MozamWeek

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 ...

Yesterday, around 7:00 am, I unlocked my front door to greet the already hot world outside. We've been moved into this new place for weeks, but everything is still pretty disorganized. I was expecting my maid to return from her two-week vacation. My phone was dead and hers had been on the blink, so I had some doubts if she'd show up. But, there she was, with a smile on her face and a bundle of joy in her arms. "Oh, you had a baby!" I exclaimed. "Come on in." She hadn't told me she was pregnant. I was going to bring up the subject about a month ago when I saw she was gaining weight... mostly around the middle, but she's never been thin. We were packing for our move, and she was missing work for final exams at adult ed. I saw no hurry to bring it up before the new year. Oops. I was wrong! Each momentous event changes lives around me and hits me with conflicting emotion. Joy. Relief. Confusion. Pain. Regret. Concern. Respect. Anger. Humility. Conce...

I can list all the upheavals and setbacks and bumps in the road. Honestly, we have our share. I can list them for you to feel somehow that I am deserving of your sympathy or pity or help. I can throw all the ugly truth out there for everyone to see just what we go through around here. But really, that isn't the way I live my life. I am dependent on God's provision through his people... and even through people who don't recognize they are used by Him. I've had to ask for money and it feels pretty crappy. I've had to wait a week or two or more to follow through on plans I've made. They are good plans. They aren't even selfish plans! But it isn't up to me to make them happen in the end.  So, what do I men when I say that God provides? And what do I mean when I say that I must depend? And what do I mean when I say that I don't make lists of all the rotten breaks in this life?  I guess I mean that there is peace. Again and again I am thr...

Thank you for paying your taxes. Thank you for allowing your tax money to fund projects in Africa. Thank you for publishing 18 little stories that are given to kids in many schools in Mozambique. Did you know that your tax money is helping to teach teachers to teach kids to read in one of the poorest countries in the world? This is what I would do if I had more money, contacts and influence here. Congratulations! Please be careful about asking your government to stop providing aid to foreign countries to keep the money at home. I know people in America need help, too. You live next door to them. Do something about it. Respectfully, Jeni... a missionary living down the street from starving families in Africa.

All of the traditional titles of our children's books have been welcomed in Nyungwe communities. We now have new parable books to share in churches, but some traditional stories have also been used to introduce Biblical lessons about loyalty and compassion and friendship. All except for one Little Zebra story. "Ona Ico" has been a little bit of a tough seller for schools- a violent ending. The message is great and the illustrations are modern and clever, but getting this Nyungwe story used is difficult. Until now... God is good... and Chris Nalls puts it to good use in his ministry here with Nyungwe believers. The message of "not going it alone" because we leave ourselves exposed to all kinds of dangers comes through.  This little book is being used to encourage new believers to meet together and grow in faith. How wonderful to see God orchestrate meaningful use of a tricky little storybook. We are reminded of that very lesson the story teaches: we do better ...

I have been a frustrated literacy specialist for about 15 years. I'll just admit it. I haven't ever taught anyone to read. I never have claimed to teach, but to train trainers and develop materials and to research how two very different languages can be used in education of some very special people in a very difficult situation. Now that it is out in the open, I can get on with it. I believe that my impact on a community can only make a difference if I can replicate my initiatives. I talk a lot about literacy and materials in Nyungwe and about using Nyungwe to teach reading. I believe that we only learn well when we can relate new information to something we already know. Theories sometimes describe these as hooks or scaffolding to connect new info with our own experiences. On Monday, I stepped into a Mozambican classroom in a Mozambican school with Mozambican students for the first time. I am grateful for a school director and a district administration that trust me with a...

I have a hard time keeping up the pace of "real" work when my kids are home from school. This past week was their half-term break. This coincided with the national elections in Mozambique, so there was plenty of reason to leave paperwork behind and find something else to do together. I have a good friend here in Tete who is blessed with a Mennonite background (like mine) and an air-conditioned kitchen (unlike mine). So when I got a text asking if I wanted to "do donuts" during half-term break, I knew it would be a great chance for some healthy mom-and-kid activity. (In my childhood dialect of northern Indiana, "doing donuts" can refer to "cutting kitties" -- spinning cars around on icy parking lots or the like.) She suggested  this recipe  which she has used in the past. I've not made donuts since I was a little girl in Indiana, as far as I can remember. At least not any that were as memorable as grandma's. Here is my photo documentat...