The Ides of March

The ancient festival dedicated to the god Mars, the Ides of March, had brought nothing but rain for days upon days to the jungles of Zambia and the Fritz's have been feeling the effects. Andy's clothes molded on the line and Ashlee was dismayed to say that she has fungus growing on her feet. She desperately tried to convince us that it was perfectly normal, but I am not sure any of us were buying it. The 'good bridge' and 'bad bridge' are no more. They have both been wiped out in the high waters. Andy has not visited his bridge since the last big rain but will be that way this week. I wonder if good old American construction will hold up. They have been trapped indoors most of the times since they return from their vacation and they had been day dreaming of home. Andy had been wishing for the old log bed at the parents' house and hoping it would be waiting for him, which of course it will be.
Fuzzy Nut has gone missing. It was a sore spot so we didn't dwell on it. He disappeared while they were away and no one is fessing up. Frankly, I prefer to not consider the possibilities. It is hard to not get attached to a pet when it is part of your human fiber to love animals as God's creatures. Tosh is still around, however so the treats I sent will go to good use. Maybe Fuzzy will reappear and brighten their days sometime soon. Positive thoughts their way...
They have decided to limit their efforts to a single project each. They have been getting burnt out with trying to do so many different things and the people constantly disappoint them. Ashlee said that after all the effort she went through to get knitting needles and yarn once she gave the ladies the tools they have never returned for classes. This seems to be the predominant attitude towards any kind of aid. They take what is given, but do not make any effort to really learn how to best utilize it or gain more knowledge. So Andy is an official tree farmer and Ashlee will be continuing her traveling work to education on nutrition and children's health. She has been fulfilled with that work and it allows her to travel to many remote places and make an impact as the hospital has a truck that they use for their site visits. One of the villages they are scheduled to visit is near a national park and they should see elephants there. They have trouble with them eating the maize in the area. Kind of a big pest to have to defend you crops against. I hope she carries a camera and a big stick.
Something that none of us has figured out yet has caused there to be an evacuation of PC volunteers out of Madagascar several of which are being relocated to Zambia. Andy and Ashlee will be helping with the training of some of these new posts in Lusaka in a few weeks. They sounded excited to get some new faces in the area and participate in some group activities and I think a trip away from home is always welcome.
There is a visit from some representatives of the US Embassy planning to visit soon. They are coming to see the projects that are underway in the area. They will be visiting the tree farm. They will be traveling with a large projection screen and will show a movie to each village as they go. Ashlee was hoping it would be Top Gun. No matter what the picture it will be a first for most of those they will encounter. I wonder what will be going through their minds that night.