ashleigh

my dear friend ashleigh came for a visit last week. she just finished a two year term in kenya with nmsi's project called africahope (you may remember that i was there leading a summer intern team in 2008). we hadn't seen each other in a year and a half and she had never really spent time with dan so it was more than lovely to be together for a few days. i would have taken her for weeks but i don't run the universe and her mother and sister may have fought me if they had to wait longer to see her. it was nice to have a friend visit who wasn't phased by africa but enjoyed the differences in our countries, that understood what we are going through as we adjust to life here and helped us dream about how we can continue in ministry here that would be good for us and hopefully meet needs that we see around us. we didn't take lots of pictures but here are a few.


dan giving ashleigh a tour of the FfF demo plots

Dzivarasekwa

It’s a mouthful, and it’s one of the communities in which we work with farmers and church leaders. DZ (which is what most people refer to it as) is on the outskirts of Harare, just next to Kuwadzana (which I might talk about a lot). People are packed like sardines inside the suburb, but DZ is surrounded by huge tracts of open land, most of it too swampy or otherwise unattractive to developers. Consequently every little pieces is grabbed and farmed by someone.One of the farmers we work with is Mr. Gaihai, and he has claim to about an acre in this open space. After coming to our meetings for five months now, his field (“munda”) looks quite different from those around it—primarily because of the absence of WEEDS (“masora”). Most fields at this point in the year are teeming with weeds, some of them still green (because, of course, weeds are skilled at finding any available food and water), all of them stealing these valuable resources from future crops and all of them making (or have made) millions of seeds for next season. Anybody weeding this time of year is constantly approached by bewildered passers-by, making for a great opportunity to share about faithfulness and stewardship. Now, Mr. Gaihai is a good model, but not perfect. He has still held on to his old habit of digging trenches and burying crop residue (very common here). We teach that any undecomposed material is much more effective on top of the soil as mulch, whereas decomposed material (e.g. compost) is better suited to be put under the soil, preferable in individual holes (as soil inversion has more minuses than pluses). But he’s only completed that exercise on half his field, so I think he’s going to leave the other half un-dug as a comparison. I’m thrilled about this, because experimentation on a farmer’s part is a great way to effect lasting change. So I had a great day yesterday, visiting him and two other farmers, stopping for tea and bread, meeting people along the paths, and praying together.

Mr. Gaihai's field--can you tell where it ends??

His go-the-extra-mile compost pile (and my friend Innocent next to him)

-D

ironic

we recently heard about a local grocery store that got a shipment of american goods and were selling them at marked up prices so of course we were slow in making our way to see for ourselves. this weekend we finally made it into said grocery store and i finally had the privilege of gawking at the things that now Zimbabweans will characterize Americans by. as i walked in the store, i was greeted with an island of ragu and bertolli pasta sauces, an array of cereal including raisin bran and special K, a large variety of "pasta/rice sides" packets, and plastic containers of country time lemonade and kool-aid. on the next island of American goodies included cookies and crackers. this is where i became slightly more interested. there are a few things that i just can't find here- one of them is graham crackers. i enjoy a graham cracker and i have a few recipes that i love that have a graham cracker crust that i have had to set aside for the time being. these got me a little excited but the kicker was the box of saltine crackers. now i love a saltine cracker. i especially craved them when i was in my first trimester and needing to eat constantly to fight off that nauseous feeling. so when i saw that little square box that said "premium salted tops" i am sure that my face lit up. oh why didn't this shipment come 5 months ago?! then i glanced at the price and i'm sure all brightness from my face disappeared and my jaw dropped. almost $6! maybe a few months ago they would have gotten my money- when i was desperate to find a cracker i liked. in fact i would have bought two boxes because i never trust a store here to have something twice (i learned this the hard way with the crackers). but not now- sorry management.

oh and those gram crackers that got passed up- $7. somethings i'm not so desperate for.

-m

new pictures

a week and a half

33 weeks!

for grete

the quinoa growing in our garden and the only fall colors i can seem to find.

-m

"vaenzi"

(zach--you're in the picture, just in the shadow of the moringa tree--sorry!)

we recently had some friends/family/supporters/vaenzi come and spend some time with us and our church here. it was lovely to have a little taste of home- especially for dan since they were all his long time friends. for me is was amazing to watch dan reconnect with some of his closest friends, play the piano and guitar with them and catch up. i was greatly encouraged by their kind words and prayers.

they came with a variety of talents they used to encourage the church like preaching, singing, drum and guitar lessons, children's work, and medical knowledge to share.

one really exciting thing for us was that dan's uncle came for a few days around a trip to kenya to work with a sister church of his home church. it was really fun to host him and let him see a bit of our lives. he even got to experience a water shortage!

-m

KITTENS!

we knew they were coming soon. yesterday i sat on the bed watching the cat sleep and i could see the kittens moving in her- much like my own belly. and last night she curled up under our bed and had 5 kittens. they are sooo cute. 1 jet black, 2 black and orange like her, and 2 orange. we are excited! maybe we are a bit like little children and are fighting to not touch them.

i have only had two pets in my life other than fish. when fish have babies it isn't very exciting and they usually die too easily. my dog was a boy and my guinea pig never had babies so this is my first time with animal babies- especially brand new ones. i'm kinda excited. i just need to find a home for the 4 we aren't keeping before our baby comes. i don't think i can handle so many needy small things at once. and let's be honest- our baby wins no matter what.

-m