on call

We're in Harare now, at the TEAM guest house. The internet is working well, a lot faster than out in the bush. Dr. Todd, our program director, as well as our friends Dr. Leu and his son in law, Craig came to visit us on Tuesday. It was absolutely wonderful seeing them, and they brought us some goodies from home. The guys rounded with us during the week and shared their wonderful insights into the patients on the wards, in outpatient department, and in surgery. Heck, Dr. Todd even scrubbed a couple of C sections!

We were on call last weekend. Aside from the usual rounding in all of the wards and seeing some out patients on Saturday (who are usually sick enough to become inpatients, or they wouldn't be there on a Saturday) the weekend was uneventful. That is until Sunday night. We received a call around 8 PM for a mother who'd been in labor for a while. The story was typical. She had labored at home, then gone on to a rural health clinic, then gone to a local hospital, and finally arrived in our maternity ward around 5 PM or so. We came as quickly as we could and began our Cesarean Section in the standard manner.

It became quickly evident that the baby's head was stuck deep in the mother's pelvis, as she had labored for many hours. As we entered the uterus, we became acutely aware that infection had set in already in the fluid surrounding the baby, which was thick green, and smelled badly. Our patients were clearly in danger. I prayed aloud as we struggled for what seemed to be forever (but was in reality only a couple of minutes) to get the baby out. Finally, we pulled the limp, blue little boy from his mother. As the nurses worked on helping the little one, we were faced with the task of working on the woman, whose uterus lay as soft and limp as her child, bleeding profusely. After much work, we finally repaired the extensive bleeding tear in the uterus, my salty surgical mask now sticking to my face. Still, the woman's blood pressure was barely registering on our monitors. The quiet in the room was disturbing as the nurse pumped air into the little one's chest, interrupted only but the alarm from the blood pressure machine, a sobering reminder of the blood loss we had just worked so hard to stop.

After stabilizing the mother, we put all of our energy into the little boy, laying lifeless on the newborn warmer. We pumped up and down on his little chest, breathed for him, and gave all the drugs we could to jump start his little heart. Despite our greatest efforts, we could not bring him back. There in the dim light of the maternity ward, soaked in my own sweat, I wanted to weep.
I thought we'd lose the mother too. My heart aches for her, but she gets to live another day.

And so goes life here. It seems to be a raw, primal sort of fight for survival. The woman in the story above has nothing. I am sure she lives in a hut in a patch of corn without running water or electricity. She eeks out her existence any way she can, spending her days carrying water buckets on her head long distances so that her family can drink and tending fires to cook the little food she has.

I don't want to put words in God's mouth or go outside of the scriptures for my beliefs just because I want something to be true. But, I trust in the character, mercy, and sovereignty of God. In doing so, I was thinking about that little one's short time in this cruel world. In the arms of Jesus, he will never know the pain of hunger, the depths of loss, or humiliation of poverty that his mother has known for decades and now will know for many more. It's hard to make sense of this world, especially when confronted with the hard reality of it on a daily basis.

Stories like this beg the question, "How can suffering like this exist if there is a God?" or "If there is a good God, why does such injustice exist?" These are good questions, and those who face suffering in life are bound to wonder about them. I was encouraged today in reading a book called "The Reason for God," by Tim Keller. He points out the firstly, in the assumption that things in the world are broken or unjust, one naturally assumes that there is a certain way that things ought to be, that is we assume that things in the world shouldn't be broken. Without God, as the absolute standard for good and justice, we have no reason to assume that things should be going any sort of right way (and they obviously are not in many respects). A world without God, organized only by the survival of the fittest, leaves us no such standard by which to judge things. Therefore, without God, thinking that the world should be a just or fair place is simply nonsense. Suffering is therefore not a good argument against the existence of God

Secondly, Christianity alone among world religions believes that God took on human flesh to come and be with us (Immanuel = "God with us"). Christ, when he died on the cross experienced separation from the God head (that is, the Father and the Holy Spirit). People know the deep pain of loss of intimate relationships in divorce or the loss of a loved one. We can relate to this pain of separation on that level, but we cannot fathom the pain of separation of the Son of God from the Father, with whom he had lived in perfect harmony for eternity. Jesus provides people a Savior who can sympathize with loss, imprisonment, fear, abandonment, injustice, and death. Christianity may not provide a concrete answer for the specific suffering, but Christ does provide a very real source of strength for those who suffer. Jesus talks about the future "New Heaven and New Earth" and the "Renewal of all things," or what the Greeks knew as"παλιγγενεσια" or "palingenesia." The Greeks understood this word to mean the re-creation of the universe. Jesus promises in a way that we cannot imagine to some day make all of those things right, or even better than right in a very concrete way.

Suffering is therefore also a very poor argument for a detached, impersonal, or uncaring God.

On a happy note, I figured out how to make ice cream. It consists of 3 liters of milk, 2 packets of pudding, a can of sweetened condensed milk, and some vanilla extract. Put it in the deep freeze overnight (if you have power) and presto! Tastes just like a Frosty. Not too shabby when the closest Wendys is a few thousand miles away.

Here are some cute pics to offset the sad story at the beginning of the post:

Today in photos

Today in photos:

Abbi just about flipped out when she saw this photo of her "passies." It was just too much for her to handle.

Lots of surgery these days. I try to keep my camera on hand, just for opportunities like this. John was working with Dr. Roland Stephens here. I think they were fixing the femur (leg bone) you can see below on X ray. I did one just like it on Friday. Dr. Stephens was kind enough to let me do most of the surgery.

OK, so the hut on the right has a satellite dish on the "roof." No power. No water. In the middle of nowhere. But, hey, they've got Sports Center.

This kiddo has Hydrocephalus (the fluid around the brain doesn't drain correctly). We put a shunt in his head a few days ago. He'll do well, whereas he would have died without the surgery. We do lots of these here.

The blurry thing in the man's right eye is a huge tumor. We have lots of eye tumors here. So, we take lots of eyes out. HIV does a lot of terrible things to people. For instance, cancers like this one.

Broken Femur.

Pulmonary TB, picked up on chest X ray. This is a classic appearing X ray. We see this most every day in the outpatient clinic. Yet another common finding with HIV.

Kaposi's Sarcoma. Yet another HIV associated disease.

I've decided to try not to blog too much more than a couple of times a week. The nights are just too precious with my family and the internet takes so long to upload these darn photos.

This week has been a good week of growth for both families sharing the guest house. We continue to wrestle through challenges and work through issues as they arise. I guess I thought when we arrived on the mission field, I'd find answers to some of life's big questions. That is, in following God here, that maybe I'd find myself content, full of purpose, or at least gain clarity of insight into life. While I am certain that the intentionality of our work here lends itself to very purposeful work, huge questions still loom for us. It is clear to me that this time period, like each day, is only a stepping stone. That we must still must pursue God in His Word in the hope of knowing and loving Him

-How is our work influencing others for the gospel?

-What is this training for (i.e. we are learning great skills, but how will they be used in the future?)

-What will regular mission work look like as part of our lives?

-How will we best use this training to serve people both here and in our community in the U.S.?

-How can we best become involved in both communities?

Abigail is enjoying helping April cook these days. We make a lot of stuff from scratch using the book below. It is full of inexpensive and delicious meals, usually made from scratch. I heard about it from some savvy folks who have spent time overseas:

You can see her here helping make some banana bread. We buy bananas from people that come to our door selling them. they cost about 1 dollar for 20 bananas. Right now, I'm making some ice cream in the deep freeze. I hope that the power stays on for the next few hours! We'll have to see how that goes. We're getting used to "the daily grind" at home that consists of making food, cleaning up, repeat times three and raise kids in between. It seemed overwhelming at first, but we sense that we're always getting nearer to our goal of growing in depth of relationship as a family and deeping our walk with God.

Weekend update

I know it's kind of weird to have a weekend update on a Wednesday, but I guess late is better than never. I guess you could call it a midweek update.

Our fist weekend on call got off to a wild start. at around 3AM John and I were called in for an emergency C section. The lady had labored for 19 hours or so at a "nearby" district hospital 50 km from here. We stumbled out of the house, sleepy, and into the OR for the cesarean. We've been doing such late night stumbling together, just to back each other up. We figure it's better to do the late night surgeries together just in case we get into a bind. It's funny, the referral pattern is supposed to work in the opposite fashion- the bush hospital transferring to the district hospital and then on to the big city hospital and so on. However, the medical system here is so dysfunctional that we get people from the capital city, driving 2 1/2 hours out into the bush for their medical care here. It is said that last year at this time, many hospitals didn't even have an aspirin on the shelf.

Anyhow, where was I... Oh, yes, The C section went off without a hitch. As we walked out of the OR a woman lay on a cot covered by a blanket, obstructing the exit into the labor and delivery ward. My sleepy mind thought little of it until the clerk announced to me in a flat tone that the woman had been in labor for 2 days in a far off village. A policeman had found her walking along a dirt road, trying to get to help, and had brought her to us. She died as she passed through the hospital gate. It was then that I noticed her blood, pooling below me on the floor. It was an such a paradox- elation and life in one room, sorrow and death in the next.

After a glass of cold water, we went to sleep, but not for too long. Rounds began at 8AM. We had to see all of the patients in the Male, Female, Pediatric, and Maternity (plus neonatal) wards. We were unfamiliar with two of the wards that we'd not been seeing regularly, so this took quite a while, as many patients needed procedures done and medications adjusted. After rounds, John took to the OR to take care of a few items that needed doing. I headed to the outpatient department to tie up some loose ends. It turned out that the loose ends were several dozen people who seemed to be falling apart at the seams. I admitted many of those people to the hospital and sent many to the OR. After wrapping up the outpatients, I headed to the OR to tag team some items with John. Aside from seeing all of the patients in the hospital and seeing all of the patients in the OPD, we got comfortable with Ketamine sedation, reducing a dislocated jaw, setting a complicated fracture of the forearm in a child, did two lumbar punctures, two paracentesis, debrided a child with second degree burns, and performed several other procedures.

We then headed to a celebratory lunch for Dr. Roland Stephens, who turned 80 on Sunday. The festivities were nice. We enjoyed a wonderful sense of community with the long term misisionaries on the compound. One of them even brought fireworks in honor of the day. It turns out that none of the locals have ever seen fireworks and some of the patients just didn't know what to make of the loud, beautiful balls of fire in the sky! Some watched in amazement, some hid under their beds.

Early Sunday morning, the Drs. Stephens as well as their brother, Mark (who grew up here and is now visting from the states for the first time in 30 years) took us for a "hike" at a place called "Pulpit rock." It turns out that this "hike" was more like a 200 foot vertical ascent up a huge piece of rock sticking out of the Zimbabwe bush. It was fun. I made it to the top. I mean, I really thought I might die at points, but I made it. Dr. Stephens got out some ropes for me to use that he says he has used "for women and children" making the climb in the past. I guess this was the climbing equivalent of bumper bowling.

Of course, we rounded after the climb.

Overall, the entire weekend was very good. The missionaries brought us lunch on Sunday, cementing within us a strong feeling of belonging to the community.

This week in Zim

Today marks the second week that we've spent at Karanda and our third week in Zim (I guess that's what the hipsters call Zimbabwe). Our time here is shaping up nicely. The first two weeks here were quite a struggle, just getting the kids adjusted and all. As I alluded to in my cheesy poem in the last post, the mission guest house, which we call home was much like a sauna at night after closing the windows in order to keep the mosquitoes out. The weekdays this week were challenging in that we largely had no power or water most of the time, unlike last weekend when ZESA (Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority or "Zimbabwe Electricity Sometimes Available") smiled upon us. We fretted a little over our deep freeze, which is pretty important out in the bush. However, with the newly installed screens on many of our windows, even nights without electricity (electricity= fans) are tolerable and even pleasant after a nice rain. Dr. Dan and his brother, Mark (who has returned to visit Karanda after growing up here 30 years ago) blessed us immensely by hooking up our fridge and deep freeze to a dedicated generator and by fixing our leaky water filter. They even fixed the ceiling fan in the family room! We're learning to live with a little less. April is getting good at cooking over the gas grill when the power is out and we're getting more efficient with meal time activities. Preparing, cooking, and cleaning up after three meals a day can easily become a full time activity. April is a saint, and I am constantly impressed with the way she takes the challenges we face gracefully. She is of very strong character. Abbi, naturally, is a hit with the locals and the other missionaries at the hospital. I have been referred to by some as Dr. Paul and by some as BabaAbigail ("father of Abigail"). It's common to refer to a man or woman as "Father/Mother of (fill in the name of your first born)." Dr. Dan Stephens, the surgeon we work with here, pulled out the PA system and the projector system and we watched a movie on the big screen tonight. The kids really enjoyed "Open Season," a cartoon. They also enjoyed dancing, singing, and grabbing at Dr. Dan's toes during the film. We enjoyed popcorn too, before the toe grabbing and all.

As we grow accustomed to life in the African bush- yes, even with running water and electricity (sometimes), it's still the bush- I also work to fit the mold of the missionary doctor. The vast array of ailments seen here is staggering. Each patient I get through in clinic feels like a small victory. Much of the time, people wait to come to the hospital until they are close to death it seems. People literally drag their relatives into clinic. The ones you see latest in the day seem to be the ones that need to be seen most. Too sick to fight for a decent place in line, they wind up at the back of the pack fairly easily.

I'd like to highlight Dr. Roland Stephens in this post, Dr. Dan's dad. A career missionary, he has made his home and his life here at Karanda with his lovely wife since the early 1960's. He turns 80 tomorrow, and there is a big birthday party for him tomorrow. I doubt his a big internet junkie, so I figure the secret of his surprise party is safe on the blog. The man is truly one of the most remarkable individuals I've ever met. At 80 years of age, he runs 3 or 4 miles every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. He is so respected that all of the locals, patients, and staff call him "Sekuru," which is Shona for "grandfather." He seems to have seen every medical condition and does every kind of surgery one could ever imagine. There is no kind of surgery that this man and his son do not do. I hope a little bit of their experience rubs off on us while we are here.

eye see you

Well, the girls are tucked into their beds and I thought I'd take a moment to write some. We've certainly enjoyed getting lots of email from you guys. Sorry if we've not had a chance to respond to all of your individual emails! Please know that we certainly appreciate the love, support, and contact. Last night was super hot. Like tonight, the power and water were out, so we slept listlessly in a lot of still, hot air. Today, we had a good amount of generator power so the deep freeze is still a freezin' and that's good. One nice thing about the power being out is that most folks are not using their computers, so we have a good internet connection tonight. I was in surgery all day today. We did Hysterectomies, Prostatectomies, and Splenectomies. Also, I got involved with some spinal anesthesia as well. The girls had a good day, participating in "kids club." We're enjoying a lot of fresh bananas, mango, and apples that ares sold locally here. There is a town adjacent to the hospital compound with some small stores. I joke that the road in "town" looks like the old west. It's always dusty and the sights are a throwback to a much earlier time with livestock running in the street and people loitering in the shade of the store fronts. There is a lot of "hanging out" with 90% unemployment in the country.

Each morning we kick things off with devotions at the chapel prior to rounding on the pediatrics ward. The nursing students are all there, singing beautiful Shona hymns in many-part harmony. The pediatric ward is always hopping with severe malaria, burn patients, orthopedic patients, and kids with hydrocepalus. Lots of very advanced diseases pop up in the Out Patient Department daily, one of which is the guy shown here. We took his eye out yesterday. Sounds brutal, but it may save his life.

Overall, life is different here. Lots like life many years ago. I feel like we're on a long camping trip sometimes. But, Abbi is happy and overall we feel quite safe.

This is what was on my mind Sunday:

Dust in the street

where the children play

on the water pump

at mid day

where the chickens run

and the goats stray

and the sun shaded shop keepers pray for rain

Power is out

the windows are closed

we're sitting here sweating through our clothes

the air is stagnant and feeling much hotter

i've learned the blessing of a cool drink of water

children are dying

people are sick

my best offering

seems insignificant

Teach me to lean upon your love

to gather new strength from above

Your yoke so easy

Your burden so light

Somehow You'll make everything right

Some day You'll make everything right

Rain.

Today has been one of the best days in the last month. We went to church this morning. Church in many places in Africa is a long affair. And, true to form today's service was over two hours long and all but 15 minutes of it was in Shona, the local language. We can say "good morning, good afternoon, and good evening" in Shona, but that's about it. The whole thing reminded me a little of the all German Christmas services we had when we were kids. At least I knew the tunes to those songs.

We came home from church and cleaned up the house, which was great. I love cleaning up and finding out where the heck all the stuff I lost went. Meanwhile, the sun was shining outside. So, we did something we'd been wanting to do for awhile. We filled two big wash tubs from the laundry room up with water and the kids went "swimming" in the guest house courtyard (as you can see above). The two are great friends and I can't imagine Abbi not having Beau around. Basking in the sun, the kids playing in the "pool" with a cool breeze blowing felt like we were on vacation. I could just close my eyes and pretend that we were on a vacation on a beach in Florida somewhere- that we had just grown tired of playing in the salty surf and were hanging around a hotel pool.

With perfect timing, after the kids were done swimming the sky turned gray and torrential downpour ensued. It has been a day full of joy and thanksgiving. The power and water have been on for a full 24 hours...seems like a record!

Friday was nice in that we got to get up a little later than usual, as devotions on Friday consist of singing on the wards. the docs aren't obligated to do this and my Shona singing voice is sub par, so i didn't go. i rounded on peds again, this time feeling a little more comfortable about the kids and my management on their issues. things surely are different here. For instance, if a child is malnourished, we'll give the mother Thorazine to make her lactate more. crazy. but, there is no formula and kiddos need to eat or they will not do well, so we "treat" the mom for a few days. John and I did a lady's fourth repeat cesarean. With no cautery, no blood, and no suction a little bleeding makes me a lot nervous. John and his mom left for Harare yesterday. April and Abbi spent the afternoon at "Kids Club," which is a "club" for AIDS orphans held at the hospital. The club does medical treatment, but also makes sure the orphans are getting proper nutrition. The girls had a great time just loving the kids, reading to them, and sharing time with them. I was the lone doc staffing the outpatient clinic yesterday. Like Wednesday , nothing seems to wind up being a minor deal. A quick sampling of the many people I saw would include:

TB in various and sundry presentations

HIV, chronic and acute

Severe malaria

end stage liver cirrhosis

uterine fibriods the size of a basket ball

pelvic tumor

abdominal tumor

progressive neuromuscular disease

osteomylitis

severe congestive heart failure

and lots, lots more.

I was the only one there and felt like things went OK, all things considered ( i don't speak the language, i have no idea how things work around here, etc.) I really need to invest some time in reading this weekend especially on HIV, TB, malaria, and hydrocephalus. Lots of people come really, really sick from a long way away. I admitted 4 or 5 people to the hospital.

Not much goes on during the weekends around here. I feel compelled to micromanage stuff, so I'll likely go down and check a few patients. It's a hard mix of adjusting to medicine under heavy resource constraints and treating the patients with excellent medical care.

I made eggs and fried potatoes and onions this morning. it was nice. the power was off, so i made them on the big gas stove. now there is a cool breeze coming in the window, the sun is shining and the birds are singing. the power is on and the water is working, so that's a winning combination.

Despite it being the rainy season, there has been no rain since the new year. This is horrifying, as the vast majority of people that I've met here seem to subsistence farm. The corn (maize) is midway through it's growing season. As corn meal is the staple food here, people will starve if no rain comes and the crops die. Last night, the clouds filled the sky and the wind blew leaves from the Plumeria tree outside of our door. Still, no rain. I have a better understanding now of Prov 25:14 "A person who promises a gift but doesn't give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain." I guess I just understand the basic necessity of rain a little better now.

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Micah 6:8

Fun times in Zim

I had my fist day in OPD (outpatient department yesterday). Not too many people show up complaining of just the sniffles. I don't really deal with HIV, TB, and malaria that often in the states. I really was stretched- not only was I figuring out what needed to be done, but how to do it. You really have to dig and dig to get the full story from people too. For instance:

Patient: "I can't breathe right."

Me. "Oh, I'm sorry. Tell me about that."

Patient to translator: "unintelligible words to translator in Shona"

Me: "What?"

Translator: "He wants a TB test."

Me: " Oh. Have you had TB?"

Patient: "No".

Me: "hmmm (thumbing through patient's record). I see here that you do have TB, and your lungs have been full of fluid in the past. You need a chest X Ray."

Patient: "that's too expensive"

Translator: "No, he has HIV."

Me. "You have HIV?" (this changes entire treatment plan)

this went on...

On and on these interactions went. I was thankful that we had relatively few people lined up for OPD that day. hundreds of people could easily present any given day for OPD.

We (foolishly) asked for extra C section call last night, and call they did. At 3:30 AM, John and I tag teamed our first Zimbabwean C section. Praise the Lord, there were no complications. Mother and Baby did well. We walked home in the dark, completely enjoying the moment. We had a cold water toast when we got home. I was soon thereafter woken up to see a woman vomiting blood and an asthmatic in severe respiratory distress. True to form, medicine is just not straightforward here. The woman turned out to just have been discharged from the hospital following an admission for malaria. She now had "blackwater fever" (for you medical types). Her kidneys had stopped working- a rare but serious potential consequence of malaria. I'm still a little hazy on where the vomiting blood came from. She isn't vomiting now, but it will take a miracle for her to survive this. I got to pray with her before leaving the hospital today.

The man with "asthma" didn't have asthma. Upon digging in the chart (usually a well worn notebook), the man was found to have a history of a throat cancer (laryngeal mass). It had become so large, it had completely blocked his airway.

We took him to the operating room and I assisted in tracheostomy placement (a hole in the throat to breathe). He looked so relieved after the surgery, poor guy.

Immediately afterward I rounded on pediatrics. There are some very sick kids in there, many of whom have hydrocephalus. The sickest kid in there died today of what we presume was a brain abcess. It was sad, though not totally surprising. Death is a common occurrence here.

I got to get involved with lots of operations throughout the day. I'm very excited about the surgical and medical experience that is unavoidable in the next 5 months.

Through all of the power and water outages we are experiencing here, we are so thankful that everyone is healthy. We feel very safe in our surroundings. In all of this we are learning to appreciate the blessings of life: cool drinks of water, a refreshing shower, meals together. We love and miss all of you. For those of you worried about Abbi, know that she's getting along well. She's taking the heat in stride and is enjoying meeting lots of new people. She puts a smile on everyone's face that she meets and she is constantly with April or I! She's having a very rich experience here in Zim!

Zimbabwe is pretty

We experienced a major turning point since the last time we had internet access. Since our arrival, we had been growing gradually more comfortable with our surroundings. The TEAM missionaries, who had been at a conference in South Africa had still not arrived as of mid day on Saturday. We were in a holding pattern until they showed up. Though getting used to the time change with kids has been a little weird, we resigned ourselves to enjoy the "down time" that we had left. We could swim in the pool! We could nap! Oh...the possibilities. However, on Saturday evening mid-dinner, the TEAM people began showing up in full force. Suddenly, we were being given a quick briefing on what the next few days would hold. We gladly surrendered our dreams of R&R as April and Shea were whisked away immediately by the missionaries to buy food for both of our families for an entire month. Just pause for a moment and think of buying food for 2 families for an entire month.

OK...

Well, I was impressed when I thought about it. The girls made good time doing this, as the folks that work at Karanda do this regularly. We sent a Land Cruser out to Karanda with one of the full time missionaries Sunday morning absolutely packed with all of our suitcases (except an overnight bag). All four Epperlys, John's mom, and the three of us crammed in to an extended cab pick up and made the two and a half hour trek to Karanda today. The drive to Karanda was absolutely breathtaking. We drove over relatively well maintained roads, except for the last 7 kilometers, which was a dirt road. Through the lush hill mountainous country side we drove during the first half of the trip, mountainous terrain silhouetting against mountainous shadows in on the skyline, tulip trees in full bloom. People, goats, and cattle lined the road as we made our way to the hospital. At the end of the trek, we actually drove through a river and then up the steep hill to the hospital.

We met some of the staff here, unloaded our things, and fell asleep. I am excited to see what today brings.

From Zimbabwe with love

To everyone who has anxiously awaited news from our end, I sincerely appologize. We're still here in Harare, Zimbabwe awaiting full time TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission) people who have been at conference in South Africa. The trip to Harare was brutal, all told carting 16 checked pieces of luggage, two car seats, two strollers, three kids, and all of our carry-on items (which would never have been allowed on the airplane if somebody stopped to actually wiegh them). After 27 hours of travel time, thankfully, we arrived in Harare with all of our baggage intact (basically). We were missing both of our strollers, though- one of which has been recovered. Traveling with kids makes adjusting to the time difference (we are 8 hours ahead of most of you) very...interesting. So, we've been thankful for the down time in Harare. Really, Abigail and all of the kids did very well during the trip and managed to befriend lots of the travelers around us. I was so proud of her.
We're staying at the TEAM guest house here, which is very beautiful. The temperature is very pleasant here in Harare, probably 80 degrees and sunny with a cool breeze. As I sit in the office of the guest house, a cool floral scent drifts in from the doorway. It's the rainy season and everything is very green and in bloom. The grounds of the guesthouse has mango, orange, lemon, guava, papaya, avacado, and apple trees growing in it. Most of them are small, but the variety is impressive by any standards. Marshall, the wonderful grounds keeper who lives on the grounds, has a huge garden whose beans, corn, butternut squash, peppers, and potatoes are thriving in this rainy season. Nearly daily we have a downpour, but it is short lived and overall the weather in Harare is very pleasant. I am told that when at Karanda, in the valley, the temperatures are much higher.
Zimabwe is an interesting country. I'm still trying to sort out how most things work around here. Power is a real problem, which is one reason I've not written yet. We experience frequent, unpredictable blackouts on a daily basis. The power is off now and I'm working on generator power. This causes major issues with communications, industry, food storage, and standard of living. According to Lil, the very sweet secretary here, problems with water have been similair in the past. Though we boil and purify all of our water, we have a constant supply of it and I have no worry about that currently. We've had a chance to go to the local grocery store while we have this down time in Harare. I have been surprised by the variety available at the store. Just last year, the International Fellow at the time told me there was very little food on the shelves of the grocery store. According to Marshall, Zimbabwe adopted the US dollar as it's currency in 2008 or so and since that time things have gotten much better. The Zimbabwean dollar is now only used for payment for minibus transit. The Zimbabwean dollar has declined in value by 23 decimal places, according to our hosts here. I believe that the exchange rate would be something like 6 trillion zim dollars to one US dollar. This hyperinflation has been solved by adopting a new currency. It's just mind blowing.
As we adjust to the major time difference, we have had a chance to spend lots of time together as a family reading, playing with play-doh, and walking around the grounds of the guest house. We feel very safe here and we're eating quite well. No one has gotten ill yet, and we pray for good health. We look forward to heading to Karanda, about 3 hours from here, in the next couple of days. As of yet, we cannot get any of our laptops to connect to Internet, so emailing is sparse and our phone number and skype will not work until we find a way to have our laptops connected. We appreciate all the emails though - it is so nice to hear from people from home! We apologize for not being able to write back as frequently as we would like, but please know your communication is much appreciated!!!! We miss you all!