Beth and I had a getaway weekend at Umlani Bushcamp in the Timbavati Nature Reserve. It's a private game reserve located on the western side of The Kruger National Park. The camp has about 24,700 acres to explore. It's a rustic bushcamp with no electricity in the reed and thatch rondavels, oil lanterns provide your night light. We went on morning game drives at 5:30am and returned to camp around 9am for breakfast. We would hang out at the camp, relaxing on the deck that overlooks a river bed and water hole, have lunch at 2pm and then out again at 4pm for the afternoon and evening drive. We would stop out in the bush and have a glass or two of wine, it was just an amazing experience. The camp is not fenced in, so at night you have game coming into camp, which means after dinner one of the rangers would walk you back to your rondavel, you did not go out and wounder around after that. You just turn the lanterns out, lie in bed and listen to the sounds of the night, Lion, Hyena, Buffalo, Bushbabys, other sound I have no idea what they were.....
On the game drives we had a Ranger (Jimmy) who drove the Land Rover and a Tracker (Moses) who sat in a seat out on the front of the Rover. They were a very good team and located the Big Five for us as well as many other animals and birds. They were able to get us up close with two pairs of Lions, it was almost to close for comfort. It is a great place, we would highly recommend it.
"Happy New Year" 2009
WOW! What a year it's been!
Today Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America. The day after we remember Martin Luther King Jr. with his special day.
The people here in Africa are very exited about a man with an African heritage becoming president, and they should be. Tonight we will be going to a party to watch and listen to President Obama's inauguration speech. For many who have been in the struggle for equlity in our country for so many years this day will be an amazing time for reflection, look how far we have come, but we still have far to go. We are exited as well, to share this time in history with our three sons.
Today Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America. The day after we remember Martin Luther King Jr. with his special day.
The people here in Africa are very exited about a man with an African heritage becoming president, and they should be. Tonight we will be going to a party to watch and listen to President Obama's inauguration speech. For many who have been in the struggle for equlity in our country for so many years this day will be an amazing time for reflection, look how far we have come, but we still have far to go. We are exited as well, to share this time in history with our three sons.
Praia do Sol
We decided to take a long weekend (Beth was able to take off Friday and Monday) to the beach. We decided on a small place called Praia do Sol, about three hour drive north of Maputo. The place was nice, quiet and sucluded. The cabins we stayed in were what I would call upscale reed huts. They have a small restraunt and served us a great breakfast and dinner each day. It's sits on a lagoon separated from the ocean by big sand dunes. We took a boat across the lagoon to the inlet at the Indian ocean and beach, this was wonderful. There were almost no sign of human activity, perhaps a few "beachers" here and there, but it was almost deserted. The lagoon's water is so blue and clean, this time of year is really windy so the surf on the ocean side was huge. The man that took us over on the boat suggested we not go in the ocean, you could see there was a very strong under toe, we took his suggestion and played on the beach at the lagoon side and snorkeled a little. We took a couple of canoes out one day, Jon, Spencer and Roxie in one, and Beth, Sam and myself in the other. we started out fine but with the wind blowing, Jon, Spencer and Roxie were having trouble, these canoes were old and the one Beth, Sam and I were in was only bobbing out of the water a couple of inches, and with the waves we started taking on a little to much water and decided to turn back. It reminded me of a time when Beth's brother and I were in a 12 foot flat bottom Jon boat on the Lake of the Ozarks, ah the memories.
VBS Gift
We were able to get the food items delivered to the Sisters of Charity last week. A big thank you to David, a Mozambican that works at the CDC office here in Maputo, he went with me to the wholesalers and help in the negotiation of price and having the product delivered. The place we bought the food was crazy, people yelling and ordering the workers around, I would have been lost without his help.
As I had said before, this was a gift from the kids that attended the Vacation Bible School at Mount Carmel Christian Church in Stone Mountain, GA. Here is a list of what the kids bought for the orphanage. 2,200 lbs. rice, 882 lbs sugar, 662 lbs powdered milk, and 32 lbs baby formula. Check out the pictures in the photo album Jon took.
The Sisters are thankful for this gift, and want everyone to know, that your not only helping to feed hungry children, your showing the love of Jesus to them.
God Bless You All.
As I had said before, this was a gift from the kids that attended the Vacation Bible School at Mount Carmel Christian Church in Stone Mountain, GA. Here is a list of what the kids bought for the orphanage. 2,200 lbs. rice, 882 lbs sugar, 662 lbs powdered milk, and 32 lbs baby formula. Check out the pictures in the photo album Jon took.
The Sisters are thankful for this gift, and want everyone to know, that your not only helping to feed hungry children, your showing the love of Jesus to them.
God Bless You All.
Kruger National Park
Unfortunately, I have not updated the blog to talk of our trips to Kruger National Park. The park is located in South Africa and borders Mozambique on the east and Zimbabwe to the north. We have made the 60-mile journey twice. Kruger is a great place to view the Big 5, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard, Cape Buffalo, and Lion. These animals were prize kills back in the day of Big Game Hunting in Africa. There is so much to see there: mammals, birds, and plant life. It is truly a spectacular place. Kruger was started in 1898 and was opened to the public in 1927. Over the years, the park has grown and today it covers around 7,300 sq miles: 217 miles from north to south and 37 miles east to west. It is awesome to take a self-guided tour because you never know when you might stumble upon a herd of Zebra, Elephants, or a family of Warthogs.
There are also monkeys and we learned on our first trip NOT to mess with them. We were staying at one of the camps in the park with another friend that has two boys about Spencer and Sam’s age. (You must picture this: four boys with sticks and stones thinking they are big game hunters). The boys went out on one of their adventures in the morning and it seems they came upon a Vervt Monkey. The boys then began to tease it, but before long, there were about eight of them (monkeys, not boys). The boys then began sprinting back to camp with the monkey’s hot on there heals. In the end, there was only a minor injury. One did get close enough to Spencer to take a swing, and gave him a pretty bad gash on his leg. Thankfully, we carry a good first aid kit with us. So, the lesson of the story, no more teasing the Monkeys!
There are also monkeys and we learned on our first trip NOT to mess with them. We were staying at one of the camps in the park with another friend that has two boys about Spencer and Sam’s age. (You must picture this: four boys with sticks and stones thinking they are big game hunters). The boys went out on one of their adventures in the morning and it seems they came upon a Vervt Monkey. The boys then began to tease it, but before long, there were about eight of them (monkeys, not boys). The boys then began sprinting back to camp with the monkey’s hot on there heals. In the end, there was only a minor injury. One did get close enough to Spencer to take a swing, and gave him a pretty bad gash on his leg. Thankfully, we carry a good first aid kit with us. So, the lesson of the story, no more teasing the Monkeys!
Swaziland
This small country is bordered by South Africa to the south, east, and west and with Mozambique to the north. The Kingdom of Swaziland is a dual monarchy with a king and queen mother as the leaders of the country. It is very common for cattle to wonder onto the streets, even highways, so it is important to take extra care when driving at night. We stayed at Phophonyane Falls Lodge and Nature Reserve. The lodge is located in a valley next to the lower Komati River that flows down out on the mountains to the rock waterfalls. The lodge has walking trails that take you from the high overlooks to the very bottom of the falls; it is a beautiful place. The accommodations at the lodge are a choice of cottages, safari tents, and beehives. We stayed in the safari tents that were next to the river. The boys stayed in one and Beth and I in the other, it was very neat. These two tents share a stone-and-thatch kitchen with a small porch area over the river. The beehives would be fun to stay in, and have a very nice view of the valley below. They are designed after traditional Swazi style huts, made of tree branches, dried reeds, and thatch. They treated us to a wonderful breakfast every morning which got our day going right before heading out for a drive through the mountains and small towns. There are many craft shops that we were able to buy several neat handmade items. Hopefully we’ll get to go back soon!
Wayne
Wayne
Sister's of Charity and Mount Carmel Church
Our Church Family back home is reaching out to help the people of Maputo, which is very cool! The Vacation Bible School at Mount Carmel Christian Church collected money to help buy food and other items that are very much needed at The Sisters of Charity Orphanage here in Maputo. Let me tell you: there is nothing greater than to give with your heart and, man, did the kids at VBS do that! Beth and I will be buying the needed items here in Maputo and will later deliver them to the orphanage. We are very excited to be able to present this gift of love from all those that worked so hard to make it happen.
Here's a little about The Sisters of Charity:
This is truly one of those places where the sick and very poor are being helped. It was started by the mission work of Mother Teresa, and is located on the outskirts of Maputo. The city dump is near here and it is one of the poorest parts of Maputo. The Sisters of Charity is not just an orphanage, in fact most of the children have family members, the problem is that the families cannot take care of them. Many are sick, some with HIV/AIDS, and others have even suffered from severe malnutrition. Their main goal is to try and nurse the children back to health with a good diet and drug therapy, but to also show them the love of Jesus in all that they do. Their hope is to reunite the children back with their family when the child is around the ages of seven of eight, or is ready to enter back into a normal life.
They also have an area for adults. There are two main areas, one for the women, and one for the men, totaling at about 30 bed. All of the adults that are there have HIV/AIDS. The Sisters provide them with drug therapy and if/when they become healthy they will go home. Sadly Sister Sucunda has told me stories were the person that leaves healthier is soon back because they haven't stayed on the drugs.
Although there are other organizations that help to support this mission, many do not back up their words with their actions. The Sisters have become very guarded about getting there hopes up when someone new comes and offers any kind of support. I think I am gaining their trust. I've made a few trips out there, taken rice, milk, boxes, and clothes. I think they see that we are real about wanting to help.Until next time,
Wayne
Hero Rat
How often do you think about landmines? I've heard about the landmine problems in news stories from time to time, maybe on a news program in the States, but here in Mozambique the problem is real. We see people everyday that have been injured by landmine explosions. We recently went to visit an organization that has a unique way of finding and deactivating landmines. The orgainazation is called APOPO and is a program that Belgian and Tanzanian researchers have put togather. They do is train African Giant Pouch Rats to search and find landmines...by smell . The rats are trained to detect the scent of TNT, and when they do, they will scratch the ground. The trainer then flags that area and a removal crew comes in to detnate it safely. The rats are not heavy enought to set the mine off so no need to worry about loosing one that way. Check out there web sight http://www.herorat.org/ there is also a video on line you can watch. It's a Frontline stoy about the rats. If you go to http://www.pbs.org/ and search frontline hero rat you should find it. Check it out.
The rats are huge...about the size of a cat. They have really long noses and even longer tails. We visited the place where they are kept and trained in Inhambane. There were about 20 or so at the station at that time. When they go to train, they go out to a field where there are low lines runnning parallel along the length of the field. There are inactivated mines buried there. The rats are attached to the lines by a collar around their neck, and then they are coaxed to the other end of the field by food. So they toddle along, on a leash basically, and weave back and forth until they catch the TNT scent. All of the demining efforts are funded by foreign organizations that work in multiple countries. While we were talking to some of the trainers...they mentioned that some of the rats are being trained to detect people with TB(by smell!). They have the rats working at ports to detect people coming from other places by boat that may have TB. Until next time, CHEERS.
The rats are huge...about the size of a cat. They have really long noses and even longer tails. We visited the place where they are kept and trained in Inhambane. There were about 20 or so at the station at that time. When they go to train, they go out to a field where there are low lines runnning parallel along the length of the field. There are inactivated mines buried there. The rats are attached to the lines by a collar around their neck, and then they are coaxed to the other end of the field by food. So they toddle along, on a leash basically, and weave back and forth until they catch the TNT scent. All of the demining efforts are funded by foreign organizations that work in multiple countries. While we were talking to some of the trainers...they mentioned that some of the rats are being trained to detect people with TB(by smell!). They have the rats working at ports to detect people coming from other places by boat that may have TB. Until next time, CHEERS.
Update (4/10 through 4/25)
The past couple of weeks have gone by very fast, but I'm not sure why. Jon went on a class trip to a camp in Hekpoort, South Africa. It sounds like he had a good time. The camp was on a large game preserve that had many animals. On one of the walks he took through the bush, he came across a skull of a Wildebeest that had its horns on it. Jon was able to bring it home with him which was very cool. Maybe we will be able hang it up on a wall somewhere in Jon's room or perhaps somewhere else.
We have had a visitor this week from Stone Mountain. His name is Flat Stanley. You may have heard of him...he gets around =). We are very happy to host him here in Maputo and want to give a big thanks to our friend Caleb Stansberry for sending him to us. I can't wait for Caleb and his class to hear about all that Flat Stanley did here.
I rode down to Nelspruit, South Africa last week. A friend was going to have his landcruiser worked on and invited me to go along. Nelspruit is a very american type of city; you can find just about anything you need there, and the cost of goods is much cheeper than Maputo.
We have had a visitor this week from Stone Mountain. His name is Flat Stanley. You may have heard of him...he gets around =). We are very happy to host him here in Maputo and want to give a big thanks to our friend Caleb Stansberry for sending him to us. I can't wait for Caleb and his class to hear about all that Flat Stanley did here.
I rode down to Nelspruit, South Africa last week. A friend was going to have his landcruiser worked on and invited me to go along. Nelspruit is a very american type of city; you can find just about anything you need there, and the cost of goods is much cheeper than Maputo.
The Fish Lady
One part of living here that is taking some getting use to, is having people working for us at our house. Don't get me wrong, I think I will be able to adjust to it fine =). We have three men that work at our house as security guards. They are employed by a security service that contracts through the U.S. Embassy. These guys work 12 hour shifts and rotate so the same guy is not here at the same time each day of the week. They are not paid much by the company they work for. One of the guys told me he's paid 2,500 meticals per month, or 100.00 u.s. dollars. The guys we have at our house are good, hard working men that are look for opportunities to earn extra money. None of them speak English so we(or at least I)have to talk with our hands or draw pictures in the dirt. I'm sure anyone that sees us would think we were having an argument with all of the arm flailing and body motions that we do. I don't know how, but somehow we understand each other. I will sometimes tell Beth about what these guys are doing, where they live, or about there family. She always wonders how in the world I can understand all of it. We are glad to be able to help these guys out. They always wash the car, clean the pool, or do yard work, and sometimes just stand next to me while I try to enjoy a little peace and quit outside, which is usually strange.
We also have a man that comes three days a week and cooks for us. His name is Americo. He speaks English as well as Portuguese and has been a great help to us. He works for a few other American people here and has been full time cooking for around ten years. He was here late one day so I offered him a ride home so he wouldn't have to wait for the bus. It was great to go to his house and meet his wife. He was telling me how excited his children would be to meet me, but it was late, and they were already in bed when we arrived. Americo has been a great help to me by translating for the guards. Maybe one of the most times he did this was whenthings was when this woman that came by the house one day. This lady came by, and I wasnt really sure what she wanted. The guard had opened the gate and said a couple of things to her and then turned around and looked at me. I was thinking "what?" He said "camarao?" I looked at him with a puzzled look, walked over, looked in the bucket, and let out an "OH! SHRIMP...hang on a minute let me go get Americo". He came out of the house and first thing he says to the lady was "*!^%$#@#^ ?" (That's what I heared anyway). He was speaking to her in a language called Shangaan, which is a tribal language that was spoken before the portugese colonized here. I was standing here thinking "Great I only know a few Portuguese words I can say and now I have to figure this out?" So, I bought the shrimp, the lady asked(translating through Americo)when I wanted her to come back with more. America said to just get here cell phone number and call her when I was ready. I put in her number and asked for her name, Americo was speaking Shangaan, she was speaking Shangaan, and I was trying to type on my cell phone. After a few minutes, Americo gave up and said, "Just call her the Fish Lady".
We also have a man that comes three days a week and cooks for us. His name is Americo. He speaks English as well as Portuguese and has been a great help to us. He works for a few other American people here and has been full time cooking for around ten years. He was here late one day so I offered him a ride home so he wouldn't have to wait for the bus. It was great to go to his house and meet his wife. He was telling me how excited his children would be to meet me, but it was late, and they were already in bed when we arrived. Americo has been a great help to me by translating for the guards. Maybe one of the most times he did this was whenthings was when this woman that came by the house one day. This lady came by, and I wasnt really sure what she wanted. The guard had opened the gate and said a couple of things to her and then turned around and looked at me. I was thinking "what?" He said "camarao?" I looked at him with a puzzled look, walked over, looked in the bucket, and let out an "OH! SHRIMP...hang on a minute let me go get Americo". He came out of the house and first thing he says to the lady was "*!^%$#@#^ ?" (That's what I heared anyway). He was speaking to her in a language called Shangaan, which is a tribal language that was spoken before the portugese colonized here. I was standing here thinking "Great I only know a few Portuguese words I can say and now I have to figure this out?" So, I bought the shrimp, the lady asked(translating through Americo)when I wanted her to come back with more. America said to just get here cell phone number and call her when I was ready. I put in her number and asked for her name, Americo was speaking Shangaan, she was speaking Shangaan, and I was trying to type on my cell phone. After a few minutes, Americo gave up and said, "Just call her the Fish Lady".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
