Effects of living overseas

Most of my duties the last two days consisted of normal home schooling tasks: reading, organizing, helping, grading and discussions. Not very different from thousands of home schoolers around the world. But in thinking about what to write about today I realized parts of our day directly tie into our missionary life overseas.

• Cory sent 2 E-mails today for pastors who needed the information sent.
• Rinsed a head full of lettuce in bleach water.
• Did not go to clinic Monday because of rain. [Local school also cancelled because of rain]
• Sent an E-mail inquiring about the outcome of a medical phone consultation to LaGonave Sunday night.
• Blogged-don't know if I would if we lived in the USA. [this also means a lot more picture taking] 
• Hired Eli and Anna to clean the guest house monthly and prepare the guest house before teams.
• Sent mail out and then sorted mail that comes once a week to Haiti on Missionary Flights International. 
• Worked on a couple translations in Creole and attended French class with Eli and Anna.
• Checked to see if any of the 140 Moringa tree seeds sprouted during our rainy week.
• Typed up a Creole list of natural remedies and what they are said to treat, and started to try to translate the names into English. 
• Spent time yesterday researching editable insects.

The last two items concern the second book I'm putting together that will focus on natural medical remedies, underutilized plants and sources of nutrition [insects] and agricultural information. I received permission from ECHO to simplified and translate some of their technological notes [noting where folks can read the full articles in French] I'm hoping that Andy will be able to translate the natural medicine and ECHO information from French to Creole without any help. Then once he gets the translated information to me I'll only need to type it in and arrange the information. 

So while I wait to see if this method works or not I'll be researching additional information like editable insects to include in the book. Most children in Haiti can use any help in nutrition they can get and one way is to teach them about plants and foods that the adults overlook, like insects. 

I'm learning a lot while making Eli and Anna nervous. Just yesterday Cory found a nest of ants in the kitchen cupboard but he baited them and Mme. Rosemary cleaned them up before I heard about it. In talking to her about eating of insects world wide, I confirmed with Mme. Rosemary that children in Haiti do eat insects at times. So if I can educated a few folks about nutrition, safety and ways to cook insects I figure I can help a few folks, after all over 80% of the world intentionally eat insects. 

[Cory just caught a female Rhino beetle [he does not like them as they eat palm trees]...will see if I decide tomorrow to see if I can clean her and cook her. Think I need a good night's sleep before doing anything rash. 

Second picture thanks to Anna going out to chase chickens in the yard before 7 a.m. and finding this interesting mushroom.