Deborah

Today is Deborah's 2nd birthday. Birthdays are always a milestone, but this is a special one for a little girl who suffered severe malnutrition. She was almost 1 when she came to live with Mirtha and Yudel at our house. She did not sit or cry much, her skin was pale and she hardly had hair. The workers at the orphanage did not think she had much of an appetite so she didn't get much more than 2 bottles of milk per day.


Mirtha worked with her and found out she really was hungry. She started adding on kilos and developing and walked at 21 months. Now she is 2 and her personality is coming through. They all live at the orphanage now and she will always be Mirtha and Yudel's special girl.



Trying to figure out these new crocs.


Their new house at the orphanage. As soon as they get enough funds to finish the floors of the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom they will move in.



God is faithful!

Poverty

One thing I've learned well since we moved to Africa--poverty is a very complex issue.

I was thinking of the card game that we call Scum. You start the game with a President and Vice-President and a Scum and Vice-Scum. After dealing the cards, Scum gives his two best cards to the Pres. and Pres. gives his two worst cards to Scum. VP and VS trade one card each. It is possible to move from Scum to Pres. but it usually takes several games and it is a lot of work because the cards have literally been stacked against Scum. It is easier for Pres and VP to win and keep on winning because they have been given an advantage to start with.

This is how it is with poverty. The system of injustice has been stacked against the poor. It is possible to get out, but it takes a lot of work, a lot of encouragement, a lot of changes in the ways of thinking about things, and some breaks in order to get a good education.

Sometimes we can think that the poor just don't know how to handle the money they have. We can say there is a difference between being broke and being poor, and that difference is the way of thinking about money. We can say that poverty is not a lack of money, it is a lifestyle, or a curse. But poverty is also being trapped in a system. What can I do to help break the chains of injustice that keep people enslaved?

It is easy to see how the poor become poorer when they are trapped into low-paying jobs and inflation is rising. In December it is reported that inflation rose 3.48% in Moz. Prices always go up because of the holidays, but this is steeper than usual. We notice the differences almost every week when we go to buy groceries. For a long time a liter of boxed milk cost us between 25-30 MT. Yesterday I paid 60 MT ($1.80). Sugar (which is grown in Moz) has been right around 25 MT for a kilo. Now some shops are asking 38 MT. Apparently Brazil had a bad year so the price goes up worldwide. These are just examples of increases for all the basics such as flour, bread, rice, corn flour, etc. Beef has gone through the roof and a scrawny 1 kg chicken costs $4.80 or more.

So what do people do when they are one of the 10-15% who actually have a job such as a household helper and get paid a little more than 100 MT per day and a chicken costs 160 MT? They eat very little meat, and stick to xima (corn flour porridge) with some greens or tomatoes if they can afford them. They walk more because transportation costs are rising, they keep their kids home from school because they can't afford the uniforms and fees, and sometimes they take to the streets to join the riots because they are so desperate.

Then on the other hand we have mostly foreigners and the Mozambican rich who pay $2,000 for an apartment and up to $5,000 rent per month for a house. The poor get poorer and the rich continue to be funded by their organizations, governments and corporations who are willing to pay whatever it takes to keep up the lifestyle. The spiritual discipline of simple living and doing more with less becomes a challenge in a city like Maputo.

And I'm back to the beginning - poverty is complex and I don't have very many answers. Lord help me know how to make a lasting difference in people's lives. Help me to know what my part is today and to be obedient to You. Help me to care enough to give a hand up out of the sink hole of poverty, to work at long-term solutions and not only short-term fixes.

Our Week in Review

 This week Mozambique is in mourning over the death of artist, Malangatana. To tell the truth, I had not heard of him before, although he is apparently quite famous world over. I probably would still not know much about him except that our housemate fills us in every day on the details of his life, his wake, who was there, where they will bury him, etc. It has been the main topic at suppertime for several days and sometimes we have finished our meal and she has barely taken a bite because she is so busy telling us all about it. Actually, we learn a lot about the culture and what is happening in the news and the neighborhood through her. Now basically the whole town where he lived is camping out at his house to eat well for the next week.

 We are amazed at how much it has been raining this year. We have never experienced a true rainy season in the 6 years we’ve been here. It seems like every day or every other day we have at least one good shower. The crops should be great if it doesn’t flood, which is on everyone’s mind. They are afraid that the flood gates will be opened upstream, even to Zimbabwe and then Mozambique will suffer the consequences as they did in 2000. Today on the news they showed a mother who just gave birth to twins and went home to a flooded house. The only place she had for the babies was the kitchen table!

 We live in community within our house and then we live in greater community with the people in the flats above us. Steve has been getting to know them better as their drains on the outside of the building get clogged and affect us down below. Apparently one of them has a garbage disposal, plus they put a lot of grease down the sink so it’s been getting full really fast. Today, Steve had a show and tell right by the drain so we’ll see if that makes any difference.

 We also live in greater community with the apartment house right next to ours (20 feet away). Our bedrooms face the back side of the building. For a long time they had many little yippy dogs that would start a chorus of barking at all hours of the night and especially in the early morning. We felt bad for our visitors, (and for ourselves) when we couldn’t sleep! Well, wonder of wonders, the yippy dogs are gone. We’re not sure if the owners left as well or just the dogs, but we are very grateful for a good nights’ sleep.

 We’re starting to think Steve might have a wheat allergy so he’s taking a break from all wheat until we figure out what’s going on. Now the experiments begin with cassava flour, lentil and rice flour and who knows what else. Thankfully this house came with a grinder which we are starting to use more diligently.

 This weekend we had visitors - a couple from Swaziland who is starting to work with Ancient Paths Seminars there. We have been asked to mentor them, and will be traveling to Swazi in the next months to do some seminars with them. We had a great time getting to know them a bit. The wife even said she would get me some non-wheat recipes. She owns a health food store/coffee shop.

That's a bit of what's been happening with us on this side of the world this week. Who knows what next week will bring!

Pictures of Christmas and New Year’s

We started out in the Chokwe office with Dr. Pieter and the WR accountant. Love the hat. He really is a farmer at heart.




We drove to Mucatine together and saw the agricultural project.
The papayas are almost done producing. We got 5 nice, juicy red ones.



Leonor, one of the association members, watering tomato seedlings in the nursery.


These guys were in the river when we went to look at the pump.
They’re pretty awesome when they open their mouths!














The view from the porch of the house we stayed in, where I spent a lot of time reading. Since we can’t be with family we take the second best option and enjoy the beach!



The Indian Ocean can be pretty wild, and watch out for the rip tides. Because of the rocks by the shore, we don’t go in too far.



One day there were big, dead jelly fish all over the shore.
A storm brought them in, is our guess.


When the tide goes out there are many different sand designs.





Cool moth and a shot from last year of the hundreds of bats that come out of the attic at dusk. They're still there!















Christmas Dinner. First time to have a turkey in Moz!


New Year’s Eve cookout with the other missionaries who stayed in the downstairs apt. We had fun with them, playing Scrabble and Dutch Blitz, watching movies and talking.


Here's a last shot after we walked on the windy beach. Our friend thought it was a "cool Harley look"! I like it because we look so relaxed and happy.


That’s our last two weeks in a picture or two. We hope you have all had good
end of the year times as well. We are blessed and have so much to be thankful for.

Happy New Year!

Water Wells in Zambia (if you are not interested in the details, just look at the pictures!)

When I first heard that it cost $5,000 to put in a well in Zambia I was an unbeliever. This seemed impossible and tremendously expensive. Someone even suggested we buy a well drilling rig and drill our own wells. After looking into it, we decided not to buy and paid the $5,000 per well. After all, the water was 60 meters down and it was professionally done.

Then I found out, that some of these well were drilled 60 meters deep in areas where the water table was 1 meter below the surface during the dry season. Why drill 60 meters? Well (no pun intended) that was the standard.

I don’t know about you, but I was raised in a house where the well was 30 ft (10 meters) deep and we have always had plenty of water. I still own a house were the well is 50 feet deep and the original owner drove that well himself in 1949. So, why not something like this in Zambia?

After investigating the options and prices, I bought and packed up a well point - $30, a pitcher pump - $40, some drive couplings - $6 each and a driving cap - $5. When I looked at pipe and considered the challenge of transport to Africa by suitcase, I punted and said, let me buy it there. However, in consultations I was warned that the pipe from Asia was too soft or brittle to take the driving. Point noted for the future.


So, after a small hassle from Mozambique customs agents who wanted a “tax” to take the pump and point out of the country, I arrived in Lusaka, Zambia to buy pipe. Fortunately, I had a contact who knew the businesses to buy from. We went together and bought a 20 ft piece of pipe that then needed to be cut and threaded on the newly cut ends. When in conversation with the shopkeeper where I bought the pipe, I asked him why he did not offer a cutting and threading service. He said, so he can sell more machines. As we discussed the project, he said he had never had a big enough order to run out of pipe and if he could supply me the projected number of pipe he could retire. Fat chance, I thought.

Then we went off to find another business to cut and thread the pipe. We found one in the market. Yes, the same market that sells hot food, soap, cell time, shoes, nuts and bolts, etc. So, right there between the hot sausage vendor (grill and all) and the used nuts and bolts seller, we squatted in the shade for more than an hour while two guys wrestled with my now three pieces to thread 4 ends, twice because the first cut didn’t take enough metal off to fit the couplings.

There was a steady flow of people and ambulatory vendors walking by. Cold drinks, snacks, bread and sliced watermelon wrapped in plastic in a basket carried on the head were part of the view.

After the pipes were threaded, (for about $1 each thread) I wrapped the newly cut ends in whatever plastic and paper I could find and took them to the bus station. "Mongu," I said and into the belly of the bus they went, along with the pump and point. During my 8 hour trip, I had time to reflect on the shopkeeper’s offer. Maybe I should help the local economy a little more.

After arrival in Mongu, I began the task of collecting the tools we needed to put in a well. One 10 pound sledge hammer, two large pipe wrenches, a level, one shovel, an elevated stand (previously used for spraying tall cashew trees), bleach and a camera. Wiggan (the Zambian director) found me a helper and off we went to our irrigation project site in Mawawa to install the well and pump. We had visited the previous Saturday and found people dipping water for personal use out of a 2 foot deep hole/ground well. This way we reasoned, there would be clean water for drinking, washing and mixing any spray materials. (Just don’t dump the chemicals on the ground around the pump!)


After attaching the well point to an 8 foot piece of pipe, we drove the first section easily. Some of the individual blows sent the pipe down 1 inch. When we went to attach the second piece of pipe, we took off the factory installed plastic cover and found a seriously dented pipe end. Those Asians! What to do? We decided to put on a lot of sealing tape and thread it in past the dented part and give it a try. This would be fine as long as it stayed intact, right?

After driving it down about 2 feet, I noticed a wobble coming from the coupling area. We tightened the pipe a little more. Just a few more blows and it happened again. The coupling was already below ground level in the hole. We retightened with the same loosening/heart sinking result. Something was desperately wrong down there!! Three of us pulled it up to where we could access the coupling and took the pipe off, and sure enough the pipe had broken at in the middle of the threaded area. You can’t say I wasn’t warned about cheap pipe! The only option to even consider, was return to Mongu and find someone to rethread it.

So, we found Norad a local well drilling company. They rethreaded the damaged end, and I rechecked the other factory end. It looked ok. The thread die produced a pretty flat thread, so we had to cut it pretty deep to accept our coupling. No matter, as long as we had new threads to work with, I could try again. Back to the field we went.

One end of the 8 foot pipe didn’t want to thread into the coupling at the well site. No problem, the solution would be to turn the pipe over and put the drive cap on that end. So we started driving the well again. After putting it down about 4 feet, the pipe was no longer tight below ground. I didn’t even want to risk it, so we pulled it up and sure enough the threads were damaged, plus the driving cap had slipped its threads and was now crossed threaded on the other end. There were two threads to repair now. Back to town we went.

The shop manager looked at the broken parts and said, “They did not do a good enough job last time, let me call them and have them do it over.” They did, and I made sure we had some taper this time. When I left, I promised not to trouble them again because if these threads did not hold up, I did not want to try their device again. Back to the field we went.

To spare you the details, we tried to drive both an 8 foot and 4 foot piece of pipe with the same result, broken or damaged threads on both ends of the pipes. We left the well point and 8 foot piece of pipe in the ground and retreated to fight another day. What to do now? Is there even another pipe threader in town?

That same afternoon, someone appeared in the office who has been contracted to put in some more $5,000 wells. Was this help from above? He said that he could help me and called for a pipe threading tool to be put on the truck from Lusaka. It arrived the next day, but after three hours work, they only had fixed two of the three bad threads properly. What kind of help is this? They promised, “We will bring it back in the morning after one hour.” The morning came and went with no pipe. Then I started wondering, will I be able to complete the project? We tried calling, no answer. About 12:30 there is a knock on the door and there is the guy. Wiggan asks him, "Where is Steve’s pipe?" "Oh, my guys were to bring it. Hasn’t it come yet?" It arrives in 15 minutes. Maybe it will happen yet before I leave town at 11 p.m. (He was kind enough not to charge me.)

We went back to the field at 4 p.m. and I told Wiggan, "No matter what happens, this won’t take long. Either we will be successful or we won’t." Ha. When we arrived, we collected a crowd pretty quickly. The pipe threaded in to the coupling in the ground ok, but the drive cap did not thread on well. Hmm? I did not want to take the chance of damaging the top threads again. The solution was to find a chunk of wood that we could use to replace the cap. A board was located and we bashed it up pretty bad, but it did the trick. Hurray!


Attaching the pump was a little tricky as the threaded opening seemed slightly smaller than our pipe end, but we got it done. Priming the pump was the next step. It would not pull a vacuum. Ouch! What was going on? Upon examination, it looked like the factory installed gasket was bulging on one side and even leaking water. Now for an open end wrench, which of course I did not bring. But somebody had one! Wow. We repositioned the gasket and started pumping. It drew a vacuum, but once the air bubbles stopped coming that was it. No flowing water. We had skipped one important step because I did not have the wherewithal to do it. That was surging and cleaning the screen, now twenty feet down. You are supposed to put down a plunger or a running hose to flush the system. I had neither.

I guess it is time to call Iowa for tech support. I left the pump in place with some brief instructions for the technical guy and went back to the office.


Later that night I called the WaterSource company in Iowa using Skype. Yes, they confirmed, we need to flush it. After reviewing the options, we both had some new ideas and I realized we could use the canal water and a couple of hoses to link to the big irrigation pump for our pressure water source this time. Once we get it flushed, we will have to bleach it to kill all the bacteria and then pump it awhile to flush the bleach. I left some clear instructions for the staff in Zamia to complete the task and got on the bus for Lusaka. I hope to hear someday soon.

Two Groups Came to Visit

Two groups came to visit Mozambique recently. One was from our home church and we were happy to connect with old (and some new) friends. The first week in Moz they visited another missionary from our church who lives in Dondo, working with orphans and planting churches.

When they came to Maputo we took them to visit some orphanages and other ministries as well as to the village of Mukhotwene.


There were lots of kids to love and hug at Iris Ministries.


We visited a school in the village. We also did kid's clubs and a training for church leaders.


Here are some of them singing and dancing.


Mirtha made capulana bags for all the ladies on the team.

We visited Kruger Park a couple of days.


Two groups of rhinos traveled toward each other until there were about nine of them in one place. I think it was a family reunion!


We saw some rare sightings - this is one of the wild dogs. We also saw black-back jackals on our night drive.


It was our first time to see Cheetah! There were three of them finishing off a kill and about 50 vultures standing around waiting for the leftovers.


In between teams, Mirtha, Yudel and Deborah moved to the orphanage. Funds were donated for land and enough to start building a house for them. They are excited and are a great help to the ministry. We miss them!

Two days later a group from The Chapel in Ohio came and Steve went to Zambia. The Chapel has adopted two villages in Gaza. They do ministry in one village one day and then repeat it in the other village the next day. They taught women, leaders and children on the Sermon on the Mount.


Usually they meet under a tree but this day there were some sprinkles.


Maria is an amazing cook using a charcoal fire and she never burns the rice or the xima!


The wise and foolish "men" - Tom and Caleb, our friends.


On Sunday the team attended the wedding of Reginaldo and Olga. We have known Reginaldo for five years as he was one of our microenterprise trainers and then built many chicken houses for the project. He has been saving up for his wedding for about three years. The village leader told us it was the first wedding in the village for 15 years as most people don't go through the formalities. The village was 17 km off the main road - way out in the boonies. We did not see many smiles from them - it is a somber occasion and a sad time for the bride as she leaves her family and joins her husband's family. One of the songs from her family was "bye, bye, ciao ..." which made her cry. It's one of those cultural differences that are hard to understand.

Thankful

We've been back in Mozambique for about a week. Here's a list of things we're thankful for:

1. Blue skies. I love the deep blue skies here and they are rarely covered up by clouds.


2. Cool breezes - It's spring, meaning it is starting to get hot, but it's still very bearable - 80's by day, 60's at night. Nice.

3. Co-workers, friends and church members who seemed happy to have us back.

4. Housemates who were very happy to see us (one reason is that the water pump tank needed fixing!).

5. A sweet 19-mo old at home who is warming up to us again. She's learning so much. Learning to walk, learning three languages, learning what is acceptable and what is not.


6. A sense of newness and refreshment after a nice break.

7. We're thankful the riots from the beginning of the month are over. The government conceded and lowered prices. The question is, how long will this band-aid last and what will happen when prices of bread, utilities, and fuel go up again? The measures they have taken are not economically sustainable. We can also understand the people's frustrations with inflation and not having enough to eat or live well.

8. We had a wonderful time with our kids just before we left. We're thankful they are all doing well. We spent some time on a lake and the last morning before we left it stopped raining. We still had fun and some even went sailing!

















We celebrated all these birthdays at once!









We could also make a list of things that frustrate us, and the challenge is for us to be thankful for those as well.

Time in the U.S.

We've been enjoying our time in the U.S. which is a combination of rest, time with family and church, study and work. Time is going fast but thankfully we have some weeks left.

Here are some pictures of what we've done so far. Actually I need to take one of Steve reading as he has been completing a new book every two days or so.

We've been picking and eating lots of blueberries.








We had a birthday celebration for Steve's Mom.


We helped Joel and Ellen move. (The garage didn't look like this at the end of the day!)


I was getting ready to do my last exam to complete my major in Christian Leadership and Bible. It's nice to be done!



We had fun with nieces and nephews and met our first grand niece.




Here we are at family reunion taking a break on a hike through a beautiful woods.


This is the boat where Janelle does environmental education on the Potomac and the Anacosta Rivers. The kids are dissecting clams here. We had a nice 4-hr trip with her.



We spent a day at the Botanical Gardens, the American Indian and the African Art museums in D.C. I was intrigued with the exhibit on basket making and the videos of African Americans who make and sell baskets made out of sweet grass. There are so many similarities to Africa. It is evident where their roots are! Sadly, we were not allowed to take pictures there. Here are some other shots.










And here is what we saw out of our window in our yard this morning! There were actually three of them.