july 15th, 2006

Sorry. I am posting this later than I had planned. Had to make a trip to urgent care with Joel because, well, he sucked at breathing. Turns out his has Reactive Airway Disease. Which can result in acute asthma attacks when suffering from viral illnesses, such as the common cold. Like today. After a breathing treatment, Joel felt much better. So much better, in fact, that he worked himself up into a near attack from being so silly. Ending in another breathing treatment. I foresee a long road ahead. At least we are now equipped with what we need.
Now that I have explained my day, on to Africa. Rather lengthy post. And many, many pictures (it was a Saturday and we traveled several hours to spend the day at an orphanage in a distant village, Nhamantanda).

July 15th, 2006
"On the way to Nhamantanda, a few people busted put with mp3 players and i-pods. We listened to so much music and jammed out a... majority of the way! About 1/2 way to our destination, we arrived at a bridge. Everyone got out to walk across the bridge and take pictures along the way. I got a few good shots of me being "thrown" over the bridge and of me "jumping" over. It was neat to travel further out of our normal areas. I love Manga and Beira, but it was just great to see something different.*** "We first brought out the parachute. That lasted about 20 minutes. The kids at the orphanage were very well behaved, yet crazy at the same time... After the parachute, Eric helped me to teach a group of kids how to make paper helicopters. Within 10 minutes there were about 50 abandoned helicopters on the ground... Cuca, Jessica, and Julie had bubbles out, so the kids went straight for the bubbles. They were having so much fun trying to catch and pop the bubbles!... Then, out of no where, the kids lost interest in the bubbles and headed straight for Jenna, Linda, and Cuca, who had marbles. Kids were just jumping and clawing for marbles!*** "All of the orphans sat on their mat in the yard while our volunteer team was ushered into a round, open hut. As everyone was grabbing seats, two men came around to wash our hands. One man was holding a tub while the other man had a pitcher of fresh water. The man with the pitcher would pour water over our hands while the man with the tub would place the tub underneath our hands to catch the falling water. A towel was also passed around to dry our hands. Next, a man came around to each of us with a coke and a fanta for us to choose from. The director/minister of the orphanage then had Julie bless the food. There were french fries, noodles, roasted chicken, salad, and tangerines. It was such a feast! I took a big helping of everything. Our group felt somewhat uncomfortable eating there because the orphans ate on the dirt, rice and beans, while we ate "indoors". I think our group ate all food that was offered to us because we didn't want to waste anything.
*** "Eric said he was going with Abelio to get food for the orphanage to last the next two months. Nikki and I jumped at the chance to go too! We hopped into the Landrover and drove down the path to a market. Right after crossing the train tracks, a ball rolled into the street. Abelio slowed down to a snails pace so the kids could run out and get it, but they didn't budge. Abelio even stopped, but nothing so he kept going and BAM... the ball busted open. The kids looked at us in horror. Nikki and I were flipping out! We almost cried... To make matters worse, the shop we went to ended up being a shop right where the ball incident happened. Abelio and Eric went in to buy rice and beans, so Nikki & I stayed in the car... Before long, this grown guy walks up, holding the broken ball. He kept getting closer and closer to me, demanding something about "money" and "ball" from Nikki and I. We were freaking out! He was less than a foot away, holding the ball in my face, and I just yelled for Eric. Nothing. I yelled again. Nothing still. I tried a third time and he finally came out. He started speaking Portuguese with the man and the man sort of backed off. Eric went back inside and the moment he did, the man started getting closer and closer. This time, Abelio came out to deal with him... I felt very uncomfortable because of my skin color at that moment.*** "We arrived back at the orphanage to find the children in two perfectly straight lines, looking at Cuca. Cuca was holding up a toothbrush, speaking to the kids about brushing their teeth. The best part was when he held up the tube of toothpaste and asked the orphans what it was. "Colgate" was the reply. Everyone on our team laughed while Cuca explained - no, no, no, it's toothpaste!*** "We urged the girls to dance and sing for us (we heard they did amazing dances for the last CFL team). It was so amazing! I can't even describe what the singing and movements were like!*** [After returning from Nhamantanda] "The Buenos' was pretty neat. Everyone jumped at the chance to use the internet... Just as I was giving Rolf his computer back, the CFL cell phone rang... My mom AND dad were both on the phone! We talked for a good 20 minutes. I think I answered most of the questions that they had for me. When I hung up, I went to the bathroom. I had to go so bad! As I was doing my business, I heard this voice that sounded like it was coming from right next to me. I looked behind me to find a window - wide open, blinds up! There is a water tower right outside and right in full view was Aaron, climbing up the ladder of the water tower. I was mortified! I grabbed for the string of the blinds, but they wouldn't go down! Finally, after pulling the string every which way, the blinds went down. As I let go of the string, Aaron shyly said, "Oh! Sorry Leigh". I wanted to die. That is probably the most embarrassing moment of my life."
Okay. I REALLY put myself out there with that last little part. And that was, by far, the most embarrassing moment of my life. Hands down. Seriously. Sorry if it was an over-share. And congrats for making it through the worlds longest post. It was a very busy day. I look forward to tomorrow's post... major turning point on the trip. Mozambique's permanent mark on me.