Three Reasons to Pray

Each week I am here I experience life that still seems so foreign to me from my small-town, Wyoming frame of reference.  But it doesn’t matter where my reference comes from, I have a HUGE God whose frame of reference is love, reconciliation and hope!

•At 7 in the morning I glanced out my window as I hurried to unbar and open all the windows and put on my ritual of deet.  There was a man sitting outside which unnerved me because I didn’t recognize him.  I wasn’t sure if I should call my husband back who had left for the day’s work or brave the encounter.  As I opted for the latter I heard my empregada arrive and discuss something with the stranger.  It then occurred to me that this man was no stranger.  He was my employee.  He hadn’t worked for months because he had become ill with a disease that ravages the body until its trademark skeletal frame robs the bearer of identity. His presence was his need for bus fare to return to his family 600 kilometers from Dondo. It was just a formality to articulate the closure of his employment, give him severance pay and send him on his way.  But not without a prayer….not without a sigh that one more person’s life has been cut short.  I don’t see this going away soon. I only see the congregants adding daily to their numbers. Please pray for this former employee and the many sufferers of AIDS in Mozambique.

•Each week the activistas discuss with me the prayer needs in Project Life, our AIDS hospice without walls. The requests are varied: fevers, abscesses, coughing, TB, malaria…the needs are great. Then Inácio, one of our activistas shared his request. A girl named Marta had dropped by to visit with his brother. At 14, she had barely left her “tween-hood.”   Inácio invited her to stay and eat.  She looked like she could use some food and company.  After a while, this young girl related her story.  Her dad had divorced and abandoned her family when she was three.  Her mom remarried, apparently not happily. In an argument with her new husband, she pushed him down a well and killed him.  She was given a sentence of 10 years in jail; seven now have been served.  But that left Marta fighting to survive on her own. Six months ago she moved in with two prostitutes in Dondo because she needed a place to stay. She works daily in Beira applying the new trade her housemates have now taught her.  Inácio was heartsick at the thought of another young girl exposing herself to immorality, exploitation and AIDS. We prayed that God would open a door for us to minister to this young lady. Inácio reported that on Monday we might have the opportunity to take her to see her mom in jail.  Please pray for the time we have with Marta and the other precious lives that are caught in prostitution.

•I met another Marta today.  She doesn’t have any idea how old she is, but her leathery and wrinkled skin suggests she has been in the hot African sun for a few years. Tati called me to go pick her up and take her to the clinic.  I arrived at her home with two young ladies from the church assigned to assist me. A small voice came from inside her mud home. I looked in but saw no one. I looked down on the dirt floor and there she was, crawling painfully and slowly towards me. She had just a capalana thrown around her and it was apparent she needed a bath. The girls disappeared after we arrived in order to find her suitable clothes but from a friend's house close by.  I settled down next to her hoping she would understand my Portuguese.  She only spoke Sena.  Eventually the neighbor girl saw my predicament and came over to translate. It was then I discovered she lived alone, had no family and was at the mercy of this neighbor for some meals. I noted she had a mat to sleep on, a container for water, a couple of odds and ends lying on her floor. That seemed to be the whole of her wealth.  When the girls arrived, they provided a bucket bath and helped her dress. We gingerly helped her into my 20+year-old beater car – hardly the ambulance I used to drive as an EMT. She seemed genuinely relieved we were headed to the clinic. We will transfer her for more tests to Beira as soon as it can be arranged.  Please pray for Marta, and the many widows here who are trying to survive in extreme poverty. 

Here are some pictures from this week. I stopped

by El Shaddai earlier this week and thought I 

would take some pictures of the children.

Orange is the uniform that they

normally wear.  I happened to 

go to El Shaddai on Wednesday

and found out that it is the day

that they don't have to wear

their uniform because that is

the day they set aside to have

mom wash it for them.

So I hunted around for kids wearing

their uniform! This little guy is on

the playground equipment some

of our former interns built a few

years ago.

I told the kids they could continue on with their

work as I quietly took pictures. But I also told

them they could smile. In Mozambique, many

think that a good picture is without a smile.

I love pictures that catch kids being

buddies.  It is what being a kid

is all about!

More buddies...they were very busy working

on something and never looked up.

But some of the kids smiled!

El Shaddai now goes through 8th grade. Since

I have been here for 8 years I couldn't believe

how much these children have grown up and

changed over the years.

El Shaddai offers a quality Christian education and the

children learn to speak English. I was surprised

as I went in Tati's class and heard her only speaking

English to the children.

More classrooms and more teachers

will be needed each year they add

another level.

A good education is part of the strategy of the

ROL project and CRI in making a difference

for the future of Mozambique.

In one of the Bible studies this week, this little

girl wasn't sure she wanted her picture taken.

Then she was very sure so she put her shirt

over her head and turned around!

We celebrated two Green Door house dedications

today!  What a blessing - house #77 & #78!

We are trying some different color combinations

this year.  We don't have many colors to choose

from so we have to creative.

This little girl was trying to eat

her cookie and drink her pop at

the same time.

Emilia is passing out the dozens

of cookies we bake for the dedications.

Good to the last drop!

A little creature outside my house. Today my

empregada told me we had a monkey come

visit in our yard but I didn't get out there in

time to take Mr. Monkey's portrait.

This is one of our guards where we live.

Usually I see men with AK47's here but he

happened to have a shotgun.  He also

wanted a copy of his picture. :-)