book says and what the experience teaches are not always the same. Take all that into account and then judge the situation for yourself. So Victor judged the situation and decided we could make it across.

Besides the whole river with no bridge/dam made out of sticks and bushes by villagers thing, there were two other obstacles to being safe on the other side. One was a gigantic truck that was stuck on the bank between us and the river, being unloaded with the goods being carried to the other side. The other was the fact that the river bank on the other side was pure mud and extremely steep. If by some miracle we actually made it across the river, the second we’d get to the other side we would probably be stuck almost vertically in mud and then either quickly or slowly slide backwards back into the river. Victor thought about this and had decided that if this were to happen we could get the truck on the other side to pull us up/out. But first we had to get around the gigantic truck being unloaded. You couldn’t drive around it because the bigger part of the river was on the other side. Victor tried to maneuver our car around the truck but it didn’t work. Then he asked people (who happened to be standing right there with shovels in their hands) if they could dig a space for our car. They said not unless he paid them. Since they said that, Victor decided to instead dig a path himself (I wish anyone reading this knew how funny this was) with like 50 people watching. Victor started breaking little sticks and uprooting plants with his bare hands and stuff. Finally when the shovel people saw that he was seriously going to dig a way all by himself, one man said he would help and dug a space for our car to pass by the truck (for free).

Victor then got in the car, drove through the crowd between the truck and the other river bank, and then drove slowly down into the river, accelerating as soon as we got to the water. I was praying the whole time that we would somehow “make it” and suddenly, though his foot was flooring the gas, we very slowly emerged from the river and were so slowly going up the super steep mud bank. We kept going without our car ever stopping or sliding backwards and got all the way up onto dry ground. So we made it!!! It was the BEST feeling ever and people on the other side were running up to our car to like congratulate us and ask us how we were and if we were happy!!! There was another SUV on the other side of the river that had been there a long time trying to figure out what to do. A white guy got out of the car and was videotaping the whole scene at the river. Their car went down the mud bank and also got across the river to the other side – they were clapping and cheering when they got across. I was thinking that for that driver and for Victor they probably felt towards their car the way a person would feel towards their dog if their dog had just pulled them out of some rapids just before going over a waterfall or something. Having an SUV 4WD Turbo in Africa is more essential than having water if you are going to drive anywhere. I have a completely completely different view towards SUVs after this day.

Oh yeah, Victor also went back and paid the shovel guy who had dug a path for our car. The other shovel guys had been asking for 10 mets and when Victor gave him 50 mets ($2) instead all the other guys who didn’t want to help dig said, “No! You’re only supposed to give him 10 (about 40 cents)!” Because of their attitude against the one nice guy who was willing to dig for free, Victor gave him 200 ($8) instead.

Approaching the scene at the river.

Trying to see if our car would fit around the stranded truck.

People carrying goods across the river from one truck to another.

Emerging into the water to cross.

Scene from the other side.

After that we found ourselves in several light rain storms and were so thankful that they came before and not after those river crossings. We didn’t have to cross anymore rivers but continued to find many scary “bridges” where the whole bridge was a gigantic pothole puddle with less than a foot of dry bridge on either side. We ran into quite a few forks in the road where there was absolutely no way to figure out which way to go except to ask somebody.

Fork in the road in the middle of no-where. Victor and Carmina trying to figure out which way to go when there was nobody there to ask.

I think that several hours were added onto our trip because we took the wrong direction at one of the forks. But who cares about how long something takes! All I care about is getting there safely. The last few hours were kind of stressful because we were in complete darkness except for the car lights and there were tons of potholes and billions of those “not bridges” where a river would go under the road with no warning.

We finally arrived in Cuamba after 8pm. It ended up being a good trip, but I don’t EVER want to go that way again and we will find a different way home when we leave here, probably through Malawi.

When we finally got to Cuamba we were greeted by Madalena (Victor’s sister) and her husband Lazaro. They fed us a big meal of goat with rice and beans. I think it was the best goat I’ve ever had. We went to bed and slept in really late the next morning.

Milo chocolate drink . . .

and bread for breakfast.

Madalena and Carmina.

One last thing . . . we also found this in the bushes outside of Cuamba . . .

A tank left over from the Civil War – it’s still sitting right there in the bushes!

I wrote all of the above before this happened . . .

We had a nice week in Cuamba and on Tuesday we planned to drive to Malawi the next morning. Victor was fine the whole day but then around 8pm he suddenly got an extremely high fever. The fever lasted the entire night and as soon as it was light out the next morning we took him to the one and only hospital in Cuamba. The conditions in the hospital were the worst I have ever seen. There was no doctor and only two workers to handle hundreds of people who were sitting and laying in every hallway, corridor and porch. There were less than ten beds and the sheets had blood on them. There is no way they are changing the sheets more than once a day (if that) and the second one patient is up there is another in a chair or on the floor who moves onto the bed. They gave Victor a blood test which got lost. I followed different people around the hospital and went in and out of different labs for two hours trying to track it down until I finally got someone to do one again. In the meantime they gave him an IV with rehydration fluid and antibiotics and a quinine injection. They had nothing to reduce fever so I gave him Tylenol out of my purse and Madalena and I were pouring water on him the whole time. When they finally got the blood test results they said it was not malaria and didn’t know what it was. After the IV Victor was able to walk again and we took him back to Madalena’s house. His fever never ever went down. A missionary doctor in Nampula helped us figure out antibiotics to take and we called an MAF plane to evacuate Victor back to Nampula where there is a good clinic. This is the worst experience I have had here and the worst/scariest day and night of my life. But I do have to say that people near and far comforted us greatly through all of this.

Immediately before this happened Carmina had gone home on the train and Madalena had become sick with malaria. So while we were in the hospital it was just me and Victor alone and was the worst and scariest feeling ever. Then three men from Madalena’s church came and prayed for him and then Lazaro and Madalena got there. When we got home other people from church kept coming by to pray and during the night Madalena and Lazaro stayed outside and we all slept on concrete slabs in the yard. I stayed on the phone with my family and Victor’s family and missionaries in Nampula helped us tremendously – especially the doctor and the MAF family. After the MAF flight we spent the whole day at the clinic in Nampula where they found that Victor had blood poisoning and then finally came back to the orphanage. Now we are camped out on the living room floor with lots of kids and Victor’s family in our living room. We can not thank people enough for their prayers and ask for people to continue praying for Victor’s full recovery and no side effects from the medicine.

MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) plane. I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture of the pilot but he and his wife were awesome. I have always been scared of little planes (and never dreamed I would be taking one in a few days when I wrote the first half of this blog) but it ended up being the last thing on my mind considering Victor’s condition. I don’t think I’ll be scared of small planes after this because the flight was perfectly smooth.

A nurse from the clinic came in the plane and got an IV going before we even took off. The nurse is our favorite from the clinic and told Victor it had been his life’s dream to go in an airplane.

Sadly Victor didn’t get to enjoy the spectacular view as he was in such bad shape.

Our neighborhood from the air.

Our “Indoor” Pets

Bicho #1: Bug on a Leash (The Ultimate Bicho)
Why we like him: He has a big face and he looks like a nice guy.

Why we don’t like him: He’s still a bug and he’s huge.

Note: Bicho is pronounced “bishoo" and means bug or beast.

Bicho #2: Pretty Green Bug

Why we like him: He’s green, he’s pretty, and he’s photogenic.

Why we don’t like him: We like him!

Bicho #3: Bunny SpidersWhy we don’t like them: They’re enormous, scary spiders the size of bunnies who run funny, keep changing direction, and are really fast.

Why we like them: We don’t. They’re hideous and scary.

Note: The more blurry the picture, the more scared I was to get closer to take it.

Bicho #4: BarataWhy we don’t like them: They’re cockroaches. They’re dirty and they can fly.

Why we like them:
1. They’re not Bunny Spiders.
2. As soon as they see you they run for their lives.
3. These ones are “wild” (not “city” or even “country” roaches).

Bicho #5: LagardijaWhy we like them: They’re cute, have neat designs, and eat bugs.

What we don’t like: They go to the bathroom on the walls.

Bicho #6: SapoWhy we don’t like them: They’re slimy and we’ve seen too many educational programs showing them eating or being eaten, magnified.

Why we like them: They’re tiny and a little bit cute (not magnified) and they won’t chase us.

Bicho #7: Scorpião

Why we don’t like them: Do you ever want to get stung by a scorpion?

Number found in our house last year: 4

Note Again: The more blurry the picture, the more scarry!

Bicho #8: FrangosFrango deciding if he’ll come in.

Why we like them: They wander around chirping peacefully, run away from everything, and taste good. It’s also really funny when you find one alone on your doorstep like he wants to come in but isn’t sure yet.

Those of you who have lived in the country might not understand this but I have lived in the city my entire life (before coming here) and to me it’s really wild to have chickens wander into your living room. I had also never actually touched a live chicken before (ever) and have been really stressed out when people have tried to hand me one (squawking and screaming, upside down, with all the wings and feathers flailing around) as a gift. Victor then tells them I have never touched a chicken before and they react like he just said I had never seen the sun. Then he tells them that in America people don’t know meat started out being alive first and think it’s made in cans. Everyone believes him because they’ve just seen me with the chicken. (Sorry for misrepresenting America everyone.) Anyway, I also want to tell people (to astound them) that the only place I had ever seen a goat before was in the zoo. But first I would have to explain what a zoo is (and then by the time I’d get back to the goat it would be overshadowed by the idea of a zoo and wouldn’t be so astounding anymore).

Frangos wandering into the living room.

Note: I’m sorry if I offended anyone by referring to some of the above as “him” or “he.” Yes, I know chickens (and maybe some of the bugs) are girls. Please forgive me if this upset you.

Bicho #9: Maria Café

Maria Café - Small

Why we like them: They’re not snakes.

Why we don’ like them: Look at their legs!!!

Why Maria Café’s are more scary than Bunny Spiders: They can crawl in your ear. After hearing this warning enough times I finally started asking people if they had ever actually known someone who’d had a Maria Café in their ear. Yes. One night a neighbor was sleeping on the ground and a Maria Café got cold and crawled into his ear for shelter. He had to go to the hospital to get it out. Yikes! I’ve found over ten Maria Café’s in our house, curled in a circle high up on the wall, so I always imagine somebody innocently walking around in their house and then a Maria Café leaping off the wall, diving right into their ear. But really – just stay in your mosquito net when you sleep and you’ll be safe.

Maria Café - Large (now too big to fit in an ear . . . I hope!!!)

Bicho #10 . . . the best bicho of all . . . Matabicho!!!Egg sandwiches, batatas fritas (French Fries), and apples for Matabicho!

Matabicho is the word used for breakfast in Mozambique. It literally means “kill the beast” (you know – the “hunger” beast – the worst beast of all)!