This blog is just a few random thoughts about life here and some follow-up on Rita. First of all has anyone seen this plant?
The people here call it tea, and I can only find the Umbundo name for the tea, but they take a wad of it like so:
and boil it in water to drink, the tea honestly tastes like the flavor of Fruit Loops. So I call it Fruit Loop tea and drink it iced. But here they love it hot for breakfast. I was wondering if anyone out there knew what kind of tea I'm drinking? And does the flavor of Fruit Loops come from an exotic plant in Africa?
I also made a pumkin pie for Thanksgiving.
They pie was eaten before I thought to take a picture. Oh well.
Also I've had a few people ask about Rita, so here are a few more details that I've learned. Some were wondering what happend to her family, why did they all die. All of Rita's brothers died in the Angolan Civil war, and her parents and kids became sick and died, it is common here for people not to know why their family members die, they just become sick and die, when I first got here Rita had Maleria, and she thought she was going to die so with the little money that she has, whe went and got her hair and nails done. She looked beautiful! But she was actually preparing for her funeral. ha (Time has past enough for us to look back and laugh, Rita too)
But anyway, people here die of the saddest things because of lack of education and resources mainly, I don't think they know that there are treatments out there, or the symptoms seem mild enough at first, but then like Maleria, it get's bad fast, and when untreated people die.I found out that the cost of the labor for construction of her home will be about $1000, that doesn't include the plubming, or a door or windows. Then there is of course the materiels that I mentioned before. So in the grand scheme of things, this house will not cost much, but for Rita, it is so much. I found out that she tries to save $100 every month! That means her and her children live on $100 dollars a month, and I live here, so I know that is not easy. That means no meat, just cornmeal, beans and greens.
I asked INMED if they would receive the donations for Rita, and they agreed to even waive the 8% that they usually take for maintaining the ministry, and they will wire the money with our next wire transfer. We are so thankful for INMED. If you are interested in helping Rita, e-mail me for details at loriclements@juno.com
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Anyway, that is what is happening on this side of the world, here are a few more pitures:
Oliver turned 6 this month. Happy Birthday Oli!
Taking the missionary kids on a walk.
Close up of that beautiful flowering tree.
With Love from Angola,
Lori
love hearing about how you guys are doing!! i am still trying to get used to bracing myself for the surprise crazy huge eye pictures.. this being the only 'medical' blog on my list they can take me by surprise. plus i'm a total wussy. ;)
ReplyDeleteLori, the cake you made for Oliver was super cute! Did you guys do something special to celebrate? Will continue to pray for families ministries!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Oliver!
ReplyDeleteGood morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Angola? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Angola in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and a original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com, where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely