MozamWeek

I'm always amused by differences in culture. After all these years, I still have moments of surprise thrust upon me. A day last month was a shocker. We laughed out loud at each other. Teacher training events all over the world throw loads of women together. I'm an "along-side" adviser to the presenters. I edit some slides and make sure concepts are getting across to our teachers. I connect projectors and click through the PowerPoint presentation. I'm pretty recognizable and they mostly remember my name since it isn't a hard foreign-sounding one- they are "Djeni" or "Geni" or "Jeny" around here. Dancing with the teachers... the fun part of the job! Lunch hour. I stepped in mud and took off my shoes to clean them. "Formadora Jeni, give me your hips!" A younger teacher around 40 or so is admiring me. Her friend proceeds to tell her that she doesn't need mine since hers are big enough. They giggle and want me to tu...

About a year ago I posted Why read to kids on a pile of rocks in the shade of a thorn tree?   We've come a long way since those days! Not only have we graduated to reed mats, we have also expanded. Yes, Veronica recruited six volunteers in 2016, and we have added several more in 2017 so far!  Each of our newer volunteers is excited to read to kids. They are following the model that Veronica and I worked out as we experimented with our first books.  Talk to adults first.  Gather the kids.  Read stories and talk about what happens.  Meet weekly at a fixed time. The adults often stay for the stories. Some of them can read. Some of them cannot. One thing they are learning is that their children LIKE to read. Books are now a part of their community life! Books are not a foreign thing brought by strangers. These books are THEIR stories in THEIR language.  The bigger storybook version of each title is also really popula...

The kids showed up within 3 minutes of our arrival. Kids on summer vacation left their dusty games in the sand, soccer kicking, and short errands from home. At 9 am, the sun was already high, and after a short 15 minute walk from where we parked the car, I wished I’d brought a bottle of water. Veronica and I greeted the kids and a few adults passing by. Smiles brightened while they talked of Veronica’s Christmas lollipops she gave them before her two-week vacation. There is an easy rapport between her and the kids... and the moms. They led me to the shade tree where they have been meeting a couple times a week for “classes”. It is a tiny spot just off the road. Too small to be anything except a resting place from the sun. Apparently it belongs to someone who plans to build something right there... they mark their ownership by leaving a pile of about 100 bricks under the tree. With thorn bushes growing through the bricks scattered across the area, it looks like they abandoned hope ...

When I was 15, I lived in a small town in Indiana. I had a small circle of friends. I babysat on weekends. I went to basketball games and football games or slumber parties at my friends' houses. I was in 10th grade. I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I knew I'd figure it out eventually. I wasn't in a hurry. Being a kid was pretty good, actually. I had no illusions that growing up meant more freedom. I was free... to be myself... in a loving family... in a safe home... God would grow me up in time. I knew that even then. Last week a 15 year old girl came knocking on my gate. She turned out to be the niece of one of our night watchmen who happened to be off work for a few days. She needed to see him. He didn't answer his phone. She didn't know where he lived. She met him here before... she wasn't from Tete, but another part of the province. Her time in Tete last month was short and she worked at a neighbor's house looking after an elde...

In about one year, we will be heading back to the US and Sweden for our "furlough" or "home period" as it can be known. Our lives have this rhythm of living years in Mozambique and then a year or less in one of our "home countries." Each time we come home, we are faced with a reassessment of our roles in Mozambique. Do we fill a role that is a need? People want to know. WE also want to know! One question I have faced each time we come home is, "What do they really need in Mozambique?" People want to know what ONE thing or KIND of thing is most needed in the country where we work. In the past I've had to respond, "Everything! Just pick something and they probably need it!" I understand this isn't that helpful to someone who wants to seriously make a difference. It isn't helpful to us either. BUT, to be really honest, there is a lot of need in many areas. How can we know if we make a difference? Today I received a link...

One of the occupational side effects of being a missionary is that even when I am home, I am still trying to process my experiences in Mozambique. In some ways I am always connected to the people there. I know that they are still struggling with the same issues they had when I left. They might not be thinking about me, but I am thinking about them! The past two weeks I've been ruminating on an idea to better the lives of Mozambicans in Tete. I'm ready to throw it out now and hear some comments. Problem: Not enough water in poor neighborhoods. Long lines at public water sources. People feeling the only solution is to wash clothes and bathe in the River. Many suffer crocodile attacks! This is documented by the local surgeon who sews up more than one victim a week. Idea: Keeping your family clean shouldn't be a matter of life and death! Starting a "laundry" may be an answer for some people. A place with a water source, shade, tanks for scrubbing, a safe place for kid...