Kevin & Cami in Southern Africa

Pets

We just had to post some photos of our new puppies. Last year at this time,

we had three big German Shepherd dogs and a little Jack Russell Terrier. Two of the GS dogs died this year, one from old age and one from a type of tick bite fever. Our little JRT, Nacho, died of some gastrointestinal thing, possibly poison. We were able to get another JRT in April, who is thriving and doing a good job guarding. He is really our only guard now, since the other GS dog is completely blind! She looks scary, but she can’t see a thing. It is really a comical setup. The little JRT actually does a pretty good job and is very alert, but he certainly won’t scare anyone away.

This week we were tremendously excited and blessed to receive another JRT puppy, a female, from a missionary family here in Mozambique. Ekole (which means coconut) will be a mate for Mattuvi (which means peanuts), our 8-month old JRT. This this week we were surprised and happy to also receive a 7-week old male GS/Ridgeback mix. He will serve as a guard dog (we need some scary-looking ones) once he grows. His name is Matapa, which is the name of a vegetable stew here in Northern Moz that everybody loves. Our workers think it is truly hilarious that this is his name, since two of the main ingredients of that dish are peanuts and coconut. If he eats the other two little dogs, Mattapa will indeed have peanuts and coconut in him! Now all we need is another dog named spinach, since that is another ingredient. – C

Elections 2

Recently we had local elections here, as you can read below, and I just want to report that things went basically fine. There continue to be armed attacks and altercations further south of us, and we learned today that they are continuing outside of our city also (though this is not being reported). So, we wait to see what will happen. Travel south is restricted or discouraged. Thanks for your prayers!! – C

Elections

It is never a good idea to write about politics when living in another country, so I’m not going to say much. This is an election year, for local offices (presidential election is next year) and it hasn’t been going very smoothly. One of the parties which is not in power has been unhappy for a long time, and not too long ago decided that the peace accord signed between it and the other main political party (which is now in power) was null and void. Those two groups were at war (literally) with each other for many years. However, since that decision there have been numerous shootings, invasions, and armed attacks of vehicle convoys. I can’t speculate here as to who or why, but at this point travel between the central city of Beira (about 14 hours south of us) and the capital city in the far south can only be done in armed convoy. We know someone who was in the convoy when it was attacked a couple of weeks ago, and some people were injured by gunfire. There are reports of many killed in various altercations. There has been other activity north of Beira, blocking our travel to that city, and a few armed instances about 30 miles outside of our city. There are all kinds of rumors flying about the incidents close to us; some say that it is the opposition party and some say it is armed bandits.

At any rate, we felt uncomfortable enough about those instances to keep our children from traveling on that road to school this month (we kept them at home) and the school closed two weeks early because of possible danger. As the elections approach tomorrow, we are alert and on guard to see what will happen. We are thankful that here in the city things are calm and we feel no immediate threat to ourselves, but we wonder what will happen in the elections, especially since the opposition party has refused to participate. Probably the end of elections will not signify an end to unease and unrest, although we wish it would.

Please pray for Mozambique: for peace and for freedom of movement in the country. For safety for us, and wisdom. You can read more about the situation here: www.clubofmozambique.com

Intensive Macua Ends

During the month of October, we had four hours of Macua

class four days a week, and 2 hours on our “light” day. Those of you who have studied a language know that you can only handle about 2 hours of new learning a day in another language. Then you start to have blurred vision, blackouts, and fits of hysteria. Thankfully, we only experienced the last one because we took an hour break in between most of the classes. Tuesday afternoons, however, went straight from 1 pm to 5 pm and we always came armed with coffee, iced tea, and cookies, as well as a firm resolve to last the afternoon without losing it. Fits of laughter perked us all up, along with watching each other perform the verbs we were learning. Guessing games helped, along with interactive learning. A local missionary who has been trained in this particular method trained the Mozambican man who was our teacher, and got us started. Our teacher is great – he is a really smart guy who is able to guide us and help us in the most patient way imaginable. Our classmate, a Brazilian missionary who already knows a lot of the language, was also very pleasant and helpful. We are GLAD that this intensive month is finished, and are only doing 3 classes a week now with our teacher since he is helping our boys daily with Portuguese this month. You can only work a guy so hard. Working in 3 languages (English, Portuguese and Macua) is either turning my brain into mush, or sharpening it up through some process of bewilderment that I do not yet understand. We do hope to see results though and continue to work at those incredible verbs! I think almost every verb in the language begins with “o” or “w” and has three syllables. How many combinations can there be? Way too many for me to remember at this point. All I can hope is that when I speak to people I don’t say something really embarrassing (I’m sure I will, and you will be entertained with it here. 🙂 – C

Bringing Home the Bacon

Yes, that is the leg of a pig. Can you see his hoof? When a neighbor offered to sell us meat at a good price, we thought it was a great idea. When Kevin brought this home in his backpack, I wasn’t so sure. The poor man watched me scurry into the office like I was very, very busy. But like the resourceful guy he is, he went to work and had all the meat in a pile for me within 30 minutes or so. The leg went to the dog, and was then stolen by our other dog, and eventually the little dog ended up with it. Nasty thing! But the pork – delicious. -C

Goodbye and Hello

Well, recently we said good bye to THESE

And we said hello to THIS

The mostly noticeable difference is that the above cars were 1994 and 1996, respectively, and that THIS is a 2010. Kevin is a happy man – he no longer has dreams (nightmares really) about looking for car parts. It was beautifully maintained by the previous owner and gently used (the seatbelt clickers for the back seat were still UNDER the back seat and in plastic!). It should last us for a long, long time. We are looking for a cap for it (a place to lock the cargo is essential) but other than that it is all good. We are so thankful to God for providing this truck for us. We never thought we would be able to get something so new and sturdy. For those of you who watch “Top Gear”, you’ll know that the Toyota Hilux is the hardiest truck in the world. It is the most practical truck here, and there are thousands of them on the road. It’s just the right size for our little family, and though I already miss the comfort of the Landcruiser for my back on these rough roads, it is a nice ride. -C

Things that Make Me Sad

Sometimes I just feel so sad living here. Sometimes it has to do with things people say about foreigners (and missionaries). For instance, as I was walking through the neighborhood with a group of ladies from my church, they explained to me that people have been suspicious for a long time that white people eat black children. They took great delight in telling me this, saying how funny it was that people think this, but it was hard for me to laugh. I’ve heard the story many times before, from many different people, so I have no doubt it is true. Even a Mozambican pastor I know, from another part of the country, was suspected for a long time of kidnapping or stealing blood from the street children he helps. Rumors get started because people are suspicious of our motives, and since I’ve given up a lot to come over here, it makes me sad that people would think so little of me, or of missionaries in general.

I had more reason to be sad on the same day, since the seven-day old baby we were visiting already had charms tied around her wrist. These are for protection, and most babies here have them. Of course, they are leaving the baby open to evil spirits, and we believe (and many local pastors also believe) that these charms are evil. Despite preaching against them, people still use them because they are afraid that if they don’t, the baby will become ill. It is very difficult for young couples to stand up against this kind of thing, because they know that if the baby does die, everyone will blame them forever for their negligence. Family members press hard to have the charms used, and in a place where family is so important, it is hard to resist. A lot of children die here.

I also get sad when I talk to people suffering with chronic illness. I know a lady who has terribly painful knees, and there just really isn’t anything to be done for her. If she goes to the hospital, they will probably give her a few days’ worth of pain medication. That’s about it. We know a pastor who ripped out his ACL 10 years ago and as he gets older, he is finding it increasingly difficult to walk. He can’t get the surgery done here, and there is no good physiotherapy or braces to help him. How will he manage as he gets older? He doesn’t have a car to get around and will find himself homebound. I know another lady who has been ill for weeks and is growing weaker. When she goes to the hospital, she can’t communicate well with some of the nurses, because she speaks almost no Portuguese. Finally some ladies in our church agreed to go with her to translate.

I get sad when I see little boys panhandling for money on the street. When I see the mentally ill man dragging down the middle of the street half-naked with his bags of junk. When I see little girls selling trays of food in the hot sun. When I see the men riding their bicycles for miles and miles with a bag of charcoal on the back, coming home after a long day in the city where they’ve been unsuccessful in selling that bag.

Sometimes it just drags me down, all the toughness of people’s lives here. God give me the grace to be kind, to be compassionate, and to not get so sad about it that I’m of no use to anyone. – C

Goodbye, Winston….

The first photo shows why we said goodbye to our 1994 Landcruiser a couple of weeks ago. It is almost 20 years old now, and Kevin was spending more and more time repairing it and searching for parts (the photo shows him helping a friend with his car). It is so difficult to get parts here; any of the expat guys who work on their cars can tell you how many places in town sell auto parts (chinese-made or from Nigeria) and how many times they’ve gone to the Toyota dealership for parts only to depart with an incredulous impression on their face after hearing the cost of a part. Kevin’s had a quote from them for a price literally ten times what the same part would cost in the USA. Most people try to get parts sent up from South Africa, where the quality is better. Some buy local imported parts and just replace them frequently. One part Kevin bought snapped after a week. Not unusual. Anyway, Winston (our cruiser) was needing more frequent and expensive maintenance, and it has always been a diesel hog. After surveying our financial situation again, we felt we had no other choice but to sell both of our cars and buy something newer, as well as cheaper to run. So, Winston has gone off to another missionary family, with great sadness on our part. What I loved most about the truck was its great ride. You could drive over a bumpy ride and not have your spine jarred incredibly, which is not true of other trucks here. It also was a tremendous 4×4 machine which could growl through any challenge we threw at it! Watch this space to see what our next vehicle will be – it certainly won’t be as comfy as the cruiser, but we trust it will be what God has for us. – C

First Day of School!

Well, of course we have to post a photo of the kids going back to school at the beginning of September. Toby is in sixth grade, and Ben is in second. Aren’t their uniforms nice? Kevin’s mom brought them some good shorts from the States, along with good shoes for Toby (his feet are wide and it is getting impossible to get black tennis shoes for him here). The nice thing about new shoes is that eventually they’ll pass on to Ben! Usually we buy used here. They are on the same school bus as last year, a 30-passenger bus which is completely full. We are grateful for the school they attend, which has Christian teachers who really strive to not only educate in book learning, but also in character issues. – C

Game Park

Even though we live in Africa, we rarely see any wild animals. Mostly it is confined to snakes and occasional pangolin or bush baby (captured and brought into the city). While Kevin’s parents were visiting us, they took us to a game park in Malawi, where we were able to go game-viewing in our big truck. It was a big treat for all of us, and it is so breathtaking to see wild animals doing what they do. We were able to see hippo, elephant, nyala, bushbuck, waterbuck, impala, sable, crocodile, warthog, civet, baboon and some other things I can’t remember. We stayed in one of those tented safari camps with semi-permanent tents – very exotic! We are so grateful to Kevin’s parents for the treat, and the chance to see some of the wild creatures who live on this continent. – C