Mwa Booka (good morning)

I went to church the church in the macha village this week, and that was an adventure. You can listen to music that is played and sung in African churches but that will in no way prepare you for what it actually sounds like. It is incredible. There is no way to describe it. The church service is 2 hours long and it is in English and Tonga. The songs are almost all in Tonga and the message is translated into English.

 

On Monday we have 2 little girls who will be moving in with us. I would really appreciate prayer with this. I am fine with sharing my living area I just hope that I will be able to act as a good den mother for these girls. And I have been warned to watch over my things. The one girl is very very poor. I just am praying that I don’t

“lose” anything, and that I will be a good influence on them.

I have been assigned as the Activity room director. Which means I can teach as much art as my little heart desires. This week end I will be writing up some plans and getting together so supplies. Every Monday and Wednesday we will be riding bike to the community schools around the area. I don’t know what I will be doing there yet, but I am excited to find out. I don really know what to write. We stay pretty busy and when I do sit down to write on the blog I have to work really fast others wise my computer will run out of battery or the people I am with are getting bored of me typing. So we will see how well I keep this up as the summer progresses. My internet connection is a 3 k bike ride. Which is easy for me however everyone else who I would have to travel with will complain about it till they are blue in the face. So that makes it interesting when trying to find a biking buddy. One thing that I don miss about America is the news. I don really like listening to it and here in the bush the biggest news is wedding announcements, and hospital check ins. However, the news that Michael Jackson died, did find its way out here. Shocked? I know, so was I!

 

Every one is very friendly and kind here. We do turn some heads though, especially when all 11 of us white kids go riding by on our bright yellow bikes. But they just say hello and we just pass by.  The biking is made a little challenging by the sand pits that we have to cross. And finding our way around is tricky as well. They have no street signs so to find my way to the MIAM dorms my directions are, Turn left out the drive way turn right at the straw hut, follow the slight left past the fenced in soccer pit like thing, and then if you go past the fires you have gone to far. But everything looks the same.

 

I mentioned “The Fires”.. The fires are these areas where the family of people in the hospital can stay while their loved ones are sick. They are fires that are always going, surrounded by brick buildings. The fires are safe but they are the most intimidating place to walk threw because almost everyone one that stays there speaks Tonga and very little English. Those people are usually very poor and so they will ask for things as you walk by. But if you tell them no, then they will just want to talk to you.

 

Oh and one more thing. We cannot get mail so I can’t give an address because there isn’t one.

We have some down time between when school finishes and when club starts so we al kind of hang around with out a purpose for a while. But next week we will have clubs after school and then there will be 2 little Zambian girls living with us that we have to watch over, so my down time will be pretty much nonexistent. My battery on my computer is dying I have not charged it since I got here. The outlets are not only the wrong style but they have the wrong voltage. So I need a converter and a power strip. I have one but not the other.

 

I don really mind some of the challenges we have. Like there is no hot water and our toilets are out side. We run on a generator that shuts off at ten and then it is so dark out side. The first night I was here I woke up it the middle of the night and I thought I went blind.  So not only is a flash light important it is required to do anything after the generator goes off. But the water we can drink large amounts but we can brush our teeth with it, and do dishes with it. But filter water is what we drink. We sleep in mosquito net covered beds, There are some of the craziest looking bugs here. The most popular one Is this big flat spider that is on all the walls. It not poisonous but it eats other bugs so we like it. But we do have poisonous caterpillars, which are freaky looking. 

quick report

So any who I started work today I am feeling better today. I am at about 95% so that that is good. we woke up at 6:30 and started work at 7:30. We got an international greeting and a Tongan greeting. ( Tongans are the native tribe of the area) international greeting was getting a hug from every kid in the school while being sung to and the Tongan greeting was a traditional tongo dance with scarves. They speak english here however, they do speak Tongan too I am trying to learn a little bit but it is kinda tricky.

Even though the internet is hard to find, this area is the only one in southern Africa this far out in the bush that has internet. 

As far as wild life is concerned, We have hundreds of lizards I see them everywhere. There are snakes and bugs of all sorts. But as far as big animals go... we have small deer and baboons. But there are no big animals anywhere near macha because they have all been poached. Which makes me sad. The only place that has large animals anymore are on reserves. There are also termite mounds all over the place. 

For food we are eating with krauses for this week but next week we will be eating with the boarding students at MICS. We are also have a big group coming to visit so we will be having a goat roast. Super excited about that by the way!!!!!  They are a big fan of breads here, and corn. They also have these epic bananas they are super small   but they are like ten time more sweet than the ones we have in america. 

Oh ya by the way it is freezing in the morning. and in does not warm up till like noon, but once they sun is up it isnt very hot but the sun burns you really really fast. So I was indoors all day and my face is pretty red. 

 We are 6 hours ahead. I dont have very bad jet lag I am awake and feeling fine now, but last night I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn go back to sleep. But I still feel perky today so that is good.

 

Hello so how this is going to work is when ever I want to send an email I will have to type it in advance and then send it quickly when I make a trip up MIAM, which is the malaria research center. I got into Macha about 30 minutes ago and I am soooo air sick I can hardly move.  My yucky feeling started when I left new york and has gone on and off till livingstone. We took a small single engine sessna (I don no how to spell that) to macha which is where we are now.

            Other than feeling sick, every thing is going good. The rooms are really nice that we are staying in. they are brand new and everything is under development so there is construction everywhere.

The internet is a ways away so I don no how much I will be able to post. so until next time.

 

So I am typing this blog entry as I am on my 15 hour flight to Johannesburg Africa. Yesterday I flew into             New York, and had to navigate JFK airport al by my lonesome. I got threw it and only got turned around once when I was trying to find my baggage. Today was a just as eventful, I got to my terminal, checked in my bags, and just as I was coming down the stairs to go threw security, I felt sick. I for about an hour I was feeling so bad that I couldn’t stand up let alone go stand in line and go through security. But With a lot of prayer and a handy little pill my immunization doctor gave me, I was on my way and was perfectly fine after I got through security. As soon as I went threw I met up with Sarah and Katrina, and soon after we boarded our plane.

            At this point I am about 6 hours into my flight. I was blessed with a very nice traveling companion. He is more talkative than the people that I sat next to in the fight to New York. This is even more a blessing because our TV entertainment is BROKEN. I have never been on a plane where they have shown a movie and after this flight I still will never have watched a movie on a plane. Well so far that is the highlights of my trip and I will keep you all posted. (:

Preperation!!!

So tomorrow is when I leave. And as of now all my things are spewed all over my basement floor. I have been procrastinating like its nobodies business. I am praying now that I don't forget anything, and that I don't have any issues with flights that start tomorrow. I have about three days of traveling ahead of me, and I don think i have enough room in my carry-on for the amount of reading material I will need to make that journey.

Well I bid you all adue for now, but thank you for your support, and prayers.
God Bless