Over the Past Few Days

I have to say that sometimes its just fun eating with your hands.  Maybe that is the boy talking in me but I am convinced of it. 

When we go out into the villages or different peoples houses (not in the city) it is customary for them to offer us something.  Usually a drink and some crackers but once and a while they will cook us a meal.  And usually the case is that during those meals they do not have silverware (not always the case but sometimes) so we get the pleasure of eating with our hands.

 

We were driving and saw this Pub and had to take a picture for my Uncle

I find myself when this happens to be somewhat expressive about my joy of eating with fingers.  Not sure what it is about it, but that I can is fun.

In the midst of the work going on here we found sometime to go visit a girl which we help out at school with.  We met her while living with the priests and she is a wonderful girl and a real delight to be around.  Her and Araceli have bonded much and we enjoy visiting her.  Although we have a meeting set up next week with the headmaster to discuss her grades and make sure she is doing good, so we will see how that goes.

 

Araceli, Linda, Timeyo and I

Other than that life has just been progressing on.  I was working on building a screen door last night and as I bent over to cut a piece of wood Araceli shouted as the sky was filled with meteors (not sure how many) but by the time I looked up they were gone.  We get a few every night here and enjoy being outside watching them.

Although there is one danger which comes with this.

I was out walking the other night and was planning on how we would develop the land here and walking all around.  As I approached the orchard I saw this large black mass on the ground, it was in such a peculiar way that is was abnormal to see at night.

As I approached and got close I saw that it was a mass of ants.  But...big big ants, and they were moving as a pack through the night.  Well thank God I did not step in those, but if I did not have a flashlight I most likely could have. 

One of the many things to watch out for here.

 

The numbers at the peanut butter clinic have increased

All else has been going well, we just heard that this week there was rain in Lilongwe (about 150km away) which means that soon enough there will be rain here.  This will be good as it will soften up the ground which makes it easier to dig in, the bad is that it is a lot of rain.

I cannot think of too much else which is going on.  We are getting more excited as time gets closer and closer to come back home.

A long While

Well I apologize (again) for waiting so long to write a blog post.  I guess that ties in well with what is going on here.  Since my last post we have been doing a lot of construction out at Kasese along with having a medical mission come and then did some more construction.......so let me start from the beginning.

 

Timeyo and I unloading a truckload of sand

The goal at Kasese is to have medical missions stay here beginning next year.  So we are pushing to improve the accommodations for this.  Since Kasese has had no maintenance for a while this causes us to go back and fix a lot of little things.  I find this more arduous than just building a building.

 

Timeyo and I sifting the sand

Since the last time we finished up on the brick wall in the kitchen.  We had to put mortar inbetween the joints of the bricks to keep from insect infiltration.  Unfortunately this does not stop the termites, which are the most vicious of all insects or living creatures I have seen.  I can kill a bunch of spiders and cockroaches and they will stay away.....but the termites will not.

 

Finishing up with the mortar joints on the wall

So in preparation for the medical team we went ahead and finished up at Kasese, bought a bunch of groceries and then headed to pick them up.  It was a small team this time, just 3 people.  This made things great.  We only had to use one car and it was easy for the team to bond.

 

Timeyo and Olivietta getting ready to cook a fish

We had a lot of fun while they were here.  We went and did a total of 6 medical missions and saw just over 1,500 people.  It was quite some work but we enjoyed it and I started getting a bit of training from one of the doctors here about different types of wound care (for some reason I found it intriguing).  But over time I hope to increase that skill so that while nobody is here and Araceli and I are out in the bush...and something happens to someone then we can do something about it. 

The trip was successful though and good, although when a medical mission happens all of life stops (somewhat exaggerated) but almost.  We are still getting things done here at Kasese though.  We are back living here, living in a loose term.

We have finally converted our tablesaw into just a table now (we removed the saw) but are still living out of boxes here.  We are waiting on a shipment of paint to come so we can paint everything.  Our shower drains into our kitchen which leaves a nice big mess, and we still get crowds of Malawians standing outside our house asking for us.

I met up with some contractors last week to get a quotation about a fence to put around the property and it seems like we are going forward with this soon.  But of course, as with the way things go here, I had to have a meeting with all the chiefs in the area to get their approval and consent.  It turned out to be a great meeting and we all got a long quite well.  We met the big man of the area who was quite a nice guy.  It was interesting to watch the dynamic of the group, all the chiefs would be talking and saying whatever, then the big man would start talking and everyone would just be silent and then follow what he said.  Oh how I enjoyed watching that.

 

Talking with the Chiefs

I am not sitting here with my cup of coffee with a cat on my lap letting the morning start.  Today I got up around 4:45 just in time to watch the sun rise.  The sky was beautiful.

But after that point I saw the 3 new mosquito bites on my calf and started itching them.

Araceli is doing fine here.  She introduced George and Timeyo to cupcakes the other day and they were quite involved in eating those and quickly put in an order for some more.  George goes back to school today but Timeyo will stay around here and continue to work with us.

 

A local lizard

All else is well, Little E gets back on the 22nd and we will go pick him up from the airport.  We are looking forward to doing this. We have been in communication with him while he has been in Nigeria and it has been great to continue talking with him.

 

The team finishing a clinic

All in all we have just over a month left here before we return for holidays and I have to say, there is a lot to be accomplished, but we will get there.