Highlights 2010: Chapter 2 of 3

Throughout the transformation of lives on the base and all around Mozambique .... another type of transformation took place on the base:

NEW AND TRANSFORMED CLINICS

PHOTO:  The new Chitundu Health Post and clinic has been constructed to help the local community solve their health issues.  ASAM (Love Mozambique) built the clinic from Canadian funds.  It will be handed over to the local community after health workers are trained by the Health Department.  Lynn Lagore (a professional nurse) is in charge of our Health Ministry and does an amazing job in the local communities surrounding the mission.

PHOTO:  Our latest Health Post addition.  It was moved from the Mucombeze Interior farm to our local Primary school.

PHOTO:  We have had many visitors during 2010.  Here are some visitors checking out the newly erected clinic.

LANDING STRIP AT THE BASE

As you have followed the blog you would have noticed that our runway on the mission base is being built.  A huge endeavour.  It has been approved by the Mozambican Government and will be completed (weather permitting) hopefully by July 2011.  Mercy Air who has joined the mission will maintain the operational functionality of the Aviation ministry.

MORE TRANSFORMATIONAL AGENTS JOINING

Ron and Barb are founders of Mercy Air, South Africa.  Currently they are living in  Mozambique where they are establishing a Mission Air remote base.  Ron and Barb serve missionaries by flying work teams, evangelism teams, and medical teams from the  USA, Europe, and South Africa.  Their vision is to "Facilitate Air Transport to Accelerate the Gospel"

.. MORE PEOPLE JOINING





PHOTO:  Andy Kuret joining us from January 2011.  Andy is a qualified pilot and has a masters in Agriculture.   Andy has a passion for the Zambezi people and will be assisting in various projects in the area.




Special note:  Thank  you to Lynn Lagore and Mercy Air for photos provided.

Highlights 2010: Chapter 1 of 3

With the year running out of steam very quickly, I thought of sharing a few lighter moments with you.  Many lives were touched and changed throughout the year and it were the kids who were transformed.  Thank you for being part in changing lives for the good.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Arts and Crafts forms an integral part of of the school program.  Everyone is included to bring out their creative side.

Throughout the year kids has the opportunity to create various projects which are sold and the income used to purchase goods for the school and to make sure the program can continue in a sustainable way.  Here are some photos taken during our annual Vocational Bible Schools and the arts and crafts produced by our kids.

Photo:  Girls showing off their decorated forks.

Photo:  The boys didn't stay behind and showed off their "products".

SCHOOLS, VBS AND TRANSPORT ISSUES

Getting kids from point A to point B is always an interesting endeavour.  And packing kids into our local "Glory Bus" is something to behold.  Many kids never had the opportunity to ride along in style and fitting 25 orphans into the mini van is always a highlight for the kids.

Here our orphans are being transported to our VBS program about 20 km away.  Singing is always part of the "transport plan" and enjoyed by everyone.

PHOTO:  Memorizing Scripture verses need not be boring at all.  Kids demonstrate through acting how to memorize I Cor. 10:31

PHOTO:  Working with people for a long term means you get to see whole families pass through our school system.  Here is little Chimboma reciting 1 Cor. 10:31.  She is in grade 1 and successfully quoted the Scripture and made all of us proud.

TRANSFORMATION THROUGH FUN

PHOTO:  I can never resist a photo where a kids is really connecting and enjoying the fun.

PHOTOS ABOVE:  Kids and teachers having fun together on the "slip-and-slide".


HOME SWEET HOME

And after a long day of hard work ..... there is always home!  Our house has been serving us ever since we got here ..... and we love it.

Christmas and Restoration

I was contemplating on what message I could give to readers of this blog!  I was thinking carefully because of the love we in Mozambique share for all of you.  The fact that you care enough to actually visit this blog make you all quite special.  And then while I was contemplating a great friend, Kelly Johnson (Amahoro Africa in the USA) send me a message via facebook ...... and it suddenly all made sense.  She said:

"I'm thinking of Advent ..... and Mary's revolutionary understanding of Jesus and what His coming means, as depicted in the Magnificat.  Pretty radical.  Justice that would turn the order of things upside down."

I love that.  And that is my hope for all of you.  Redemption came in the form of Jesus.  Justice came in the form of Jesus.  May you all come closer to HIM, to others and to yourself during this time.  May you too have a revolutionary understanding of Jesus.

Christmas orphans

Inspiration!  That is what I experienced again when looking at the photos of our annual Xmas Orphan party.  Being an orphan is enough for many dealing with the adjustments and the emotional turmoil.  Being a Xmas orphan in Mozambique has various other problems.  Orphans here will have to deal with severe poverty in the process.  No running water, no electricity, no secure housing ...., barely any medical services .... just the bush.  A bush hut, dirty river water, little food if any and the loneliness.

It sounds depressing and in total contrast with the west (and even the east) celebrating Xmas.  Shopping malls are filled to capacity.  Shopping trolleys so heavy it's bending with all the shopping. Excess food and 1 000's of turkeys giving up their lives for the feast (lol).   And .....  that is not wrong.  A challenge though .... what about sharing a Xmas lunch with a neighbour who is struggling, or a shopping bag ...... donated to a children's home of the festive season?  Giving is so nice!

Making life a little bit nicer for our orphans .... and they have grown to more than 900 all over Mozambique, was   surprising them again with a party at our base.  Xmas tree, gifts and lots of food and games made the day a little bit brighter for the more than 40 kids.  Lynn Lagore organised our party this year - and did an outstanding job.  Here is a few moments .... wish you could be there:

Photo:  A grand entrance with local music by our orphans.

Photo:  Our widows plays an integral part in looking after some of our orphans.  They are always invited to partake in the festivities.

Photo left:  Time to receive gifts ...... and may I add always the highlight.

Logistically it is not possible to invite all our orphans.  Local churches in Mozambique which we work very closely with makes it possible for the other 850 orphans to have a good Xmas meal or "festa" as they call it here.  Many people all over the world make it possible for us to lighten up the world of a Mozambican orphan.  Thank you all for caring!

PHOTO:  Past. Mariano Joao (left), our Mozambican Orphan coordinator handing over gifts to our orphans.  Past. Ricardo Oliveira assisting.

PHOTO:  ..... and games are always part of the festivities.


* A special word of thanks to:


(a)  David Phillips and Busbridge, St. John the Baptist in Godalming for their support;
(b)  All the Canadian partners;
(c)  Lynn Lagore for all the photos and organizing!

A Gospel of Justice

There is so much to say about Justice. I don't want to philosophy about justice but rather emphasize what we understand as a Gospel of Justice.  Interestingly enough the Oxford describe justice as:


jus·tice –noun

1.the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness: to uphold the justice of a cause.

2.rightfulness or lawfulness, as of a claim or title; justness of ground or reason: to complain with justice.

3.the moral principle determining just conduct.

4.conformity to this principle, as manifested in conduct; just conduct, dealing, or treatment.

5.the administering of deserved punishment or reward.

Personally I love the real definition of "Justice" - and that is to DO JUSTICE.  To ACT or to TREAT JUSTLY or FAIRLY .  Someone commented on a posting on my facebook a day ago and I think she hit the nail on the head when she said:  "Funny you should mention this - we all love to hear the Gospel of love, but the Gospel of Justice is very much neglected".

Where I live I see many people die daily.  Mostly people die here due to the many tropical diseases that lingers here in the bush.  Malaria, diarrhoea, aids related diseases, TB, cholera and some treatable diseases.  The fact is we can easily so .... "that's just how it is" .... there is no good hospital facilities, a bad health system, no access to clean water, it looks like one overworked doctor for every 1 000 patients and so the list goes on.  

What made me cry a day ago was when a 7 year old boy was hit by a speeding vehicle.  Dwight saw the accident, intervened immediately .... hastily transported the boy to the clinic and hospital after the crowd already assessed the boy as "dead".  The guilty driver seems to bribed his way out of trouble with the authorities and the hospital staff wanted their "bribe" the treat the boy.  Without enough money you are not going to be treated immediately.  Life and the value of life is just not priority.  The sad end was that the boy died in the hospital.  Just another fact for many.

How should we act?  Should we tackle the authorities?  Speak up?  Just another death?  The answer I think to all of these are:  YES .... DO JUSTICE.  I am still crying .... because a young boy's life has been taken ... by the system.  An unjust system.  We have to act.  We have to re-commit ourselves again to a Gospel of Justice.

I think Dr. Walter Brueggemann says it so wisely:

An Invitation to Justice from The Justice Conference on Vimeo.

Fruitfull

The Bible says a lot about fruit (for various reasons)!  Nope, before you ask ... I have no new revelation on a theological meaning of  "fruit".   I think Jesus loved fruit .... maybe that could be the reason why he cursed the beautiful fruit tree that looked so good and tasty but had no fruit on them.  Mozambique has a lot of fruit that varies from mangoes, litchis, bananas, papayas, oranges, lemons, guavas, avo's and secret species that the locals really enjoy!  It's a place so abundant with fruit due to the subtropical climate that I think we could provide the rest of the world for the next 50 years.  I think what I am trying to say is .... FRUIT is king in Mozambique.

But there is a different kind of fruit I have seen yet again the last week.  I am referring to our local Mozambican transformational agents (or more theologically correct .... our pastor-leaders).  We have had, I think, our 10th bi-annual SBF (Escola Biblica de Fe) Bible School intensive seminars with nearly 40 chosen leaders from central and Northern Mozambique.  They represented more than 700 pastors.

These men are simply .... amazing.  They study for 6 years and cover more than 25 books with topics ranging from Old Testament studies, Prophets, New Testament studies, Practical Theology, Eschatology, Leadership and Re-Transforming communities through the church.  

A new subject that teaches the church how to respond to health issues has been successfully added to the program.  We have seen the FRUIT in the lives of these men over and over again.  Many of them survived the long civil war in Mozambique and all of them are daily surviving on NO money.  Most rural pastors get no salary from their church .....they labour because the LOVE!  To see them sing or pray is an experience you will never forget as long as you live!

PHOTO LEFT:  Joao Benjamin teaches about Creation, Redemption and Restoration.

Pastors making notes during classes.

TALKING ABOUT FRUIT AGAIN

PHOTO:  One of the missions workers harvesting litchies from the trees.

Our own mission farm has a huge litchi orchard amongst many other things..  It produced in mass this year with people coming from afar to buy and sell again.  Funds from the sell of our fruit production is ploughed into our various ministries again.  Orphans and other feeding projects run by the mission also benefits from the fruit.  If you have never tasted a litchi I suggest you run to your local store and get them in a can.  Off course they are not as good as on the tree .... but you will get the idea!

PHOTO:  Sorting litchies in the different grades.

PHOTO:  Local buyers comes from everywhere to buy their fresh produce.

From a distance

So many people contact me about our exact location.  You would probably not find us on Google Earth that clearly ..... if you are trying you can see as vaguely at the following GPS coordinates:


S18 40 285
E033 197 96


I used a few photos from Laura Cogbill (thank you Laura) who visited us for a month and helped at our schools.  Her dad arrived with her and just about sorted out all our mechanical problems on the base.  And what a great job he did too!


The photos were taken from the Mercy Air helicopter who visited us.  The areal shots would give an indication on our area in the bush!  So to make it a bit easier here are some photos:

Photo:  I publish the photos x-tra large on purpose to make the details a bit more clearer.  The helicopter just took off from the empty spot down - very close to our house!  Yes ... and we are always the ones left behind ... way down there!

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Photo:  The litchi plantation on the foreground with vehicle garage on left, generator room and dam on the right.  At the back Dwight's house.

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PHOTO:  A wider angle of our 1 000 ha base.  Left of the red roof (far back on the photo) is my house hidden between the trees.  In front of the picture you will see our admin office.

PHOTO:  The Mucombeze river where we stay.  Our houses are build close to the edge of the river.  The river is also our boundary on the base.  This river flows into the bigger Pungwe river.  Left on the photo you will see some smaller houses which are used for visitors and short termers at the moment.

PHOTO:  MERCY AIR leaving our base for South Africa.

FREE CHRISTMAS GIFTS: "I can read ..... I can write!"

I heard from Barbara Rainford a day ago - "It's cold and parts of England is covered in snow!"  And so it is in London too, David Phillips tell me via Skype.  It must be the ideal Christmas in England then, I though by myself.  It's the season.  On Christmas morning most of us (kids included) turn their eyes towards the Christmas tree packed with gifts we often would really rather give to someone else (well ... most of the time!)  I remember my mom once bought my dad a lawnmower for Christmas.  Can you imagine that?  I ended up using it most of the time when my dad stared at the lawnmower ..... and that was the hint!  Well, the lawnmower became my gift!

WOMEN REACHES THE 2 000 MARK

I have said much in the past about our Womens Ministry here in the bush.  And can you believe it - the ladies grew from a mere 90 to more than 2 047 in a short space of time.  And lets face it - it is never about the numbers - it's something much more.  They all have one dream that binds them together.  "We would love to have a gift for Christmas!"  When you are in Africa a "gift" has a total different meaning altogether.  Don't need no camera - no batteries or pc's around here (come to think of it ...... we have no electricity at all), don't need no XBOX (that electricity thing again!), don't need no daimond ring (where shall we wear it to?) ..... but there is ONE gift we long after.

PHOTO:  A lady showing her skills after being taught in the many Women schools accross Mozambique.

GIFT?  Yes, the ability to read and to write before Christmas.  2 047 ladies united again in 2010 to fulfill their dream.  And they have worked hard.  They came from everywhere and gather weekly in all parts of the country (specially in central and Northern Mozambique) to learn how to read and to write.  And the greatest miracle of all is that they are using the Bible to do this.  It is truely one of the biggest reasons why men would allow their wives to participate in the program ..... The Bible!

PHOTO:  Teaching women literacy through the Bible on the border of Malawi.

In the process there are so many stories, miracles and the lady that proclaimed:

• "I can read ..... for the first time I can get into a bus and know where it is going by reading the signs."
• Another proclaims:  "I can now do my own mathematics .... I can count ... the market is not a nightmare anymore."
• Another lady says:  "I can now teach my grandchildren to write their own names because I can write my own thanks to this program!"

They can all read and write before Christmas!  What a great gift!  And in the process they learn about the Greatest Gift ever - JESUS CHRIST.

If you want to be part of this program feel free to leave a message or contact us at lovemoz@sg.org.za