Handy Man

 Oftentimes our blog showcases the fun or exciting bits of life here in Mozambique… the wildlife, the exotic places Dave flies, or the seemingly strange differences in culture.  But more often, we are just living normal life and dealing with all the little things that come up.  There is always something broken that needs fixing, rigging, or replacing around here.  The washing machine won’t complete the cycle, the gate opener quit working, the water pump stopped, the sink is leaking, or the car is making a funny noise.  Oftentimes the parts that are needed to fix things properly aren’t available here in Nampula so we are looking for a quick fix to get us by until we can find a way to get it here from South Africa.  Other times, we can find parts after shopping at several of the small shops here, but often we end up buying a square peg to fit in a round hole.  I am so thankful to be married to such a handy guy, because living here would be hard without someone who is a jack of all trades when it comes to fixing things! 

Our most recent project has been replacing the gates at our house.  The wood planks were in such bad shape that it was affecting the security of our house.  It is also the only barrier keeping Lobo and Charlie from scaring the neighbors.  We decided to replace the wood with metal sheets which required some welding work. 

Our gate before the fix...

Isaac helping Dave while welding

Vicious dogs scaring the neighbors

 Not only does Dave get to play the part of pilot and airplane mechanic, sometimes he gets to serve other missionaries with his handyman gifts.  Recently Dave did a supply flight to some missionaries that live in a rural area.  Their son had malaria and the district they live in ran out of malaria medication.  The husband was out of the country and their car battery had gone bad so the wife had to jump the car every time she needed to drive.  Fortunately a new battery was on the flight as well.  Despite the tight flight schedule that day, Dave was able to install the new battery for her before he left.

Dave changing out the battery

 Recently the guys completed a big inspection on CMQ which required quite a bit of disassembly.  The poor airplane looks a bit sad without its tail fin!

 

Dave L. working on CMQ

When they were putting it back together, there was difficulty getting one nut screwed back on as the bolt was difficult to reach and all of the guys hands were too big to reach it.  I got to escape from the office for a little while and be an honorary airplane mechanic cramming my slightly smaller hand into the tight space.

Jill's MAF blog posts

If you want to read some of the blogs Jill has written for MAF's blog, check out the following link:
http://www.mafblog.com/author/jholmes

Lions and Hippos and Elephants, Oh My!

A couple of weeks ago we got the opportunity to spend several days at a camp in the Niassa Reserve in Northern Mozambique.  We met up with some friends in Pemba, a city on the coast north of Nampula.  From there we drove for almost 15 hours to arrive at the camp we would spend most of our time at.  It was not so much the long distance that made the trip so long, but how slow we had to drive on the rough roads to get there.  Dave commented that he could fly from Pemba to the airstrip located where we were headed in just an hour and a half.  Regardless, we were in one of the most remote areas of Mozambique.

We crossed here on foot so the car wouldn't bottom out on the logs

The long bumpy journey was worth every minute once we got there.  The camp was located on the Lugenda River and was crawling with wildlife.  We were greeted by semi-tame serval, who had been rescued when her mother had been taken by poachers.

Serval named Niassa

Where we stayed is not fenced off from wildlife so elephants came very close to the tents and we were awakened by baboons coming across the top of our tent as they headed to the river.

Baboons heading to the river

We were supposed to start our adventure off with a bit of kayaking on the Lugenda River, but our guide Donald had come down with malaria, so we ended up driving and hiking around with Nick, another guide, hoping for some close encounters with wildlife.  We were not disappointed.  On our excursions we saw monkeys, impala, water buck, elephants, bush buck, zebra, warthog, klipspringer, and kudu… And for a bird nerd like me, I was seeing new bird species every few minutes!    While we were out with Nick, he showed us lion and hyena tracks, pointed out the smell of leopard urine where the cat had recently marked the area we were passing through, and pointed out various tree and flower species that were noteworthy.

Water buck

While we were out we had 2 flat tires and got stuck in a rut...the Land Rover got us over some tough terrain!

Lion tracks

Little Bee-Eater

Side-Striped Jackal

Bearded Woodpecker

At one point Nick drove off into the bush to get a little closer to some elephants.  We all piled out of the Land Rover and hid behind a bush to watch a large herd of elephants fairly close by.  As we watched Nick mentioned that the elephant that didn’t have tusks was probably going to be trouble and to be ready to run back to the car if he told us to.  Sure enough, this elephant faced us and began to charge a few steps towards us… you should see how fast I can move when properly motivated.  You'll notice that Dave stopped filming while he was running!

When we came back for lunch one day, some of the workers at the camp had come across some honey in the wild and brought it back for us to try (apparently only a few stings in the process!)....YUM!  We actually followed around a bird called a honey-guide whose call will lead you to honey if you follow it long enough...we didn't find the honey.

In the evenings he would take us to beautiful locations where we could watch the sunset over the river.  As it began to get dark we could hear elephants and hippos (and we’re pretty sure some lions) making noises in the distance.  And, there is nothing like looking up at the African night sky in a dark wilderness area. 

On our way back to camp, we would spot some animals, including various owls, civet, and even some wildebeest.  Bona, our Mozambican guide, was even able to spot chameleons and snakes with his light while we were driving in the dark. 

 

Giant Eagle-Owl

Donald, who was feeling better after a couple of days, then took us out canoeing on the Lugenda River.  While we didn’t see any crocodiles (I’m sure they were there somewhere), we did get to see some different types of birds, a monitor lizard, and hippos.  When the river was wide, we could calmly watch the hippos from a safe distance as we canoed by.  At one point we canoed through a narrower area known for having hippos.  After receiving instructions from Donald we stayed close together as we paddled through the area.  Sure enough, we would see the ears and eyes of the hippos pop above the water for a few moments and then disappear.  The nervous part was not knowing where they disappeared to.  It was an awesome experience to paddle through a few mild rapids and in such beautiful wilderness for the day. 

Watch out for the hippos!

Saddle-Billed Stork

White-Headed Lapwing

 Our last afternoon, Nick took us to a spot where we scrambled up some rocks to look at some cave paintings.  On a mountain across the way we watched some klipspringers move there way down.

Klipspringer

Bohm's Bee-Eater

Brown Snake Eagle

African Fish Eagle

Southern Ground Hornbill

Dickinson's Kestrel

Spotted Eagle Owl

Buckingham, Burritos, and Belts

Since our last blog update we have been to the United States and back.  We started out in Nampula, Mozambique and then flew to Johannesburg, South Africa and from there on the London, England.  We took the opportunity of a long layover in London to see some sights… We definitely could have spent a lot more time there seeing the sites, but at least we got to see the highlights.

Queen was not at home...

Apparently you hear Big Ben, you don't see it

Tower Bridge

Coming from summer in Mozambique to winter in the UK, we were freezing walking around London, but it was a fun day!  After we left London, we flew directly to Dallas, TX and then on to Lubbock.  After collecting our luggage our first stop was Taco Villa (Dave’s favorite fast food restaurant that only people from west Texas know about).  Here we met up with family and got to meet our nephew, Will, for the first time. 

Taco Villa

From Lubbock we drove to Snyder, where we stayed with Dave’s family for several days.  We then drove to Wichita Falls (our old hometown) for a couple of days before heading to San Antonio to see my family.  A couple of days later, Dave flew to Idaho to attend his training at MAF’s headquarters.  Then back to San Antonio, Snyder, Lubbock, Dallas, London, Johannesburg, and home in Nampula!  Whew!  No wonder we were so tired when we got home!

Within a period of about a week in Texas, the temperatures varied between negative wind chills with snow and ice to record high temperatures of 92^o in San Antonio… Gotta love Texas!

Snow on the Caprock

While Dave was at his training in Idaho, I got to spend Valentine’s Day with my family in San Antonio.  We celebrated my parent’s 44^th wedding anniversary and my grandparent’s 67^th wedding anniversary that day!

Jill with her grandparents

While we were in the States I ordered some belts to take back with me for the kids at the orphanage doing taekwondo.  I got to give them out when I returned… their smiles when they got their belts was definitely worth using up the limited suitcase space we had for belts!

Some things we learned on on our trip:

1. It is impossible to eat all the food you miss in one short trip… but you can try!  Taco Villa burrito, Chick-fil-A sandwich, Dr. Pepper, lasagna, venison, Mexican food, steak, BBQ, home-made ice cream (yes, even when it was freezing our dear friends made us some!), strawberries, cantaloupe, broccoli… YUM!  They say your stomach will need time to adjust when you move to Africa, but I think it is the opposite!
2. It is impossible to see everyone you want to see or talk with everyone you want to talk to… we filled every minute of our trip and missed seeing some very special folks!
3. It is hard to switch to driving on the right side of the road and sitting on the left side of the car.  Just putting in the key and shifting felt weird at first.  You would think all those years of driving in the States would keep that from happening!
4. You think you will remember where you packed stuff in storage, but you won't.  You will have to open every box/tub.  I never did find my heavy coat.
5. Apparently if you leave with short hair and come back with long hair it is a big deal.