Be Still- First Few Weeks in Mozambique

BE STILL

Here is my first blog being here in Mozambique. I spent the first few weeks getting ready to travel and learning the culture and how to get around. I also worked with an organization called Masana that is doing amazing things with street kids. I hope to continue to be a part of that when I get back to Maputo city in a few weeks. Right now, I’m traveling and seeing all the different programs that Samaritan’s Purse is doing within Mozambique. Here is a little of what I’ve been doing, seeing, and learning. Forgive me too…focusing on my grammar and spelling was the least of my worries in writing all of this. Bare with me.

I just had a hard last week… but one that will never leave me and has brought so much richness to my life. I was picked up at my hotel on Tuesday morning and taken to a remote village called, Muane. I was told that I would be working with a Mozambican man who speaks English… but when that man was driving me even further into the middle of nowhere he said he wouldn’t be staying and that I would be working with a local Mozambican from the village area that helped run the program, “Orphans and Vulnerable Children” and who spoke ZERO English. So I said, “Ok, lord… I trust you.” I got there and set up my tent and put my bags inside it and asked if my things were safe and he said, “These are Christian people… they would never steal.” I took that with a grain of salt and carried my important things with me wherever I went that day. But soon learned that that was a true statement. So I was left with a joyful Mozambican man and three women from the village… none of which spoke English. I had eaten a banana that morning and then quickly ate a small apple and some peanuts I had bought off the street a few days before. Then I left my tent to meet them. When I got there, my friend said “Vamos” and smilled at me. I knew that meant, “Let’s go”. Where? I had no idea. Haha. It was kind of fun that way.

So, each woman grabbed a bag of something and put it on their head and I watched with amazement and skepticism ( like it was a scam.. like they all had strings around their chins to hold things on their head ) as they walked completely normal, balancing heavy things… At one point one lady even grabbed my Capulana (which is basically a big piece of cloth to wrap around like a long skirt) from around my waste, tightened, and jerked me around until it was on better… all the while keeping the giant bag of rice balanced on her head… WHAT?!! I was amazed. I was also worried it was going to fall on me.

So we began to walk… and walk.. and walk. It was flipping hot and I had one small bottle of water that I had to ration for the entire day. But I would never complain when I had three strong African women carrying twice my load and usually with a baby on their back. They never even acted as though it was hard for them to do.. Probably bc they do it every single day. And bc they’re awesome.

As we were walking, I couldn’t believe how beautiful and peaceful it was around me. The village was like a little African Utopia ( as far as what it looked like…bc there was definitely suffering ). Each family had their own little area with a stick built hut, a little outdoor kitchen, fruit trees, on swept-up sand, in a palm tree jungle. I couldn’t find any trash anywhere and the ground was spotless. I learned later that every morning they take a palm leaf and sweep the ground on their land. They did a darn good job. And throughout the entire village, there were sand trails. So the people walked everywhere in and through people’s homes and no one seemed to care. It was like they were all family and they could walk in and out. I LOVED it.

We finally stopped at a house with an older woman and three little kids. I then realized what we were doing. We were actually delivering food to vulnerable children. We sat down and the woman made sure we had something to sit on and then they began to talk. My friend talked to them mostly.. talking to the older woman, and to the kids. They were speaking in Portuguese and probably another dialect too so I had no idea what they were saying. I did my best to understand what was going on and to pick up on any words I might recognize. Then Lino would look at me and explain.. all in Portuguese.. and somehow I understood what was happening. Kind of crazy. I didn’t understand details ( like whether that was their mom and she couldn’t care for the kids.. or if this woman had taken in orphans ) but I did understand what we were doing there. And that was enough for me.

After we gave the kids food and they sat there just holding it and looking at us.. the older woman started to cry. It was hard not to cry with her. I didn’t even know why exactly she was crying… I just was sad for her and cried too. I held her hand for a minute and looked at her and just spoke English and tried to speak through my facial expressions and she seemed to understand that I just wanted to tell her I was sorry and it will be ok. That was just the first house.

We ended up walking that day for 4 ½ hours ( so even though I had eaten hardly anything.. I was glad I decided to eat what I did before we left )… and then 5 hours the next day. Delivering food to kids that need it.. in the hot sun. At the end of the day, my feet were filthy, I smelled like a gym bag, and I had blisters on my feet from walking so far.

Some families were really joyful and laughed and kissed my cheeks and others were really quiet, rarely smiled, and seemed grateful in their desperation. I took pictures and the camera actually helped them laugh some bc they were pretty camera shy and it would make them laugh. I was just grateful they weren’t offended I was taking pictures of their lives.

The thing I really loved about this program is that Samaritan’s Purse trains local people in the community how to care for the kids. Most of the orphans now live with a local family and are given school supplies for their education, food, and medical attention if needed. They even teach the local people how to care for them psychosocially. They would ask the women caring for them if the child was playing, interacting with other kids, being active, etc. and if they weren’t, they would do exercises with them and help them in that area. It was pretty awesome. And I was so glad it was the local people doing it.. bc I think empowerment is key.

I really loved the program and the people and the place I got to stay for a week. And I was glad I did bc my living situation was hard and the language barrier was exhausting. I lived in a tent in the middle of Africa and camped with a Mozambican man who had a tent on the other side of the campsite.. in a village where I knew no one. I was in the middle of nowhere with people I did not know, in a culture I was unfamiliar with, an area I was unfamiliar with, food I was unfamiliar with, and I didn’t speak the language. If I had to pee in the middle of the night, I had to really think it through bc if I opened my tent that meant bugs would get in and then I would have to walk through the bush to get to the “long drop” toilet. …… which isnt a toilet, its a dirt hole in the ground….in the dark. After a while, I didn’t have a shower of course either. But there was a woman cooking for my Mozambican friend and I that lived in a hut down the road and everyday.. she would put a bucket of cold water, and a bucket of hot water in this little enclosed stick hut area with some giant green leaves. Haha. When I first walked in I was like.. what the heck do I do with those leaves?! And the hot water was just boiled so I could barely touch it. But I knew it was clean so I wanted to use that bucket. So I just started trying different ways to bath.. with two buckets of water and some leaves… and no soap. Haha. I laughed at myself A LOT. I was grateful for sweet Regina for giving me something to bath with.. no matter how difficult it was for me. Bc I was so dirty that if I ran my fingers through my hair and on my scalp, black dirt grease would get under my fingernails.. haha I was nasty! And my feet hurt so bad that the cold water was literally like heaven on them.

I also was fed three meals a day. Breakfast consisted of some sort of meal that was so heavy I would probably not even eat for dinner if I had to choose. SO MUCH FOOD! Cassava, with chicken or sometimes fish, and salad with onions and tomatoes, and chima which is basically corn meal ( or thick mashed potatoes ) with “chips” which are large greasy French fries. And then usually half a papaya… and those suckers are big! That was just breakfast. Then lunch was basically the same except they would add rice and more meat. Then dinner was the same. And they kept saying “ EAT, EAT!” I got to a point where I wanted to stand up and say “ stop making me eat! I want to throw up!!!!” but it was rude not to eat it so I just did my best to not throw up haha. And I def had a time or two when I really thought I might.. my stomach was not happy. At least there was no gluten!! J And at least I was walking ALL day long. I was also extremely grateful that I had food and was being cooked for and cared for every single day. Regina did not have to do that. So grateful.

The language barrier was probably the most difficult part for me. That or the fact that they were constantly trying to give me things… when they were the ones in need… and they wanted to make sure I was happy and watched everything I did. I always was being watched. So I always had to be “ON’ even if I felt sick I had to put a smile on my face and keep going bc I couldn’t communicate that I was feeling ill. At one point I just went in my tent and didn’t come out for a while before lunch and when I came out I just pointed to my stomach like I was sick.. but then they wouldn’t leave me alone about that haha. It was difficult. I think had I been able to speak the language I could have explained myself and not felt trapped to doing everything they told me to do. I wanted to tell them to give the food to people in the village.. and I tried.. but they didn’t understand, they would just say eat eat! Haha

My Mozambican friend wanted to learn English probably more than I wanted to learn Portuguese…. And I wanted to learn it badly!! So we would try and teach eachother. But sometimes I would ask a question and he would say ok, ok. Yea. Ok. And shake his head yes… when I had asked him how many children he had… in Portuguese!! I clearly wasn’t asking right haha. And if I spoke in English, he would just repeat every word I said.. not even knowing what it meant. In the middle of my sentence he would be repeating every word I said. Hilarious. We would also have other moments where we would just die laughing bc we didn’t understand anything the other one was saying or I wouldn’t do something right. There was lots of laughter… mostly at me. Haha they loved me and I loved them.. it was just so hard to communicate or understand anything!! Sometimes we would understand eachother ( mostly if I spoke in spanish really slowly ) and it was always such an accomplishment.. like id just finished a marathon and was so relieved to be done. Haha.

But spiritually, and emotionally.. I was really being moved and softened. Which is what I had been praying for. I learned and am continuing to learn things from the Lord through these awesome people. But the thing that stuck out the most was the idea of “Being still” and knowing that God is God….

This place I had the privilege of being apart of was so calm. Everything about it. There were no cars, no outside noises, no stress… and the people were just calm. I couldn’t understand it at first. There was so much need there, orphans everywhere and people that were injured and needed medical attention, people that were sick and hungry, people caring for more people than they could handle….. but they were calm. They were still. They weren’t freaking out that they didn’t have what they needed that day. They just knew that God was God and He would provide for them. They were proactive and found food and farmed what they could and did their best to care for themselves and everyone else around them. But they didn’t force anything. They didn’t ask anything of me, they didn’t beg, they didn’t steal, they just were good stewards of what they were given and were patient that God cared for them and had a plan. He took care of them. Every house had a fruit tree of some sort ( GOOD fruit too ) a lot of times they weren’t ripe enough or were bad so they couldn’t eat them. But to me, it was evidence that God provides for His people.. no matter where they are. Everything was just calm. Even the animals…they would just let their steers, pigs, goats, and chickens roam free and they wouldn’t go anywhere. They would just graze and be calm , like they were house dogs or something.. It was crazy. I started to think how America gets so stressed out when we don’t have what we “need” so we take it upon ourselves to control the situation, and get what we need.  ( And  I understand we need to take care of ourselves and do our best to be proactive..but letting go is what I’m talking about ). These people cant do that. They can only do what they can with what they are given but beyond that, they HAVE to trust the Lord. They cant depend on anything else. So they give up control to Him and let Him do His job of caring and providing for them. Sometimes the need is still there.. and might be for a long time. But they still just choose to “Be still, and know that God is God”. It makes for such a peaceful place.. even when there is so much desperation. I really can’t explain it except that it was still, and peaceful. God was so present bc He was in control…the people let Him have control. I want to live like that. I want to depend on the Lord for everything and let go so that I can have that kind of peace. I want to be still. And I believe God is teaching me how to do that. I came across this verse that fits the description of this village so much…

“ The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free”.

                                                -Isaiah 32:17-20

I didn’t look into the context of that verse.. but just reading it like that.. fits the description perfectly. There will be hard, tragic times, but we will be blessed if we have the Lord. There is peace even when things are so difficult and needs are everywhere… bc God is God. I’m learning to be still.

This is one of the many things I’m learning here in Mozambique. And ive left out so many details. But I can only write so much. There could be so much more to discuss even in that verse alone, but right now… I this is where I am. I just got to live in a remote village with African people seeing God do amazing things through people that are willing to be His hands and feet… I am beyond blessed to be here. I miss comfort…and my family and friends, but I’ve also missed Africa.

Here are some pictures :)