Moms to the rescue

I know that Mother's Day has passed, but I missed it because I was in the field and completely disconnected from the outside world. So, a week later...here is my ode to mom.

Being a mother is a tough job. The only way to retire from it is death. I may be considered a grown up, but that doesn't mean I don't still need my mother. Maybe she is no longer changing diapers, nursing, or carting us from place to place as our personal chauffer, but her role is still very necessary it just comes with different job responsibilities at this stage in her children's lives.

Who do I call in the middle of the night when I just want a good laugh? Mom (she's probably up anyway)

Who do I call when I am angry at the world and need to vent? Mom

Who will listen for hours to stories about my life and likely not say anything about herself? Mom

Who will work hard to fill a wish list of items from home (including antiquated technology that she has to recruit friends to help her find)? Mom

Since moving overseas, I talk to my family a lot. Every week I set aside time to call them just to hear what is going on (though since moving to Africa the time change has made this difficult). I could not do this successfully without the support of my family and I don't say enough how much I appreciate them.

I recently read an article based on a research study that basically says talking to mom reduces stress. Granted their study was on 9-12 year old girls. But I can tell you it also works for 30-somethings.

Thanks, mom. Hope you don't retire anytime soon. Smile!

update: what to do?

A few months ago, I posted about my dilemma with beggars. At the time I was struggling with how to respond. I continue to struggle with how to respond.

Recently, I was reading in the book of Matthew (in the Bible) and one of the scriptures seemed to answer my question. Matthew 6:42 reads:

Give to the one who begs from you.

Well, that seems simple enough, but really it just leads to another question. What should I give - Money? Time? Clothes? Should my gift come with strings attached, like pick up trash or wash my car? Or should my gift be given out of the kindness of my heart with no strings attached? What are your thoughts? What do you do when you encounter a beggar on the street?

A case for kindness

This is the year of abounding kindness. Since coming to Mozambique I have been given many opportunities for kindness in my new role. I can't say I have always responded the best way possible.

One of the changes in the relocation is that I am now in charge of HR for the four offices and nearly 300 staff. This poses many challenges and provides many opportunities for kindness. My job is essentially an office job, my investment is in the staff rather than the beneficiaries (which is not always the way I want it, it is just the way it is). Practically each day I am confronted with a case for kindness.

In my first week one of our security guards in a northern province experienced a stroke. He is now paralyzed, can't speak or walk. In my role, how should I best respond to that? Well, we tried to get him medical care ASAP and to work with the INSS (social security) to get his benefits quickly.

This week I received very sad news. One of the cooks in the same province was found dead. The cause of his death was alcohol poisoning from overconsumption. We had written him up recently for coming to work drunk. Following his death we discovered that he lost a child last year and his wife had left him. These events likely influenced his alcohol consumption. I didn't know his circumstances, was there something I could have done to help? Could I have been more sensitive? How many people do I interact with daily who have struggles that I am blind to?

Granted, we all still have choices to make, but this event has reminded me why I chose kindness as a theme this year and I hope I will demonstrate it more often in daily interactions.

We are five months in to the year, how are you doing in keeping your new year's resolution?

driving in Maputo

There is an organiational rule that one must wait a certain amount of time before driving after entering the country. That's all well and good, but I want FREEDOM!!! Driving is freedom.

I have been feeling like a caged animal lately. Why? Because we live at the office. I can't drive. Thus, we spend day after day in the building. There were some days when I didn't even see the outdoors. Not good.

Well, this week I started driving. Oh, happy day! However, it was like I was learning to drive all over again. I felt like I was in drivers ed because my boss had to ride along and make sure I passed the driving test.

In Mozambique, they drive on the left hand side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right (opposite from America). I found that staying in the correct lane was easier than I imagined as I just simply followed the traffic patterns. The difficulty came in managing the controls in the car. I wanted the blinker control to be the gear shift and the windshield wiper control to be the blinker control. I cannot tell you how many times I accidentally turned on the windshield wipers. Luckily, those in the car with me (my boss and husband) were gracious about my mistakes.

Now that I am a driver - Kenyon and I are going to explore the city. I can't wait! First stop, hair cut place for Kenyon. Here we go...

Interesting International Facts: PB&J

Did you know?

Where you grow up affects the kind of spread you like on bread. If you are from England you probably like Marmite. If you are from Australia you probably like Veggiemite. If you are from America, you probably don't like either of these things. Yuck!

However, if you are from America you probably grew up eating Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. It may surprise you to learn that those from other places find the combination gross. They just cannot believe that anyone would like the such a mis-matched combination.

The person who recently reminded me of this fact, does like peanut butter with butter on bread. Hmmm...

I think those outside of America limit their peanut butter pairings too much - remember the post about Reeses in Ireland?