Robin Hood and the Market

Every other Monday we buy food for the house that will last 2 weeks. Maria, Joao and Izack are in charge of the bi-weekly outing. I didn't know much about it all I knew was that they went into the big Market a few blocks from downtown and it required getting a taxi for the ride home. 

As we stood waiting for the bus, I remember Maria noticing all of my bed bug bites. Sometimes I forget how different things look on my skin verses theirs. It was also really cute, Maria insisted that I stand in the shade of a electrical pole while we waited in the hot sun. 

We got to the Market and I felt like we were entering a club or something. All these times driving past and I didn't realize that there was more to this place than just the shops along the street. We walked down this narrow alley that was less than 3 feet wide and about 20 feet wide.The walls were lined with DVD's and CD's. Not like what we have in America, rather flat boxes in plastic bags. I didn't get a good look but the covers had more than one movie on them and I didn't get if the actual DVD was in there or if these were just display cards. 

Once we make it though this isle, things open up a little. The isles aren't any wider, but there are booths and items set out on short tables. The tables being so low to the ground make it feel less claustrophobic. Shops all sell different things. Right now I'm looking at underwear toward the right and coffee mugs, plates and other kitchen wares to the left. 

We take off down another narrow isle. Izack and Joao have both told me to follow close, but they keep looking back to make sure I'm still there. We pass wood furniture, I see an iron, and clothes. The sound is chatter with different types of music, but as we turn a corner I hear American music. Loud. We pass some potatoes and turn again. We arrive at a different booth that sells beans, potatoes and onions. Izack and Joao obviously know the guy. 

While they chat, my eyes wonder. We are directly across from a music booth. The music booth consists of CD's and a guy sitting at a computer with HUGE speakers. They are BLASTING the Eminem's song that came out just before I left… I think it's called "Everybody."

The only reason I mention the song is because since the day I've arrived I've noticed Pedro attempting to sing songs that are popular in America. I couldn't put my finger on the first one, like the lyrics were sitting on the tip of my tong. For a few weeks he was singing a Justin Bieber song, but the last few weeks he has been singing "Esteybody" and I've been wondering what song it was, case closed!

I watch as Maria and Joao snap the beans (raw baked beans) in half and examine them before eating them. Who knew this is how you buy beans… I sure didn't. Izack has a laminated list of what to buy, Joao has a calculator out. I'm sure they are figuring what we can afford based on the going price. Potatoes are next and I notice right away the the biggest potatoes are in the front, but that the guy grabs from the back. I think Maria comments, because he pulls some of the small ones out. We buy two grocery bag full of beans and one full of potatoes.

We walk towed the way we came, but go straight rather than turning. This stop onions and garlic. One grocery bag of onions. We keep walking. The boys are carrying all of the items in their hands and Maria is carrying her own purchase on her head, which is the norm in Pemba. 

We wind our way back to the street while passing just about every miscellaneous thing you could ever want. From flip flops to plumbing equipment to mattress. Kinda like Target before they started adding the grocery sections to their stores. Well like an out door Target with a dirt floor, loud music, bamboo "department" dividers and the occasional cat. 

We walk down the street till we come to a big parking anchored by what I think is two stores. The only reason I think that is because there are two doors. Both store have mercy inside and out, it's apparently bulk food. 

I wait with all the food in the parking lot while everybody else goes in. They come out a few minutes later with 3 gallon sized containers of oil, 3 50 pound bags of rice, and a few small boxes. Neither Joao or Izack are great English speakers, but they communicate that they are going to get a taxi and a few more things. Maria grabs broken down boxes for us to sit on and we wait with the food. While we are sitting there a guy comes from behind us and grabs 2 of the bottles of oil. I'm not sure what to think. Do we know him? Is this the cab driver? Maria is putting her shoes on and goes after the guy. I'm still not sure what to think, because she isn't running. Also, now here I am left with ALL this stuff just waiting. 

While I'm waiting a woman leaving the store says something to me in broken English. She says something like, "Not safe for you and all this food, trouble." Whatever she said I remember feeling like she was implying that I was asking for trouble, almost inviting it. 

The thing that gets me the most about this is I feel like lots of people have that Robin Hood mentality. I'm white, therefore I must be rich, so stealing from me because you are poor is okay. Don't get me wrong theft is an issue here, but as I stand there in that parking lot I wonder… "did this guy steal from us because I'm here." Did he look at me and assume that I could just buy more oil. The oil cost 300 MZN, which is about $9.60. Sure I could have spent $20 to replace what was taken, but I didn't bring money here to replace stolen goods. I decide to buy one oil. As if it was my way of taking some sort of stand and showing that white people can't fix everything. Probably crazy thinking, it's not like the guy was even there to watch me not buy 2 things of oil.

Once the shopping was done, my plan was to go to the internet place. I thought we were going to the middle of town, so it all made sense to me. Well I didn't realize that we were going to a market just before town. It wasn't a far walk and it was broad daylight. I think I would have been fine walking, but the boys insisted that I didn't. Joao and I took a cab to the internet place, Joao got out of the car and walked me the 15 feet to the door. I tell you these boys are amazing. I never have to ask about things. They all just take care of me as if I'm the child in need. 

One thing about all of these boys is they do have so much respect for their elders. You can tell by how they speak to people. They always add either "Mano" or "Mana" to the beginning of the Missionaries and workers names. I'm Mana Amanda or there is Mano Sumate, Mano Michael and so on. The other thing I've noticed is that when an adult shows up and there are no chairs the kids will automatically get up and give the adult their chair or go find one for them to sit on. 

Pass the Kleenex...

Ok so here we go again. I guess I should mention that I will do my best to keep things in chronological order, but when I stopped blogging I wasn't journaling either. Also it is easier for me to recap the story as if I was there, so that is what I will do.

Game on...

As if my little buddy Juma Pequeno doesn't have enough to deal with by being small for his age from malnutrition and having AIDS/HIV, the poor kids gets sick a lot. This time he has a cough and runny nose. I find myself in all these strange situations. I know what to do in America, but just cause it's what we would do doesn't mean it's what I should do here. When his nose is running do I wipe it? What do I wipe it with, the don't have kleenex. When he is coughing while he is trying to sleep should I do something, should I wake someone up, will he just fall back asleep? Before I am even done having the conversation in my head he does fall back asleep. 

I decide not to do much, but only to ask Juma P to cover his mouth when he is coughing. Every time he coughs I say his name and cough using my hand to cover my mouth. I realize that I probably should have used my elbow, but decide to just be consistent. He is pretty good about keeping his mouth covered, but like all children he needs constant reminding. One day Juma P and Helder were standing right in front of me watching me work on something and Juma P starts coughing. At that moment I know I will too have a cough and sure enough a few days later I am officially sick.  

Apparently something is going around Pemba and so it's not just me and Juma P. Now that I'm sick though it really get's me thinking. In a week or so I go though 8 travel packages of kleenex. They are 3 ply and so when I notice how fast I'm going through the beautiful, soft, luxurious kleenex; I start pulling the pieces apart and using either 1 or 2 ply(?) at at time. Sure I have toilet paper but I think I could blow a hole though it from across the room. I'm sure it's similar to what you have to use with a septic here in the US but my guess is it's thinner. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, imagine really natural looking recycled paper. Then look at how thick it is and cut it in half.... so basically really really thin recycled paper.

So anyways, all this nose blowing has me wondering what everyone else is using to blow their nose? Ask and you shall receive as soon as I started wondering I got my answer. WARNING THIS IS GROSS… I saw a guy blow the nastiest snot rocket (when you push one side of your nose closed and blow with all of your might to get everything out), I mean yuck! All snot rockets are nasty, but this was nasty based on quantity... ugh there was just so much snot!

I don't think I made a face when I saw the snot rocket, but I definitely though YUCK! No one else even flinched, it's times like these I wonder am I thinking like this cause I'm a girl or because I'm American? Do the girls here blow snot rockets in public? Aah the life one lives when surrounded by males 24 hours a day 7 days a week for 4 weeks (cause I had Julie for the first 3). Sometimes the norm here is just so strange to me. I even thought should I offer these guys kleenex or some toilet paper, but they probably would have put it in there pocket and saved it for the bathroom and thought I was nuts for suggesting that  they blow there nose in it. I mean snot rockets are free?! So in a town where a days wage is $3.20 a little more than some boxes of kleenex, you do the math.

The other really funny thing about all of this is that with ALL of the medicine I brought… I didn't bring one thing for a cough. Another one of those little lessons that any planner hates learning. It's humbling knowing that I will never be able to prepare for everything, at some point I just have to be ready to hand it over to the Lord… even the little things like having a nasty cough in the middle of Africa. But man what a blessing the day I found Halls cough drops in one of the little grocery stores. It really is the little things here in Pemba... 3 ply kleenex and a package of orange flavored cough drops.

Juma P these were taken before his cold set in.

Juma P and Amido... they sure love posing for the camera!

Let the debriefing begin...

For those of you who haven't heard... I'm back in Detroit.

I'm not done blogging about my trip, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend any more time in front of my computer while I was there. I will try to finish writing the last 2 weeks of blogs, but my computer either has a nasty virus or the hard drive is about to crash. Yes all of my pictures are on there =( They think they will be able to transfer them over, but that requires me getting a new laptop... which I don't exactly have the money for after my little adventure!

All this to say I'm home and more stories and pictures about my trip will be coming soon!

I would appericate your prayers while I try to face the reality of being back in the US and what life looks like now. It is shocking for many reasons, but the biggest is being alone for the first time in 2 months and dealing with the silence. Sure I listen to music, read and watch tv, but the noise of the House in Mozambique has become my norm. 12 hours of a keyboard playing 5 feet from my door, constant knocking on my door at all hours of the day to ask life threatening question like "can I use your soccer ball?", kids screaming, laughing, crying, asking for hugs, wanting to sit on my lap, wondering if I'm going to the beach the list goes on, but that is what I miss.

A day in the life...

Since getting here I have been meaning to write about what a day is like for the boys. So here is my best attempt at doing that.
On weekdays the boys are up no later than 5am, but sometimes as early as 4am. They start there day off with a time of singing and prayer. After that they all have chores. They sweep the yard, their rooms, do any dishes left over from the night before and do their laundry. For breakfast they eat bread and drink tea.
School here operates in half days. Some kids go from 7am till noon and others go from noon to 5pm. The kids that aren’t in school get tutored at least two days a week by some of the workers or even the older children. All the kids eat lunch at the center, either before or after school. Lunch is usually beans and rice.
The music teacher, Daniel, comes a few days a week to teach the kids to play the piano and the guitar. They all have time slots and get lessons each week and then practice when the keyboard isn’t in use. Some days the keyboard is played from sunrise to sunset.
The art teacher, Zito, comes two days a week and helps the kids make cards and necklaces. It is amazing watching the kids and Zito create the cards with such simple tools.
Dinner is usually sometime between 5 and 6pm. Dinner is usually a starch and a protein or salad (if a large serving of protein was served at lunch). The starches are rice, spaghetti or sheema. I just found out that sheema is basically flour cooked over the stove with water, no wonder it tastes like nothing. The protein varies each day from beans, fish, or goat meat. Salad is cabbage and cucumbers and sometimes a banana or other seasonal fruit.
At 7pm the boys all gather to talk over their day. They all sit in a circle and one of the Maputo guys goes around asking them to share about their day. They usually say things like “my day was good, I went to school.” Sometimes they share about how something bad happened to them or a funny story. Last night Latino shared that on his way to school his pants split open and riding his bike made the hole get bigger and bigger. He ended up stopping to ask a taylor to fix his pants. He explained to the man that he didn’t have any money but wouldn’t be able to go to school with the hole in his pants. The man fixed his pants while Latino waited in his underwear… everybody got a good laugh out of that story.

The kids start making their way to bed around 8 and lights go out at 9. All the boys share one shower and so there is usually a line for that and others try to do more laundry.
On Friday night the kids get to watch a movie. They have tv in the common room and a DVD/VHS player. They mainly watch movies in English and they talk though the whole thing, but they love to laugh at the funny parts. The tv is locked up during the week and only gets brought out for the 3 or so hours of watching. Bedtime is extended to lights out at 10pm and the kids get to sleep in until 6am on the weekend.

Depending on who is around is what shapes the weekend. When Julie was here the kids went to IRIS ministries for church in the morning and then we all went to the beach in the afternoon. Now that Michael is here the kids have the option to attend the church of their choice but we also have service at the house.

Hopefully I'll have more pictures next week, but I didn't realize that I wouldn't be able to get the ones I took last week off of my camera...
 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020325&id=102500461&l=51b516af63

The foot Doctor is in?!

These kids constantly think they are sick… especially Pedro. He has gotten so bad about my “medicine” that I’ve had to cut him off from band-aids and I’ve started telling him that he can’t have pepto bismal tablets unless he lays down… I mean if your stomach hurts laying down makes sense right?
The funny thing is it isn’t just the kids. I gave Michael some nasal decongestant and when I left his place 4 adults were grabbing their throats asking for medicine. I’m also apparently the local foot doctor. Ugh I hate feet! With all the walking and poor shoes here it makes sense that there are a lot of foot problems. I’m just like I’m no doctor people but they think I have medicine for everything. I do my best to clean the cuts and put Neosporin on them, hoping they don’t get infected. The “best” part about being the local “doctor” is that most people come to me days after getting cut… so yep things are infected. Amido had a cut on his leg and we had to poke it with a needle to get the puss out before I could do anything. I looked away for a minute and he grabbed a rusty nail off of my floor and went to poke it… I was like “NOOOOO!!” The Juma G came to me with a cut on the bottom of his foot and there was so much dirt in it that I had to try to cut it open enough to attempt to clean it. I was using a needle for that too and Pedro brought me this rusted up exacto blade and I was like “no dirty!” In total I’ve clean 6 feet, 2 shins and 1 elbow. I’m sure glad I brought gloves.
It pains me to tell you that my mouse problems aren’t over. I noticed more poop and set my trap near the door again. I woke up this morning to really weird screaming noises, but the boys run around right outside of my window… so it’s normal. I usually lay in bed trying to figure out who is making the noises until I fall back asleep, as I was listening to this noise I noticed that something was scratching/sliding on the floor. I popped up really quick, put my glasses on, grabbed my flashlight and looked at my trap only to find a mouse screaming and trying to escape the sticky glue!
The funny thing about this is that modesty is big here and so for me to go running out of my room first thing in the morning isn’t ideal… so I’ve altered my pajamas keeping that in mind. It was a good thing too, because from the safety of my mosquito net I leap of the bed put my shoes on and am out the door looking for someone to help. These kids sit on the porch all day but when I need them they are nowhere to be found. Luckily I found Momade and he came and got the little sucker. I got a good look at this guy and he looked more like a little rat than a mouse, about 4 inches in length. It gave me the chills thinking about his screams.

The boys all think it’s hilarious that I don’t like mice, so they got a good laugh while I was sitting out on the porch at 7am trying to work up the courage to get back in my bed. I finally make it try to carry on like it is any other morning. I start out by listen to my ipod the first song is always “Lead me to the Cross” by Francesca Battistelli. I had my eyes closed just trying to relax and take in the words. I was about 2 or 3 songs in when I opened my eyes and saw a mouse climbing up my window!!! I screamed and he fell onto my bed! The only thing that separated us was my bug net. I flew and I mean flew off of my bed and went running out the door yelling for the boys to go find it.

They went in and I got the dogs (who like to eat mice). The kids and Daniel took my room apart looking for the little guy, but they didn’t find him. Sumate was out there when I went flying out of my room and I don’t think he will ever let me forget how I reacted. All day every time he sees me he starts laughing… ugh. Apparently girls here aren’t afraid of mice.

I probably stood on the porch bare knees without shoes on for an hour. It’s just funny and hard because no one relates… it’s a strange cultural difference but it definitely is a difference.

Uggs?

My visa was only for 30 days and so I had to go apply for another 30 visa. Michael also needs to renew his Dire (similar to resident visa), so we’ve made several trips to immigration. My visa only took 3 trips but I was so afraid that they were going to keep telling me to change the text in my letter explaining why I was here. The Dire on the other hand… I’ve lost track as to how many times Michael has gone to immigration. You go and they tell you go get this document translated at an official office. You come back and they then tell you one more thing to go do. It really is a strange system. I had to give them my visa for a week, which is also nerve wracking but at least I have copies of it =)
If you checked out my Facebook profile picture then you’ve already heard part of this story, but it’s cute. Juma P has become my little buddy. Even though he is 7, he like a 4 year old (if not younger). He usually takes an afternoon nap where ever he gets tired. He comes to my door a lot in the afternoon while I’m typing and so I’ve started inviting him in to sit in my other chair. It’s crazy how such a little gesture can put a smile on a child’s face. He sits down watches me type for a few minutes and then he passes out. Sometimes he sits on my lap and one day I asked him if he wanted a hug, but he speaks no English so of course he had no clue what I was asking. I hugged him a few times and would say “hug” while I was doing so.
The next day when Juma was standing in my door as he often does I said “Hug?” to which he put his head down, smiled and shook his head “yes.” Later that night I ran to Michael’s place to grab something and heard Juma talking to me while I walked over there. I was in a hurry and didn’t really pay attention because I never have any idea what he is saying. When I got inside he waited on the steps for me and when I came out and was locking the door I heard the cutest little voice say “uggs?” My heart melted and I looked at him and said, “do you want a hug?” and he shook his head “yes.” This has become a daily thing for us and has expanded into him taking a few of his daily naps on my lap.
Some of the older boys think it’s really funny and some of the middle kids try to be cool about asking for hugs and even tease me about it by chanting “hugs.” The ones who tease are of course the ones who want hugs themselves. I ususally try to force a hug on them when they tease me about it. The other night we were watching a movie together and Juma P asked for a hug as he was going to bed and it started a waterfall effect where Pedro, Amido and Juma G asked for hugs. How is it that something so simple can impact my life and their lives so much?

Prayer |Requests:
- Continued health. I'm still taking my Malaria pills but some days I forget. I don't like them. They are suposed to make me more sensative to the sun but when I put sunblock on it stings... same thing with bug spray. Also if I don't have just the right amount of food in my stomach I get sick. On the bright side I found out that there are different types of Malaira and the type here just gives you the flu and you take meds to cure it. In other parts of the world you get it and have it for the rest of your life.

Go play in the STREET!

Last Monday some guys came out the dig a new drainage field for our septic system, because our current field leaks whenever it rains (stuff bubbles up). The hole is about 10’ deep and was supposed to be about 6’x 8’. The entire project was supposed to take 4 days. Well the one edge of the hole keeps collapsing which keeps adding to what they have to dig, by hand no less. The hole was finally dug and the guy doing the work went to cash our check to buy materials and it bounced and we didn’t get money wired till the following Monday. One night we got a really bad rain storm and when I work up there was about 7’ of water in the hole, which by now has spread to 8’x 12’. It took two days for the guys to remove all the rain water, using oil jugs with holes cut in the side and rope. One bucket at a time for two days. Last night I noticed that one of the guys was in the hole shoveling out some of the mud from the bottom of the hole, they had finally finished. About a half an hour later I noticed the most disgusting smell and I looked out and everyone was standing around the hole with their hands over their noses. Another chunk of ground had caved in and it opened up to the old drainage field. Yuck Yuck Yuck! For 30 minutes it was like Niagra Falls pouring into the hole and it smelled so bad I had to wet a wash cloth and put it over my nose.
We are now on day 11 with a big hole and huge pile of dirt right in front of the house and about 5’ from my window. Michael was able to find a sewage waste company to come out and drain our hole and septic tank, but that is an additional $250 that we didn’t budget. I laughed at the check bouncing, more than anything because I think it’s good for people to see that the ‘white’ people don’t have an endless supply of money. It is hard though because money is tight for the organization right now and even though someone stateside made a donation for the septic system repairs we have surpassed the donation. Where does the money come from then? Michael. I’m amazed at how many times both Michael and Julie have dipped into their own pockets to cover expenses that we didn’t budget for. There is always something and none of it is cheap.

Yesterday the guys pulled 4000 Liters out of the hole, they came back to finish the job but their truck wasn’t working. They were supposed to come back at 7am today, but I think it was raining. When I looked out my window this morning the hole was full again because of the rain last night. With all the rain we’ve been getting how is this hole ever going to get filled?!

The hole has made life interesting at the house. It was about 5’ from the door when it started and now is probably less than 3’. I brought a few soccer balls from the states and laugh every time a kid asks to use it and I say “Go play in the street!” Of course no one here thinks that is funny but I laugh every time.

Prayer Request:
- Please continue to pray for Pedro, I still don't know what to do with him most days.
- My computer... it is still having problems and now 2 of my memory cards aren't working right either. So I am not able to get the pictures off of them. I'm hoping that I will be able to get a mini usb to usb to try to pull them off the camera that way.