Swimming with the Sharks

Getting the shark's attention

The family went to Cape Town for Chris' spring break in early April. It was so beautiful, and of course Chris and Jim just had to go swimming with the Great White Sharks!. For those of you who are You Tube followers (we are not - no band width) there was a video of a shark getting into the protective cage just a few days before we went - yes, same cage, same place (http://live.wsj.com/video/raw-video-great-white-gets-into-shark-cage/)! But truthfully, there were many more wonderful things in Cape Town than sharks - beautiful coast line, stunning sunsets, an amazing botanical garden, great birds, and good food. Definitely a place I would recommend for a visit. Visiting Robben Island was a moving experience, as one can imagine. We suspect we were one of the few tourists to Cape Town who went to see sewage treatment ponds - naturally it is birding hot-spot - flamingos, pelicans, grebes...


Jim in cage counting shark teeth,
trying to remember the warning:
"Never touch the sharks"

The family has been busy with both Jim and Amy having trips back to the US in the last month or so. It was great to see family and friends. Miriam and John both seem to be doing well.
 
Amy applied for a mission co-worker position with PC-USA based in Malawi in community health. We were hoping that PC-USA would be creative in thinking about the possibility of her working from Zambia. We were not too optimistic given our previous experince with PC-USA and informal feedback. We tried to point out that it would have been so cost-effective - as she is already here, speaks the local language, has housing and health insurance, is trained in public health, etc. We knew from previous inquiries that PCUSA is not inclined to hire  physicians, but of course we know that physicians can actually do public health, teaching, and prevention (example - CDC)!

African penguins

I (Jim) recently attended a meeting to discuss the way forward for one of my main activities - reducing maternal mortality (http://savingmothersgivinglife.org/). One person representing a donor-partner commented that we needed to aim more for a Fiat rather than a Mercedes, as our intervention appears to cost about $100 per pregnant woman. If it weren't so sad I would have laughed - women in clinics sleeping on the floor, being delivered by an environmental health technician because no trained midwife is present...while in the US a delivery typically costs $10,000-20,000. Listening to the language from donors (including the church) I have decided that "partnership" and "leveraging" and "sustainability" are ways to say, "Sorry, no money." Two highlights though - the US government is steadfast in its support, and the Zambia team decided we would forge ahead anyway - a country led, grass roots conspiracy to save pregnant women's lives!

Amy and me start teaching for ten weeks next week at Justo Mwale Theological Seminary. Amy teaches Pastoral Counseling and I teach HIV and the Church's Response. It will be a busy time - so prayers for our family, as well as the students we teach, are greatly appreciated. It look slike we will not be traveling back to the US as a family until Christmas time. We will keep you posted.