Our Blog

The “unknown” of the city

Mon, 9 May 2011 11:14:54 +0200

Azevedo is a minister I work with out in Moma, a large rural area several hours away from Nampula. Though there are a couple towns in that district, all are quite small. As a city, Nampula would therefore have many new and different things.

Anyway together we went to buy some Bibles. When we got to the Bible Society the guy with the key to get the Bibles out of the storage room was not there. We needed to kill a little time and then come back. I always enjoy having a cup of coffee so we headed to a café. We ordered coffee and something to snack on. Azevedo received his coffee. A few minutes later he looks at me holding a small packet and says, “Does this go in the coffee?” I said, “yes, it is sugar.” He said, “oh!” He put several in and really enjoyed his coffee!

An Invasion

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:38:22 +0200

We have a problem with ants. Many times it’s minor. It’s always annoying. Sometimes it’s overwhelming.

The picture on the left shows a minor attack in the bathroom which occurred about a wk ago. Not too extreme, but none too pleasant. Then today we were overwhelmed.

Our house worker had gone in to clean the bathroom and then walked out to ask for Baygon (like Raid). I didn’t think too much about it. Several minutes later Karunia walked into her bedroom and SCREAMED! Now Karunia is our dramatic child (think Anne of Green Gables) so I calmly, though perhaps with an exasperated tone, asked what the problem was. As I walked into her room I was stunned however. There were large black circles all over her wall - left to right and top to bottom. ANTS! I walked into the next room which belongs to the boys . . . same thing. I’m sorry there are no pictures of the ants on the walls. I was overwhelmed and immediately went into attack mode. There really and truly were many thousands of ants. We emptied 2 new cans of Baygon inside the house. We then checked out back - the outside of the effected wall in all three rooms and were absolutely astounded! We used a few more cans back there. Even our workers were amazed.

The picture above on the right is 1/2 of the clean up from a small invasion in the school room which also occurred about a week ago. The white flecks in the dustpan are chalk but all else are dead ants. Yuck!

Things They Didn’t Teach in School

Wed, 2 Mar 2011 08:54:30 +0200

When Robin and I were in school (university) we took many great classes that helped us to prepare for ministry; in particular, classes for ministry in an overseas setting. The longer we are on field however, the more we learn that some things just can’t be anticipated or taught in a class.

Things such as what to do when you live at least a three day drive from a mechanic who can repair you truck. Though the simple answer might seem to be, “learn to do it yourself” it is not that simple. First of all, I’m not mechanically minded and things like that frustrate me to know end. More significantly however is that many professional mechanics have looked at our truck and said, “You need to go to South Africa, they can help you there....” Other than suspension problems and a few other things, our car must travel 3 days to be repaired. That means the kids must miss school, or Robin and the kids stay home while Dan heads off for at least two weeks.

Another issue not covered in university comes to the fore....what to do when you live in an area that has a high crime rate. Is it safe for Robin and the kids to be left? There is no such thing as 911. Much of the police doesn’t really have cars or motorcycles and when they do then much of the time they don’t have fuel. How do you live and work when physical safety is in question...how do you not become paranoid and then stop functioning?

We also were not taught how to transport mentally ill people in the back of a pick-up truck (he couldn’t be inside as the closed-in walls were too confining). How to turn a room in your house into an operating room for neutering and spaying animals. How to communicate with people when the internet and cell networks go down. How to compare evacuation insurances. It’s okay - we learn as we go, but many things have made us laugh or sigh along the way.

You see this is all part of our job as missionaries....we must be willing to risk for Jesus. The fact is however, it is not just part of a missionary’s job. Risking for Jesus is something every Christian must be willing to do. God has called us to risk for Him in Mozambique. But for you, maybe God is asking you to risk it all for him in an inner city school, to move to that neighborhood where there are drugs and danger, to reach out to your neighbor who is a shut-in, to go to the local jail, to provide a home for a pregnant teenager, to adopt a special needs child, to ......(you fill in the blank). What is part of your work as a Christian, what is God asking you to risk for Him? What have you not yet been taught in a classroom but are going to learn on the adventure?

Stepping Up in the World

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:26:04 +0200

Unfortunately trash strewn about is a common sight within most Mozambican towns/cities and Nampula is most certainly not an exception to this rule. Large piles of trash litter the roadside, the space around businesses or apartments or roadside stalls. It’s a part of life.

The city has been trying to do a better job in getting things cleaned up. They’ve built concrete garbage dump sites, posted signs on when garbage can be dumped and have tried to create a “pick-up schedule” (though I can’t tell you what that is). Driving around one can see open back trucks pulled by tractors with workers scooping the garbage into the trucks to be hauled off somewhere.

We must be “moving up” in the world however - we just saw an actual garbage truck.

To Dress “African”???

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:25:38 +0200

When on furlough in 2008/2009 a couple people asked me if I’d be wearing an African shirt for church. I didn’t. The few African shirts I own I’d left in Mozambique to be worn there.

Recently we had a visitor from one of our supporting churches. He’s been to West Africa several times and has quite the collection of African shirts. Of course traditional “African” clothes do exist here in Mozambique, but the fact is most people wear western style clothes. Kurt noticed this quickly and was rather surprised. He was more surprised when we headed out to the village and he saw it was the same out there as well.

Women are perhaps a bit more traditional and will wear a “Western” style shirt with a cloth (capulana) wrapped around their waist, though while the cloth is “traditional,” it isn’t what most people consider a traditional African dress for women. Women also can be found wearing pants or western skirts/dresses and on rare occasions even shorts (though that still isn’t considered appropriate or culturally acceptable). Men rarely wear traditional African shirts.

The reason for this, at least as far as we can figure out is simply cost. You see charities give used clothes to help the poor of Africa. These clothes are given yet there are import taxes to be paid. So people pay the import taxes and then sell the clothes. It ends up being much cheaper to buy the used clothing than it is to buy cloth and have someone sew an outfit.

Here, if someone is wearing “traditional” African clothes they are rich. The clothes one wears does not identify you as African or Western, but as common or privileged.....