Hi Everyone! This will be my last blog entry before returning to the US. Since Mary has told about our trip to Antelope Park (or at least her version of it!) I won’t say much about it. Those of you who will have the fortunate (or unfortunate) experience of viewing my 1,000,000+ photos when I get home will get the full story. Let me just say that walking with the lions and following them as they hunt, is the most amazing thing and I highly recommend it to anyone who finds their way to Zimbabwe. Antelope Park is running a program to breed and return lions to their natural habitat through a 4-step program. Their numbers in Africa have reduced by 80-90% since 1975! So, not only did we have an incredible, once in a lifetime experience, but the money we spent goes toward this program. A win-win situation.
We went to Chombo for our last visit this past Sunday. It is so rewarding to see the difference in this village and its people. They are healthy and thriving. They built a beautiful chicken coop with the money we gave them. They have harvested 2 crops from the large tomato/potato/beans garden they planted by the well and are preparing to plant again. (Their old well has already run dry for the year!) They have a good-sized harvest of corn drying to make their mealie-meal and they have a pregnant cow. We left them with some money for fruit trees, some sweeties (candy,) 2 huge bags of oranges and some meat – a real treat for them. Most importantly, Cindy, Al and I gave Veronica some money which she took in to pay for the next full year’s school tuition for all the children of Chombo! Jeff would have been so happy and proud of all of us! Thank you!
We have been going to many going-away and end of the year parties! Our social calendar is beyond full. Bryce had a party yesterday that was really fun and Mary will have one next weekend – the last possible day! We are certainly going to miss our friends here.
This is our last week of school. All 3 of us are starting to realize our adventure is coming to an end and we are all mourning for what we will be leaving. This is an incredible country with amazing people! I’m thankful we took this journey. I don’t blame Zim for Jeff’s death, but I do thank God that He gave me Jeff for 16 years, that He gave me 2 wonderful children through Jeff and that Jeff had so much family time during the last year of his life. It’s hard to come home without him.
This year’s yearbook just came out and the first page is a full-page picture of Jeff! It’s beautiful! In addition, there will be a ceremony this Tuesday morning, dedicating the Performing Arts Center here to Jeff and renaming it in his honor. What a tribute to him, especially after only one year of teaching here! He made his mark wherever he went!
Another tribute to Jeff, is the wonderful surprise many of you already are in on – our house in Oregon! I was told just a short time ago that our church, along with many friends, have banded together to give our house an incredible make-over! I was aware that the kids’ rooms were being painted for us and that Lynn Pass volunteered to paint murals in each of their rooms, but now I hear that the work goes way beyond that! Leaks are being fixed, rotting boards on the deck replaced, a counter replaced, faucets and toilets tightened or replaced and maybe even a new garage door and carpeting! I am blessed every way I turn! God blessed us with the opportunity to help others while we are here and He is blessing us with your help as we return. I can’t adequately express my gratitude and awe that this is being done for us. To all of you who are involved, thank you!!!!
My last news is no news. I am still waiting on the job front. My former principal has been doing all that he can to help get me back on in Lake Oswego, but the budget shortfall to the State and the District for schools is huge! I’m not out yet, but I’m not in yet, either. Keep on praying for me . . . if not for a teaching job then for something that will allow me to make a living.
The next time you hear from me, I’ll be in Oregon. We’re looking forward to seeing you all soon!!
Love,
Terry
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Tags: chombo, coming home, dedication, job, lake oswego, makeover, veronica, west linn
We went to Chombo on Sunday and were very happy with what we saw. The corn is almost ready for harvest. They leave it to dry on the stalks, then dry it further in the sun and grind it into “mealie-meal,” their staple food. Even the shortest stalks (some only up to my knees!) had at least one ear each. They are harvesting ground nuts and peanuts right now and have already had a crop of tomatoes and greens. They also have lots of sunflowers! Such a difference a year makes!!!
The cow is pregnant – hooray!! Also, we left them with cash to purchase the items needed to build a chicken coop and a wall around the well. We are trying to get the villagers more and more involved in their projects, so decided to have them do this themselves. It should be cheaper and also allows them to spread some of the wealth around the immediate area, rather than Harare. We are asking for receipts and will check on their progress next time we go out. There is one man, Chris, who is stepping forward to be a leader in this respect; he is working along with Veronica’s sister, who is keeping the money.
Mary and Bryce came along this time. They each worked the pump and drank water from the well. Seeing the rags the children were wearing inspired both of them to go through their closets more thoroughly to weed out things they have outgrown. Mary also wants us to bring out a few big pizzas next time we go! I love how seeing the conditions here cause the kids to want to help. It’s one of the goals Jeff and I had when we decided to teach overseas!
We will make one or two more trips out this year – decreasing the amount of food each time and instead supplying things like fruit trees, etc. The local schools are in session now, but the teachers don’t “teach” unless the kids bring in extra money. I think they are asking $3 each per term. This sounds like nothing to us, but it’s beyond their means, so Cindy and Al are also going to pay for their tuitions for the next year out of the funds they have raised. Next year Al and Cindy will help them source seed and fertilizer again, then check up on them midyear, as well as keeping tabs on them through Veronica. We are anticipating (and hoping) that they will soon be totally independent, even prosperous!
Bryce had his student-led conference last week and was very impressive in his presentation of his learning. This week Mary’s conferences will be held – I am looking forward to hearing good things about her progress, too. She has no school tomorrow for this, so she is spending the night at her friend, Anushka’s house. Both kids have field trips this week and next. Quite fun!
I have our tickets home in hand now. We will arrive in Portland (by way of Johannesburg and Atlanta) on June 7. We will head to the coast to spend a week with my dad, then come back to West Linn in time for the kids to attend Field Day. We are all getting very excited and allowing ourselves to start with the, “I can’t wait until . . . “ talk. Any earlier and it’s just cruel! I still don’t have a job; I’ve been told it will be late April or early May before LO starts hiring and I still haven’t been able to get my documents and application in to West Linn because I can’t figure out the online application program. Our middle school IT person has offered to help me with it. Keep on praying for us!!!
One more week until our Spring Break begins! We are traveling to South Africa with our good friends, the Bushes. We will fly to Johannesburg, then rent a van and drive to the Drakensburg Mountains, where we will stay for a couple of days. There is great hiking there. We will drive from there to Santa Lucia, on the eastern coast, where we will spend a few more days . . . beach, game drives, shopping! We are all looking forward to the break!!! We will all miss the traveling we have been able to do here. So many places we still want to see . . . the list only grows longer.
Of course, as this year draws to a close, lots of emotions about Jeff are floating about. It seems so unfair that he can’t be here to celebrate all we’ve accomplished, watch the kids grow and blossom, and look forward to our return to America. I find peace in the belief that he either is aware of it anyway, or that he is so joyously happy in heaven that any sorrow I have is purely for myself and the kids.
Looking forward to seeing all of you soon! I hope you are enjoying the beginnings of spring!!
Love,
Terry
Tags: chombo, conferences, corn, cow
Hello Everybody! I hope no one was worried about us since I didn’t post anything last week. Our internet and e-mail went down last Monday and it is all just restored today. The server needed to be rebuilt (whatever that means!) and the provider also had problems. I don’t know what all that entails; I’m just glad to be reconnected to the world. I only had a very few e-mails from last week, so some may have been lost. If you wrote to me and I don’t get back to you, that’s probably what happened.
I was very excited to hear that the tax measures passed in Oregon. Thanks to everyone who voted there! I have no guarantee that I will have a job even so, since budgets are still tight, but my chances are much improved over what they would have been had the measures failed. I won’t know for sure for some time yet. I have resigned my position here in the meantime. The Director needs to recruit for any openings for next year, so I had to make a commitment by last week. He has agreed to hire me back if necessary – and if he still has openings – if nothing works out at home. If that is the case, we will still be doing well. There are so many things that we truly love here, not the least of which is the wonderful friends we’ve made here. We will go where God leads us.
Mary is busy, busy, busy! She not only has her homework load and violin, but she just got a part in the middle school play! She will be rehearsing 2 – 3 times per week until the end of April. It’s exciting but a big commitment. I’m proud of her!
Bryce has one week left in his cast, which has turned a disgusting gray color. He hasn’t slowed down a bit with this arm – mostly all it’s done is keep him dry. Mostly.
I went to Chombo last weekend – January 24. It was wonderful to see the corn growing, and so much more of it than last year! I was also able to see and try out the pump on the well and had a nice drink of the water from it. Delicious! They have cleared a huge plot of land near the pump that has been fallow forever and are now growing tomato plants there along with peanuts and beans. It’s so exciting to see their new prosperity! The difference between this year and last – when they were racing home with the food bags to eat – is heart warming. My plan for the rest of this year is to take food out once a month until harvest time, rent them a bull , provide them with some chicken wire so they can build a coop and buy a few fruit trees. Then it’s up to them. My friends Al and Cindy, who deliver the food with me and have been wonderful about sourcing materials, etc., will be here next year for sure and will help out with seed and fertilizer if needed in the spring (fall in the US.) I feel very optimistic about their future independence! Thanks for all your help with this project! Jeff has to be smiling about this!
We had some high points and some low points this week. First the low points, which aren’t that low, so that I can leave you on the high points and with a good feeling!
There was a break in at school, and my cash box (where I kept all my US cash) among other things, was stolen. Although this is very inconvenient, it really didn’t bother me as much as it did the other people affected. There are a few reasons for this. First, I had just taken out over $3000 to pay for the well and pump, so that was $3000 less that was stolen. Second, it happened at school, not at my house. If I’m going to be robbed, I prefer it where it doesn’t invade my security. Third, and most importantly, since Jeff’s death I have gained a new perspective on the importance of “stuff.” And money is just “stuff.” No one was hurt, my family is intact, and I’m just out a little cash. No big deal. The school was kind enough to give me a cash advance on my next paycheck so I have cash on hand, so I am not even that inconvenienced.
My car should be returned to me today – fixed and ready to go. Hopefully that will be the end of the Cumpston car troubles. Ha, ha! But there are always people here who are willing to lend me their spare cars, so I am never on foot for long.
My generator went out on Thursday – only needed it at night once over the weekend. The school is getting it taken care of today. They do take good care of me.
Those were the low points. Not so low after all, were they? Now the high:
THE WELL HAS ITS PUMP NOW AND IS FULLY OPERATIONAL!!!! They completed the job on Saturday. I haven’t seen it yet, but they tell me it is the best well their company has ever put in. Each draw of the pump pulls 5 liters of water; it can pump 140 liters an hour! That is more than adequate for any needs they might have. Isn’t that fantastic?! I am very excited about it and the villagers are thrilled. What a Christmas gift to all of us, including all of you.
We leave for Denmark on Sunday and return on the 7th. It is supposed to be very Christmas-y, cold (but not snowy) and beautiful. The people we are staying with are wonderful. They have twin boys, Bryce’s age, who were 2 of his best friends here last year. They moved away last March and the kids were devastated! Jeff came up with the idea of visiting them this year for Christmas. We were in the process of solidifying our plans when Jeff died, and afterward the kids didn’t want to change them, so we are still going. An additional treat is that we are flying as far as Ethiopia with another family from here who will be going on to Germany. Mary and Bryce will each have a friend to sit with on the plane and so will I!
I will update the blog from Denmark. In the meantime, I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season. We can all be thankful for the blessing of Jesus’ birth.
Terry sent me these pictures of the well digging. Thank you for your support – this is YOUR project!
Hi everybody. I am going to let Mary write about Halloween and I will update you on everything else going on.
We are doing okay. This weekend was a hard one. We had UN Day on Friday (Jeff was in charge of the program last year. Also, last year we celebrated it on Nov. 21 – the day we got our power back and the night Jeff was hit by the bus. Lots of memories.) Then, Saturday was Halloween – a family holiday without him – and Sunday was the 12 weeks since his death. I find myself resenting that more time keeps passing since I last saw him. It feels like it shouldn’t be like that. I don’t want to rely on old memories. I also find myself resenting the fact that the kids’ memories will be so limited over time. They deserved to have him as they grow up – he was such a great dad! So, there were a lot of tears this weekend between all 3 of us.
Al, Cindy and I took seed and fertilizer out to the village Sunday, along with food and a big box of shoes. Al figured out how much seed (corn and beans) would be needed to plant 4 ½ hectares and managed to get enough for only $460! He is going out with a man to site the borehole tomorrow. The next step will be to actually drill the borehole and rig it up to a pump (with the dream of possibly adding a windmill at a later time.) The people of Chombo are now talking about not only growing corn and beans during the rainy season – which is what they have always done – but also being able to grow other vegetables year-round with the help of the borehole. They can then sell some of the vegetables in town as well as eat them. Prosperity!
Four of the 5 boxes of shoes we were able to send have arrived here now. All of you who donated shoes or collected them need to know how very appreciated they are! The adults were able to get some this time and they were so excited! They were putting them on, then dancing around with them. Very sweet.
When we got home from school yesterday, Chipo (remember – the one who had surgery last year?) and her husband and daughter were at our house. They had been away and just heard about Jeff’s death. They took public transport from the village to our house to offer their condolences. That’s a long trip in cramped conditions and very expensive for them, but they wanted to let me know how much Jeff meant to them. Veronica told me Chipo said (in Shona,) “I was living in darkness and now I am walking in the light.”
There are more Hwange pictures to post but this one has become a favorite. You’ll want to click on it to make it full size to get the full impact.
Mary with a "shumba" kill.
Tags: chombo, grief, halloween, Hwange, job, lionrain, Oregon, summer, thanksgiving
Our friend Cindy helping a Chiombo child try on shoes, which were collected by Mary and Bryce's old school, Sunset
We went to Chombo yesterday with food bags and shoes that Mary and Bryce’s old school collected last year in a shoe drive. Not all the shoes have arrived here yet, but the shoes that made it were very enthusiastically received! The children were so excited to choose new shoes – there were smiles everywhere! Thank you to all who contributed or collected shoes for us.
Mary, Bryce and their friend Ben (Sept 2009)
We are working with a friend who has hired some experts to work with the villagers regarding best practices for farming, especially without fertilizer, which continues to be difficult to find here. They have not been able to get to Chombo yet, but will soon. We are also checking into the best people to provide the borehole we hope to dig. I am receiving additional financial help in this venture from the National Honor Society here at HIS, from a church in California, and from friends here. And of course, many of you have contributed generously to see Jeff’s dream project come to fruition. Many thanks!
The kids and I are hanging in there. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: adjusting, chombo, farmiing, jeff, pictures, shoes, sunset
We have been back in Zim for a little over a week now. It’s beautiful here – the jacaranda trees are beginning to bloom, it’s getting very warm and the kids are swimming every day. Sadly, the days never become very long. It’s dark by around 6:00 p.m. and will continue to be so. I miss the long summer evenings of home.
Our first week of school was good but tiring. Both the kids are back into homework, friends and school. Getting back into the homework and practicing groove is a bit overwhelming, but we are doing it. I’m enjoying my class very much and we are all being totally supported by our friends here.
We all miss Jeff so very much. I expect to see him at every turn and can almost hear his voice. Little things are hard, like finding forgotten pictures from this summer on our old camera, finding lists he had made out, seeing his emails to me on my computer at work, etc. But we are getting through it one day at a time. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: car, chombo, first week, jeff
Hi everyone. I am writing from West Linn where I will be for the next 2 days before we head back to Zimbabwe. We are doing as well as can be expected. I am overwhelmed by the amount of love and support we have received! It has been healing to have so many share our grief with us. It has been hard to be here without Jeff, but at the same time, we have so many wonderful memories here that I can also smile and feel thankful. I wish I had the words to tell you how much it has meant to see people from all stages and aspects of Jeff’s life come together to honor and mourn him. Thank you. Read the rest of this entry »
Good Morning all,
The West Linn Tidings ran a nice article covering last Sunday’s celebration service. I am working to put the entire service video up here on the blog, especially the missing and very profound segment where Mary spoke.
Terry does not have active Internet access. She did, however, promise to keep the blog updated as she does connect, including from Zimbabwe. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: celebration, chombo, mary, memorial, service
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