Tim, Dan's dad, came to visit us in Nampula for a few days. Below are a few sections of some of his emails home:
This morning I walked with Danny to all the projects; chickens, houses, bridge etc. It is a stunningly beautiful area but living conditions are very harsh. Danny's house is about70% complete and will revolutionise their lives.This afternoon Doc,Danny and I met with Scott for about 3 hours which was fascinating.
I was so impressed with Danny's relationship with all the workers. They were overjoyed to see him and most effusive in their welcome to me.
There appears quite a good chance of rain again tonight which will be a huge blessing. The humidity here is unbelievable.I battled but Ruth even moreso.
I can see though why Danny is so pumped about the place and he has achieved miracles.
Last night we had tremendous rain. As a result, this morning is beautifully cool. The rain though was not good for Danny and Ruth. Poor things, the rain came through the windows which are only covered with wire netting. They sleep on a mattress on the floor so they had to move that and everything else. Next thing, Danny saw a glistening frog and then heard another plop onto the bed. When he rounded up the 2 frogs and took them to the door to throw them out, there were hundreds of others which immediately jumped into the room. D and R took about an hour to try and rid themselves of the sticky, glistening frogs with large webbed feet that jump every which way especially when being pursued! Poor things ( D and R, not the frogs!) were exhausted this morning!
I had a much better night as the rat which had been my companion in my tiny room the night before had found pastures new and D and R leant me a fan which made a big difference.
This morning I woke early and sat on a lovely swing bench to do my readings. As soon as Zachy saw me he scurried out clutching his favourite Pooh Bear book. He can never hear it often enough and he loves doing the actions and sounds such as the woodpecker tap tap tapping! Considering that it was never believed that Zachy would ever walk or recognise anyone, even his parents and that the prospect of his communicating was not even dreamt of, it is indeed a miracle. He turns 7 in a week or so. I love it when he shows real pleasure or excitement about something as he shakes his little shoulders and fists in sheer joy. He has the most gorgeous smile and is very loving.
The place to which we went last night was very pleasant. It is owned by a Portuguese fellow who has made all his money by brewing and selling illicit booze made from local fruits.Where we ate overlooks a large dam and is surrounded by these most dramatic granite hills. We're going to walk over there this morning as there is a nursery attached and Danny wants me to see what might be grown here at the farm.
Scott is on duty this morning and Danny takes over for the rest of the weekend from 1 o'clock. The main duties are collecting and moving water from various water points to the chickens, checking on the workers and later on, collecting all the eggs. About 4000 eggs are laid each day and egg sales take place at 8 am. Danny has set up incredibly good systems and the whole enterprise seems to operate very smoothly though it needs very close supervision. As I said yesterday though, the living conditions are incredibly hard.
Although today is pleasantly cool and I slept pretty well,I still feel quite knocked out. The humidity is incredibly high and we all have to drink gallons of water to replace fluid.
