"I like it, I like it .... I Ia-la-la-like it .... here we go ...!

Don't you just like closing down functions?  No work - just fun and laughter and plenty to eat.  This time of the year many all over the world are getting ready for Christmas.  Snow comes down (or the sun beats down on you if you are in Mozambique), fires are lit (in New York as well as in Mucombeze, Mozambique), music is playing and everywhere parties ring out to announce the closure of yet another year!  Annually it seems people are happy to have survived another year.

We just had the joy (for us ... not so much for the kids though) of closing our bush schools for the year.  Exam results were in and our annual function was a hype of contagious activity. Everyone was awaiting their results. 

PHOTO ABOVE:  Parent receiving photos from their kids who are being sponsored by Canada.


PHOTO BELOW:  Teachers receiving their certificates for excellent service in 2010.
The morning started with a quick Mozambican thundershower.  That did not stop the more than 200 kids from the bush to arrive early.  The parents came in drips and drags and I figured out it was maybe because they were not getting the many prizes that was awaiting the kids.


 Some "boring" speeches by teachers, the headmaster, Director of Education and parents were quickly forgotten as kids stared at the "special prize" - a brand new "Flying Pigeon" bicycle - made in China off course.

PHOTO:  Senhor Fernando Hurekure - after 10 years of dedicated service as our Chief Chef in the kitchen he decided, at the tender age of 70, that it was time to retire.

PHOTO:  Fernando received many gifts as a token of our appreciation at the school.  Our mission just finished building him a house for his retirement.

PHOTO:   Our youngest academical achiever, miss Chimboma (grade 1 - best student) receiving her first prize with her mother enjoying the moment!  Tito Mabuleza, our first grade teacher looking very proud.

PHOTO:  Trophy time!  A proud mother comes forward to congratulate her son, Simba Jone on his achievement as best sport student for 2010.

PHOTO BELOW:  Teacher getting ready to read the exam results with big-eyed and staring students!
 Then the MOMENT.  As usual we had our top academical students, our sport champs and athletes and those receiving prizes for their arts and crafts abilities. Names were called out - kids squeezed their way through the crowd to proudly receive their certificates and prizes.  Although some were disappointed not to get to the top 3 in every class we made sure every single one of the 250 students and more than 80 parents took something back to their homes to celebrate.  It was a festive atmosphere and with so many people pitching up we had to move from our classrooms to the outside.

PHOTO:  Nacha Ernesto Abudu recieves her certificate and prize for achieving a third place in the Grade 5 exams.  Our girls did excellent all around.  To us having the girls do well is very important as our school a few years ago had nearly no girls attend due to cultural legacies.  That all changed!

PHOTO:  Our top academical student for 2010 - receiving his "Flying Pigeon" bicycle.


After receiving their long awaited prizes there was a lot to eat and to drink.  Games were played, songs were ringing in the air and the joyous atmosphere was contagious. It felt great to see everyone enjoying themselves.

 A young boy (left in photo) came by, took my hand and said while chewing on two fizzers (long flavoured toffee):  "Hey .... Francisco ..... muinto obrigado e festa!"  (Translated:  Hey, Francois thank you very much for our feast!)  He walked way smiling ..... my hand still sticky from his toffee fingers - and a lump in my throat brought me back to reality.

 It's going to be a good Christmas - even if we only brought a smile and a toffee.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!P

Miracles in the Dust!

November means a lot of things if you stay in Mozambique!  It means HOT weather, dust storms, the promise of rain and the great anticipation of the local people to start planting their first crops.  To most of our kids around us it means exams and the prospect of a holiday on the horizon.  It's malaria time .... peak season upon us and many here knows the battle.  Many still struggling and living without any mosquito net or adequate medication to prevent malaria.  So looking back at the month of November - all these mentioned above are currently happening or are in the process of happening.

We have had several deaths the last few weeks.  Sickness and disease the common denominator but also accidents as one of our pastor's grandchildren was killed crossing the road.  Something that happens all to frequently as traffic pics up as the economy is growing.

BUT .... November will also be remembered as a miracle and truly a "thanksgiving" month.  After many years of dreaming, planning and wondering ..... the first signs of a dream becoming a reality was when the D6 bulldozer showed up to clear the long awaited runway.

After many months of paperwork and government officials inspecting our base the final approval was given.  The sun and heat was forgotten and our mission workers all jumped for joy when the "work crew" arrived to get the job done.  The next phase will be when Mercy Air via Ron Wayner will construct a hanger with another workforce arriving from the US to help.

And then ..... well then we await the first plane to "officially" land on the base.  Although we have had many helicopters come and go we have never had a fixed wing plane land .... for obvious reasons .... lol!  (Dwight did some low flying and it looked from my perspective as if he was trying .....!)  And what a great day that will be.  Having a runway means we could reach the north and its needs much quicker without delays and huge costs at airports.  Casavacs and other operations would be run from the base.  At the moment we would have 4 stationary pilots at the base - Dwight, Ron, Barb and Andy from Switzerland who will join us early 2011.

THUS  .... a great miracle in the dust ... and we are thankful.  Thank you for your prayers and continual support.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Our school closing ceremony will be on Thursday and we just heard from the Education Department that our external exams with grade 5's was a great success with a pass rate of 84 %.  I want to see South Africa beat that!!!
• Our bi-annual SBF training with more than 30 pastors representing more than nearly 700 students will take place this coming weekend.
• Our annual big XMAS Orphan party is about to take place first week in December.
• OH yes .... and XMAS planning .... forgot about that.
• Please pray that God will bless all of our activities and thank you again for being there!!!!

NEW VISITORS:

Photo:  The mother of this buck was killed somewhere and "Buddy" (as Lynn call him seeing that she is the mother now) now grazes everywhere.  Alta is currently looking after him.

Photo:  And yes ... even my house is not safe anymore!

No control is good control ..... sometimes!

I prepared this post more than a week before .... and prayed for a miracle as my "only" camera in the bush, Miss Canon - left me in "pieces".  Somehow I though my data compact flash card would miracously provide me with the photos I so dearly wanted on this post ..... and then I looked at my heading a week ago ..."No control is good control .... sometimes!"  Mmmmm.... so I will have to use some older photos out of my archives to at least show how we did manage through the day.  Aaaagh ... bush life sometimes.  Will publish newer photos the moment I can at least recover my data card.  Many blessings - RED

VBS - 160 screaming juniors .... wide-eyed joy!  I love seeing kids out of control when it comes to just enjoying themselves .... construtctively off course!  Our annual VBS (vacational Bible School) started off with a bang this year.  The theme to be explored was:  "Making the right choices!" with I Cor 10:31 as key verse.

Photo left:  Kids getting ready for the daily prayers!

We took our orphans with to participate in the fun.  I laughed as I picked up the orphans on the way to our VBS program about 20 km away.  They could hardly stand in one place and the moment they spotted me with the van .... they ran like Bolt himself .... to get a good place in the van off course.  On our way songs were sung and I could hardly hear the familiar strange sounds of the van as the pitch of the songs went higher.

Photo:  Due to the extreme temperatures watergames with balloon fights were at the order of the day!

At the school another 160 kids awaited us with dancing and waving hands.  The objective of our VBS program is to get kids to enjoy the Bible lessons with as much fun as possible.  This included games, stories, dramas, arts and crafts - and lots of sweats and cooldrink off course.

Photo:  This school boy drank the last (and I mean the last!!) drop of cooldrink to complete the game!

Within 30 minutes everyone memorized their Bible verses for the day with lots of games to help them to remember the topic and verse of the day.  It was lots of fun.

Road safety, health awareness and sport games completed the day.  Day after day they would go home dead tired .... just to return the next morning energized and exploding with joy.

Photo:  The day ended with a lot to eat!  Kids getting ready with their plates!

Amahoro: Changing young leaders

The way we were brought up will eventually determine the way we think, act and even understand Scripture.  Sometimes even the church struggles to grasp what its role is in the 21st century.  Speak to any generation-X or generation-I student and he or she will quickly tell you that the church is struggling to be relevant in the times we live.

We sometimes preach and emphasize heaven and hell so much that we forget that the Kingdom of God is right here too - on our beloved planet .... in Mozambique.  We need to LIVE NOW and be the hands, eyes, ears and feet of Jesus right here and submerge into the problems of our time.  Sadly many in the church (and hey .... yes there is very good churches and disciples too) still struggle to see that they can make a difference in communities, in the economy and in a nation.

Photo:  Claude Nikondeha (founder Amahoro) in action and Joao Benjamin (left) - student in Economics and Business Management and a true transformational engineer.

And that is one of the purposes of Amahoro.  To get the "movers and the shakers" in our churches to stand up and converse on how to act.  Our time in Maputo with Claude Nikondeha was an eye-opener to many of the leaders invited.  We concentrated on "Creation and the Cycle of Crises" and the way we look at Genesis 1 and Genesis 3.





Photo:  The Maputo Amahoro group came from all walks of life.  Journalists, business, Church leaders, lecturers from the University and community activists.

The confrontation between Genesis 1 and Genesis 3 is a huge one.  Leaders had to decide where they came from - from a Genesis 3 viewpoint where we start with a crisis or what God has intended us to be in Genesis 1.  A big shift for many.

Our second day concentrated on "Redemption and Restoration".  Again many leaders were confronted during conversations.  The input from the Maputo, Mozambique group was astounding.

The Editor of one of the Christian newspapers, Laura had much to say about Amahoro afterwards.  She said:  "We needed this conversation a long time ago - while churches are fighting and some enriching themselves - people and communities are dying.  We forgot to bring true "restoration".   We will take this message further!"



Photo:  Laura - Editor of the "Brilho Celeste - Jornal Interdenominacional Christao" had much to say about Amahoro in Mozambique.

Photo:  Ladies conversing around the lunch table.

Thank you Amahoro and Claude for taking the effort to come to Mozambican soil.  The conversation continues in Maputo (27 November)  and northern Mozambique.

Photo:  Joao Benjamin (Maputo Amahoro contact) with Claude.

Photo:  The brave group that attended Amahoro, Maputo.

Photo:  Claude Nikondeha and Francois Rauch with Maputo city in the background.

May we truly LIVE JESUS in THIS life too!

Amahoro: Heading down South!

We all tend to stay away from the big "M" when you live in the bush like we do! Nope ...nothing to do with a big Mac burger (or Apple Mac for that matter) or M&M's - no .... MAPUTO - the capital city of Mozambique. It's noisy, overpopulated, busy and many an aid worker has met his or her nemesis in the old big colonial mother city of Mozambique. And it's not beautiful at all (I think so by the way!)

But when Amahoro comes to town to work with young church and community leaders everything changes (sounds like a book by Brian McLaren!). Claude Nikondeha (founder of the Amahoro Institute) and activist for the poor all over Africa visited Mozambique to meet with some movers and shakers in the Maputo church world.

That meant .... that we got the wheels rolling quickly to setup a meeting. Here is the trip in a nut shell!

DOWN SOUTH WE GO

PHOTO:  Just for those who think the road to the south is a rumour!  It's wild, dusty and ..... broken up.

PHOTO:  And if you are a goat .... time for some serious "hanging-on"!

Photo:  Tofo beach, Inhambane Province, Mozambique!

PHOTO:  The capital city of Inhambane is reach in culture and beautiful buildings!

The gathering in Maputo, Mozambique was a historic event and I will try to cover the event as thorough as I can.   KEEP FOLLOWING!

Pro-risk?

Just came back from Maputo (hosting and having a great time with Amahoro and Claude) and arrived safely after a looooooong journey on the road - a warm one I might add.  Anyway ... while I get my electronic thoughts in order ...... something beautiful sent by Barbara and Alan Rainford from England!

ONLY A PERSON WHO RISKS IS FREE
by Author Unknown

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your ideas, your dreams,
before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To believe is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the
greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The people who risk nothing, do nothing,
have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change,
grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes they are slaves;
they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.

~ from page 147 of the book "Addiction by Prescription"
by Joan Gadsby ~