Mozambique Journal Day 2

August 8, 2015

Busy day!  Slept great under my little mosquito net although it was very cold in my room, it's winter here.  I left with Max and Afonso to walk the town we were staying in. 

Children's Relief had set up meetings with 3 people that had received Green Door houses.  The first guy, Narcissio, was super nice.  He is young and told me a little bit about how he came to know God.  When he was younger, his dad would send him to church with money for the offering box.  He kept telling his dad that he was going to church when really he was taking the money to go and have fun every Sunday.  One day he decided to actually go to church and the message that was spoken that really resonated with him and he accepted Christ.  He got involved in the church and now leads worship on Sunday mornings.  His mother was very ill and he was the only one caring for her at a young age, so he received a green door home through the church.

We walked a bit further to the next house of a man that lived in a small mud hut with his mother and several brothers.  He had a friend ask him to church a few years ago and when the pastor asked if anyone wanted to stand and accept the Lord, his friend nudged him to stand.  His life completely changed, he became involved in the church and received a green door house next to his mom.

The area we walked through all morning was terribly poverty stricken.  Way worse than anything I experienced in Ethiopia.  Most people live in mud huts, the size of my laundry room, with their large family.  Everyone sits outside by a fire to cook, eat and get warm.  There's trash everywhere and kids younger than my 3 year old are running wild throughout the streets in soiled pants because diapers are too expensive.  Chickens and roosters come into the peoples homes at night so they don't misplace any of them.  Everyone is trying to sell something to make enough money to feed their families that day.

The last house we visited haunted me the most.  It was a 12 year old boy wearing girls clothing because a robber had stolen all of his.  He had jiggers all over his feet and ankles that make walking extremely painful.  He lived with his grandmother because his mother had died and they didn't know where the dad was.  He didn't speak much, but did say that he would love a bike because walking to school was very painful so he missed a lot.

We then had a long walk back where I got to talk in depth with Afonso and Max about what families and marriage look like here.  Most men get their girlfriend pregnant to make sure that she can give him children.  When he gets tired of her or when she stops having kids, he takes on a second or third wife.  He cannot support all of his families, so he usually picks one and the others are left to take care of themselves.  The marriages aren't relational and parents aren't relational with their kids.  Makes sense that I haven't seen a single mother show any type of affection to her children.  Most adults don't believe in God so they don't teach their children about him, the cycle just continues generation after generation.

Our afternoon was our fun day.  We went to a really good restaurant on the beach.  Todd had his friend, Tomias, come to give me his testimony and plans for the future.  He told me about how he was working at a clinic where a woman came in and was very sick.  They gave her meds and she left.  (Mozambique clinics don't know how to properly diagnose anything other than HIV or malaria, so most illnesses are just a guess)  Two days later, she came back, and was even more sick than before.  They gave her different meds and learned that she had walked over 8 miles to get to this clinic.  Tomias offered to take her home and she died with him before he got her home.  It was in that moment that he decided to become a doctor and open clinics that are more accessible to people and where they will receive good care.  He has 3 more years of med school and interns at the local hospital from 7am to 1am almost every day.

After lunch we did a little sidewalk shopping and then I got to skype with my babies.  We headed back to the farmhouse and made egg sandwiches on fresh, local bread.  Tomorrow is church day, can't wait to experience church here.

*Sorry for the poor picture quality.  Only had room for my old iPhone.