Wild Waters and Goodbyes

We spent a day at Wild Waters, a resort situated on an island within the Nile. To get there, we had to take a boat to the island, then walk the raised boardwalk past cute little forest cabins. We were able to step inside one to check it out. I love the outdoor soaking tub with a view of the rapids. Finally we arrived at the lounge overlooking a pool separated from the rapids by a short rock wall.

After settling in, we went for a walk.

An employee took us in search of snakes. We did manage to find one cobra, and while my husband saw it, I didn't. I did however see some cool spiders and Red-Tailed Monkeys with the cutest white heart-shaped noses.

As we were walking to the main road to catch our ride home, we came upon a troupe of Vervet Monkeys along the road.

We attended church at Arise Africa and really enjoyed the worship service and message. I am going to teach my children the songs they sang. They meet outside, under a tent.

As I now write this, I think back to the image my mind had constructed of where our friends live and it was so far from reality. Five years ago they were called to help children whom the culture marginalized. Not only have they made a big impact on the children and those within the nearby communities, they have created such a beautiful life for their family. While they don't have the many conveniences of the US, they do live in a town that offers more Westernized options than most. Their house is a beautiful, peaceful retreat that's more than a home. It's a gathering place for friends and loved ones. Some days a group of friends would show up with their lunch bags to have lunch together along the river. Another day they hosted a baby shower where so many people pitched in to make it a super special day for the expectant couple. This. This is the life. 

We love you Stef and Jared. Thank you for sharing a week of your beautiful life with us!

What I learned from the Maasi

I know some of you have questions about our time in Africa. I figured I'd tell you a bit of the cultural differences we noticed before I get to our conversations with the Maasi.

One of the first things we noticed in Kenya were the men with rifles. At first it's intimidating, but then you come to understand it's mainly a preventative measure. From what I could tell, every business, hotel, restaurant, etc was protected by not only a barbed wire enclosure with metal gate, but also armed security. Speaking of armed security, taking photos of any government buildings (and I'm guessing, persons) is prohibited. Even looking towards non-government buildings with binoculars can throw security into a tizzy. Ask me how I know. It was a tense few minutes spent explaining what binoculars are and reassure them about what they don't do.

This is a residential gate.

There are a wide variety of languages spoken across Africa. The people of Kenya speak English for business and schooling and Kiswahili (also known as Swahili) for everyday situations and then their own tribal language at home and within their community. Uganda is different. They speak English, Luganda and their tribe's language, but historically choose not to speak Swahili, even though there is a push to make it an official language thru more of Africa. Their resistance has much to do with how Swahili was used by soldiers in the past.

The Maasi are a pastoral, nomadic people. They treasure their livestock (mainly cattle) as currency. They are loose, so someone must keep watch over them at all times and keep them safe from not only vehicles, but lions and hyenas. They move quite often to graze them on new land, avoid bad weather or if someone dies. In that case, they bury them the same day and move along. In the past, they'd been able to move freely about, so they didn't really understand land ownership and its value. In the early 1900s treaties began pushing them out of the areas as they became designated national parks. In more recent years, other people knowing the value of the land asked if they could build on their property. When they said yes, they lost their ownership rights. The new people built a fence so the Maasi's cattle can no longer graze on it. Kenya experiences some very difficult droughts. During a recent and particularly horrible drought, in an act of desperation as cattle were dying in huge numbers, some Maasi let their cattle graze on someone elses' property and every single one was shot per the new land owner. What a tragedy for people whose only means of income and survival is based on livestock!

When it's time to move, each family member gathers belongings, which for some is merely a cup, plate, blanket and bedding before moving on to the next place. When they decide to settle down again, the women build a small, circular hut out of sticks with grass roofs and held together with hot, fresh cow dung. The house has just enough room for two beds (cow skins) and one small hole for a window which is necessary since they burn fires inside.

It's common for men to have multiple wives. One of our new friends told us her father had five wives and 29 children. A normal routine for her as a child was to wake at 4am in order to walk 4km to school and arrive by 8am. When school was finished at 4pm, she began her journey home, often barefoot, keeping watch for lions and hyenas along the way. Wow, and in most of the United States it's illegal to merely leave a child under 12 alone safe at home for any amount of time! People walk everywhere here. Alongside paved roads are worn, dirt roads nearly just as wide for pedestrians. Other modes of transportation are boda bodas (motorcycles where you sit behind the driver), tuk tuks (three-wheeled motorized rickshaws) or of course, the automobile.

If someone kills a lion, it's a sign that they are very brave and they wear the skin of it. They will then become an elder of the tribe.

They sometimes drink a fermented concoction of cow blood mixed with milk.

A young Maasi will greet an elder by walking up to them and bending at the waist. The elder will then touch the head of the person with his or her palm.

As I was swatting flies from myself, I was told having flies on you is a sign of wealth as "flies don't come to nothing". Our new friend from South Sudan told us in his country there are tiny flies that go right for the eyes resulting in many people going blind because of this belief that you shouldn't swat them.

While there is a push to educate people in Kenya and Uganda to stop harmful traditional practices, they still occur. Female genital mutilation, using bone setters and the practice of using cow dung to seal a newborn baby's umbilical cord, commonly lead to infections, hydrocephalus and death. It's sad to see a few simple changes could stop so much hurting for those who refuse to let go of those long-held traditions. One thing is certain- change is difficult no matter where you live.

The messiest week in South America

When I hear 'carnaval', instantly parade images of Rio de Janeiro come to mind, but this holiday, leading up to Lent, is celebrated all over South America. As Carnaval was aproaching friends warned us about being in public during the 4 day holiday weekend celebration (Saturday thru Tuesday), as anyone is fair game. Attending a parade, or merely being out in public during those four days, could end with you covered in water, raw eggs, paint, flour based paint, anything really. You do NOT want to wear your favorite clothing and you do want to protect your camera and any electronics!

A couple days later we ended up right smack in the middle of it when we went for lunch at El Jardin in Puyo. We had to walk thru a popular square where a number of people were standing along the street selling cans of colored spray foam, water balloons, and such. As we walked across the bridge, I was taking a photo of the mayhem when a young man reached over and put his paint-covered hand across my face. (You can see him walking towards us in this photo.) It was a shock, but also pretty funny. On the way back to the truck, we were sprayed with water, and witnessed a group tossing buckets of water from the bed of a truck, all in the name of good fun.

Our neighbor's hosted a Carnaval party for their church youth group and invited Asher and Journey to participate. It was a messy, fun party with water balloon fights, buckets of water, raw eggs and a relay race across a soapy tarp.

Another day (remember this is a FOUR day event) our neighbors decided to have us try a few fun challenges. Here the guys were competing against the ladies by passing a handful of flour over their heads from the front to the back of the line. I don't remember who won, but it was fun to watch.

We used black paint flour to mark our faces and arms or smear on each other. We took turns sliding across the soap-covered tarp, then had a water balloon fight that evolved into dumping full buckets on each other. Great memories were made with our new friends, our vecinos!

Why we ended up here {ITEC Ecuador}

Spending a good chunk of time immersed in a Spanish speaking culture has been high on our list for a couple years now. Though my husband is Cuban, he did not learn spanish at home. We both have a desire to be fluent in spanish and a strong desire for our children to learn the language while they are young. We thought our initial Spanish immersion experience would be in Spain, then it changed to Colombia, but shortly before our South American adventure began, we found our expertise could be of use in Ecuador, assisting an organization that was already dear to our hearts.

ITEC Ecuador trains indigenous Christ-followers to meet the physical needs of their community as a door opener for the gospel. They provide basic medical training for community health workers deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle. They teach people to use an iPad to record and edit a compelling video documenting the ways that the lives of themselves and those around them have changed as a result of their relationship with Jesus. This way they can easily share the gospel with others who speak the same language while avoiding the language and cultural barriers that many face when trying to share the gospel to people outside of their own culture. I was shocked to see how many people in very remote areas such as the jungles of Ecuador and the plains of Kenya, have smart phones and use them to watch and share videos.

ITEC is now self-funded by AeroFOR, an organization run by the same people thru which they build and sell airplanes and canoes, offer air transportation and are contracted to operate medivac services for sick and injured people deep in the jungle. Without this service, an injured person may have to endure a lengthy hike and/or canoe ride upstream to where a car can finally transport them to a hospital, a journey that can take days. It's been incredible to see the impact they have on those who depend on them to save the lives of people who would otherwise not make it to a hospital in time.

One of the 40ft canoes in production.

A completed canoe

A beautiful RV-10 nearing completion.

ITEC Ecuador produced and performed a musical, The Prince of Egypt, to a packed house in Puyo, a much larger city 10 minutes away. The two hour long musical told the story of Moses and the Israelites' exodus to a packed venue of about 400 guests. 200 custom costumes were created for this one night only show. It was a lovely way to bring to life the story of God's power and provision.

The story of ITEC really begins back in 1956 when 5 missionaries left this very same airstrip in Shell, never to return. They were killed by the people they had hoped to befriend. You can read about it HERE. Today, a yellow Piper airplane sits atop an oil drilling well in Shell's central park as a reminder of the history of the area.

With Galo's translation assistance, Daddy was able to share the miracle that happened when God saved his life during a deployment. Despite 17 broken bones plus lots of other injuries, he is here with us today, by the grace of God, the one and only true God who desires a relationship with each one of us. If you haven't yet experienced a real relationship with God, drop me a message and I'll be happy to share his and my own experiences with you. 

I recently finished reading Walking God's Trail, a book written by Steve and Ginny Saint sharing some of the ways that God has revealed himself in their lives. If you have ever wondered if God is real and if he cares about the details of our lives, this is a must read.

2019 {Year in Review}

2019 was an incredible year of new experiences for us. We spent five months living in Ecuador, one month in Colombia, then ended the year with a roadtrip from Florida to Ohio and Tennessee. While living in Shell, Ecuador, on the edge of the Amazon, we experienced earthquakes, and learned when you hear a "train", you run for cover, because that is the sound of serious rainfall headed your way! Asher and Journey attended an actual school for the first time ever, which of course was in Spanish! This freed up Daddy and I to be able to volunteer at ITEC Ecuador, helping with anything from cleaning to accounting to building canoes and airplanes! At school the kids learned to play futbol, and found you don't have to speak the same language to be friends. 

We spent time in the "ring of fire". Rode a tram 10,000ft up a volcano where we then explored on horseback, enjoyed lunch from the rim of one of only two inhabited volcano craters in the world.

We explored Cotopaxi National Park by car, on foot and on horseback and experienced blizzard conditions when we tried to hike up the snow-covered mountain.

In Mindo's cloud forest, we rode a cable car over a deep valley then hiked a popular trail past 7 waterfalls. I saw a Cock-of-the-Rock and a Long-Wattled Umbrellabird. 

Nicole and I spent a week birding like mad from the cloud forest, to the paramo of Cayambe Coca, to the Amazon jungle tallying 380 species of birds, while staying in numerous interesting places, meeting incredible people and improving my spanish. 

We spent four days in the Amazon learning what life is like for the Waodani people. We met Mincaye and Kimo, men who killed our friend's grandfather. The bigger shock is that same friend actually introduced us to these men who are now totally changed Christ-followers. We saw firsthand the power of redemption, forgiveness and true love. I watched Mincaye, hunched in his old age, walk barefoot thru the jungle holding the hand of his bride. If you only knew how she became his, you'd understand why I still get emotional thinking back to this memory. 

With the Waodani we planted crops (plantain and yucca) and ate monkey, piranha, wild boar and chontacuro (palm grubs- Asher) in the jungle. We experienced culture shock when we arrived, and again when we traded jungle life for a high-rise in Medellin. A visit to Comuna 13, one of the most dangerous locations at one time, gave us a new perspective on life and how much can change in a short time, both for the bad and the good. 

Back in the states, I had the pleasure of attending Night to Shine with my buddy, Lisa. We milked a cow for the first time at the Fugate homestead. The Obrien's showed us around Chattanooga and treated us to the aquarium. Daddy finally bought another Jeep Wrangler and began outfitting it for overlanding. 

In Florida the kids took classes in Batik art, archery, volleyball and tried indoor skydiving for the first time! They witnessed the birth of 8 puppies and observed their development and helped with their care. They also learned thru fostering that saying goodbye is hard, but it's still worth doing. Numerous trips to Tallahassee and Sarasota gave us time to spend with family. In Ohio we visited Chrissy & Shaun, toured Shawshank (Mansfield Penitentiary) and attended J's annual Halloween bash. When we left Ohio we had no way of knowing it would be two years before we'd be able to return (upcoming covid pandemic).