"he doth not stink"

The Book of Mormon is not often considered a great source of humor--but for those of us who know it well, there are a few spots that can set us to giggling.  One such is the dialog between a woman of a comatose husband (who happens to be king) and others.  She relates that some have begun to question if her husband is still alive and their claims that he has begun to stink.  But she, loyal wife that she is, claims that he doesn't.
Debbie fails this important scriptural test of spousal devotion.  She does not withhold her judgement of my smell on the average 100 degree 90% humidity Quelimane day.  The fact is that we sweat constantly here and we are often driven to distraction by how we smell.  I think that it is better than others, but that is probably just pride rather than fact.  We love our empregada. Pascoa. who comes twice a week to clean the house, but we can actually track her in the home by her smell.  We find that many of the rural residents here are similarly afflicted--and how could they not be if we who have running water and shower once or twice a day cannot escape it?  It has helped us to understand something that we have noticed (but not photographed) on our travels in the countryside.  When there is a big thunderstorm, people will sometimes come out onto the road and bathe in puddles or simply strip off clothing and use the natural shower to get clean.  You will often see people brnging laundry to the road immediately following a thunderstorm to do the wash in a puddle.

The following are random recent photos to add color to an otherwise colorless post.

I thought this sack of rice was at least three hundred pounds, but perhaps it was only a hundred.  We were moving someones stock of rice that was being exposed to the elements after their home collapsed in the recent cyclone.



A group of street-toughs of Quelimane.



I thought his a beautiful pastoral scene of goats hanging out on a termite mound.



I thought this a very charming picture that Debbie took of the two young women, Aissa and Edna, now dressed in their new school clothes and backpacks--quite proud (and appreciative) of being able to start school again.