I teach a Sunday School class at our local church.  I teach it, but I often wonder if many of the children learn anything.  Why?  Because I teach it in Portuguese, and most of these children speak only Makua.

“Well, that doesn’t make any sense.” You say.  You’re right.  It doesn’t!  So why am I standing up there blathering away about God creating the earth and such, in a language these kids don’t speak very much of?  Their parents want me to.

First I ought to explain some things about Mozambique.  There are over 60 tribal languages, though the “trade language” is Portuguese.  When I go to town, I could walk around for a long time before I found anyone who spoke English, and many of the conversations are going on in Portuguese.  It would be easy for a visitor to assume that everyone here speaks fluent Portuguese and would be just as comfortable in Portugal or Brazil as they are here.  However, that is not the case at all.  Among ALL of the people here (except perhaps a small subset), Portuguese is their second language.  There are actually millions of people in Mozambique who speak no or almost no Portuguese at all.  These are the folks out in the villages.  If I wanted to go out and speak to a group of women in a village just 10 miles outside of town, I’d need a translator.  In fact, right here in Nampula I frequently meet women who speak very little Portuguese.  I’ve actually had women in the market stare at me panic-stricken when I’ve asked them a question like “Where did you buy that?”.  They don’t know what I am saying.

There are quite a few men whose Portuguese is not so hot, either, but the level of the women tends to be lower.  Why?  Because for many children, Portuguese is first learned in school and not before.  Since girls are less likely to go to school or stay in school, they are more likely to speak only their tribal language.

This is the problem in Sunday School.  There are a lot of younger children who have not even gone to school yet, so they haven’t learned much Portuguese.  At home and with their friends, they speak Makua.  And there’s nothing wrong with that.

So, why do the church leaders insist that the children must be taught in Portuguese?  Because Portuguese is the language of the church.  Missionaries who come in rarely learn the tribal languages (after spending 2 years learning Portuguese, the idea of learning yet another language is daunting – let’s get to work instead!).  Pastors who go away to Bible School always learn in Portuguese (too many languages, we’ve got to pick one that everyone speaks).  Courses and seminars are always given in Portuguese for those same reasons.  Because of this, the “religious words” that people learn are all in Portuguese.  There probably isn’t even a word for “redemption” in Makua.  One could be invented, surely, but at this point people use Portuguese words.  All the Bible helps are in Portuguese, all the good Bibles, all the educated people in the city work in Portuguese.  To have a Portuguese-speaking church is a major status symbol.

Therefore, to give the children a good basis in “churchiness” and in religious instruction, they must be taught in Portuguese.  Eventually they’ll learn it, and doubtless it will be a help to them in school and such.  But meanwhile, these kids just stare at me blankly when I ask a question.  Part of the problem here may be that Makua children are not taught to speak to adults.  They learn by observation, not by discussion.  So, when I ask a question, even a child who understands will be reluctant to volunteer an answer.  But mostly, they just don’t know what I am talking about.  Last week, I asked the children who created the world.  Blank stares from 15 children.  We had had literally 10 lessons on who created the world.  But very few of them had understood anything.  I wanted to sink down on the ground and bury my face in my hands.  Finally, I dragged the answer out of one of the four children that I knew understood.  “God”, he whispered.

I’m meeting with the wife of the leader of the church this week and tendering my resignation.  Not out of spite, not out of frustration, but out of a simple belief that I am not the best teacher for these kids.  They need someone who speaks Makua, someone who can give a quick translation from the Portuguese when needed.  And the church won’t look for more teachers unless they are forced to.  So, I’m forcing them by withdrawing to the sidelines and offering to train teachers, but refusing to teach.

If I had my way, all of the teaching would be in Makua.  Unfortunately, it is not likely that this will happen.  It is also hard to find teachers in my little church . . . the ladies who could help with the teaching don’t read or write, and therefore can’t read the Sunday school materials that are written in Portuguese (which they also don’t speak very well).  The men are all busy with teaching the adults, except for one man who is involved in teaching the kids.  But he’ll need help.  Keep them in your prayers and let’s see what God does! And by the way, we do plan to learn Makua, starting after we return from our home assignment next year.  It is an extremely difficult language, so it will take some time to reach proficiency. – C

Last week was a big one at our house.  Two pastors traveled five hours by minibus taxi to stay with us all week and train the six chosen TEE monitors.  Each of these six will begin teaching their own classes soon, in teams of two, and needed to be trained in how to run a TEE class.  These classes are discussion-based, not lecture-based, which is a completely different model than what each of these men grew up with.  Training them to work in this different format is challenging, but they seem to really enjoy the new ideas and format.

Pastor Campos and Pastor Mala are the two men who traveled from Mocuba to do the trainings, and each of them has a great deal of experience in teaching TEE and running a program.  The TEE program in Mocuba is about 10 years old and has over 1,200 students!  So, they had a lot of share and put together a great program for our guys, which lasted from 8-5 daily from Monday to Wednesday.  They had actually planned to teach until Friday, but found the men already trained in some areas, and told Kevin that he had “cleaned the field” well.  These two pastors stayed in our guest room and were so pleasant to have as guests.  One day, I decided to feed all of the men pancakes for lunch, and they loved them!  It was fun to share our differing cultures and there was a lot of discussion and laughter on many topics.  We commented on how difficult their tribal language of Macua is, and they responded that English is much harder!

For Kevin, the week was a realization of a dream come true.  See his blog for more on that.  It was exciting for our whole family to see the start of the real work, which will be done by Mozambicans, for Mozambicans.  We hope to see more and more people come to know and understand God better through these six men, and can’t wait to see what God will do with them, and with others who will be trained, in the years to come. – C

Back in November, Kevin took a very exciting trip with the six men that he is training to become TEE monitors. Unfortunately, he didn’t take any photos, so a description will have to suffice.

As part of their training, Kevin wanted to take the guys out to a bush location so that they could teach others what they had learned about the book of Genesis (which was the TEE book they did together in the second part of last year).  They wanted to go somewhere where they could have a variety of denominations meeting (enmity between denominations is a big problem here) and really have a group of people eager to hear more about the Bible.  They chose Iapala, a location about 150 Kms from Nampula, because no one ever goes out there to encourage the Christians.

Kevin borrowed equipment to show various films while they were out there, and a trailer to put it in, and hooked it all up and pulled out on a Thursday afternoon.  He picked up all the guys, and they drove about 3 hours, over a rough dirt track, to Iapala.  That night, they slept in a tent together (which the guys really thought was interesting – both the sleeping in a tent and sharing accommodation with a white guy) and the next morning the teachings began.  Each of the men had prepared 1 ½ hours worth of teaching, and most of the teachings had about 50 people in attendance. They showed a movie each night, with 300 to 400 attending each night. They showed the History of the Bible, Story of Paul, and the Jesus film.

The church that hosted the event is one that broke away from another major denomination last year, and as a result of this, no one from the other churches wanted to go into their mud-brick building.  Yet another example of denominationalism!  It was sad to all of the guys to see this, and annoying to Kevin as the heads of those other denominations had promised to send their people.  However, the local church did a great job of providing food for Kevin and the guys, and they were provided with three meals a day of cornmeal mush, often topped with beans.  Kevin was glad to eat something else when he came back!  It was a major sacrifice for those out in the village to provide all of this food, and an example of how hospitable many Mozambicans are, as well as how eager to hear about the Bible.

The only catch in the whole weekend?  One of the guys helpfully locked up our truck, not realizing that the keys were inside.  The only other set were with me, three hours away in Nampula.  A young man with a car in a nearby town was sent to pick up the keys, and unfortunately he saw it as an opportunity to get an entire tank of gas free, instead of just the amount he actually used while driving.  It was interesting to see, however, how the guys took on the responsibility for the bad behavior of their countryman.  Normally, the white man/foreigner would be expected to cough up all the money requested, no matter how unfair the claim.  But the guys told Kevin he didn’t owe anything, and signed a paper promising to pay the young man what he requested.  Of course, we did put in quite a bit of the money later rather than see the families of these guys go hungry to pay this amount, but they genuinely desired to handle this themselves.

Kevin returned on Sunday afternoon, tired but happy.  The thing had really been a success, and it was a great opportunity for the guys to stretch their teaching muscles, and for Kevin to observe in what areas they needed refinement and encouragement.  The believers in Iapala were sincerely grateful for the visit and the teaching, and another step taken in creating an independent TEE program in Nampula province. – C

We have been so blessed every year to go to Malawi for some time away. The stresses of living here really get to you after awhile, and once you start to become really grumpy with people asking you for money, or being late, or the power going off and on, then you know it is time to get away.  God has provided us with very cheap accommodation each year, and we’ve been grateful to have time with friends and alone as a family. And two major bonuses:  Malawi is English-speaking, and much cooler than Mozambique!

Here’s a photo of a place we spend a lot of time at in Blantyre, the second-largest city.  It has a big store that sells toys and household items, as well as electronics and plastic storage boxes and all kinds of things!  We are always excited to go to this store and we go up and down all of the aisles and look at everything three or four times. The kids are especially excited to see the toys, though the prices of these toys are really amazing.  This year, Toby wanted to spend some of his Christmas money on four Hot Wheels cars.  Price tag?  $50.  I am not kidding.  I told him no way, that grandma would send him some that she can buy for $2 each.  In the end, both kids got some things that they really liked and Kevin and I bought some things near and dear to our hearts:  Me, a plastic salad dressing mixing bottle, and Kevin, plastic storage boxes for his tools!

We also took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda at the new movie theater there.  We have seen the movie quite a few times already on our little DVD player with the 8 inch screen, but watching it on the big screen was amazing!  It was Ben’s first movie ever, and Toby and I hadn’t been to the movies since we left the USA three years ago (Kevin went once in Kenya).  Wow, movies are powerful.

In Blantyre, we also bought new tires for our car, which were desperately needed and hadn’t been found in Nampula.  When Kevin showed the tire salesman our old tires, he looked horrified and we were so glad to get new ones, thanks to a generous supporter!  We also went to the dentist (clean bill of health)
and I got new glasses. It was also fun to visit a large African church that was more like the American churches we know (with sound system, large building, worship singing, a 3-point sermon).  We are used to sitting in a small mud-brick building for church services, and listening to sermons that are usually not quite on the mark, so it was great to hear some real teaching.

After Blantyre, we spent four days near Zomba mountain and traveled up the mountain on two of those days to do some hiking and viewing off the mountain. Oh, it was so beautiful and green up there. We picnicked and walked in the woods and just soaked in the cool green.

From there, we went up to Lake Malawi for a week, where we spent Christmas Day with two other families, dear friends who are working in western Mozambique and came over to join us at the lake.  It was great to spend time talking, laughing and sharing with them and the kids had a great time.  There were 7 boys and one girl, and there was a great deal of swimming and running around the large yard.  Christmas Day was totally different than in America, with only one very small gift opened in the privacy of our room, and stockings for the kids to open (other gifts had been opened before – don’t worry, the kids got plenty!).  We had a Christmas service with singing and the Christmas story, then spent the rest of the day swimming, caring for those who had come down with malaria, fixing the car, and grilling pork ribs and fish caught by the guys in our group.  The next morning, we all packed up, said goodbye, and headed home.  It was a great vacation and we were so thankful for the much-needed break.  It is on trips like these that we remember who we are and can refocus and think about the coming year.  There is always the stress of travel in Africa, like bad roads (almost all dirt roads on the twelve-hour trip home), border crossings and dealing with difficult police, stress of costs and things that need to be purchased, and the danger of criminals who prey on out-of-towners, but God really watched over us and kept us safe. It was a wonderful time of refreshment. -C

Every year, all the AIM missionaries working in Northern Mozambique get together for the German Chocolate Retreat.  Why is it called this?  At the first meeting, some years ago, one of our German colleagues brought chocolate and it was unanimously agreed that German chocolate should be consumed every year.  At that time, there was hardly any unmoldy chocolate to be found in northern Moz, so it was a super special treat.  These days, we are more spoiled but still rarely enjoy that kind of quality chocolate, so it is appreciated by all.

This year, 31 adults and 8 children gathered in Nacala, on the coast, for a few days of fellowship and fun in November.  No business meetings are allowed, and the only serious part of the retreat is spiritual encouragement and prayer.  We enjoy our time with our colleagues so much, and it is great to hear how their ministries and personal lives are going, and what they have experienced during the year. Many people from other missions have told us how lucky we are that our leadership feels this time of fellowship is important, and we agree.  It really helps to bond us together, and it is so necessary to have that family feeling when you are working in a place like Northern Mozmbique.

Here’s a photo of the guys enjoying the water.

And some of the ladies chatting.

Here’s the kids having sunday school with Miss Jennifer.

We enjoyed the time together so much, and thanks to our colleague Inge, who is on home assignment in Germany, for sending out the chocolate! – C

A miracle!  This week at a nearby mission compound (not our mission), my documents, credit and bank cards, photos and some of my house keys were found?  They had all been put into a plastic bag and thrown over the wall where they would be found by those living inside. How in the world did they know these would get back to me?  Well, likely they looked inside my residence visa, which says “missionary” and knew that lots of missionaries live at this particular compound.

Hooray!  A dear friend found them and called me and and we all did the dance of happiness at our house.  This saves all kinds of hassles and money, and puts us out of the danger of not being able to procure all that we need.  I was a little perturbed to see that I only received back a few of my house keys, though.  THankfully they were the keys to the front and back doors and padlocks, which seems very strange.  Kevin thinks that perhaps they kept those other keys to use on interior locks of houses they break into.  I don’t know – anyway, I’m glad to have what I got.

Why did they give the stuff back?  Well, in asking around I got various theories.  A missionary colleague who has been here over 15 years tells me that in years past, you always got your documents back.  The thief wasn’t interested in them and would simply throw them down somewhere, and the police would find them and return them.  These days, they are more likely to be burned so as not to leave a trail.  One Mozambican suggested that the people feel kindly toward missionaries and wanted to “help” by returning my documents.  Someone else refused to answer when I asked, and looked nervous.  This makes me think that perhaps the thief is afraid of me – afraid that I will put some kind of curse on him for stealing my purse.  Another person suggested that the thief didn’t return anything, but someone else found my things and threw them in a place where they knew I would get them, and did this to be nice.

Whatever reason, we are thrilled.  Nampula is a city of almost a million people, not a small town, so my hopes of seeing these things again were very low.  Thanks to God for His mercy toward us in this thing!  Of course, we’d rather not be robbed.  But these things do happen.  We feel so thankful that it has ended in a way that minimizes the difficulties for us.  All praise to Him!  – C

Do you know what an inselberg is?  Well, just look at the photos and you will see some.

Here is a definition I found online:  An inselberg is a prominent, steep-sided hill made of resistant solid rock, such as granite, rising out of a plain, usually in a tropical area.  Its rounded appearance is caused by weathering, in which the surface is eroded in successive layers.  Ayers Rock in Australia is an example.

Nampula is surrounded by these kinds of rocks and you find them all over this area for hundreds of kilometers.  They really are so interesting and when flying over in a plane it looks like a giant just hurled all these enormous stones in all directions.  I’ll include a few photos here for you to enjoy.  Kevin and Toby have climbed one of these outside of town several times and enjoyed the view.  Some of them are MASSIVE!  Like a mountain, really, but a large piece of stone. In various places, the sides of them are being quarried (often by hand) and the pieces of granite sold for construction.  I would not want to be the guy who is trying to chip away that mountain. -C

The last two days we have been enjoying some very interesting guests.  Katrin (German) and Monika (Austrian) are missionary nurses who work in a bush location teaching a team of people how to use local plants to treat illnesses, wounds, and skin problems.  They use papaya, Neem, Moringa, Onion, Hot Peppers, and many other plants. Most of these are indigenous plants, though some have been brought in.  They also use a particular plant, Artemesia, to prevent and treat Malaria, and we have been using this in our home for a couple of years as our malaria preventative.

ANAMED, Action for Natural Medicine, is an organization that has developed materials which teach how to use all of these plants in Africa to do all these things as well as how to make soap and other basic items.

Kevin asked our friends to come and give a seminar for his students, since he likes to give them a variety of tools to improve their lives and understand the world around them better.  Almost all of them came, and I could see, watching them, that they were very interested in the material.  Did you know that onion has antibiotic properties?  That papaya is good to treat diarrhea?  That hot pepper cream can be used for arthritis? The two men that Katrin and Monika brought with them were the ones who actually led the seminar, which was especially valuable, because they were able to communicate in a manner more understandable to the students, and because the students could see that WE can do it.  Often, if a foreigner does something, people think “Well, that is well and good for YOU, but WE can’t do that.”  They could see that these pleasant gentlemen were well versed in herbal and plant treatments, and could prepare all of the tinctures, creams and syrups themselves.  At the end of the two-day seminar, people crowded around the table to buy the creams and crushed leaves, which sell for from 75 cents a packet to twelve cents a packet. Very cheap.  More importantly, they left with knowledge to help themselves in treating basic illnesses.

We hope that the information presented will be passed on to others, and most of all that the students will begin to understand that they can help themselves rather than depending on the system here to take care of them (which it tries to do, but often fails at).  God has provided so many wonderful things for us to use to help ourselves – it is truly astonishing!  Good job, Kevin, in bringing this information to your students.  And thank you Katrin and Monika for driving five hours in from the bush, dragging all your materials.  And also to Vasco and Vincente for your hard work and great job you did in teaching.  – C

Well, something happened to me this week that I was just waiting for.  Theft is pretty common around here, and sooner or later pretty much every missionary has something stolen.  My parents were here in April, and during their visit my mom and I were in town.  As we got into our truck, a man came to my window and gestured frantically toward the back, and someone thumped on the back bumper.  This is a ploy to get you to exit your vehicle hurridly, leaving your valuables open to theft in the front seat of the car (usually your purse).  Having heard about this from other missionaries, and having already had it tried on me twice before, I simply smiled at him and yelled “thief!”.  He gave me a disgusted look and walked away, and as we drove away, I commented to my mom: “Well, we didn’t “get it” this time, but one of these days I am going to make a mistake and let down my guard, and I am going to ‘get it’.”

This was my week.  I left my purse on the floor of the front seat on a quiet street in town while I ran in for just a minute to pick up Ben from preschool.  While I was coming out, we heard the alarm going off, but didn’t see anything.  As we entered the car, I noticed that the back door on the other side of the car was unlocked and saw that my purse was gone from the front.  They had smashed the small window in the back, put an arm in to unlock the door, jumped in and grabbed the bag.  I pushed Ben into the truck, and jumped in the driver’s seat, and we took off to find the perpetrator!  Of course, he was long gone and we drove up and down the streets in vain. Ben thought it was all very exciting.

In my purse was my driver’s licenses (International and New York), credit card (now canceled), bank cards, my identification document with my Mozambique visa (critical for a foreigner in Moz), my wallet, cell phone and house keys.  All of those things are replaceable, for which I am very grateful.  There was less than $10 in the purse, so there was no great financial loss.  There will be the costs and hassle of replacing all those documents, and we’d appreciate prayers that it all comes through before we leave for Malawi on December 5th.  The cell phone was a cheapie, but it is a pain to lose all my numbers!  It is the house keys that worry me the most.  We’ve changed the outside padlocks, but it is harder and much more expensive to replace all the interior locks and outside door locks.  Lost my Leatherman utility knife too.  😦

Of course, there is that icky feeling one gets when one has been a victim of a crime.  Your personal effects are now in the hands of a “bad guy” and your dear family photos from your wallet are thrown in a garbage can somewhere.  He has your organ donor card and your name and photo on your driver’s license.  It is is not a pleasant feeling.  However, I don’t have that feeling of anger and helplessness that I expected I would feel.  Maybe because I figured it would happen sooner or later, and I’m thankful that I didn’t have a bunch of cash, my PDA, or anything dear to me in that bag!

I spent the afternoon at two different police stations, which really did a number on my back.  I’ve been having back problems and finally feeling a bit better, but three hours of sitting on wooden chairs has set me back quite a bit.  The police were quite friendly and pleasant, however, though one asked quite pointedly if I were married and if I live with my husband and wanted me to teach him English. Sorry buddy, not interested.  Reports were filled out in longhand, to the tune of an hour per report (3 reports).  I was given a paper to show that my documents were stolen, to help procuring new ones (no help for USA documents, since it is in Portuguese!  And I was told to report to the police investigations unit on Tuesday to see what they’ve found.  I have no hope of seeing my bag again, though I do hope that somehow my documents will be recovered and maybe even the house keys.  There is so much petty crime here, though, that the police are completely overwhelmed and unless a bribe is paid, usually nothing is done.   So, we’ll begin the process of replacing everything.

I am so grateful that if I was going to “get it”,it was in this manner. No violence, no fear, nothing irreplaceable taken.  Enjoy your new Leatherman knife, Mr. Criminal. – C

I wanted to post a photo of one of the political posters here, but Kevin thinks it wouldn’t be wise – people can get into trouble in Africa for talking about politics!  But here in Mozambique things are pretty calm.

On Wednesday, national elections were held. The current president was running again (he has served one five-year term, and is allowed to serve three terms) as well as two others, and for weeks before we saw trucks full of campaigners cruising around shouting and playing loud music.  Groups of people wearing their party colors and chanting walked up and down the streets, and it was all quite interesting!

Election day itself was very quiet, and we heard reports that people had to stand in line for many, many hours to vote.  But it is encouraging to hear that people do turn out to vote.  The official results won’t be announced for a month, but already the preliminary results say that the current president will be serving again. This is a surprise to no one, since the opposition party split this year and didn’t have a strong chance.  As to whether the elections are free and fair, there is some debate as to whether they are 100%, and we do hear of harrassment (and personally know those who are harrassed) but in general we believe the will of the people is heard.

We are so thankful it has been a peaceful process and enjoy talking about it with our friends here – they feel it is all very exciting (there have only been a few elections here, so people still enjoy it).  It is such a big deal that kids get out of school a couple of weeks early, ane election day is a national holiday. – C