Cloves and Honey

Our teeney weenie obscure island just happens to be the world's largest producer of cloves (you know, that spice you use once a year). This is what they look like while they are still on the tree. It is estimated that 75%-80% of the world's cloves are grown here.

You would think that this would make the people rich here, however, the government controls all the cloves. It is illegal for anyone to sell cloves except to the government itself. People will pick them and dry them and then the government buys all the cloves for a fraction of the price of what they are worth and then they sell them in the global market. It's so bad that there's actually a Black Market for cloves! Police checkpoints have gone up all over the island checking all the busses and trucks for hidden cloves. There is more military on the island during clove season than during elections, riots and/or any other security reason combined.

This is what they look like before they are dried. (up) And after. (down)

During clove season the streets are lined with mats like these with people all trying to dry their cloves. It is wonderful as you walk or drive around...the entire island smells like Christmas.

One of the specialty items you can find on the island is Clove Honey. The population of clove trees is so pure and huge in some areas that the bees will fly far and wide and ONLY find clove trees. This makes their honey take on a very unique, spiced taste. We might be the only place in the world with that capability.

Justin went with his friend Omar to his farm to help pick cloves. There (and everywhere he goes) he kept his eyes open for natural bee hives. The local way is to break open the hive and run. Later, return and grab as much honey as you can and run again. Most of the honey we find is watered down because it's just so hard to get any quantity!

Another problem to solve! Justin took his ideas and research back to the workshop and has been building Top Bar Bee Hives. It allows the locals to cultivate and harvest the honey much more effectively and safely!

His plan is to build hundreds of these babies to give to the locals who are already in the business. And we hope to continue to enjoy this liquid bronze, spiced Clove Honey. Want some?

Another week

Today Sandy and I took off for an hour or two of no-kid time. It was wonderful; to talk and talk and talk with our only interruptors being ourselves is quite unusual. We thankfully get to do this every other Friday.

The men and kids joined us later to swim till they could swim no more (well, that never really happens, does it?) and then home we headed. We arrived home at a late but alright 6:30, and I rushed to the kitchen to pop the home-made and left rising bread in the oven. Oh but wait, I forgot to add yeast in the dough.

Would you believe that the fastest course of action was to literally re-do the bread and let it rise and then bake? So it's 8:15, we finally have eaten and we are preparing for bed. By preparing I mean that Justin is sitting on the couch with his 3 little girls watching (at TOP volume may I add) Star Wars Episode 2. He's decided to introduce them to the finer things in life. And I blog.

These are some random pictures of some of our friends. This is Omar and his second wife Mariam. They have 4 kids together. He has 6 kids with Aziah, plus her older 2 girls she had when they married, and now another on the way. It makes me tired to just type all that. They are our dearest friends here and have been invaluable in our settling in. Please pray for them as we seek to be light and salt.

This is sweet little Mariam, the fourth I know. She is staying with her grandma of the same name who already cares for her 2 year old cousin of the same name while her mom had a new baby and is recovering. She is such a delight! She laughs all the time, her smile beaming, her language comprehensible to me. Yep, I'm tracking with a 3 year old.

In adult education news, Justin is finishing up writing a grant for supplies, computers, etc. The only problem is that we don't have a building for said supplies! He is looking at land, but it would take maybe a year to get that settled and something built. Just then, a nice house right down the road goes up for rent/sale. Our minds are whirling with possibilities and ideas and dreams. Please pray for us to wait on and listen to God's plan. Please pray for us as we seek to do GOOD for this place and these people...including the ultimate GOOD. Thanks and we love you!

A Rough Sounding Week

And yet, not so bad. For several days leading up to Valentine's Day, our water inflow was reduced to a trickle, enough to keep up if we were careful. Then Wednesday morning, we awoke to an empty tank. We usually only get piped water every few days, but we've never RUN OUT before. We got some buckets of water from the neighbor's and got through the day, hopeful for water soon.

Only it never came. Something bad happened to our old pump station and a new one is being built. That is all we know. Soon, they say. So I have gone tribal. Every day we're driving down the road (I know, very un-tribal) to collect buckets and jugs and basins of water from a spicket. I carry them on my head back to the car...nice, huh? I've been doing dishes in buckets around my feet in the yard. I've learned to bathe all 3 girls with about one gallon of water. On bad days, I've learned to bathe myself in the run-off of that. And the kicker? It's kind of cool. I feel a certain sense of pride in front of, if not sister-hood with the ladies who stop to stare at the pale skinned woman trying to balance water on her head, with both hands helping.

We've also had an unusual spike in power outages, to perfectly coincide with the sudden cessation of the blissful Kaskazi Winds. Hot season is blasting, but it's fun to know we're on the downslope. And while most news has been on the bad side, we got some awesome red snapper for dinner last night!

What else...oh, yes, school. I've had a new batch of 12-14 year olds join up and shed a whole new light on the sad state of the schools here. I was trying to teach a 14 year old (yes, these kids all GO to school every day) the sounds of the letters of the Alphabet. I chose his name to write down as the example word for his first initial. He stared blankly. His NAME. The one he CAN write when given time and concentration, but which he could not recognize.

The classrooms are packed here. If the kid fails to learn to read in Kindergarten, or whenever it is they attempt to teach them this skill, then this kid will never learn...and will struggle to learn any material the rest of of his or her life. Secondly, teachers are supposed to teach in English (I can certify that THAT isn't happening well since the English teacher can't speak English), exams are given in English starting in 8th-ish grade, and if the student does not pass their final exams in 10th grade, they go home done. This year, out of probably 100 kids in the 10th grade, THREE passed in our town. THREE. Justin heard word that there were many, many schools where NO-ONE passed.

Hence our continuing NEED to get an adult education center up and running. Teacher training is absolutely critical and desperately needed. Please be praying for me as I make my teensy dent in illiteracy, and pray for the characters involved in the process that everyone will move things along swiftly. And while we work to make practical life better for these islanders, pray that we can touch their souls.

Nearly Walking on the Water

Justin got the exciting opportunity to experience God's hand reaching out to sea when his boat literally sank on Tuesday.

He and 4 other men had gone to the next Water Desalination Machine location...a tiny island maybe an hour's boat ride off of our island. The island is so small, they cannot dig freshwater wells, they just hit salt water. Consequently, they rely on hand-carved wooden sailboats to go get water from the port city on our island. Every day of the year. Hopefully.

There are about 500 people who live on this island; mostly fishermen and their families who farm what they can. Justin went to finalize the best location for the newmachine, plus look at finishing the half-built school.

On the way back, the boat must have hit something and a golf-ball sized hole opened up in the bottom of the boat! Justin and the guy working on the school waterproofed their things and called for help, while others began bailing as fast as they could. Realizing they were far away from land, they made a plan with 2 of the local guys who did NOT know how to swim to TRUST Justin and the other guy who did and let them swim them to safety without panicking. The other local was on his own I guess.

Just then, on the horizon, a small fishing boat was seen! They flagged down the other boat which arrived just as the boat they were on filled completely up with water.

Now, my husband is the best swimmer I know. He can swim with all 3 of my children on his back. But this is a different story, and we thank God that it's one with a GOOD ending!

Kitabu Club

Kitabu is Book in Swahili, and Miss Sandy came up with the idea to have a once a month, girls only book club. Our first Meeting was right before Papa came.

We read a book called "Birdie's Big Girl Shoes" about a little girl who wanted to wear her mama's fancy high heels so badly, but found out that there's a lot of things you CAN'T do in high heels.

Then the girls decorated cut outs of high heels and wrote all the things they CAN do in their beautiful bare feet.

Then they got to decorate those beautiful bare feet, plus eat high heeled shaped brownies. It was awesome. The very next day they started asking when "next month" is.

Poor Braelyn got left at home for this Ladies' time. You would think she'd be used to it by now.

And sometimes she is. She is usually quite content to dig in the sand by her shade-sitting mama at the beach. But she's getting more and more interested in that water! Last week she went in the water with floaties on her arms and an inner tube around her waist! Add the floppy hat on her head and it was awesome.

Papa's Here!

After some 56 hours of travel from India, Papa made it to our house! And what a joy it has been. Almost immediately, the constant repeating of "mama, mama, mama, mama" became blissfully interspersed with "papa, papa, papa, papa"! The girls have loved touring him around our house and island, showing him every detail and telling him every story they can think of.

He also brought loads of presents, coloring books, allergy medicine (hooray, it works!) and a precious book from my mom that has her recorded reading it to us. I wonder how long those batteries will last!

The first evening we decided to go have a picnic on the beach and the girls were thrilled to have him go splash around with them in their Indian Ocean as the sun set behind the clouds and wooden sailboats.

One morning we awoke to quite a thunderous commotion and went outside to find a couple young men unloading the coconut trees of their burdens. Can you see the tiny speck of red half way up the tallest tree? That's the guy's shirt!

It has been so good to show my daddy my home, the place my heart now loves and longs to share with people. It's been fun catching up on family news and having someone relieve Justin of his burden of being my only regular conversation outlet. We are reminded again that our greatest sacrifice in living way over here is missing you. Thanks for coming, Papa, thanks for sharing him Mama, thanks for supporting him dear Colorado friends!

January Rolls On

Here's 5 of the 7 fair maidens...watching the valiant men

jump themselves silly. Don't worry, they got their turn next.

Hunter has been surging forward in her school; it's so fun to be surprised when she picks up a book and just reads out the lines...with inflection and enthusiasm and punctuation.

We split up to divide and conquer when going to the capitol city last week. Hunter finally wore out and asked to stay in the car, I walked away with one sister, leaving Justin to lock her up. When I returned first, I noticed a suspicious quietness coming from the engine. Hunter unlocked her door, red and sweaty, and handed me this note. It reads: Dad, I hav a het rash and u, left, me in the; kr, with it, off. I cracked up! Love all the punctuation too.

She also has nearly mastered her 2 wheeler! This is Mr. Chris taking her out for a jog down the road. They leave the day after tomorrow, sadly. We'll miss you!

In other news, we have welcomed another niece into the world! Adding the precious girls whose births we have missed up to four. THIS is one of my biggest sacrifices living here. Please pray with us for our new niece who was born 5 weeks early. Pray for her breathing and heart to be strong and healthy, and for her mama to recover quickly, rest enough, and have peace as she waits for her little girl to come home.

Thanks for all your love and prayers! Keep it up!