Another Wednesday, another post

So you know, some of you will not find the first part of this particularly humorous, but it's my blog and I got a major kick out of it. So... sorry.

Newspapers here in Mbabane post full-page headlines up at intersections as advertising for the day's news. I find this very convenient and I usually try to read a few of them as I'm walking to work in the morning. So yesterday I was still a big foggy from my cold, and I wasn't reading as carefully as normal. But a few seconds after I read it, I had to stop and go back to re-read it.

I learned there are two types of surprising headlines. One kind would be the unexpected ("Detroit Lions win the Super Bowl"). The other are headlines that simply make no sense. "Christopher Columbus discovers cure for cancer" and "Joseph Stalin knighted by Charlemagne" are some examples. So you can understand my utter confusion when I read:

"POLYCARP FOUND GUILTY OF E12 MILLION FRAUD"

"Huh? What? Those decongestants must be more powerful than I thought."

Actually, it turns out that someone made the rare decision to name their son Polycarp but had failed to instill in him the values possessed by the early church father and martyr. I'd never encountered someone named Polycarp, and now the only one I know of is serving jail time. I guess it wasn't his name that made the original Polycarp such a noteworthy guy.

Now, for the rest of you. A bit more about Mozambique.

The Farm is where Andrew lives, but it also holds a variety of other buildings. The abattoir, the offices, the feedmill, and Wilfred's house. There are also some chicken houses, but you've seen those before and you'll see more shortly.

These are a couple pictures of Andrew's house/yard. You can see the trampoline in the second one. The fence is mainly to keep in the dogs. Very nice place, and you can see the mountains in the background. I have better pictures of the surrounding area, but they're probably less interesting.

This is a snake Andrew killed with a machete. We were having a nice breakfast and then there's a snake crawling up the window behind me. It was smaller than a garter snake, so I didn't really react, but everyone else did. We're unsure of what kind of snake it was, but it may have been a very poisonous one. So Andrew took care of it.

This is the gate to the farm. It's closing time and we're just getting back as all the workers are leaving. There's actually a second shift at the feed mill, but this is a lot of workers piled onto the back of the truck.

This is Wilfred's house, right next to Andrew's. He and his wife will move in there in December with their kids. They were working on the yard while we were there.

Well, I may have escaped Malaria, but I have succumbed to a common head cold. Truth be told, I would rather suffer from a wide variety of ailments than a cold. I love to think and my life revolves around it, and when it's painful to do so, I'm just eager to get back to sleep. But I should be getting over it in the next day, so I'm looking forward to that.

Regardless of my ailments, I'm sure a few of you are still curious about my trip to Mozambique. So, as promised, here are pictures of some of the major characters from my trip.

The guy here in the black shirt is Andrew Cunningham. He runs New Horizons Mozambique and is really an impressive guy. He grew up in Zimbabwe, but followed God's call to Mozambique and has built a massive operation there. It's really doing neat things for the country and I think it's on the cutting edge of development there.

Talking with him in the striped shirt is Randy. He's the CFO of CenterFresh Eggs in the United States and came to Mozambique to represent the company as an investor in Mozambique Fresh Eggs. Mozambique Fresh Eggs is a joint venture by CenterFresh, Andrew, and Scott (owner of Eggs for Africa).

 The guy on the left is Kim Dooyema. Many of you know him from Brookfield CRC. He's probably the impetus behind Mozambique Fresh Eggs. He met Andrew a few years ago now and immediately began converting others (me included) to his vision. Eventually, he converted some of his co-owners in CenterFresh and they invested in the project in Mozambique. Members of that group have been visiting Andrew and the operation since, and I don't think anyone has left unconvinced of how neat of an operation this is.

The little boy there is Andrew's son Zacc. He is a joy of a young boy, and is also mentally inhibited. He kept me (and some of the others) jumping on the trampoline, reading stories, or playing catch often. In this picture, he's bringing me a bean bag for bean-bag toss (I nailed it, left-handed).

The guy here is Eric Dooyema. He's Kim's brother, and actually runs some of the CenterFresh operation in the US. In Mozambique, he spent a lot of time working at Mozambique Fresh with the chickens, water systems, and houses.

The lady here is Claire, Andrew's wife. She was exceedingly gracious in feeding us (me in particular, as I stayed with them all week) and taking care of us. I was certainly impressed by the operation and Andrew, but I think she gets most of my respect. In addition to supporting the mission, she takes care of Zacc and teaches part-time at the Rapali International School.

This picture shows Victor in the foreground. His lower half is wet because he just got out of the ocean, but it's the only real picture I have of him. He is the Mozambique Fresh on-site manager. His background is in construction, but he's quickly learning to take care of chickens (and he built some great chicken houses). He's originally from Portugal and married a Brazilian woman in Mozambique. He's a very nice guy and made sure we were well-fed (by that, I mean so stuffed that we had trouble walking).

Standing behind him is Daryl. Daryl is another CenterFresh owner and an investor in Mozambique Fresh. In Iowa, he runs a chicken trucking business, and when all else breaks down, I'm going to go work for him. A real nice guy, he worked with Eric and Victor on site much of the week.

Here is a bigger group picture. On the right are two guys I haven't introduced yet. The far right guy is Scott, a pastor who lives in Zimbabwe who started Eggs for Africa two years ago and has developed it significantly. He's part of Mozambique Fresh because he's doing much the same thing, and also because he has the marketing operation basically set up.

Next to him, in the light shirt, is Peter Cunningham. He's Andrew's brother (or Andrew is his brother). He also lives in Zimbabwe and runs some major agribusiness there. Both he and Andrew are very witty and it's fun listening to them banter until you become the target of the quips.

Not shown: Working for these guys are a fantastic crew of folks. Andrew relies heavily on Wilfred (Dutch) and Alcedir (Brazilian) to keep his operation running smoothly. Scott relies on John Wayne and Doc. I was hugely impressed by these guys and if I were to start up a poultry business in Mozambique, I would pay them whatever I needed to in order to steal them away.

I hope that all makes sense. There are certainly more folks on the ground there, but I think I hit many of the people who are central to the operation we were looking at. Until Wednesday,

-Ben

Black Friday!

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. It was certainly different being away from my family and friends. Instead, I had a nice dinner with a large group of Americans (mostly missionaries) here. It was a nice social time and the food was good, but I was sad to miss the day with my family and church community back home. At least the Packers beat the Lions.

I know many people are anxious to hear about my trip to Mozambique. Some of you will get the stories from Kim at church, but I'll certainly lay it all out here. However, the trip was a week long and I took over 1600 pictures (admittedly, most of them were junk), so it's going to take a while to share everything. I'll be posting some pictures and explaining them over the next few blog posts. Because I paid attention in 7th grade english class, I'm starting with the setting. You can always enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.

We landed in Nampula, Mozambique on Monday, November 14. Nampula is the capital of the province of the same name, and is one of the major cities (if not the major city) in northern Mozambique. It is growing rapidly and has the vibrant feel of a living city. The pictures below were actually taken on the trip back through Nampula on the way out when we were leaving Mozambique. I was standing in the back of the pickup, which allows for some great picture taking. So if you see the top of the cab, know that I was comfortable and safe up there.

On the way into town, the road is lined with "shops" selling basically anything. It's a regular outdoor market and certainly fun to observe.

I managed to pick two pictures without many people in them, but the market was actually quite crowded. The blue things on the left side of this picture are mosquito nets. Malaria is a big problem in Mozambique, but as far as I know, our group didn't have any problems with it. A blessing.

Now we're getting into the real city. This is a pretty standard street in Nampula, with traffic flowing pretty freely. I think I accurately described traffic in Mozambique as a game of rock, paper, scissors. Big truck beats small truck, small truck beats car, car beats motorcycle, motorcycle beats bicycle. Bicycles just get out of everyone's way.

At first, I was hesitant about taking pictures of these guys. But when they saw me with a camera, they started waving and giving me the thumbs-up. Very friendly people.

This guy was in back of me, and when he saw me taking pictures of the other guys, he indicated that I should take some of him as well. The car behind him is starting to go around him because he's just sitting there as I take his picture.

The Hotel Milenio. I believe this is where my dad stayed when he visited, but I stayed on the farm. We did come here for dinner Wednesday night and had some delicious chicken Marsala. Posh.

The apartment buildings reminded me of all the generic pictures of the developing world, so I figured I had to take this shot.

On the right there is Shoprite, the grocery store.

Here's a large traffic circle with a park being constructed in the middle. It'll look very nice when the tin fencing is taken down.

Nampula is very nice, but trash piles are something that can be found in most big cities and I didn't want to sugarcoat Nampula.

The education system in Mozambique is in trouble. This is a school, and not a bad one at that. But they will run four sets of students here throughout the day. One set from 8-10, one from 10:30-12:30, etc. They recognize that education is important, but the facilities and resources are just not there to make the education adequate.

What African city would be complete without an overloaded Kombi churning out black exhaust?

A group of women meeting in the shade. Plenty of goods for sale in Nampula.

One of the shops selling tires and rims. I didn't see many cars that had been decked-out, but it's clearly available for those willing to pay.

Again, I don't want to sugarcoat Nampula. It's a developing city and there are still areas that are poor and struggling. The trench running through the middle there is a set of train tracks.

Here's the Nampula airport. A nice little place, but I wouldn't want to stay there for the 45 hours I spent in the Johannesburg airport.

Up next week: The Characters (and some of them are real characters)

Stuck

Well folks, I'm still stuck in Johannesburg. The shuttle didn't work out yesterday, but I'm hoping it works out today. Not that it hasn't been fun to spend 42 hours (and counting) in the airport. Now I can tell you which bench is best for sleeping and attest to the power of the hand dryers in the bathrooms. So this journey has become even more of an adventure. But it will be relaxing to get back to my own flat and take a bath.

It really hasn't been too bad. I've finished The History of Money and I'm refining some business plans I wrote up last week. However, the internet connection here doesn't allow me to upload anything, so I can't send anything until I get back. I'll try to post a few pictures of my trip on Friday, but it'll certainly take longer than that to get into everything that we did in Mozambique.

Two very minor problems here. While in Mozambique, my body readjusted to get up at first light again. While this woke me up in time to see the sun rise over the Indian Ocean, I think I'm going to fix that so I don't wake up at 4:30am every morning.

I also have to figure out the music here. I often feel close to home when I hear Phil Collins, Shania Twain, or Lynyrd Skynyrd over the loudspeaker, but it seems strange that "Sweet Home Alabama" is a hit here. Come to think of it, it's probably strange that a boy from Wisconsin enjoys it, but at least I know where Alabama is. Here, they probably know less about Alabama than you know about Gauteng (especially when I tell you that's the province in which Johannesburg is located).

Well, blessings. Have a happy Thanksgiving, eat some apple pie for me, and cheer for the Packers!

-Ben

I am back

Hello all. I made it back to South Africa safely. I will be staying in the airport tonight, so stop by if you're in the neighborhood. I am currently writing on my Kindle on the 3G network, which is cool, but not easy. I won't get back to Swaziland until tomorrow evening: about the same time the rest of the team gets to the US. The trip was a fantastic experience and a great way to recharge my batteries. You can count on many posts detailing stories of bumpy roads, major businesses, a trampoline and an ocean.

Anyway, now you know I am safe and about home. I hope everything is going well there, but I'm wary after being teased by Africans all week. When folks from Zimbabwe are laughing at your government, something has gone horribly wrong.

May God bless his children all over the world, and may he use them to bless everyone else as well.

-Ben

Announcement

First, the update, then the announcement:

Things have been pretty standard here. Trying to scrape together a bit of money to help the processing plant process our chickens (we delivered 4,000 this week).

Wednesday, my friendly Jehovah's Witness came in to have another chat with me. So we discussed theology for the better part of an hour. There's nothing like a debate with someone who believes something completely different than you do. Mainly, it reminds you how little you know about the Bible. So we basically went back and forth flipping through his Bible. My general approach to Biblical interpretation is to attempt to understand a text in the light of (a) the author's message to the original audience, and (b) the larger picture we get of God, Christ, and redemption. But because of major differences in religious outlook and/or culture, I was stuck using proof texts.

Areas of disagreement we went over:
1) The deity of Christ. I claim he is fully God; creator, not creation. This is the position of all major Christian churches (mainline protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox) and is firmly established in the Nicene Creed: "begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father." He claimed Christ was the first creation (using references to him as the "firstborn") and asked me to explain what it meant for Christ to empty himself.

2) Timeline of history. He wanted me to believe that America is the earthly kingdom that will pass away in order for God's kingdom to be established. I kept questioning his timeline, which he's going to bring next time. But he was utilizing the latter half of Daniel, which I cannot claim to interpret well. I mainly claimed that if Christ didn't know the date of his return, it seems arrogant of us to presume that we can know it.

Anyway, it was a good exercise and something I haven't done in a while.

And my announcement. I'm going to be away from Swaziland for the next week. I'll be leaving on Sunday and getting back late next Tuesday (the 22nd). I'll be travelling to northern Mozambique with a group from the US (including Kim Dooyema from my church), and I'll be checking out the massive operations they've got going on there. I'm sure I'll have a lot to write about when I get back, but it is unlikely that I'll post anything while I'm there.

-Ben

Social Norms

According to my forecast, Milwaukee's high for tomorrow is a balmy 37°F. Interestingly, it's currently 37°C outside, which is significantly warmer. So it's hot and sweaty over here, but there's a decent breeze outside and it'll cool down a fair bit when the sun goes down. Some of you would probably love this kind of weather, but I'm a bigger fan of 75°F.

Anyway, enough about the weather.

Many of you know my sister Krystal. She's very sweet and I love her dearly. But one of the areas in which we differ greatly is social skills. Krystal simply never learned who she wasn't supposed to talk to. I don't recall ever receiving lessons, but I've always known that there are some people with whom I'm not expected to be friends. Some people are older than I am, or interested in other things, or from a different social status. Sometimes it's just because we're in a public place and there are rules of etiquette about sitting down in someone's restaurant booth and striking up conversation.

Krystal somehow managed not to learn most of these rules. Within a few minutes of our arrival somewhere, she has met everyone and made friends with many of them. When her brothers come home from college, we depend on Krystal to tell us who the new person is in the next pew. She just doesn't seem to understand the social barriers that I've grown so comfortable with.

Jesting aside, I think Krystal is exponentially closer to Christ's position on this issue. I have gotten compliments about how friendly she is and I am regularly impressed by the bridges she builds. It's something that I've been working hard to attain, and I have no illusions about solving it soon. But one thing that I've been trying to do here is treat everyone well.

This isn't easy. For one thing, I get anxious when I'm sucked into a conversation that I haven't anticipated, especially when their English isn't very good and I have trouble making out what they're saying. And sometimes, I'm not the only one who's imagining a barrier in the relationship. It only gets worse when they ask for money and I know giving it to them isn't a good idea (for a number of reasons).

But I'm trying. I try to smile and say hello to everyone I pass who will look at me. Whether they're in a suit or they're barefoot and surreptitiously looking for food in the garbage can. One beggar took a shine to me quite early on. Whenever he saw me, he would start laughing and catch up to me and hold out his hand for change. He's taller than me, but he's skinny and his pants end far above his bare feet. Most of his teeth are gone and his words come out with a spray of saliva (not that he speaks English anyway). There's likely a history of drug and alcohol abuse there.

Needless to say, I was terrified the first few times I encountered him. I sped up and ignored him when I could. But finally, I managed to work up the courage to shake his hand. I think he was pretty surprised, as was the person I was walking with. As was pointed out to me, his hand was anything but sanitary and I could smell him for a while.

But since then, I've been trying to greet him whenever I see him, even if I see him first. It's still uncomfortable, but I'm doing as well as I can. Someday, maybe I'll be as good as my little sister.

-Ben

P.S. Some of you may be concerned about my safety. That is probably wise, but I have had no problems with safety at all. Especially in daylight, there are always other people around. One advantage of being a 21-year-old man is that I'm not overly vulnerable. The only negatives I've experienced are when people see a white guy and expect he'll hand out money, whether they need it or not. But I am in God's hand, and I trust that will be enough.

As promised, pictures from the farms on Friday. If you want more detail you can click on the picture for the full-size image.

Pastor David and Bonisile surveying some of the farmers in Myoloza.

While they were surveying, I visited the chickens. These are about ready for processing.

Some of us found the survey more entertaining than others.

 The road to Myoloza. Cows just hanging out.

This is the chicken house that Pastor Daniel and his wife manage. These chickens are actually a bit older than they should be because the abattoir had a problem with the freezer and couldn't take them on time. They're all gone now.

These are some of the chicks in Lamgabi. Still young enough to be cute.

Not everyone participated in the survey. Some had better things to do.

These two young women help many of the rest with reading and filled out the survey themselves.

Pastor David and Bonisile surveying farmers in Lamgabi.

Like father like son. Pastor Daniel and his son Sibusiso helped us out as well.

Weekend Recap

[Apologies for the late post. Our electricity was out much of yesterday (Monday), and so I wrote my post offline and I'm posting it this morning. As a further apology, there will be two posts today, one of words and one of pictures.]

Shaggy hair really isn't the style here. Part of the problem is that most of the locals have nice hair that looks good either cropped close or grown out into a short afro. I was born with a different hair style, and when I don't cut my hair for a while, it falls into a shaggy mop. So yesterday at church, a few of the guys tried to make it look good. It's part of their "Make Ben cool" campaign that also includes encouraging me to untuck my shirts and put gel in my hair (similar campaigns have failed for years; I'm a nerd). They figure I'll need to look good to attract a Swazi wife (I don't know why they think this is my goal). It all involves a lot of laughing and good-natured fun.

My point in writing this isn't to convey my hopeless lack of fashion sense (although that would be a truth). My point is that people around the world don't view Americans as unconditionally fantastic. They're well aware that we don't burp rainbows and we put our pants on one leg at a time. There are definitely exceptions, but they're few and far between. So next time you wear a fanny pack on a mission trip, know that a few people are probably chuckling at you (I'm not saying that you should dress based on what others will think).

So I'm always a bit puzzled when Americans act like they're shepherding Africans. One guy I know bought a car and was told it was actually a few years newer than it really was. When he found out, he went back to the dealer and told him he was disappointed in him.

Now, the right thing to do probably wouldn't have been to chew the guy out. But it seems awfully patronizing to tell someone you're "disappointed" when something like that happens. I mean, the guy didn't cheat him because he wasn't sure what the right thing to do was. Had that been the case, it might have been appropriate to be disappointed that the man had chosen incorrectly.

So I encourage everyone, next time they think about Africans or developing nations in general, compare your reaction to how you would react if they were Americans. We probably need to improve our reactions on both fronts, but I think it's important to remember that one isn't superior to the other.

-Ben

"The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another."

-George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

Is that your final answer?

I may have mentioned that I was putting together a training needs analysis for our farmers. Basically, it's a survey that asks farmers about their understanding in a variety of areas. I surveyed three areas: production (the actual chicken-raising), business (budget, expenses, etc.), and association (work in their associations). Anyway, today was the day. I went with Bonisile, Pastor David, and Pastor Daniel up to the communities. They were very cooperative and helpful, and we got a lot of good information. The others actually administered the survey; because I am far from fluent in SiSwati, I took pictures. Got a lot of good pictures and some video too.

The surveys were supposed to clarify the needs of the communities. This will help us write our grant and also help us as we work on training them. Unfortunately, the new clarity revealed a complicated situation. Myoloza is doing fine with production, but their association is very poor. Trust in the association is low and there is a very low degree of ownership within the project. Lamgabi is just starting to do production, so there were some low degrees of knowledge there, but I am confident those will change to aptitudes as they work with their chickens and Pastor Daniel helps them. They also requested a lot of business training. So I'm already thinking about how we can do that.

All in all, the day was very productive and I'm happy about the work that we did. Now I've got to work on my formal report for Tinashe, which I'm also looking forward to. Pictures will be available Monday.

Being busy is good.

-Ben

P.S. Two news articles of interest. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has settled with the US government for $3,000,000,000. Its crime was marketing drugs for unapproved uses. This is the kind of thing that I worked on when I was in the DOJ: Consumer Protection Branch, and it's a safe bet that some of my former coworkers were involved in this. Note: The Civil Division of the DOJ has a budget of about $283 million, meaning this settlement would cover their budget for the next decade. But don't let their noble and lucrative work fool you, they too are in danger of having their budget further slashed. It has already been cut this year. Sorry for getting political there, I just have trouble controlling myself when common sense and passion align.

The other article ran in the Swazi Times about the lawyers protesting. They got shut out of the courthouse, so instead they tried to march. The police stopped them marching, so they got in their cars and ran the lines (I'm probably making it more dramatic than it was). Anyway, they ended up at the restaurant in our building. Didn't majorly affect my life, but our building got mentioned in the paper. (For reference, our building hosts 5-6 businesses including the restaurant.) You can read the article here.

Umbrellas

On Monday I wrote about how similar small children are here and in the US. I did not mean to give the impression that other parts of society are significantly or irreconcilably different, and I fear I would be remiss if I did not correct that impression quickly.

Yesterday it was misting and cold (of course, the further you get into winter, the sillier it's going to sound when I call 60s cold). But I went grocery shopping for some minor groceries: milk, oatmeal, apples, etc. On the way home, an older woman scolded me, "Where is your umbrella?" I smiled and apologized, but this struck me as humorous for a variety of reasons. First, not using an umbrella is the kind of thing I would be scolded for by my own grandmother or someone from my church. Second, my umbrella was in my backpack, ready for use if I needed it. Third, it was only misting and had I used an umbrella in such weather at home, I likely would have been ridiculed by hardy midwesterners.

I think in order to fully understand the situation, you have to realize that Swaziland is a country with many umbrellas. When it is sunny, umbrellas serve to keep the sun off. When it's rainy, they keep the rain off. When it's in between, they serve some other function that I am seeking to discover. So no matter what the weather, you will certainly see umbrellas as you walk down the street.

One fantastic thing about this is that the umbrellas are very... eccentric. If you walk through Washington, DC when it's raining, you'll see many black umbrellas. You might also see my pink one (it was good luck because I found it on the bus the night the Packers won the Super Bowl). But in Swaziland, umbrellas are black, green, plaid, yellow with smiley faces, brown with puppy dog faces (including ears that stick up), and many other patterns. But the connection between a person and his/her umbrella seems random at best. When you see a face pattern on an umbrella, there is simply no telling whether it will be sheltering a 12-year-old girl or a businessman in a suit. It's a wonderful adventure every time you walk down the sidewalk.

-Ben

P.S. I've become somewhat familiar with local sports. Soccer (football) is more interesting when they play in sand, but still not my favorite. Rugby seems to be a game for large anarchists, and definitely not for wimps. I think cricket is something of a cross between dodgeball and kick the can, but I can't say I've got it figured out yet. Although American football is still my sport of choice, I have to tip my hat to rugby players for their exceptional mettle and audacity. I was told that soccer would appeal to me more as I began to understand other cultures, but I don't know why anyone would watch soccer when rugby is on. Of course, soccer is more social and in many cases it's the only sport available to kids who can't afford more than a simple ball. In this case, it is entirely acceptable.

P.P.S. Because I don't have a TV, all of my knowledge of televised sports comes from standing in line at the bank. They have TVs hanging from the ceilings and the lines are long.