Malawi Wonders

Steve got inspired to make some papaya jam and this is what he found on the internet and made. It was quite tasty! It's good for all of you in the sub-tropics right now with hundreds of mangos going to waste.

3 cups cup up papaya
3 cups cut up mango
3 cups sugar
juice from 1/2 lemon

Stir it all together, boil and then simmer for about 35 min or until most of the liquid is gone and it starts to set.

We have been enjoying early morning walks in Malawi (Steve is more faithful than I). Most houses in Lilongwe have high walls around them. What is interesting is that they also landscape between the wall and the street. Here are some pictures of some fascinating sculptures by some artistic gardeners.











I like this scalloped border:


Steve checking out the big chair:


Arches, 3-level topiaries, you name it!


Last night we attended an international Christmas celebration at the church. We heard some beautiful new Christmas music besides some traditional songs and heard prayers and songs in Chichewa, Swahili, English and German.

Tuesday we head back to Maputo. We're excited that Joanna and Keith will be with us for New Years and the first couple of weeks in January.

We will hit the ground running on our return as we have an Ancient Paths seminar scheduled for Thur and Fri nights and all day Saturday. This will be for a group of pastors. Pray that they will be touched by God.

We'll end with a beautiful tree - the frangipani. We've seen different varieties with white and yellow flowers, pink and yellow and orange. The fragrance is incredible. I can usually smell them before I see them.

Lilongwe, Malawi

We arrived in Malawi Friday afternoon. Steve spent Thursday night on an overnight bus in Zambia and actually slept about 5 hours. From there he went straight to the airport where he found out his ticket had not been paid so he had to run to a bank to get cash to pay it. My flights were good and I was very happy to see the new set-up at the Jo’berg airport for international transfers. It’s a lot nicer than it was. They must be getting ready for World Cup in 2010.

It is quite hot here and Lilongwe is not used to this. There is no air con anywhere that we’ve been and not even many fans. Screens are also rare. We go ahead and open the windows of our little guesthouse during the day but at night when it’s coolest we cannot open the windows because the mosquitoes come in. If it weren’t for malaria, I think I’d just let ‘em in so we could be cooler. It has started raining some and today is not quite as hot.

We enjoyed watching a beauty just like this one in the yard today.


We are staying in a family’s guesthouse. They also have many extended family members coming and going as well as a friend who is staying there. They have a household cleaner, a cook and a gardener/guard. There is a nice garden, lots of fruit trees (the papayas are really sweet), chickens, a rooster that wakes us up and rabbits, dogs and a cat that bites.


The guesthouse is nice with a kitchenette/living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. Saturday we went to buy groceries and were amazed at the prices. Cost of living has really gone up here. Corn, the staple food, tripled in price over a couple of months. Prices are even higher than Maputo because so much is imported from S Africa and the cost of fuel is factored in. We can't bring ourselves to pay $7-8 for a 3 lb. bag of apples even though we love them. After living at an apple orchard and eating many per day, that price is just too much. We will eat our main meals at the WR office at noon and do a lighter meal in the evening.

T was giving me some cultural lessons the other day. In the village it is difficult to get higher education and many of the girls get married young. Usually all the teen girls stay in one house and the young men come calling. They sit on either side and look at each other and even though they may not know each other, the men will pick out a girl and declare that they want to marry her. She can say she is interested or not. If she is, she will give a list of relative’s names to the man and he will begin to contact them. The process for the dowry begins but there are several times when the girl can say yay or nay. T had a lot of pressure from the village aunties and others to marry early, and she turned down several suitors because she wanted to study. She was one of the few who got into university and that is where she met her husband.

When a child is born he/she stays with the mother until he/she is weaned. At that point the first baby goes to the paternal grandmother’s house, at least at night. Following children all to go the maternal grandmother’s house. So, we’ll be waiting for our grandbabies to come live with us! Just kidding… The mother’s sisters have a lot of authority/responsibility over what happens in the child’s life. In other words, the child is not just reared by mom and dad—the whole extended family gets in on the action. It definitely goes along with the cultural sense of community vs. individualism that we have in the West. One of our friends is Cameroonian but she and her husband live in Moz. Her mother wants her to have another child so that she can rear him/her in Cameroon! So this is an African tradition, not just Malawian.

Steve found a spot for some experimental work with amaranth, salba and quinoa at the Nazarene seminary where our friends Jon and Margaret are. We will meet with the other key players today to talk about AfricaWorks Malawi and the way forward.

Yesterday after church at Capital City Baptist (a large church with a good mixture of Malawians and ex-pats) we drove around to learn more about the city. We ended up at a Chinese restaurant and found that the Malawian waitress didn’t speak English too well. We did get our meal ordered after some amusement at the Chinese translations on the menu. Thank God for pictures. Did you know that boiled wheat is noodles? When the food came we were amazed at the spiciness of it. The cooks must be from Szechuan province. One never knows what a day will bring!

U.S. Elections from Afar

Since all of the election fever has mostly died down in the US, perhaps you would like to hear about some of the US election news from an African perspective.

1. Starting as early as 1.5 years ago when some of the campaigning got started, people could not believe they were starting soooooo early.
2. Then the amazement and wonder of Hillary, wife of beloved Bill, (we never figured out why Bill is so loved, except maybe he is admired as a good politician who talks a good game and makes everyone feel good).
3. Then the amazing possibility that someone so “close” to Africa could even be in the running and people getting excited that an African might be come the president of the US, the most powerful president in the world.
4. Then all the collective speculation that Hillary might be vice president or maybe Condoleezza Rice on the Republican side.
5. When Palin was chosen, people were even more amazed.
6. When interest heightened, specific questions were being asked of Americans and when it was noted that husband and wife might even vote for different candidates and parties, heads began to shake in wonder. It would never be heard of here. And to think that people might switch parties based on who they like. Parties here are often connected to tribal relations and voting for candidates of a different party would only be slightly considered under extreme duress (like Zimbabwe).

AP Photo
7. When Obama won, Americans were celebrating, Africans were dancing. Dance is the highest cultural form of expression of joy. Kenya called for a day of national celebration. When asked why, someone said, “because we all want to be Americans.”
8. When McCain graciously conceded the election on election night, Africans stood in wonder because the losers in Africa never concede defeat, they keep on fighting and claim fraud by the winning party. Losers even incite riots and get arrested for doing it.
9. When asked why the intense interest in this election, someone else said, we have our African country presidents, but the American president is the president of the world.
10. After the recent election in Zambia, we saw the new president sworn in the next day. They marvel at the process for transition of power in the U.S.
11. During comments on the riot in Zambia after the elections, the radio commentator said, "why can’t the opposition be like the Americans and concede the election so the country can go on with the process of governing?"
12. When asked if we would vote, (and told we weren’t going to this year) some thought we ought to get on a plane to go back and vote.

Zanda

We just had an Ancient Paths seminar this past Saturday and Sunday. The folks organizing it were quite discouraged because at least 20 people had said they would come but in reality only about 10 came and their attendance was sporadic. But God encouraged us that we are planting seeds and God will bring a harvest, even if it is only in a few people.

Zanda was in our small group. He hadn't even known about the seminar but he is a maintenance guy at the place where we met and someone invited him to stay, so he did. He wrote the following and gave permission to share it: "Today God cleansed and purified my soul. He has made me a new creation and he has separated me from the memories that I had that tormented my life. [Memories of atrocities committed during the civil war.] I am a new creation with the will to serve Him but I need continuous protection and support. God does miracles when we believe. Let's seek God on earth and worship Him because He is the only God and he has power."

Please pray for Zanda as he admitted that he is an alcoholic and uses drugs. He grew up in the church but has not been there for a long time. God spoke many things to him and removed his fear, replacing it with peace. Thank you, Lord for the work you are doing in Zanda!

Kruger Park

A friend is leaving Moz soon and asked if I'd go with her to Kruger Park for her last hurrah. We left Maputo early in the morning and arrived at the gate a couple of hours later. The first thing we saw were some really scrawny warthogs. Apparently they are the first to starve during a drought because they eat roots.
As we moved along we began seeing impalas--they are a dime a dozen. I learned some interesting things about impalas. They all give birth at the same time at the beginning of the rainy season, Nov-Dec. If it does not rain, they can delay giving birth for 1-2 months! (I can just imagine them wanting desperately for it to rain.) If it does not rain by then, they give birth, but kill the young so that they don't have to starve to death.
We saw lots of giraffe and zebras. Giraffe are so interesting - God really got creative when he thought them up.


















This ugly bird was up close. He turned at the last minute, I guess he wanted a profile shot.

Elephants were quite abundant as well as the hippos off in the distance. We saw several rhinos. One was running alongside the car. It seemed he wanted to cross the road so we stopped and he ran right in front of us. Better than running into us! Sadly my camera is slow to shoot and I just got his back side. Later we saw a big male lion trying to drag or chew on a dead rhino. According to another observer, some lions killed the rhino a couple of days earlier and were standing by to make sure no one else took it. Occasionally they came out for a snack. We saw lions several other times, but usually at a distance. The binoculars came in handy.

My friend really wanted to see a leopard as that is the one animal of the Big 5 that she has not seen. The Big 5 are lion, buffalo, rhino, elephant and leopard. I'm not sure who made that designation or why. I enjoy the other animals as well. We went on a sunset drive and I'm always impressed by the knowledge of the guides. They pointed out a hyena and talked of how hyenas love to eat bones. Their dung is actually pure white and other animals eat it as their calcium tablets! These guys were tired after being out all night.



When it got dark on the safari, we shone lights to see if we could spot any eyes. Sure enough, there were some big ones in a tree. The guide figured out that it was a spotted genet, a cat-like animal that is actually related to the mongoose. It had a black and white ringed tail, very unique. We also saw some bushbabies that jump like kangaroos and sail through trees like squirrels only farther.
Sorry I can't take credit for these last two pictures. My camera isn't that good. I got them off the web.

Whenever I'm at Kruger I know I'm only seeing a small part of what is really there. It is an amazing place and awesome to think that most of Africa used to be inhabited by these animals. Kruger is a really big place - as big as a small country! We could continue to visit there many times and not see it all.

Spring in Mozambique

Here we are again in Mozambique. We have returned to Spring where some days are cool (73) and some are hot (95) and that might all be in the same week. Sometimes there is wind and thunder but there has been very little rain since we left. Hopefully the coming wet season will produce adequate rain. Here are some of the beautiful jacaranda trees we see these days.

We returned to our housemates who have been keeping our place guarded and clean and the Rottweiler, Wally, well fed and bathed. It’s been a big job with him as the tick season is in full swing and ticks are everywhere. Apparently they were even climbing up the walls of our house! It’s pretty amazing because we hardly have any dirt, it is mostly a concrete drive with a little strip of dirt beside it and a couple of flower beds. They had been trying special shampoos and everything else and nothing worked. Steve looked it up online and found out that oil kills ticks. So he found some second grade coconut oil and the Saturday project began. First they covered Wally head to toe with oil and let it soak for a couple of hours. Then they began picking off hundreds of ticks and it took several hours. Wally just laid there patiently and at one point he even went to sleep! He has not been too happy lately and we can see why. He has a lot more energy now.

M&Y have wanted to learn to play some card games and we have had fun teaching them Uno, Crazy 8s, Rook, Rummy. They catch on fast and laugh a lot. It’s a good way to pass an evening. They are also diligently trying to learn English and the book I brought them that teaches English using Spanish is rarely out of their sight. They have been around the circle a couple of times trying to work on visa issues and we hope something will work out for them.

Steve is working daily on the challenges of selling coconut oil. People who sampled it at the commercial fair loved it but the price was set low to get samples out and now when they see the real price they are balking. They don’t understand why a local product costs almost as much as olive oil which comes from Europe. What they don’t understand is that the costs of containers for a small operation along with import duties to bring them in from SA are very high. If we want to have a sustainable business, we have to have some margin as well. Mozambicans do pay high prices (for unhealthy things like alcohol or candies), but if they can get something cheaply they will go that route. The education on the health benefits must be ramped up but all of that takes time, effort and money. Sometimes I think it would be easier to outsource it all and sell it online to people who already know about the product. If you have not heard one of Steve’s spiels, you can go to www.kokonutpacific.com.au and learn all about coconut oil.

At work we were encouraged to hear how the LifeWinds lessons went while we were gone. These are moral value Bible studies that are taught in an interactive way in a small group with role play, small group discussion and other adult learning techniques. We have used them with our microenterprise course and asked to use them during devotions at WR. People were enthused at what they learned, the chance to ask questions and discuss things as a group. Many of them remembered topics and specific discussion from weeks back. It was an affirmation of what we have experienced with this method of adult teaching. We are getting ready to start a study on the book of Acts using the same method.

Yesterday I connected with a group of women who get together once a month and speak Spanish. It was great to meet people from all over the world, chat, eat ethnic foods, and plan activities for the future. It is really fun to speak Spanish and not worry that I am messing up (as I do in Portuguese) and to find other people who are fluent in Portuñol! Two of the women I met are photographers who have set up a business selling photos and cards. You can see some of their beautiful photos of Mozambique and S Africa at www.pictureperfectconcepts.blogspot.com (sorry I can't get my linker to link so just paste it into your browser, it's worth it).

There's more to tell you, but we don't want to wear you out so we'll keep it for another time. Perhaps if we would write more often these entries wouldn't have to be so long...

Aunt Katie and the Peach

 

Following is a poem written by Elaine Sommers Rich about my grandmother, Kathryn Troyer.

 

AUNT KATIE AND THE PEACH

 

My Aunt Katie, on furlough from India

            after six missionary years,

Picked a peach from a tree

            in my father’s orchard,

Its slim leaves gleaming deep green

            in Indiana sunshine.

I see her silhouetted against

            our kitchen window,

Eating the peach,

            thinkingly eating the peach,

The features on her face

            etched on my childhood mind,

For she did not gobble,

            nor simply swallow.

She contemplated the response

            of her taste buds.

She savored.  She let each bite

            take time on her tongue.

At last she said,

            surprising herself,

I think I’d rather have a mango.

 

Now, more than half a century

            later, I wonder

Does distance sweeten

            Both peaches and mangos?

 

You can see that my cross-cultural roots go back two generations and I also am very fond of mangos, although I must say I have enjoyed fresh peaches this summer as well.  This also reminds me of something Grandpa Troyer used to say:  “The best place to eat a mango is in the bathtub!”

Amazing Happenings at FACIM

WOW! Something most amazing has happened in Mozambique while we have been away. Every year the country of Mozambique holds a trade convention to showcase national products that are available from Mozambique and invites local and international vendors to demonstrate their products to the public/business community.

Rachel and I went last year and knew it was a place where our virgin coconut oil should be on display. We had tried last year, but ran into many roadblocks such that we decided to postpone it to this year. The biggest challenge was that we could not be there to help set it up and assist in the promotion. Also because we were leaving for two months, the marketing and sales needed to continue while we were gone. A month before we left, we identified a person who had some marketing experience and put her in a position to do whatever needed doing for the time we were gone with oversight from Sam Grottis our boss at WR.

If you know me, you know that I was trying to help get things lined up well in advance for this presentation/convention that runs for a week. If you know Africa, you would probably guess that everything happened last minute and would be different than I envisioned or suggested. I really wondered it anything would happen at all, as even the Friday before plans were changing.

WHAT HAPPENED? Mozambican President Guebuza came to see our product, talked to our people and asked some pointed questions. Former president Chissano also came and received a 100 ml sample. Beyond these, there has been lots of interest, contacts and excitement generated.

For me, the presence of the President was more than amazing. We had been praying but didn’t imagine Guebuza would show up! Hope he doesn’t mind being on our blog!

Relaxing in Indiana

It’s been awhile since we’ve blogged. The end of July we were busy wrapping things up in Moz in order to take our every two year leave that our church provides for us. It was another whirlwind exit as Steve was busy traveling to Maxixe with the organic certification for the coconut oil, we did two Ancient Paths seminars, the church had a quarterly meeting and to top it all off, Steve took a day trip to Chokwe with Sam to work on ag and business future directions the day before we left.

In September it will be four years since we left home and went to Brazil for language study on our way to Mozambique. My, how time flies. In retrospect, we see our lives have been full of new growth points, new people and places to know, lots of cultural and spiritual challenges and God’s complete provision for our lives, family and ministry.

Since we’ve been home we’ve participated in a Good family reunion. As always it was great to catch up with the family and even welcome some new ones (by birth and marriage). Here's Steve with his siblings and some of his cousins.








The big news from this past week is that Steve had LASIK done on both eyes. This was done in Ohio by Dr. Davis, whom we met on a trip from The Chapel. He is a great doctor and even a greater guy! Right now I can see quite well without contacts at a distance, but still need reading glasses. Sometimes I find myself thinking it is about time to take the old contacts out for the night if my eyes have gotten tired. “Older” eyes (and minds) apparently take more time to adapt and get over the surgery.

We were able to visit family and friends. We also visited two “The Chapel” locations who partner with World Relief. It was fun and refreshing to spend time with people we have known and gotten to know over the years and see them in their own settings. We are always amazed at how God has expanded our friendships and opportunities.

Usually our days consist of enjoying two of our children (Joel and Joanna and spouses were with us for some days), watching Olympics, studying (Rachel is plugging away on a course), preparing presentations/sermons, meeting with friends and family, reading (Steve read four books in five days), pulling some weeds and doing maintenance on the house. It is a nice change of pace and we are relaxing well. September will be busier with WR travels and meetings.

Maria

Last week I was talking to our friend who helps us with cleaning once a week, Maria. She heard that the sun was getting closer to the earth and it would be hotter now. Since she is bothered very much by heat, she was very worried! First I explained global warming a bit. Then I told her what the Bible says about not worrying about tomorrow. The next week I wrote down some passages for her to read and wrote out a couple of verses.

When I gave it to her she clasped the paper and said, "Oh, this is a gift! No one has done this for me before."

I was struck by her response. How often do we consider the Scriptures a gift to be treasured?

Xenophobia

Xenophobia definition from the American Heritage Dictionary: "NOUN: A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples."

Unfortunately, this word describes what has been happening in South Africa lately. A violent minority of mostly poor South Africans have decided to take matters into their own hands because they feel there are too many foreigners coming into SA and taking their jobs and places to live. Their answer has been to kill some, and threaten many. They show up one day and tell them to be out by nightfall or their houses will be burned (or worse). To read more about it click here: http://allafrica.com/stories/200806040897.html

Not only has these been a problem in S Africa, it is also directly affecting us here in Mozambique. Crime in the city has gone up dramatically since those fleeing from S Africa have arrived. They have no jobs, plenty of time to think up mischief and hungry stomachs motivating them to steal. This past week a restaurant and all its patrons were held up. I've just returned from visiting one of our WR colleagues who was assaulted Saturday. He is a tall, broad man but a gang of six jumped him, took his keys (all he had on him) and knifed him in the chest. Thankfully the wound wasn't deep and didn't damage any organs.

I will not be ruled by fear, but I will be more cautious and street-wise now. When we first arrived we were strongly cautioned about going out at night, etc. Lately we have been more lenient, but now will be more careful and aware. Perhaps you can send up some prayers that our angels will stay on duty and that God will protect us. Thanks.

Chinhangane

Time moves on and we need to record what has happened. Steve and I and Anastase (the new WR church development director) headed out to the village of Chinhangane about 5 hours from Maputo for three days in mid-May. We joined a group of people from Calvary Church in Grand Rapids who are WR church partners.

Along the way we experienced God's protection as we came within inches of being hit in the truck. We were traveling in a very remote area. Every now and then one sees a mud hut, there are hardly any people and there is no cell phone service. So we were driving along and we saw a pickup with some guys in the back on the other side waiting to come onto the road. He seemed to motion to Anastase (who was driving) to go on by. However, as we got close, he came onto the road and proceeded to drive into our lane and our path! Anastase saw him coming and kept pressing the horn, but the guy just kept on coming. Anastase had to go off the road to miss hitting him. Finally after we passed him within inches he stopped. As I looked back I saw him put his hands together out the window in a gesture of prayer. I think he was trying to say he was sorry.


When we arrived at Chinhangane the first sight we saw was many women knitting. The Calvary women taught them how to knit and they were all making a simple shawl. It was amazing to see. The group and the women from the U.S. went for a walk once and the Chinhangane women took their knitting along and asked them to slow down because they were knitting! The only time I saw them put their work down was when they were listening to a teaching or during a meal. Now the challenge is to make this a self-sustainable project as it is very difficult to get good yarn for a good price in Mozambique and it is not sustainable for Calvary to bring in all the yarn from the U.S. I even tried my hand at knitting for awhile, but decided to revert to what I do better - crochet.

Here's Sybil doing some starter games for youth club.


Several of the men from the U.S. set up a solar electrical system to power the guesthouse that they had built. Here they are along with Steve putting it in place.


The team also did trainings for pastors, children and WR women and taught them to make woven rag placemats on small looms. I'm impressed with the creativity of the teams that come.

One of the tear-jerking moments was a visit we made to a family with a sick baby. He is 2 but outside of a miracle he won't make it to his 3rd birthday. He is very frail and just sits on his mother's lap and whimpers. He was in the hospital for awhile and had an HIV test, but the results have not been released to the parents. The mother was also tested, but she doesn't know the results. I'm afraid this is a common thing, especially with those who are positive.

Chinhangane and many villages like it are in a desperate situation due to the drought. Their crops all failed and what few crops they have been able to irrigate have been destroyed by the elephants. There is a wildlife park across the river, but when the river is down it is easy for them to cross over to find food. In order to have money to eat, the people have been traveling further into the bush to find trees to cut down and make charcoal to sell. In a few years there will be no more trees and their situation will be more desperate.

This past weekend we had an Ancient Paths seminar in Portuguese in the next town. Friday night especially, there was a real spirit of repentance as God showed them the dishonor in their lives. The rest of the seminar there was also a lot of repentance as they saw the consequences and curses attached to immorality. There was one man in our group who sobbed out that he was a prodigal son coming home to the Father. Many burdens were lifted and we may not know all the work God did until eternity.

One man wrote, “I am grateful to God because before the seminar I lived a life of dishonor toward my parents and I felt I was at the bottom of a hole and didn’t know how to get out. But on the first day of ministry I heard the word of God, I opened my heart and God worked in my life. I feel peace and joy and my sins were forgiven and the doors of dishonor were closed. Today I have peace with those who were my enemies. The weight on my soul was lifted.”

Saturday morning we start a process group with a few of the participants for the next 8 weeks. We thought we would do this after we return from the U.S., but they don't want to wait, so others will lead the last sessions. It's exciting to see their hunger and what God is doing.

Coconut Bread Instead

The week after Rachel did her trip out to the village, we were blessed by a visit from a food scientist from the US. Last fall while I was thinking about the high quality coconut press cake that we produce alongside our coconut oil (and the fact that the local bakery people had basically ignored us after we gave them a big sample to experiment with) I realized we needed to connect with some real food science people to help create higher value uses for the product.

In pursuit of someone, I thought first about our partner churches in the US who have a large number of professional people and diversity of skills that might surely yield one or two good hearted souls who might have an interest to help. So I wrote our staff in Baltimore asking what they thought about the idea. One of them, Sharla, said, “my husband Tim is a food scientist, grew up in Sri Lanka and loves coconut. Could he help?” Who would have guessed such a close connection?

We traveled to Maxixe one morning and saw the mill, with its oil production, and by-products of mature coconut water and press cake. The cake smells and tastes like coconut, is white in color and only needs grinding to make a good nutritional flour with lots of protein, fiber and some residual oil. Everyone who talked about it said how excellent it was and all the things you could do with it, but the local people were only feeding it to chickens.

The next morning, we visited a small bakery and talked to them about possibly using it in their bread making process. The main point of interest for them was that it was a lower cost ingredient. We got their recipe for the standard flour, yeast and water mix and went to our manager Romeu’s kitchen to see what Tim could figure out to do with a combination of the coconut flour and their recipe. When the first batch of bread came out of the oven around 5 PM, one of the 25% coconut flour buns broke apart because it stuck to the bottom of a well-used pan. After our first nibble, we could not stop eating from it. Even the niece, Epiphany, came back for more.

We had promised to come back to the bakery at 7 the next day to show them our results. When we arrived, they were not baking anything. After explaining to them about 3 times and letting them nibble on the samples, they got it and said,
“Where is some flour so we can make our own?”
“You mean now?”
“Yes, right now before you go back to Maputo.”
So, we helped them do the math and made a 1/5th batch in the commercial mixer. We had to pinch ourselves (and take photos) while they were cutting and rolling the balls for individual buns. It really exceeded our expectations.

We left the bakery to let the bread rise and get some breakfast, (eating some of our own creations from the night before). When we got back, they had a tray full of bread out on the counter they were sharing with their customers. I bought a bag to bring back to evaluate and share it at the office. It was quite a hit as it made for a great story and interested eaters who said they really liked it (almost 24 hours after baking). Usually this style of bread gets stale and crusty as it has no oil or fiber to retain the moisture (or preservatives). It was still good Saturday, and even Monday it was still soft to the touch.

Now for the ultimate test—seeing if those who sampled it in Maxixe come back to ask for more and if we can sell it to the bakery on a regular basis.

In the Village

This past week Rachel spent a few days in a village with a team from Akron, OH. It was great to get out of the city for awhile and experience village life. It is really quite different. First we stopped in Chokwe and I was able to see many people whom I´m sad to say I haven´t seen in about 6 months or longer. After traveling to Chokwe for a few days every week, not being there for a long period of time has been very different. I miss the people, especially our ¨kids¨ that we spent a lot of time with at the beginning. They all seem to be doing well and are working and ministering in different areas, some with WR, some with Samaritan´s Purse. Atalia (in picture) is one of these.


The team worked with teaching pastors and women´s groups, one guy taught welding, there were kids clubs and an eye doctor who did examinations and handed out Lions Club glasses. I joined them for a couple of half days and learned a lot about eyes in the process. The driver and I even figured out what kind of reading glasses a woman needed, put them on her, and she could read! (The Dr. was busy blowing up gloves like balloons and giving them to the kids.)
This is his second trip and on the first trip he learned that many people have had cataract surgery but have not had lenses replaced, which means they can’t see very well at all. This time he brought special glasses that had been donated from older people as they are no longer made or needed in the U.S. He brought 31 pairs and gave away at least 25. Many of these people would walk in hunched over and looking dejected. When they discovered they could see they walked straight with a spring in their step and huge smiles on their faces!

He also examined an albino and as he rarely sees albinos, he was trying to remember the distinctive characteristics about their eyesight. And then the guy pulls his prescription out of his pocket. Now before the Dr. left the U.S. a friend of his gave him two pairs of glasses of his dad’s who had just passed away. They were a very specific prescription with a special correction for astigmatism and the Dr. didn’t think he would find anyone that could use them. Lo and behold, the prescription the man handed to him was the exact one that he had the glasses for! Unfortunately he could only find one pair of sunglasses at the time, which he gave to him. On a different day, Doc found the other pair in his luggage but didn’t think he’d ever see the man again. We left the village and on our way back to Maputo we stopped at a Bible school for their graduation. One of the team members saw our friend walking in to the ceremony. So Doc quickly climbed up on top of the Land Cruiser, got to his luggage and pulled out the other pair of glasses. He handed it to the man and the guy was very excited. Hopefully by now he knows that God really loves him to arrange all those details so he could have two pairs of special glasses!

I found out that it’s a lot of work to stay two steps ahead of a team, but I had plenty of help. I don’t normally do this, but the woman who does needed to go to the U.S. so I took her place. It was a great bunch of people and it was a privilege to serve them.

Steve is currently spending time with a food scientist who is volunteering his time to research uses for coconut meal (what is left after the oil is extracted). It is high in protein and fiber, gluten free and supposedly becoming popular (and expensive) in the West. They are also experimenting with vinegar and fruit juices using the coconut water. Who knows what will come of it all--we’ll keep you posted.

Pictures and thoughts of Malawi

We’ve just returned from spending 12 days in Malawi. Most of the time we were in Lilongwe, the capital city. It has almost 1,000,000 people, but it doesn’t seem like it. It was designed in areas with lots of open spaces and cornfields in between the areas. So it feels like you are in Illinois part of the time and then a shopping mall appears and a few buildings. There are no high rises or apartment buildings. Everyone seems to have a brick house (bricks are very abundant) and a yard. Traffic is not bad, even during rush hour, unless you get caught waiting for the presidential motorcade to pass by. It is very different than Maputo!


One day we went out with our friends who used to live in Maputo, Jon and Margaret. They took us to the crafts market and we started negotiating as the prices are cheaper than Maputo and they had some unique items. At one point Steve came over and told me that Jon was getting the price of 500 for the item that I was bargaining over. He said it in Portuguese and immediately several of the guys crowded around said, “Oh, I’m from Inhambane and I’m from Maputo.” So much for trying to be sly. At one point I was on my own and I said I’d have to consult with my husband. So I called him across the way “Steve.” Well, then everyone started calling him Steve and acted like they’d known him forever!

They also took us to a lovely garden area surrounding some restaurants and shops. Here are some of the flowers.


My week was filled with traveling to a village, Ntchisi, one hour away to do a MED training. It was intense as I found out that very few of the villagers spoke or understood English. That was a surprise to me as I thought most Malawians knew English as a second language. Apparently they do not teach English in the schools until the higher grades plus this village was isolated until they recently blacktopped the road.


Steve went out to Ntchisi a couple of days, one to help with the training and another to supervise construction of a chicken house along with a team from Minnesota. The rest of his week was spent in the office and consulting with the WR agriculture and trade people.


We lost track of how many coffin making shops we saw—at least 20 along the roads. Sad to say, it is a booming area for business.

We spent our 30th anniversary at Lake Malawi which was basically deserted except for the locals. It is a beautiful place, although it is sad that the lake is so contaminated with bilharzias and other runoff. It doesn’t stop the locals from bathing, washing their clothes and swimming in the lake.



Baobob fruit sales

There were many baobab trees along the way and fruit alongside the road. This is what cream of tartar is made from but we’re not so fond of eating it as it is dry and powdery. I was trying to take a picture of some guys along the road selling the fruit, but they all jumped up and came to my window.



Here’s one man’s solution to getting his tilapia home from the lake—tie it to your mirrors (on both sides)! That way it stays cool and doesn’t stink up the car.


The mountains everywhere are beautiful and sometimes it felt as if we were in Puerto Rico. Then other times when we saw the women in their “capulanas” with their babies on their backs and the thatched roofs it seemed we were still in Mozambique.


Back in Mozambique we saw this guy with his lovely bouquet of carrots.


In a store window we saw contrasts between old technology and new—a charcoal heated iron with an air conditioner and DVD player.



With that we’ll end our travelogue of Malawi!

Doing Business in Africa

Talk about doing business and yes that is why we came to Mozambique, to help people start businesses that could economically sustain themselves and develop the country and region. So, let me tell you a story about a simple label that we wanted to use to sell the “great and innovative produce” from local resources, namely virgin coconut oil. My favorite subject, so don’t get me started on that one.

Well, we invested some significant money and bought two simple oil producing systems and built a building and started to produce oil (June of 07). We even enlisted the help of our artistic daughter and her graphic arts oriented boyfriend (now husband) and produced a great looking label. Then we started looking for a printer. The printers in Mozambique wanted 50 cents a label, (no, not the singer) and we said no way, that is ridiculous. We went to Nelspruit, (2.5 hours away if you can get through the border in a decent time) and found a local printer would print them for about 10 cents each and the promise of one could do it for even less. So we placed an order and went back a week later to pick up our order of about $100’s worth of labels (July 07).

Ready to sell great coconut oil, we approached our first customer in local store and they asked us if we had a letter that approved our label from the National Health department? To cut a very long and laborious story short we got that approval after about 15 trips to the health department and $600 in testing costs, in January of 08. That is right, 5 months later. Fortunately our product doesn’t spoil easily.

We had pre-identified a company to print our labels in South Africa, so the rest should go quickly right? Well, when you are paying $300 just to set up the plates for about 4 color printing, every detail has to be right and so, 4 weeks later they are ready to print. Now we have received the final invoice and I ask someone to transfer the money to the SA company. A week goes by and no money is transferred, so I offer to open an eventually needed bank account to expedite the process only to be told I needed one more document and a couple of weeks. Hence, the easiest solution was to get in the car and cross the border with cash to make a direct deposit. No problem, just another half day.

On that trip, I attempt to get recover some value added tax from previously purchased materials as allowed by South Africa. We did not do it before as the line was long and we were told we had 3 months to recover the funds. Well, I needed two papers, one a letter authorizing me to receive the VAT for the company. No problem, we could do that the next time we came through. We write a letter and get it authorized and stamped. When I submit the letter, the woman behind the glass tells me, this letter is not up to standard and needs to read exactly like she writes on a piece of paper for me. She makes a copy or two and sends me away to come back with the letter as she wants it. It also needs a recent date, as something two months old is too old and I could be stealing from a former employer. (But, I am the employer) Oh, I can even authorize myself, I don’t need anyone else’s signature.

Back to the labels. These are shipped to Nelspruit and I now get to make the trip and pick them up. I have learned some things from previous trips, so I go the VAT line on my way into SA and it is short with no waiting. However, one paper is missing a vital number and I will need to get it re-issued to submit it. I stop by the SA clearing agent office and give her my original invoice (printed off my computer and signed by me) to submit to the 3-4 hour clearing process and am on my way to Nelspruit. After looking for 1 hour, eventually going door to door as no building have numbers posted, I eventually find the place where my labels have been shipped and pick them up. It also seems there are east/west/north/south splits on building numbers, but no address ever reflects this information. This means there are 2 buildings with the same number, but no designation as to which end of the street they are on.

Now I go back to the border and thankfully the clearing agent process goes smoothly. I pick up my papers, pay the $10 and am out of there. The VAT line is now long as in 2 hours and 20 minutes of standing until I get to the window. In the meantime there is pushing and shoving, people shouting, and general chaos as the Mozambicans have their own system for keeping order and punishing those who don’t obey the “rules.” Overall it felt a lot like being in a cattle chute with 60 teenagers who could not stop talking or yelling at each other.

When I get to the window, I can’t hear the attendant who essentially tells me the letter is not right and I won’t get my money back is she submits it like this. She gives me a document that tells me what it should say and informs me that I really need three letters, one that allows me to submit the paperwork, one to collect the check and another to cash it. I am incredulous. I still have a month to collect my $300 in taxes. I can only wonder how real business people do it. Aha, the document says I can submit by mail. Since the rest of this has gone so poorly, I seriously doubt I can trust the system.

On the Mozambique side of the border. Ushered into a small office, I wait 45 minutes to get a document typed up. I have to pay $35 for the privilege as I am representing a business whereas if I were only an individual, I would only pay $16. Why, because businesses can charge the big bucks and recover their costs. (this hurts as everyone is already telling me the product is too expensive) After jumping through three more hoops at three more stations and paying the import duty and VAT for Mozambique ($160), I am on my way, half sick with a headache and needing to drive at night, not recommended in Mozambique due to high accident rate after dark.

In pondering the situation I realize that in the US, it would be the equivalent of having my labels printed in Iowa, shipped to Chicago, driving 2.5 hours to get them because they can’t cross the border due to tax reasons and at what cost? I have not calculated it yet, but all of this needs to be recovered as cost of goods sold in one of the poorest countries on earth. And, things at the border are better than they used to be as the borders are now considered open for business! It is no wonder the economy and industry are in such bad shape. Consider this NORMAL.

If I were not called to the task, I would have given up like most do long ago. I have been sorely tempted to go through the back door and get around the hassles of red tape. God help us.

Hands of Hope Team Travels

I, Steve, spent the last 9 days traveling with a Hands of Hope team from the U.S. They are based in and around Barrington, IL and are our partners in the Zambia agriculture program. If you want to learn more about HOH and what they do, please look them up on the web at www.handsofhopeonline.org. They have a unique way of raising funds, with lots of local volunteers putting on a garden fair program in the community.

Sam and I traveled to Lusaka on Saturday the 16th ahead of the team, going by car to Mongu with a member of the royal family named Aka Lewanika. His father was king of the Losi Tribe at one point and he may also be in line for the kingship in the coming years. He shared some very interesting insights into the Losi kingdom and how the kings are chosen. Most significant, was the concept that one becomes king by the choice of the people, not by conquest or self elevation. Rather, once you are king, you almost become a non-person with responsibility to care for the interests of the people. They in turn care for you by protecting you, feeding your family and providing for your needs.

Wiggan and Aka walking through the unproductive bush that is being converted to jatropha and other crops.

As we talked, Sam and I began to see a very different leadership pattern than is seen in most of Africa. Aka believes that the pattern of control, oppression and stealing found in governments today was learned from the outsiders who ruled Africa in the same way for centuries. This discussion spawned a new term for me, "Steward Leadership." Maybe someone else has thought of it before, but in some ways it seems more realistic than the term servant leadership that is often used. Almost makes me want to write a book. Hmm, maybe Aka and I will.


Oh, the trip. The trip was great. Wiggan, the director, and team have inspired 100 farmers to clear 1 Hectare (2.5 acres) each and plant more than 1,000 Jatropha trees on each Ha. This translates to 100,000 trees in 3 months. This tree produces a seed on marginal soils that is 30-35% oil that can only be used for fuel. With the price of diesel at nearly $2/liter (translated $8 per gallon) these plantations have the potential to reduce the cost and dependence of the province on outside fuel sources. In addition, Jatropha improves the soil, the flowers make great honey and the fuel reduces pollution.

The HOH team was all ladies and they kept us occupied with lots of questions, explanations and discussions. They were pleased with the start of the work in Zambia. We also brought them to Mozambique and showed them the work with HIV, child survival and ag/trade. We finished off the time with an evening and overnight at Bilene, a lagoon just off the Indian Ocean. It was a good place to relax, debrief and plan. We started out the trip as partners and in the end, it felt very much like family.

Praying for chickens?

This week we went on a field trip to a chicken processing plant (I was glad they were done for the day). WR is partnering with Moz Farms who give all the inputs to WR volunteers to raise the chickens and then they take them all and pay them per chicken. While we were there we met the Muslim guy that slits their necks and says a prayer over each one. Now there's a unique job! This is a requirement for the Muslims so they can say it is “Hallal” (like kosher). We asked him what he prays, and he said he would pray whatever we wanted! I can’t say I’d have much to pray over a chicken about to be killed.

Later we visited with WR volunteers, and the highlight was seeing Reginaldo, one of our “kids” from Chokwe. He’s been building chicken houses in this community. He is getting a lot of pressure from his dad to have his fiancee move in and postpone the wedding until later. I couldn’t understand that until someone explained that young people help support their parents until they get married. Talk about a twisted system that works against marriage. I encouraged him to do things God’s way and he said others are saying the same. I’m sure it’s hard for him to buck the system plus his own family. Then there are the huge expectations of making it a real feast when you do get married and going broke to do so. You can pray for him.

It's been a busy week with lots of meetings and guests. Now Steve is off to Zambia where he is helping host a team from the U.S. and they are having board meetings. They will all come here the end of the week and go to a village.

The excitement over fare hikes has calmed down. Apparently the government is subsidizing the price of gas for the chapa drivers. Too bad they didn't lower it for all of us!

Unrest in Maputo

Things are calming down in Maputo after some serious trouble this past week. Tuesday was a scheduled rate hike for the "chapas" (mini buses). The people were very upset a lot of basic foods like bread and rice have gone up and if transportation costs are raised by 30-50% it becomes hard to make ends meet. Mainly young, unemployed people started blocking intersections and burning tires in the road and throwing rocks. The chapas stopped running and the shops closed because of some looting. Parts of the city were pretty deserted.


Picture by Sarah Olds of Iris Ministries

The next day the government made the chapas return to original fares for 3 days while they talked, but then the chapas went on strike because their profit has been cut in half by gas increases (we’re up to $6/gallon). The fuel trucks couldn’t get through on Tuesday when there were fires on the streets, so there was some panic yesterday about a scarcity of fuel and long lines at all gas stations that had any.

You can find lots of articles and details at : http://allafrica.com/mozambique/ if you want to know more.

We’ve continued life as normal. The roads were OK between our house and WR so we’ve been in the office every day. However, very few of our colleagues have been here because of the disturbances. Several people have walked 2-3 hours to get here. That’s dedication! Today some chapas seem to be running again so we may be getting back to normal. Things could flare up again depending on government decisions and there are many issues right under the surface that people get upset about.

It’s felt a bit like we’ve been in a boat on a lake and around us we could see a thunderstorm, but the rain and lightning didn’t get to us. However, it’s a bit disconcerting to see all the power of the storm so close by. Jesus says “be still and know that I am God. I am calming the storm and giving you peace.” He is so good. We appreciate your prayers for us and Mozambique.

Maputo Con Man

This morning I was doing some shopping and as I walked home I was approached by a man in a suit and tie.

"Hi, do you remember me?" he said.

I looked at him curiously and said "No, I don't believe I do."

"Oh, I'm the man from customs at the airport. I look a little different without my uniform."

Since I had just dealt with customs recently, I thought maybe I had seen him there.

"Are you traveling soon?" he asked.

"No, I don't have anything planned."

Then he said, "I was trying to get to work, but my car ran out of gas. Would you have some cash you could spare?"

I had a cautious feeling so I said, "No I really can't give you any."

"Just 50 MTs so I could get a couple of liters? Then next time you come through customs I'll be your friend!"

I declined again, he shook my hand and I left.

A few yards away I stopped at a sidewalk stand to make another purchase. A man was standing there and asked me if I knew that person. I said I didn't and asked if he was a good person or not. "Actually, he's a 'mafioso,'" he said.

Our "new" apartment

On Sunday the preacher had an interesting comment. He said "I never thought I'd see the day when Mozambique was in better shape than South Africa." This week it was true, as SA had many rolling power outages that created huge traffic jams, closed malls and restaurants and clinics, etc. And the amazing thing is that they are getting some of their energy from a hydroelectric dam in Mozambique. Apparently the government did not heed the warnings and now there is a shortage. New electric plants will not be finished until 2011 so it could be interesting for SA until then.

On the home front, we have moved. Here are a few pictures of our new place:
We live on the second floor (it looks blue here) although the door is on ground floor. The guard and his family live on the ground level which is built into a hill.


Steve with Wally the dog that came with the house.

Daniel, our first visitor and the guard's son. He has a baby sister.

We have a nice big kitchen and living room, 3 bedrooms and plenty of beds. So just let us know when you're coming to visit!

Good news from Zambia

Here is part of a monthly report that came out of Zambia, where Rachel and I spent two weeks in November 07 working with the staff and teaching the micro enterprise development course:

"The Microenterprise training program conducted by Steve and Rachel has started bearing fruit in the community as demonstrated by two graduates (Pastors Matale and Mulyata) who started training traders from the market in entrepreneurship skills. The training program has been funded by SNV (a development agency of Netherlands). The first training workshop was for 5 days and 23 participants were trained who thereafter qualified to receive loans for their small trading businesses. This exemplified the versatility of the training program and its relevance in the lives of all those aspiring to succeed in their businesses be it agriculture or trading. Most important of all is that as a result of the spiritual component of the course,7 participants gave their lives to the Lord after the session 'The plan of salvation.'”

I was so touched when I read this. It made the work of training others (or packaging and sharing seeds, so they can sow) quite rewarding.

Swaziland R&R

We’ve just returned from a bit of R&R in Swaziland and South Africa. Swazi is a small country and we drove in a big loop and saw quite a bit of it. We stayed in Bulembu, up in the corner next to SA. It was an asbestos mining town that was abandoned when the mine was closed. It was given to a Christian organization that is working with abandoned children and orphans, HIV/AIDS programs, a school, a clinic, a church, Teen Challenge and more. They are trying to create jobs by running a timber project, a lodge and a honey project. You can read more about them at www.bulembu.org. It is surrounded by mountains and beautiful scenery. To get there we had to travel 18 kms on a dirt road but the reward was that it was very calm and quiet. There were no city noises outside our windows when we slept, just the sounds of nature. Another plus was that it was cooler than Maputo.

One day we went to SA for an appointment and wished we had taken our camera as the mountain scenery was amazing. We saw emerald mountains as well as blue and darker green. We did get a picture outside the lodge, although the colors aren’t quite as nice as they were in person.


We also saw lots and lots of flowers. I was surprised to see so many flowers that we have at home: daisies, roses, hydrangeas, iris, coreopsis, butterfly bush growing everywhere wild, dahlias of many colors. These were mixed in with more tropical varieties like hibiscus and tulip trees plus many that I can't name and they were all beautiful. Here are just a few pictures so you get the idea.




On the way back we stopped at a waterfall. We found out we could take a 20 min hike to see it or a 1-3 hr. hike. We went on the 20-min. and it’s probably a good thing. I’m not sure I could walk at all if we had done the longer one! I think I’m in pretty good shape, after all I climb 60 stairs every time I go out the door and do so without huffing and puffing too much. But the steps down to the falls were really steep. This picture doesn’t show how steep it really was. It was worth the sore muscles and we had a great time.


Now we’re back in our regular routine after the holidays. Sunday morning we said goodbye to Jamene, our friend who has been with us since the end of October. The house seems empty without him.

We’re getting ready to move this weekend to a semi-temporary place, hopefuly several months. It’s a house owned by the Wesleyans and our landlords are wonderful people. We may keep looking, but we’ve found that the prices in Maputo are getting ridiculous – many ask $1,000/month for an unfurnished not very nice apartment. That’s about twice what rent was in 2005. Apparently there is not enough housing and people (mostly foreigners) are willing to pay the prices so they keep increasing. We’re thankful to have a place for now.