Bombs!

Sorry it's been so long since we've written anything. Life's been busy here as we're preparing for conferences and wrapping up our 2 years in Mozambique.

This year Kory and I both have 3 classes of 9th grade (which is a relief for me after having 6 classes last year). We are almost finished with the 1st trimester of school and getting ready for the boy's and girl's conferences in April. Kory's been working with the boy's group to paint murals about preventing HIV/AIDS. My girls group is getting ready to perform songs and dances at the celebration of Mozambican Women's Day on April 7Th. I've been helping to organize the national conference on the provincial level for the girl's conference and am doing the accounting and communications for the boys conference. I'm tired. Kory's also been very busy organizing the Science Fair and English Theatre Competition. All these things take up a lot of time, require a lot of traveling, and your patience is severely tested. I'd love to be able to predict the outcome of something because of consistent service and availability, but that's just not going to happen.

We've been in Maputo for over a week now because we've not been able to return to our site in Manica due to bombs exploding. There was an armoury near the airport that housed old bombs left over from the war that began exploding due to the "heat and pressures". I don't believe that crap. Regardless, the official statistics (which i again don't believe these numbers, i think they are higher. i know the way they calculate these things and it's not in a way my Stats professor would approve) state that around 100 people were killed and approx. 300 were injured. It was scary. At first we didn't know what was going on and then we saw a big mushroom cloud of smoke coming from the city. There was broken glass everywhere and people were flipping out. I was out running errands in the city with a friend, Kory was taking a nap at the hotel (even he woke up from the shaking!). Luckily, we weren't injured, but I feel terrible for the people who lost family members or were injured.

Also, the situation in Zimbabwe is going downhill fast. We are concerned because we live 15 km from the border and an illegal crossing path is about 2 km from our back door. Many people are leaving Zim because the economy is falling apart (inflation rate of 1700%) and political problems are getting out of hand. We're not scared, but have to be practical and recognize that at some point, we may need to be evacuated. We're praying it doesn't come to that, but if it does, we'll be ready. If this happens before the end of our 2 years, we'll have to move sites and start all over again. I don't want to do that, but I don't want to just give up. Both of us feel committed to staying here and fulfilling our contracts. I requested that if we had to be moved, that it be to the beach. Ha! I think we deserve that after all we've been doing at our current home.

I'm headed to South Africa next month to have my wisdom teeth removed. I'm not looking forward to this trip. It will make me miss more classes and who wants to have their face cut open??? I don't! It needs to be done and I'd rather have it done soon. This will provide an opportunity to travel during our next break before Science Fair. We're hoping to travel to Malawi and through the northern provinces of Moz.

Ok, I've gotta run. I need to pack things up so we can get on the early flight tomorrow. We leave here at 5:15! You know how i love the morning...

We'd love to hear from you and get more regular email access this year, so please write!
~Alexis