Meat South Africa - by Kevin

We have enjoyed our first South African braais, courtesy of fellow Mercy Ships alumni the Myers and De La Rue families, and yesterday by our base leaders Bruno and Judy.  The braai is a big deal to the South Africans.  It focuses on hospitality, fellowship and meat.  I've never seen so much meat!  When I inquired about the lack of veggies I was informed that chicken was a vegetable ;-) Like I said, they are serious about their meat.  They are also serious about their rugby and supporting the national team the Springboks.  They beat Wales 23-18 to earn a place in the Rugby World cup semi-finals.  Go Boks!

I still don't understand all the rules, but I think trying to pull your opponent's head off must be wrong. 

We think we may finally have a handle on the transportation department.  The transportation billing system was rather complicated, very difficult for us to learn, and ate up 60 hours each month.  This week I created and proposed a revamped system to the Base Administration Team.  The changes were approved and we will be implemented starting Nov 1st.  Billing should now hopefully take about 10 hours a month.   I do enjoy fixing things, restoring or making things work better.  My grandfather was a time engineer and spend his life making factories work more efficient.  It's funny the things we inherit.

 "Excuse me sir, you have a Pterygium in your eye."
 My eye doctor told me I really need to wear sunglasses.  
Causes of Pterygium:

Most experts believe that significant risk factors include:

• Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light
• Dry eye
• Irritants such as dust and wind

But I can't see well unless the sunglasses have prescription lenses which cost about $400 for curved lenses.  So this week I bought sunglasses, then took the lenses from my reserve glasses and glued them to my new shades, BAM! saved $375.  They look normal on the outside.  That's all that counts right?

I also discovered a way to harness solar and wind energy to dry our clothes... what?  Rachel's trying to tell me this was discovered already.  Whatever.

Last post we showed you our toilet brush tree, now here's our hair brush tree!

Thank you for your prayers and support as we try to digest  this new culture.  (get it- meat South Africa :-)

The Yangi