Msengedzi
May 16, 1951
Dear folks,
I’m getting on the sleepy side but Russ is going back into town tomorrow so I must get this ready to send with him. He has to be treated with a series of intravenous injections for bilharzia. Paul, their little boy, had malaria since we’ve returned from town. I suppose that he got bitten too much over at Blairs’. He is better today.
The weather is some cooler here now, although it was nearly 90° here by the window in the house. The sun was very hot. Much too hot for gardening. I bought some beans in town at the auction market and brought them home and canned them. They are very cheap that way. I also got oranges, grapefruit and a little cabbage and carrots the same way, so I’m enjoying lovely food. Fresh fruit and veg are really something for us. One doesn’t mind getting them either when they are cheap.
I told you that I got your box. I put it all on my pantry shelves the other day. You asked if Mary Danielson is still at Mavuradonha. Yes, she is with Inga. Everswicks are going there, too, now until they go home in November. There has been no man there for some time and it needed one so that is why they are going.
The new young fellow that came out the same time as we is staying on alone at Everswicks’ station. He is very capable and so will be able to take care of himself although he’ll find it very lonesome. We are just very short of missionaries and that is why we had to arrange it this way.
Did I ever tell you that nearly all of that meat that I canned spoiled for me. I was so sick about it. I guess in this hot place meat should be canned with a pressure cooker. How long do you boil it when you can in the boiler? Maybe I didn’t boil it long enough. I don’t know; I boiled it two or two and a half hours I think.
It was nice to get home again after all of the excitement and hub-bub of being around so many, yet it was nice being away from the station for a while. School has begun again so I’m occupied every morning.
A leopard is around again. Russ just killed one a couple of weeks ago. The natives say that that was the mother and now this is the father and he is taking care of two little ones. He believes in feeding them chickens I guess.
The water is boiling and I guess a nice cup of Nescafe will be good. Say, if you send another box to me sometime perhaps you should send along a few dozen jar rings for pint jars with the glass top, the kind that clamps down with a wire arrangement. After searching the town over I finally found jar rings for my wide mouth Ball jars. Popcorn is nice to include, too.
I’m wondering if you are enjoying a lovely May. So far every letter that I’ve gotten from people hasn’t failed talking about snow. Surely it is gone by now. I trust that this finds you all well. Greet all my “hamas“1Shona for relatives.
Love,
Eunice
[p.s.] Mary Danielson was in Salisbury when I was so I rode into town every day in her little Austin. It is certainly a cheap running little car.