Sunday, July 8, 2012

Noteworthy from Africa

My sister, Tess, is in Africa and has been sending emails about her experience. These are a few segments from her I wanted to share. 

"Yesterday, we visited with Martha, an albino who fights for albino rights in Tanzania. They are considered a curse here and witch doctors target them. People hunt them down and chop off their limbs to grind up in a stew. then kill them afterwards. They think it brings them wealth. It's sickening. Kate and I met with Martha yesterday and she was telling us how hard of a time she is having. She is going to lose her job for being albino, which means she will have no money to help the other albinos. This is a dang strong woman, but when I gave her a hug, she started crying, which was too much for me. I didnt want to cry  in front of her, but the moment her taxi pulled away, I sat down and couldn't help it. Here's the amazing thing: I'm sitting on the ground crying like a baby, when a car pulls up and Martha gets out. She came over just to comfort me,  hugging me and saying, "I know. I know." That is the woman she is. With so many problems, she still stopped her taxi to make sure we were okay."

"The people of Africa are so giving, cheerful, friendly, faithful and gracious. They have such a different way of life. Sometimes I love it. Sometimes I hate it, but in the end, I have found that we are all so very human, regardless of where we are born. Our environment HUGELY affects our outlook on social issues and the way we live our everyday lives, but people are people. We all have our secret struggles and insecurities. We are all just trying to do the best we can with what we have. Coming here and really getting to know the good and bad of people has made the world feel much much smaller. NOBODY is perfect, but we ALL have good in us. That's such a gift from God. Everyone has something good to offer. The children of Africa always blow me away with their love and innocence. Anytime they receive a gift or treat, they immediately return to the other children and share among them."

And this one's funny: 

"I'm sure I have mentioned before that Africans have less of a personal bubble. That doesn't bother me, but the teacher at Your Sisters orphanage just crosses the line. She will talk to me so close that her lips are rubbing on my face and she strokes my leg and she kept pretending to try to breast-feed me! Yeah, super awkward. I'm a little scared of her, so now I kinda just avoid her."

What!? I'm baffled by that, how does one adult pretend to breastfeed another adult? 

And here's the picture of the day. They are best friends, they just don't realize it yet :)  

Monday, July 2, 2012

meet little miss Pearl


There has been a lot of stalking, hissing, growling, batting with paws, and even play biting around here between Kona and her new play toy. But then there's the brief cuddles and the recent motherly cleaning of Pearl's fur (cutest thing I've ever seen Kona do). 
We love these two. 
Screw our most hated neighbors and landlord for finally trying to kick us out for having a pet after having Kona for two years. That just shows how inefficient they are right? Two full years!

Happy fourth of July on Wednesday. We will be grilling everything under the sun and can't wait.