The rains finally subsided five days ago after months of nonstop rain. In fact, it actually rained every day for the previous two weeks and made it impossible to do practically anything. Ashlee has been sewing to pass the time. It was finally dry enough for a decent bike rides so they took off and went about 55 kilometers. They said it just felt good to be out in the open air and moving around.
They are preparing for an upcoming visit by the US Embassy folks to the area and a trip to Lusaka to train the new arrivals. They have been giving a lot of thought staying on a while longer possibly in another capacity with the Embassy or PC. If they stay with the PC they could be located in Ulapa across the Congo. Andy would be the provincial coordinator and they would probably live in a provincial house. Decisions, decisions.....
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, March 9, 2009
A much needed vacation
Andy and Ashlee were at the Provincial house when we spoke on Sunday evening watching a Chinese movie subtitled in English. Just relaxing for the evening. They had returned from their cross country travels to see their friends Trevor and Lisa in the NE province. Ashlee said visiting them was like visiting themselves. They too are stacked with American food from their loved ones. Andy and Trevor took several long bikes rides, around 200 K, while Ashlee and Lisa knitted and quilted at the house. They also went on several long hikes together. Ashlee said it was a much needed vacation and enjoyable to spend time with another couple.
Trevor has been frustrated with the work that he has been doing, so they have been reassigned to another position. I am uncertain if they will be moving or not. They are the only other couple in the region and they are in their late 30's so they are more mellow like Andy and Ashlee. Lisa taught Ashlee how to make pizza on the brazier, so they were excited to get home and try it. Good thing I sent pizza crust mix, pizza sauce, olives, mushrooms, pepperoni and Parmesan cheese in their last box. I told Ashlee about what I sent and she said she can't wait to see Andy's face. That is exactly what he has been craving. Somehow I keep managing to pick the exact things they want or need. I guess God does work in mysterious ways.
Their original plan for the trip was to attend an annual festival that is held in the region. They did travel through the festival, but decided it was best to keep moving. The festival was about 75% men and about 80% of those men were completely wasted. Ashlee said it was not a place that she she be. Several of the women and men were dressed in their native costumes, which was interesting to see, but the underlying purpose of the festival was to drink a lot of alcohol.
They are now staying at the Provincial house to paint for a few days. Ashlee said she has been painting ceilings for a couple of days and it is hard work. A portion of the roof had to be replaced as there was significant water damage. They said it was okay to do a different type of work for a while. Andy painted a large rainbow like image down the hall, so I am sure he is enjoying himself.
Ashlee was telling me about carbon trading in Zambia. This is an international program where countries exceeding their allowable carbon footprint can buy or trade carbon "points" from countries like Zambia who have little carbon footprint. I am not sure how the points are purchased, but here is a link to some information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading
They are trying to get some of the funds from these programs to pay for the seedling tree for the tree farm Andy has been working on. I think this may be what Trevor will be involved with in his new position. Andy is also going to be doing some radio programming. His experience working at the Andrews University radio station will be coming in handy. It seems like the variety of skills Andy has picked up over the years are definitely coming in handy.
Trevor has been frustrated with the work that he has been doing, so they have been reassigned to another position. I am uncertain if they will be moving or not. They are the only other couple in the region and they are in their late 30's so they are more mellow like Andy and Ashlee. Lisa taught Ashlee how to make pizza on the brazier, so they were excited to get home and try it. Good thing I sent pizza crust mix, pizza sauce, olives, mushrooms, pepperoni and Parmesan cheese in their last box. I told Ashlee about what I sent and she said she can't wait to see Andy's face. That is exactly what he has been craving. Somehow I keep managing to pick the exact things they want or need. I guess God does work in mysterious ways.
Their original plan for the trip was to attend an annual festival that is held in the region. They did travel through the festival, but decided it was best to keep moving. The festival was about 75% men and about 80% of those men were completely wasted. Ashlee said it was not a place that she she be. Several of the women and men were dressed in their native costumes, which was interesting to see, but the underlying purpose of the festival was to drink a lot of alcohol.
They are now staying at the Provincial house to paint for a few days. Ashlee said she has been painting ceilings for a couple of days and it is hard work. A portion of the roof had to be replaced as there was significant water damage. They said it was okay to do a different type of work for a while. Andy painted a large rainbow like image down the hall, so I am sure he is enjoying himself.
Ashlee was telling me about carbon trading in Zambia. This is an international program where countries exceeding their allowable carbon footprint can buy or trade carbon "points" from countries like Zambia who have little carbon footprint. I am not sure how the points are purchased, but here is a link to some information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading
They are trying to get some of the funds from these programs to pay for the seedling tree for the tree farm Andy has been working on. I think this may be what Trevor will be involved with in his new position. Andy is also going to be doing some radio programming. His experience working at the Andrews University radio station will be coming in handy. It seems like the variety of skills Andy has picked up over the years are definitely coming in handy.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
My Funny Valentine
It was a good weekend for Andy and Ashlee. They went to the doctor's family and watched the two boys for a couple of days so the doctor and his wife could get away for the weekend. They did take the baby with them as she is still breast feeding. The family had just received a box from the States with new movies, so they spent the weekend watching movies and baking cookies. It sounded like they enjoyed the break. Ashlee visited town to get scraps from the tailor to make bags. She has been making some cool bags and now she is making some by request. I can imagine the fabrics are interesting and I am sure she can come up with some fun designs.
There are now hippos only 20K from their village. They have not seen any in the flesh yet. They are very dangerous and a man from the village was just injured by one so they are steering clear of them. There was one recently nearby the garden where Ashlee works.
They are leaving next week for a much needed vacation. They will travel to the Eastern Province to visit Trevor and Lisa, the couple the befriended from Columbia, Missouri. They are the only other couple in the region. It will take three days travel to get to their village. They live approximately 70K form Chipata, the BOMA for that province. It will take approximately three days of travel to get there. Trevor and Lisa will meet them in Chipata and take them back to their house via hitchhiking.
The country is in the process of regrading many of the roads, as it is nearing the end of the rainy season, so they are unsure what to expect for travel. Some of the roads may even be paved, but they do not know yet. All of this work is done by companies that come in from South Africa. They do not train any of the local people how to do this work so they can maintain a monopoly on the work. This is true for most kinds of modernization. It is all outsourced, so rather than building an economy on the work of the citizens they send all of the money to other countries to come in and do the work. It is a backwards way of growing. As an example, ,most people have a full time maid and the average salary for this service is $100/ month. The poor make such little money it is amazing they are able to survive.
Just a note on Andy's tooth: They have plans to be in Lusaka in March and they will finish the work to his tooth, but he is nearly 100% again and is feeling fine.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Invasion of the red ants
Ashlee reported that they were experiencing some interesting encounters with nature lately. They had thousands of red ants that had pincers invade there house. Ashlee said that while she was running around trying to figure out what to do she looked down and her toes were bleeding. They were told to throw dirt on them to deter them. Several of the village boys ran over to show them how to dig a shallow channel around the house. This prevented the ants from coming into the yard and house as they would not cross disturbed dirt. So they now have a channel running around the house that is two inches deep. Amazingly it worked. If you are a reader I would recommend reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. There is a section of the book that refers to this same type of red ant invasion. The story takes place in the late 50-60's and is the story of a family that moves to the Congo (Now Zaire) to bring Jesus to the Congo.
Ashlee has been working on a new project with the hospital nurses educating the women who come in to give birth about nutrition and keeping their babies healthy. They have been traveling from village to village spreading the same message on nutrition.
Unfortunately none of there seeds are producing anything for them despite their diligent efforts. The climate and geography make it difficult to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. I know it must be frustrating to them as they have put in so much hard work. I guess there is a reason the people live off of sweet potatoes, cabbage and tomatoes most of the year.
Ashlee has been working on a new project with the hospital nurses educating the women who come in to give birth about nutrition and keeping their babies healthy. They have been traveling from village to village spreading the same message on nutrition.
Unfortunately none of there seeds are producing anything for them despite their diligent efforts. The climate and geography make it difficult to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. I know it must be frustrating to them as they have put in so much hard work. I guess there is a reason the people live off of sweet potatoes, cabbage and tomatoes most of the year.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Rain, rain and more rain
The rains have been relentless the last week, raining most of each day. They have been trying to get things done around the house, but it is difficult when you are stuck inside most of the day. Ashlee finally broke down and did laundry in the rain. She said there was only about two hours of sun in the afternoon, but they couldn't wait any longer to get their clothes clean.
Andy and Ashlee have been spending most of their time on the tree farm lately. It is about a 20 K bike ride to the site so they have been putting a lot of miles on their bikes. Andy has make the trip pretty much every day and Ashlee has been out 3 or 4 times this week as well. They go caught in the rain once and said they were soaked to the bone. Things are moving along and they are excited to see the progress. A man from the Embassy is making a trip to the NW province soon and would like see the tree farm and interview Joseph about it. They are very excited about the interest it is generating and the good publicity that will be a result.
Their supervisor was in town this week as there are soon to be two new volunteers coming to their district. They went with their boss to do site prep, which basically involves visiting the villages and letting them know that they will soon have a volunteers and give them a briefing of what they will be there to do. They also took their boss to the tree farm. It sounds like everyone if very impressed with their efforts so far. As mentioned before, the chief also wants to plant his own tree farm. This could be a very lucrative business as well as providing the building materials that could help improve the housing.
You have an example in the photos that were just uploaded the the Flickr account of a great use for the lumber: the new bridge. The children were crossing the bridge labeled the 'bad bridge' in the photos to go to school during the rainy season. Not something most American parents would ever allow. Andy helped them design and build the bridge with sturdy posts with concrete footings, and 2x decking that is raised well above the highest water level. You can also see in the photos how they regraded the path on either end of the bridge to raise the level. A concept American are very familiar with as it is how most highway intersections are addressed, but this was a new concept for them. Having lumber available would be a huge benefit in many ways.
Ashlee has just started working with a new man who has been frustrating her. She said he treats her like she is an idiot. He says things to her like: Didn't you study geography in school? And she has been snapping right back at him which I am sure was a surprise to him. He has been testing her every chance he gets. As he feels they couldn't possibly know anything about plants in their region. He has been having trouble with his banana plants and had Ashlee over to take a look and prove to them that he knew more about it than them. Ashlee proved that she did know what she was taking about and so now she is helping him with banana trees. Stubborn man! He spends time on the Internet and wanted to buy a tractor on Ebay and have it shipped to Zambia. He was asking Ashlee if he could do that. She told him he could but he should just to go to Lusaka and buy one as shipping would be a fortune. The tractor he found on Ebay was several years old and was was trying to explain to him that it could be a collector and may not be a functioning tractor. He could not understand why you would keep on old tractor just to look at. Antiques are a foreign concept.
We kept getting cut off on the phone due to the oncoming storm so that is all for now.
Andy and Ashlee have been spending most of their time on the tree farm lately. It is about a 20 K bike ride to the site so they have been putting a lot of miles on their bikes. Andy has make the trip pretty much every day and Ashlee has been out 3 or 4 times this week as well. They go caught in the rain once and said they were soaked to the bone. Things are moving along and they are excited to see the progress. A man from the Embassy is making a trip to the NW province soon and would like see the tree farm and interview Joseph about it. They are very excited about the interest it is generating and the good publicity that will be a result.
Their supervisor was in town this week as there are soon to be two new volunteers coming to their district. They went with their boss to do site prep, which basically involves visiting the villages and letting them know that they will soon have a volunteers and give them a briefing of what they will be there to do. They also took their boss to the tree farm. It sounds like everyone if very impressed with their efforts so far. As mentioned before, the chief also wants to plant his own tree farm. This could be a very lucrative business as well as providing the building materials that could help improve the housing.
You have an example in the photos that were just uploaded the the Flickr account of a great use for the lumber: the new bridge. The children were crossing the bridge labeled the 'bad bridge' in the photos to go to school during the rainy season. Not something most American parents would ever allow. Andy helped them design and build the bridge with sturdy posts with concrete footings, and 2x decking that is raised well above the highest water level. You can also see in the photos how they regraded the path on either end of the bridge to raise the level. A concept American are very familiar with as it is how most highway intersections are addressed, but this was a new concept for them. Having lumber available would be a huge benefit in many ways.
Ashlee has just started working with a new man who has been frustrating her. She said he treats her like she is an idiot. He says things to her like: Didn't you study geography in school? And she has been snapping right back at him which I am sure was a surprise to him. He has been testing her every chance he gets. As he feels they couldn't possibly know anything about plants in their region. He has been having trouble with his banana plants and had Ashlee over to take a look and prove to them that he knew more about it than them. Ashlee proved that she did know what she was taking about and so now she is helping him with banana trees. Stubborn man! He spends time on the Internet and wanted to buy a tractor on Ebay and have it shipped to Zambia. He was asking Ashlee if he could do that. She told him he could but he should just to go to Lusaka and buy one as shipping would be a fortune. The tractor he found on Ebay was several years old and was was trying to explain to him that it could be a collector and may not be a functioning tractor. He could not understand why you would keep on old tractor just to look at. Antiques are a foreign concept.
We kept getting cut off on the phone due to the oncoming storm so that is all for now.
Friday, January 23, 2009
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