Typing and English Lessons... who would have thought?!

I’m really starting to get to know the kids. I have a new buddy, Latino. He is amazing! He is 16 and in 8^th grade. I know that sounds weird, but here you start school when you can afford to pay for it. He goes to a special school that offers trades he is in the business trade (there is also mechanical and somthing else), he wants to be a doctor.. While most of the kids have a 15-20 minute walk to school, Latino has a 1 hour bike ride! Not only that but most days he rides home to eat lunch and then go back! Latino speaks decent English, I don’t always understand him, but he usually gets the point across.

He has asked me to help him learn more English and at first I wasn’t sure how I could help someone who already knows so much. I’ve decided to start writing out the lyrics to songs and then playing the songs for him, and then we talk about the lyrics. We actually sign the songs together too, and some of the other boys have joined in with us.

The next night Ernesto , one of the LIT’s (Leaders in Training) asked if I could show him some stuff on the computer. He only speaks a little English, so I think something got lost in translation. I was surprised that he couldn’t type, so what started out as a lesson about Excel and Word, turned into a lesson about where “Home Row” is. Eventually he and Latino just started typing things to each other and Latino would ask is this true? Meaning does his sentence make sense… those of you who know me are probably laughing at the thought of me teaching someone grammer!

This has cause some jealousy though. Pedro apparently thinks I’m his, or that I shouldn’t be letting other boys help me and what not. On top of that I don’t think Pedro really gets that I don’t speak Portuguese, either that or he is just convinced that if I hear enough of it I will just get it one day. He always talks to me and then gets mad that I don’t know what he is saying, or if someone says something mean to him that I don’t defend him. I’m not really sure what, but it’s hard for me to handle.

On Wednesday night while Ernesto and Latino were typing Pedro came in my room and said Mama Julie and motioned me to come with him. Figuiring she needed me for something, I went.  Turns out Pedro and I were in for ‘council’ he wouldn’t look at me and he kept his arms over his face. It stresses me out just typing about it, but as I said Pedro’s feeling were hurt and he wanted to bring Julie in to translate and fix things. We tried to explain to him that I need to be able to spend time with everyone and Latino translates for me and that I don’t speak Portuguese. After much coaxing from Julie he said sorry and gave me a hug.

The next morning something similar happened and eventually he said sorry and gave me a hug. Then again on Friday something happened. I’m not even sure what. I was doing with the other boys, but I think one of them said something about him. Because he kept going on to me but all I understood was ‘Juma.’ He got so bad I just had to ignore him, but I was the only adult and no one there spoke English. Pedro was in full temper tantrum mode though crying/yelling in his room. Temper tantrums from English speaking 5 year olds are bad enough, but from 12ish year old Portuguese boys I just don’t even know what to do! Learning patience in Portuguese is like learning a new language.  Eventually he settled down, but man was he wound up. About an hour later he gave me a hug and said sorry. I’m just not sure how to convey to a 12 year old who’s language I don’t speak that this isn’t okay.

                                                                                                                                                       

This has really consumed much of my week, but a lot of other stuff has happened too. Michael Goodnight (the other founder) arrived on Wednesday. It was nice to finally meet him. 

I washed clothes for the first time outside. I also did some laundry in the sink of my bathroom, it reminded me of being in Europe.

I was supposed to go with Julie and Antonio to Juma P’s house with Social Services on Thursday. They are going to show Antonio how they would like to have each child documented. A man showed up on Wednesday night saying a woman would be by the next day. She never showed. Apparently that’s the norm.

You might be wondering why Juma P is living with us if he has a home. Well he is 7 but because of malnutrition and HIV/AIDs he appears and acts like a 3 year old. He wasn’t taking any medication while he was living at home, nor was he getting enough food.  The house here is for orphaned and impoverished children. 

Prayer Request:

-          Continued prayer for health and learning Portuguese.

-          I’m not even sure what to pray about for Pedro, just that he would chill out. That the other kids and I would show him grace and forget the way he has acted this last week.

-          Patience and whatever else I need in all of the difficult and new situations I will be placed in this week.
I'm going to schedule some other blog postings for later in the week, but here are all the pics from Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020325&id=102500461&l=51b516af63

Amanda

I'm in AFRICA!!

Bummer I blogged yesterday, but it didn’t upload. Sorry about that.

Well I made it to Pemba, Mozambique on Wednesday Feb 16^th after about 24 hours of flying. I was met at the airport by a bunch of the boys. They had each drawn me a picture, they were all very shy about saying hello. That night Julie cooked for me and while she was cooking the boys all poked their head in one at a time to quietly say hello. One boy popped in and said “Peter” and I thought “strange I don’t remember that name. I wonder if this is Pedro my helper.” Sure enough that’s who it was. He doesn’t speak a word of English but introduced himself as Peter!

Speaking of my helper he has come in very useful. My first night here I put a bug bomb off in my room. When I went back in there were a dozen or so cockroaches! I was just gonna sweep them out but I went to open the windows first and one fell so I jumped back. Pedro came in and started picking cockroaches up off the ground throwing them outside. He also recruited a few more helpers and they did a through job checking to make sure they got them all.

If you haven’t heard yet the boys waited for me to celebrate Christmas. I was so sleep deprived that it didn’t even click that my plan was to be here for Christmas. It was an amazing day though. We ate fried chicken, fried potatoes (like French fires), salad (cabbage and onions) and of course rice. Julie shared about Christmas and Sumate interpreted for me, because Portuguese is the national language. The children got a truck, a backpack, stickers, a fork and other small toys. The were so happy it was unbelievable! The boys also took a liking to my video camera and we had a party in my room that night, so I could record them all singing and dancing. First they did a Portuguese rap for me and then one of the boys wanted to dance to Michael Jackson! Good thing I didn’t know that we were only supposed to play Christian music, so Isaac’s MJ skills were a one night only show and I got it on tape…

On Sunday morning the power went out at 6am and didn't come back on till 11am on Monday. 29 hours without power, the hardest thing was that the kids kept saying let's make a movie or let's listen to music. Or at least they would get that point across and I couldn't figure out how to tell them that since the power was out I couldn't charge my electronics.

Okay well I think that is the basics of what I wrote yesterday, moving on to today….

Exhale. We just got to the internet café, but on our way we came across an accident. A man was laying in the road, who had just been hit by a motorcycle.  We pulled up behind the man and Julie (a Physician’s Assistant) jumped out of the car to see what she could do. In the time that it took her to get out the car and walk 5 feet to the man there was a swarm of people looking at him lying on the ground. Another truck pulled up in front of the man and before I knew it they were picking him up like a doll. The crowd was carrying him only by his arms and legs. It was crazy. I wasn’t scared just couldn’t believe what I just saw.

Julie just kept saying they needed to support his neck and depending on his injury they could have just killed him when they picked him up. We followed them to the hospital, and they didn’t treat him much differently. Not being careful of his neck while they picked him up.

We were dropping one of the older boys off to get a Malaria test. Adriano had to coach him through demanding that he get tested. Apparently health care is a big problem in Mozambique. Doctors often send people home with medication when they should be spending a night or two in a doctor’s care. In the case of Malaria they have had another guy go in to get tested and sent home with Tylenol.

Whew.

Where to go from there?

A few things that I forgot to mention yesterday. I have yet to get sick, well sorta. I threw up my first morning (Thursday) in Pemba. I took my Malaria meds on an empty stomach which I also did at home, but I think combined with the heat it did me in. I’m not really counting that though, so thank you for your prayers about my health =) The rest of the day I just sat in front of a fan, helping Julie sort and wrap Christmas presents.

I’ve had jet lag before, but never have I had such a temperature difference. It’s about 85 and humid. It’s so humid here, that there must be another name for it. I just feel like I’m constantly covered in yuck, I think it’s getting better but for the first few days it was hard.

Adriano and Julie take one day off a week. This week, on Friday, they went to Pemba Bush & Dive Camp ( I think that is what it’s called), and I joined them. Going to the beach here is strange too. The water is so warm. It’s the opposite of back home, you search for cold spots rather than warm spots. I was so hot laying the shade that I actually didn’t even want to get in the water, but once I got in it was great! It was also interesting bc the tide rose about 6 feet in the 4 hours that we were there.

Every Sunday the kids go to the beach, Wimbie Beach. It’s a secluded beach on the out skirts of town. They go to this beach so they can bring the dogs, because the Muslims don’t like dogs. They think their teeth have venom so they are afraid of getting bit.

I was unable to upload pictures, but click on the link below to find them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020325&id=102500461&l=51b516af63 

Well that is probably enough for today, I’ll leave you with some prayer requests:

-          The man hit my the motorcycle. That the doctor’s would take adequate care of him.

-          My continued health.

-          My ability to learn Portuguese.

-          The children’s ability to learn English.

-          One of the children, Amido, was living on the street and at the garbage dump before come to house. He would sell things he found to survive. It has proved a hard habit to break. He sold 2 small cars that he got for Christmas and got 2 metical, about 7 cents. I ask that you would pray that he would come to understand that The Dream Project will provide for his needs and that we will continue to provide for him.

Thanks again for all of your support on this journey of mine.

God Bless,

Amanda

The highs and lows

What a busy two weeks it has been! On Sunday January 30, I finally booked my flight to Mozambique! I was very excited and slightly overwhelmed that I would only have to weeks to prepare for my trip.

That next morning I woke up and my dad said we needed to take Maddox (my 8 year old shar pei/ pit mix) to the vet, because she wasn't doing very well. She has been sick since Thanksgiving and that Monday she was worse than ever. The vet told us that she wouldn't make it though the day without a blood transfusion, and there was only a 50/50 chance that would get her through the day. She hadn't been herself since Thanksgiving and so we made the very tough decision to put her down and end her suffering.

How can you not love that face?!

Well here is the last letter I sent out, including all my flight info. I will do my best to update while I'm gone!

It’s official I BOUGHT MY PLANE TICKETS!! For months I have been planning this trip and for one reason or another it kept getting moved back. Planning this trip has become such a daily thing that I was starting to feel like for the rest of my life I would be planning a trip to Mozambique, “In about a month.” Well now it’s less than two weeks away and I’m not sure what to do!

A few weeks ago I went and got four shots; Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Polio, and MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella).  I also took the pill vaccine for Typhoid and got three more prescription’s for Malaria and two types of antibiotics. All I have left now is the second Hepatitis B shot. That’s more shots than I’ve had in the last ten years!

I spoke with Julie this morning and she said that one of the boys, Pedro, wants to be my assistant. I’m not really sure what this means especially because he doesn’t speak English! It makes me smile that the boys know I’m coming and that one of them wants to be my helper.

I’m so excited to go on this journey and thankful that you have chosen to come along side of me. Raising support is one of the most humbling experiences of my life and I truly have appreciated each and every dollar that you have generously given, each time you have prayed for me, and that you’ve walked beside me while I prepare to go. I really couldn’t have done this alone!

I will be doing my best to keep you all updated from Mozambique. The internet isn’t very good so I’m not sure if I will be able to upload pictures, much less video. I will be using my blog (www.amanda-nichols.blogspot.com), Facebook (search Dreaming of Mozambique – Amanda Nichols), or if you would like email updates let me know.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

Amanda 

Travel Itinerary:

Monday, February 14, 2011

   Detroit (DTW) 10:02am – Washington (IAD) 11:32am

   Washington (IAD) 5:40pm – Dakar (DKR) 6:10am (+1 day)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

   Dakar (DKR) 7:10am – Johannesburg (JNB) 5:30pm

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

   Johannesburg (JNB) 8:40am – Pemba (POL) 1:10pm

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

   Pemba (POL) 1:50pm – Johannesburg (JNB) 6:30pm

   Johannesburg (JNB) 9:30pm – Dakar (DKR) 4:10am (+1 day)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

   Dakar (DKR) 5:10am – Washington (IAD) 10:20am

   Washington (IAD) 12:15pm – Detroit (DTW) 1:45pm