Of Ants and Snakes

Life has been busy for both of us as school was back in session on Monday.   We started the day with no electricity.  It had been out since sometime early Sunday morning.  In order to keep our food frozen/cold we opted not to open the refrigerator during that period of time (over 24 hours).  Made meal times quite interesting.  Power was finally restored late Monday morning. 

Brian’s story: Now I want you to close your eyes and imagine the following - okay I know you can't really close your eyes otherwise you couldn't read this. You wake up during the night and wonder why you had that cup of tea so late in the evening. Nature calls so off you go to the 'toilet'. As you relieve yourself you feel something on your leg. Probably one of those pesky mosquitoes no doubt. You swat and think it feels a little strange but hey it is the middle of the night and you are half asleep. But wait, something is on your other leg now. Note to self: must do something about all of these mosquitoes. Before you can move you realize that there are multiple `somethings’ on your leg. Being the calm person you are you immediately get out of there and turn on the light. Now your calmness is tested. You see a teaming mass of 'impazhi' - not sure if the spelling is correct. This teaming mass of ants is on the move and has guard ants that are two or three times the normal size. Their job is to protect and keep the column moving. They have huge pincers. They normally act as a group. They climb to a soft and vulnerable part and then start biting in unison. I didn't wait. I ran. .. yes pretty much ran,  to get the Doom. With Doom in my hand I started spraying the column that was making its way across the bathroom, out into the hall and then into the next room. I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed. They kept coming. 1large can of insecticide later they diverted and stopped coming through the house. I cleaned up in the morning. The pile of ants I swept up was about 10x10x7 high -cm that is - or 4" sq by 3" high. I did not count them but there were thousands. Apparently this happens on a fairly regular basis. The locals move out until the ants disappear. In their wake the house is bug free as the ants eat everything that is alive.

Jennifer’s story: Wednesday afternoon I am walking  home from school. I am enjoying the warmth and feeling blessed that this was the winter God chose to send us to Zambia. My musings are quickly halted by an alarming sight. There across my path, with its head up, I see my first large live snake. Now I am familiar with snakes at home. They can be up to a metre long. This one, however, was well on its way past 2 metres and getting close to 3 metres long as it stretched out from the tall grass! I hesitated a moment. The snake showed no signs of moving.  It had its head sticking up in the air watching me.  I made a very wide detour around it while keeping my eye on it making sure it didn't make any movement towards me. My heart was pounding but I remained calm as I walked past the snake. Keeping eyes on it I moved as quickly as possible to our neighbours house and asked him if he felt up to killing a snake - Brian was still at school oblivious to the danger I was facing.  (Note to Doraine:  I still maintain meeting a snake is easier than public speaking !)  By the time we returned the snake was gone.  I am trusting I will not meet it again. Probably just as well as the snake was too large to be killed easily except by a gun or someone really proficient with a sharp axe. We are still unsure if the snake was a black mamba as the only way to be really sure is to look in its mouth which is also black. Something I was not prepared to do at the time. Brian was delighted (was not) to point out later that the black mamba is known as the 30 minute snake because once it bites you, you have 30 minutes to say your goodbyes before you are dead. He is always such a ray of sunshine.

We had to say another goodbye as Genevieve, a medical student, returned to Australia after a 2 month stint here at the hospital but with every good bye it seems, there is a hello to someone new.  This week that was Dr. and Mrs. Carter who will be serving at the hospital for two months. We enjoyed a meal with them here while they told us about some of their many adventures serving in missions around the world.

Oh, and yes we received 3 Christmas cards today so we were delighted to read them even if they took 3 months to arrive.

So please continue to pray for us.
    - as evidence from above suggests, for our continued safety
    - for both of us as we take over the administration responsibilities at the school
    - for cultural sensitivity as we navigate through a few issues at school
    - for our health as we squeeze in walks and other activities to keep fit
    - for our spiritual growth as God stretches us