Hi, Just wanted to write a about a couple of things that happened today. We tried to get out early but got delayed so we didn't get first in line at the bank and then at Immigration but fortunately the lines weren't too terribly long and we got our stuff done.
We had to go around to the missionary flats and two church buildings and put electricity codes into the meters so that they all have power for a while. We bought the electricity on Friday but never got it put in. Strange way of doing things here.
We stopped at a garden/nursery that we saw and bought a Gardena plant for mother's day. It cost 350 Kwacha, which is $2.33. I said that is about the least amount he will ever have to spend on a mother's day gift. We brought it home and Davie, the gardener planted it in the yard. It will be interesting to see how fast it grows in this climate. He was happy to get it for the yard.
Davie told us today that he has a problem he needed to talk to us about. He said that there is friction between himself and his wife. It is the custom here that the '1st born' (that is Davie) has to take care of family matters. His father died a while back and so the father's family come in and take everything and leave the wife with nothing. Davie has been building her a brick house/hut in the village to live in but he hasn't put on the doors and windows or finished roof yet and recently someone tried to steal her maize (but she yelled "thief" and people came and chased the thief away). It is taking some of his pay each month to do this and his wife is not happy about that. So - she has not spoken to him for 3 days and today she did not even cook him some lunch! :( He is quite upset and told us he wanted to leave her. We talked to him and told him that we are sure they can work things out. His wife does not speak English so we can't talk to her. Jim made a phone call and so the Br. President and Pres. Chinyumba will come and talk with them and see if they can help them. Davie also told us that her family is making demands on him too and want him to buy things for them even though they do have two cows and are selling the milk and making some money that way. When he can't give them what they want they tell his wife that he is not a good husband. He has a lot of demands on him and that is not uncommon when a member of the family (especially the 1st born) has a job. Hopefully his wife will see things differently and start cooking for him again and talking to him. They have a cute little 3 yr. old daughter and both are members of the church. :)
We decided today on a security company to come and install the system in this house. We talked to Pres. Dube and he said to go with whoever we feel good about. There is a big company in the city but we didn't get any good reviews about them. Apparently they don't pay their people very well so they subsidize by stealing from the customers when they can. We don't want that!!! It was interested that as we were making our decision we had a visitor - a man who lives down the hill, across the creek, behind us. He had heard that we had a break-in and was wondering about it. I guess another neighbor had a break-in a week or so ago. The man is East Indian, and is a dentist. I think I mentioned before that there are a lot of East Indians here and they seem to do quite well. We like dealing with them. Anyway, this man told us that he doesn't have a guard and never has a problem. Whenever he has had a guard that is when he gets robbed! He does, however, have a security system that is not monitored but goes to his cell phone and then he can call the police and he says they are really good about checking things out. We had a good chat with him. We will have a monitored system though. We will not commit to a long-term contract and they will have to prove themselves! We do feel good about the company we chose and hopefully we will be taken care of. The gate guard and Davie will both have panic buttons so if they see something or need help they can just push them. I think it will be good. We will have motion detectors throughout the house and alarms on the exterior doors (5 exterior doors). Davie was cut and tied up when the robbery happened here a couple of months ago and his wife was molested - they both had to be taken to the hospital. I suppose they are lucky that they didn't do even worse to them! I think Davie has been nervous ever since and was worried about us going away. We assured him we would have the system and that he would have the panic button and he seems okay with that. He told us today that we shouldn't tell even church members that we are going away because they will come and try to steal from us.
There are these weird grasshopper type things that seem to be in-season. Davie told me this morning that they like to eat them and that they can catch them best at night time. I wish they would catch them all!!!! They are attracted to light and seem to get in the house now and then - but they usually die pretty quick and Jim flushes them down the toilet. I guess we should start collecting them for Davie!! :)
We are ready to head to bed. Another busy day tomorrow!
Love, mom/Sister Bullock
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