Duplantis Dialog

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2012-01-11T10:20:00.000+01:00

Dec 2011 and Jan 2012 - a mixture of celebrations and farewells both physical and spiritual

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Robert Livingstone Foster, 1924-2012

2012-01-09T09:13:00.000+01:00

Robert Livingstone Foster, 1924-2012

Our father, known to so many as Dr. Bob, went home to Glory on January 8, in Lubango, Angola, Africa at the age of 87. He had increasing loss of control of his muscles over several years, but was aware to the end. In his last days, the family members in Angola (including 4 children and 5 grandchildren) took turns sitting by his bed.

He leaves his wife of 63 years, Belva Foster, who is in poor health, their 7 children, 17 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren, his sister, Rhoda Lane, 4 hospitals in rural Africa, countless churches, many missionaries called into service by God through his counsel, and many, many others who knew him as a preacher or as a doctor.

The funeral will be in Lubango this week.

Dad was born in what is now Zambia, grew up in Canada and, after medical school, served as a missionary in Zambia and Angola and as a mission leader based in the US and in England.

God gave him amazing energyat 83 he spent six weeks camping in the Angolan bush to help build a clinic!

God gave him amazing courage and initiativehe and Mom went in their mid-40's to an Angola at war to learn a new language and start a new outreach, when they could have stayed where they were fruitful and secure.

God made him an amazing Dadan example, a challenge, a comfort, a great teller of stories and giver of gifts and hugs.

Many will want to share words of memory and appreciation and will not be able to get to the funeral.

Please send to: sjffive@gmail.com

drbobfoster.blogspot.com

Memorial gifts can be sent to:

Advancing the Gospel in Angola (AGA)

25 Maple St. Addison, NY, USA 14801

Angola Medical Outreach (AMO)
18 Wynford Drive, Suite 710 , Toronto, ON, M3C 3S2, Canada

We are deeply grateful to God for Dad's life. Pray for us and with us as we praise his Lord.

Stephen, Sharon, Sheila, Stacey, Stuart, Stirling and Shelley (his children)

stephen@fosterangola.ca

Dupantis Update, Jan 8, 2012

2012-01-08T09:51:00.000+01:00

Dear Faithful Friends,

We had wonderful Christmas and New Year's celebrations with many friends and family around us. Dad and Mom participated to the extent of their abilities through the holidays themselves, but during the night of the 31st Dad started slipping downhill physically and was very weak on the 1st and by the morning of the 2nd could no longer get out of bed. During the night of the 2nd I was called to his bedside because his breathing was very rapid and labored. I assisted him to a better position but he found no relief. I then awoke Steve, and had him come to see Dad as well. We felt the end was imminent and thus called Sheila to come from across town and Stirling who had come in to town from the farm due to Dad's rapid decline and we spent the rest of the night at his side - praying and reading scripture fairly certain that he would be called Home any minute. Somehow, he is still here physically though he is less and less responsive as the days have gone by, has taken nothing to eat since Monday and not even ice chips since yesterday morning. We(Steve & Peg, Stir & Donna, Sheila and Peter and I), have all spent the week here in Lubango never far from his side - turning him hourly and trying ice chips, putting in eye drops and massaging with lotion, reading and praying and sometimes just sitting at his side. Everyday we are "sure" he can't physically make another day, but so far he is still here, giving me a more real understanding of the "cords of death" and "the anguish of the grave" from Psalm 116:3 - Dad's favorite Psalm. Later in the same Psalm the writer says, "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" and we know this to be true, we just keep praying that the Lord will take him soon to His Rest where Dad will be "freed from his chains" Psalm 116:15-16.

It has been a week of lots of tears and hugs and precious time together as siblings as we have continued mourning the slow loss of our beloved Dad. We know so many of you love him too and are praying for us all at this time and we cannot thank you enough. We will send out another update as soon as we can when Dad goes Home. Pray for Mom too,especially. She can't express her grief per se, but seems to understand that things are not "right" as she has been more frustrated and frustrating in the last couple of days. Pray too, for all the details of the funeral when it does actually happen, the safe travel of many who will come to the funeral, the rest of our plans and lives that are currently "on hold" and that God's Glory would SHINE in everything!

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Peter and Shelley Duplantis

Advancing the Gospel in Angola, Inc

Field Address:
C.P. 33 Lubango, Angola via Portugal

Home Office Address and Donations:
25 Maple St., Addison, NY 14801 USA
Acct: 01002

Duplantis Update, Dec 13, 2011

2011-12-13T11:25:00.000+01:00

Dear Friends!

Another month has flown by - another month in which we have seen the Lord's gracious and loving hands upon us.

First of all, thank you for your prayers on behalf of Peter's medical check-up in Windhoek last month. The doctor was encouraged and encouraging and Peter has continued to improve since then also. These last few days he has felt almost back to "normal"! We are so grateful! Peter has also just started taking some one-on-one Portuguese classes and is enjoying them. He even has homework to do!

We are in the throes of renewing our visas - yes, it seems we can't get through a year without talking about visas! We had everything ready that they had told us was necessary, but then yesterday we found out that three more things had been added to the list! So we have been scurrying about trying to get these three things because it is all supposed to be turned in by tomorrow! Pray that once all is turned in that the renewal process would not be too long as we would like to have our passports in hand by March as we are due to come on furlough in March.

Yes, our furlough is just around the corner! By March, it will have been two years since we were in the US, so it is time to come visit and be refreshed. We have booked tickets to arrive in the US on March the 6th and we plan to stay until early July. Obviously, these are just plans and the Lord will direct our steps as He sees fit! Please let us know when it would be best to visit you, if you are outside the Greensboro, NC area, and we will try to outline a plan. We plan to stay at 1824 New Bedford Dr in Greensboro when we are not traveling so hopefully we can connect with most of you Greensboro folk while we are there!

Mom and Dad are stable in their rather fragile state. Dad recovered from his pneumonia of end of October, but has a more and more difficult time talking. Please write to him via Peggy Foster at peggy@fosterangola.ca and she will print emails for him as he really cannot use his computer anymore or talk. He and Mom still love to get notes and letters, however, so please write!

We are in Lubango for the next couple of weeks to help care for Mom and Dad over Christmas originally in the planned absence of Steve and Peggy, but they have not received their residency cards yet so unless a miracle occurs they will not be able to travel as planned. It has been very disappointing for them, but they are trusting that the Lord has the perfect plan for them in all this. If Peter is still doing well over the next couple of weeks we hope to be able to go to Cavango in the New Year.

The end of the year also brings to mind finances as we all want to end the year in the "black" as they say! We are currently about $6000 in the red in our ministry account. We basically have about a $500/month need for ministry funds that has never been pledged and we have just worked on in faith that it will come in. Each year it has and we are thankful to the many of you who respond to God's nudging. Please consider whether you could join the regular donors to help meet this need up front, or whether you could help us with a year-end donation to cover the deficit. Thank you to all of you who support us so faithfully!

As you all anticipate the New Year - with all of it's unknowns and possible anxieties this is a verse that has held us as we have waited...."Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait (emphasis added)for him." Isaiah 64:4

May you all be full of His Joy and Peace!

Peter and Shelley Duplantis
Advancing the Gospel in Angola, Inc

Field Address:
C.P. 33 Lubango, Angola via Portugal

Home Office Address and Donations:
25 Maple St., Addison, NY 14801 USA
Acct: 01002

Website: www.hopeforangola.org (can donate online at the "just give" icon)

Blog: www.duplantisdialog.blogspot.com

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2011-11-16T18:12:00.000+01:00

These are a couple of photos taken when Stuart and Sharon came to visit!

Duplantis Update, Nov 16, 2011

2011-11-16T17:46:00.000+01:00

Dear Friends,

How on earth did it get to be the middle of November already!??

We have been busy since our last update - two trips to Cavango, another week or so at Tchincombe helping out while Donna was away, time visiting family and now a trip to Namibia!

We went to Cavango for Oct 13-17 taking Dr Annelise Olsen to do medical consults and again on November 9-14 to host another medical team - Dr Steve Foster, and Dr Eduardo Ferreira. Both trips went very well and the time there was precious. This most recent trip we actually had quite a gathering - as Stirling, Donna and kids as well at the Ferreiras family, Gary Goertzen(the MAF pilot and friend!) and an Angolan anesthetist

came as well so we were 13 in total! We celebrated Thanksgiving dinner a bit early, because we had promised the Ferreiras a Thanksgiving dinner at Cavango last year and then it didn't work out - so it was now or never as they return to Brazil in a few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago, my dad took quite a turn for the worse with an aspiration pneumonia and we thought he would be taken to Glory in the very near future. As a result, my brother, Stuart and sister, Sharon, both came to visit. It was great to have them around and Mom and Dad both really appreciated their visits! Dad has improved alot with antibiotic treatment, but is still very frail. We had a dinner on the 8th of November with 6 of us 7 siblings around the table! Quite amazing!

We arrived back from Cavango at 5pm on Monday the 14th and left at 4am on the 15th for Namibia coming out in convoy with Sheila and Daniel who have come to pick up Brent and Helena. We spent last night at a lodge just 3-4 hours from Windhoek so today our drive was much shorter! All has gone well, though on Monday we did discover a rear axle leak on the Ford so that caused a bit of worry, but Steve had the suspected necessary spares and the car is already at the shop to be worked on tomorrow. We trust it will not be a complicated repair and that it will continue to serve us well.

We have come to Windhoek for Peter's medical checkup and we have that appointment tomorrow morning at 9am. We ask for wisdom and guidance for the doctor and all of us to know the best treatment to help Peter continue out of his depression. Thank you for your prayers!

We are truly Thankful in this Thanksgiving season! We have been so blessed in so many ways as we look over this past year despite it's apparent difficulties as we have seen His faithful provision of peace, direction, and strength. God is GOOD! Have a very blessed Thanksgiving too!!

Much love,

Peter and Shelley Duplantis
Advancing the Gospel in Angola, Inc.,

Field Address:
C.P. 33 Lubango, Angola via Portugal

Home Office Address and Donations:
25 Maple St., Addison, NY 14801 USA
Acct: 01002

Blog: www.duplantisdialog.blogspot.com

Website: www.hopeforangola.org

Duplantis Update, Oct 8, 2011

2011-10-08T11:52:00.000+01:00

Dear Friends,

This past month has been full of milestones for us and our family! My dad and mom's birthdays, 87 and 85 respectively, our 12th Anniversary and Peter's birthday! Milestones are always a good way to reflect on God's faithfulness over the years and we are constantly reminded of His goodness and grace. This year more than most we feel that we are totally upheld by His strength and grace as we can't say that "we" have accomplished much for the "Kingdom" or even for Cavango. It has been a year of resting in Him and trusting that He has a plan amidst all the confusing circumstances that He has allowed. We were listening to a Charles Price sermon on Abraham's life and could identify with the "famine" that came even when Abraham was exactly where God wanted him to be. We too feel that we are where God wants us to be and that He has continually confirmed that to us by His provision and peace, and that the current "famine" is a time to grow in our faith. Pray that we would not "flee to Egypt" taking matters in our own hands as Abraham did, but that we will remain resting in the Lord - our Jehovah Jirah(the Lord God Who Provides).

Peter is much better than he was in August, Praise God! He is still lacking "spark" and motivation to initiate doing things, but at least is no longer anxious. Thank you for your prayers!

We plan to go to Cavango next week with Steve Foster as our vehicle is still awaiting parts for repair. We will just go for a long weekend again as a chance to catch up with the mission folk again and see some patients at the clinic. Until our vehicle is repaired we will probably spend the majority of our time at the Tchincombe ranch trying to be useful wherever we can be - feeding and training horses, sewing and cooking(Shelley), fixing things and making things(Peter). We have also been able to pick up the leading of Sunday morning adult Biblestudy while Stirling has been away.

Mom and Dad moved to Lubango last month - in fact exactly a month ago this weekend. They have settled in quite well and Peggy and Steve are also gradually getting settled into the new house. Dad continues to lose strength, and finds it more and more difficult to talk, but still smiles and enjoys conversation around the table.

Thank you for reading this and for your prayers and support. We are all members of One Body and we are your fingertips touching Angola! Without you, we could not be here!

Running the Race Together,

Peter and Shelley Duplantis
Advancing the Gospel in Angola, Inc

Field Address:
C.P. 33 Lubango, Angola via Portugal

Home Office Address and Donations:
25 Maple St., Addison, NY 14801 USA
Acct: 01002

Blog: www.duplantisdialog.blogspot.com

Website: www.hopeforangola.org

Duplantis Update, Oct 8, 2011

2011-10-08T11:51:00.000+01:00

Dear Friends,

Peter is much better than he was in August, Praise God! He is still lacking "spark" and motivation to initiate doing things, but at least is no longer anxious. Thank you for your prayers!

Thank you for reading this and for your prayers and support. We are all members of One Body and we are your fingertips touching Angola! Without you, we could not be here!

Running the Race Together,

Peter and Shelley Duplantis
Advancing the Gospel in Angola, Inc

Field Address:
C.P. 33 Lubango, Angola via Portugal

Home Office Address and Donations:
25 Maple St., Addison, NY 14801 USA
Acct: 01002

Blog: www.duplantisdialog.blogspot.com

Website: www.hopeforangola.org

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2011-09-09T08:47:00.000+01:00

Here are some photos of Maedchen and friends, a brand new filly foal born to one of the original mares on the farm, and Bella with her brand new babes! Praise God for all the blessings and new life in nature!

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2011-09-09T08:41:00.000+01:00

Friends and family at the prayer cairn made at Spiritual Life Conference 2011

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2011-09-09T08:35:00.000+01:00

Here are some photos of the work and team from All Nations Church in Windhoek, Namibia

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2011-04-24T20:36:00.000+01:00

Here are some photos of Easter Sunday - a busy day with baptisms, baby dedications and lots of special music and ending with a communion service(not photo'd). We started at 9am and ended at 3pm, but was a lovely day!

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2011-04-24T20:33:00.000+01:00

these are the pormised photos of the ladies sewing group! It was a foggy morning!

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2011-04-02T18:10:00.000+01:00

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2011-04-02T18:00:00.000+01:00

Dear Friends,

We've been at Cavango now for 6 weeks without an overnight trip anywhere! That, is a record and a welcome record after the frequent trips of the last two years. Our two-year anniversary of being "at" Cavango was yesterday! It seems so long ago and yet also only yesterday that we arrived!

Thanks for being with us in prayer over these last six months of unsettledness as we waited for visas and Peter sought medical attention. We have returned to Cavango with a real sense of beginning again, trying to start out slowly and allow Peter's health to dictate our pace. Peter has found the return to responsibility and expectations to be more difficult than he imagined when we were in Namibia, and has been struggling with mild depression, but little by little he is adjusting and growing and improving! The exciting thing to see is the growth he is experiencing in his Faith and Trust of the Lord as he cannot "lean on his own understanding" anymore. The folk here are all very understanding and patient. We have hired a few of the older men to work on some things as they are dependable and responsible without a lot of attention. Peter then has turned his attention to working on details of the interior of the house - kitchen cabinets, wood trim around the windows, formica placement, etc. There is still alot to be done, but the church in Windhoek that we attended while there, is sending a team in June that will help with various projects and ministry too! We are looking forward to having them come!

The clinic is still suffering from a lack of patients, even when MD's come for the weekend. The leadership say that it is because the rains have caused the rivers to be too high to cross and so folk are not able to come. Also, during the rains they say folk don't "have time" to be sick as they are working on their fields etc. We are hoping that with a regular schedule of MD visits the area folk will make more of an effort to come. The local Administrator has asked us to announce the MD visits on the radio in Huambo as he says many will come from there once it is known. So there is hope of the numbers improving!

We have visited the Administrative folk on both the local and municipal levels and have found them all to be quite congenial. Praise for this and pray for continued wisdom for the future.

The biggest blessing of our time here for me has been the opportunity to teach hand sewing to the ladies on Wed's mornings! We start early - 6:30am and don't finish until about 9am! We sew from 6:45 to 8:30 and then have a short prayer meeting. It is so fun to see over 40 ladies all sewing in a big circle!! I am definitely not a "good" missionary as I have forgotten to take the camera each time, but will make a big effort to remember this coming week so I can put a photo on the blog! I bring the needles, thread and scizzors and they bring what needs mending, adjusting or making and we all go at it! It is lots of fun and they love laughing at my attempts to learn Nganguela!! This coming week is the last for sewing for awhile, as the Pastor's wife informed me that we plan to offer cooking, medical/maternity classes and literacy too! I'm just letting the Lord give me strength and ideas one day at a time so as to not get overwhelmed. So far it is a great joy!

Once again, we couldn't be here without you. Thank you for your prayers and support! (Check the blog for photos... www.duplantisdialog.blogspot.com )

Running the Race Together!

Peter and Shelley Duplantis
Advancing the Gospel in Angola,Inc

Field Address:
C.P. 33 Lubango, Angola via Portugal

Home Office Address and Donations:
25 Maple St., Addison, NY 14801 USA
Acct: 01002

Back in Cavango!

2011-03-23T20:03:00.002+01:00

We made it safely home to Cavango exactly one month ago today!! We arrived with visitors and this weekend we have 9 more visitors coming! It's basically feast or famine as the visitors usually accompany the visiting missionary doctors that pay the clinic a monthly visit!
This month we have done a lot of work on the house - particularly the kitchen cabinet bases, and we put formica on the bathroom sink cabinets. I say "we", but it is mostly Peter, with me as chief assistant!
We've made some good contacts with the local and municipal government officials in this past month and we are getting into a bit of a routine on the mission itself. I have enjoyed the weekly ladies meeting at church on Weds mornings and have started teaching them how to do hand-sewing! Today we had over 40 ladies - all sewing - it was quite the circle!! The Clinic has not needed my help lately as both the senior Angolan nurses have been here to "man" it. We still need many more patients to make it financially viable, so that is a prayer request. We have received local and municipal government approval of the idea of developing campsites here - so that is also a need for prayer - for the capital to get started!!
I'm going to upload this to the blog already and then add some pictures a bit later!! Thanks for reading!

Still in Namibia -

2011-01-12T15:07:00.007+01:00

The 1st bass caught at Freidenaur Dam, near Windhoek, 2kg or 4.4lbs

Peter then caught 5 more of the same!!

Table Mountain from Blauberg

Table Mountain with it's Table Cloth - also from Blauberg

Dear long time family friends - "Uncle" Paul and "Auntie" Elf

Cape of Good Hope from Cape Point

Your's Trulies!!

Madchen(pronounced like Maichen) on the left and Jock on the right

Madchen

Jock

Shelley on Madchen

Peter on Jock

Lara on Madchen

Shelley on Jock

Lara on Madchen

Jock getting ready

Madchen getting ready

Well, we are still in Namibia, enjoying a "forced" vacation as we wait for our Angolan visas to be processed. It has been a wonderful time for us as we have made many new friends, read a few books, gone fishing and even played quite a bit of tennis, but we are very ready to get back home. We were also treated to a trip to Capetown by some friends who loaned us their car to drive and a house to stay in while there.

We have also added to our menagerie - we are now the proud owners of two horses! They are over 16 hands tall and gentle natured. They are both about 15 years old, but still have some good energy! We bought them from some folk who are selling their farm and returning to Germany, and wanted a good home for their horses. We bonded well with both animals and previous owners and feel that these are the horses for us! God also provided a farm just 10 miles from the original farm, for them to stay while we figure out the logistics of getting them into Angola. This farm also has a 16 year old girl who is quite the horse woman and has offered to work the horses until we can get them "home"! Her name is Lara and you will see her in some of the photos. Thanks Lara!! The gelding is named Jock and the mare is Madchen(pronounced like Maichen) - German for "little girl" though she is not so little!!

It's about time for an update!!

2010-06-16T20:22:00.004+01:00

Pretty much what the outside still looks like. Waiting for bricking!
Living Room

Master Bedroom

Guest Bathroom

Middle guest bedroom

Office

Kitchen

Living Room again from different angle

So as you can see it still needs some work - paint etc, but is very livable! Since these photos were taken have added curtains and some pictures on the walls so things look a bit homier!

The New House in Process!

2009-10-08T20:33:00.006+01:00

Bella is now 9 months old!

Well the new house is underway! The team was delayed until late September, and the containers of materials had their own delays, but God has worked the miracle of having team and containers all arrive at Cavango at the same time! We have had a wonderful two weeks with the team - an encouragement to us in every way! Below are some pics of the building progression. It is just amazing! Well - annoyingly blogger loads ones photos in reverse order - so you will have to start from the bottom and go up to see the progression! Sorry, I don't have time to rearrange them all!

Cavango - Some Before's & Beginnings of the house site!

2009-04-25T10:41:00.004+01:00

Well, we have been for two 1-week long stays at Cavango and have been able to get some men to start cleaning up the old foundation upon which we will build our house. A team from the US is coming in July-August to do the building, but the slab has to be ready when they arrive! We have also planted some citrus trees and started cleaning the whole yard and fenced a garden area - so it's starting to like something more than a a pile of brush!! Thanks for your prayers on our behalf!

This is the site of the house - just looks like a pile of brush - Where's the house??

Above is the start to the water pipe trench

Below is one of our newly planted citrus trees

Below is after one week of work - there is a foundation and a decent floor still there!

Below is the original water tank for the house - it still is water-tight!

Above is the "back-yard" and the fenced area is where we will have our garden

Bella - the new puppy!

2009-04-25T10:18:00.003+01:00

Some have you have been asking for photos of Bella - so here are a couple! She was born Jan 13th 2009.

Back in Angola

2009-03-05T19:13:00.003+01:00

We arrived back in Angola in late January after a safe and uneventful drive across Africa from Johannesburg to Lubango! We actually entered Angola in convoy with two other 4x4 vehicles and had some "good" mud to go through about 5 mins into Angola! We all made it without getting stuck! Check out Brent Mudde's video on Facebook if you want to see footage.

Since being back, we have been primarily preparing for our move to Cavango, a mission station that was destroyed during the war that is located in central Angola. A clinic building has been rebuilt there - in fact if you look at our first blog entries you can see some pictures of that process as we were asked to help out with that reconstruction. Now we have been asked to live there permanently and build "our" house there, helping out with community development, primary health care and church work. The "job" is far bigger than either of us, but God is not intimidated by it! Pray for us to have His same Passion for those who don't know HIM!

We took a trip to Cavango in early Feb to be introduced to the people and the local government - we drove 12 hours there one day, had a day at Cavango, and then drove 13hours back to Lubango. It's is only 300 miles away! We had a few problems with the car and a few miracles to fix them so all we could say is the road is bad, but God is Good!

The Buy a Brick Campaign!!

2008-10-03T20:53:00.004+01:00

Probably most of you who have seen or spoken to us know that we are burdened with the need to raise funds to build medical staff housing at the CEML(the Evangelical Medical Center where we are based from in Angola). The CEML is a busy full-scale hospital that currently has only one fulltime physician. We get help from many short-term MD's and students, but no one has come fulltime to stay for more than a month! Our one fulltime physician has been uncomplaining and tireless in his efforts to keep the hospital running, but...... we NEED more fulltime physicians! He will run out of gas eventually! BUT we have a catch twenty-two here in that if we were to get more physicians - we have nowhere to house them!! So what we really need is more housing and to borrow a famous line from Kevin Costner, if we "build it they will come"!

So we are part of Advancing the Gospel in Angola's "Buy a Brick, Build a Home, Bring more Doctors to Angola" Campaign. If you would like to know more about this please contact us at the above email or phone or visit our website by clicking on the hopeforangola link above!

This is a picture of the CEML campus

This is the outpatient dept. with pt's waiting to be seen.

This is a photo of typical construction in Angola

Below is a "good" quality home in Lubango - still no electricity or consistent water and would rent for $1000 per month. Not really appropriate housing for the long haul!!

Please won't you consider being a part of the cure for the many helpless and needy folk who live in Angola with next to no healthcare by contributing to this building fund and allowing us to provide adequate housing for those who feel called to help out by donating their personal skills and life! Click on the link to Hopeforangola and join the team!!(fully tax deductible)

Psalm 127: 1 "Unless the Lord builds the house, it's builder's labor in vain."

Peter's waste-oil heater for a brick kiln project

2008-10-02T16:52:00.003+01:00

Peter has been spending his days here in Greensboro working on a waste-oil burning heater that he plans to use to heat a brick kiln in Angola. In Angola, they dump waste engine oil on the ground and contaminate the environment, and trees for fire wood are scarce due to the enormous population overload around the cities, so using used motor oil as the fuel for a kiln will be a benefit all around!

He's had it burning with great gusto using cardboard as a wick - now he is working on making a more permanent wick so that the heater will burn for a long time without needing constant tending!

Our quick trip to Capetown! August 16-20

2008-09-07T23:29:00.003+01:00

After the reunion week, we traveled Peter and I traveled to Capetown with Mom and Dad as they wanted to visit some longtime friends, Paul and Elfreida Bremer. Uncle Paul is on the far left and Auntie Elf is on the far right in the photo below. Some of these photos are courtesy of Ilse their daughter, with whom Peter and I stayed.
Uncle Paul and Auntie Elf again!
The Bremer's showed us all around Capetown and one morning we had an outing to the National Botanical Gardens - Kirstenbosch. Below is a Bird of Paradise.
This is a Rocket Pincushion(a variety of Protea)
This is the King Protea!
Lion's Head, Capetown
Table Mountain - we were blessed with wonderful warm and clear days while we were there!
We even saw a Wright Whale in Hout Bay! Very cool!

Family Reunion(The Place) - August 2008

2008-08-28T10:45:00.005+01:00

We had a wonderful time at a timeshare resort in the Drakensburg, South Africa, called Castleburn Farm, near Underburg. We hiked, fished, paddled, rode horseback, spa'd and fellowshipped. A good time was had by all!

One of the day trips was a drive up the Sani Pass - the highest road in Africa!

All true African adventures have end with a unbelievable sunset!

Family Reunion(The People) - August 2008

2008-08-22T11:07:00.006+01:00

August 8-15, 2008 we had a Foster Family Reunion to celebrate the 60th Wedding Anniversary of our parents Bob and Belva Foster, at Castleburn Farm, Underburg, SA

Back row: Peter, Shelley, Rob, Rebecca, Olivia, Ari, Heather, Jeffrey, Stirling, Donna, Tonya, Daniel, Sara, Helena, Cara, Stuart, Luke.

Mid row: Peggy, Stephen, Grandma, Meghan, Grandpa, Sharon, Sheila, Sindia

Sitting on grass: Lucas, Gabriel

All the siblings present at the Reunion.

From left to right: Stephen, Sharon, Sheila, Stuart, Stirling, Shelley

Stephen and Peggy and all their family that was present at the Reunion.

Back row: Stephen, Peggy, Ari, Olivia, Rebecca, Rob, Heather

Front row: Lucas, Grandma, Grandpa, Gabriel

Sharon and Tonya

Sheila's Family:

Helena, Sheila, Daniel, Sara

Stuart's Family:

Luke, Sindia, Stuart, Cara

Stirling's Family:

Stirling, Jeffrey, Meghan, Donna

Peter and Shelley

The firstborns of three generations:

Stephen, Tonya and Lucas

The grandchildren present:

Cara, Heather, Tonya, Helena, Rebecca, Sara, Rob, Jeffrey

Luke, Grandma, Meghan, Grandpa, Daniel

The great-grandkids:

Lucas, Grandma, Gabriel, Grandpa, Olivia

Furlough in US - May to July 2008

2008-08-22T10:36:00.006+01:00

Well this is a long overdue posting! We arrived in the US for a three months furlough in May to be able to attend Jasper's graduation from UNC! It was a cold and rainy day, but we were full of pride and joy over her accomplishments!

During the month of June we drove over 3500 miles visiting friends and family from Louisiana to Michigan before getting home.

This is Jennifer Moore and son Caeden and daughter Maren, in Charlotte, NC.

From left to right:Shelley, Peter, Linda, Eric, Lloyd, and Faie - two of Peter's brothers and their wives, in Napoleonville, Louisiana.

From left to right: Buster, Peter, Lloyd, Faie, Angela - at a bayouside steak house in Raceland, Louisiana

Ben, a nephew and fishing guide extraordinaire! We caught 32 Bass and 38 brim etc in Bayou Black, Louisiana

Friend and AGA board member, Dale Frost in Holland, Michigan.

With friends Doug and Sue Redman in Surry, Virginia.

Our 8th Anniversary Fishing Trip

2007-10-04T16:10:00.000+01:00

This is Peter with his 4.5kg, 30in "corvina" in Portuguese, not sure of exact name in English but is some kind of sea trout!

This is Shelley with her 5kg, 35.5in Tuna!

Meghan, our niece also caught fish - plenty big for her!

The tuna steaks!

Meghan cleaning her catch!

As always beautiful sunsets!!

Mundindi Special Report!

2007-10-04T15:48:00.000+01:00

Special Report on Project Mundindi

Greetings from windy, dusty southwestern Angola! We are ready for the rains to come and it seems it could be any day now! The Jacaranda trees have been in bloom for a few weeks now and the old timers say that the blooms foretell of the coming rains! Of course, history is in their favor too as generally it starts raining in late September, or early October!

We are getting well under way with the foundational steps of our community health project in the area surrounding the Evangelical Medical Center of Lubango(CEML).
We have limited ourselves to just one “small” community, called Campa, - 41 houses and about 325 people – to begin with and then we will repeat the same steps in other communities including the actual community called Mundindi. There are 5-6 communities all within 5 km’s from the hospital, all anxious to have us come and work with them! So far we have just done an age and gender population survey of 100 percent of the houses in the Campa community and today we started with the actual public health survey. We plan to randomly select and survey about 30% of each community’s population to get our baseline data prior to starting our interventions! Pray for us as we also are ambassadors for Christ in these communities and want His Love to Shine to all these people more than anything else! Pray our team would work well together and show love to one another! Below are some pictures -

Maria and her youngest child
Angelina - expecting her second and painting the community doors!
The Team!

Surveying! Hoping to have an impact on these young lives!

Year in Review - Part III(Jan 07-June 07)

2007-06-23T15:38:00.000+01:00

It's been awhile already since the last update - so will try to get the rest of the year we've been here covered!

Here are some photos around Lubango, our home base.

Every Thursday we go to a rural clinic, called Rio de Huila, where we help out with the maternity clinic. We usually see about 35 women 2 hours! Visits are a lot shorter when you can't speak their language, and you have an assembly-line style clinic with three stations! Still it is great to be serving pregnant women again!
Here are some of the ladies who are waiting to be seen.

Here is Rebecca, a pre-med student from Saskatchewan, measuring a lady's fundal height

Here I am filling out records - not quite as fun, but certainly necessary.

This is Hamilton, a pre-med student from Ontario getting ready to listen to the baby!

Rita is the lady in the orange labcoat registering and giving out vitamins
Rosa, one of the clinic nurses taking a BP

Now this is at CEML, the new hospital in Lubango where we are based. This is the maternity room! Privacy is not a requirement!! So far we haven't had two deliveries at the same time but Florinda, the main midwife is ready! I'll have to remember to take her picture and introduce her at the next update!
The labor beds are behind curtains in the same room as the delivery/examining tables.

And in another corner of the same room we have prenatal/GYN visits so it is a busy room!

These little girls are the first twins I got to deliver and one was breech so was also my first breech delivery! God was awesome and provided my Dad with years and years of experience to be by my side for the whole labor and delivery calming and reassuring me. Of course I didn't tell my patient it was my first twins and breech! Praise God all went well and the girls are doing great. They still hadn't decided on names when I last saw them.

This is my Dad, Bob Foster, with the twins!

Mom, Amelia, is in the center, Dad, Nelito, behind and friend Elena, on the left.

I'm so sorry this photo is turned wrong and I can't find the way to rotate it, but this baby was my first "home" birth. The mom, Joaquina, works for one of the missionaries here and delivered at their home. Of course at 3:30a.m. but also praise God all went well!!!

The little guy was named Pedrito Joao or Peter John after Peter - Peter's first god-son here in Angola. Peter was a wonderful assistant with the birth.
We are just getting started with a new ministry we will call Project Mundindi. Mundindi is the name of the area surrounding the CEML and is where we will be starting a community health program. The two young ladies in this photo are Maria and Angelina and they have been brought to us to train to be village birth attendants for their area. The gentleman on the left is Pastor Moises(moses). He is the pastor for the CEML hospital and is wonderful and full of wisdom. The other two gentlemen are Sobas or chiefs of the villages.

The Sobas and the Pastor again.

Maria and her youngest.

Another big event was the dedication of the Cavango Clinic in May! We had spent three months there last year when we first arrived - see blog entry 1 - so it was a delight to be there for the dedication. My parents Bob and Belva Foster both came and were flown in by MAF so as to not have to deal with the bad roads. Steve Foster is below with Pastors and leadership awaiting the plane's arrival.

Mom and Dad greeting the crowds.

Cutting the ribbon of the clinic!

This picture says it all!

Year in Review Part II (Sept -Dec 2006)

2007-05-13T10:02:00.000+01:00

While waiting for our work visas we had to renew our visitors visas every three months which came due in September - also just in time for our 7th anniversary. We headed south to Namibia and spent a couple of days at a place called Onguma near Etosha National Park in Namibia. We did receive new visitors visas and so returned to Angola within the week! Praise!

A hidden lionessDining area at Onguma
Wildlife at Chudob - a waterhole - in Etosha
A picnic lunch in Etosha

Lubango, Angola, the site for the Evangelical Medical Center. A beautiful city and famous along with Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon for having a Cristo Rei(Christ the King) statue.

The Emergency Room entrance of the Evangelical Medical Center of Lubango. In Portuguese it is the Centro Evangelica de Medicina de Lubango or CEML. We arrived back from Namibia with our renewed visas two weeks before CEML was to open and spent those two weeks cleaning, sorting and arranging items in preparation for opening. We would never really have been ready so eventually THE day - October 16th, 2006 - arrived and we are still trying to catch up and be ready!
The Operating Room block. The delivery room entrance is the last door on the left.
CEML's first patient!

The crowd on opening day!
Registration
Adolfo, the main lab technician

Me(Shelley), Angelina and Amy a pre-med student from Canada

The staff on opening day.
Dr Steve Foster - the medical director of CEML

The next big event after the opening of the CEML was the arrival of our container of all our "worldly" possessions including our vehicle. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of our vehicle in the container, but all the rest of the stuff was packed behind this "wall"

Offloading the container from the truck. Fortunately we had already removed the vehicle so it wasn't quite so nervewracking to see just one cable lifting the container!

Our freshly removed Jeep in front of our house!

In case any of you were worried that all we do is work, work, work these next few photos will help you understand that there is plenty to do for fun here too! Angola has something for every type of adventurer or relaxer! Below is our little Jeep trying to keep up with the "big boys".
We did not get stuck!

Beautiful mountains....

stunning views where the central plateau drops 5000 feet to the coastal plain....

any rock climbers or hang gliders out there?!

Then there is the deserted beach and literally you are in a desert!
but the fish don't know that!

You do have to bring everything that you need including fresh water and fire wood!!!
Peter is still the reigning pancake king - even at the beach!
And the sunsets never fail to disappoint if you prefer the quieter form of relaxation!

November brings Thanksgiving for Americans even in Angola! We went to the Tchincombe Ranch, run by Shelley's brother and sister-in-law, Stirling and Donna Foster. This is their house, quite literally in the middle of nowhere - but a very restful oasis!

Stirling and Donna Foster
Thanksgiving Dinner! We even had turkey and pumpkin pie!

Stirling and Donna left in December for several months of visiting friends in the US and Canada so they left their furry children with us to look after. Maddy is the Jack Russell and Ebba is the German Shepherd. They have fit into our family very well and we will miss them when Stir and Donna come back to claim them!

Robert and Beth Riviello - doctors at the CEML for the past nine months - lived with us and also bonded well with all the pets! We all miss them!

December found us heading to Namibia to renew our visas again as the three months had expired. It was also the highlight of the year to have our daughter, Jasper, come to visit! We went quad biking in the dunes on the Namib Desert in Namibia while we waited for our visas to come through.

Warm hugs!

A chilly picnic in Swakopmund, Namibia.

Ruacana Falls - the border of Namibia and Angola - our visas came thru just in time to get back to Angola for Christmas. Thanks again for praying for us!

Our first year in review - Part I (June-Sept 2006)

2007-05-12T19:15:00.000+01:00

May 2006 - lots of farewells. It was very hard to leave what had been my "home" and "family" for 12 years! Good Ole CCOB!

Then there was saying Good bye to our Louisiana family. There are too many to get them all in here, but at least here is a sampling!Uncle Mickey and Aunt Jeanie

Boating with Eric and Linda

Laddie and Faie

Alida, Eddie, Paul and Camille

Eric and Linda above, and again below with Shelley and loads of Crawfish!

Then we take off for Angola on May 29th 2006 and go to work at a place called Cavango that had been destroyed during the war. We were to help get a clinic restarted. We camped there for three months and enjoyed every minute of our time there.

June 2006 - Leaving Namibia, heading for Angola!

The road to Cavango - Average speed 15 miles per hour!!

My Dad, Dr Bob Foster, built the original hospital that was destroyed in the war. So it was his special privilege at 82, to head up the reconstruction project for 6 weeks.

Our campsite - pretty luxurios and convenient!!

Our throne room!

Our hot water heater

Our Shower

Construction on the clinic building

Completed! This was taken in Dec 2006!

The other main project was getting water to flow from a spring 2.5 Km away with only a 30 foot drop in elevation!
Church was under the trees then. This little girl is bringing her offering!

It wasn't all work either!

We were there from Mid June to Mid September 2006. The next entry will continue our

First Year in Review

We want to welcome you to our blog which we are hoping will enable us to communicate even better with you all! We of course are just learning how it all works so bear with us!