I am preparing to pack up my bag and walk to my host family for the last time. Its a sad feeling as well as a very strange one. My mom has got malaria now, but Bernadette has been able to provide medication for her. My host sister is also struggling with a respitory infection, but thankfully we have resources to get her medication as well. So keep them in your thoughts and your prayers, please. I have been wanting to write about some of the simple things that I do every day..things that you do every day too! So read, compare, contrast, and enjoy!
Sleeping: In the beginning, I slept in the room where my mom and four sisters would sleep if I wasn't here. It is one of the four rooms in the house- a room for the boys, one for the girls, one for pots, dishes, and baskets, and a sitting room. There is only a a couple of small windows so the house is dark. Its walls are built with hand made bricks and has dirt floors. Bernadette, our community partner, provided each of the host families with a mosquito net and nails. In that room, they hung it up and laid out one of the three bamboo mats that they own- the best of course; it has the least snags and holes. Since the ground in South Africa ate my sleeping pad...yes, ate it, I did not loose it..okay yes I did..maybe...I've been laying out my sleeping bag on the mat and sleeping in a liner sheet with a small, inflatable pillow. My oldest sister, Amina (12), sleeps on the mat next to me while my mom, Vitoria (9), Inacia (4), and Lucia (2) sleeps on another mat in the sitting room. One day the second week of being here, it was unusually hotter than normal..normal here is in the mid to high nineties..so my host mom said we were going to sleep outside since the house stays hot through the night. After the sun had set, they dug four small holes in the ground with their machete and placed bamboo sticks that are about four feet tall in them. Then, they hung the net over the poles and unrolled the mat underneath it. It made for a sweet night's sleep under the stars and the light of the moon with Amina next to me on one side and the rest of my family on my other-it was peaceful. I have been lucky enough to sleep outside nearly every night since. I was scared about not having my sleeping pad, but it has turned our better than I expected. I have gotten really good sleep-well, good for Mozambique- sweating, scrathching, and waking up anywhere between six and ten times in the night. There has been a handful of times that I can recall catching creepy crawlers crawling on me. I am just really glad it has been so dark because if I could see whatever it was that was on me, I know I would have let out a few girlish screams!
Eating: I like the food here, a lot! My host mom is a good cook, especially for cooking over a small fire. For breakfast, I will usually have what they call poppa which is pretty much a flavorless porridge. She is kind enough to add sugar to it. Coming from South Africa, I really was not a fan, but I have grown to really enjoy it. She will sometimes make me tea as well..lemon grass from the bush in front of our house, On days we have gone to the market, I will get a roll and maybe some tomato-onion sauce that she makes with oil. On a few occasions, she has even let me help make sweet potato fries! Yes, sweet potato fries for breakfast. Awesome. Lunch and dinner meals are similar. I have had lots of rice and beans- which I love. If I don't have beans, she will make a paste with leafs that we have picked from her fields. A subsitute for rice is massa. It sort of looks like a ball of dough. It is the main component of my family's diet. It comes from a plant called mandioca. They dry it then they crush it in a large wooden bowl- about two feet tall- with a large stick- about four feet tall and three to four inches in diameter. After they crush the gagada, they sift it and will cook it in boiling water until it reaches the desired texture. Unfortunately for them, it has zero nutritional value. I will usually have this when I have fish with the tomato-onion sauce. They like to feed me fish. It is a big deal to them. Its also kind of funny though because I really. Don't. Like. Fish. The fish here isn't the best, either. I'm not sure what kind it is or how old but its okay because all the fins and scales and tails and eyes stay on when I eat it. Oy. Strange enough, I have begun to get semi-excited when there is fish..mostly because of what it means to my family, I think. Its almost time for mangos to be in season! I have had a few that were ripe-wow. Delcious. I've grown to like when they aren't ripe. Its sour, but its refreshing in the middle of the hot days. I have also had the wonderful pleasure of having a few slices of papaya. I tried to eat each bite as slowly as possible so I could enjoy it to the fullest. I think the days that I get the gift of a coconut are some of my favorites. That cashew tree outside my house has been a constant piece of paradise. Cashews fall from it every few minutes. My sisters and one of my brothers collect the nuts and save them until they have enough to roast. I have never liked cahsews so much..hand roasted on and open flame, in my front yard, by my little brother and sisters. Yum. the fruit that drops with it has become a weakness of mine. Its delcious! I will make sure to post pictures. Especially one of me carrying water on my head. Heck yeah. My sisters taught me how, and my host mom has helped me perfect the task. We get all of the water we drink, cook with, and bathe with from the wells near our house..pulling it up a bucket at a time to fill up larger containers. There is one well just on the other side of the bushes of my house. In the first weeks, that is where I would help get the water from. In the second week, though, my host mom took me to a well a little bit further- I call it the social well. So many people get their water there! Mostly women, but a few men will buscar agua as well. (ha, get it? as well. oo. not that funny) The first time going there was an experience for everyone involved: me, my mom, and the audience! My mom was proud though, she trained me well. I walked away with out spilling any water-until I turned the corner and no one could see, haha. As we were filling up my bucket, they were asking us if I really was going to carry it on my head. They got such a kick out of me saying yes..and even a bigger one when I actually did. It takes multiple trips to the wells to get enough water for everything you have to do that day. Enough for cooking for every meal, enough for drinking, and enough for the cup showers..for everyone in the family. Nonetheless, it has become a normal thing to wake up and fetch water every morning.
Churching: I have had the great pleasure of going to two different churches during my time here. The first was my olderst brother, Deno's (19), church. The second was my host mom's- a 10k walk from our house. Both were similar services and were held on Saturday because they are Seventh Day Adventists. The first church was in a long rectangular shaped building made of grey hand made bricks. The seats were benches made of a concrete that stand about a foot and a half high. The women sat on one side, the men on the other. Since I was a guest, I sat in the very front row. Both services were spoken in a mix of Portugese and one of the tribal languages, Dialeto. It seems sort of like a business meeting. Attendance was taken, a short message was spoken, then came time a few songs and the offering. The tithing time is what takes up the majority of the services. They take several different tithes and make quite an ordeal of it all. In one church, they took record of who gave how much. In both, they announced the ending total. Interesting. I have been told it is a cultural thing. The churches try to keep everyone accountable because if they don't very few will give because they have so little to give. My host mom's church was pretty cool. It was held under a rectangular shaped grass roof. There were strings hanging like clothlines with purple flowers draped over them. The seats were bricks and they had log benches for the elders, deacons, pastors, and guests. I was the first white person in the area, so they brought a wooden bench for me to sit on-I asked my host mom to sit on it with me. One reason being so she can enjoy the honour, but also so I am not 'the white person sitting above all the rest.
It can be a little uncomfortable at times having people stare at you like you are an animal at a zoo. I have gotten used to it, some days it does bother me, though. Especially because all I want to do here is live how they live. I want to sit on the bricks. But I have learned to understand how great of an honour for them it is to be in the prescence of a white person. White people are not only rare around these parts, but are viewed in an indescribably high manor. I hate it. I am just like them. I have needs. I have wants. I laugh. I breath. I walk. I cry. I have a heart. I make mistakes. I have fears. I have hopes. I have friends. I have a family. Thats what I want them to see- but they see anything but those parts of me. I would like to think my host family has learn to see me in that listed light, however. I won't ever know if they do or not, but it is my hope. I have shared sweet moments with them. Great memories for me and for them to be able to cherish for the rest of our lives. Thats what I want to leave behind. Memories. Love. Not things. Not numbers and lists of what I have done or how many people I have brought to Christ. Those things are not bad things, but they aren't what I came to do-what God had me come to do. Relationships are a precious thing-praise Him for making us relational beings, in His image. We need others around us in all aspects of life. You can enjoy a cup of good coffee, but you can enjoy it more while drinking one with your friend. Friendships have been a lot of what I have been thanking God for lately. Those from our short but sweet time on the Rez.. Those from my time in Vredendal that will forever be stamped on my heart.. The ones that have been orchestrated in this crazy country of Mozambique.. The ones with the people I spend my time with-whether it be in Breckenridge, Fort Collins, or Colorado Springs-you know who you are!..the ones that are stuck with me, yup I'm talking about you Combests and Bishops and the rest of my wonderful family..annnd everyone inbetween, even the short beginnings to frienships that thrive, and maybe some that don't. This is what life is about. Whoever you are, where ever you are in life, its about you and how you live and interect with others. How have you been doing at that lately? If this is what everything is based off of and we only have one life to live to do these relationships- make em count. Be intentional. It only makes sense. For me, the priority is how I choose interact with God. I have learned the better I am at that, the better I become at loving those around me. I have also been especially grateful for the friends that are right under my nose, my teammates. I have had rough time dealing with the tragic death of a family member during my time in South Africa and a very difficult time learning to cope with the death of a close friend that I recieved news of a couple of days ago. It hurts so terribly bad. And it doesn't make it any easier being so far away from those involved. However, I am in the right place..at the right time. The peaceful and laid back vibes of this culture have given me adequate time to think, to reflect, to mourn, and to rejoice in those two lives I had the blessing of being a part of. Having such a strong and encouraging group surrounding me in this journey has only made it more do-able. There is nothing that He will give us that we cannot handle, with out Him. And He will give us the tools to get where we need to be too. Phillipians 4:13 "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." and 1 Corinthians 10:13 "..And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."
