10 Things I Have Not Gotten Used To

Things are just different here in Mozambique, and although there are things that don't phase me at all anymore (like seeing a mentally ill naked person walk down the street - although it is sad) there are some things that make me just shake my head in disbelief.

1. On a positive note, the generosity of some of the poor continues to overwhelm me. Kevin will go to preach at a church outside of town, where everybody is hungry or has been living on powdered manioc for months, and will come home with a big bunch of bananas or a bowl of peanuts. That kind of generosity is astonishing to me.

2. The callousness of medical professionals toward people here. The attitude seems to be, "If you don't pay me something extra, you are not worth my time." This week, we went to visit the wife of a pastor in the hospital who had her 4th c-section and she was moaning in pain. She told us she hadn't had anything for pain for 24 hours (and this was only 48 hours after the surgery). When I questioned the nurse, she was irritated that the woman hadn't told her. The nurse hadn't checked on her at all? Apparently not. The nurse said they didn't have any of the injectable pain medicine, the hospital was all out. I dug some ibuprofen out of my purse and gave it to the poor woman, and the nurse said, "Well, we have THAT". But apparently didn't care to give her any. You should have seen the sewing job on that massive 8 inch scar that ran vertically. I could have done better, and I have no medical training. I am so thankful I have the means of avoiding treatment in that hospital.

3. Some of the personal habits of people here are somewhat disturbing to me, though none of the locals seem bothered. The "ick factor" is pretty high when I see someone digging around in their nose for a booger, and on the street this is not uncommon. People we know don't do it, though among children it is rampant. A personal habit that irritates me, without the "ick factor" is men who walk down the street, hand firmly planted on their crotch. Again, educated people don't do this, but quite a few of the poor young men do. I want to yell out the car window at them "Hey, is it still there?" but quite frankly that would be inappropriate as it would indicate too much interest in the matter at hand. Funnily enough, we saw this quite a bit in New York as well!

4. Although I am used to the crazy drivers, pretty frequently I am annoyed and upset at the inconsideration and aggressiveness (not to mention stupidity) of some drivers here. Yesterday, I was driving behind a minibus taxi, on a very bumpy dirt road. We were going along at an ok clip, but too slow for the guy behind us. He pulled up beside me and then, when another car approached from the other direction, tried to run me off the road so he could get in front of me. Not kidding. I laid on the horn, and he missed me by inches. I drove in New York, including the city, for quite a few years, and I don't mind high-speed, aggressive driving. But this kind of thing happens all the time, and is just plain dangerous and ugly. Cars turn suddenly in front of you to do a u-turn, motorcycles weave around you and cut you off, and bicycles laden with charcoal or wood wobble unsteadily down the road, blocking traffic. Quite a few people drive in ways that are unsafe.

5. Closely related to that is the large numbers of small children who ride around on motorcycles and bicycles, hanging precariously with no helmet and without being strapped on in any way. Last week I passed a guy on a bicycle tooling down the road with a baby that couldn't have been more than 14 months old sitting on the bar in front of him, holding onto the handlebars. He wasn't holding the child, but was driving the bike. He was on a main street, with cars whizzing by. It made me shudder. Frequently, I pass motorcycles laden with 2 or 3 children positioned around the driver. These drivers are usually careful (they don't want their children injured of course) but it seems a recipe for disaster. Nobody has a helmet in these cases.

6. Overall I have adjusted to the street boys who harrass me next to my car. I've created ways of entering and leaving my car with my purchases to minimize the risk of theft. However, at the central market I struggle not to lose my patience. Only once have I ever paid a boy to carry my purchases (in the two years I've been going!) when I was on crutches after knee surgery. But these kids see my white face and think "Bonanza!" or at least hope for a few pennies anyway. They follow me through the whole market, repeatedly asking me to buy their plastic bags, or to carry my purchases. Whenever the vendor weighs out my tomatoes or whatever, they hopefully try to grab the bag to carry it for me. "No" I repeat over and over and OVER. As I dig in my bag for money, they edge closer and closer to look in my purse. Theft is pretty common there, so of course I wonder if they are going to make a grab for it. Frequently, I gently push one of them back from my elbow. When I bring my kids, they tease and laugh at them, which is upsetting for Toby and Ben. However, they are kind and help them get up if they fall. Although I feel very sorry for these kids, I get awfully tired of being harassed. I guess I do feel kind of like a rock star, with an entourage of toughs following me around like a pack!

7. The "Great White Hope". The Christians here are lovely people, and sincere believers. Unfortunately, quite a few of the Christians see foreigners as the answer to their prayers. The answer for financial support for the church, the answer for evangelism and the answer for teaching. Churches hope to get their own missionary so that someone will pay for their church buildings, transport their pastors and leaders around to conferences (and pay for them), teach the church, and give their group prestige. There are very good reasons why they feel this way, including grinding poverty, lack of transport, the history of this country and the very real lack of training for pastors and leaders (one reason we are here). But it is hard to convince some of the believers here that they can do it themselves. One has to disentangle oneself from requests and expectations, and try to build up the Church by building up the leaders, instead of taking over and running it (what many want you to do). When you visit a church, you are treated like royalty and although it reflects the hospitality and generosity of the local people, there is also sometimes the attitude that the whites are better than the local people. It is so upsetting, the low self-esteem of many of the people here and we wish that people felt better about themselves and their ability to run things.

8. People chatting in the local language in front of me. Now, I can't say I blame them, because for everyone here, Portuguese is their second language. Same as for me. So, when I visit people, often there are side conversations going in Macua, the local tribal language. Frequently, however, people make comments about me and chat in front of me (while I sit watching) in Macua, which I understand not at all. It is not considered rude here as far as I know, but I wonder what they are saying about me! Especially when they laugh.

9. The inconsistency of services. Internet goes out suddenly and can be out for days, and no apology is offered. Water goes off and on, and electricity suddenly cuts out. The cell phone network goes down for no apparent reason, for a whole day. In general, we have adjusted to this and understand that this is just the way life is. The water and electricity, especially, we have learned to deal without. However, we often get frustrated when we can't contact people or send out information that is needed by others. This is more a matter of control of one's attitude and attempting to keep a sense of humor, rather than descend into a bitter anger about "all that is wrong here", as we see some expats do.

10. Pregnant ladies everywhere! I haven't gotten used to this yet. I think I have trouble reconciling this in my mind because I see the burden that all these children are on the ladies here. Children are a blessing, I believe that firmly, and whenever someone tells me (or I see) that they are expecting, I am truly happy for them. However, I wish that circumstances (misunderstandings about the body, difficulty in getting birth control that works for women, no access to birth control in some circumstances, ignorance, and ridiculous expectations for sexual performance from women) all contribute to almost constant pregnancy for many of the ladies here. Of course, there are lots of good reasons for this, too. Babies are lost at a much higher rate here due to hundreds of reasons I don't need to go into here, and large families are considered a blessing. But the constant work and struggle of so many of the women to care for and raise all those children is hard for me to see. I don't advocate abortion, by any stretch of the imagination, but I do frequently wish that the circumstances of women here could be changed on all fronts. I believe it will, over time, but it will be a long road.

- Cami

Cholera

You may, or may not, have heard of the cholera problems this year in Africa. Cholera is generally caused by dirty water. Fecal matter infected by the cholera "bug" gets in the water, and people injest it. That's why we don't have it in America anymore (last outbreak was in 1910). When you become ill with cholera, you can generally survive it. What will kill you is the dehydration, because one of the main symptoms is raging diarrhea and vomiting. It can literally kill you within hours, since the victim goes into shock from dehydration. It is particularly dangerous in children.

Unfortunately, this has been a bad year for cholera in this area. It comes every year, with the rainy season, but this year is worse. I am not really sure why. We hear of cases here and there, and many times the person can be saved if IV fluids are introduced quickly. However, we have heard of deaths. It isn't the kind of epidemic that we are right in the midst of and can really report on, but one that we hear of secondhand from Kevin's students, who have relatives or neighbors dying from it. There is one town very close to Nampula where has been very bad, apparently.

We aren't very concerned about getting it ourselves, if you are wondering. We only drink and cook with filtered water, and wash all our fruits and veggies with bleach. It is rarely spread from person to person, and if one avoids the contaminated water, your chances of getting it are very low.

There is so much suffering here, so much suffering that is PREVENTABLE. Malaria, cholera, malnutrition, AIDS. It is so frustrating. - Cami

The week in review

Well, our internet was down for a week, and we had lots of "fun" during that week. Kevin got really sick last Tuesday, and though a malaria test showed negative we started him on the medication on Wednesday, when I realized that if he got any sicker I'd have to take him to the hospital. So, he started treatment and within 24 hours showed noticeable improvement. He couldn't eat anything without throwing up for 3 days, though, and lost 8 pounds. He was pleased to be back to the weight he was when we married 17 years ago! At the same time, he had a nasty infection in his leg from a deep wound sustained during a small motorcycle accident the week before. I started treating that with a broad-spectrum antibiotic but after 4 days it really was not much better. A call to a local missionary doctor revealed that it was probably a staph infection, so a new antibiotic was in order. Today, 2 weeks after the accident, it is much better, though still swollen. We continue to hope it will improve and not have to be opened up and cleaned out!

Meanwhile, Benjamin had a nasty case of impetigo and had blisters and sores all over his body. Remember the photo of him with the purple spots? It got much worse than that. Started with ringworm and turned into the bacterial infection. It was itchy and nasty, and he shared it with Toby and I. Toby's spots seemed to not be spreading, but then a few days ago a whole new colony broke out in the other armpit and now he is also on antibiotics (which Ben ended up starting last week).

At the same time, Ben and I were locked in battle in the "vegetable wars". For two years, he's refused to eat veggies and finally I'd had enough. Needless to say, it was ugly but after 2 days of not eating, I won. He is just as stubborn as I am (Kevin says) but I am wilier. for now, anyway. I had a stomach bug all through this and Ben and I continue have upset tummies. We've been a mess!

Here is a photo of Toby and Ben's playhouse. Nice, huh? It was built by one of our guards, Carlos.

Next is our tire swing and water tank. The tank catches rainwater from the garage roof and is used for all the outside washing and watering. We could hook it up to the house and use it inside but that would take more work than we are willing to do right now. Plus the tank isn't big enough to take care of our needs during the dry season.

This lovely mango spider was in our backyard this morning. It is as big as my hand. Ick! However, I am told they don't bite and Toby spent a lot of time last year with little friends catching them. Ugh.

I decided to post a few photos of our backyard, which is looking rather more lush these days. Why no grass, you ask? It breeds mosquitoes. I'd rather have just the dirt and have fewer mosquitoes around. Just with the trees and shrubs, we've noticed a lot more mosquitoes this year. We have to keep our bed nets well tucked in at night to keep them out.

We constructed an arbor across the back porch to grow passion fruit vines and shield the porch from sun and from the rain that drives in. We've already got some fruit going and I look forward to making some juice! In our yard are also papaya trees, banana trees (we've been enjoying those lately), an orange tree, mango tree, and guava tree. Also something called "coracao de boi" or "heart of ox" which I really don't like at all but Kevin does.

Our backyard is full of flowers, zinnias. Right now. Fernando knows how much I love flowers so he plants them all over the place. They are great for making a bouquet and taking to a friend.

And lastly, here's a photo of Fernando, our guard, playing with Ben. He is really such a nice man and the kids love him. it is very rare for an adult man to play with children here, but he is good-humored about it when Ben takes his hand and asks him to play. We go out and save him after a few minutes! - Cami

Going to Nacala

Every once in awhile we REALLY need to get away, and the easiest getaway for us is in Nacala, a port town just 2 1/2 hours east of us. We went off 2 weeks ago and enjoyed two nights and 1 1/2 days there (way too short) visiting friends and snorkeling off the beach. Toby made his snorkeling debut, after months of paddling around with his mask and fins. He put on his mask and snorkel, inflatable armbands to make it easier, and his fins, and off we went around the bits of reef. We were more than 30 feet offshore, and he did fantastic! He was excited to see a lionfish, clownfish, puffer fish, cowfish, sardines leaping out of the water (and whacking him in the head!), and about 10 other types of tropical fish. Plus anemones, an eel and various kinds of coral. He is one lucky kid, and adventurous too. He was totally hooked, and dad and mom took turns taking him out. He can't wait for our next trip out to the coast. - Cami

Artemesia Seminar

A few weeks ago, an Austrian missionary friend of ours taught a seminar in our garage on the uses of Artemesia. What is Artemesia, you ask? Well, it is a plant from Asia that has been used there for hundreds (thousands?) of years in the treatment of malaria. A group called Anamed (Action for Natural Medicine) has been promoting its use in Africa as a natural treatment. They do this not because they believe herbal is always better (though sometimes it is) but because in many parts of Africa, people either do not have access to medications, or do not have the money to purchase them. The use of the plant has had a great deal of success in treating malaria, especially in rural areas where it is hard to get or afford medications.

Artemesia is not easy to grow here in Africa, where it is not native. It takes careful cultivation and a lot of attention, and our guard (also who does the gardening) has struggled to get things going in our yard. However, he has had more success that most, and currently we have a small bit of production going on. You remove the leaves of the plant, dry them, then put a teaspoonful into a cup of boiling water to make a particularly nasty-tasting tea. This can be drunk daily to prevent malaria, and Kevin and I have been using this (sporadically) over the last year. Recently we've started using it for the kids, by crushing up the dried leaves and mixing it with chocolate sauce! For us, this is a good prophylaxis (to prevent malaria). However, for local people it is used mainly as a treatment, again by making a tea and drinking it over a course of 10 days.

Sigi, our Austrian friend, led a great seminar and about 22 people attended. Missionaries and local people all showed a lot of interest and purchased dried leaves and creams (it can also be used to treat various skin conditions) and carted away informational books and posters. Whether or not people will pursue its use remains to be seen. People here have to be really convinced that something like this can change their lives in order to use it regularly. We hear that those Mozambicans who drink it weekly see a great decrease in the amount of malaria they have (people here have it regularly), as well as a decrease in other sicknesses. The bitter taste, however, is a real deterrent! We hope that this seminar will really make a difference in people's lives and are so thankful to Sigi (who was not feeling well) for really making a big effort to put on such a great seminar. - Cami

Spotty the Ben

Ben came down with some very strange skin lesions this week, and at first we thought it was just a couple of sores from falling down. But, when we noticed how round they were, and that they were spreading, we realized that it is Ringworm. Ringworm is actually a fungus, not a worm, and is treated with antifungal cream. By the time we started him on the cream, he had spots in 4 different places, and despite our efforts they are continuing to spread. Missionary Susan here in Nampula recommended we try something called Gentian Violet, which dries out the sores and hopefully will keep them from spreading. So, this morning we told him he was going to be a spotted leopard and painted him up. "Pah-et yepahd?" He asked. Yup. Pah-et yepahd. Cute, huh? We'll hope that this stops him from looking like he has leprosy, though meanwhile he looks like he had an accident with a marker. - Cami

At the Hospital

A friend of mine has a baby with various problems and I have accompanied her to the hospital a couple of times. There is no "primary care physician" system here. You don't go to the doctor's office unless you have money to pay for a private visit. Completely out of reach for most people. So, whenever you have the flu, or malaria, or any other medical problem, you head to the hospital. It is not easy to see a doctor, however. I believe there is about one doctor per 50,000 people here. Yeah. Bad.

So anyway, we went down to the central hospital to try to see the neurologist because the baby was diagnosed with some water on the brain. We were extremely lucky to have found this out. The baby was in the hospital several weeks ago with bad diarrhea (a big problem here) and while there a pediatrician happened to be visiting from the capital city, and noticed the size of her head. A CAT scan was done (WOW! We were so amazed that there is a CAT scan here! And it was even working that week!) which showed a small amount of hydrocephaly. So an appointment was made with the neurologist for the following week.

We arrived into the big central waiting room and were directed to one corner. The nurse came out after awhile and called some names, and those people were told to go home and come back another day. Then some more names were called, and people went in. After two hours, I told my friend I had to go and teach a class, and we decided I should ask the nurse if the baby's name would be called soon. She told me that we were waiting in the wrong place. Sigh. So we went to that area and were told the baby's name wasn't on that list either. We were sent down to the appointments area, where we were told to go back to another area and ask someone else. We did, and he told my friend that we were supposed to see the neurosurgeon, not the neurologist, which he had told her the day we made the appointment. She had been confused, apparently. We went down to the neurosurgeon's little corner, and were told that he wasn't there, hadn't been there, and furthermore was away at a conference and wouldn't return for two more weeks. Could we make an appointment? No. Back we went to the appointments area, where we were told we could return on February 6th for our appointment. However, we'd already been told that the doctor wouldn't be done with the conference until February 7th.

SO, I questioned the appointments guy. Are you sure he will be here? Yes, I am sure. Are you going to write the baby's name down in the appointments book? No, it is not necessary. So, we have an appointment but you are not going to write it down? Correct. So, we will come here on February 6th and the doctor will be here and the baby will have an appointment? Yes. What time? Come at 9:00.

Now, we both knew he was lying. But in this culture you are not supposed to call someone on it. I pushed the envelope and asked, "What is your name, sir?" "Geraldo". "So, Senhor Geraldo, I will come here on February 6th at 9:00 with this baby and the neurosurgeon will be here?" "Yes." "But he is not due back until the 7th." "He will be here". Riiiiggghhht.

So my friend and I go outside and talk about it, and agree he is lying. I had to go, but she said she would stay and talk to the head appointments guy. Later, she told me that Senhor Geraldo was very "emotional" about my direct queries. He said he had never met a white person like that! I was VERY pushy, even though I had a smile on my face. Oh well! She spoke to the head appointments guy, who told us to return on February 12th in order to make an appointment. Who knows when the appointment will be!

And why did I have to go with my friend? Two reasons: First, the appearance of a foreign (usually white) face opens doors and gets you better service at the hospital. Why? Because the staff know that the foreigners will complain to the higher-ups and may KNOW the higher-ups. Not necessarily true, but it helps. Second, most local people here have zero medical knowledge and are afraid to ask questions of the doctor. Doctors usually don't explain what is going on with a patient and often will listen to the complaint, write a prescription, and go on to the next patient without even telling the patient what the problem is. Just take the pills! So, I am able to listen, process the information, and ask questions.

We'll be back for yet another exciting visit and will hope that we make some progress soon. Please keep baby Cremilde in your prayers. She is doing well but faces some medical problems that need to be addressed. - Cami

Cow in a Bag

You don't see too many cows around here. Mostly it's goats and sheep, and there isn't any milking of goats that I know of. Anyway, we don't really like goat milk!

There is fresh cow's milk available here in Nampula, from Maputo (2 days drive south) and last I checked it was about $8 a gallon. Price has probably gone up by now. Prices on the boxed long-life (Parmelat) milk range from $8 to $10 a gallon, so needless to say we try to drink powdered milk, but even that is a bit pricey.

Recently, we received a personal donation that allowed us to buy this big bag of powdered milk - more than 50 pounds of good Irish powdered milk! The taste leaves something to be desired, but the kids have gotten used to it and drink it a couple of times a day. On our recent vacation to Malawi, though, we drank only fresh milk, and consumed tons of it since it just tasted SO good! :-)

The cost of a bag like this is over $200, believe it or not, but it will last us for months and is significantly cheaper than purchasing powdered milk by the box/can. So, every day we scoop some out into our nalgene bottle with the screw-top lid, fill it with water, and shake it up. Bottoms up! - cami