Kris and his machete

We are missionaries here. We help people. I help people too. Today our neighbor's daughter, she is a mommy too, but only has a little baby, came to the house. I was in the hammock when she came and asked me to go with her to her house. The other kids weren't around

Where Kris listens for flies and dodges bats

and those that were home couldn't climb the tree. She asked me to climb the pomorack tree and get a pomorack for her (here they call cashews pomoracks). I smiled and was very happy that she called me to do something special.

My favorite work is cutting with the cutlass (machete). I use two hands because the cutlass is too heavy for me. I like finding paths in the jungle. I like to swim to the logs out in the middle of the river. From there I sometimes swim to Venezuela on the other shore. My daddy made me a little paddle so I can paddle our dugout canoe by myself now.

Looking for Cicadas

When I go to the bathroom in the outhouse. I listen to some of the flies. Flies like to hold their breath. I know they are holding their breath when they don't make any noise. At night I sometimes have to dodge bats. I like to dodge bats. I don't know how many bats live there, but I know there are at least two because I have seen two at the same time flying around.

Sometimes I hear a crunching noise or singing noise like tktktktktrrrrrrzzzzz and I know it is a cicada. They come out when when the sun comes out. Sometimes you can find them before. I catch them by hand by climbing some whitey trees and those other ones that kind of, you know those ones that have those big, big seeds, that are flat? The cicadas are on the branches and I catch them. Sometimes when you don't want them to fly away, we put them under the water for a little bit and then they can't fly far. We don't drown them, we just put

Two of my close friends

them for a tiny bit. They can swim too. They use their wings as paddles. We tie a string (or thread) around their legs and then we play with them for a little bit by throwing them up in the air and watching them fly around. We hold onto the string so they can't fly away. After we are done we let them go. Sometimes they die by themselves, or some kids come and throw them against a rock. But we don't kill them.

Your friend Kris

You may write to Kris at: gates@andrews.edu

[Home Page] [Children's Corner] [Life on the Frontlines] [How to become an adventurer]
[Others who did it] [About Us] [Caribbean Links]

---

Last Updated: May 13, 1997