The following is a letter from my friends in Maputo. Things have settled down a bit but it does cause waves of trouble to reach HoB. Higher risk of corruption and stealing. Please pray for Moz. The fear of it becoming like Zimbabwe is in the hearts of many people as well as myself. God knows what they need though to cry out to Him, and He will answer them when they do.
Dear praying friends of Iris,
Today is September 1 and we are in the midst of riots in Maputo. In July this year the price of passports rose 600%, visitor visas 500% and our annual permanent resident documents went from $80 to $700 each.
Today September 1 the price of a bus ride doubled, bread rose by 30% and the price of a 50kg bag of rice is more than half a months salary for an average Mozambican (if he is one of the 18% of people that has a job)
So today the people rioted -upturned buses and burned them right outside our base, looted shops, burnt tires, petrol stations and threw rocks and bricks. The city was closed down as were schools and the airport and the official figure is 6 dead.
The police and army are controlling the rioters and streets with tear gas. It is now 4pm and it is quiet. We will wait and see what happens tonight and again in the morning. We are all safe and sound in our compound here -except for runny eyes from tear gas. No workers here today but the missionaries, educators and children prayed and played
together -no school today.
This is Mozambique -still the 6th poorest country in the world and living in such difficult circumstances. Please pray with us for a miraculous breakthrough.
Steve and Ros Lazar
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
House of Blessing Then and Now
2003-2010
House of Blessing was birth out of a call to the orphans of Africa to Lee Trueblood in July of 2000. She arrived in Mozambique 2 years later with an organization but after 6 months serving with them left to start her own orphanage in the big city of Beira, HoB began with one orphan named Danny and grew to 42 within 4 years.
It all began at an orphanage she was trying to help while she prepared her heart to take orphans into her own home. You can see from this photo of the orphanage that the care takers were not producing happy children. In fact they were taking advantage of missionaries and pocketing what they gave, not using any of it for the care of the orphans. Social Services discovered this and shut them down. They found family mimvers to care for most of the children but 6 of them were left homeless. They were brought to the police station and just left there. After a night there they were taken back to the orphanage to fend for themselves.
After 3 days Patrick of World Relief with a couple of other missionaries who had been watching over the children came to their rescue. The children had been terrorized by banditos and were very hungry. He called Lee, knowing she was preparing to start an orphanage and brought them to her home 2 hours later. After a bit of food and a couple of hours of security they were happy and not afraid anymore; except for little Deonicio who was suffering from a life threatening disease. It took a long time to get this traumatized little boy to smile.
Lee had not planned to take in girls, just street boys, but Julia was in that precious 6 pack and changed everything. The Lord was watching the girls in Moz and His heart was for them.
After 3 days at Lee’s house the children were discovered by Social Services and taken to another orphanage while she finished her application for directing an orphanage through them. This process took 2 months of struggling through all their confusion and corruption. December 15th 2003 was home coming for them.
There were 10 orphans in the House of Blessing for the first Christmas. Social Services had brought 2 more while Lee prepared to bring the 6 home. One more boy had been added to the 6 because he went looking for his friends from the first orphanage and found them waiting for Lee to pick them up. They told him to wait to see if he could come live with Lee also. Danny was also with her from Dondo so that made the beginning of a very happy family.
Social Services now began to add to their family. A man dieing of AIDS brought his son Manuel to see that he was well cared for. He also had a little 3 year old girl but was planning to take her to an orphanage that takes little ones. Lee was pushed again to change the rules and take in little ones in order not to separate the family. The 12 year old sister, Eva came after caring for her father until he died.
Little Maria had been very influenced by her mother who was a witchdoctor. She had been chosen out of all of her siblings to follow in her mother’s footsteps. She was very sick and dark. She was also very afraid of the white woman. After just a few days of prayer and carefully reaching out to her, her heart was won by love and she began to shine.
Isaque and Lazaro were added after a year. They had been being cared for by their older brothers who were bound by alcohol and violence. Isaque is HIV positive and when he came he was suffering from TB. Lazaro has epilepsy and had suffered a stroke at some point disabling him and even though he is 19 his mind is more like a 3 to 5 year old. His right side is underdeveloped also so he has difficulty functioning. He is very difficult but Lee is determined to teach the other children to love and care for him so that he can have a better quality of life.
These 2 brothers are doing as well as can be these days. Isaque goes to an AIDS clinic once a month to keep his HIV condition in check. Most of the children who contract AIDS from their mothers at birth never make it to their 5th birthday. At the time of this writing he is 10 and quite healthy. Lazaro’s life has improved also. He used to live more like a wild animal but now even though he is difficult he is living better. He and another handicapped boy attend a school once a week for people with deficiencies. They love it.
Zito is Flora’s big brother. He was one of the first ones that came to HoB and as the children would pray each night sometimes he would cry. Lee asked him what troubled him and he told her about his 2 little sisters still suffering with his grandparents in Dondo.
They took a trip to Dondo to check on these little girls. They discovered Flora in terrible condition and the younger sister had already died. The atmosphere at the home where the grandparents were caring for their grandchildren was the most depressing place Lee had ever been in. Flora was starving to death like her sister had. All of her ribs were showing. When meal time came they would chase her off with a stick. She spent many hours crying in the trees. We took her out of there but it was not easy to get grandma to let her go with us.
The dress she wore was falling off of her and lee kept it in 2 zip lock bags because of the stench, as a reminder of what was. The other girls were os happy to have another sister and welcomed her in. Flora was very sick and hallucinating for the first few days. She was the only child that Lee has ever had to have sleep with her. At night she had to be held tight and snuggled right up to Lee. It was a rough few days until her grandma released her to be cared for by Lee. Then they began to watch the Lord of Glory change her.
Flora is now what Mozambicans consider fat and happy. When she visits her family the whole neighborhood comes out to behold what she has become. She is full of life and loves with a whole heart, knowing that she was truly saved.
Before Lee had her own orphanage she was trying to help orphanages that Mozambicans were trying to run. She met little 3 year old Enes at one of these in 2003. Enes was very sick so she Lee got her some meds and then she lost contact wither until 2 years later. Her 8 year old sister ran away from her brothers home and ended up in Lee’s care. After some time she also began to tell of a suffering sister in Dondo. When they went to check on her they found their precious Enes. Le noticed though, that Enes had many of the illnesses that Isaque had struggled with and got her tested for AIDS. It was a very sad day when the test came back positive but still she is doing well considering what others experience.
Lee was sure she had enough children at 19 in 2005. Even that number was over the 12 she had agreed to take in from Social Services. But she told the SS worker that she would still be willing to take in any handicapped child that was being neglected. Davi was found naked sitting in the dirt eating a banana peal; he was brought to HoB. He was crippled and could not communicate. He had trouble eating and drooled a lot. His history was traumatic and heartbreaking but even so he was a bright happy child that brought great joy to the boy’s home as well as the girl’s.
Davi walks now. Sometimes as he would watch all the other little boys running and playing he would be seen sitting on the steps praying for his legs. He loves to worship with dance.
Later Davi’s older sister joined the girl’s house. Her life has been difficult but she is happy to be with us and her brother.
Mangueze saw a house in Maputo while visiting his family and decided that he wanted to build one so we provided materials and he built it behind the dining building. He lived in it for a couple of years and then took it apart to build a house for a needy neighbor.
He has always been responsible and tries to take some care of his mother who struggles to survive. She had already lost 2 babies for not caring for them properly.
Rosina was one of her daughters who was suffering. After finding her badly wounded from a beating she received from her aunt we took her in. She was very sick with her belly full of worms. She had been very neglected and did much of the household chores at the age of 5. After a little care at HoB she is thriving now.
Lee met Danny in Dondo during her first 6 months in Mozambique. He was her first orphan, living with her for 9 months before the others arrived. Danny has some terrible scaring from being severely burned by an oil lamp while selling oranges when he was 10 years old. His upper body was badly burned and disfigured and he desperately needed surgery. His chin was attached to his chest not allowing him to lift his head. His also could not bend his arms straight. Lee was not allowed to take him out of the country to get proper care so she arranged for surgery on his neck in the local hospital. It turned out to be a nightmare experience and she would now allow for him to have surgery on his arms. She began to search for other ways to get the much needed medical care Danny needed.
After several attempts to get care for him in South Africa and the US fell through, friends from Australia managed to get him cared for at a hospital near them. As of this writing he has had several surgeries and they are not yet finished with all that he needs to have done. Everything done for him has been free of charge and he stays with the friends who were able to have some success getting his surgery done. Danny is being stretched in many ways and is shining. His Moz family is very proud of him.
Papa Greg came from South Africa to HoB in 2006 to help with the boys. He is a wonderful father to all the children and a great help to Lee. When she travels she has confidence that the children and finances are in good hands. Greg is a missionary much like Lee devoted to the care of the children and teaching them the ways of the Lord.
Joseph has been with HoB since 2005 and is a extremely talented and helpful young man. He works with the boys and assists with translating and negotiating with the authorities. He is a great example of integrity to them.
Pai (Father) Afonso had been the HoB guard since 2004, the father of Dauce, one of Lee’s older boys. While Lee was in the US she got word that he had died. He had been to the doctor many times with a constant problem and no one would help him. They kept telling him to come back next month. This was a sad time for HoB. He was a much loved uncle to the children. Lee offered to continue paying the widow to keep the family together but she opted to leave her 2 beautiful little girls with HoB and return to her family. They were already a part of our family so it wasn’t a problem. The widow, Juliet, could not find family able to care for her so she was found by one of her sons ready to commit suicide. Lee brought her into the girl’s house and watched God heal her and then she put her to work. She lives with the girls and is one of the housemaids.
Some of the children attend government schools. The upper grades are able to attend a private school run by a Christian organization.
Because many of the children had not attended school before they came to HoB they are behind in their education. Some of the older children are taking courses at a nearby trade school. Some of the boys are training to be plumbers and electricians. A couple of the girls are also training there; one to be a secretary and the other tailoring.
The children are very gifted in many areas, jewelry making, crochet and knitting, music, cooking, and even building houses for the needy in the neighborhood. They hope to open a little mini mall to sell their services and crafts.
For 3 years as HoB grew they lived in rented homes in the big city of Beira. It was costly and difficult to find someone who wanted to rent to a single mother of 40 children so the Lord provided the perfect piece of land and a building for the boys in the country. In Dec of 2006 the purchase was made and they all moved to the new place. There are 21 mango trees, some banana bushes, an avocado tree and a very large area for a garden. It has been difficult to improve the living conditions from no running water or electricity. Slowly the improvements are being made. Funding came from a Church in Savannah to build a new building for the little boys. Now they are planning to build for the big boys and then the girls. The girls are currently living in a rental just a stones throw away.
2003-2010
House of Blessing was birth out of a call to the orphans of Africa to Lee Trueblood in July of 2000. She arrived in Mozambique 2 years later with an organization but after 6 months serving with them left to start her own orphanage in the big city of Beira, HoB began with one orphan named Danny and grew to 42 within 4 years.
It all began at an orphanage she was trying to help while she prepared her heart to take orphans into her own home. You can see from this photo of the orphanage that the care takers were not producing happy children. In fact they were taking advantage of missionaries and pocketing what they gave, not using any of it for the care of the orphans. Social Services discovered this and shut them down. They found family mimvers to care for most of the children but 6 of them were left homeless. They were brought to the police station and just left there. After a night there they were taken back to the orphanage to fend for themselves.
After 3 days Patrick of World Relief with a couple of other missionaries who had been watching over the children came to their rescue. The children had been terrorized by banditos and were very hungry. He called Lee, knowing she was preparing to start an orphanage and brought them to her home 2 hours later. After a bit of food and a couple of hours of security they were happy and not afraid anymore; except for little Deonicio who was suffering from a life threatening disease. It took a long time to get this traumatized little boy to smile.
Lee had not planned to take in girls, just street boys, but Julia was in that precious 6 pack and changed everything. The Lord was watching the girls in Moz and His heart was for them.
After 3 days at Lee’s house the children were discovered by Social Services and taken to another orphanage while she finished her application for directing an orphanage through them. This process took 2 months of struggling through all their confusion and corruption. December 15th 2003 was home coming for them.
There were 10 orphans in the House of Blessing for the first Christmas. Social Services had brought 2 more while Lee prepared to bring the 6 home. One more boy had been added to the 6 because he went looking for his friends from the first orphanage and found them waiting for Lee to pick them up. They told him to wait to see if he could come live with Lee also. Danny was also with her from Dondo so that made the beginning of a very happy family.
Social Services now began to add to their family. A man dieing of AIDS brought his son Manuel to see that he was well cared for. He also had a little 3 year old girl but was planning to take her to an orphanage that takes little ones. Lee was pushed again to change the rules and take in little ones in order not to separate the family. The 12 year old sister, Eva came after caring for her father until he died.
Little Maria had been very influenced by her mother who was a witchdoctor. She had been chosen out of all of her siblings to follow in her mother’s footsteps. She was very sick and dark. She was also very afraid of the white woman. After just a few days of prayer and carefully reaching out to her, her heart was won by love and she began to shine.
Isaque and Lazaro were added after a year. They had been being cared for by their older brothers who were bound by alcohol and violence. Isaque is HIV positive and when he came he was suffering from TB. Lazaro has epilepsy and had suffered a stroke at some point disabling him and even though he is 19 his mind is more like a 3 to 5 year old. His right side is underdeveloped also so he has difficulty functioning. He is very difficult but Lee is determined to teach the other children to love and care for him so that he can have a better quality of life.
These 2 brothers are doing as well as can be these days. Isaque goes to an AIDS clinic once a month to keep his HIV condition in check. Most of the children who contract AIDS from their mothers at birth never make it to their 5th birthday. At the time of this writing he is 10 and quite healthy. Lazaro’s life has improved also. He used to live more like a wild animal but now even though he is difficult he is living better. He and another handicapped boy attend a school once a week for people with deficiencies. They love it.
Zito is Flora’s big brother. He was one of the first ones that came to HoB and as the children would pray each night sometimes he would cry. Lee asked him what troubled him and he told her about his 2 little sisters still suffering with his grandparents in Dondo.
They took a trip to Dondo to check on these little girls. They discovered Flora in terrible condition and the younger sister had already died. The atmosphere at the home where the grandparents were caring for their grandchildren was the most depressing place Lee had ever been in. Flora was starving to death like her sister had. All of her ribs were showing. When meal time came they would chase her off with a stick. She spent many hours crying in the trees. We took her out of there but it was not easy to get grandma to let her go with us.
The dress she wore was falling off of her and lee kept it in 2 zip lock bags because of the stench, as a reminder of what was. The other girls were os happy to have another sister and welcomed her in. Flora was very sick and hallucinating for the first few days. She was the only child that Lee has ever had to have sleep with her. At night she had to be held tight and snuggled right up to Lee. It was a rough few days until her grandma released her to be cared for by Lee. Then they began to watch the Lord of Glory change her.
Flora is now what Mozambicans consider fat and happy. When she visits her family the whole neighborhood comes out to behold what she has become. She is full of life and loves with a whole heart, knowing that she was truly saved.
Before Lee had her own orphanage she was trying to help orphanages that Mozambicans were trying to run. She met little 3 year old Enes at one of these in 2003. Enes was very sick so she Lee got her some meds and then she lost contact wither until 2 years later. Her 8 year old sister ran away from her brothers home and ended up in Lee’s care. After some time she also began to tell of a suffering sister in Dondo. When they went to check on her they found their precious Enes. Le noticed though, that Enes had many of the illnesses that Isaque had struggled with and got her tested for AIDS. It was a very sad day when the test came back positive but still she is doing well considering what others experience.
Lee was sure she had enough children at 19 in 2005. Even that number was over the 12 she had agreed to take in from Social Services. But she told the SS worker that she would still be willing to take in any handicapped child that was being neglected. Davi was found naked sitting in the dirt eating a banana peal; he was brought to HoB. He was crippled and could not communicate. He had trouble eating and drooled a lot. His history was traumatic and heartbreaking but even so he was a bright happy child that brought great joy to the boy’s home as well as the girl’s.
Davi walks now. Sometimes as he would watch all the other little boys running and playing he would be seen sitting on the steps praying for his legs. He loves to worship with dance.
Later Davi’s older sister joined the girl’s house. Her life has been difficult but she is happy to be with us and her brother.
Mangueze saw a house in Maputo while visiting his family and decided that he wanted to build one so we provided materials and he built it behind the dining building. He lived in it for a couple of years and then took it apart to build a house for a needy neighbor.
He has always been responsible and tries to take some care of his mother who struggles to survive. She had already lost 2 babies for not caring for them properly.
Rosina was one of her daughters who was suffering. After finding her badly wounded from a beating she received from her aunt we took her in. She was very sick with her belly full of worms. She had been very neglected and did much of the household chores at the age of 5. After a little care at HoB she is thriving now.
Lee met Danny in Dondo during her first 6 months in Mozambique. He was her first orphan, living with her for 9 months before the others arrived. Danny has some terrible scaring from being severely burned by an oil lamp while selling oranges when he was 10 years old. His upper body was badly burned and disfigured and he desperately needed surgery. His chin was attached to his chest not allowing him to lift his head. His also could not bend his arms straight. Lee was not allowed to take him out of the country to get proper care so she arranged for surgery on his neck in the local hospital. It turned out to be a nightmare experience and she would now allow for him to have surgery on his arms. She began to search for other ways to get the much needed medical care Danny needed.
After several attempts to get care for him in South Africa and the US fell through, friends from Australia managed to get him cared for at a hospital near them. As of this writing he has had several surgeries and they are not yet finished with all that he needs to have done. Everything done for him has been free of charge and he stays with the friends who were able to have some success getting his surgery done. Danny is being stretched in many ways and is shining. His Moz family is very proud of him.
Papa Greg came from South Africa to HoB in 2006 to help with the boys. He is a wonderful father to all the children and a great help to Lee. When she travels she has confidence that the children and finances are in good hands. Greg is a missionary much like Lee devoted to the care of the children and teaching them the ways of the Lord.
Joseph has been with HoB since 2005 and is a extremely talented and helpful young man. He works with the boys and assists with translating and negotiating with the authorities. He is a great example of integrity to them.
Pai (Father) Afonso had been the HoB guard since 2004, the father of Dauce, one of Lee’s older boys. While Lee was in the US she got word that he had died. He had been to the doctor many times with a constant problem and no one would help him. They kept telling him to come back next month. This was a sad time for HoB. He was a much loved uncle to the children. Lee offered to continue paying the widow to keep the family together but she opted to leave her 2 beautiful little girls with HoB and return to her family. They were already a part of our family so it wasn’t a problem. The widow, Juliet, could not find family able to care for her so she was found by one of her sons ready to commit suicide. Lee brought her into the girl’s house and watched God heal her and then she put her to work. She lives with the girls and is one of the housemaids.
Some of the children attend government schools. The upper grades are able to attend a private school run by a Christian organization.
Because many of the children had not attended school before they came to HoB they are behind in their education. Some of the older children are taking courses at a nearby trade school. Some of the boys are training to be plumbers and electricians. A couple of the girls are also training there; one to be a secretary and the other tailoring.
The children are very gifted in many areas, jewelry making, crochet and knitting, music, cooking, and even building houses for the needy in the neighborhood. They hope to open a little mini mall to sell their services and crafts.
For 3 years as HoB grew they lived in rented homes in the big city of Beira. It was costly and difficult to find someone who wanted to rent to a single mother of 40 children so the Lord provided the perfect piece of land and a building for the boys in the country. In Dec of 2006 the purchase was made and they all moved to the new place. There are 21 mango trees, some banana bushes, an avocado tree and a very large area for a garden. It has been difficult to improve the living conditions from no running water or electricity. Slowly the improvements are being made. Funding came from a Church in Savannah to build a new building for the little boys. Now they are planning to build for the big boys and then the girls. The girls are currently living in a rental just a stones throw away.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Grief in a Towel
I usually don't share much about the death of my son and how I am living without him but I am going to do it now and then...
My mind went crazy with pain after Ezra’s death. It was like an intensive burn had just happened on my soul and I was looking for anything to alleviate the pain. I think I spent about 100 USD on a life sized laminated poster of him. What did I intend to do with that? I had to do something. I dreamt about a house for street boys named the Ezra House. That wasn’t possible but I had to do something. I felt helpless. I wanted so badly to have him back and just the little things like that seemed to help like cold water on a burn or a Band-Aid on an open wound.
I have one of his towels and a cap he used to wear. Today while I took the towel off the line grief visited me. I buried my face in it and wept. I wished I had been able to wash it for him and not me. I thought I was far enough away from the girl’s house in my own house but they heard me and came running. I explained and they wrapped their arms around me and prayed for me.
Sometimes a panic comes over me and it’s like I am fighting with grief. Sometimes I look for it feeling like it should be time to feel deeply about my loss and I can’t find it, I am left frustrated. Other times it surprises me and I just let it wash over me and win. There is something peaceful about those times. It’s something I can do that seems natural and just.
My mind went crazy with pain after Ezra’s death. It was like an intensive burn had just happened on my soul and I was looking for anything to alleviate the pain. I think I spent about 100 USD on a life sized laminated poster of him. What did I intend to do with that? I had to do something. I dreamt about a house for street boys named the Ezra House. That wasn’t possible but I had to do something. I felt helpless. I wanted so badly to have him back and just the little things like that seemed to help like cold water on a burn or a Band-Aid on an open wound.
I have one of his towels and a cap he used to wear. Today while I took the towel off the line grief visited me. I buried my face in it and wept. I wished I had been able to wash it for him and not me. I thought I was far enough away from the girl’s house in my own house but they heard me and came running. I explained and they wrapped their arms around me and prayed for me.
Sometimes a panic comes over me and it’s like I am fighting with grief. Sometimes I look for it feeling like it should be time to feel deeply about my loss and I can’t find it, I am left frustrated. Other times it surprises me and I just let it wash over me and win. There is something peaceful about those times. It’s something I can do that seems natural and just.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Living among the poor
July 2010
The other night I spent some time with the big boys discussing self-centeredness and the difference between being needy and “wanty”. The next morning a 19 year old boy came for some help. He had left his 2 little sisters crying for hunger. They had eaten a small bit of rice the day before and had nothing to eat this day. He was desperate and very humbled to have to ask us for food. He shared his story. His father worked for the government and was paid well. He died a couple of years ago. The government covered the cost of the funeral and left a little for the widow but that went fast so she had to sell their land to survive. Last year she died leaving nothing for her children. Social Services will do nothing for them. They were living in a small house, one room. This boy had been trying to build another room so that they weren’t all sleeping together. He was also out looking for work.
I brought all the older boys around him and introduced them. We discussed what they could do to help them. They had some leftover bread from breakfast and we put together other things we had available. They put it in a wheel barrow and escorted him home.
The next day the little ones and I made doughnuts and had plenty left over to share with the orphanage next door and then some. Some of the girls decided to share with a couple of widows in the area so we added some maze and they went off.
They came back with this story…
One of the widows had 3 children. She had been sick for 2 months and was too thin. She was cooking some cabbage and greens that she had gathered. Her little boy was eating sand. She didn’t have clothes but was wrapped in a capalana (a piece of cloth used for a skirt and many other things). Her house was made of sticks with plastic on the roof and capalanas for the walls. When they went inside they were so sad to find no mat and just a little rag for a blanket. It is so cold here now that I sleep under 2 blankets. We got a little care package together for her, a blanket and some food. We will bring her to the clinic and see what meds she needs. When I mentioned this story to Mangueze he lit up and responded, “We can fix her house Saturday.” Mariza told me that when she walks by her place on the way to school this lady always greets her warmly. She told me that she is a thankful person.
In June the children built a house from bottom to top for a widower whose house fell down in the area; boys and girls together doing simple construction. We used some of the material from his old house and some things not being used around our house. Mangueze took his old house apart and used the material from that also. It was so good for them to be able to give. They all had a lot of fun helping, even the little ones got involved.
I can’t get directly involved with the widows here. If I visit their homes it’s just an invitation for banditos. They think I may have left something of value there. Z (the young lady who stayed with us for 9 months) developed a relationship with a couple of the widowers as well as widows. One was in his 80’s, a rare sight, precious. She left her mattress for him. He suggested us sneak it to his daughter’s place and then he could get it to his place after dark so no one would see. He had never in his life slept on a mattress. It was fun to ask him how he slept.
I have a dear friend who just started an organization for widows. The Lord has been directing her and connecting her with the right people to help here and I am one of them. I have direct contact with widows and I don’t have to go looking for them. The children are a great help with this and it’s very good for their character to give. So it is good for all.
We have had 2 widows become a part of our family in the past couple of months. The first one to come, Maria, was so destitute; rarely had I seen someone so hopeless. She couldn’t pay her rent and wanted to do some work. I put her in the garden and she was better than a tiller. We now have a huge garden full of growing things. The boys are responsible to care their own plots. It was wonderful to watch hope grow in this precious widow as well. Sometimes she brings her blind mother to help by caring for her baby while she works. They are all very grateful.
The next one to come, Vinny, had been kicked out of her house for not paying rent. She came with her 5 little boys and just a capalana full of their possessions. The landlord locked her belongings up to get some pay from her. She basically had nothing. We put her up temporarily and she was a real blessing to the boys, cooking and cleaning. Social Service has agreed to do something to help her but that could take a long time so we used some money from my friend’s organization to rent another house and get some needed household items. She still comes sometimes to visit and help.
It doesn’t take much money to help a widow here. Their rent is usually between 5 and 10 USD a month. To fix up a house can cost from 10 to 20 USD. Their diets are simple and they don’t need much to be satisfied or even happy. They also are hard workers so finding them something to do is very helpful.
Flora and Dominga got stranded in Dondo the other night and had to sleep with a poor family that they were visiting for the day. I asked Flora how she slept, knowing it wasn’t quite as nice as her own bed. I was laughing as she told me about it, really, I should have been crying. There were no blankets. She slept on a rice sack. At night the bugs come up from the ground and feast on those sleeping. At first she thought they were mosquitoes. When she realized what they were it was about 4AM and she got up and just stood around shivering in her capalana until she and Dominga could get going. She was so grateful to be home that she made dinner and popcorn for us. Sometimes they forget how it used to be for them before they came to my place and it is good for them to experience it now and then. Most people live like this and accept it because they have nothing else to compare it with.
The other night I spent some time with the big boys discussing self-centeredness and the difference between being needy and “wanty”. The next morning a 19 year old boy came for some help. He had left his 2 little sisters crying for hunger. They had eaten a small bit of rice the day before and had nothing to eat this day. He was desperate and very humbled to have to ask us for food. He shared his story. His father worked for the government and was paid well. He died a couple of years ago. The government covered the cost of the funeral and left a little for the widow but that went fast so she had to sell their land to survive. Last year she died leaving nothing for her children. Social Services will do nothing for them. They were living in a small house, one room. This boy had been trying to build another room so that they weren’t all sleeping together. He was also out looking for work.
I brought all the older boys around him and introduced them. We discussed what they could do to help them. They had some leftover bread from breakfast and we put together other things we had available. They put it in a wheel barrow and escorted him home.
The next day the little ones and I made doughnuts and had plenty left over to share with the orphanage next door and then some. Some of the girls decided to share with a couple of widows in the area so we added some maze and they went off.
They came back with this story…
One of the widows had 3 children. She had been sick for 2 months and was too thin. She was cooking some cabbage and greens that she had gathered. Her little boy was eating sand. She didn’t have clothes but was wrapped in a capalana (a piece of cloth used for a skirt and many other things). Her house was made of sticks with plastic on the roof and capalanas for the walls. When they went inside they were so sad to find no mat and just a little rag for a blanket. It is so cold here now that I sleep under 2 blankets. We got a little care package together for her, a blanket and some food. We will bring her to the clinic and see what meds she needs. When I mentioned this story to Mangueze he lit up and responded, “We can fix her house Saturday.” Mariza told me that when she walks by her place on the way to school this lady always greets her warmly. She told me that she is a thankful person.
In June the children built a house from bottom to top for a widower whose house fell down in the area; boys and girls together doing simple construction. We used some of the material from his old house and some things not being used around our house. Mangueze took his old house apart and used the material from that also. It was so good for them to be able to give. They all had a lot of fun helping, even the little ones got involved.
I can’t get directly involved with the widows here. If I visit their homes it’s just an invitation for banditos. They think I may have left something of value there. Z (the young lady who stayed with us for 9 months) developed a relationship with a couple of the widowers as well as widows. One was in his 80’s, a rare sight, precious. She left her mattress for him. He suggested us sneak it to his daughter’s place and then he could get it to his place after dark so no one would see. He had never in his life slept on a mattress. It was fun to ask him how he slept.
I have a dear friend who just started an organization for widows. The Lord has been directing her and connecting her with the right people to help here and I am one of them. I have direct contact with widows and I don’t have to go looking for them. The children are a great help with this and it’s very good for their character to give. So it is good for all.
We have had 2 widows become a part of our family in the past couple of months. The first one to come, Maria, was so destitute; rarely had I seen someone so hopeless. She couldn’t pay her rent and wanted to do some work. I put her in the garden and she was better than a tiller. We now have a huge garden full of growing things. The boys are responsible to care their own plots. It was wonderful to watch hope grow in this precious widow as well. Sometimes she brings her blind mother to help by caring for her baby while she works. They are all very grateful.
The next one to come, Vinny, had been kicked out of her house for not paying rent. She came with her 5 little boys and just a capalana full of their possessions. The landlord locked her belongings up to get some pay from her. She basically had nothing. We put her up temporarily and she was a real blessing to the boys, cooking and cleaning. Social Service has agreed to do something to help her but that could take a long time so we used some money from my friend’s organization to rent another house and get some needed household items. She still comes sometimes to visit and help.
It doesn’t take much money to help a widow here. Their rent is usually between 5 and 10 USD a month. To fix up a house can cost from 10 to 20 USD. Their diets are simple and they don’t need much to be satisfied or even happy. They also are hard workers so finding them something to do is very helpful.
Flora and Dominga got stranded in Dondo the other night and had to sleep with a poor family that they were visiting for the day. I asked Flora how she slept, knowing it wasn’t quite as nice as her own bed. I was laughing as she told me about it, really, I should have been crying. There were no blankets. She slept on a rice sack. At night the bugs come up from the ground and feast on those sleeping. At first she thought they were mosquitoes. When she realized what they were it was about 4AM and she got up and just stood around shivering in her capalana until she and Dominga could get going. She was so grateful to be home that she made dinner and popcorn for us. Sometimes they forget how it used to be for them before they came to my place and it is good for them to experience it now and then. Most people live like this and accept it because they have nothing else to compare it with.
Leaving Moz
July 27, 2010
Every time I travel coming or going out of Moz it never fails that major things happen just before I leave. This time was the worst.
First Social Service pulled a fast one on me requiring me to have a police report and an office space for them to sit in when they come for a visit. The office space isn’t such a problem but the police report turned into one as time was shortened by the last minute problems. I had intended to submit it on my way to the airport the next morning but it never happened.
The night before I left during a grand send off for me that the children were putting on I got news that one of my guards had been attacked by thieves on his way to work. He was miraculously saved. The thieves intended to kill him but he fought like Samson. There were 3 of them, 1 with a machete and another with a dagger. They dragged him into a rice field to kill him but something amazing happened. One man from the houses in the area decided to do something and gathered some others to help. I call this amazing because people usually just watch or turn away for fear of getting hurt or killed themselves. Jose was badly cut up and bruised but alive. Joseph took him to the hospital while we prayed and then continued the party. The next morning before I left I went to visit him and prayed a prayer of thanks giving. He knows well that God spared his life.
On the way to visit him I had to bring one of my girls to the local clinic. She had been sick with constipation for 5 days and not said anything until that night before. I never made it to do the police report. SS will have to wait on that one until I return.
On top of all of this I had planned to complete my packing after everyone was in bed. I managed to get some important things off my computer onto my jump drive and had begun packing when the electricity went out; so I slept. My suitcase was packed hurriedly in the morning with clean and dirty clothes crumpled up together and other stuff in chaos. When I arrived in Joburg and opened it I was very ashamed. Everything smelled musty and everything was damp. I was glad to be able to wash it all and pack properly before traveling to countries that wouldn’t understand these things.
Oh yeah… I almost forgot the last bit of trouble. One of the widows placed an old plastic sack with 3 beautiful raw stones in my hand. Her son gets them up north and sells them to whites. She thought I might be able to use them in the jewelry we were making. I just stuffed them into my carry-on. When the bag was checked at customs through the new x-ray machine they saw them. There’s a lady in uniform there that I had had a run in with before and she was elated that she had caught this white criminal smuggling, whatever these things were, out of the country. This lady has a reputation of working bribes out of foreigners. She never gets anything out of me though and I am sure it is a challenge to her. She walked me very slowly to the other end of the airport. I asked her where we were going and she said through glaring eyes that she was taking me to see her boss. “What room? Let’s go! I’ve got a plane to catch.” I walked faster, my plane had arrived and I had little time to mess around with this stuff. The language barrier was a hindrance so they asked me to go get Joseph. I had to run through the airport and up the stairs to get him as he was waiting with the children to see my plane take off. We ran back to the waiting interrogators. He told them the same story as they watched me with eyes that had watched too many detective movies. Finally they let me go leaving those precious stones behind.
Whew! The rest of my journey has been quite boring.
Every time I travel coming or going out of Moz it never fails that major things happen just before I leave. This time was the worst.
First Social Service pulled a fast one on me requiring me to have a police report and an office space for them to sit in when they come for a visit. The office space isn’t such a problem but the police report turned into one as time was shortened by the last minute problems. I had intended to submit it on my way to the airport the next morning but it never happened.
The night before I left during a grand send off for me that the children were putting on I got news that one of my guards had been attacked by thieves on his way to work. He was miraculously saved. The thieves intended to kill him but he fought like Samson. There were 3 of them, 1 with a machete and another with a dagger. They dragged him into a rice field to kill him but something amazing happened. One man from the houses in the area decided to do something and gathered some others to help. I call this amazing because people usually just watch or turn away for fear of getting hurt or killed themselves. Jose was badly cut up and bruised but alive. Joseph took him to the hospital while we prayed and then continued the party. The next morning before I left I went to visit him and prayed a prayer of thanks giving. He knows well that God spared his life.
On the way to visit him I had to bring one of my girls to the local clinic. She had been sick with constipation for 5 days and not said anything until that night before. I never made it to do the police report. SS will have to wait on that one until I return.
On top of all of this I had planned to complete my packing after everyone was in bed. I managed to get some important things off my computer onto my jump drive and had begun packing when the electricity went out; so I slept. My suitcase was packed hurriedly in the morning with clean and dirty clothes crumpled up together and other stuff in chaos. When I arrived in Joburg and opened it I was very ashamed. Everything smelled musty and everything was damp. I was glad to be able to wash it all and pack properly before traveling to countries that wouldn’t understand these things.
Oh yeah… I almost forgot the last bit of trouble. One of the widows placed an old plastic sack with 3 beautiful raw stones in my hand. Her son gets them up north and sells them to whites. She thought I might be able to use them in the jewelry we were making. I just stuffed them into my carry-on. When the bag was checked at customs through the new x-ray machine they saw them. There’s a lady in uniform there that I had had a run in with before and she was elated that she had caught this white criminal smuggling, whatever these things were, out of the country. This lady has a reputation of working bribes out of foreigners. She never gets anything out of me though and I am sure it is a challenge to her. She walked me very slowly to the other end of the airport. I asked her where we were going and she said through glaring eyes that she was taking me to see her boss. “What room? Let’s go! I’ve got a plane to catch.” I walked faster, my plane had arrived and I had little time to mess around with this stuff. The language barrier was a hindrance so they asked me to go get Joseph. I had to run through the airport and up the stairs to get him as he was waiting with the children to see my plane take off. We ran back to the waiting interrogators. He told them the same story as they watched me with eyes that had watched too many detective movies. Finally they let me go leaving those precious stones behind.
Whew! The rest of my journey has been quite boring.
Time management among the poor
July 2010
This has been one of those 12 hour stints that merits a writing.
It started with my commitment to bring Esstnut to a drop off place to catch a ride at 3 AM to Zimbabwe. I hadn’t planned on taking Enes to the hospital the night before but I did. She was very sick again, so a trip to the hospital began the 12 hours. We stayed at the hospital from 6PM to 10:30 waiting for blood tests and getting proper meds. We were very grateful not to have another stay in the hospital. After getting home at about 11, I managed to grab a couple hours of sleep before the alarm woke me for my next trip to Beira to fetch Essnut. When I went to the van I found my guard sleeping soundly in the back seat. (I will deal with that one later)
As I turned the corner to Essnut’s place I found a sea of mud. Usually it’s dry to a certain place and then I wait for her to come to me. Sometimes the water is shallow and because I have never had a problem there before I made a go for it; big mistake. I did manage to get to a little island in the middle of it but turning around proved to be impossible and we were stuck in the mud. Dauce was with me and told me that he thought I was on the wrong road and that really goofed me up. Then Essnut came and settled that I was in the right place and she had never seen it this way either. I guess a water main broke and made a big mess. So here I am rocking back and forth surrounded by mud and little cement and mud houses making quite a ruckus. The police came and kept watch so no banditos would take advantage of us while Essnut went for some help. Now it is about 3AM and the only people brave enough to come out of their homes are banditos and police, well… then there’s me just trying to help my sister. Essnut managed to get 3 men to come if only she would pay them 100mts which is equal to 3US (that would be one dollar a person ). Yes I will pay! We got out and then the police asked for their share for doing their duty. I did give them 1.50USD and they were not very happy but understanding anyway. Evidently there are too many banditos in that area and that was the reason I was there to pick up Essnut anyway.
We made it to the drop off house and found them not quite ready so we waited in the van for a bit longer. By the time Dauce and I made it home the roosters were already announcing the arrival of a new day, even though it was still very dark. On my way through the girl’s yard I found my other guard sprawled out, sound asleep on a chair. (I will deal with that one later, too) I went to bed around 4:30 exhausted. I woke at around 8 with yet another trip to take to Beira. The only thing that got me up was knowing that the next day was Sabbath and I do take it seriously.
Every Friday morning I take Laz and Davi to their Special Ed class and while they are there some boys do the weekly shopping at the market. I had to drag myself to the van with a few “mama, I need this and thats” along the way. When I got to the van I found a neighbor there asking me to take him and his very sick daughter to the hospital. Last month I did the same thing for another one of his daughters and she died the same day. They both had AIDS. No problem, I go right past it on my way to my other destinations. I put him in the van and told him there would be no time for baths or any preparation because we were late getting to the class for Davi. We got to his place to find everyone still sitting around and no one really prepared to do anything except wash up and eat. He hadn’t told anyone to prepare or that he was even asking me to help. I waited for a bit and then realized that this could go on for an hour and Davi would miss his class. I am laughing right now to think that most of the time raising my children in the US I lived in this time crunch, piecing events together like a puzzle and if they didn’t fit being very stressed out. I told him that I couldn’t take him but would help him get her there by chapa. It amazed me that they would rather carry her a quarter kilometer and struggle on and off the chapa instead of rush out the door taking advantage of this good deal. I was truly amazed. “What! We don’t have time to wash our faces!” Washing faces is always attached to other prep things and can go on for a long time.
So I looked into my heart after all this exchange of communication and driving away without this dying lady in the van and wondered where I was and who I was. Is my heart hard? Did they think I was crazy living like a rushed westerner here among the poor? Well, I was grumpy… I hadn’t slept well… Do they understand such things? Maybe I was teaching them a good lesson…
This has been one of those 12 hour stints that merits a writing.
It started with my commitment to bring Esstnut to a drop off place to catch a ride at 3 AM to Zimbabwe. I hadn’t planned on taking Enes to the hospital the night before but I did. She was very sick again, so a trip to the hospital began the 12 hours. We stayed at the hospital from 6PM to 10:30 waiting for blood tests and getting proper meds. We were very grateful not to have another stay in the hospital. After getting home at about 11, I managed to grab a couple hours of sleep before the alarm woke me for my next trip to Beira to fetch Essnut. When I went to the van I found my guard sleeping soundly in the back seat. (I will deal with that one later)
As I turned the corner to Essnut’s place I found a sea of mud. Usually it’s dry to a certain place and then I wait for her to come to me. Sometimes the water is shallow and because I have never had a problem there before I made a go for it; big mistake. I did manage to get to a little island in the middle of it but turning around proved to be impossible and we were stuck in the mud. Dauce was with me and told me that he thought I was on the wrong road and that really goofed me up. Then Essnut came and settled that I was in the right place and she had never seen it this way either. I guess a water main broke and made a big mess. So here I am rocking back and forth surrounded by mud and little cement and mud houses making quite a ruckus. The police came and kept watch so no banditos would take advantage of us while Essnut went for some help. Now it is about 3AM and the only people brave enough to come out of their homes are banditos and police, well… then there’s me just trying to help my sister. Essnut managed to get 3 men to come if only she would pay them 100mts which is equal to 3US (that would be one dollar a person ). Yes I will pay! We got out and then the police asked for their share for doing their duty. I did give them 1.50USD and they were not very happy but understanding anyway. Evidently there are too many banditos in that area and that was the reason I was there to pick up Essnut anyway.
We made it to the drop off house and found them not quite ready so we waited in the van for a bit longer. By the time Dauce and I made it home the roosters were already announcing the arrival of a new day, even though it was still very dark. On my way through the girl’s yard I found my other guard sprawled out, sound asleep on a chair. (I will deal with that one later, too) I went to bed around 4:30 exhausted. I woke at around 8 with yet another trip to take to Beira. The only thing that got me up was knowing that the next day was Sabbath and I do take it seriously.
Every Friday morning I take Laz and Davi to their Special Ed class and while they are there some boys do the weekly shopping at the market. I had to drag myself to the van with a few “mama, I need this and thats” along the way. When I got to the van I found a neighbor there asking me to take him and his very sick daughter to the hospital. Last month I did the same thing for another one of his daughters and she died the same day. They both had AIDS. No problem, I go right past it on my way to my other destinations. I put him in the van and told him there would be no time for baths or any preparation because we were late getting to the class for Davi. We got to his place to find everyone still sitting around and no one really prepared to do anything except wash up and eat. He hadn’t told anyone to prepare or that he was even asking me to help. I waited for a bit and then realized that this could go on for an hour and Davi would miss his class. I am laughing right now to think that most of the time raising my children in the US I lived in this time crunch, piecing events together like a puzzle and if they didn’t fit being very stressed out. I told him that I couldn’t take him but would help him get her there by chapa. It amazed me that they would rather carry her a quarter kilometer and struggle on and off the chapa instead of rush out the door taking advantage of this good deal. I was truly amazed. “What! We don’t have time to wash our faces!” Washing faces is always attached to other prep things and can go on for a long time.
So I looked into my heart after all this exchange of communication and driving away without this dying lady in the van and wondered where I was and who I was. Is my heart hard? Did they think I was crazy living like a rushed westerner here among the poor? Well, I was grumpy… I hadn’t slept well… Do they understand such things? Maybe I was teaching them a good lesson…
Monday, July 13, 2009
Rice Harvest
Harvesting Rice
I can hear the pounding of the pole in the large mortar just as the sun rises, which would be about 5:30. My neighbor woman must remove the hulls from the rice while it is just the right humidity. Rice, along with maze is a staple here; they grow them both. Just down the dirt road that runs by our place is an enormous field partitioned off to various women for planting rice. The month of June, beginning the dry season, is harvest time. I can see women everyday walk past with enormous sacks of rice on their heads, maybe up to 30 or 40 kgs, many with babies on their backs. Sometimes my children offer to help them carry it to their homes or up the road to catch a chapa. If I am driving during this time of day I will offer to transport them, sometimes very old woman carrying too much on their heads. They are always grateful.
When they get it home they must take a portion and cook it then they spread it out on a capalana (the cloth they use for skirts and many other things) and let it dry in the sun before removing the hulls. As it is drying they must make sure the chickens don’t mess with it and in it.
The harvest was great this year. The rains had come at opportune times and the stocks were loaded. Unfortunately heavy rains also had come at an inopportune time during harvest causing the remaining stocks to lie down in the water and be lost.
Seasons and rhythm are keys to life here and rice is no exception. Watching them pound the hulls off is quite a site. Sometimes 2 women or children will have their poles going for a long time without hitting the other like hands on a drum. After the hulls are mostly off they toss it in a flat basket to let the hulls blow away or shake off the edge. This is another rhythm that takes talent; shaking and tossing just to the edge of the basket, not loosing a grain of rice but just the hulls.
I can hear the pounding of the pole in the large mortar just as the sun rises, which would be about 5:30. My neighbor woman must remove the hulls from the rice while it is just the right humidity. Rice, along with maze is a staple here; they grow them both. Just down the dirt road that runs by our place is an enormous field partitioned off to various women for planting rice. The month of June, beginning the dry season, is harvest time. I can see women everyday walk past with enormous sacks of rice on their heads, maybe up to 30 or 40 kgs, many with babies on their backs. Sometimes my children offer to help them carry it to their homes or up the road to catch a chapa. If I am driving during this time of day I will offer to transport them, sometimes very old woman carrying too much on their heads. They are always grateful.
When they get it home they must take a portion and cook it then they spread it out on a capalana (the cloth they use for skirts and many other things) and let it dry in the sun before removing the hulls. As it is drying they must make sure the chickens don’t mess with it and in it.
The harvest was great this year. The rains had come at opportune times and the stocks were loaded. Unfortunately heavy rains also had come at an inopportune time during harvest causing the remaining stocks to lie down in the water and be lost.
Seasons and rhythm are keys to life here and rice is no exception. Watching them pound the hulls off is quite a site. Sometimes 2 women or children will have their poles going for a long time without hitting the other like hands on a drum. After the hulls are mostly off they toss it in a flat basket to let the hulls blow away or shake off the edge. This is another rhythm that takes talent; shaking and tossing just to the edge of the basket, not loosing a grain of rice but just the hulls.
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