It has been almost a year and a half since my last blog posting. A lot has happened in the past year. We met our adult children in South Africa for Christmas 2013, explored Cape Town, Stellenbosch (wine country) and enjoyed a Safari at Lalibela Game reserve (near Port Elizabeth). My husband and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary in Zambia and Zimbabwe, visiting historic and awe inspiring Victoria Falls. These adventures helped to create many new family memories. As you can imagine, we took hundreds of pictures. Here are some of my favorites below. I had to share these with you before describing the year that followed. So please hang in there while I indulge in family trip pictures!
Daddy lion...how cool!
Well, Mr. Giraffe...who has the right of way? OK, got it!
Encountering this herd of elephants is amazing!
Hippos abound in the Zambezi River (Zambia).
The mighty Zambezi River at dusk.
A lion cub just "sitting around".
African penguins at Betty's Bay. "Happy Feet!"
Sailing the Indian Ocean.
Breath taking Victoria Falls...Zimbabwe view.
Now for the rest of the story....2014! As I've mentioned in several blogs, there are peaks and valleys to the expat life and you have to really enjoy the peaks and save up a reserve of joy for handling the valleys. So, in 2014, my husband and I used up a bit of our reserve joy when we encountered delays in obtaining visas for us to continue to stay in our home in Soyo. No worries though...we still have plenty of joy in our reserve! Visa delays are not uncommon in Angola. However, ours was a super-delay. We tend to be overachievers! With expiring visas imminent, we were sent to the US. My husband was able to continue his work remotely from Houston. After a few months of hotel living in Houston, I flew to North Carolina to help our daughter get settled into her senior year at college. Afterwards, I "moved in" with my sister and brother-in-law in North Carolina for what we thought would be a short stay. My husband returned to Soyo after his visa was issued. My visa was not issued until March 2015! Needless to say, I felt like a gypsy last year and I am so grateful to my sister and brother-in-law (and nephew!) for their amazing hospitality. It was a challenge for my husband and me to live apart for so long...but we are very grateful for the opportunities we had to see family and friends in 2014.
I returned to Soyo last month and have resumed my life here. Orlanda (our housekeeper) had kept our house nice and tidy while we were gone. Beta, our driver, made sure our plants in the yard were watered. We were very grateful for their support during our absence!
Beta's wife, Niclette, had baby girl, Ana, while we were gone!
The group of expats in Kimbumba slowly changed during our absence. Before our departure in April of 2014, we said goodbye to Pat & Mo, Craig & Kris and Joe & Linda (our neighbors). Pat and Joe retired and Craig went on to another assignment. We welcomed Ray & Lynn (our new neighbors), Paul & Jean, Melody & Richard. As always, the hellos are exciting and the goodbyes are so sad. The good news is that this day and age, technology allows you to keep in touch with the friends that leave. Also, new expats bring a fresh perspective and enthusiasm that help you to remember your first days in Soyo.
We were amazed at the wonderful changes that occurred at the Mpinda Mission School while we were gone. Thanks to everyone's generosity and to an effort by expats Victor & Miriam to involve the plant employees to provide labor on Sundays, there is now running water to showers for the girls' orphanage living quarters. There is also an outdoor covered area with sinks (and yes, running water!) and soon to come...some counter space. The 2 existing generators are now both working. There are new water holding tanks positioned to provide water pressure (hurray for gravity!). The nuns and resident girls are most appreciative of all of these improvements!
We were able to get in a few sessions with the first and second graders at Mpinda before their end of trimester exams began. Karen, our expat retired teacher, continues to lead the effort to come up with creative and age appropriate projects. We will be back to see the children in early June. My first day back with them last month reminded me of how much of a heart warming experience it is to work with these children who are so grateful for our time, new pencils, new projects, and our (sometimes hilarious) attempts to speak Portuguese to them. Rest assured, it is we, the expat ladies, who are blessed to spend this time with them! It is hard to describe the feeling that I get while I'm there that lingers for quite a while within me after I've left...let's just say, it fills my joy reserve.
New sinks and blocks awaiting tile for counter tops.
One of the newly configured water tanks.
Mpinda students making necklaces with string and beads.
Video of Mpinda students and teacher saying goodbye with their song!
Thanks to Sandra, one of our newest expat ladies who lives in Soyo and Luanda, we found out about another parish whose priest is in the process of getting a community gardening project at the Kikudo parish here in Soyo. When she met with him, he had already cleared an area behind the church and had many cans and containers filled with some starter plants. Melody, one of our new Kimbumba expat wives, has extensive gardening knowledge. She and I visited Padre Francisco to meet him and to see how the expats could help him with this self sustaining project. It has great potential to get the Kikudo community involved and to provide the community with much needed fruit and vegetables. Padre also has a few goat and chickens and would like to increase their population and add pigs. I can't say that I have any expertise in gardening, farming or in raising livestock...but I'm willing to help and so are many of the expats. This project is of particular interest since it entails helping a community to help itself and to create something that will hopefully prevail long after the expat community is gone. I took some pictures of the area behind the church in hopes of getting a "before" and "after" perspective later.
Padre Francisco shows us his starter plants.
Felipe (Melody's gardener), Melody and Padre Francisco discuss compost location.
More starter plants!
Phase 1 of the Kikudo parish garden.
We are now preparing for a US visit in order to attend our daughter's college graduation. It seems like yesterday when we first moved her into her dorm room and now she is graduating! We have gone beyond our comfort zone in the last 3 years by coming to live in Soyo, Angola and have experienced personal growth. She has gone beyond her comfort by standing strong and excelling at her college work while her parents were a long way away. She has shown great strength and courage and now we will celebrate her accomplishments! Our son has also made plans to take time off from work to be with his sister on this very special occasion. We have been blessed with two very special children and we are most grateful for their dedication to family values. The joy reserve gets a boost from them too!
Well, it is time to close this blog chapter so that I can post it before leaving Soyo. We had a pretty rough rain storm very early this morning. It is a reminder that the Angola rainy season really doesn't end until May. Water was seeping in through the front and side carport doors when I came downstairs. Also, the lightening must have caused a power surge, because the outlets downstairs weren't working. A little trouble shooting led to a covert breaker that had never tripped before. We are always learning something about the house! Water and electricity are always a challenge here...too much or too little. This time our trip away from Soyo will be a short one. I look forward to returning and continuing my work on this blog that helps to document our time in Africa. I guess I can keep my alias as "Gal in Soyo"....because I did come back and it is home for me (at least for now)!
