Bush school 'bagging' it!

There are several reasons why we are so intensely involved with education.  Some are quite obvious.  The fact that education, even in Mozambique, is still regarded as a privilege rather than a basic human right is one of our important reasons but not the most important.  To help a local human being have the privilege to read and write and have the right to make the right choices and become a respected and balanced human being must be what drives us to be seriously involved in the lives of children in Mozambique.

Just making sure you see the inside too!

We would just about do anything to make sure kids have the opportunity to have the right to make informative choices thanks to good education.  To introduce kids to various worldviews is a challenge.  At the moment we have our nearly 350 bush kids (internal bush schools and external students) in various programs to help them through the educational process.  We have our kids for about 6 years before we have to release them into the government system.  Most of our kids stop their learning process when they leave our schools.  We are busy looking at adding at least another 2 years to the process by increasing our capability to grade 7.  Our teachers are already in the last phase of their 2 year additional teachers training with the Mozambican Educational Department.

Very proud .... and showing off his new see through school bag!!

While all of this going on we make sure that kids get a little bit 'spoiled' to.  Some wonderful ladies from Stellenbosch Congregation came with a great idea to make sure all our kids have school bags to put in their books.  With little material available kids often carry books in their hands - bind together only with flexible bark of a tree.  The day was joyous (as usual) when I shared the school bags with all the 'apples of my eye'!

One of our boys that walks to school more than 16 km per day.  The fact that he has malformed feet doesn't take away the joy of being able to attend school.

Girl on the left ...... 'just making sure your bag is not bigger than mine ... or more colorful!'

Grade 5 girls showing off their extra strong bags.

Everybody wanted a photo with their new bags.  These 2 boys made sure there books fitted the bags and already secured!

Homeward bound

We didn't drive to the airport - it was more sliding than driving.  The rain poured down as we arrived at the muddy bush runway.  I guess the only good thing about a runway in the bush is that there is no check-in point, no baggage control or security checks. I didn't even have to take of the belt and all the other goodies but we did get rid of our muddy shoes before we embarked the plane.  As I have been converted to small fixed wing aircraft, by now I still had a slight peep at the muddy runway and wondered how we are going to get the plain to accelerate on this mud - and not get stuck. Can you actually push a plane to get going?  Luckily some pastors in my short lifespan taught me to walk in faith and not in sight!  I kinda needed that today.

It was a lot of slipping and sliding again to get the aircraft up in the air but once we were up and through the clouds the sugar cane fields of Marromeu seemed very distant and disappeared even quicker.  We were on our way back to Chimoio and I could hardly believe what I have experienced the last few days between the Sena people of the Delta.  I was changed .... and I believe they were too!

Leaving the Delta with a tear in the eye!

I felt like a pilot myself - in only my second flight in a small aircraft.  6 500 m up in the air at 280 km/h and right on track to head back home according to the GPS.

And this photo is dedicated to Paul Middleton and all the other bush pilots who fly us just about anywhere in the bush as long as they can land.

Arriving in Chimoio with nearly clear skies.

Chimoio - a big place and about 90 km from home.  The runway at the base is still under construction so we had to land at the Chimoio airport. 

Another successful landing at the Chimoio airport. 

This is how a 'rally plane' looks like after spinning and taking of at the Marromeu muddy airstrip. 

The day has taken its toll!  Not sure why the pilots were so tired - I felt fine and energized .... lol!

The Delta's Forgotten: The last day

I got use to the routine by now.  Wake up at 05:00 - a 'quick' bite of muesli (by the way let no one tell you muesli is just a quick bite - you chew until your jaws can take no more - and then you start again!  Very time consuming breakfast!) and get yourself out of the door as quick as possible.  Luckily the 90 minute trip to Marromeu is not happening this morning.  The helicopter came to fetch us on the Nenza base.  It was raining outside and I wondered how the flight in the helicopter would go.  Today we were tackling the most difficult village and the furthest.


But before we could get there we had to fit everyone into the helicopter first.  Strange 'educational' tools were forced into the helicopter as we got underway.

  I thought at first that carrying your own 'airbag' is a little bit extreme.  But hey ... anything when it comes to safety .... yeah?  Keren Reuter with her Pilate's ball boarding the helicopter.  I guess she got away with it because she was the pilots wife.

The flight took us nearly over the lenght of the Zambezi river.

Matteus Reuter in action!

Some Delta scenery as we were flying!

Not a great photo due to the rain (and a not so good camera) but yes that is the ocean where the Zambezi flows into.

Back into another far away village

Farming in areas where flooding happens very frequently is the only sustainable way for the people of the Delta to survive.

The Zambezi river flowing strong.

As it has become a custom by now - the village was up and ready to receive us as we arrived.

Tinica, a previous missionary in Tanzania, knowing the drill by now.  Out with all the equipment to start the training sessions.

The heli would drop us off and continue to collect another group to continue the training at various villages.

Visiting a village is not just about teaching - it's more about caring, visiting and just 'being'!  Praying for the chief of the area's wife.

Getting into the action!

I could just never get use to these amazing smiling faces.  When they realized that they could read and understand what is being taught ..... it is amazing to see people's reactions.  It truly is something to behold and really make it worth coming to these extremely remote areas.

So as pedagogue it was my turn to teach consonants to people who has never heard them.  Pronunciation to students who have never heard the letter pronounced was an interesting experience - specially for a teacher who had Accounting, Business Economics and Mercantile Law as a background.  

"Sounds like ....." Oh my goodness was this part difficult.  I had to jump, laugh, perform do just about everything to form words!

Individual testing ..... with the woman.

I think by this time I was wasted and tapped from all my creative juices.  But it was amazing to see the people react and the way they sucked up the teaching!

The community leader receiving his first soccer ball with a pump!

Flying back to the base was an even more interesting experience as we flew at more than 280 km/h in the rain with a strong tailwind - and that in a heli.  Amazing stuff.  We arrived back at the helipad (above) just to rush off to catch our fixed wing aircraft from Mercy Air back to Chimoio.


This was an amazing experience that left me with many a tear.  Tears because that so many people around me cared enough that they would offer their aircraft to see forgotten people developed.  A tear because of the extreme hunger from the people to learn.  A tear because through their nothingness - the looked us in the eye and would proudly proclaim:  "I can read and write now!  Come back again with a story book!"

The Delta's Forgotten! DAY 3

I'm glad that I slept under a mosquito net when my roommate, Dan December woke me up at 5'o clock the morning.  The zzzzzzipping sounds of several female mosquitoes hunting me down brings vivid memories of malaria - the fevers, the shakes .... 'NO - can't afford that now, busy day" I think out loudly as I get up from my mattress on the floor.

Day 3 and I can hardly wait to get going.  We leave at 6'o clock to tackle the long 90 minutes drive on nerve recking roads to get to the helipad.  Today would see us go deep into the Delta to meet the forgotten people of this remote wetlands of Mozambique.

I kinda liked this angle of the helicopter.  Mikey from Switzerland in the background - the helicopter mechanic.  (Photo:  Paul Middleton)

Mattias Reuter - giving us instructions on safety before we enter the helicopter.  They apparently don't have ejection seats .....!

A prayer with the whole team as we get ready to head out into the Delta.

And off we go - buckled up and plastic bag hidden in the background.

We are greeted by Mattias Reuter, the helicopter pilot.  I flew with him once to Tete and other remote areas on the Zambezi.  Meeting him again and knowing who I am flying with brings a slight relief.  A quick, very professional and even funnier flight safety check with Mattias motivates us even more to get to some of the communities.  Quicker than you could say .... 'bucle up' ... we were in the air.   The most amazing picture from the sky greeted us as we flew over the wetlands of the Delta.  It was a normal rainy season but everything was soaking wet with shades of green.  Buffalo and antilope were everywhere and enjoying the lush pastures.

The helicopter flew at a moderate 220 km/h and we took a quick dive and I could already see the community waiting.  Strangely enough these people have never seen an automobile or a motorbike but they all know the welcoming sound of a helicopter.  Anyway - we unloaded the helicopter with all our teaching aids and got going through the Delta jungle to meet the community who was anxiously waiting at this stage.

As usual the photos will tell a more complete story and will do much better than I can.

The Delta in its glory.  It was amazing to see the amount of buffalo, antilope, warthogs, hippo and crocodile of course.

As we arrived with the helicopter community members were already waiting for us.

Shephan (Director:  YWAM - Marromeu) leading the way into the village.

As we arrived the community was already waiting anxiously.

The best way to start the day was to begin with games.  Speaking Sena was extremely difficult and communication was a problem from the beginning.  The people of the Delta don't speak Portuguese so games worked well .... with gestures of course. 

With kids .... a few balls made all the difference.

Singing songs and playing more games is a great ice breaker and everyone participated.

The most amazing experience was to see how total illiterate people could suddenly read and understand a word and connect it with a picture.  

The people came from everywhere.  The old, the young - everyone in the village was there.  When you look at some of these faces you can not help but feel good about what these communities are achieving.

Most of the times woman are forgotten in the bush.  We made sure woman was part of the whole experience as we wanted everyone in the village to be able to read and write.  Here is an elderly lady showing us she understands vowels, letters, words and could comprehend the meaning of the word with a picture.

A puppet show in the middle of nowhere.  The puppet show was presented by the locals in their own language and a story from their lives.

The kids were mesmerized by the story.  Their faces tells the story!

The amazing team behind the 'curtain'.  It was a local production to help people to understand the language and to create a vocabulary.