Schultz Family in Tanzania

BJ’s in there laughing again, and imitating the sound I make whenever a lizard surprises me. It happens a lot, these days. I often go into our attached garage to start laundry or get something from the freezer. There is a lizard in there and he runs from above the door when I open it. I usually catch the movement out of the corner of my eye. I am expecting a giant rat to scurry out in front of me, so the lizard usually gives me a near heart-attack. I haven’t figured out what’s so funny, yet. We do have some expert lizard disposal services—our boys help get rid of them whenever I call.

~Cathy

This entry is tagged: Cathy, Living in Africa, Lizard
Posted by BJ at 6:45 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)

A few days ago Cathy and the kids found this spider in our dining room. Since the picture is worth a thousand words I will let it speak for itself.

This entry is tagged: Creepy Crawlies, Living in Africa
Posted by BJ at 8:48 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)

Since our dryer has not been working, I've had a young girl come in twice a week to iron the laundry. I wash and hang it, and Anna comes in and irons it all to kill the eggs of the mango fly. If you don't do this, you may end up with fly maggots hatching under your skin. Today, Anna called me into the laundry room with a louder-than-usual "Mama" (everyone here calls me "mama"). I went into the laundry room to find a dead baby rat on the floor in the doorway to the house. She had just conked it on the head with the broom! She then told me that if there was one baby, there would be at least 2 more and the mother. I was very happy to have her there--and on her toes, too! However, I was NOT happy to hear about the possibility of more rats. Now there is a large trap in the garage waiting for the mother to come hunting for her baby. I really hope it was an orphaned baby rat! I have decided we have enough rat stories already. I guess I'll figure on the worst (and lay the traps) and hope for the best (pray nothing springs them)!

This entry is tagged: Living in Africa, Rats
Posted by BJ at 10:03 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)

We were told that there were rats in our house and that they were common around here. Well, we don’t do rats, common or otherwise, so we set out to get rid of them. I had one of the workers place some rat poison in the upper area of the pantry. I was even brave enough to stick my head into the attic space and throw some of the poison food blocks around. I think the poison has started to work because today there was a rat near our door trying to get a drink from the drain. He didn’t run when I came near him with my (made in America) Channel Locks wrench. I used the wrench to grab his tail and then flung him onto the cement where he died. Yeah I know, a little graphic and extreme, but like I said earlier—we don’t do rats.

This entry is tagged: Gross, Living in Africa, Rats
Posted by BJ at 2:23 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)

In the ditch between our yard and the street lay a litter of puppies. Their mother placed them just inside the culvert to keep them safe. I would guess that they are about 3-4 weeks old. The kids have enjoyed watching them and holding them. However today I heard the pups crying out very loudly. I sent Tyler out to see what was wrong. He came back running with tears saying that the puppies were being eaten by the siafu. If you have ever seen kids and puppies together, you know there is no way you can separate the two. So, without hesitation we had to do a puppy 911 rescue.

The safari ants of East Africa (known as Siafu) are a very formidable foe. Some time in the early morning they silently caught up with our litter of puppies and began to attack. We found three puppies that had somehow made their way out of the ditch and onto the side of the road. They were covered with ants. Some were biting their eyes; some were in their nose and mouth while others were attacking the soft underside of the pups. It was quite a sad sight. Six of the pups died because they were too young to walk and get away. Jay and Tyler were able to rescue a total of 4 pups. We think we found their mother and we hope that she will be able to care for them again, although admittedly, their future seems bleak. Most dogs roam the streets looking for food from trash piles. The people here have a hard time feeding themselves let alone a dog.

It was a good lesson in compassion for us all. Oh how much our Lord must love his children and weep when they perish.

This entry is tagged: Compassion, Living in Africa, Siafu
Posted by BJ at 10:30 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)

Last night as we were getting ready for bed we heard the buzz of a swarm of bees just outside of Jay’s bedroom window. Some had made it through the window screens and were in the room flying around the light on the ceiling. They sounded rather mad at the time. We grabbed the “Doom” bug spray and sent them to the great bee hive in the sky. I’m not sure what kind of bees they were but the buzz of the swarm was somewhat intimidating even for a brave bug killer like myself.

This entry is tagged: Creepy Crawlies, Living in Africa
Posted by BJ at 10:31 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)

If you were to sweep your kitchen floor and find this much dirt daily, I would say that you must have at least 3-4 boys living with you and maybe a pet or two. However, we sweep the floor every morning and find this many ants! This dustpan is filled with dead ants only. We sprayed some poison the night before because the ants were infiltrating our house. I think the rainy season drives them to find dryer ground. It is really easy for them to climb up from the ground and through the floor in to our house. The next morning, our floor was covered with dead ants. In fact, every morning for the past week or so, we have swept this many dead ants from the floor.
Does anyone have the toll-free number for the Orkin man in Nairobi?

This entry is tagged: Creepy Crawlies, Living in Africa
Posted by BJ at 7:32 PM | Permalink | What say you?(0)