Fascinating fact of the day; Mango skin can cause serious allergic reactions. Who knew? Although the first picture does not show great detail, William's face is quite swollen here, especially in a band across his eyes. Someone here said that Mango skin secretes a rubber or latex substance that is allergenic to some people. I don't know if this is true, but our Medical Unit confirmed that the rash was indeed from a mango. He said that it is the same as a poison ivy reaction and as some of you know, if i'm within 100 miles of poison ivy I will be covered head to toe with a horrendous rash. So, Einstein was swimming and he and Anna were floating some mangoes in the water. He inadvertently poked his eye with one, complained about it burning, and then the next day woke up with this rash. How it moved to his shoulder I don't know. The rash (which became much worse on his face than the photo indicates) lasted about 10 days and left scaring on his shoulder. Now William won't go anywhere near mangoes.
In other random December news, the kids have a HUGE Christmas break here; like a month! Good if you are traveling somewhere, but if you aren't this is a long time to keep kids entertained. Remember, we have exactly 1 television channel with kids shows, an internet connection that does not work during the day, and are now in the rainy season which limits the outdoor stuff.
There is a wildlife center right in the middle of Lilongwe and they offered a 3 day camp for the kids. It was just a few hours a day, but everything helps, right? The kids got to see lots of animals, help with the feeding and who knows what else. And did you know that Anna is now slightly larger than a Baboon, while William is about the same size as a Lion.
Would you believe this is a giant termite mound?
Finally, we have some live snake news. Once we realized that the snakes that live in our yard (well, at least this kind) are not poisonous, I began to feel bad about all the bloodshed. They lived here first after all. I had also been warned that if you encouraged the guards to kill snakes, and give them money for dead snakes (ahem, guilty), all of the sudden dead snakes will mysteriously appear, almost daily - snakes that most likely lived (and died) nowhere near your yard. The famous dead snake scam. So, we told the guard that we no longer wanted the snakes dead, but would still like to see them when they are found. So far this is the only one we have been alerted to. He's probably looking for his dead family :( We think this is a harmless Herald snake. If there are any snake experts out there who disagree, please let us know ASAP.
Merry Christmas!
