Muzuhile cwani!

That means good morning in Silozi. We just had a language lesson from a young man at the OVC that we have coming over twice a week to teach us how to be Lozis. Alicia made him nshima tonight which is like grits in our country. It is corn meal that you boil and thicken up and the main staple food here. Since it was Elias’ favorite food we were taking a big chance and he did give us some pointers on how to improve it!

As I write the family is in bed and it is dripping rain outside as it has been on and off all day. The clouds and rain are so welcome here as it has been a drought year and the crops are failing in the region. Food shortages are predicted later in the year and it is expected that government assistance will be needed if there is to be anything to eat later on. It is a different feeling to stand outside in the rain and feel life coming from the sky for the people. We pray that it will continue- we have now had a little rain for a few days and the clouds and lower temperatures are great also!

The bad side of the rain it what it does to the roads. Even though we have not had much it fills up the potholes and makes for some dicey driving. Yesterday I took the Land Cruiser out on the first day of our AI project and got stuck only once, which was not too bad for the 2 hour one way bush drive through swampy roads and sandy patches of water. In the truck we had a head gate (huge metal thing) and 7 men in a car that should seat 5 without a head gate in it. This would be comical for the US, but is normal here. They even had me stop to pick up a passenger. When I got stuck the men filed out, surveyed the mud up around the axels and in less than one hour had cut trees and chopped them into 4 foot lengths, dug the tires out and I backed out in 4 wheel drive. I got a little Africa driving advice- “stay on the road no matter how deep or bad it looks, the bottom is hard.” I did and it worked, sometimes fishtailing for a couple hundred yards through a foot or 2 of water, but I didn’t get stuck again. Later however, I was driving across a grassy field with no road and 7 men in the car when we suddenly came upon a 6 foot deep 2 Land Cruiser size hole (difficult to see in the tall grass). When I stopped I had the front driver side tire in the hole. Like the classic movie scene where you don’t want to move to fast with your car hanging off a cliff. All the men got out except me- I couldn’t take my foot off the brake- and they grabbed the front of the vehicle as best they could while I slowly slid my seatbelt on and then quickly shifted into reverse. It went okay and there was a lot of praising God that no one was hurt, although when everyone piled out of the car I think their chances went way down and mine went up slightly as the weight shifted to the front…

The cattle work went well- we started 32 cows on the AI program and had a good talk with the men about the cattle and how good God is to bring us together in Africa. I am worried about our conception rates though as we had to use cows that were not in the best of shape. There just simply is not enough for them to eat and I think it will be difficult to get them bred.

Neutered a couple dogs on the kitchen table this morning and besides that have been treating things here and there but still mainly focused on the AI. I do have a farm call in the morning to go on, we’ll see how that goes!

Last week I had to go to Lusaka, a night bus ride of 10 hours, pick up some stuff for the AI program and then 10 hours back the next night. It was not really so fun and kinda crazy- another whole side of life in Africa with night bus rides and stations. While I was gone Alicia called saying our neighbors house was on fire. Turns out they were just burning their leaves and things but when she sent me a picture I could see her concern. Flames were everywhere and almost higher than the house. It looked totally out of control but it all turned out alright in the end and no property was lost. The kids were also a little under the weather and overall Alicia did not have a relaxing time while I was gone, To be fair I didn’t either on my trip, and it is a toss up who got the worse end of the deal. Let’s see what else I can complain about in this blog!!!

We continue to get to know more people here and do really love Mwandi. The kids are talking more about missing Indiana as the newness wears off. There have been some tiring home school days and some amounts of frustration by the teacher, but she is a good one. We have been letting the kids play in the morning when it is cooler and then starting school during the heat of the day when you can’t really do much outside.

The kids are building a treehouse of sorts in the front of the house. We have lightened up on our fear of snakes, I think that just happens with time (?). Now we just say as they run out to play in the morning, “Watch out for snakes!” and it has worked so far. Alicia built them a table from some left over blocks and wood and they have been having a great time hammering and building out there. The boys and I built a swing that all the neighbor kids love too. At one time I counted 21 kids playing out there, have not figured out how to control this yet. Everyone still loves lighting the trash in the trash pit- sounds terrible, but really it is kinda fun.

Today we were in the market and I lost Alicia and Rachel- turns out they stopped to tie Rachel’s shoe. As I looked for them and Ethan frustratedly tried to point them out he said, “Dad, really, you can’t see those two white people over there? We are never hard to find here.” He is right and you do feel it in such a homogenous culture. At times it would be nice to blend in more but no chance of that happening even with our increasing tans. “Makua” is what they call a white person and the young kids shout it out as you walk or drive by. It’s not derogatory but you get a little tired of it and Rachel will shout back, “Muzuhile cwani, makua!” sometimes a little agitated. They don’t know how to take her at that point but they usually stop.

Oh, basketball- we were awakened at 4:30 am here by some people marching down our street, another odd story, but point is Alicia turned on her phone to see that KY lost to Notre Dame, no wait- the game was still going on! So we watched the score tracker and caught the end! Non UK fans FYI- Ky won a nail biter to stay in the tournament. It has been fun to check in on the games.

Anyway, enough for now- we head to Livingstone Thursday to pick up a couple from Canada that will be helping at the hospital and with the AI. It will be nice to stay a couple nights there in air conditioning and a pool for the kids to swim! Hope all who are reading this are well and we do miss you so. Stay in touch please!!

Ephesians 2:10

-paul

Yes, yes I am.  (Pregnancy checking)

Education and devotion with farmers (Pastor Sikute)

Rachel's set up at night.