Made it a month!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

After at least five attempts yesterday and today to see the nurse at the MEF Clinic, we finally found her in the office. It seemed everyone else was waiting for her as well. But Brendan and I took our place in line and finally got in to see her. Sister Margaret loaded us up with medication for Brendan’s stomach issues and for my sore throat. If he continues to have a fever and headache then it probably is malaria but so far it is just diarrhea. Brendan isn’t a big fan of the medicine he has to take but hopefully it will kill off whatever has taken up residence in his stomach. The nurse says he should stay home tomorrow yet to rest. That means I will have had the pleasure of his company all day at home for three days.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Our fridge doesn’t seem to keep things very cold. And last week when we had our power outage, I had to throw some things out that spoiled. I would fare better if I didn’t keep much in it. Scott was saying that his host family has a fridge but literally has nothing in it. They buy what they need for dinner and eat it all. They eat nshima every day which does not require refrigeration. I understand that power outages will be quite regular during the rainy season. If you keep nothing in the fridge and cook over a charcoal fire, it must not be quite so frustrating having no electricity.

Wealth generates anxiety. So says Don Kraybill in his classic book, The Upside-Down Kingdom. The more we have, the more we have to worry about protecting it. We are fearful about making sure we have enough for the future, investing our money, making sure it will give us more, worrying about the value of our house and property, stocking up on goods because you never know when you might need it. I know I have this hoarding mentality. I store up treasures here on earth and then am anxious to keep it safe. Even here, I am busy amassing possessions and fretting over the things I can’t have. I haven’t yet figured out what is enough. Again and again, we hear Jesus in the gospels saying, “Don’t worry about food and clothing. Focus on the kingdom and God will care for you.” Kraybill writes, “When the kingdom is our treasure, we switch from hoarding to giving. When we focus on kingdom priorities we liberally share our wealth. And in the process we not only restore and liberate the poor but also ourselves (p. 110)!” I will continue to figure out what is enough, what is necessary for today without worrying about tomorrow. Matthew 6:34 says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Isn’t that the truth. Today’s got it’s own problems!

Today some of those problems were fixed. Peter put in a work order a long time ago but today things started to happen! An electrician fixed the other large element on the stove. Hip, hip, hooray! The carpenter fixed our front screen door so now there isn’t an inch gap on the top and the bottom (this means fewer mosquitoes, I hope). He also ripped out the moldy particle board under the sink (this means fewer cockroaches, I hope). Hip, hip hooray! The plumber installed the new faucet on our utility sink so now we have cold water with some pressure for our washing machine. Hip, hip hooray!

We also hired a gardener last week and our yard is looking so much better. We thought about hiring a boy from the compound next door who said he used to take care of the lawn before. He is an orphan and it would have been nice to help him out but his older brother works for Jenny across the road and we discovered that Anthony is quite lazy and he wanted to charge us more than what a grown man would get paid. In the end, we hired one of the maintenance men at MEF, Emmanuel, and he will come on Fridays and Saturdays for a few hours. In just a few hours he had trimmed and pulled and raked and did wonders for the yard. Since we are clueless about how to do things and what to do, it has been so beneficial to have an expert take over. He yanked out bushes that we thought were supposed to be there but were apparently weeds. He will also keep things trim so that snakes won’t hide in the long grass, something I find critical. Emmanuel recommended that I plant watermelon and sweet corn so that lit a fire under me. I have been working hard to turn the soil and sow some seeds. In addition to corn and watermelon, I am also trying green onions, honeydew, cucumbers and red peppers. I have no idea what I am doing but will learn as I go. It is the hot season now and October will apparently be very hot, but then it will cool down and the rains will come at the end of November or so. We’ll see what happens. My muscles ache from the work but maybe I will have something to show for it later. In the meantime, I can look out my kitchen window and admire my nice neat rows.

It is also amazing that I can even see out my kitchen window. One of my projects is to scrape paint off all the windows. When the painters painted the metal bars, which are on all the windows, they splattered paint everywhere. Now I am going through with a razor blade and trying to get it clean. We all knew I had a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it is certainly coming out with this project. There is a lot of satisfaction, though, in being able to see the progress made, when so much we do is immeasurable. Take parenting, for example. Who knows if our boys are actually growing in kindness, compassion, and wisdom? We keep working at it but sometimes you need a paint-free window to feel good about the work done. I’m going to be feeling good for a long time since we have a lot of windows.

Thursday, September 27, 20007

Both boys were back in school today and I must say I was glad of it. It is nice to have the mornings to run errands or laundry or just think my own thoughts. Peter and I went to the market today for the first time. From the looks we received, people aren’t used to seeing muzungus in the market. We wandered around the booths, down narrow lanes, avoiding mud and who knows what else, walking on planks over ditches, keeping smoke out of our eyes from the trash burning in different places. We stumbled onto the hardware section, then the clothing section, on to the chickens and produce, and finally ended up at the crafts area. It was a tourist trap, I’m sure, but I was glad to finally find some traditional crafts. I have been looking for wood bowls for my fruit and such. Now I know where to come for wall hangings to decorate our bare walls. There were so many wonderful things and many merchants ready to make me a good deal. We bought a lovely chess set that is shaped like a B when closed, for Brendan’s birthday. He is just getting into chess so we hope he will like it. We began a tradition several years ago that when it is one child’s birthday, we buy something for both boys that is the same. This year we found drums that they wear around their necks, a gift I may regret but one they will probably love.

I was not happy with our taxi driver Joe this afternoon when he forgot about us and came to pick me up half an hour late. The boys had to wait twenty minutes for me. It was Brendan’s first day back after three days absence and I was hoping he wasn’t too tired out. We were very ready to get back home as we were very hot and had no more water. Joe needed to stop for gas, though, so that took a bit longer. I often feel like I am in an Amazing Race episode where teams are trying to get somewhere and their taxi driver has to get gas. Every taxi I get into has the gas gauge on empty. When it is a new guy especially, and I tell him where I need to go, we usually have to stop to get gas on the way. They put in just a few thousand kwacha, which is like two dollars, and it doesn’t even register on the gauge. Still on empty. I’m sure there is a good reason for this but I don’t know what it is.

A former missionary in Africa sent me this recipe for “Cockroach Cookies.” I love to share recipes so I thought I would pass this along. Who knows which of you may need this recipe at some point.

1 lb. Boric acid
1 large onion, grated
1 cup flour
2 T. sugar
milk to make a paste

She wrote: “We made little balls and put them in coke bottle caps (small squares of foil will also do) and put them under the beds, fridge and most everywhere. In the morning there were cockroaches lying up-side down, with legs up. It was satisfying to see.”

Friday, September 28, 2007

The bad news is that Jason now has the stomach bug. He was on the toilet six times between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. That qualified him for a sick day so now he is home with me for the day. Jason still insists on taking off all his clothes when he is on the toilet so he is putting his clothes on and off all day. Since he is there so often, perhaps that will break him of this habit! I wasn’t feeling so well myself so Peter stayed home in the afternoon and I took a 2 1/2 hour nap. I felt much better later in the day.

The good news is that the washing machine works!!! It takes about an hour to run a load through the washing machine, less if I help it along and pour buckets of water in at the beginning and during the rinse cycle. Even the boys’ clothes came out clean. Jason’s socks were the cleanest I’ve seen them without using bleach. Hallelujah!!! Peter has rigged up a laundry line in our enclosed back porch and if I hang my clothes to dry there, I don’t have to worry about mango flies. That means that I don’t have to iron everything. Do I hear an “Amen?”


Saturday, September 29, 2007

Happy Birthday, Peter!!! Though it was supposed to be a day of celebration for Peter, he spent the day getting bikes for the boys. We went to town in the morning and found bikes for both of the boys. This was a gift from the Smith side of the family. The clerk filled the tires with air, tightened up the screws, and swapped out broken parts with good parts from a different bike. We got both bikes in the back of the taxi and made it home, only to discover that Brendan’s back tire had a hole in it. It’s not so easy to just go back into town and get a new tube but I remembered that we ran into our neighbor in town. We got his phone number and asked if he could pick up new innertubes for Brendan’s bike and he willingly agreed. Peter spent awhile replacing those, only to screw in the cap at the very end and having it break into several pieces. How frustrating. Our experience here is that very few things work right away and if you have something that does work, it will break in a few weeks. Peter is having to get creative in fixing things.

We finally hired someone to work in our home two mornings a week. While general housecleaning is something that most of us can manage on our own, here there is an expectation that you will provide someone with a job since we have the means to do that as Westerners. Last week, when we attended St. John’s Anglican Church, I asked two of the students if they knew anyone that needed a part time job. They didn’t know, but a few days later, a deacon from a different Anglican church, and a graduate of St. John’s Seminary, showed up on our doorstep. He said he was willing to find a woman from his church that is trustworthy who could help us. So today he brought Peggy to meet us. She has a six year old son and lives nearby. She wanted to work every morning but I don’t need that much help. We finally agreed that she will come twice a week and teach me Bemba for half an hour and then do housecleaning for another two hours. She seemed a bit shy and didn’t understand all of our conversation, having to ask the deacon what I said, but she probably isn’t used to my American accent. I need to start talking with their accent, like with "i" sounding like ee, but I feel like I am mocking them. But it will actually help me be understood better, so I need to make that leap. Peggy seemed very nice though and I am hopeful that things will work out. I’m sure there will be challenges as well but we will muddle our way through it.

In the evening we went out to dinner at Mona Lisa Pizza Restaurant. As a bonus, football (soccer) was showing on the TV. Since we have no TV, that was a welcome distraction for all of us. We opted not to order the bacon and banana pizza, something our palates could not quite imagine. Our pizza was tasty and the service good. It was just refreshing to get out of the house and to not have to cook! We went around the table and told each other what we thought was the best and worst of living in Kitwe so far. Brendan said the worst part was having friends who were so dirty. Like yourself, we added. The best part was having so many friends, and we “added who like to get dirty like you!” Jason said the best part was playing with his friend, Lazarus. The worst part for him is all the other kids who congregate on our porch. Peter’s worst was not having our own vehicle and the best was the cool mornings. I enjoy our spacious home but not the critters who come with it. I’m curious to see what our best and worst will be next month.

We have been in Kitwe now for a month. We knew the first month would be tough though we didn’t know the specifics on what that would look like. The boys have adjusted better than we thought and seem happy and normal most days. Brendan is doing well in school and loves having playmates accessible every afternoon. Jason’s eating issues have been better than expected as he has had no choice but find new favorites. He realized that toast with butter is almost as good as bagel with butter, but he misses eating it with Grandpa Al in the big chair. He wouldn’t touch tortillas in California but loves the ones that I make here. He still isn’t big on protein but is doing better. I have been focused on setting up our home and establishing a routine. As one friend who used to live in Africa wrote me, “I had almost forgotten how hard it is to get started.” Little by little things are falling into place, allowing us time and space to think about other things. We are still thinking about how exactly we want to contribute to the MEF community. The current participants graduate in just a few weeks so we haven’t spent much time getting to know them. A new set doesn’t come until the end of January. We are trying to learn the names of staff at MEF, since they are the ones who will be constant over the next three years. I have been asked to help lecture on a seminar titled “Counseling and Healing of Memories” in November. There are one or two other seminars that I would like to sit in on but am not sure if that will happen. The director has asked Peter and I to consider being chaplains for the MEF community. There is no chaplain currently and many of the students come with emotional pain that seeps into the community and causes problems. The hope is that we would be part of a team, with others doing the organizing of chapels and things like that, allowing Peter and I to focus more on pastoral counseling and conflict resolution, the unique gifts that we could bring given our training. Further conversations need to happen around this idea but it is one that we are considering. Peter is doing a lot of administrative work and trying to figure out the spoken and unspoken rules governing this institution. Soon he will be assigned the courses he will teach next year (starting in January) and then he can begin preparing for those lectures. He also hopes to finish editing his dissertation so that he can submit it by February. So soon we will have more responsibilities and tasks to do and the energy that we expended on survival and setting up our home will be channeled into other endeavors.