Thank you!

This is a short (somewhat silly) video that we made to say thank you to the Sunday School children at Bethel United Church, United Church of Christ, who donated money to help our ministry here in Zambia. If you want to learn a little about Zambian food, be sure to watch :)

*The food being distributed in this video is a part of the Home Based Care program at Mandevu CCAP, and the schools are a part of the Community School Program, run by CCAP, Synod of Zambia.

Thank-You

Photos of 2013 so far...

If you are easily disgusted, do not read this post...

Today, the doctor pulled a half inch maggot out of my body. It was still wiggling, as he produced it like a trophy, the source of my intense pain for the past 5 days. Oh, so that was the problem, a maggot was growing inside of me, eating me from the inside out. Good to know. And by the way, thank you for the pain medication, which makes me just loopy enough to find this funny, and keep me from vomiting.

The doctor was in a similar frame of mind, and kindly suggested that I might want to keep the maggot, in order to show it to my husband and kids. I agreed that this was a marvelous idea, and after we wrapped the still writhing maggot in gauze, I brought it out to show the family. Joel named her Maggie. After all, she did live with us for a week.

If you are still reading this, you may be wondering how it came to be that I housed a maggot for a week, without knowing that there was an animal growing inside me. The answer is: The Putzi Fly. Now, before today, I had no idea what a Putzi Fly was. After today, I am pretty sure I will never forget.

So, the Putzi Fly likes to lay eggs in damp places, and an ideal place for laying eggs is on laundry that is hung out to dry. We hang all of our clothing outside, and let it dry in the warm Zambian sun. Who needs a dryer in this sunny, beautiful place? Well, the Putzi Fly goes ahead and lays eggs on the damp clothing. And then, when the clothing dries, and we put it on our bodies, the egg hatches and the larvae burrow into the skin. And then, the larvae grows into a nice, big maggot. Like our houseguest, Maggie.

Not an image of the actual Maggie,
just one of her friends

The solution appears to be that we must iron all our clothing, including underwear. We don’t even own an iron, so perhaps, this will be an upcoming purchase. In any case, I never thought I would get dressed with as much trepidation as I did today, wondering if any of my nice, clean clothes, might contain Maggie’s little sister.

That is the news for today; thanks for praying for us, and really, I am so grateful to not be in pain anymore!