It's Liz! In Africa!

Hello friends and family!

Habari yako? (How are you?)d Okay,so I haven't been able to have internet access like I said. Sorry about that one... Well... what do I say? (PS The space bar here doesn't work, so sorry about the spacing). It's been a long time since I was a hostage in the immigration office in Mbinga., Right now I'm actually in the same village, hiding out from the immigration officers and doing some shopping. There is no way to really describe what my past month-ish here has been like, so I think chunking it into categories would be easiest.

My Village:
I live in Malindindo. It is a little remote village (the closest neighboring village is about an hour or two walk in any direction.) I am a 4 hour walk from Mozambique. The environment is beautiful! Where I live is very mountainous, and there are giant boulders everywhere. The streets are dust and pebbles. My feet are always dirty. :) There are coffee fields everywhere, as it is the local cash crop. The weather is about as hot as Texas summers, but very windy and less humid. Some days it is very cold though, and the wind makes it super cold! It hasn't rained yet. We live in the "busy" part of town: about half the size of a football field with little shops and houses. Mamas sit around and sell bread. Men sit around and talk/drink beer. There are always chickens, goats, or pigs walking through the streets.

Being White:
Is awesome. Just kidding.Actually it is pretty tough beng white here. For one, you stick out like a sore thumb. Also, most of the people here haven't seen white people before. So, you are kind of a pseudo celebrity. And as seen with our friend Britney Spears, it has it's ups and downs. For example, everyone knows my name. Everyone. Old men from other villages passing through town. All the kids at the elementary school, even though I teach at a farther secondary school. Some kids are really afraid of me. Mostly babies and kids under the age of 3. Sadly, this is my favorite age of person. The scared kids run off screaming at first sight. Mzungu is the Swahili word for white person (literally, stranger), so I hear that a lot instead of my name. If the kids aren't completely terrified of me, thier faces are ususally filled with wonder, apprehension,and maybe some giggling. Initiallyh, they wouldn't get close to me at all, yet they would follow me everwhere. At public gatherings like traditional dances/church/etc, there has been as many as 100 children crowding me, all squashed in a circle, but safely at arms distance away from me. I felt like the epicenter of a creepy pied-piper earthquake of children. Sometimes Abyand I have to take alternate routes home to avoid mobs of children yelling our names/Mzungu. We tend to keep our window closed now, because of the weeks of dozens of children staring inside at us. We now know what it is like to be a zoo animal, since our windows have bars and the children poke their fingers inside. Now the kids aren't afraid of us, and are even more mobby. I can easily run up to kids and pick them up and swing them around. There is one kid here that I love and have pretty much adopted. All the women in the village call me his mother now, including his biologial mother.

The Kids:
Ok, so I described them a lot already, but this culture is so interesting! The babies here are strapped to their mom's back with fabric all day until they are about 2 years old. Then they are let loose, and they have free reign anywhere. It really does take a village to raise these kids. Everyone watches out for one another's kids. A mom can go out of town for a few days and easily leave her children unattended. If a child is misbehaving, you beat them, even if it's not your kid. This is because you hope another villager would do the same and discipline your child if they were misbehaving as well. Kids here don't have toys, so they play with whatever they find on the ground. I saw a child yesterday that was about 18 months old happily playing with a razor blade. The chid development classes inside of me died, but it's no big deal here. It's not uncommon to see a 3 or 4 year old running around with his friends and playing with machetes. I so badly wish that I had brought "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" or some other kids books. Oh well.

The food:
The food here is not bad, and in fact, when no meat is involved, it is typically good. We have tea in the morning with some sort of bread and starch abbout 10:00 during school. Then we have lunch at 4:00 after school, and dinner at about 9 or 10 pm. The lunch and dinner foods are prepared by a cook that the teachers all hired. All the teachers (5) eat all the meals together. Our typical options are: rice, beans, ugali (grits/play-dough starch thing), or vegetables. I would best describe the vegetables as the sauteed emptyings of a lawnmower bag. I actually do really like them, despite their grassiness. When we have meat Abby and I are typically afraid and are not certain of the animal or which body part we are consuming. Some fish (called Da'gaa) are small like anchovies and people just eat them whole. Abby is a lot more brave when it comes to eating pig organs/fish eyes. I think I can pinpoint my vegetarianism to when Abby made the fish on my plate talk to me with it's mouth. The other day we were served what I swore was shark, but was actually a catfish with its' thick, unscaly skin still attached. Oh, and don't forget the whiskers and eyes. All in all the meat is rare though, so it's beans and rice for me! The people here have a southern grandmother mentality in which they will continually refill your plate, and be offiended if you don't eat. It's really cute.

The Wildlife:
Sadly there are no giraffes, lions or elephants around here. It is a rural mountainy area, but I have seen my fair share of chickens, goats, sheep, and cows. I avoid the dogs, as they are dingo-like. Baby sheep and goats make me squeal every time I see the, We had a chicken given to us, and we affectionately named him Samual L Jackson: a tribute to our favorite African American with a purple lightsaer. A few days later our chicken was stolen. RIP Sam. The bugs in our "bathroom" (a dirt hole filled with spiders, lizards, and millipedes) is an adventure every trip. Abby and I typically go on rampages with our flip flops before any business is taken care of. We have inaccurately classified the spiders into categories with names. "Hey Abby, I had to pee, so I just killed 3 Wolf Spiders!" is a common dialogue between us. While climbing on boulders on day, Abby was attacked by "ciafu" or "siafu" ants that can literally kill people. They swarmed her, and when they bite, you bleed. Luckily we got themall off. You should google them though. They are creepy. All other ants are huge, but very friendly. They don't bite and are fun to play with. I have only seen one snake. While giving a spelling test, one fell from the rafters of the cieling onto us. That was pretty exciting.

The Technology:
The technology here is really odd because it just doesn't seem chronological. There is no running water, and no electricity, but yet some people have cell phones and motorcycles. I feel that if a person has a cell phone, they should have all the other technology that leads up to a cell phone, such as electricity or sliced bread. They charge their phones on the lonely village generator. It is so odd being able to email in the same country that people still cook over firewood.

Cleaning:
There is one kind of soap here: orange. It is a bar that people use for their bodies, dishes, and clothes.

How to wash your clothes in Africa:
1. Bring your orange ar soap and bag o' clothes to the river.
2. Climb on/over big boulders to the middle of the river, and sit on a flat rock.
3. Wash your clothes with the soap, and rinse in the current.
4. Bring them home to line dry.

How to bathe in Africa:
1. Gather firewood from the nearest forest.
2. Ask your neighbords in akward broken Swahili if you can fetch water at their place.
3. Even more awkwardly try to carry a 10 gallon bucket to your house (by hand or on your head)
4. Start a fire and make hot water.
5. Bring your bucket of hot water to the bathing area with no door.
6. Inspect walls of the bathing area with your lamp (oh yeah, we use lamps) for lizards, giant spiders, etc
7. Using your towel as a door, quickly bathe in the cold under the stars, using your handy orange soap, shampoo, and a plastic cup for rinsing.
8. Wrap up and run inside!

The Nurse:
Is me. There isn't another nurse or doctor or miles, and I guess my 2 years of nursing major is working out well. The "doctors" here are less qualified by far than even a US nurse, and haven't had any schooling past high school. People come to me for lots of random illnesses/first aid. It's pretty fun! Don't worry, I have gloves and I'm super careful about body fluids/AIDS.

I could talk to you forever about the people here, my school, my students, and the culture! I just can't. Maybe next email. As far as my ministry goes, it is difficult becaus of the language barrier and the kids fear of white people. I'm working on it. I did get to share the gospel to 120 students in class while my Tanzanian teacher friend translated. Hopefully Abby and I will start chapel here, and we will teach it. I'm working on writing a kids book in Swahilli about the gospel so that I can read it to all the little kids here. They are fascinated by books. I'm really happy here, and having a blast! The time goes by so fast. I miss you all though! Please write me back at lizziejean@gmail.com so I can know whats going on in life!

Matthew 25:40,
Liz