hopefully some piccies

The internet here is slower than a slug with a limp, however I will try and get some piccies of various stuff above feeding kids in miezie

Kids just love trucks. our Luxurious mode of transport

Children look after kids and often act as mothers at an early age

cathy feeding worming pills to kids to make sure that their meagre meals aren't shared with other abdominal dinner time guests

More beans please could you resist her?

Plumbing...... Ha ha ha!

Today, every tap we have turned on, here at Iris Pemba, has had water coming out of it!!! How amazing is that! What a miracle! How blessed are we! Hmm. You might not be as impressed as us at this news. However, given that we went for about 5 days when there was almost no running water, the last 2 days of non-stop working taps has been quite wonderful.

During this lack of plumbing technology, running water was provided by pouring it over yourself out of a bucket or bottle or jug. Or whatever. Toilet facilities became very basic. Pemba is very used to lack of water, so there are some luxury latrines for these eventualities, which are home to multiple hoardes of some of the largest cockroaches to walk the earth. Catherine was most distressed to discover that these creatures not only scuttle but can also fly. Book reading in the bog became obselete as a pass time.

Insects are generally bigger over here. Some of the ants are particularly huge. We quite like the lizards and geckos that hang about in the bathrooms.

Last Thursday, we visited the local jail to chat and pray with some of the inmates. We are hopefully going to the main jail tomorrow morning. This will probably be more secure than the local jail which had three rather sleepy looking guards and very little security. Most of the prisoners seemed fairly content not to escape.

The internet, fairly typically for here, is being somewhat temperamental. So this will probably be a pictureless post. I am currently sitting in an air conditioned internet room at the Pemba Beach Hotel. The Pemba beach hotel is a slightly surreal place to be. An oasis of luxury that is quite incongruous compared to the area around.

Yesterday Andy and I spent 4 hours with some of the Korean team, putting about two and a half metric tonnes of food into bags for the disribution of food to widows, which they do here every 2 weeks. Catering at Iris is on a truly industrial scale. They feed 70,000 people every day at their 19 bases in Africa. On Saturday, we went to a villlage called Meize, where they now have an orphanage and a church. About 450 children from the village had come for a church service and for lunch. We gave worming tablets to all the children who had come and then lunch both for them and the children from the orphanage. The 60 children in the orphanage are children from the village who quite literally have no relatives left to look after them.

Last week we got to spend a night in the bush, taking part in an outreach to a village. We got there on the back of a truck. Which seems to be how most people in Africa travel. At the outreach, they showed a copy of the Jesus film, dubbed into Makhua, the local language. then they offer people the opportunity to become Christians and get prayer for healing. As the visitting people, we were tasked with the job of providing said prayer. The whole thing was somewhat bewildering. Lots of people seemed to get healed though. Including a man andy and I prayed for, who went to the front to say that he had regained the sight in his left eye. It had certainly looked better, but as he'd shown absolutely no reaction at all, we were really slightly stunned to hear him claiming to be better.

today we are chilling out mainly. And sweating. it rained this morning so humidity is really high.

Update...

We were able to visit a number of schools with YFC during our last couple of days. YFC runs something called a peer education programme. A number of teenagers volunteer to become peer educators. They then stay behind some days after school to learn leadership skills and to campaign and learn about healthy lifestyles , abstinence etc.
When we saw the young people they were finding out about resources in their local communities and campaigning for change on various issues in their communities.
We were really impressed by the passion and commitment of these young people. And the intelligent debate and discussion they were having.
…………………………………………………..

We flew from Nelspruit, via a stop over in Jo burg, to Mozambique. Our journey was not uneventful. First our luggage did a trip to goodness knows where, whilst we were in Jo burg without it. We stayed at a fantastic guest house, where we were plied with beer and steak. And sampled biltong made from game shot by our hosts. Biltong, for those of you who don’t know, is a dried, cured meat. Beloved by South Africans and regarded with suspicion by others. Particularly Cathy, who has not enjoyed it at all previously. It’s a bit like chewing boot leather. This, however, was really very nice biltong. Made mainly from impala (see previous entry for illustration).
Our luggage was found before we left for Mozambique, and met us in Pemba.
Just as we were having the safety announcement on the tarmac in Johannesburg, one of the passengers shouted out “hey! Wait! Something just fell off the engine!” Apparently it was the exhaust cover. We were delayed a short time whilst the engineers fixed it. Not a comforting start to the trip – but quite amusing.
……………………………………………..
Mozambique is hot. Really really hot…. And humid. We are staying in a compound opposite Pemba beach. The beach is beautiful. Our accommodation is basic. There is water some of the time and electricity most of the time. Food is usually rice and beans. Great for the constitution. Although yesterday, rather excitingly, we had creamed spinach and beans. There was also a party of Koreans who had a range of bizarre but interesting local foods with them. Which they invited us to sample. Andy did so with great gusto. I was a little more cautious. The chilli sauce was tasty but vicious.
About 200 orphans live here. They feed people from the village most days, usually feeding 1800 people a day in total. There is also a school for about 800 children, a training school for pastors and a sewing school for local women. They also have a mechanical workshop, carpentry and do well digging. So far we have mainly been getting used to the weather and playing with the children, who are delighted to have some attention and someone new whose hair they can braid. Not a gentle process!!!We were able to visit a number of schools with YFC during our last couple of days. YFC runs something called a peer education programme. A number of teenagers volunteer to become peer educators. They then stay behind some days after school to learn leadership skills and to campaign and learn about healthy lifestyles , abstinence etc.
When we saw the young people they were finding out about resources in their local communities and campaigning for change on various issues in their communities.
We were really impressed by the passion and commitment of these young people. And the intelligent debate and discussion they were having.
…………………………………………………..

We flew from Nelspruit, via a stop over in Jo burg, to Mozambique. Our journey was not uneventful. First our luggage did a trip to goodness knows where, whilst we were in Jo burg without it. We stayed at a fantastic guest house, where we were plied with beer and steak. And sampled biltong made from game shot by our hosts. Biltong, for those of you who don’t know, is a dried, cured meat. Beloved by South Africans and regarded with suspicion by others. Particularly Cathy, who has not enjoyed it at all previously. It’s a bit like chewing boot leather. This, however, was really very nice biltong. Made mainly from impala (see previous entry for illustration).
Our luggage was found before we left for Mozambique, and met us in Pemba.
Just as we were having the safety announcement on the tarmac in Johannesburg, one of the passengers shouted out “hey! Wait! Something just fell off the engine!” Apparently it was the exhaust cover. We were delayed a short time whilst the engineers fixed it. Not a comforting start to the trip – but quite amusing.
……………………………………………..
Mozambique is hot. Really really hot…. And humid. We are staying in a compound opposite Pemba beach. The beach is beautiful. Our accommodation is basic. There is water some of the time and electricity most of the time. Food is usually rice and beans. Great for the constitution. Although yesterday, rather excitingly, we had creamed spinach and beans. There was also a party of Koreans who had a range of bizarre but interesting local foods with them. Which they invited us to sample. Andy did so with great gusto. I was a little more cautious. The chilli sauce was tasty but vicious.
About 200 orphans live here. They feed people from the village most days, usually feeding 1800 people a day in total. There is also a school for about 800 children, a training school for pastors and a sewing school for local women. They also have a mechanical workshop, carpentry and do well digging. So far we have mainly been getting used to the weather and playing with the children, who are delighted to have some attention and someone new whose hair they can braid. Not a gentle process!!!We were able to visit a number of schools with YFC during our last couple of days. YFC runs something called a peer education programme. A number of teenagers volunteer to become peer educators. They then stay behind some days after school to learn leadership skills and to campaign and learn about healthy lifestyles , abstinence etc.
When we saw the young people they were finding out about resources in their local communities and campaigning for change on various issues in their communities.
We were really impressed by the passion and commitment of these young people. And the intelligent debate and discussion they were having.
…………………………………………………..

We flew from Nelspruit, via a stop over in Jo burg, to Mozambique. Our journey was not uneventful. First our luggage did a trip to goodness knows where, whilst we were in Jo burg without it. We stayed at a fantastic guest house, where we were plied with beer and steak. And sampled biltong made from game shot by our hosts. Biltong, for those of you who don’t know, is a dried, cured meat. Beloved by South Africans and regarded with suspicion by others. Particularly Cathy, who has not enjoyed it at all previously. It’s a bit like chewing boot leather. This, however, was really very nice biltong. Made mainly from impala (see previous entry for illustration).
Our luggage was found before we left for Mozambique, and met us in Pemba.
Just as we were having the safety announcement on the tarmac in Johannesburg, one of the passengers shouted out “hey! Wait! Something just fell off the engine!” Apparently it was the exhaust cover. We were delayed a short time whilst the engineers fixed it. Not a comforting start to the trip – but quite amusing.
……………………………………………..
Mozambique is hot. Really really hot…. And humid. We are staying in a compound opposite Pemba beach. The beach is beautiful. Our accommodation is basic. There is water some of the time and electricity most of the time. Food is usually rice and beans. Great for the constitution. Although yesterday, rather excitingly, we had creamed spinach and beans. There was also a party of Koreans who had a range of bizarre but interesting local foods with them. Which they invited us to sample. Andy did so with great gusto. I was a little more cautious. The chilli sauce was tasty but vicious.
About 200 orphans live here. They feed people from the village most days, usually feeding 1800 people a day in total. There is also a school for about 800 children, a training school for pastors and a sewing school for local women. They also have a mechanical workshop, carpentry and do well digging. So far we have mainly been getting used to the weather and playing with the children, who are delighted to have some attention and someone new whose hair they can braid. Not a gentle process!!!