MozamWeek

Crossing the Zambezi River Bridge today, I gave out about 10 "Stick together" books. The line was slow, so we sounded out the words through my open window. There are always kids selling peanuts in the bridge line. They laughed. The one kid who could read continued to sound out words and the others grinned. I could move on. He's leading his little reading group now. They love it! You know how it makes you feel when you give just the right gift? You notice that the person really lights up and knows that you thought of them when choosing it. I'm not a particularly gifted gift-giver, but I've been able to make a lot of kids smile this past year. That makes me happy! I am so thankful for the part I can play in making someone's day! I'm not the one handing out books most days... I might be editing text or organizing shipping. Some days our team discusses strategy for reaching a new area. Some days my team leader, Veronica, and I discuss how best to monitor o

In a recent school visit here in Mozambique, I was reminded again of our precarious place in this broken world. In the "west" (North America and Europe, basically), we take pride in having things pretty much together. We like to think that hard work and common sense reward us with health and justice and happiness. It often works out that way, at least we think so... at least on the surface it appears to be true. Our world is much more global now, and this brings tremendous benefits of networking across cultures and languages and geography in ways not even imagined 50 years ago. We often think of the benefits to the "non-west" (also called global south or developing countries, etc.). We see that they have access to information at the touch of a screen... they can see and hear things from halfway around the world. They can translate information into a language they understand (mostly) with the click of a button. They can see new technologies that will change their