Porches are for People

Blog Post About May 2021

Our front porch area doesn't have a ton of room for activities to take place, but Keira does manage to go around in circles on her scooter, Doug grills some amazing meals for us, and visitors greet us at our gate.

Sometimes a beggar knocks asking for money; sometimes our neighbors bring over some of their food to share with us; sometimes a man representing the water company or the generator comes by asking for payment (there is no mail system here - it's door-to-door); and sometimes a salesman will try to sell books, soap, beauty products, etc. (remember door-to-door encyclopedia salesmen)??

Anyway, one night, daughters, nieces and cousins from a house down the street came knocking for Keira. 

The girls don't know English except a few phrases: 

How are you?

What's your name?

Where's Keira?

Most of the time, during the day, my answer is, "Keira la muxtapa" (She's at school), but this night, she went out to see them, and they were so excited. 

May 27, 2021

It makes me very aware that I have never seen any of these girls in a school uniform, and I have never seen any of them coming from or going to a school. 

I don't know how they are educated or even if they are, but it is a good conversation topic for Keira and I about how appreciative we should be that she is allowed an education.

It's the little things.

One day, Caleb was washing the porch for us, and he and Keira decided to play in the water after the porch was clean.

I don't know how Keira's knees could handle it, but she would run and slide across the tile. Ouch!

Caleb would spray her as she went, and she loved it. 

I stopped cutting up a watermelon to video her, and then they both wanted watermelon.

Caleb suggested I video Keira in slow-motion sliding across the tile, eating her watermelon.

I took some still shots to show you, but the video is so much better (and I have no idea what Caleb's hands are doing). Maybe he's praying she didn't get hurt as she slid into the wall each time.

I wish you could see the videos :)

May 29, 2021

I like that they find fun things to do even though we don't have a yard or grass.

Life is what you make it :)

Side notes, if you're curious: the propane bottles to the right are what we use to run our oven and heat rooms with individual propane heaters. 

And across the way, is a house to the right and an empty lot to the left. Our neighbors have a pick-up truck they use to drive around to neighborhoods and sell fruits and vegetables out of the back. This lot is where they store their empty crates until they can haul them off.

*Karis took some of her senior photos this year in front of the crates, and they turned out so good ;)

I was so thankful Kylie said she could take Karis' senior photos. 

These were taken two weeks ago when she was here:)

January 5, 2022

A Blast From the Past

Blog Post About May 2021

To help take Keira's mind off of Kylie leaving, she went swimming at some friends' house.

May 8, 2021

While Keira was swimming, Doug was discussing things with the neighborhood guys.

And soon enough, Kylie was back in Nashville, back to school, and back to babysitting.

May 11, 2021

This sweet, curly haired lady is the mom to the four children above. We met her in 2009 before we went to Africa. You can see how young Kylie is in this picture (7) when this lady babysat my three one night.

Now, we've come full circle. 

This lady lives in Nashville, and Kylie babysits her crew weekly.

I love how God connects us.

Caleb's team won a soccer tournament in May.

You can see that Caleb is one of the tallest guys out there.

May 15, 2021

And the cat (Aoife) continues to be a source of entertainment for the kids.

May 16, 2021

Things I See (Vol 11)

Welcome to "Things I See."  If you want to see the previous installments, you can click on:

 Volume 1 , Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, Volume 6, Volume 7, Volume 8, Volume 9, Volume 10

See anything?

This one building of MANY in the city where people line up daily trying to get visas to get out of the country. It might be for work, a trip, or for permanence, but it just causes me to be thankful for my passport country.

I know you can't see it, but the SAM Office Furniture building is NOT on the street.
(It's over by the green plastic playground equipment)

Twins!

I love that she tried.

At the salon where I get my hair cut, younger boys are hired to hold the hairdryer for the hairdressers, they also hold the foil for the hairdressers on ladies' heads who are getting their hair colored.

I thought this was unique, but maybe this same thing happens in America???  You'll have to let me know.  I'm not that familiar with salons in America.  I can count on one hand how the number of salons I've been to in my life.

This is in our old neighborhood.  

Your eyes are NOT deceiving you.

Yes, that is three lanes of traffic PARKED on our street, and our gate is down on the right where you can see a dark blob of people sitting. 

March 19, 2019

Our side-of-the-road grazers look a little different than they do in South Texas.

"Chevy Runs Deep," but what does SHEVY do?

Ahhh!  Breathe in that beautiful air!

Speaking of air...

It's pretty common for houses here not to be built to code. (*smile)

Doug put rubber on the bottom of all our doors when we moved in because there was at least a half-inch space for dirt and air to come through (and the elements are still successful sometimes).

This is our front door area.  You can see to the right of the door how it's not flush with the wall.

Here it is zoomed in.

March 28, 2019

You wanna know why these small things don't bother me?

The back door to my kitchen in Africa had a ONE INCH space down the right side of the door.

You could literally put your hand through the hole, so Doug filled it with classy trashbags ;)

I've searched and searched for the picture of it, but after going through three years of Africa pictures twice, I still couldn't find it, so you'll have to take my word for it.

While You Were Sleeping

There was a "need" at our house four days after Ramadan ended, so I went to see if I could go buy said "need" in our neighborhood.

Nope.  Nope.  Nope.  I tried three little stores, and I came up empty.

So I kept walking.  I decided to go to a grocery store that's a little larger, about a mile from our house.

However, I was feeling strange, and I couldn't put my finger on the problem.

And then it hit me.

There were no people.

Anywhere.

It was about 112 degrees.

When Ramadan began, temperatures during the day hadn't reached 100 degrees yet.

But while they were sleeping through their days, they missed this rising heat.

It seemed to me that even though their lives were supposed to start again during the day after Ramadan, they couldn't bring themselves to face this new reality of heat.

Of course, we hadn't been sleeping through our days, so this was nothing new, but all of a sudden, I felt hotter and more tired than usual because I was alone.

My thoughts were saying, "I'm the only idiot out here.  It's really hot.  I deserve a reward."

So, along with said "need," I bought myself ice cream on a stick and brought home 5 others for my family, which didn't even melt - scary to think what products are in it to keep it from melting 😟

AND I got a blister on my foot because I didn't know I'd be walking over two miles when I put on my flip flops.

Summer is not looking too promising.

Maybe I'll hunker down during the daylight hours, too.

I don't like what happened to the temperatures while they were sleeping.

Snapshots of Ramadan

 The sun was setting.  People were rushing to get home.

 

Then, while everyone was breaking fast, we went to the mall to the food court to see if anything was open.

Abandoned coffee shop.

Abandoned. 

Abandoned.

Abandoned and very trusting, I might add.

I might also add, that it's not just this time when the streets are empty.  During the day, they are empty, too.  

After that 3ish am call to prayer, there is not a lot of activity in the streets until 4pm ish.

By the way, this is a GREAT time to learn to drive in a new country!

However, when the sun sets...

Party in the streets.  

This was taken at approximately 3am.  The kids were popping fireworks and making so much noise, that I went on the roof to see what all the excitement was about.

Nothing really.  Just another night of Ramadan.

Men, drinking tea and playing games down at the corner about 1am.

Kids were just sitting outside my gate as I walked up around midnight.

One night we invited a local friend to a restaurant for dinner.  She made a reservation for us and told us that they would allow us to start eating before the set time.

She misunderstood.

We were seated, but we had to wait 45 minutes before we could eat.  In the meantime, the waiters were filling up everyone's table with food and drink.

And when I say filling it up, I mean FILLING IT UP!

These were the appetizers.

Believe it or not, we never said a word about what we wanted.

  

We never even ordered.

  

This is the common fare for everyone who comes in during Ramadan.

Crazy, right?

Awesome crazy!

It was like being on a cruise and ordering every appetizer and entree they have on the menu and the waiters don't even bat an eye.

We made it through another Ramadan, and we were more prepared this year.

Last year, everything was new.

The day before it started.

Learning that life doesn't happen during the day.

Learning about the night life.

And participating in my first "end of Ramadan" party. 

Here are the kids dressed for Eid al-Fitr.  It's the first day after Ramadan is over, and we visit neighbors and friends. 

The conversations were better this year.  Our neighbors know us a little better, and we know how to say things a little better.

It's all a process.

Where are all the people?

The evening of May 27 was the beginning of Ramadan this year.

This is a type of calendar the people here follow to know when the 5 prayer times are scheduled and when they can eat.  

You will see on the first day (read right to left), they eat at 3:06am, then have prayers at 3:21am and so on.  

They broke their first day's fast at 7:17pm, right at sunset.

I have been in a home and a restaurant before, watching them count down the minutes.  It's a serious thing.

This is what my neighborhood looks like when everyone is inside breaking fast with their families.

This fruit stand owner just covered their fruit, left it outside, and went to eat.

In the background, you can see Doug and Caleb walking.  We were on our way to catch a taxi.  A few places cater to ex-pats, and so they remain open during this time.

A few people decided to break their fast at this restaurant, which is down the street from us.

Even the roads were empty.  

For a city of 2.2 million, during this time of the day during Ramadan, it can feel like a ghost town.

Shortly after this, the people that have been resting all day will start a LONG night of loud activities.  Shopping, visiting friends, hanging out, eating ice cream, driving around...you name it.

THAT'S when you'll see all the people!