Sound Training Tour (Part 1) - Dondo

I have started my 'training tour' of Mozambique! First stop is Dondo, a town close to Beira, about halfway down the country.  The flight was better than I expected - I flew Air Corridor, they have 1 plane and its frequently in for repair... but I made it to Beira safely albeit a bit wet- the aircon was leaking out thru the lights above my head and dripped on me and seat next to me! The airhostess gave me a wad of toilet paper and I wedged it in the light - it helped quite a lot, although by the time we got to the end of the flight the toilet paper was saturated and 'drip, drip, drip' it started again!

 

I got my luggage, walked out the door and met the truck just as they were pulling up. Perfect timing! It is one of the missionaries, Ashlee's birthday, so we head down to the beach restaurant for lunch - I am a visitor so I don't have to pay! I had been to this restaurant before and I knew that they did lovely battered prawns, for real cheap, so I decided to have them again - only I forgot a key word when I ordered, I asked for camerao frito, instead of camerao panado! Fried prawns instead of battered fried prawns! So they came in all their glory: eyes, legs, shell, insides - the works! But they did taste good once I got to the meat!

 

Got to the base in Dondo, about 30mins inland from Beira - and I was shown the little house I was to stay in. THEY HAVE RUNNING WATER & REAL SHOWERS!!!! That's it, who cares about the pretty beach in Pemba - I mean, they have CLEAN RUNNING WATER here and it works ALL THE TIME!!!! I'm so moving. Except that there isn't really much to do here in terms of sound and that is kinda why I am working for Iris... *sigh* Pemba it is then...

 

The guy I am training this week works as a night guard every 2nd week and this is one of his work weeks... so I am teaching him everyday from about 4-6pm. Which is more than enough, else it would be an information overload and I don't want that! So I have loads of time to study for my Portuguese and Linguistics exams I write in 2 weeks time!

 

Their sound system is in a state - most of its been broken for 4 months - BUT I hasten to add, the sound guy, Jeremias, takes fantastic care of the stuff, its when he leaves for a week or 2 that the things get broken. He is a wizz with electrical and mechanical things - he does regular maintenance on the generator (its real old and giving loads of problems) which is more than can be said of the guys up in Pemba, and their speaker stands still have all the pegs and the turny bits!!! I was so impressed when I saw that! But they are happy to get this new system, and I am sure that as long as Jeremias handles it, it will stay good.

 

Part of the training I am doing involves cable repair - and I'm giving each base their own little repair kit with a soldering iron, pliers etc. I even drew a diagram in Portuguese on how to repair cables, which wire goes where for the different connectors - so today I taught  how Jeremias to solder, he took to it quick and did a great job!

 

One of the biggest challenges has been the language - but I am getting there - I was able to teach today mostly in Portuguese, even if I sounded like a 4 year old!

 

There are only 6 missionaries working in Dondo, its a very small base so things tend to wind down at around 7pm...!

 

They have some goats on the property and the boys who are looking after them tied them to some trees behind my house on Monday night (without food), they made such a noise I could hardly sleep! They were gonna tie them there again for Tuesday night, but the lady next door begged them not to, so thankfully the goats were moved. At least we wont have to worry about them tonight - We ate them for lunch!

 

I really like Dondo - the atmosphere here is totally different - there isn't the constant begging and demanding attitudes like in Pemba - they only have 27 boys living on the property, all the other thousands they support are scattered around the central region and cared for by Iris Pastors. The Dondo team go on 'food distribution' outreaches where each week they take food for the orphans in an area, enough to last them for over a month (per child) - and to do registration of new orphans. Its quite a process to verify all the info, because the funding for the food program is limited, they can only feed real orphans, those who's fathers have abandoned them and their mothers left to look for work don't qualify - its real sad to turn them away when there is just as great a need as with those kids who don't have anyone.

 

We go on one of these 'Food Distribution' Outreaches this Friday, to a place called Marromau, about 8 hours away - we are taking the sound system with us, showing the Jesus Film (in Portuguese, we cant get hold of the local dialect, Shona) and then giving out the food and getting in the new registrations. We only come back on Monday! And then on Tuesday I go on down to Maputo.

Splish Splash

What a week – didn’t feel like I got much done, but looking back I actually did! It was a full week, with loads happening…

The past Sunday (Easter Sunday) was the day that our student pastors graduated – we have about 100 1st years and a bunch of 2nd and 3rd year students – they were all so excited to be going home – they stay on the same base as I do, and we could hear them sing thru the night on Saturday, and they had huge smiles on their faces when they told us about their kids and wife(s) and how excited they were to be seeing them again… So I am glad they were happy! (let me just elaborate on the ‘wife(s)’ bit… many of them as their custom was, took more than one wife, but when they became Christians they couldn’t keep all of them, so they picked one to be their real wife, but they still support the other woman, but they are no longer wives)

At church they each got 2 bibles, a bag full of goodies, a brand new t-shirt and cap, a sack of rice and a bit of money – many of them have nothing nothing nothing at home, just a sold-out love for God and a desire to spread the word. So the church service on Sunday took about 6 hours… I was paste afterwards, but they were baptising a bunch of them in the ocean, so I went for a look-see, but they hadn’t started yet so I decided to leave – they could still be hours! I went to the Naval and crashed in a deck chair under a grass umbrella and lay there watching the waves. It was relaxing!

The next morning we were given a half day off, so no staff meeting, no church – sleep late!!! That afternoon I spent trying to get a lift over to the other centre to do some work, but couldn’t get hold of a driver, and I couldn’t walk cos I had a sound desk and some mics to take with me and the risk of getting mugged is quite high – so frustrating!!! So I stayed at home and studied a bit – then later I went to the Dolphin (a restaurant on the beach) for an ice-cream with Ana, and we walked back on the beach as the sun was setting, so gorgeous!

That day was Yonnie, our resident medical advisor’s birthday and she invited a few of us out to eat at the Pemba Beach – the local 5* hotel, for their international buffet… I was sponsored by someone; usually a meal cost $20! So that was lovely, I ate so much! So good!

Tuesday morning dawned bright a clear – and at 6am Ana and I were in the ocean doing laps! Its great to be swimming again! We marked out 2 points (the tall palm tree and the deck) and only managed 4 lengths before we were kaput! Its hard work swimming in the sea – its real calm, but the salt gets up your nose and the current does fight you a bit! When I got back home though there was no electricity – and it was off the whole day… all my food in the fridge… noooooo! Fortunately there was electricity at the other base so I got a lift over there and tested all the speakers, microphones, cables and inventoried it all – that took care of the morning, and I was just about despairing getting a lift back home when one of our workers came past on his motorbike – I flagged him down and got a lift on the back, balancing 2 bags and my toolkit! But a lift is a lift and I got home in time to organise a driver for the weekly missionary shopping trip.

I am in charge of the missionary shopping trips now, which can be a stretching experience, but I actually kinda enjoy it! The missionary in charge of the Visitors shopping is not here at the moment, so all the visitors go with the missionaries and because there are so many people something that should take and hour and a half easily takes 3½ hours – which is a huge chunk of time to spend on shopping!! Anyways, I was given some food last week so I didn’t need to buy anything, but still had to go seeing that I was the one organising it!

Got home and the electricity was still off – it came on just as it got dark and stayed on the whole night, but that isn’t long enough to pump enough water – so Wednesday morning there was hardly any. And the pregnant Mozambican lady that is sharing our bathrooms at the moment insists on bathing 3 times a day and she uses all the water, which leaves nothing for us to flush the toilets with, so its kinda ripe in there… the electricity went off again in the morning – and they wont run the generator during the day, they deem it a waste of petrol since most of the people are at the other base, except most of us are not… so its too hot to be in my room without the fan going, the kitchen is just about bearable – and I woke up with a sore throat, a cough and just wasn’t feeling good! I ate some antibiotics, flu meds, asprin and cough syrup then went back to a warm stuffy room and slept till 1! Felt a bit better after that – I organised the Wednesday shopping trip from bed (there are too many people, so we split the shopping over 2 days, I still organise the driver, but I don’t have to go on a Wednesday). So just took it easy for the rest of the day. How lovely when the power came on later – I just sat in front of the fan!

Next morning I woke up and my throat was still scratchy, so at 6am I just sat on the beach and watched Ana swim, but I am feeling loads better. The electricity is on today, but there still isn’t much water – getting used to the smell now! Also the drainpipe on our kitchen sink started leaking and then just fell off. So now anything you pour down the sink just runs straight thru onto the floor… we put a bucket under to catch the water (and use it to flush the toilets at the end of the day!) – I am leaving for Dondo on Sunday and I will be away for 5 weeks so right now I just don’t care.

I had a meeting with the base manager, Aguinaldo scheduled for sometime in the morning – I have to get my visa renewed – they only give you 30days at a time then you have to leave the country, but cos Pemba is so far from everything they allow you to renew the visa 3 times at the immigration office before you have to leave the country. My meeting went well, he’s such a nice guy, very relaxed and friendly! That afternoon I made it over to my ‘office’ and replaced a high frequency driver in one of the speakers – but it still didn’t work, so I took a working driver from another speaker and tested that, it worked, so I have concluded that the ‘new’ driver wasn’t so new after all – I will have to get a new one in South Africa when I am there next.

Outreach left at 3ish, we went to a really small village just over an hour away. They have welded a frame and put a canopy over the truck, so we fit less people in, and setting up the system was kinda hard – also we lose the ‘instant stage’ we had, so now they just stand on the ground and talk. But I guess I’ll appreciate the canopy when it rains! A deaf boy was healed, which is always amazing – there is a YWAM team here, so there were loads of white people! It made me smile (as it usually does) there is one part in the JESUS film where the disciples are each called by name – and the kids in the audience just shriek with laughter when they hear the names these white men are called, they have ‘Portuguesified’ the names, so many of the kids have the same names as they do, and they love it – it happens every time, in every village that we’ve been to! All the pastors have left, so we took some kids from the centre with us – one of our girls, Rosa, wants to learn to do sound – so I will teach her when I get back in 5 weeks from my little sound training tour of Mozambique! I’m excited when people want to learn – its so much better than teaching someone that doesn’t really want to know! She speaks a bit of English, but I will have to brush up all the sound ‘lingo’ in Portuguese! Outreach came back at 11pm, so I was glad to get to bed.

Friday 6am went swimming again – its funny – Ana decided to just sit on the beach, and she said that as soon as I started swimming all heads turned to follow me! The beach is quite deserted at that time, just a handful of people washing. I spent the day making cables for all the sound systems, then just before church I went to have an ice-cream with Ania, my housemate – then off to church at 4 and only got back at 7 – there wasn’t a lift so I walked back with 3 of the Mozambican guys – safety in numbers! Made some supper (I had the feeling that I had missed the free rice) wrote this and went to bed, quite tired – I plan to just rest rest rest this Saturday (that is after I fix the keyboard, pack my case for my 5 week trip, arrange a safe place to store all the brand new sound equipment I don’t the guys to use quite yet, tidy my room, clean the bathrooms and the kitchen, throw out the trash and wash the maggots out the bin)… :)

I'm Grateful for...

My fan

The electricity that makes my fan go round and round

The amazing fellowship I am able to have with the other missionaries here

Walking on the beach at sunset, after having a cheap ice-cream

Being able to bless others

The little surprises that show up on my doorstep – for example:
~A suitcase full of goodies: 2% low fat UHT milk, cans of tuna in brine, CDs, muesli, chocolates, cashew nuts, wrap around
skirts (capalanas), pasta, tins of jam and a huge chunk of cheese!
~Some frozen chicken, onions and tomatoes
~A dozen bread rolls on a day I cant afford to buy any!

Saturdays that can be spent relaxing on the beach

My 2 regular supporters, one of whom gave me double for April and some extra for May!

An internet connection (even if its slow and expensive!)

Friends who allow me to borrow their laptops so that I am able to do my university assignments and go online

The ½ a bucket of rainwater so that I can bathe everyday

My mosquito net


Insect repellent


The truck that goes into to town once a week so that I am able to so some shopping

Coca Cola!!!!

Rides to the other centre, 2km away from home, just when I need to go there – saves me a walk in the hot sun!

Not being mugged

Bleach so that I can wash all the maggots out the bin

My staple gun – no missionary should be without one!

The visitors who painted my roof with heat reflecting paint.

Those same visitors who dug a drainage ditch in the sand in our yard so that the bathrooms don’t flood when it rains

Rainwater to cook with and bathe in!

The Cross and all that it means to me.

What are you grateful for?

Little frogs go 'hop hop hop'

I know this week isnt quite thru yet, but im looking forward to my day off on saturday - Im praying for good weather so that I can relax on the beach again - it would be miserable if it rained!!! Tomorrow night Heidi is taking us all out to the resaturant across the road for a meal - yay!! I have been craving bacon today- i’ll have to see if they have a dish with bacon in it...other than that my special treat this week has been avocado and cheese sandwiches....mmmmmm! but just think - an avocado, cheese and bacon sandwich...

I didnt go on the outreach this week - didnt feel to good last night so I am just taking it easy, having a few early nights, just being sensible! But i am OK - its not malaria - just getting up way too early and getting to bed late, not enough sleep and its so hot here that it also saps your energy quite a bit.

The outreach truck’s wheel burst before they had even left the centre - there were about 60 people on the back (just a tad overloaded) when the wheel went ‘BOOOM!!!shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh’ and all the Mozambicans got such a fright that they jumped off the truck so fast that the missionaries around didnt know wether to laugh or cry! One girl literally dove off the truck and was covered in mud - so much that Ana had to give her a new set of clothes! But the wheel was changed and off they went - only to get bogged down just before they get to the road! All the Mozambicans hopped off, lifted the truck up and onto the solid ground and off they went - just another day in Africa.

Its been raining the past 2 days - so we have collected loads of rainwater! I think i mentioned the little frogs? Well they are everywhere now - in my room, in the bathroom, in the kitchen - but by default they are cute, cos they are little!

Also with all the rain - the mud is so slippery!! I nearly lost my dinner tonight - I was on the way back from collecting the rice and eggs when I stepped in a huge puddle and my feet just kinda started to slide! Fortunatly I didnt slip and made it home safely!

My house mate Ania bought a pumpkin and i attempted to make pumpkin fritters yesterday morning- kinda flopped, but still tasted great! That was for breakfast and then for supper we had pumkin - then this morning I had the last of the pumkin fritters and then tonight we had fried pumkin with garlic to complement the rice and egg... well I only had egg and pumkin, but it was good. Now we only have 1/4 of the pumkin left.

And while Im on the topic of food (I’m sorry - this blog has been pretty much just about food) I am getting sick of peanut butter - who’d have thought??? I mean I’ve only gone thru about 2 bottles in the past 3 weeks... the staple food for mozambique: rice, the staple food for missionaries: peanut butter. I wish it were steak instead!

A gecko fell off the wall into one of the pots we have out on the kitchen floor to collect the rainwater - We were still starting into the pot thinking of tipping it over so that it could get out when it launched itself up the side of the pot, did a little twirl in the air and scurried up the wall - i got such a fright! I never knew they could do that!!! There are loads of little itty-bitty ones around at the moment - they are adorable!!!!

I have been busy these last few days going thru all the old cables and sound equipment that has been chucked into a room and basically left for dead - surprisingly most of if is repairable - except the projector that looks like someone tried to open it and fix it and all the cables are ripped out of the circuit boards and I dont think its gonna make it... Still have loads more to go thru, and I realised that I only really have 2 weeks here in Pemba before the mission school starts in June, seeing that I am going to be away at the other Iris Centres giving sound training and will be away for 6 weeks... I gotta move in getting all the systems prepared and sorted out and I have so little time!!!!!

oooh and before I forget -another exciting thing happend this week - My friend was given a bag of real starbucks coffee and I got my coffee filter machine and coffee grinder (and some more coffee) from South Africa sent up and its been SOOOO good having lovely coffee in the mornings with my bread!

I wonder whats been happening in the world - i get no news from outside these bamboo walls...

Photos from an Outreach

Ok so this first photo isnt from an outreach, but the kids looked so cute playing on the beach this saturday that I had to show you all!










This is a cameao, or a truck, that we use to go on outreaches with- we fit up to 40 people and all the sound system on that back!










So this is what a typical village looks like once we've set up and started the music - the kids that come with us dance to upbeat portuguese praise music, and the villagers come to see whats happening!









My 'office' where I spend most of the time while on outreach - behind the truck, behind the sound system!

Settled in

So here I am, another week gone by in a flash! Its been a week of frustration and joy and everything inbetween - but overall its been great!

I have settled back into life here as we know it - I bought some bamboo and I made some shelves for the bathroom, my room and the kitchen - so now we have storage for our pots next to the gas cooker! And we were loaned a hammock which I put up today in the kitchen - so right now I'm 'hanging out in the kitchen'! :)

We have had loads of rain this past week. I think I mentioned the water features in our kitchen? Anyways, we've collected loads of rainwater to bathe with, cook with and just as the last of our water was finished we prayed and it rained - it actually rained non-stop for 2 days! Rain here during the day is unheard of so Wednesday just ground to a halt, NOTHING happened, no work nothing. Its just too muddy to get anywhere and Ania (my house mate) and I stayed inside most of the day collecting water! It was such a luxury to have a whole pot full water to wash with instead of the 3 litres that we'd been rationing ourselves to!!! And we haven't run out of water again. The buckets were nearly empty when it started raining and it pretty much stopped when all our containers were full! Its so good!

Us long term missionary girls were really spoiled last night - some of the visitors decided to treat us and they rented a bungalow at the hotel across the road for the night and we took our toiletries and a towel and had a real proper shower! And just before you think that my life revolves around water and showering - they had snacks, and we got massages and manicures too! Just a great night out for the girls!

Outreach this week was also great - it was to a village about an hour away - we got there early, waited for the sun to set then showed the movie, preached and prayed for the sick, and were able to leave at 8:30!! I was really hungry when we arrived and some of the girls from the centre that had gone with us bought some flame grilled corn-on-the-cob, so I asked one of them to get me some too - tasted kinda interesting, like soft popcorn kernels that were slightly burnt, but it was filling!!Also it was strange to be home before 10!! But good, I could get an early night - I'm on water duty for these 2 weeks and that means that I have to get up at 6:30 every morning, turn the water on for the base and then monitor the filling of our own buckets, and by the time that's done then I'm usually awake...

All the rain these last few days have made loads of little itty-bitty frogs appear... I would almost call it a plague, but they don't cover the ground quite that thickly - just have to watch where you step, usually about 20 frogs leap for survival at every step - ugh I really don't want to step on one, that would be just gross.

Sound wise things are good - there are so many things that are wrong with the sound system(s) - so many repairs to be made. Its been great to have a visiting mechanic from Canada here - he has managed to repair all the generators we have - and I've had a crash course in generator care and maintenance, so I hope they last a while...

I am planning on visiting our other bases in Mozambique in the next week or two - first Dondo, then Maputo, then to South Africa - probably spending about 2 weeks at each centre, so I will be away from Pemba for about 6 weeks again... :( and its hard living out of a suitcase, and I have to fend for myself at the other bases - in terms of getting food... There is always rice...

I am so sorry that I haven't been answering any emails - to tell the truth I haven't even read them yet - until I get my own laptop I just cant do emails - the internet is just too slow and its SO expensive! So sorry - maybe sms me, I would like that - I need some contact from the outside world!

Tonight was pretty good - we don't have TVs or anything like that here on base, but the restaurant/bar across the road do - and Erik (a fellow missionary) convinced the bartender to switch the satellite to the Spirit Word channel - my home church!!! It was great to watch my church on TV in a bar in Northern Mozambique!!!! I think that there were a few people that wernt too happy with us, but hey, who cares?

That's all for this week! Thank you to everyone that is praying for me, and texting me and well if you're thinking of me then thats great too!