week 9

Easter was a beautiful day. There was singing and music in church (I was worried as last year there was not). Sermon on the resurrection and the fact that the women at the tomb didn’t recognize Jesus in the garden through their tears and grief…what is it in our lives that is keeping us from recognizing Jesus today?
Sad day for 2 dogs in Nkhoma…we had one of the village dogs fall in our trash pit…deep pit with steep sides. We tried putting palm branches at an angle hoping he would be able to climb out on his own as we didn’t want to get to close to the wild dog. But that didn’t work. He was there for some days and I think that at some point people came and threw rocks and bricks at him…when I went to check on him he was not moving anymore…I enlisted some help from some passing people and the guy rigged a noose out of ropes to wrap around one front paw and we pulled him up. Still just whining but I thought it might have been shock so we covered him, gave him water and some leftovers…he hadn’t moved the next day and I really knew something was wrong. He was quiet for a while but then started whining so I called reynier who came and gave him a shot. He also brought one of his dog’s puppies who was having convulsions and not getting any better. Burial for both in the garden…
I don’t know what is up with malawi’s power and water…we do a power share with Mozambique (I don’t really really understand what that means) but we have “scheduled” cuts on Mondays and Saturdays…however from about Thursday it has been off all day…and then comes on at night. Then Friday after being on for about 2 hours it went out again…Sunday it stayed on. Occasionally we hear that there was some announcement (but we never hear it beforehand). And the water in the cottage has been going off in the day…luckily it comes back on around 8 every evening but it does put a cramp in living at home…dishes are put off until there are lots…showers are either late or early in the morning (goes off anytime after 630)…no explanation for that either…
Rabies was given as the reason for two of the ter haar puppy’s deaths- one in town and one in nkhoma…which means that possibly the rest of them had it as well. And possibly the one buried in my yard…so the whole family and the others must get the rabies shots…a set of 4 or 5 spread out over a couple of weeks. That is quite a few children and adults having to get the shots but it is much better to be safe than sorry.