Bugs!

Sorry it’s taken me so long to write again! Things are always busy around here and it's hard to find time to sit down and write all that's going on.

We had five people taking the BAC this year. The BAC is a test that you take after the last year of high school. If you don't pass the test, you can't go to college. It’s a big big big deal and very very very few people pass it. It’s incredibly difficult. One of our boys, Etienne took it for the second time and ...PASSED. One of our "ton-tons", Ernest, who is a teacher/translator/helper-with-almost-anything took it for the fourth or fifth time and....PASSED; and Rodrigue, who works with the sponsorship program, took it for the sixth time and....PASSED!!!! AMAZING that three out of five would pass! So now these boys will be able to attend college. The adoptive parents of one of our children have offered to pay for Etienne and Ernest to go all the way through college. WOW. That's an amazing amazing amazing gift for these boys. They are all brilliant and have worked soo hard. We are super proud of them.

This is the season for raisons. No, not raisins like we think of in America, these are round greenish purpleish redish fruits that grow on trees in bunches. They don't taste very good. You don't chew them up. You peel the skin off, while the raison is in your mouth, and then you spit the skin out and then you swallow the fruit whole. It’s bizarre because you don't really taste anything.

Our boys are always up in the trees picking them. Tuesday morning, Achielle was up in a tree and all of the sudden I heard a loud rustling of leaves, and I saw Achielle plummeting to the ground. Then I heard a THUD as he hit the dirt. He was in a lot of pain, but we think he just bruised his tailbone. He's been back to his normal, fun, mischievous self the past two days. So it’s a huge blessing that he wasn't really hurt.

We got a new baby last week. She is severely malnourished. Her name is Jeanette, and she is now affectionately called "my girl" (well, if you aren't me, then you would say "ami's girl") because, well, I LOVE her. We knew she was malnourished when she first came, but her family told us she was nine months old. So she was little but not TOO little. As I began watching her and playing with her I noticed that she was much more advanced than all our other circa nine month olds. We finally looked in her health records (which we had failed to consult before...we just believed the family) and found that she was NINETEEN months old. She will be two in November. Her family was called and confronted. Her father, who is very young, admitted to lying but said he still wanted his child. So we have decided that if he wants her when she is well that he will have to come visit her every Saturday, and he has to find a woman in his family who will come to the orphanage every day to learn how to take care of her (that's why she's here in the first place. Her mom ran off to the Ivory Coast with some guy, and no one in the courtyard knew how or was able to care for her). I have been spending some time with her every day. She really is the most beautiful little girl I've ever seen. When she first arrived she was sad. And it made me sad. But now she is smiling and laughing when I kiss her or try to play with her. It's an amazing miracle to be apart of. She's going to live!!!

On a more disgusting note, the bugs are here. And it’s gross. They really only come out at night and then it's only for a little while. But they come by the millions and it’s gross. Also, there are these ant things that BITE, and it HURTS for a couple days afterwards. I had one in my hair last week. That was pretty gross and painful. The night after a rain is the worst. These bugs, called termites (but they aren't like termites in America), come out. They have huge wings, and they fly all over and into things (kind of like june bugs). Within an hour, they all lose their wings and then die...and we can't ever really find their bodies. It's bizarre. We don't know where they come from or where they go, and they only come out after it rains. The people here love to eat them. They catch them in water, dry them in the sun, and fry them. So Nichole and I tried one this past Sunday after church. They cooked them especially for us; and while it didn't really taste like anything except for a burned crunchy thing...it was still pretty gross to think about. The thought that I was putting an insect in my mouth made me want to vomit. So needless to say, I haven't eaten any since and don't plan on eating anymore ever.

That’s what’s going on here...I love Africa. The orphanage and all the kids feel like home....