You Know You're In Africa When.....

Wednesday night there was a big rain and we were inundated with flying bugs. It was nearly impossible to do a normal evening activity like eat dinner or watch TV because bugs kept landing on us and crawling all over and getting tangled in our hair. Yuck!

While we were watching a program on TV, our volunteer got a phone call from the night nanny saying there was a snake down in the corridor. Tom and Timmy ran to get it carrying the snake handlers with them. A short time later they came back with the snake. It was a stilleto! A very poisonous and sneaky snake. There is no anti-venom for this snake and to make it worse, it can bite backward as well as forward. That is how it earned a spot on my 'Things That Have Bit Tom' list on the sidebar last year. Tom was holding it the 'right' way and the snake's fang pointed backward and pierced Tom's finger. Thankfully, it was a dry (no venom) bite.

This time, Tom was very careful in handling it and secured it inside a jar for scientific purposes.

Later that night he told me how he had scared some neighborhood children who were hanging out on our front porch collecting bugs. They were talking loudly and waking the babies up and didn't move along even when asked nicely by our staff. So, Tom crept up to the door, threw it open and yelled loudly. The kids screeched, screamed and ran in all directions leaving their shoes behind in their haste. Tom scooped up the shoes and hid them in the house to teach the kids a lesson.

That night it seemed like the entire village was surrounding our property. Because our security lights are bright and along the fence line it is the perfect place to find bugs. All night long people were laughing, chattering and shouting as they gathered the bounty that lay on the ground. See, these bugs are flying termites. They come out after a big rain, swarm around in the evening and then lose their wings and spend the next two days or so crawling around on the ground. 

No amount of shouting would make them (the people) go away. I even turned off the lights to see if they'd get discouraged and go home. No such luck. I was up most of that night with Sara and our poor dog was going crazy wanting to get out and chase everyone. 

What a night!

When I opened the door in the morning to admit the staff, they were so excited and eager to collect the bugs that lay all over the ground. I had to insist that they still do their regular jobs and that the kids could do the bug collecting as a game and then the termites could be divided fairly among all the staff members.

Later that day they fried up the termites for lunch. Wanna see?

 I really don't think you could pay me to eat those. Well, I guess it would depend on how much....

I hope this picture hasn't taken away your appetite. I know many of you have a fridge full of leftovers from your Thanksgiving feast. If seeing these bugs has caused you to never want to eat again, feel free to box up the food you have left and send it to the starving missionaries children in Africa.

We're eating our Thanksgiving dinner in about 3 hours. Can't wait!

Exactly One Year Ago: Fab Friday Foto