The Bicycle Ambulance

Some of the activistas pausing for a photo after dedicating
our new bicycle ambulance to God's service in Dondo.

Our prayers are that this little cart will save a lot of lives!

If there is anything about the culture of poverty that leaves me perplexed it is the state of health care.  There is a privileged minority that own a car in Mozambique. The rest find that getting to the hospital or clinic for emergency care can be their biggest obstacle to surviving.  Many times I have visited a mud home only to find a patient so sick that crawling on their belly was their mode of transportation. It is common to see them give up hope unless a family member or kind neighbor transports them to the hospital on their back. One memory still plays heavy on my heart.  We had visited the home of a woman in Project Life.  She had been too sick to call for help and her house was off the beaten path.  It was impossible for my car to get near her house. The only means to get her to the hospital was to tie her to a bicycle so she wouldn't fall off. No checking vitals, no IVs started, no oxygen....just an overly snug fit on a metal frame over dirt roads fitted with nasty dips and huge chuck holes.  My EMT days screamed "wrong!" as I watched her disappear down the road swaying back and forth in and out of consciousness.

Out of those difficult moments the idea came to create a bicycle ambulance.  We discovered that other countries in Africa have also introduced this concept and have been successful in not only answering the needs of an incapacitated community but offering a small job for a driver. After hunting down a welder willing to build it and exploring all kinds of stores in Beira for the appropriate materials, today we brought it home!  It is shy a shade but our local seamstress is busy sewing one and we should have it installed before our plane leaves tomorrow.  Earlier today we dedicated it to God's service and are looking forward to the good use it will have in the next few months while I return to the States.  God's timing of its arrival was perfect.

Celebration of Completion - Savane Church Plant

It was very emotional yesterday to experience the dedication of the Savane church and celebrate the completion of the building. (And not too soon considering we fly out tomorrow morning!) What a joy to see answered prayer. (See before and after pics from the grass church to now!)  God is good!  It was fun to receive a live chicken from the congregation - we just need to figure out how to sneak it aboard the airplane... 

In January 2010

Yesterday's Celebration -  November 21, 2010

Worshiping in the new building

A great gift from the Savane congregation!

The Hope of Mozambique

As a fourth grader I was given an assignment by my teacher.  We were to be involved in a theoretical debate.  If a country only had enough money to invest in one social program, what would be more important...education or public health care?  Now that was an impressive assignment considering this was back in the (well, you don't need to know how many years ago...).  I remember distinctly at the time choosing health care and I was up against another individual who chose education as their platform.  Keep in mind I was a fourth grader. It made sense to me that if you don't have your health, you can't be educated.  After all, when I was sick I stayed home from school so it made total sense to me that health care was number one.  I lost the debate.

Years later I can see that it was providential that I learned that lesson. I witness daily the outcome of those that are not educated and the destruction to their lives.  In Mozambique, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the annihilation of the AIDS virus or the other dozens of poverty-related illnesses.  In one day this week we had the funeral for the husband of a woman in Project Life in the morning, in the afternoon Cindy and I stopped by the road to help a woman who was comatose and took her to the hospital, and that evening Simone's (our translator) dad died suddenly. Yet in all this darkness there is a very bright light.  It is the children.

Over 600 children are being blessed with a Christian education in the Ray of Light program in Dondo.  I have watched these children grow over the last four years and they are truly morphing into little butterflies of hope. It is very powerful to witness this change. I invite you to watch these precious children perform their songs for their parents.  They have been taught Portuguese and English (their first language is Sena) so some of the songs will be in English.  I have to admit, I can't watch this video without tears.  I lose it about the time they start singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children."  There is no debate that sponsoring these children so they can receive a good education is the best investment we can make to change the face of Mozambique.  Click on the link below and ENJOY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClZvYsG2-OI

Serving the Children

See that you do not despise one of these little ones;

 for I tell you that in heaven their angels

 always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 

(Matt. 18:10)

There is no doubt that suffering children are the blameless byproduct of impoverishment. I met little Carlota today.  She does not understand all the complexities in our grown up world.  She hasn't yet mastered her left from her right.  But what she does understand is that today she will have soup and her tummy will be full. Bless you who donate towards our soup ministry.

I met this woman in the hospital. Her twins are three months old.  She does not have enough breast milk for both of her babies so she asked our program for milk. Their need of more nourishment is apparent. Each day we get more and more requests for help and we are limited in our resources.  Would you consider donating to the nutrition program so that we can commit to helping these little ones for the duration of two years?

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water 

to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, 

that person will certainly not lose their reward.

Matthew 10: 42

For the Children

Climbing on mom's back

Sweet boy from Mt. Xiluvo

There is always chatter of excitement and dancing when food arrives and that is fun to see but what warms my heart the most is the children eating a balanced meal.  Malnutrition begins in the womb for these little ones.  I had taken a patient home from last week's Project Life food distribution because she was sweating profusely and continuously vomiting.  Concerned that we needed a detour to the hospital, I questioned what she had eaten that day. At least four or five months pregnant, she admitted she had just eaten one sweet potato. It was all she had to eat. And most likely, it was her diet the day before and the day before that. The good news was that next to her in the car were several packages of the balanced food of dried rice, soy and vegetables from Wooddale church of MN and ImpactLives.  In the next few days, she would improve tremendously as the vomiting subsided with the better nutrition.

He is determined not to miss his mouth.

On Sunday we made another food distribution to a different church plant. It is located in Mt. Xiluvo (spelled Siluvo in the town but Xiluvo on the map).  I have chosen to share just the pictures of the children with you.

Happy faces are the best!

Waiting patiently

Carrying around her sibling

It looks like soap, but it is filled with
her food from the distribution.

We always do a worship service before
the food distribution.

I was afraid to ask what she was
picking out of her hair...yikes!!

Taking it home

Waiting with mom