Another one flies the coop

Goodbyes are a very awkward thing in the culture here that I'm still getting accustomed to. When people leave there is often very little fanfare, folks will not talk about it, and if they do they will mention it in a very hushed manner as if its something not polite to be talked about. To make it worse, if somebody is leaving for a long time (or for good) people will avoid them like the plague all day. Case in point, when I left for America the last time I was here, nobody talked to me for two whole days before I left. When the large group of kids left for Beira, there was little fanfare, they packed their things, said a few goodbyes, and left.

There is still something that I can't quite put my finger on. It is as if everybody is just avoiding the difficult part of the goodbye. Its not like the movies where whatever friction that accidentally builds up between people eventually gets dramatically resolved, they let their emotions flow, and dramatic music plays in the background and everybody gets a happy ending.

Pictured: Not Mozambique

The one where Silas wins the lottery

This is Silas (pronounced See-luh) in the in the orange t-shirt. She's standing next to Gizela, Leonora, and her brother Felex. You may be wondering why she's so happy.

This is Silas taking off in a Boeing 737-200 last Tuesday. Let me explain.

Last week, we sent some kids down to Beira for higher education/career training. I put up a post about the five of them a week or two ago. Well, the post that I put up was made the day they left, and things changed a little bit. Simply put, the kids that are at Young Africa Institute trade school are in an incredible position. After Victor went down to set the Claudia up in the dorms (they only have dorms the girls) and the boys in a rented house, he went and checked out the campus and met with the instructors and the head of the school. Here's how one conversation went.

Utilities here suck

That's about all I have to say. Power has been on and off since Saturday since the transformer blew and the internet has been out since before that. Its now Thursday morning here and its been three days without water from the city pipes, which is fine because we have the well. But the well is only good as long as the powers on.

I should have a flurry of updates here once things level out. Hang on.

The one that's like a Dr. Seuss Book

On Friday last we had a treat.

It happened right here on our street.

Our dusty little one lane way

gave entertainment for the day.

On our road there was a truck.

This truck was stuck. Stuck in the muck.

The children came from everywhere

and since they had not any chairs

they sat all along our fence.

“This truck does not make any sense!”

It would not move, this truck was stuck.

The truck was stuck in knee-high muck.

The problem came from all the sand.

All the sand across the land

washes down after the rain

and fills our road that has no drain.

And this is how the truck got stuck.

The truck got stuck. Stuck in the muck.

The one where our nest gets a little emptier

Our family here at the orphanage just a little bit smaller, but in a very good way. Yesterday we sent five of our kids off to higher education. They will all five be going a long days trip south to the city of Beira (second largest city in Mozambique) where they're off to start the next chapter of their lives. Most of them are going to a trade school called Young Africa. Its run by missionaries, all our kids are entering into programs that will last just under a year and then be prepared to tackle the real world! The academic year starts in Jan/Feb here, so they'll be gone till around November, save for spring break and a couple other school breaks when we'll see them.

Claudia

Claudia is going be be at the trade school to learn business and business administration. The trade school is actually a big umbrella and provides lots of training that isn't offered/accessible in the universities. Claudia's master plan is secretly open up a beauty salon. The rest of the girls here also have a secret plan to all go and work for her.

Carlitos

Carlitos, among being freaky smart at mathematics, is also extremely elusive.

Malaria Update

Well, seeing as I don't have much energy or care about having an awesome and carefully worded update on how I'm doing I'm just going to put it all out there. For those of you who went to the wikipedia page for malaria right away and tried to figure out what's going on, you're probably super confused. Here's the super simple run down of what's happening.

• Malaria ends up giving you (among other things) a fever. Its usually a 24 or 48 hour cycle. For me, I've been getting a fever starting around 4pm and continuing until the middle of the night, breaking, and then the fever leaving early in the morning.
• After that, the cycles continues and during the day I don't have a fever. But, as you can guess, I feel pretty much like crap. From not sleeping much at night, I rest a lot during the day and kind of wait for my temp to return in the evening.
• The test to know if you have malaria is widely available and cheep ($3) and the medicine is about he same. After my first fever I went and got the test and started taking the medication. People get into trouble when they wait because they fever leaves and think they're golden and the 24 or 48 later it returns and kicks their butt.
• Everybody reacts different to the medicine. For the type of malaria I have there's about 3 or 4 different medications to take. The pharmacists just start with whichever will mess you up the least. All the medications will mess you up. Some people get worse from the medicine and then start taking a different kind. Some people get better within hours after taking the medicine. Others get worse and then as soon as the medicine stops feel right as rain.
• I've not gotten worse, but I've definitely not gotten tons better. The medicine does a number on you because it has to in order to get at the malaria. Most people start feeling better after they've finished all their medicine. So for me I'm guessing I cross that bridge sometime this afternoon.

Thanks for all your prayers, and sorry for keeping folks in the dark for so long. No, you do not need to come and rescue me, and yes, I will get back to 100 percent eventually.

and go Seahawks!

The one where TJ gets malaria

Yes, I have malaria. If y'all get a chance to pray for me it'd be much appreciated. I'll post more info later when I don't feel like I'm going to throw up.

And I'm not dying, so don't freak out.