Artemis

Please welcome the newest member of our family, Artemis, or "Missy" for short.


This cute kitten came to us compliments of our teammates, whose cat had kittens just a few days before we arrived in the village.  We have all enjoyed the kittens loving nature, loud purr, and fun playfulness (still a few litter box issues to get ironed out though!).

 Missy enjoys sleeping on the small blanket L. made for her - we found some squares already crocheted by J, so L. learned how to crochet and made a blanket with the results.  Impressive how quickly kids can learn something :).

 Missy LOVES being on people's shoulders - whether playing with their hair (or their ear!) or watching them do school....  Usually she is NOT allowed in the schoolroom, as she IS a bit of a distraction :).

 As you can see, the kids love her!  And yes, the kids are doing well - learning how to pound fufu, playing hard with their friends, and sleeping soundly through very loud thunderstorms.

Contrasts

As we continue the seemingly endless task of sorting and cleaning items that have been stored for 5 years, once in a while we shake our head at the toll that time and weather has taken on our belongings.  Truly this earth is a place where "moth and rust corrupt..." and mildew and mold destroy.



My sewing machine had been stored in its case.  I wiped it all down, took apart all the usual pieces (bobbin, etc.) and oiled it.  Then I figured I should make sure the "workings" were working!  As you can see from the picture, when I got the cover off, I was greeted with a disintegrated belt - only some strings left!  Fortunately we had another belt, but it is old and the smaller belt near the bottom is definitely not in its prime, so I guess we should look at ordering more belts!  The machine DOES work now though, so I'll just go easy on it for now!






The kids have done really well at adjusting to the bugs here.  They have learned to tolerate cockroaches (as in, try to kill them, not run from them) and leave small spiders pretty much alone (they catch bugs which can give us diseases), but they still call on me to kill the big spiders.  These large spiders might come in with the stalks of plantains or bananas that we bring into the house.  Regardless, when the spider is about 1/4 of the size of a regular broom, it's time to kill it!












It looks like this spider was full of eggs - I'm glad they didn't hatch and start running all over our house!




But then comes the contrast - just like the beautiful scenery outside, once in a while a small sampling of beauty finds its way into our house.  This beauty was carefully trapped and set free outside again....

Dry season?

Dragonflies... for our family these ordinary insects bring good news - the arrival of dry season :).  When we take time for a stroll in the afternoon, many days we can see swarms of these critters, and I'm glad.

That doesn't mean the rains are gone.  No, in our area, we continue to get rain.  But the rain has changed in character.  During rainy season, the skies are often gray and continuous rain could last for days, incessantly beating on the tin roof; but just before and just after rainy season, we get sunshine with sudden dark clouds which might bring incredible thunderstorms, where lightning seems to strike right outside your window and might be closely followed by a huge "boom!" of thunder.







Sometimes the storm lasts all night, and sometimes a quick shower will be replaced by bright sun again - good for charging up the solar system batteries.  And the good weather makes it much easier for the kids to play outside with their friends or act like monkeys, climbing in the trees in our yard (they've learned to be alert for the biting ants, and are aware that snakes are a possibility).





















Sometimes it's good for us to take some time to sit, enjoying the good weather and the beauty around us.



After all, we think we live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world!

Conference in the village

 Last weekend was the denominational conference for our area (Mbonge North).  People from several surrounding villages walked in (or, if they were fortunate, found a ride on a cocoa truck or a motorcycle taxi, called Okada).  The conference officially started on Friday afternoon/evening, but due to circumstances including a big rain storm, most people arrived on Saturday.






Sunday morning was the culminating event, with the main service lasting about 4 hours.  This included choir numbers from all participating churches (if they had a choir), at least two offerings where everyone processed up to the front to deposit their gift in a basket, general announcements as well as individual church announcements, congregational singing, a main message, and communion (again with everyone coming up to the front).

Unfortunately I did not bring my camera to the service (I also didn't want to distract people!); and I hesitate to put people's faces on the internet....  But the picture (above) shows the yard AFTER everything has been cleared away.  The conference was held right next to the front door of the church (in the front yard) under a temporary shelter consisting of wooden poles in the ground,

bamboo poles (pictured above) used as crosspieces over top, and the frame covered with either tarps or palm leaves (pictured at left).  Those of us sitting near the crack between the edge of the shelter and the beginning of the church roof overhang had to move as best we could in order to stay in the shade as the sun moved overhead.



People moved around, babies were taken care of, and ushers alternately handed around cups of water to the thirsty or poked the sleeping with a stick.

But what was important is that these people, some who came just to see friends from other villages, heard the truth spoken that morning.  Righteousness - nothing we can hope to attain to by ourselves, simply a gift provided by God that we can accept; but as children of God, we need to show righteous living.  This means that if you are a cocoa trader, you do not use improper scales that help you cheat your customers; and if you are a farm worker, you do not lie about how many packets of pesticides you sprayed on the cocoa so you can pocket some of them to sell later.  In what ways do YOU live unrighteously?

Beauties and the Beasty

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," and that is especially true for some aspects of life here.  For us, fried ripe plantains are a thing of beauty, and L. has become very good at frying them :).










Birds can be pests, but the bright yellow weaver birds are not usually a nuisance.  K's friends brought this dazed little one for him to see - unfortunately, it must have been injured, as it didn't last the night.








You've already heard about snails - how certain types can be a source of food.  Though most N. Americans think snails are ugly, here there are quite a variety of snails, some of them with beautiful shells.  And to think that these little guys can slowly climb right to the top of a door!






Ok, now time for the real "beasty".  This large Beetle was brought to us by one of the "regulars" who often comes to play on our porch.




















Back on the positive side, I don't think anybody will argue about the beauty of a sunset... and there are some wonderful ones happening just outside our window :).

Rain... and Sunshine :)

The rains are decreasing in frequency, but we still get "soakers" once in a while.  Then it's time to put the buckets out to collect that "clean water" for our water filter.















Sometimes it's nice just to sit on the porch (after putting bug spray on!) and watch the rain....

The few flowers in the flowerbed seem to stretch their necks out toward the rain.  And if you look closely, you can see a snail - I don't know if he's enjoying the rain, or using the flower as an umbrella :).









The rapidly-growing tomato plants also enjoy the moisture.

 But sunshine is also appreciated.  In fact, there is enough sun some days to do TWO loads of laundry and get them dry on the line - even pillows!! :)



Hanging clothes is made easier by the newly "mown" (hand-cut by a machete by the yard worker) grass :).

Fences!

A sign that we are really back is a more organized yard.  The man who helps us with the yard work has planted pineapple suckers (still only on the side path, not totally surrounding our garden like before) and has started fixing the fence.  The uprights are wood - he cut the first few from planks using a handsaw, but since our remaining saw has tiny teeth (our two regular saws seem to have walked away in the last 5 years - sigh!) it was very difficult; so he improvised the only way he knew how - bringing a chainsaw to finish the work!!

So the uprights were planted, and the bamboo crosspieces were the next project.  Long pieces of bamboo were brought, then a cutlass/machete and block of wood used to split the bamboo length-ways, creating semi-flat pieces of bamboo which could be nailed onto the fence posts.

 And the finished product - not exactly straight in some places, but it does the job, keeping out more of the goats and random village kids.  It will be even better when all sides are completed :).

 Meanwhile, I have made my own kind of "fence" around my tomatoes in the front flower bed, trying to keep kids from sitting on them or goats from trampling on them.  It's encouraging to see them grow; I planted more seeds, and they sprout after only a few days - wonderful :).

Learning a new game - Cova Bia

Drinking "soda" or "pop" from recyclable glass bottles (the original way!) has the side benefit of providing toys for the kids -  bottle caps!


 For a while now, our kids have watched the village kids play a game on the porch that we originally heard called "Pressie", but is now commonly called "Cova Bia" ("Cover Beer" - as most of the village kids' bottle caps are from glass beer bottles!).  Our kids have finally been taught how to play - it's not their favorite thing, but it gives them something to do when it's either very rainy or very hot.



 It's basically "football" (soccer) on the porch; the bottle caps are the "players", a tiny round object (bit of tin foil, or a papaya seed, or ??) is the ball, and the bottle cap players are flicked so they hit the ball to another player.






Usually the goals are made out of used AA batteries (the uprights) with a stick across them, but K made his out of Tinkertoy pieces :).

Meanwhile, L has finally made some friends.  Two girls from the neighborhood (one from right next door) have been coming to play with her - hanging around the porch, or joining her in climbing trees or playing soccer.  It's definitely a good thing :).