California Duerme

*Like before, the lack of internet access has delayed my posts so that they are no longer real time. Being in the Monte Carlo this evening with quick internet I am trying to get all of you as up to date as possible to that we can go back to real time*

The flight in itself wasn't long... but the fact that there was not an empty seat on the entire plane and I was wedged in between a generously large and overflowing, grumpy man and a lanky man who resembled Jaffar from Aladdin but with worse teeth – made it seem endless. It gave a whole new meaning to the word 'uncomfortable'. I finally broke the ice with Jaffar (I later found out his name was Ferdinand) when the in-flight-meal was served. Part of what they served was a sketchy smelling coconut jello pie item... after taking one small bite I noticed Jaffar was wolfing his down. So naturally I offered mine to him – he was thrilled and we were instant friends. After a long broken conversation riddled with bits and pieces of Portuguese, Spanish, and English – I learned this man was a Catholic missionary from Argentina. I told him I was from California... and to my surprise he immediately perked up. “Oh!,” He said with a smile on his face, “ I know the song, 'California Duerme'.” What he really was getting at was the song, 'California Dreamin' by... now I forget. An older band. Anyhow, I have this remix of the song – with a bit of techno beats – and told him to listen. He loved it! An hour and some small talk later we landed... Thank the good Lord we made it to Maputo. Now the only other variable we needed to come through was our bags. I waited, and my father and David went to go look for Sybil... 10 minutes go by, no bags. 15.. no bags. 20... no bags. Less and less bags are trickling in, and people are shuffling out of baggage claim. Ends up, there was a weight problem on the flight (likely due to fatso next to me) but they couldn't put any more bags on the plane. And our bags just happened to be in the select group that got screwed. Only in Africa :) Oh well though, what could we do. It ended up that Sybil had a driver pick them up the next day, and we got them last night. What a day.

- I included the photo of the gecko just cause I think they are so cool. I have been trying to catch one ever since we got here but they are way to quick

Airplanes and Scandinavian Women

*Edit - We are now in the Monte Carlo in Maputo (we are high rollers now) and they have a much faster internet connection. So I've decided to add a few photos*

Internet is painfully slow here... I've tried 4 times to upload photos and no luck. So this is gonna be long and photo-less so bear with me.

As I sit here on Sybil's couch in her comfortably quaint home typing up a word document to copy and paste, so many stories from the last few days come to mind. We have pretty limited internet access – we may try to head to the World Relief office here tomorrow morning, but other than that who knows... I miss giving updates.

Anyway. Last time I posted we were just leaving Sena... so let's pick up where we left off. We left Sena shortly after 9 am to catch a 2:20 flight out of Quelimane (heading to Maputo).... However, fifty kilometers down the road we hit a bump, and my dad started to hear a funky sound – so he told me to look out the window at the front right tire. And it's flat. So we explained to the driver in to pull over so we could begin the procedure of changing the spare. Luckily we had an experienced driver who knew where everything was in the truck. The only thing was, the spare had a chain wrapped around it and sealed with a solid cylinder shaped lock... which we had the key to – but there was so much dirt jammed up in the lock that we couldn't fit the key in. We tried everything – jiggling it around, soaking the key in water, breaking a coke bottle on a rock to make a makeshift cup to soak the lock in water, spraying toxic/poisonous heavy duty bug spray in the lock, sticking the dipstick with oil in the lock... (the list goes on) nothing worked. Meanwhile, time is passing. And we have a plane to catch. So David and our driver walked to the top of a nearby hill (we are literally in the middle of nowhere) to try and get cell service. Eventually they got ahold of Perpetua back at Kuwangisana and explained our situation. They sent a driver in the single cab with a spare tire in the back (because we couldn't get ours off the chassis), but he still wouldn't get to us for another half hour or so. Fortunately, not long thereafter a truck with two white South Africans behind the wheel passed us. How relieving it was to see a white face in all this mess. I flagged them down and they stopped to help... These people were well prepared. They had everything you could ever need if you were in any situation. It made sense cause we later found out that this couple had seen Africa in it's entirety below the equator. Wow. Fast forward a half hour and our spare had arrived. We changed it as quickly and efficiently as we could (we were really running out of time)- meanwhile David had been doing some calculations on the hood of the car with a map... and he confidently announced that we weren't going to make it. According to him we still had a good 300 kilometers from Caia to Quelimane, and we were still 20km outside of Caia. It was already about 5 till noon, and according to David we still had over 3 hours to go. After a quick huddle, we decided we would try our luck and head to Quelimane to try and catch our flight. David told our Mozambican driver that he would drive – and off we went. Long story short: David averaged a speed of about 130km/hour, we prayed and prayed the whole time for a late plane and that we would make this flight (if we missed it things would be extremely complicated – we had no means of communication with Sybil who was waiting at the airport, our time in Chokwe would be cut short, etc...), and by the Grace of God we made it to the airport at 2:03, breezed through security, checked our bags, and off we went. Not only that, but our plane was late:) By a solid half an hour... we didn't depart till after 3. Talk about an answer to prayer. David and Dad went up to the bar to celebrate with drinks (where we ran into the Scandinavian banker we had met at our hotel in Beira. Small world)– I just had a Fanta.

Bittersweet

Much has gone on the last few days, and we have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to give updates... But yesterday was our last full day in Sena. As I sit in Perpetua's office, it saddens me to know that we'll leave this place behind in just 40 minutes. But at the same time, it is great to know that we are on to just as amazing work in Chokwe with Pieter and Sybil...

After I submit this, it will be time to go say goodbye to the staff and the kids, both of which will be tough. But we have had such an amazing time here, and I now have bountiful amounts of stories and memories to share with all back home... Way too much to post on the blog here. I have included one photo that I think does a good job of summing up our experience here (at least just at the compound)... and I am including one more last minute because I couldn't resist posting it - the smiley little kid is named Vito and he is absolutely adorable - and he's here because he has lost one or more parents to HIV/AIDS...

*Edit - sorry for the small size of the photos this morning, the bandwidth is extremely clogged, and it just wouldn't accept a bigger file*

One last thought - going on to Chokwe - I am not sure if we will have power there, let alone satellite internet access. So it is possible that this will be my last entry for an unforeseeable amount of time - although I hope and believe that it won't be. So until next time....

- Keaton

Comments...

I have no idea if anyone has run into this issue or not... but just in case - so fyi I changed my security settings so anyone, not just registered users can comment on the blog... not sure if that changes anything for anyone but there ya go

Photos that Speak Volumes

Everyone loves photos. So here are some that I think are powerful enough to stand on their own... Please check back frequently to this post, as it is now 6:15pm in Sena and we at the office are headed back to the hotel for the day... But I will post more photos tomorrow... keep in mind that we are 9 hours ahead here.

Character Introduction.

I feel bad - I realized I haven't given everyone a proper introduction of the people we are working with here at Kuwangisana. So here it goes.

This is David and Laura. They are employees of MTI (Medical Teams International) which is based out of Portland, Oregon, and are two of the most amazing people I have ever met. Laura is in her upper 50's and David in his upper 60's, and still both of them have such a zeal for relief and development work. David was born in South Africa, and has the coolest accent ever. I could go on and on about them, but it's just been so much fun to travel with them and be blessed enough to spend time in their presence.

This is Ryan (center obviously). He works for MTI, and words I would use to describe him would be gentle giant, soft hearted, and sacrificial. Ryan has been married for close to 4 years now, but has spent 18 of the last 23 or so months living on the compound here in Sena. He leaves his beautiful (so I'm told) wife back home in Portland for months at a time to come out here to help change the lives of these kids. Talk about a sacrifice. I am also told he was (before he had ACL surgery) a phenomenal soccer player, and

can still ball with the best of them while his knee heals.

Perpetua, with the pineapple on her head, is the Executive Director (I'm not sure if that is her actual job title - but the job description would be similar). She heads up the facility of Kuwangisana, and does an astounding job of it. I really could type on and on about what a visionary and activist she is - and how she has transformed this center (from a year ago apparently) is unbelievable. What she has done for the community of Sena is remarkable. A quick background on her - she fled Mozambique during the civil war as a teenager, and eventually ended up in Canada. After spending years there, she felt in her heart that the Lord wanted her back in her home country. So she came back to the rough lifestyle of the country here to help change lives, and now splits her time between Canada and here

Joseph, pictured here with their dog Simba (they picked him up as a pup off the street), is the senior Pastor here in town. He is Perpetua's husband, and is a great guy. Together him and his wife are a powerful force to be reckoned with. What he has done with the church community here in town is amazing, I can't remember exactly how many he built from scratch here, but it's a significant amount. My dad has been able to spend a good amount of time with Joseph, and has found it extremely rewarding.

These are the main people we've been spending time with, but there are so many more who make this place run like clockwork through the Glory of God.

Cholera and the the Church

Don't let the title of this post mislead you... the two events aren't related:)

My father went with Pastor Joseph,

Perpetua's husband, out into the countryside one day last week to check out the church, hospital, and police station here in Sena. Since I was working on Soccer stuff with Gabriel and Ryan, I was happy to lend him my camera for the afternoon... and this is what he came back with.

They visited the Hospital in

town,

and were

allowed to step inside the Cholera Tent (where they quarantine people infected with cholera)... and it sounds like it was a sobering sight. One of the doctors te

nding to a sick patient is seen here. After hearing Joseph talk about it, it sounds like it might as well be a mortuary - because they can only do so much for those who are infected...

The second photo is a women tending to her son who fell into the fire in their home...

Next stop was a church that Joseph started, and is now prospering. It was recently built, and the pastor (technically we are not supposed to call him that because he was not yet ordained) is pictured with his wife and kid here. There are a series of 4 photos of the family, and in the first two the baby is crying... and here you see the mother's

solution to keep him quiet. The differences in what is socially appropriate here vs. America are night and day... as you can see