Sierra Leone Fennig Updates

finally on furlough!

2010-11-10T07:18:00.000-08:00

Greetings to the two or three who check out this blog!

I have not had internet back on Madison Avenue and so the website is not up, but today is the beginning of the end of that phase of life. (Posting from a McD's in southern Ohio right now!) Tomorrow Randy should land in America, and our furlough really begins. He is flying into Dulles, since that is where we need to leave from in March 2011.

R & S, hopefully you will check this, we will locate you soon! Thanks for praying for safe travels, we know how important that is.

How to be happy having medical exams

2010-05-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

A simple solution for making medical expenses less costly and much more pleasant, take your "medical vacation" in South Africa! Come here for the excellent care, and while tests are being done and procedures scheduled, enjoy the great views and low cost foods and the fabulous hospitality that is so much a part of this culture. REALLY!

We left Salone May 11th, were "stuck" two days in Accra Ghana, then missed all of our first week's appointments. No worries! When you explain to the Doctors here that you have less than two weeks to get everything done, they HELP rush you through the system!

And they take LOTS of time with you, talking about what is happening as we age, what changes to expect, ...think American Doctor visits from the 1960's or so, not rushed, not feeling like a number in their system.

I will try to post final costs if anyone out there wants to know, but to give you a hint of how much less it all costs, the lab fee for my PAPS was $35.00 US. Our dental visits with x-rays and cleanings were under $200.00 for both of us. Total!! Not co-pay, those are absolute costs! Something has gone seriously wrong with the insurance and lawyers in America keeping the Doctors and their patients so far apart! Nope, I do not believe the Government can fix it, I don't believe they have the know how to fix much of anything!

But back to my original premise, the best health care for the cheapest price is here in South Africa! I know hardly anyone will make the visit, but we feel so fortunate to have been able to do it this year. And we are leaving early enough to miss the World Cup crowd, but we have seen some of the mania! So happy for South Africa in it all.

connected again... it has been less than a year!

2010-05-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

Connected with my Mac, not a possibility in Salone, we do not have the internet service provider who handles Macs, so I can only update this when we are out of Salone... we are in Accra Ghana as I type.

This week has been a roller coaster ride, emotionally. I LOVE storms, thunder, lightening, lots and lots of rain, wind, all good! The lightening strike that wiped out our freezer and electrical system in the house at Jui, not so good! Monday morning we had a direct hit, and when we get back we will begin putting the system back together, and finding out if we can repair the freezer. BUT Tuesday morning we split up the frozen stuff among some friends, and made the 2:00 ferry to Lungi, happy that we were on our way to South Africa. We met a new friend at the ferry, more about that later, but the Kenya Airways flight went well, it was only AT the time of check in to SAA that we found out that "one blank page" in your passport to enter SA does not actually MEAN "ONE" it means FOUR! The SAA staff would not let us board, so here we are, waiting in Accra for pages for Randy's passport, delayed in our plans and the medical appointments we have for this week are all a bust!

But in the midst of all of this I have had a couple of very encouraging e-mails, so the roller coaster is feeling like it is flying high right now! My Mac is working, we have AC for the night, and running water for a bath... the next time I log in I pray we are in South Africa and I will try to convince Jesse to post photos! Or check out our pages on facebook, we are always out there.

good-bye for now

2009-07-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

We are leaving, Jesse has photos and a sermon of Randy's, and some updates from a while back to post... hassle him until he gets them up!

We will not have internet for a few days after we get back to Jui... we need to get a new modem and plan.

Thank you for your prayers. We know they matter!

last night in Indiana

2009-07-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

This is it... our last night in Indiana for a few years (two or three or so!) We are having a good time visiting with family and friends, but we still have lots and lots to do before we fly on Tuesday. The container that was shipped last week should arrive not too long after we do, so that will keep Randy extremely busy.

It has been a great time meeting the very young Fennig offspring... our nephews have fun kids, one is next to me right now, so this will be very short.

The container ships tomorrow

2009-07-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

The container is packed... Mongo, Randy and Jesse took three days to do what they hoped would take only one, but the end result is we have a great deal more farm equipment on the way to Sierra Leone. And we were able to get a few books packed and some dry food stuffs for the men who will be working there in August and September. Thank you for praying for them.

Now we are back in Indiana sitting on Terry and Steve's porch this time. Dorothy is reading a book I loaned her long ago, Katey is trying to reach Leah, and I am wondering when I will be this cool and comfortable again!?! The days have been so beautiful it is like a dream. There is a nest of baby birds chirping away just over our heads, and the evening could not be prettier.

I finally got to the store to buy small size boys things for Bakaar. He is the 9 year old I am helping to get through school there in Jui. I am looking forward to seeing all the people we left behind, but somehow leaving here does not get easier each time, it is harder and harder. We would love to be in two or three places at once, and Katey certainly feels the same. She now misses Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Indiana all at once! It has been a very good five weeks.

time to go...

2009-07-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

We are two weeks from leaving, I am sitting on Pam and Barry's porch as the sky grows darker and the pinks and yellows fade. There are no malaria carrying mosquitos consuming us, just a calico cat curled up on the chair nearby. This place is beautiful and we love it.

We have seen many of our friends and family and visited only a few churches, and we still need to do so much before we go. Two weeks from tonight we are back on the airplane headed for Freetown and the friends we have made there.

Tomorrow Katey and I will head south to Indianapolis for dinner with Andy and KJ and little Lucy before we meet Dorothy at the airport. Randy, Jesse and Mongo will be heading north to pack the combine into the container in Marlette MI. After that we head back to Xenia, and we hope to find That Guy in Springfield on Friday if he will write!

waiting for a container and news

2009-06-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

We spent the month of November waiting for our first container... and now we are trying to hurry up and make another shipment to Sierra Leone of our farm equipment (thanks to the sale proceeds from Prince of Peace) and medical supplies for Mattru hospital.

How many ways do you know how to spell "crazy"!?!

Do go ahead and pray! We can see a busy two weeks ahead of us, then back to Sierra Leone and a busy three or four months... or more!

MIchigan is fast becoming a favorite!

2009-06-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

OK, Indiana will always have my heart, and Ohio is a place I lived for 10 years and the kids went to school and we made lots of friends, but Michigan is just so cool! And by that I mean temperature! There are lots of supporting churches in MI, but every time we drive up here the weather is just so great!

Yes, I know it sounds so very shallow to always talk about weather, but the cool nights mean I can sleep, and the cool days are just plain refreshing. I am enjoying it, and enjoying so much of all that we have done the past 5 days. We landed late on June 9th, so I barely count that day, all the "action" started the 10th, and since then we have seen a couple of our Dr.s and LOTS of our friends. Linda has let her house be overrun with Fennigs and their ilk, all three of the residents of their household have graciously handled us spreading stuff out all over (Grandma knows what that is like) and using all their hot water. And the food we go through in three days would feed their household for a month!

Now we are looking at some old used combines in MI, the time with the POP folks having energized us on the progress on the project in Waima. By Wednesday we need to be in IN for our Dr. appointments on Thursday. We will get back onto the internet as soon as possible, but we wanted to update and tell you all that all is well, ... "all will be well, and all manner of things will be well". With overflowing joy and gratitude

Back in Ohio

2009-06-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hello any who come out here and look to see what is happening! We are back in Ohio for a short visit and we will be able to connect up to the internet more frequently now, even my e-mail will work for the time we are here!

So if you want to contact us, it is possible now! Have a fabulous June! Ours will be really busy, but it is nice to be here.

Living with electricity again!

2009-03-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

Greetings from hot and sunny Sierra Leone, where the tilting of the earth from winter to summer in the Northern Hemisphere means we have very direct sunlight overhead most days, and so our solar power collectors are happy and productive! We have two of our three triads up and running (the third is not up yet due to time constraints for Randy, no system problems, just only so much he can do in a week!)

January had us without any external power... that was a throw back to the days of living in Beira! But then we got one triad up, and TECT has had lots of expensive work done on the ancient generator, so we are back to living with electricity off our battery bank... it is so nice! You just don't know how much three hours of power means until you do not have even that! By early February he got the second triad up and collecting all that good sunlight, and so we are actually able to connect up to the internet and use a fan to cool off our computer!

I will try to send this, updating from here in Jui has not been possible before, but we will be trying to use this website more now that the power situation is better. We trust you are having fun watching the world head into spring up North... we are eager for the rains but know that means reduced power collection, so everything has a down side to it!

Blessings on you as you live to be a blessing to others! Toni for three Fennigs in SL, for now!

leaving South Africa

2008-12-15T03:24:00.000-08:00

Thank you each and every one who has been praying for this past 10 days!

The Doctor visits were very profitable, Katey has been diagnosed with a vitamin B deficiency, and I needed the immune system booster (not her!) Also, I got my teeth fixed for a whole lot less than the costs of the same procedures in America. Katey delivered her paper on "code switching", ask her if you need to know more!

And we had three miracles back to back in the Cape Town airport early this morning, then an extra one thrown in just in case I was not paying attention! I will elaborate if you need it, but it will probably be the subject of our next prayer letter!

At this moment I am sitting near a plug place, charging my computer after a "real" lunch (airPORT restaurant food, not airPLANE food!) I need to stay awake until I board the plane to Ghana, only three more hours to go and then I have only 24 hours after that until I am back home in Jui!

I know North America is very cold right now, so if you want to warm up come visit us in Jui! It is always hot there and now that we have the container we have things for caring for visitors! Randy has had some kind of vehicle break-down, so prayers for him and the Toyota would be in order! All of your prayers are so appreciated and vital to our work here! Thank you, and have the most blessed Christmas of your life!

all sorts of good news

2008-12-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

The container arrived twelve weeks after we did, and I left the same day they began to unload! I spent most of yesterday on airplanes and in airports going from Freetown to Accra, Ghana, then on to Johannesburg and finally to Cape Town, South Africa. Katey is here for the week, she has a paper to present at a linguistics conference next week. I have Doctor's appointments for next week, and we have the time together. It is worth 42 hours of travel to see my Katey girl!

Meantime, Randy is working on the tractor, there is a slight problem, but he will work it out (farm boys do!) I still have trouble sending the e-mails from my rfennig.com account out, I can get them in, but they do not send.

But for the next week I am connected to the outside world in a new and wonderful way! Thank you for your prayers.

Quick, quick note (Happy Birthday to Jesse!)

2008-10-24T03:41:00.000-07:00

Greetings any and all who drop by to see what is happening!

We still are waiting for the less expensive modem, we still operate on three hours of electricity per evening, and we are getting calibrated on how to handle the foodstuffs and vegatables that we purchase on the street (everything goes off so quickly!)

I have a prayer letter that Jesse needs to post out here on the site, so people can hassle him, and be sure to wish him a Happy 25th Birthday on October 28th while you bug him to get the leter posted!

And thank you again for your prayers and support, we can only be here and doing what we do with your help from that side. Blessings on each and every one of you.

The British Council and Internet access

2008-10-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings one and all, I have more time today, we are here in Freetown and Randy has left me at the BC to do some correspondance while he tries to get the other modem sim card to allow us to connect from TECT. We have had some ups and downs with connectivity, the first modem we bought was a thrill, until we found out it cost $10.00 US to connect up each hour! Then it was a shock! We are trying to get the less expensive system, but for now rely on the BC for our research and connecting to the outside world.

And I have new photos up on Facebook, for those of you with accounts, you can see Randy in his cap, gown and hood being introduced to the college at the Matriculation ceremony last Saturday. We are doing well, getting settled in here is relatively easy and the only hard thing is the intense heat, but this is Africa! Leah (Katey's roommate from Madrid) is here for the week and it is a delight to have her with us. She arrived in SL late in July and has not had any breaks until now. Yes, Katey, I am feeding her!

We continue to be grateful for your prayers. We are looking at the international financial crisis and realize that you all sacrifice so much to keep us here, Thank you. We feel very privilidged to be here and able to be of encouragement to the church here in SL. We are confident the connection issues will improve and we will be able to better update you from Jui. Meantime, enjoy the fall weather there in the US, really, enjoy anything under 95! Blessings on you all.

we are here! we do not have connectivity!

2008-09-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have only a few minutes, and the news is we cannot access any of our normal sites! We are using computers at the British Council at the moment. We do not have connectivity, but we are fine (it is hot, really hot!)

Your prayers are so necessary for us to be able to do what we need to do, please keep praying and we will try to get a modem next week, then we may be able to use our own computers!

Blessings on you all!

FOUR, count them!, four days!

2008-09-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

We have our passports, with visas, we have the shots, the doxycycline, we have tickets, we have three of our four bags packed, the robe for Randy to wear at graduation ceremonies arrived, and I found his Master's hood.... so now all we need is the next four days to fly past (and they will!!!)

And we have family, friends and supporters who have made this possible. We do not do this alone, it is not just us going, but all of you are so much a part of the effort (some of the guys even left a little blood on the machinery wrestling it in to the container the past three days!) We understand and appreciate it so much.

SO this is it, I may post again from an airport on the way, otherwise, the next time I come to update this it will be from Africa! Thank you all a million times, please don't stop praying!

We have tickets!!!!!

2008-09-03T16:55:00.001-07:00

We have tickets! We have a date for the container, and everything is arriving in Bryant like planned. Now, the only thing NOT happing is that my job is not yet over.

Something went wrong yesterday and so I will need to be there next week, hopefully to train the new Construction Manager. We will adjust and see how it goes.

We fly out of Columbus on September 18th! And we still need all of your prayers for the next two weeks! Thank you again, we cannot do this without you.

September plans

2008-09-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today we begin the final countdown, although there are still tickets to book, and visas to have in hand before we can go, everything is moving in the direction of departure on September 18th.

We have had a great weekend, the focus of it being Rhiannon's baptism, a curry luncheon and Alan here to stay for three nights. It ends today with a gathering with the Livingstons in Xenia, trying to get things packed up and then relax for a short while. I am working Tuesday and Thursday of this week, and then I become officially unemployed. It is a new thing for me!

And we have a time set to pack the container.... we will begin to move things to the loading dock on September 8th, and then the container will arrive on September 9th. Randy has things on order right now that are supposed to arrive in Bryant by September 10th, and that will be it! We cannot leave on the 11th due to the time it takes to get our visas, and a slight problem in communications across the Atlantic. But we anticipate all of it will be resolved this next week, and we should be on the plane September 18th.

Your prayers make it all possible, and now we need to have you pray for us to remember everything we keep thinking we need to remember! The vehicle needs a little more attention, the house still has lots of things to fix, and the paperwork to transfer things needs to be done, so the final days will be full! We need to make a trip to Huntington, we need to spend some more time with family and friends, and we need to write letters! Your support is so greatly appreciated!

what next... steps for buying tickets

2008-08-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

OK, so now I have the shots, all are up to date. Randy had his done in 2006.

The solar power system is shipping even as I type, different parts from different places, and we hope to have all of that taken care of in the next week. Abraham solar was a great help, if you want to buy solar power things, or just work with a really nice guy.

Now comes the tricky part, the container has a narrow window to be loaded, and we are waiting for the shipping company to give us the date they will bring the container to Portland IN for loading. Meantime we are working on residence visas, but cannot purchase tickets until we know the date the container will arrive in Portland.

So the answer to the big question, "When are you actually leaving?" is still in someone else's hands, and we do not know. We think it will be mid-September, but we will post here as soon as we are confirmed.

And on a very personal note, we celebrated 32 years of marriage on Thursday, something rare in our current culture!

And now you know all that we know! Back to packing! Thank you again for your prayers and support, we could not do any of this without your work behind the scenes. Oh, and I am still working part-time. Randy is completely "unemployed", but manages to be busy all day with running things to IN for packing and getting the house ready for us to be gone three years (or more!) Jesse promises to put info up here on the site about contacting Global Ministries, just in case you wonder.

green lights... at least, not red lights!

2008-08-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

Well, things are a little bit crazy, the stop light may have changed (we sort of need Jeff back from China to be certain where we are!) But, we do know we no longer are in a holding pattern. We need to have the solar system on order (thanks to Dr. Dudis for all the help!) and once it ships we can schedule the container and then we purchase our tickets!

We do not think it can all happen to allow us to fly out before August 21st, so now we are looking at August 28th as the first "realistic" and possible date. The solar system will actually determine the final pack date and the ship date.

When we got the first inclination of the green light on Friday morning Randy turned to me and said it reminded him of a quote from a movie..."Boys, our little experiment has just jumped to a higher energy level." Can you identify the movie?

Happy thought, we could be in Sierra Leone one month from today! God will need to act in all kinds of fun things to make it happen, so we will keep you posted! Thanks for your prayers and all the support and help! ...IQ!

the air out here

2008-07-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

Greetings from beautiful Spokane, Washington! I am waiting with my sister, Dorothy, for our sister, Kiki, to arrive from Japan. My flight finally arrived just before 1:00 a.m. local time which is 4:00 a.m. Ohio time! What a day/night! The good news is that we have a week with Kiki, and we will have our final, "Good-bye" to our parents. Amid all the chaos of packing the house and transferring our lives to Sierra Leone having this time to reminisce with them about Mother and Daddy will be so good.

So, I will be in and out of connectivity, mostly out. Randy will be in Indiana with his family for Juanita's birthday on Tuesday, and he hopes to get some of the farm equipment palletized for shipping. Katey is in the bush in Mozambique and needs your prayers for her visa to get resolved by July 26th.

We have gotten information about a very good ticket at a very good price to Sierra Leone on August 21st. Here's praying it happens!

too much stuff!

2008-07-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

Today I am taking an unpaid day off work to make progress on the packing front. I have finally begun to say what Randy has said for months now, "We have too much stuff!"

This is an extremely American phenomenon... no where else in the world is there so much stuff available and so much of the "pack-rat" lifestyle.

So the words of Jesus, "Do not store up your treasure where moth and rust destroy, or thieves break in and steal..." keep going through my mind. The rest of the world does not have the problem of too much stuff like so many of us here in the West, the majority of the world struggles to have enough to survive. So I hope to live more simply, and do with a lot less, and be more grateful. In a real sense it is easier to be thankful when there is less.

Life without AC

2008-06-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

We had a couple of days of practice sweating... the air conditioner died on Tuesday, it had something to do with a control wire getting cut while yard work was done. (Yes, passive voice, no blame here!) Wednesday morning I thought the family was just enjoying the fresh air from the big storm the night before, and then I found out, the AC was dead.

So we had a tiny foretaste of life without AC (life in Africa is always without AC!) I must say, being used to the luxuries of America is not really good preparation for sporadic electricity and constant heat! When you step outside in the summer in North America and it is over 90 degrees and 90% humidity you can think of us in Sierra Leone, and realize that the heat is a year round reality!

We plan to have a solar system, but it will be limited to running lights and fans, maybe a fridge or freezer. I keep teasing Randy that we will need to buy two deep freezes, one for food and one for me to sit in! So now are you asking yourself, "Why is a woman who loves snow and ice going to Africa?" Let me know if you need an answer to that question.

Saying Good-bye to Katey

2008-06-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

Katey is heading back to Mozambique on Sunday morning, June 29th, and that is our last day at Prince of Peace. You can imagine it as a very long and emotionally exhausting week, so prayers on our behalf would be appreciated.

Having her home for the two months has been great, but it slowed us down a tiny bit on preparations, that combined with lots more work on Base for me means we have to roll up our sleeves and get back to work... but we still love to hear from you! All the cards and notes of encouragement are great, now lets all learn to use this blog!

Special thanks to the guy across the street / on the roof for the first reply! ;-}

First Post

2008-05-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

This is a test post. Jesse is teaching his (not completely Luddite) mother how to do this.