Do you know what a container is?  If you don’t, you shouldn’t be embarrassed.  I didn’t know either, until I arrived here.  You can see from the photo what one is, and if you think you’ll probably recall a time you saw one of those riding on the back of a truck or on a railroad flat car.  You may even have seen a photo of a container ship, with hundreds of these stacked up all over the deck.  To you, it probably means items for shipment to a store which are being delivered, perhaps even cars.  To a missionary in the third world, it means a Christmas-trove of goodies that we can’t get here!

When we moved to Moz in 2007, we brought all our stuff with us on the airplane, 16 suitcases worth.  You might think that is a lot of stuff, but I’d guess that if you packed up just your clothes, shoes, Christmas decorations and kid’s toys, they would fill that much space.  And that’s what we brought, along with some sheets and towels and photo albums, plus some kitchen utensils and tools.

Since then, when we need something we have procured it from various places.  Some needed items we can buy in town, though anything bought new is very likely to be terrible quality.  Kevin bought a faucet once and the nuts broke off as he installed it.  Innumerable drill bits have broken, coffee mug handles broken off, plastics split, and spoons bent.  The kids gave up completely on buying toys here since they break almost immediately.  There is a sad story of one missionary kid whose first word was “bwoken” because every time he got a gift for a special occasion it broke the same day!   We don’t even try anymore to find Christmas and birthday gifts here, but have them sent out by our folks.

Some needed items can be gotten from other missionaries.  Indeed, I have a crockpot, pretty dishes, Duplo blocks, a bathroom scale, and storage containers that I bought from other expats!  Our first couple of years, I was a regular at missionary garage sales, and they are very popular events!  If you need baby equipment, sturdy furniture (for less than thousands of dollars), good toys or kitchen appliances, this is the place to be.  Things are usually priced much higher than a USA garage sale, however, since the costs involved in getting their things here were also probably high.

As mentioned above, some things are shipped out. When you consider that it costs almost $50 to send one medium-sized box that can’t weigh more than 16 pounds, however, that option is not too attractive.  However, our parents frequently send things out to us that we purchase online, or things that they purchase themselves.  A box of car parts just arrived here this week, into very grateful hands!

Another option is to ask people to pick things up for you in South Africa or carry them in their suitcases from America.  This is not a popular idea as the people traveling are usually busy and hard-pressed for space even for their own things.

And lastly, we have the container.  Some missions encourage their new workers to bring out a whole container of possessions when they come to a place like this, since procuring household items here is difficult and expensive (a new, reasonable-quality sofa is over $3000, and used is difficult to find).  Indeed, it could be cheaper in the long run, though the shipping is quite expensive.  One couple we knew shipped their household and estimated they had paid over $6000 for the shipment.  And they had been quite lucky with the import taxes.  Recently, a whole group of us went in on a container being shipped from the USA, and paid way more than that just for the import duties and cost of shipping from the port to Nampula (2 1/2 hours away).  You just never know!  This doesn’t even include what each person paid to the shipper in the USA to pack their things in the container and get it to Mozambique. Thankfully, our part was only a small percentage of that but it still was quite a hit.  What could be worth paying all that money for?  Well, books for one thing.  Can’t get those here, or good tools.  Some toys, car parts, a motorcycle helmet, bike for Toby, a pressure cooker, keyboard, first aid supplies, a used treadmill and an orthopedic mattress.  Things that we can’t get here, or only at a very high price.  So, in the end it is worth it.  The container itself has been purchased by a mission agency here and is being used as a storage facility (we have three of these at the AIM property and they are wonderfully secure).

It was amazing to me, as I opened up the trunks that we sent, that these items had been sailing across the Atlantic ocean, around the coast of Africa, and landed in Mozambique.  That is a long way!  We are grateful for them.  The next time you see a container going by, maybe you’ll look at it differently! – Cami

Here is a photo of the newest member of our family, a puppy named Chancho.  We are big fans of a particular movie that has a fat little boy with that name, which is how our fuzzy little guy acquired it.  We picked him because he was the puppy that wagged his tail the most (and there were 13 to choose from, from two mothers!) and he seems to be a friendly, easygoing 3-month old.  Unfortunately, he still lives next door with his half-brother since we are still living in one of the guest houses at SIL.  We look forward to the day when we move to our temporary house (instead of our temporary-temporary home, see below) and can have him with us full-time as a pet and guard dog.  Meanwhile, we are thankful that our neighbors are willing to keep him with their puppy, so we can see him frequently. – C

The title is supposed to be a reference to the movie, Back to the Future, but using the word “Back” of course to refer to my back, to make it kind of funny.  But it’s not, is it?  No, it’s not.  It was also not funny when I saw the orthopedic surgeon in Blantyre and he told me I had herniated yet another disc.  He was a friendly British guy who told cheerfully me to hope for the best and I half expected him to break into a Monty Pythonesque adaptation of “I like to push the pram-a-lot”.  I however, was quite dejected.

This latest disc was apparently herniated in November, a sweet little toddler crept up behind me and stood there innocently as I took a step backward, then twisted  wildly while I tried not to fall backwards on top of him.  Apparently that was all it took to put me right back where I was before my back surgery last April.

At this moment I am on 6 weeks of bedrest, recommended in the hope that the disc will return to its normal position and stop pressing on the nerve, which is causing shooting pain and numbness in my left leg.  We fervently hope that this will do the trick, though I suspect that it would only be a short-term solution.  The bone-rattling roads on Nampula would surely cause it to happen again, and staying home permanently is not a solution I care to embrace.  Neither do I care to consider leaving Nampula for a country with smoother streets.  Perhaps another back surgery is in my future, though we’ll leave that prospect for later consideration.  It wouldn’t be done here, that’s for sure.

As I pondered on WHY me, Lord, WHY this, WHY again? I became very aware that God has a purpose for me, and for our whole family in this current difficulty.  He wants me to gain his viewpoint as regards suffering, not the modern viewpoint of “it’s not fair!” as if somehow humans should expect a free ride down a flower-banked road of life.  Instead, we usually find that our characters are built through hardship, and  it is important to turn towards him to ask what he wants to teach us than to turn away and miss the lesson. Gee, that sounds sanctimonious and trite, doesn’t it?  Sorry about that.

Anyway, we appreciate your prayers as we face this little trial.  I call it that because we are fully aware that it could be far, far worse.  We are thankful that we do not face disease, financial ruin, or any number of other things that could devastate our family and/or send us home from the field.  So, please uphold us and ask God to put that little disc back where it belongs.  I know my family would be grateful as they are tired of eating meals out of the freezer! – Cami

There is an actual playground at SIL compound, where we live, but the kids prefer to play like this:

We like to keep life interesting, so we moved house just a few days before leaving on vacation.  It was just from one guest house at the SIL compound to another guest house about 500 feet away, so it was just a matter of carrying the items from one place to the other, and with the help of two friends, our house helper, and about six little boys (who all received a coke as a reward), it was accomplished within just a couple of hours.  Of course, Kevin and I spent the whole day before, day of, and days after packing and unpacking various boxes and finding spots for things, and were astonished at how much stuff we crammed into that little house.  This doesn’t even include the furniture!  We moved because the other house we lived in was right in the middle of the compound, and we were ready to be out of the “fishbowl” and on the edge of the compound.  This new house also has a hot water heater, so we can enjoy continuous hot showers, as well as a nicer stove, nicer furniture, and a nice mattress for the grownups.  All in one day, we moved house, cleaned up the old one, put up the Christmas tree, and decorated for Christmas.  Two days later, we packed for Malawi and then left.  Coming “home”, it is like we’ve lived here forever.  Which is good, and bad.    We are still waiting for the building permit for the renovations on the AIM cottage, and have hope that we can move in there by end of March.  It will be nice to unpack out things from the container on the AIM property after putting them in there in May of 2010.  I have books, dishes and photo albums that have practically disappeared from my memory.  Recently, we went through that container to get out the rest of the kids’ toys before they are too old to play with them, and found a horrifying sight:  a Ken doll with his face chewed off by a rat.  Knowing how much that would have upset me as a little girl, I told Kevin we should throw it out.  However, he thought the kids would love it, and indeed “Ratface” is now a popular toy among the little boys.  That event could bring on a whole post about little boys, but we’ll leave it for later.  – C

Gee, it sounds like I am on the “Price is Right” when I say that.  And if you are not old enough to know what the Price is Right is, then tough luck.  Here is a photo of our latest vehicle:

It is a 1996 Honda CRV, imported from Japan.  It is in great shape, with only 60,000 miles on it, and the motor runs beautifully.  Obviously, it was gently used in Japan, and we are glad to have it here though it is going to see some hairy roads!  It is next to our Landcruiser, so you can see the difference in ground clearance.

First, let me explain why we bought this vehicle:  Four years ago, a little church in Ohio gave us a chunk of money, which we put into a vehicle fund since we knew that at some point we’d have to replace the Cruiser (which is a 1994) or get another vehicle.  During our last term, we found that the Cruiser is incredibly expensive to run, getting only 15 miles to the gallon, and diesel is very expensive here.  We couldn’t afford to use it for all the running around that Kevin does (in and out of town several times a day, visiting his students and their classes and visiting churches).  So, he used our Honda motorcycle for most of the transport, which of course is very cheap to run.

However, traffic here in Nampula gets worse every year and most of the drivers are new drivers.  Many of them don’t even really know how to drive since they have paid “under the table” for a license.  Kevin was already hit by a minibus taxi once, and we felt pretty strongly that we needed to get him off the bike.

Therefore, we are very thankful for the addition of this car to our fleet.  Its main virtue is that it is a lot cheaper to run than the Cruiser.  It is all-wheel drive, so it will do well in the sand and on dirt roads, though it does not have a super-strong suspension like the truck.  Therefore, we’ll have to drive it carefully if we want it to last, but we do expect it to last us a long time.  Of course, the cruiser is still absolutely necessary for any bush trips (and we can’t even get out to the new AIM property in the car yet!) and to do most of the out-of-town church visits.  The roads are simply too bad for anything but a 4×4.  But, this little runabout should cover a lot of the territory we need to visit.  Since Kevin and I are starting language school (in the local tribal language) 8 miles out of town in February and will be running back and forth, this car is really going to come in handy!  We are so excited to have it and ask you to join us in praying that it will serve our Father well. – C

Since arriving back in Mozambique, most of the family has experienced the unhappiness of tummy problems.  Unfortunately, this just goes with the territory over here, and most visitors have some problems at one time or another; indeed for the first five months that he lived here, Benjamin had what the South Africans politely call “runny tummy”.  Since that time, he hasn’t really had any tummy problems at all, so he must have developed some kind of resistance.

In the USA, tummy troubles are something that are referred to only very delicately, whereas here it is a major topic of conversations.  And I’m not talking about the weak-stomached foreigners – the Mozambicans constantly are discussing their stomach problems and the results.  Those of us who have lived here for a number of years get into the habit too, and are able to say the “D” word without a blush.

After two weeks here, both Kevin and Toby were struck down by intense stomach pain, especially after eating.  Toby began vomiting at night, often many times, and looked pale and miserable for much of the day.  Finally, on the advice of a Zimbabwean, we dosed them both with anti-parasite medicine and they improved rapidly.  Normally, we dose the whole family every six months, but I was shocked that they were affected so soon after arriving.  And I myself was infected with Salmonella a couple weeks back, and have been sick ever since.  It wasn’t your normal type of food poisoning with the vomiting and such, but a slow deterioration over 10 days, with a weakening of the body despite stopping the more unpleasant effects of the bacteria after only four days.  Apparently it got into the bloodstream and now I am on heavy-duty antibiotics, and am to be re-tested in three weeks.

When I first arrived here, I couldn’t figure out why Mozambique was “dirtier” than the USA.  Kids play in the dirt all the time in America and don’t have worms (which tons of kids have here), and they do treat the drinking water here.  I soon realized that the problem is one of location.  Of the bathroom.  Unfortunately, here the bathrooms are often wherever people decide they are, not in a particular spot or even in some type of structure.  We experience this whenever we travel out to the bush, and indeed when nature calls we say we have to “go bush”.  Out there, it is not always a problem because there is lots of space and not always lots of people.  As the population grows, however, location becomes a major issue and a contributor to all kinds of disease.  Cholera is one.  In the USA, cholera and typhoid used to be big problems, and these were solved mainly with good sanitation systems.  Tuberculosis infection can be lessened by banning spitting on public ground, and all kinds of parasites contained by picking up after your dog.  Here, it is a free-for-all in most places, and that means that we have cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis and intestinal parasites.  That’s why you see campaigns all over the place for outhouses, which at first struck me as kind of funny.  Now I take them very seriously.

Meanwhile, we wash all of our raw vegetables and fruits (that we don’t peel) in bleach water, then rinse in filtered water.  All drinking water is filtered through a high-quality water filter that we brought out.  We worm ourselves regularly, and try to be wise, but the rest is left in the hands of God.  Kevin frequently drinks unfiltered water when he visits the villages or homes of his students, and God has protected him.

A related problem is this:  how do you explain germs, and the need for hygiene, to people who often believe that sickness is the result of a spiritual problem or a curse?  Ponder on that one.  Thankfully, the children who are in high school in town are learning what germs really are, and I imagine that thinking will change as the years go by. – Cami

Toby started school first, on September 8th.  Here he is on our front porch, and you can actually see the school behind him, in the distance.  He is in 4th grade, and in a classroom also with 3rd graders.  There are only two 4th graders this year, him and his friend Noah, and about 5 third graders, so it is a small class even combined.  His teacher, Mrs. Green, is new and the school is now called “Rapale International School”.  His old school, which was an MK school, has closed and this new school is renting the property for at least half the year, if not the whole year. So, it is very convenient and so far he is dong great.  It is strange for him to be one of the two oldest there, as the 5th graders and higher meet in another house on the property.  There is a new rule this year:  he must arrive and leave school in shoes.  Yes, we need to have this rule!  But during the day the children go mostly barefoot.  Many of the children at his school are MKs, however, there are also Mozambican, Zimbabwean, Belgian, Dutch, Angolan/German, and some other nationalities.  It is a real international school.  Two days a week, I am teaching three of the first and second graders English, since they are new at the school and need a little help.

Ben started his new school on September 12th, and is in kindergarten in town at the Portuguese private school.  He has to wear a uniform (which does not include the cowboy hat).  He didn’t seem nervous at all about going off to school, which may be because his preschool experience in the USA in the spring was so wonderful.  So far, things are going pretty well though he doesn’t understand a lot of what his teachers and classmates say.  For instance, he needed to go to the bathroom last week (number two) and there was no toilet paper in the bathroom. He couldn’t tell the teacher, so he decided to just wait and luckily didn’t have an accident.  You can see the possibilities for problems!  One of the big thrills for him has been going to school on the motorcycle with Kevin.  Eventually we’ll join a carpool so Kevin won’t be taking him in on the bike every day, but for now he goes morning and noontime that way.  He goes to school from 7:30 to 12:00.  The road to town is too rough for me to drive on, so I walk into town occasionally and went in this week to visit him at his school and say hello to his teachers (who are all the same ladies who were there when Toby attended 4 years ago!).  They seemed eager to please, and he seemed basically happy.  Not much teaching goes on there, so he is a bit bored, but for now is getting along well and we hope that his Portuguese will suddenly take off, which is the whole point of sending him there.

Please pray for our kids as they attend school with the various challenges.  We feel very privileged to have two good school options for them here in Nampula, and hope that they both have beneficial school years.  Soon I will start doing English ABCs and writing with Ben, because they sound different in Portuguese, and we’ll hope that goes well also. – C

We (AIM) bought some trees!

Here’s a photo of part of the land that AIM purchased this last week for us to build our house on.

In case you had not heard we are planning to stay in Mozambique for another 10 years or so. This being the case and the work here being so vast and our hearts fixed we did some figuring during our last term and with rent being what it is and inflation ever increasing it is more economical (read, MUCH cheaper) to buy land and build than to rent for 8 years.

So i found a nice piece of land, passed it through our leadership who unanimously agreed with our conclusions and started the process over a year ago. Well last week AIM signed the paperwork and officially owns the trees on five or so acres of land in sunny Nampula.

You may be asking yourself, “trees? Why did you buy the trees?” Good question, glad you asked. You see we live in a “democracy” here in Mozambique but the government still owns all the land. So one has to purchase what is on top of the land via the local owner and village leadership, who can for any number of reasons deny you and then rent the actual dirt from the government for 99 years—by paying taxes on the said dirt.

Let me just say the local government LOVES us and the owner of the land is thrilled with the idea of missionaries moving in teaching and training in his community, but it still took over a year to make happen.

“What now?” Oh, now comes the hard part, getting the municipal government to go out with the local leadership, walk the boundaries, mark the corners, decide on our access road (there is none) and then tell us what the taxes will be on the land. And then we have a year to build on it or we are fined. Oh, and then find water, dig a well, run electric over half a mile….fun, fun, fun!

All this to say it is thrilling news. We own the trees. Cami has yet to be out to see the land but let me tell you it is wonderful, outside the city, with a stream running down one side and huge cashew and mango trees scattered about. I can’t wait to live out there. Toby and i went out today on the motorcycle (as there is no driveway) and imagined a tree-house and prayed over the lot.

What can you do?

1. Pray.
   1. Pray that the municipal government doesn’t invent problems for us or stall because we will not pay brides.
   2. Pray the money needed comes in quickly over the next year so we can start with digging a well and putting up a boundary fence and clear a road to the property…oh, and run electricity from the main road.
   3. Pray for us. Patience is not easily come by and we are going to need it.
   4. Give. We are committed to serve here in Mozambique and a safe, relatively comfortable house is always a struggle. Please give so we can build a home which will serve us as a family and future missionaries after we leave.
   5. Come on out and help. The estimated build price is around 50,000 to 60,000usd of which we have about 8,000usd. But this does not include putting in the wiring or plumbing. We would love to have small teams come out when we are ready and help us with this and in so doing learn more about what God is doing in Mozambique, us and in his people here.

So. Rejoice…and never stop praying.

And thank you ever so much.

In the shade!

Kevin

Dear friends,

We have arrived! Obvious fact, but it is fun to say it.  We left New York on August 22^nd at 11 am, and arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, at 8:30 am on August 23^rd.  Here’s a photo of us at JFK with our 8 suitcases.  Ben just didn’t want to smile for the photo – he really wasn’t that miserable.

Now, for those of you who know that Joburg is 6 hours ahead of East Coast time, you can figure out that the flight was about 15 hours.  Long, huh?  But it really goes by surprisingly fast, especially if you can catch a bit of sleep here and there.  In the end, the kids only slept 4 or 5 hours each, and Kevin and I less.  So, we arrived very tired (especially since we were already tired when we left) and grumpy.  It took all day, and a nap, to get us back on track, but after a good night’s sleep at a colleague’s house there in Joburg, we really did feel a lot better.  I praise God that Kevin was able to move seats, so I could lay down for a lot of the flight and not stand back by the bathrooms for 12 hours, as I had feared.

We rented a car in Joburg, which is an enormous city that doesn’t seem too different from parts of the USA, though we did have to be careful about driving on the other side of the road.  Kevin immediately got into the wrong lane, but we were both watchful and that mistake was made only one other time.  It is always our habit to help each other with this in those first few days of driving, since it is easy to forget!  Last August, when I was driving my 87-year old grandma in Ohio, two weeks after our return to the USA, she commented  sweetly: “honey, don’t you think you ought to be in the other lane?” and indeed I ought to have been.

Anyway, our time in Joburg was very pleasant, with a “farewell meal” at McDonalds and a trip to the mall to buy some needed cell phone batteries and South Africa maps for our GPS system.  This will allow Kevin to “mark” bush churches that he visits and then be able to find them again, which has been a problem in the past.  We also bought a tv, thanks to selling a lucrative item on ebay in the USA, and some special vinegars that Toby likes.  It was such a pleasure to spend some time with folks in the AIM regional office there.  They are our “bosses” and support staff and it was a joy to get to know them better.

Our direct flight to Nampula from Joburg left at 11:15 am and arrived about 2:45 pm.  What a difference!  This is a new flight, on a new airline.  Previously, you had to fly to Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, and then on to Pemba, then on to Nampula.  It was like the public bus of the sky.  It took all day.  We traveled to Nampula with two New Tribes missionaries that we know, which was fun.  At the airport, there were several people we knew, and it was a joyful welcome.  You can see the name “Nampula” on top of the terminal behind us and this is about the extent of the airport.  This photo was quickly snapped by another traveller and we were admonished for it – breach of security or something – but we did think it would be fun to show you. And yes, my hair is cut very short now in anticipation of the hot weather!

We were met at the airport by our colleague Angelika, from Germany, and easily deposited at SIL compound.  As we drove through town and looked around, we kind of sighed.  It is a broken-down, dirty city in most parts, and teeming with people.  Shopping is no fun.  But it is these very people we come to serve, and as we arrived at SIL, two of Kevin’s students who are working here greeted us, along with our old guard Fernando, who also works here.  To see their beaming faces was such a pleasure!

We praise God for such a smooth trip, without any incidents.  The bags arrived intact, the customs agents were polite and not very interested in us, and we enjoyed the transition time in Joburg.  We appreciate your prayers.  Knowing all the things that CAN go wrong with such a trip, we are especially grateful.

SIL is a large compound with about 10 guest houses on it, and it is used mainly to host translation workshops and support their work.  Toby’s school will be on site until at least December.   On arrival, Toby immediately ran over to the soccer game going on next to the school, with children he knows, and played for 3 hours before wandering over to see our “new” house.  Ben came in the house and inspected it, picked out his bed, and opened his suitcase of toys.   He chose a few things, and was off for an adventure.  He returned soon with a new friend, another 5 year old MK whose mother is German and father Angolan.  It is an international bunch here, which is really fun for us.  Kevin immediately went into town to exchange money (since it was Friday afternoon) and pick up a bit of food.  The truck started right up and besides some rats living in our container, on first inspection all our belongings are intact besides some melted plastics from the heat.

Many of you aren’t aware that the AIM cottage, pictured here, won’t be ready for us for some months.  The entire roof must come off, walls built up, and a room added on.  This is not being done for us especially, since we plan to build a house on the land outside of town that is almost finished with purchase, but for future AIM families.  Of course, we will be able to live there as long as is needed, and will be glad for the modifications.  We’ve spoken to some of you about our reasons for not wanting to live there long-term, and feel free to email us and ask why.  I’ll probably do another blog entry about that eventually.

There have been some problems getting the building permit, and we anticipate that it won’t be finished for some months, which means we’ll be living at SIL for at least two, if not more, months.  The kids are thrilled about this, and we live about 500 feet from Toby’s school.  Ben will go to the Portuguese kindergarten in town, and we’ve gone in to begin the registration process at the school, which has moved since Toby went there.  Another MK will be in first grade in a class near him, which will make it easier with carpooling and easier for Ben.

Kevin has gone into town today to begin the process of getting our residence visas.  We have hopes that a medical exemption may allow us to avoid getting new visas, and instead simply renew them.  I have a letter from my doctor.  This would mean that Kevin and I pay the same amount for visas, since those must be paid for every year, but we can keep our “years accrued” which count toward being able to purchase land and various other things.  The boys’ visas don’t expire for another year, but since we were out of the country more than a year, those are invalid unless they allow the medical exemption as reason for our late return.  We’ll keep you posted!

This afternoon we’ll go over to the container and pull things out to try to find things like our iron and ironing board, Tupperware containers to store flour, rice and sugar in, and our tv cupboard.  There is a short list, as the house we are in is fully furnished, but there are items that we need.  It is so nice to not be starting from scratch again, as we did when we arrived in 2007, and to have relationships and understanding of the area.  That all said, we still feel unsettled and are eager to get into a schedule.  Toby starts school on Sept 8^th, and Ben on the 12th.  More on all that later.

Meanwhile, we appreciate your prayers and thoughts, and feel free to email us though our internet use will be limited.  We feel a world away from the USA and indeed we are.  Back to dust, mosquitoes and malaria, bumpy roads, no advertising and limited shopping, cooking meals from scratch with limited ingredients, exuberant church services, dear friends, our “stuff”, and a new adventure every day (which is sometimes a bad thing).  God sustained us before and will do so again, and we are thankful to be here.

Your missionaries, Cami, Kevin, Toby and Ben