Golf and Worms!

Hi Kids!

So, this week we had a couple of new experiences, well, I did anyway. One was fun, one was not so fun.

     On Monday I got a call from Amalia, the District Young Women president saying that 'Reeve' was in town and I could come and meet her. Reeve is part of a humanitarian group called Eyes 4 Zimbabwe. She was a professional golfer, and now is a golf coach for professional golfers on the European tour. She grew up, and still lives, in Zimbabwe. She's in her 40's, never married, and has more zest and energy than the Ever-Ready bunny. Eighteen years ago she and one of the golfers that she coaches (from South Africa) started a non-profit called Eyes 4 Zimbabwe when they paid $20 for a blind girl to have a cataract operation that restored her sight. Since then, another golfer (from Norway) has joined them and the three of them do charity golf events to raise money for all kinds of charity work. They were the ones that gave all the donated items for the YW camp and YM's camp here in Beira (our city) last year. They do AMAZING things!! Three single women going to the scariest - and neediest - parts of the world giving food, supplies, immunizations, medical help, etc.  

  Me and Amalia w/the three blondes

  

The church gives them a lot of the supplies that they give away like the hygiene kits, blankets, etc.  Oh yeah, they are on a first name basis with President Uchdorf (well, at least he calls them by their first name) and other church authorities.  And they are a total crack-up!!  Reeve and CeeCee (the one from Norway) have ADHD for sure! Ok back to the story:

     I got to know Reeve because when the supplies were donated for the church camps, I asked Amalia who did it and told her that I would send pictures of the girls to thank them.

   I sent the pictures to Reeve, along with a thank you note, and that's how I got on an email list that she sends out to the donors and other people. So, I have emailed her and gotten to know her a bit through the emails but never met her. I was so excited when Amalia called because I had been curious and wanted to meet her! Your dad was less so. The three women, Reeve, CeeCee, and Lolly were at the local golf course - which is more like a plowed, muddy field, depending on how much rain we have had. They were giving golf lessons to VIPS, like the guy that oversees the port, to help grease the wheels and get the donated things into the country. Dad dropped me off there. I walked through the mud and finally found them out on a putting green, of sorts.

   Some TV news people were there filming and interviewing them. They are chalk full of stories and enthusiasm!

  
 When they were wrapping up, I called Dad to come and get me. He came over to meet them and we took a picture with everybody. 

     Then they asked if your dad and I wanted to come to lunch with them so we said 'sure' and we all headed to a restaurant. 

  
The humanitarian work has become a family affair and Reeve's parents and her younger sister, Rachel, and Rachel's two sons were there because it was a school holiday. Rachel is the delivery gal and drives the things into some pretty scary areas. 

   Here's Rachel passing Costco candy out to kids at a playground across the street from the restaurant. 

 

It was so fun  and interesting to visit with them and hear their personal stories, their adventures, and about all the things that they have done throughout the world. As Dad said on the way home, "It's pretty amazing that three single women can band together and accomplish so much good." They really have done things that we all dream of being able to do and they are making it happen despite the red-tape, graft, safety issues, and huge odds against them. Doing good in a third world country, especially sustainable good, is very difficult to do. 

 

     The next day, we found out that the apartment across the hall from us was robbed last Sunday at 2am. Fortunately, the guy was out of town but we have decided to be more cautious about using our deadbolt all the time. 

 

     Wednesday, Sandi and I went back to our new seamstress to pick up the things we had ordered. I tried my dress on and it was too big so he altered it on the spot but it took another try-on until he got it right. Here is where they cut the clothes out - on the ground...

     Thursday, two girls from my English class, Elizabeth and Antonia, stopped to visit with me. (I love the names here. They are either totally African - like Takunda or Zeka - or they're European, like Elsa, Olga, Antonia.) But I was editing a paper for Chanelle and had to finish it before class so I gave them my ipad and showed them how to play videos on lds.org and they watched  movies while I edited. I was in such a hurry that I forgot to take their picture.... I finished the paper and they rode with me to class.

 

     Saturday I was stir-crazy, so when Dad had to do stuff in town I went along and had him drop me off to go browsing. I can not go into the heart of town by myself, but I felt safe enough on the main road. I went to a couple of capalana shops and got the fabric to make your African outfits. Get excited for our African Christmas picture!!! It is going to be great!! I promise.....cross my heart. ;)

 

      Sunday I woke up so sick! I had been feeling progressively yucky all week and thought it was a case of the flu, but I didn't have any symptoms other than a really upset stomach. After some WebMD/do-it-yourself research and diagnosing the night before, I decided I might have worms. I told Sandi and they stopped by before they went to church and gave me de-worm medicine. (I thought of the dog we had growing up.;)  They said it starts to work and flushes you out pretty fast and that I better stay close to a bathroom  (blech!) so I stayed home from church. I took the pill and waited. Nothing happened... Still nothing happened.... I went to bed that night and still nothing.

    The next morning I woke up and boom! No more worms and no more symptoms - yippee!! It's really unbelievable that one little pill could get rid of a bunch of worms and make me better just like that!  Poof!  Gone!  It is one of the things that is so lacking here - basic medical care.  One of my 'tea-party' girls comes to my English class and one time I noticed that she didn't feel good. I asked her what was wrong and she said that she had a really bad headache. So I gave her an ibuprofen.  In about 20 minutes, the grimace on her face was gone.  It was a miracle to her! Such a simple thing. If we get a bad cut, we put Neosporin and a band-aid on it and it's better in a few days. Here, it gets infected from the dirt and contaminated water and turns septic and they get sick, lose a limb, or die. We do not get typhoid in the U.S. because our water is clean, malaria because we spray for mosquitoes, or go blind because we do not have the crazy eye infections that they have here, and we can get cataract surgery easily. There are so many things that we take for granted at home and access to medicine and medical care is one of them.  Ok, I'm done musing and am happy to report that I am worm-free!!

 

    Well, this email had a lot of talking and not many pictures so here are some random ones:

Elders Oryang and Probst taking their full propane tank home. These things are so heavy! All the missionary's stoves use propane and they have to exchange them for a full one when they empty out.

      

    Overturned truck in the middle of the highway. No tow-truck in sight - all the cars got backed up and had to take turns going around it...

Doing sharing time in our "outintheback garage" primary room. 

'Sitting on the porch' in Africa is not like it is in the U.S. - for one thing, you are sitting on the ground; for another, you get eaten alive by mosquitoes...but these guys do have electricity!

   
   This is Costancia with her daughter.  She was just released as the Relief Society President. She is sweet and faithful. 

This is one of the few dumpsters around. Some of the garbage makes it in and some not. And sometimes people are IN the dumpster going through the garbage. I tried to take a picture of the big swarm of flies flying about this one, but they do not show up in the photo. Take my word for it - they are there!

These guys were playing in front of this house and they jumped in the picture. I wanted a picture of the front door. It is a shack but the flip flops are taken off and lined up at the door. 

The older boy horsed around and put his bottle up like a pair of glasses. 

You can not tell, but this street is really more like a wide dirt path through the neighborhood. It was not even wide enough for us to turn around on. The wall of a building was right next to my window and this boy walked past with his baby brother on his back. So I rolled my window down and asked if I could take his picture. 

Ok, that's it! We love you more than you know, and even more than that!!