Papayas and Bunas

                Last Friday afternoon, the day after Thanksgiving, Erin and I decided to take the boys to the fruit stand down the road from Familia Feliz.  Since arriving in Bolivia I have made a complete turnaround when it comes to papayas.  At first, I thought they were horrid and refused to take more than a couple bites when Erin insisted I “try” her papaya.  I don’t know what happened, but it didn’t take long for me to turn into a hardcore papaya fan! The store, rather a huge fruit orchard surrounding a family’s house, is a little under a mile walk.  The boys enjoy the outing and we enjoy some new scenery.  This isn’t the kind of place you can just walk into the store and ask for x amount of fruits you want.  We have to battle for our papayas!  The underbrush surrounding the papaya trees is up to our knees and full of all sorts of random jungle creatures.  We tromp through it, shaking the trees that have promising looking papayas, sometimes we try knocking them off with long branches… it takes coordination and alertness to dodge the flying papayas. I once shook a tree with 5 hard green papayas and one lovely ripe looking papaya… and every single green one came off one at a time and the ripe one was the last to finally come.  Hence picking papaya can be frustrating, and sometimes it doesn’t work exactly as we would like. 

            Well, yesterday I thought I was on a roll at finding good papayas.  Even though we had gathered quite a few, I wanted to go farther down just to make sure we weren’t missing any perfect ones!  I ran down the rutted, dirt path with little Juan, eyes peeled for papayas.  I found several more good looking papayas and right when I was about to turn around my eyes fell on a tree with a couple delicious looking papayas.  I gave Juan the ones in my hand and quickly waded through the thick brush to get to them.  Luckily they were hanging low enough on the tree I could just pick them with my hands.  As I picked them I looked around and thought to myself, “wow, I really am in the middle of the jungle!” As I was hopping back to the path I felt a sharp sting on my right lower leg, I shook my leg and looked down to see a giant ant go flying.  Immediately all the bad stories I’d heard about the dreaded “Buna” ants flooded into my head.  To my dismay, Juan saw it and moved away quickly, exclaiming “Buna!” At that point, feeling more stings up my pant legs, I knew I was doomed to something NOT good.  I grabbed the front part of my pants and shook it attempting to get all the ants to fall down and out of my pants.  I felt more stinging pain, but I thought I had gotten them all out.  Nope. Ouuuuuuuuch! The worst one yet, it had climbed all the way up my pant leg.  I was bouncing around, worked into a tizzy at this point.  In order to save Juan from being scared for life I told him to run tell the others what was happening, and the second he turned his back my pants were down and I was getting that horrible last ant out forever!     

            O.k. now I was crying… a lot.  You may not understand yet why “a few ants” would have this effect.  I didn’t either… I mean they are the biggest ants I’ve ever seen in my life, but still, I am WAY bigger!  I thought to myself, “what’s going on here! Am I a baby.. or what?!” Later, talking to more people who have lived here for a long time, I found out that it’s not snakes or big wild jungle animals that are the most hazardous animals around here – it is the Buna ants!  They are known as “man-killers.”  The director of the orphanage was told they can kill you (I think he was just trying to tell him what they were called, but it got confused in translation).  Melissa Harding, the founder of Familia Feliz, has lived here for 6 years and she told me she has only had two Buna bites and they were at separate times.  For an example of how much power these ants have… if you step on one, the pain goes from the bottom of your feet all the way to your hip (and by pain, I mean intense pain!).  Unfortunately I was not lucky enough to step on one… I stepped on a whole nest of them.  I had no idea how many had bit me, all I knew was my leg was on fire.  I quickly started hobbling back towards the others.  There was a flurry of “what’s wrong?” … “are you okay?” … “what happened?” I quickly told them, but top priority on my mind was getting back to the house so I started heading back right away.  Walking back I was still wondering why I was crying up a storm over some ants… after returning to the orphanage and news getting around about how many bites I had gotten… I realized why!  People were teasing me about how I was a legend…I’ll go down in history as the girl who got FIVE buna bites!

            I’ve been trying to figure out how to describe how the bite of a buna feels… and I’m having a hard time putting it into words.  I’ve never experienced anything like it.  It’s the most intense, sharp, painful sensation… and unlike other bug bites that simmer down over time, it continues to get worse and worse as time goes on.  My whole leg began to throb, it was a deep pounding pain that felt like it went all the way into my bones.  A combination of sharp, shooting pain and a deep, throbbing ache.  When I was walking back, it was somewhat of a distraction, once back at the house it hit me with another wave of intensity.  I quickly laid down on my bed, gritting my teeth and just trying to deal with it.  Mrs. Harding, and some other volunteers brought slices of onion and started pressing them on my bites.  Apparently onions are supposed to pull out some of the venom.  Everyone was so helpful, I would say I felt pampered by all their attention… but the way my leg was burning it was impossible to feel too pampered.  Jordan and Matt, my friends who are also student missionaries at Familia Feliz sat down in our room to keep me company and “cheer me up.”  They thought it would be a good idea to tell me some jokes.… Matt: “Knock knock – who’s there? – Boo – Boo who? – Buuuuuuuunaaaaaaaaaa!!!”  Jordan: “Why did the Buna cross the road? To bite Sierra!” Looking back now, their silliness makes me laugh… but let me tell you, I was about ready to punch them at the time!  I was told that the best way to get through the pain is to try to fall asleep.  So I tried… and tried!  I finally asked Erin if she could ask if anyone had some sort of sleeping pill.  She came back with a heavy dose of Tylenol, and it sent me to sleep in no time – hallelujah!  Once I fell asleep, the worst of the experience was finally over.  By the time I woke up the next morning the poison in my leg had diminished greatly, and I was quite happy to feel like I had a leg again. 

            Miguel, our 5 year old is a smart little munchkin.  After this experience he’s picked up that I am terrified of Buna ants.  Earlier today when I was calling him to come help me machete some long grass beside the path near our house, he said “No Mommy, hay mucho Buna’s alli!” hah.  He was trying to convince me there were a lot of Buna’s in the grass there… really he just didn’t want to machete.  He definitely worried me, but Juan assured me there weren’t Buna’s around where we were and I made sure sneaky little Miguel did his macheting.  Living in the jungles of Bolivia, so far my worst enemy has been a monstrously sized ANT!  From now on i'm hoping to avoid the dreaded Buna's at all cost! 

A Day at Home with the Boys

11-16-11

            Wednesday.  Half way through the last week of school!  Today has been a long, but full day.  Some of our boys didn’t have school today, so we had hyper active boys around all day long.  Erin and I refused to budge from our beds at the usual time… it’s becoming a habit now that instead of us waking the boys up we just sleep until they wake us up.  It’s been working so far.  Sometimes they’re content to play outside as the sun is coming up and it’s not until they get hungry do we start getting pressured to get a move on.  The boys like to tease us, especially when they can tell we are half awake.  We have our morning worship before we have breakfast, they love insisting we sing them a song in English (for some reason they especially like the rowdy ones FIRST thing in the morning) Anyways, try slowly waking up in this house and it is bound to be a fail.  When these boys wake up – they wake up everyone and everything around them!

            Once breakfast is eaten, dishes are washed, boys are ready and off to school… I feel like I can relax for a bit.  Today I didn’t have long because I was off to make bread at 8:30.  Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday we make *huge* amounts of bread to feed the whole orphanage.  Some of the older girls actually make the bread early in the mornings, and I am one of those dubbed the responsibility of baking the 100’s of rolls of bread.  It’s been quite an experience learning to use the giant “igloo” – at least that’s what I call it – it’s the oven behind the big house that is used to bake large quantities of food.  We use a wooden poker to push in and pull out the bread when it’s ready.  Unlike at home when the bread is in the oven for 30 minutes or more… it only takes 2-4 minutes for the bread to be totally done here!  The “igloo” puts out some intense heat, I know because I’ve lost some of my arm hairs on this job.  One of the reasons they have me helping with the bread is to make sure kids don’t steal it and eat half of it before it even gets put away.  I’m afraid I’m a little too nice with this part of my job, I mean there’s 100’s of rolls of bread, and the kids always ask so nicely… I guess I’m usually on the kids’ side when it comes to wanting some fresh, warm bread right out of the oven J

            Today was a bit of a break from the extreme heat.  It was cooler than normal and what I would call “perfect nap time weather.”  Erin and I have integrated a rest time into our daily routine.  The boys never fail to complain about it but they’re starting to realize that it doesn’t help and their Mom’s are determined to have a rest time whether they rest or not – we WILL.  After rest time we started the boys on their work.  After doing the usual, cleaning their rooms, washing and folding their clothes, cleaning the bathroom and checking the trash I assigned them each a section to machete.  It still amazes me how kids at this age are so skillfully able to use machetes.  Even Miguel, our 5 year old uses a machete like a pro.  They have a lot of trust for each other’s accuracy as well, I can tell from watching how closely they work beside each other.  I always keep my distance from those flying machetes – doesn’t seem to phase them though. It can be quite wearisome getting all the boys through their chores.  It involves a lot of patience, instruction, input, checking, and rechecking their work. Along with all this activity at our house, I was looking after Jamie’s 8 girls next door.  Jamie went to town today so I made sure her girls did their jobs, homework, showers, and stayed peaceful.

            After most of the boys had finished their work they asked for the new soccer ball Erin bought for our family, and took off to play their favorite game.  Erin and I busied ourselves around the house, helping the youngest finish up their chores, cleaning our room and writing some letters.  The older boys took a break after a bit and came over asking for oranges – a question I get about 50 times a day.  Whenever given the opportunity, these boys jump on a chance to grab something of ours and run off with it.  Our flip flops seem to be the favorite target.  They hold their treasures up high and with big grins on their faces they taunt us and tease us until we take off after them.  One big problem: these boys are fast as lightning!  It was quite amusing sitting on our doorstep and watching Erin run circles around the yard attempting to get back her flip flops… right when we’re about to catch them, they throw the wanted object to someone else who takes off with a new burst of energy.  I finally quit laughing and went to Erin’s aid, we exhausted our strategic abilities to try to trap the boys between the two of us.  Of course while helping Erin my flip flops were stolen as well.  It can be somewhat humiliating when I chase my 9 year olds around the yard – running as fast as I possibly can – and still can’t catch them!  If there was a way to make them run in a straight line, I could get them with my longer strides, but they dart back and forth and turn corners faster than it seems possible… leaving me and Erin shaking our heads and wondering how we got so old and slow.  Kevin is the fastest of our boys.  I am amazed how such little legs can move so fast!  My legs are twice as long as his but he still can out run me.  Today they boys were all laughing and mimicking how I looked chasing Kevin around the yard. 

            I learned my lesson today as far as talking smack to my boys.  Erin and I challenged them to a game of futbal (soccer) – Erin and I against all the boys.  Yes, they’re good little players, but I was sure we could handle them, I mean they’re half our size!  All through dinner I was asking them if they were “listo ir debajo?!” (Are you guys ready to go down?!) I’m afraid I greatly underestimated their abilities.  Even though I’ve played with them a lot, I didn’t think it would be that hard to play against 6 such little boys.  They smashed us. It didn’t take them long to have us beat 3-0.  Haha… I got what I asked for… the boys were teasing me the rest of the night about how I went “debojo” big time!  When we finished our competition (those of you who know me well know how competitive I am…and I promised the boys we would have a rematch), all the girls came running out to join in the fun.  There was a rousing game of “chicos” vs “chicas” until they got called away by us mother’s to shower before worship.  On Wednesday nights at Familia Feliz everyone gathers together for worship in the church.  We sing lots of songs, have a short worship thought and then wrap it up with prayer.  Since we usually put the boys in bed around 7:30 p.m., worship lasting until 8 or after usually creates a struggle for our boys to stay awake.  I routinely look around to see half of my boys conked out.  Miguel is usually the first to go, he curls up in my lap and is off to dream land.  After worship the boys groggily stumble back home and crawl into their beds.  It’s one of the easiest nights to get them quieted down and in bed because they’re all so sleepy.  Sometimes when I give them kisses goodnight I have Juan jumping on my back like a monkey, Kevin hiding under his pillow so I can’t find him, Emmanuel pretending he’s sleeping than grabbing me by the neck when I turn around and Miguel tickling my legs… not Wednesday night, they’re half asleep as I tuck them into bed and give them their bed time hugs, kisses and “te amo’s.” 

            One of the best parts of the day is when night has come, the boys are asleep and it is finally peaceful and quiet.  Erin and I love to sit in our room at night with the soft candle light glowing throughout the room.  We talk, listen to quiet music, blog, read and sometimes enjoy eating some delicious papayas as we wind down from the long day.  I’m in my bed now, on the bunk above me I hear Erin whisper “I feel like I’m plastered to my bed and will never be able to move again… like I fell from the sky and I’m here to stay” … I guess that’s what being Moms to 8 energetic little boys can do to you. J

Life in the Jungle

10-28-11 

            It’s Friday night, the week is finally coming to an end.  It’s been a trying week, but I feel in this last week I’ve grown a lot.  I am becoming more and more accustomed to a different way of life.  Usually on Friday mornings I make Granola for the whole orphanage, it is a special treat for Sabbath mornings.  No granola today though, because we are out of oats.  Since Familia Feliz is on the outskirts of a very small town, most of the food we order has to get bused in from La Paz.  Roadblocks, rain, bus problems… there are unending reasons why the food doesn’t show up when expected.  Erin and I enjoy our mornings because they are the few short hours of quiet in the day.  The boys are all at school except for Miguel because he is too young to go to school.  Miguel has to be coaxed and coaxed to talk or smile or show any emotion.  He is one of the most puzzling children I have ever met.  It’s been good to have some one on one time with him in the mornings, I have noticed him beginning to open up.. just a little.  This morning I sat outside on our step, eating bananas and “talking” with him.  Talking with Miguel is still mostly one-sided but hopefully that will change in time. 

            At lunch time we found out that three of our boys had skipped their last classes and snuck down to the river to go fishing.  These boys LOVE fishing, they are constantly building new contraptions and fishing pole type things in hopes of catching more fish.  Erin and I were not happy to hear they had skipped school though.  During lunch we brainstormed extra consequences than the norm.  When lunch is over the kids have siesta time, we decided that Ivan, Kevin and Emmanual would have to stay in their beds and not talk for a long time after the other kids got up and had free time.  We had the boys do some Friday cleaning, pick up all the trash around the house, fold their clothes, straighten their rooms and beds ect.  For the three who skipped school, Erin decided that today they were going to get some physical punishment.  We had them line up outside in the hot sun and run laps.  At first they acted cool about it, running around easily and playfully.  Little did they know how many laps Erin had planned for them!  They had to do laps, push-ups and to top it off they had to do the “duck” walk across the field beside our house.  Erin and I learned the “duck” walk in soccer conditioning in high school, I vividly remember waking up and not being able to get out of bed because I was so sore after those days of conditioning.  Seeing those three waddle across the grass was a hilarious sight.  I could tell they were getting the picture – it is NOT a good idea to skip school!  I’m guessing their soreness will be a reminder as well.  After the kids all finished their chores we gave them some bananas and they scampered off to play for a while before worship.                                                                                                                                                                     


            Some of the boys wanted to play the “Nuevo juego” that I taught them – Dutch Blitz!  It’s quite an adventure to play with these kids, they get really into it and they’re pretty fast!  Before dinner time we took all the kids up to the big house to play because Erin and I were going to help Jamie make a birthday cake for one of her girls birthdays.  It was an interesting experience.  They don’t really have measuring cups around here, cooking is a guessing game and unfortunately we are very unexperienced guessers.  We will see how it turned out at the birthday celebration tomorrow!

            This evening brought some extremely sad new.  It’s been rough. As I was gathering the children for dinner, a motorbike came roaring past the house.  It all happened so quickly, but before I knew it Emmanuel was on the back of the motorcycle and zooming away from the orphanage.  It was upsetting because no one talked to us, and we had no idea where he was going.  I went over and talked to Missy, she speaks fluent Spanish and since she is the founder of the orphanage most parents tend to talk to her about things.  I was shocked to hear what she had to say.  Emmanuel’s father died yesterday.  Ugh.  Kick in the gut.  Not what I wanted to hear.  So sudden.  I don’t know if Emmanuel’s father was a good man, I don’t know if he was abusive toward Emmanuel… it’s possible… but he was still his father.  Emmanuel hasn’t seen his father for a long time, but he obviously had an attachment to him.  He melted to pieces when he heard the news.  So many tears.  My heart aches for Emmanuel… I can’t imagine how he is feeling… I wish so much that I could hold him and comfort him somehow.  They whisked him away to the funeral before I could even say goodbye. 

            After worship, I sat with the boys and we all prayed for Emmanuel and his family.  I tucked them into bed and kissed them goodnight.  Guerrmo couldn’t stop crying.  I kneeled beside him and asked what was wrong… he was sad for Emmanuel.  I asked him if he wanted to talk and he nodded his head.  I took him to my room and he sat on my lap, crying in my arms.  These are the times when I wish so much I could speak fluent Spanish.  I want so much to be able to comfort my kids, but I don’t have all the words to express myself.  Yet really, what words are there to comfort someone when someone they love has died? I held him tight and told him I love him.  He said he was friends with Emmanuel’s dad too.  We prayed together for Emmanuel and his family.  There’s no water again on campus.  It might mean we are taking the boys down the road to the river to bath… drinking, dishes, we’ll figure it out as we go. It’s been a long day, and a long week.  I sat with Erin and we ate a papaya together, trying to unwind.  

          Each day definitely brings its challenges here. I strive to find the courage to face them.  Often by the end of the day I feel mentally and physically dead from all the exerted emotions and energy.  Despite the struggles, I am learning and growing in so many ways.  I know that God is here at Familia Feliz, and that is a huge encouragment.