Making the Jump!

The 12 Hour Wait.

2012-02-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night when Nunu and I arrived at the bus at 5, itwas immediately obvious to me that they weighed past 5:00. I have to say thiswas one of the best experiences of mine in Mozambique. There was a sign statinghow much each extra kg cost and there was a scale. It was cut and dry… therewas no bargaining and I didn’t wonder if I was paying the same as the next guy.

At about 7:00 a man started unloading 20 – 30 heavy boxes. Iasked Nunu if he would be allowed to take all this stuff and Nunu said, “Yeah,if he can pay.” I said, “Whatabout the people who show up tomorrow morning with luggage?” Nunu told me thatthey don’t care whose luggage fills up the bus, so long as it’s full, so it’sfirst come first serve. Glad we went at 5:00!

It was odd just sitting at the bus place… I’m not even surewhat to call it. It’s a building with space for 2 buses and 2 cars. It’ssurrounded by a pink cement fence that stands taller than the buses. The indoorspace is about 12’ x 20’ with a table at one end and a bright green jail cellat the other end. The cell is used for locking luggage if people wish to dropit off. The doors in are 2 huge sliding glass doors, probably 8 or 9 feetacross.

When we arrive a bunch of men are working on one of thebusses. By the end, I decide they are changing the oil. The don’t have the buslifted up on much, rather they drove it up a wooden ramp onto a cinder blockwith 2 boards sitting on top.

At around 11pm they start loading the bus and I watch as my3 bags are carried on. At around midnight there are about 20 people waiting forthe bus. People start settling in for the night. Cardboard boxes & bamboomats serves as beds. I wonder what people will do with the mats when they geton the bus as they are about 8’ x 6’.

A man left a piece of cardboard on the ground and about 20minutes later… it’s looking like a lush feather bed. Maybe it’s just thethought of being able to stretch out… I don’t know but I tell myself if theyguy doesn’t come in the next 10 minutes… that cardboard is mine!

Just then one of the workers offers Nunu and I a bamboo mat.Part of me isn’t sure if I should sleep on the same mat at Nunu, but I lookaround and see strangers sleeping side-by-side. I’m embarrassed to even ask foranother mat, so I just lay down.

Our mat is on the concrete, just inside the glass door rightnext to our 2 backpacks and my purse. The mat doesn’t offer much comfort, Iguess the point is that it’s cleaner than the floor. A worker closes thesliding glass door, probably so we don’t get cold. I crack it open as the nightair feels so refreshing. People come and go out of the room we are in and I amunable to sleep. Every time I hear a noise my body jolts awake.

It probably has something to do with the fact that all of myvaluables are in the backpacks and my purse. I look over and Nunu is deadasleep with my purse strap wrapped around his wrist. Around 2 I finally fallasleep, but not for long. I wake up to dogs barking. I just listen to them.It’s not friendly barking and growling and it sounds like there are many dogs.Since most Mozambicans think dogs have venom in their teeth, they don’t likedogs. It makes sense that stray dogs would come out at night. I listen andimagine 2 packs fighting over some good scraps. Part of me wants to get up andgo see… I think of what a good view I would have if I could sit on top of thefence. I fall back asleep. But not for long the dog fighting is prettyconsistent throughout the night.

I’ve never slept on concert before. It’s obvious that it’snot comfortable, but I found it odd that when I slept on my back my feet wouldfall asleep. I would turn to my side for a while and eventually my hips wouldhurt or my arm would fall asleep. I don’t say these things to complain; all inall it was nice to be able to stretch out for a few hours. It also crazy tothink of all the people who have no choice but to sleep on the hard ground eachnight. I’m so blessed.

I wake up around 4:30 and people are slowly rising andbrushing teeth and going to the bathroom. The bathroom here is very typical forMozambique. It’s a toilet you squat over. Not the cleanest bathroom ever, justthankful for privacy.

They open the gates and people flood in. Only some have luggage,most just a small bag for the overhead compartment. I watch as people find outthat all of their luggage won’t fit on the bus. I’m not actually sure what isgoing on, I just watch… but I think some bags will be stored in the cell untilthe next bus leaves in 2 days. I sure am glad we got here early.

At a few minutes past 5 people are allowed on the bus. Thecrowd rushes the door, there is nothing orderly about trying to get to thedoor. Nunu squeezes in the side and tries to give both of our tickets but theman says only one ticket at a time. Luckly the man took my ticket and so I amabout the 5^th person on. Another man shows me to my seat in the lastrow and I put my bag up top.

I try opening my window and it won’t open. The only reason Ipicked this seat is because it’s the only window on every bus that for sure howthe ability to open, because most of the windows span over 3 rows, so theperson in the middle is at the mercy of the row in front of them. Nunu tries,nothing. We call one of the workers over and he struggles with it but finallygets it open!

Most of the bus rows are 5 across, I think total there are63 seats… maybe 4 are empty. After 12 hours at the bus station, I’m happy to beon the bus and in my seat with a window that opens and a curtain for shade. Itry to settle in for the long ride ahead.

Peace Out Maputo!

2012-02-24T04:00:00.000-08:00

My brain is officially overloaded on Ponta. So I’ll give youthe short version.

Filipe canceled on our Sunday meeting. Then said he couldcome Monday. We met with him on Monday and once again plans changed. He nowthinks we should build a block house (to add value to the land). He walked usthrough a cost break down of a stick house (as they should be cheaper) and ablock house. When we were done I noticed that the cost were very similar(around 38,000 MZN) at which point he added 12,000 MZN to the block house for 2doors.

Once again this is why it’s so hard. 12,000 MZN for 2 doors,that’s almost $250 USD. With my limited knowledge of things, this sounds crazyto me the second he says it. But we’ve kept him much longer than we planned, soI leave it alone for now.

But it makes my mind wander. What is he trying to do? Is hetrying to pad things and make a few bucks? Does he really think this is whatstuff cost? AAAHHHH

Where is Home Depot when I need it?!

The good news is, that Nunu and I have done all that we canhere in Maputo. If we decide to go ahead with Felipe we can make arrangementsover the phone. But first I plan to call a local builder (he is from SouthAfrica, but builds vacation homes in Ponta) who has offered to donate a welland see if he can donate materials or transportation instead.

With this being said, Nunu and I are off to the bus to getour new tickets for Wednesday! Wooot Hooot!!!

I’m completely exhausted. I feel like everyday I think tomyself, “I don’t think I could possibly walk any further than I did today” butthen the next day I do.

Yesterday, I went to go to the ATM to get money to pay formy bus ticket. I usually withdrawal the maximum amount when I go, that way Iavoid the fees of multiple transactions. I usually go to Standard bank, becausethey allow me to withdraw 9000 MZN ($326 USD). After walking for about 20minutes to find a bank, I decide to try another bank. I type in that I want9000 and it starts to process and then it tells me that my amount exceeds themaximum daily withdrawal amount. I decide I would rather keep walking in searchof a Standard bank, so I cancel out the transaction.

We walk another 20 minutes and I make the withdrawal, butwhen I get my receipt I notice that my remaining balance is lower than I hadexpected. A few hours later when I get home, I get online to look at what myaccount balance is and discover that my withdrawal has posted twice.

I email my bank and they respond saying that the problemshould correct itself over night and what I’m looking at aren’t hard post. Today,I wake bright and early to check my account. The amount is still posting, notonly is it posting but it’s twice of all the fees… so I’m out about $350…awesome.

I call the bank, it’s going to take 10 days to process myrequest. The thing that stinks is that I don’t actually have anything to provethat I didn’t receive the cash other than the fact that the bank doesn’tactually allow a withdrawal of this amount.

I’m not immediately in need of this money, but I do need itbefore I come home. So it’s just one more thing that I add to my list of thingsto do… sigh.

The stress of the money doesn’t last long… my bus leaves forPemba at 5:00am tomorrow!! I can’t even tell you how excited I am to finallysee my boys!!!

At noon, I still hadn’t packed. We are each allowed 10 kg onthe bus, so the plan is to fill Nunu and my backpacks with all valuable heavyitems. I thought that we needed to go to the bus at about 9:30pm to get ourluggage weighed. Around 2:30, I find out that we need to leave for the bus at4:30!

When we spoke to the man at the bus he said they weighluggage from 7:00 – 5:00… since our bus leaves at 5am, I just figured that wasthe 5 he was referring to… nope 5pm! I pull all of my bags out of my room andfrantically start reorganizing. I still needed to send emails, use theinternet, charge some electronics and pack in an organized manor. I guess I’lljust have to settle for getting all of my things in a bag and taking a quickshower.

So here I go off to the bus, 12 hours before it leaves… anew adventure. I couldn’t be more excited!

Prayer Request:

- Since there is a delay in my blog, just wanted you to know I made it to Pemba safe =)

- Please be praying that the bank put my money back in my account.

- The I would make the most of my time with the boys!

- As always health... my throat was doing some funny things yesterday, but today it's feeling better.

Puddle Jumping =)

2012-02-24T02:20:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I just laugh… it keeps getting hotter. YesterdayFelipe was supposed to meet us. Nunu and I were sitting on the porch waitingfor him and even there I was just dripping sweat. Nunu called Felipe to findout where he was… in Ponta! He forgot he had a meeting today.

This leaves us in a pickle.

We really wanted to go to Pemba on Monday morning. Now Idon’t know if we can do this. He says he can come tomorrow. I’m not even surewhat to do now.

Nunu and I talk about some of the questions that I have forFelipe and Nunu calls him back to discuss. They talk about what we need tobuild and the cost. We are talking about building a fence around the propertyand possibly a small 1 or 2 room house.

Felipe gives Nunu some numbers of what he thinks things willcost, including transportation. The prices sound high to me, but who knows.This is where things get so hard. I know the cost of things in the states, Iknow how to price things. Things in America have price tags, but when you go tothe market here you have to ask how much everything costs and hope the price isthe same when you go back again.

Nothing is easy in Mozambique. Nothing.

It’s so hot. My brain is so fried from trying to figure allthis stuff out.

I ask Nunu what we can do that involves air-conditioning. Wedecide to go to a movie, but it doesn’t start for 2 hours. So we go to theNautilus, my favorite restaurant in town… it’s only my favorite because it’sfood is priced well, it has air-conditioning and the cheapest bottle of coldcoke in town =)

There isn’t central air here, or at least I haven’t seenany. Most places either have wall units (much different from a window unit),that sit high on a wall. Or these 7 foot towers that blow AC into a room like afan. When we walk in, I wonder around a bit trying to find the coldest spot… Ifind a seat that I can feel the cold air blowing. I sit. I drink my coke. I’mno longer sweating. I’m happy.

About 30 minutes before the movie starts, I look outside. Inotice the branches on the trees shaking and the leaves all being pushedsideways from the wind. It’s also getting dark out, but I can’t tell if it’s astorm or just the sun setting. I say to Nunu that we should probably pay andgo, but within 2 minutes the rain start.

The Nautilus is a corner building with big picture windows.It’s like watching this storm on a huge wrap around flat screen. The rain isblowing side ways. Once again calling this rain doesn’t seem right. It’spouring. People are running around outside trying to get where they are going.Umbrellas are useless. Water is coming in under the door.

Nunu tells me that we can’t go to the movie, because when itrains like this the scapas stop running and he needs to get home before thathappens. I think for a second. We could get a taxi, but it’s raining so hard wewould be soaked before we even made it to the curb. I decide to save the moneyand enjoy the cool rain. We ask for a plastic bag and I tightly wrap all of ourvaluables (camera, phones, wallets, passports & money) and stick them in mypurse. One thing I will never understand is that if money is wet, no one willaccept it.

As suspected, after being outside for about 10 seconds, I’mcompletely soaked to the bone. But it feels SOOOOOOO good. The air has cooledoff like 20 degrees. The wet wind feels so good.

I’m smiling so big, my cheeks hurt. I feel like a littlekid. It hasn’t even been raining for 5 minutes and the street are full ofwater. I’m tempted to start jumping in puddles, but who knows what is in thosepuddles… so for now I resist.

I feel like I’m in a movie. No one is out here. I want tostand in the middle of the street with my arms open wide taking it all in… so Ido it. The rain lets up as we get about 3 blocks from the Casa and so I take mycamera out.

Never in my life have I appreciated a rainstorm so much.It’s not exactly swimming in the ocean, but it served the same purpose… it wasthe most refreshing rainstorm. Grateful doesn’t even describe how I feel… Ifeel blessed by this storm.

One really quick side note… Michael met a man at churchtoday whose ministry (S#*t Business International, no joke this is hisorganization name) is going around explaining to people about fecalcontamination. He shows them how to properly dig a latrine and explains howfecal matter can be tracked around and how it can easily it can get into thewater. Interesting. I’m glad someone feels called to teach about that.

(I meant to upload the pictures I took from the rain storm but they aren't on my computer... If I can find them I will add them to this blog next week)

It's HOT, HOT, HOT!!!

2012-02-23T02:58:00.000-08:00

It’s slowly been getting hotter and hotter here. Don’t getme wrong, I’m in Africa… I expect to sweat. But wowzers it’s HOT! Nunu and Ihave our daily meetings out on the front porch. As far as I’m concerned it’sthe best spot in the house. I don’t think the sun ever hits it and it usuallyhas a nice cool breeze.

My room also isn’t bad, at least nothing that a cool rag andfan can’t fix. But lately it’s been so hot that I’ve opted to sleep with bugspray and skip the mosquito net. It sounds crazy but the net makes it hotter… Ican handle hot, but hotter I just can’t do =)

The funny thing is the ladies who run this place. They areabout 65 and 80, they are from Maine. However, they have been here for over 60years combined and they love the heat. In fact they wear multiple layer andeven sweaters if it’s in the 80’s! They see nothing wrong with baking bread inthe house when it’s 90 degrees outside. When we sit down for dinner you canfeel the heat coming out of the kitchen. For three days, dinner was SO hot…that I would be dripping with sweat before we even got to dessert. But theladies are sitting there happy as can be loving the hot air… sometimes theyeven ask if we can turn the fan down.

When I found out yesterday that Filipe wasn’t coming, Iasked Nunu if he could take me to the beach. Well on Friday I was getting readyand I mentioned to Michael that we were going to the beach and he asked if Iplanned to swim. With a confused look on my face, I said “uh yeah?” He waslike, “have you ever been to the beach here? It’s pretty dirty. I even heardthat they dump their sewage off shore.” WHAT?!

When I took the barge home from Catembe I looked down andthought to myself this water is disgusting! But never had I imagined sewage. Icalled Nunu and asked if this was true, he told me he hadn’t been to the beachin 6 or 8 years and he didn’t know. We asked a few people in the house and theysaid they had heard that rumor as well.

I’m so grossed out. I’m so sad. Every beach I have been tohas been so incredibly beautiful. How could they let this happen here?!Corruption is the answer I get.

I take my suit off, but I’m curious and the beach usuallyhas a cool breeze, so we still go.

As we take the schapa up the coast, there aren’t manypeople. I’m surprised at all the little vendors lined up along the beach. Oneafter another roasting chicken, selling pop, beer, sausages, candy, and so on.I ask Nunu, “Who are all these vendors selling to?” I get my answer an hour or2 later. It seems this is the place to be after school or work. It’s like atail gate party but switch the stadium for a beach. The main event issocializing and cooling off. It is Friday, I guess it all makes sense (I oftenforget what day of the week it is).

We find a shady spot under a tree. I lay my towel down andget comfortable. Let the people watching begin! Well first I start by checkingout the water. I don’t get close though maybe like 20 or 30 feet away. This isa strange form of torture. I’m so hot, it’s in the 90’s and that is without theheat index. I’m afraid if I get to close to the water, I will put my foot in.If it’s cool who knows… so I keep my distance.

So the water. Definitely NOT a Gatorade beach (see a fewblogs back if you don’t know what I mean). It’s the ocean, it’s supposed to bea beautiful shade of blue, but it makes me think more of a lake.

I watch people play and have fun. I wonder if they haveheard about the rumor. To be fair, none of what I’ve heard is fact. It’s justlocal speculation and rumor, but why is this water so dark when just 3 hourssouth it’s a crystal clear blue?

I’m not even sure what else to say. It’s just a very sadsituation. Not just the ocean, but all this talk of sewage has me thinkingabout sanitation… everything from littering to washing your hands after using the bathroom. While a lotof people get these things… it’s the ones who don’t get it that I worry about.I don’t even know what else to say. I don’t want to be disrespectful, so it’sprobably best to quit while I’m ahead.

Prayer:

- Forget me… pray against corruption.

- Pray for this countries leadership.

- Pray that people would understand the importance ofsanitation.

- Pray that if the dumping reports are true, that someone wouldput a stop to it.

A Realtime Blog

2012-02-13T23:22:00.002-08:00

I'm writing this in realtime, so it's out of order from my other posts. Most of my blogs I post days (maybe weeks) after writing. But I wanted to write today to let you all know that I'm leaving for Pemba tomorrow (Wednesday) morning! I'm not sure when I will get back online as I'm hoping to celebrate Christmas with the kids on Saturday. If you could be praying that I am able to get things together in one day! I still have to sort and attempt to wrap the gifts or package them somehow. And I have to figure all the food things out or at least find someone to do this.

I'm also trying to get all my blogs caught up as I know I will have much to write about when I arrive in Pemba. I'm going to try to schedule some blogs to post over the next few days.

YEAH I'M GOING TO PEMBA!!!!!

I still have a bit to do today, but I woke up at 6am because I was so excited!!

Prayer Requests:
- Safe travel. I'm going to be on a bus for at least 2 days. Not just for Nunu and I but also all of the luggage I have.
- That we arrive on Thursday night, allowing me Friday to plan for Christmas.
- That we are able to sleep, so we arrive rested in Pemba.
- Health! I've been so careful this week not to eat things that might make me sick. Being sick on this bus would not be fun...

Movie Night =)

2012-02-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

Before I jump back into all the things I’m working on, Iwanted to tell you about my first movie experience in Maputo. When I arrived inMaputo I was asking Nunu about the theartre, so we walked past it one day and Iremember that Nunu was surprised that the cost had gone up from 100 MZN (abt$3.70) to 150 MZN (abt $5.50).

Anyways, since I didn’t feel good much of last week, I justwanted to get out of the house. We had no clue what movie was playing but onSaturday night we headed out. The theater only play 2 movies, one at 6:00 &8:30 and the other at 3:00. I was happy when we arrived to find that the 6:00was The Help. The 3:00 was Cowboys & Aliens. We purchased our tickets andwent in. A guard looked at our printed tickets and we headed down stairs. Iwanted popcorn (I’m going for the full effect), so we went and purchased a bag(see picture). I think it cost 60 MZN ($2.20).

Love me some popcorn!

We go in and the place is pretty big. I’m not sure how manyit would hold (maybe 150/200 people) but probably similar to the Tivoli inDowners Grove. The movie starts on time, with no previews. It is played inEnglish with Portuguese subtitles.

The place is air conditioned but to the point where about 30minutes in you start to feel a little warm. The seats are comfortable, not themoveable highbacks like we have now a days but soft and nicer than I would haveimagined. I would guess there are about 30 people watching with us.

About half way though the screen does something strange andgoes blank. But then a message comes up saying there will be a 7 minuteintermission. Go figure the one time I go to a movie with an intermission Idon’t need to go to the bathroom. A few minutes later a preview is played forCowboys & Aliens (the other movie they show at 3:00) and then our movie starts right back up.

Enough fun, back to work! Speaking of work, I actually feelmore helpful than I had imagine a week ago. It’s worked out well that Nunu doesthe running around, we meet each day talking about what he has done anddiscussing what we should do next. I communicate with Julia what’s going on.Would I rather be in Pemba… uh yeah! But I feel like I’m helping here andgetting some really important things accomplished for Projecto Sonho.

The Dire. Monday morning Nunu took our letter with documents(we think we are missing one) to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), just as he wastold last week. When he got there they told him to go to Immigration. OnTuesday he went to Immigration and they told him he needed to go to theDepartment of Labor. On Wednesday he went to the Department of Labor and theytold him he needs to go to Immigration?!

He calls the man at the other orphanage in Pemba and readshim our letter. Apparently we had the word “worker” in rather than “volunteer”and that needed to be fixed. Then we need to reprint and turn it in again.

The documents we have been printing to turn in to theseofficial offices, we have to print in color. If you don’t, you have to use yourorganization official stamp (logo stamp)… Projecto Sonhos is up in Pemba. Eachtime we print a color sheet, it cost 47 MZN about $1.80!

So today Nunu takes our new document void of the word“workers” back to Immigration and they accepted it! They said to check back in5 days (I highly doubt it will be done the, but who knows). Michael is needingto renew his visa, so if Nunu and I leave, he offered to go check on it.

Two down, one to go!!

The Land Permit. Tuesday Nunu takes the letter to theDepartment of Agriculture to turn it in. A woman reviews the letter and tellshim that it needs to be addressed to the Governor, not the Department ofAgriculture. She also tells Nunu that the letter could be turned in as is, butthat she would strongly suggest that we make our letter much more convincing. Iemail Julia with all of this information and she rewrites the letter and suggests we call Pastor Felipe again toget his take on the situation. She also suggests that we ask him to come upfrom Ponta to turn the letter in and gives us a budget to work with as far asbuilding on the land goes.

Felipe has been working with Projecto Sonho toacquire the land since the beginning. He also lives in Ponta and knows howthings work.

Today Nunu calls Pastor Felipe and fills him in oneverything. He says he will not come to Maputo to turn the letter in, he saysthe letter will do no good. He explains to Nunu that if we turn the letter inthey will send an official out to look at the land. Since we have yet to buildthe only way the official will approve things is if we bribe him. He says it isbetter to build a fence around the property and a well on the property. Thenwrite a letter explaining our plans for the future. He thinks this will get usthe extension.

We try asking him what the fence and well will cost, but hesays he is unsure. We had offered to cover Felipe’s travel to Maputo to turnthe document in and money for his time. Well now he wants to come and go seehow much these things will cost. It’s things like this that are really hard forme. I don’t know if these thingsare in our budget or if they will cost 10x our budget and I don’t want to wasteFelipe’s time or our money if it is way out of our budget. It’s hard for me tomake decisions when I feel so out of the loop and when it’s not my money atstake. I hate the thought of wasting ministry money.

By the time I talk to Julia tonight, it’s too late too getFelipe here tomorrow (Friday) to go looking at things. He says he will come upSaturday to look at materials and if they are in our budget, I will pay for them an keep the receipts.

Dang. I was hoping to take the bus up to Pemba on Saturday!The next bus leaves on Monday, so hopefully we can get things ironed out bythen.

The Dire, Despacho & Land Permit...

2012-02-12T00:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, well rather last night… I didn’t feel so goodagain. New symptoms. I looked up the side effects of Cipro and I think it wasmaking me better and worse at the same time. So I stopped taking it after 2days, hoping that was long enough to kill whatever bug I had. Which I think itdid because today I feel so much better. I still get random cramping, butunlike contractions, the cramps just keep getting further and further apart.

Well so all week, Nunu and I have been working on thesethree things. Prepare for your mind to be blown at how complicated some ofthese things are. Also, remember I’m not talking about America, things are doneso differently here. I have a rule of thumb that if it makes sense to me(meaning the process is easy and comparable to what I would thinkg), somethingmust be wrong. Keep in mind that public offices are only open to 3:00 pm andsome only keep their doors open to 1:00pm. None of these offices are close toeach other and so Nunu is taking schapas (mini-van buses) all around towntrying to get these things accomplished.

1. The Dire. Julia told us that we need to register at theForeign Business office. We’ve been told by a larger orphanage in Pemba thateven though Projecto Sonho is a national ONG (like NGO in States), because wewant foreigner to come over we to get their permission. Or at least this is howthe other orphanage has gone about things. So Monday morning this is where Nunustarts. They are confused and are unsure why he is at the Foreign BusinessOffice if the organization is national. They are so confused that Nunu is leftwondering if he is asking on behalf of Projecto Sonho (Mozambique) or The DreamProject (USA).

Tuesday he goes back to explain again that it’s for ProjectoSonho (PS) and so they tell him he needs to go the Ministry of Justice (MOJ).At the MOJ they tell him to write a letter explaining what PS needs and bringit back with all of PS’s official paperwork.

Nunu has some of the documents with him, but the rest are upin Pemba. We are already waiting on another scanned item, so we call to addthese items to the list. Sound easy, right? Not so much.

Most of our workers in Pemba don’t have much computerknowledge. Antonio can typedocuments and print them, but I’m not sure how much he knows about he internet(another thing I hope to help our workers in Pemba with). Also, he has to gointo town to use the net and pay for it and for each item you need scanned.

Yesterday Julia also told us to try to get in touch with theguy from the other orphanage to find why we need to be registered with theForeign Business office. It takes a day to track down his number and when Nunugets ahold of him, he is in a meeting.

For 2 days, Nunu receives text messages from Antonio sayingthe documents were emailed, but we get nothing. Yesterday he texted his emailto make sure Antonio was using the right one. Today we get a call from Sumatesaying that Antonio was in a motorcycle accident on his way to the internet andhe is at the hospital. We’re not really sure if it was serious or not, Sumatewill let us know as he finds out.

An hour later Antonio calls. He is okay! He is banged up butokay. Bless his heart as soon as he gets out of the hospital he goes to use theinternet and sends us the documents. What a guy!

2. The Despacho. Monday Nunu went to the Ministry of Justice(MOJ) and found out that in order to receive a new Despacho, PS needs to have ameeting with it’s Members, write a letter stating that they need a new Despachoand they all need all the members to sign the letter.

When PS became and ONG a lawer named Bruno headed theefforts up. He is now a judge. Julia asks us to call Bruno on Tuesday as shetalked with him a while back about needing a new Despacho and he didn’t mentionanything about a meeting. A meeting might be hard, as the officers would needto meet and Julia is currently in Brazil.

When Nunu calls Bruno, he is told to go back to the MOJ to askfor the Segunda Via (second copy, duplicate). He does this on Wednesdaymorning, but is told once again that the Members need to sign a document.

Today Nunu calls Bruno again and Bruno tells him that theMembers will need to meet and get the document signed. I talk to Julia viaskype this evening and she tells me that she will have to do this when shecomes to Maputo this summer.

One down two to go!

3. The Land Permit. A bit of background… We were given throughJanuary to build on the land. In November and December PS was planning to buildon the land, but then someone had the idea to file for an extension (seeing asmoney is tight for the organization). First I heard about the extension it wasto be filed and completed in Maputo. Then a few week before I came to Moz, Iheard that someone had found a way to file for the extension from up in Pemba.Great!

When I arrived in Maputo, Nunu told me that he had beentrying to follow up on the extension for the last few weeks, but he needed adocument from Pemba. The document was supposed to be email 2 weeks before myarrival and he kept texting & calling asking that his message be relayed tothe person who was supposed to send the email. The guy who was supposed to sendthe document lost his cell phone and so communication has been difficult. Nunuwas under the impression that because the document hadn’t been sent that thingswere squared away and we had gotten the extension. Of course there are twosides to every story and the other man thought Nunu was able to get his workdone with out the document. Big miscommunication… whatever, moving on!

The man in Pemba who had said he could file the extension isno where to be found (his office says he went out of town or to another office…it’s confusing). So we are back at square one, with no extension and our paperwork is out of date.

The task at hand now is to find out if we can still buildand file for an extension and what we need to build. We talked to Pastor Felipeand he tells Nunu that it shouldn’t be a problem to get the extension for theland because it is in the bush (meaning so far out, I can testify to that!).Felipe says we should build something first before asking for the extension.

One interesting thing about Mozambique is you can never buyland, the government always owns the land. You can own trees, fences andbuilding, but not the land they sit on. So what Felipe is suggesting isn’t outof the ordinary.

Julia is okay with this plan, but would also like to knowwhat the Department of Agriculture says, so Nunu heads there on Wednesday. Hefinds out that official response is that we need to write a letter explainingwhy we haven’t built in the allotted time and ask for an extension. Then theletter needs to be turn that in with the land permit that we have.

Today Nunu calls Bruno to get his take on the land situationand he says it is probably best to write the letter and submit.

So in 4 days we have made some progress. We are down to 2tasks, but only because we are unable to complete it. I feel like Nunu has beenrunning around like a mad man but even though I’ve been sick, I still feel likeI’ve contributed. Being that a miscommunication is what got us here, at leastfor some items, I’ve tried to keep Julia in the loop so we don’t do anythingunnecessary and so she is able to keep giving us input and ideas of what to donext.

I haven’t had much spare time, but I was able to get theremote access working for my old architecture firm. So I have logged somehours, at least enough to cover the cost of a few of my nights here. I hope todo more as I feel better. It’s not the most convenient working environmentbecause I have to sit right by the wireless router to get a signal and that isin the dining room. The main house is also usually much hotter than my room.While I don’t like being hot, I also don’t want to fry out my computer. Alsothey shut the net off around 10:30 each night, I’m sure they would keep it onit I ask, but I’m sure they have their reasons… so it is what it is.

Prayer Request:
- That we would see progress for all of this work!
- That Projecto Sonho would be able to support missionaries for 1 year visas!
- Continued health!

I Dodged The Malaria Bullet!

2012-02-12T00:29:00.000-08:00

It’s Tuesday, I’m feeling better. I’m thinking I drank somebad water (ice cube) or got some sort of traveling bug (dodged the Malariabullet this time… phew). My doctor in the states prescribed Ciprofloxacinshould I become sick. I feel so normal, just the really strange stomach (Ithink?) cramping. So I started taking Cipro that last night and I feel bettertoday.

So now to explain what I’m doing here in Maputo… you mightneed to take notes. It’s confusing. There are actually three things that Nunuand I are working on. Today I’ll give the basics as I’m not sure my mind iscompletely wrapped around everything yet.

Side note: The Dream Project (TDP) translated to Portugueseis Projecto Sonho (PS). In Mozambique we are Projecto Sonho, a nationalorganization. When TDP was starting in Moz there was talk of foreignnon-profits being asked to leave and so the decision was made to start PS. Iguess you could call TDP and PS sister organizations. They are one in the same,just on paper they are different… at least that is how I see it.

1. The Dire (dearie). A Dire is similar to a one yearresident visa. In order for volunteers to spend one year in Mozambique, theyneed a Dire. In order to obtain a Dire, you need the support of an organizationthat has been approved to support a Dire. Projecto Sonho is seeking thatapproval.

2. The Despacho (dis-patch-o). I’m not exactly sure what aDespacho is, but what I gather from looking over the photocopied sheet inPortuguese is that it’s similar to an American non-profits by-laws. ProjectoSonho currently only has copies of the Despacho and we need to obtain a neworiginal document.

3. The Land Permit. This is the land in Ponta de Ouro. Thisland has been gifted from the government. We are working to get an extension ofthe time-line we were given for building on the land in Ponta. It is possiblethe extension has been filed for, but so many people have been working on this…it’s gotten a little confusing.

Okay so those are the basics.

Nunu and my goal is to turn in the necessary paperwork toget us these three things or have a plan in place for how we get thingsorganized to move forward.

Where do we start? You might be thinking we need to lookonline to find the requirement for each of these things. Wouldn’t that be nice?That doesn’t exist. I would guess those kinds of list don’t exist in any officehere in Mozambique.

What’s my role in all of this? Well on Friday I wouldn’thave really been able to tell you exactly what I would be doing. My guess wouldhave been that I would have gone each office with Nunu. Being sick has more orless kept me from doing that. Even thought I’m feeling better I don’t want toleave the house. The last thing I want is to be sick in a public bathroom (orsidewalk) in Maputo.

So yesterday set the tone. Nunu ran around to the differentoffices and when he was done he came to Casa K to discuss and make a plan fortoday. While we are discussing, I email Julia to make sure we are on the righttrack and not having any miscommunications or misunderstanding. We also use mylaptop to type up the documents we need to turn in. So my role is technologyand communication.

I feel like one of the things I’m supposed to do with DreamProject is help with communication, but I always felt it was between ourchildren and supporters in the states. I thought I would be communicating aboutlife. About individual personalities. About how little boys get scratched kneesand make silly jokes. At least for now, this is not the case. Instead I amwriting about Dires, Despachos, and Land Permits!

I think that is enough for today, I’ll try to write throughthis process. I know things like this can be difficult in Moz, but I guess wewill just have to wait and see!

Glad I'm Not On That Bus!

2012-02-11T10:02:00.001-08:00

I woke up this morning around 4:00. Sometimes when I have a lot on my mind I have issues sleeping. I notice that my stomach feels a bit strange, but sometimes when I over think things I get nervous knots in my stomach. I try to relax and go back to sleep. I sleep for an hour or 2. What’s really strange is that I’m cold. I don’t really get cold living in the Midwest, how am I cold in Africa and it’s might be 72 degrees out? After that, I wake up thinking hours have gone by but when I look at my watch it has been 3 minutes. This happens over and over till about 9:00am. I finally decide to get up, but I just lay in bed. I feel weird.

I go down stairs a little before 11 and I bring some instant oatmeal with me. My stomach still feels a little off and I think maybe eating this will calm me down a bit. I make the oatmeal sit down and take one bite. It hits my stomach funny. I get distracted and end up talking to someone. I feel my whole entire body go hot. I instantly feel clammy and like I’m sweating. I throw my hand over my mouth… I feel sick! I sit a few seconds longer… the one bite of oatmeal has no business in my stomach… I run to the bathroom.

I instantly feel worse. I lay on the couch, but I ache all over and the couch is hot. So I keep rotating myself, and then I get a chill… which is so much better than a clammy sweat.

I’ve never felt like this before. One hour ago I felt a little funny, now I’m experiencing every flu symptom I’ve ever heard of and then some. Not to mention my stomach has never felt like this before in my life.

I stop. My heart races. I stare. I think. Could this be Malaria?! All I’ve ever heard about Malaria is that it’s different for everyone, some get flu symptoms for others it’s more like common cold for some a little of both.

I go upstairs and fall back asleep. Unlike last night I have no problem falling asleep. I sleep hard, really hard until 3 or 4. When I wake, I just lay in bed. My stomach still feels weird, but now it’s different. My stomach is cramping, or at least that is the only thing I could think to describe it. Maybe a good way to describe it is like contractions of the stomach. It’s not an ongoing feeling… it hurts bad for a few minutes and then I feel fine.

I decide to go eat some bread. Success.

I decide to eat dinner. Success.

But still the strange cramping in my stomach comes and goes.

Yesterday when Nunu and I were talking about what needed to be done we couldn’t decide if I should come along or just wait and meet with him after he’s run around town to gather information. This makes the decision easy. I text him saying he should just come to the Casa when he is done.

Being sick away from home is hard. You want someone to check up on you and bring you Sprite and pretzels. Today was the first time I have ever felt homesick in Mozambique. Most days at the Casa I feel alone. I only leave in the company of Nunu and Michael. It’s hard that they are the only people I know in Maputo and they are both men so neither are allowed in my room (house rules). It all makes me want to be in Pemba even more, but I hardly have the energy entertain these thoughts.

As hard as this is, it would have been much harder on a bus. I will go to bed tonight counting my blessings and thankful that the Lord has kept me in Maputo. It’s hard when we don’t understand why things are happening… big or small it’s hard. Sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways. He keeps us from things for our own protection. Maybe I haven’t gone to Pemba yet to avoid getting sick on a bus, maybe the reason is much more than I could ever understand. I guess it’s all about having faith that God knows and He is in control… and I don’t always need to understand.

A New Day...

2012-02-11T10:00:00.001-08:00

As promised I wake up ready to tackle the task at hand… allof them. While falling asleep last night, it dawns on me... before I leftDetroit, I had been working for my old architecture firm in Chicago via remoteaccess. Maybe I can get my remote access to work here?! I have to use my PClaptop for this and it doesn’t get a very good wireless signal here at thehouse. I call Nunu and ask him if he could take me to this place that I’m toldhas good wifi. I tell him we can also talk about what we need to do here inMaputo and I could also really go for a coke.

When he arrives we are asked to run an errand to go get somepainkillers (apparently similar to Tylenol with Codeine, but purchased over thecounter). We go to 2 Pharmacies and are told they don’t have it. I feel bad asthe person who has requested this is in a lot of pain. I ask if there are anyhospitals or clinics close and so we head to a clinic. At the clinic they saidno they don’t have this, but the man points to his left and tells us to look ata Pharmacy just up the road. We walk more. We go in, the man says no, butpoints to his left and tells us the Pharmacy just up the road should have it.We walk more. We go in, the man says no, but points to his left and tells usthe Pharmacy just up the road should have it. This repeats 3 more times! What Ifound crazy is that they all pointed to the left… even if the place to theright would have been closer.

As we walk into the 6^th or 7^th place Isay this is the last one. We have walked in the opposite direction of the placewith internet, and I feel like we have done all that we can. So we start goingto the internet place. My heart sinks, a little as we walk back past so many ofthe Pharmacies we had just gone into.

We arrive at the internet exhausted. Nunu has been prettyquiet today, he is the one processing now. We get our cokes and I try jumpingon to the remote access site. I get on for a second but then my internet goesout. I try not to make a big deal. We have been walking for at least 2 hoursnow and we have a 30 or so minute walk home.

So instead we sit back enjoy our ice-cold cokes, I even poura little into a glass and drink it with ice. We get a little snack and discusswhat we need to be doing and how long it might take.

The walk home doesn’t really seam that bad. The air hascooled off and compared to all the walking we did earlier, it’s nothing!

At dinner, the sisters ask if anyone could watch the houseso that they can go to church. I volunteer. I was planning to watch a podcast,so I said I could just bring my laptop down in the morning while they weregone.

I go to bed feeling so much better than the night before.Sure I’d rather be on a bus to Pemba, but I find peace knowing that the Lordhas laid these steps out before me. All I want to do is be where I’m needed.I’ll see how the next few days go and if I need to fly to Pemba alone, thenthat is what I will do.

Change of Plans!!!!

2012-02-10T12:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Nunu and I went and purchased our bus tickets toPemba! I don’t know much about the trip, only that it take 2 – 3 days. Is muchcheaper than flying (especially when you add in the cost of all of myluggage!). As all thing Mozambique, this was a new experience. I knew we neededto go to the bus station, and so I imagined that we would be going to a shop atthe bus station.

As we approach this vast dirt parking lot of buses, Nunupoints to a maroon bus and says, “this is the one we will take to Pemba.” Wellin a matter of minutes we are walking aboard the bus to purchase our tickets.There is a man sitting in the drivers seat and another man in the back of thebus, he comes forward and asks to help us.

He shows us a chart of seats that already have a few handwritten names. Nunu talks with the man to find out the price and purchase ourticket. I go off looking to check out the bus. The first thing I notice is thatit seats 5 across and has windows that slide open (no A/C on the bus). I go ona hunt for seats that would give me the ability to open my own window. As Imake my way further back, I notice that the seats in the last row look muchmore comfortable than all the others. I quickly check and see that I would beable to open my window.

I plead my case to Nunu and he is fine with the back row. Wewere hoping to take a bus on Saturday afternoon, since it takes Nunu 1.5 hoursto get to where I’m staying at the Casa. We find out the only thing they haveleaves at 5am! I guess it’s common for people to arrive at the bus the nightbefore, since public transport doesn’t run at 3am. So we decided that we willhead to the bus around 9pm. Which means we have a lot more to do tomorrow thanwe had expected!

Things get a little sketchy and the man tells us that hedoesn’t have receipts for us, we will need to come back and get them tomorrow.I’m concerned but he assures us (well Nunu in Portuguese who then tells me)that our names are on the hand written roster and he will have our receiptswaiting tomorrow. I’m not sure what to do, so in the end we get the mans name andcell phone number. We test the number and his phone rings… I guess all we cando is trust.

Fast forward to Friday… I can’t tell you how excited I am toleave Maputo and see the boys in Pemba! Everyday for the last week (maybelonger) all I’ve done is think about the day I get to go see my boys! Nunu calls me to say that he picked up our bus tickets... we are ready to GO!

If you recall I have about 210 pounds of stuff. Nunu has 1 backpack. The bus only allows 22 pounds per person to be stored below the bus and each of us can take abackpack on the bus. I will have to pay for the extra 170 pounds, but I estimateit to cost me less than $75. In an effort to save money, Nunu and I decide thatit will be best to put some of my electronics into his bags and his clothesinto my bags.

All week I’ve been trying to get a hold of Julia, but shejust had a baby in Brazil. So it isn’t until about 7:00pm on Friday that I haveall of my bags spread out and I’m trying to pack and resituate all the luggagethat she calls. First she talks to Nunu. While she and Nunutalk I put the finishing touches on packing, but then I start to pay attentionto what he is saying. I don’t speak much Portugese, I’m able to pick up on somethings. I give Nunu a thumbs up and he shakes his head from side to side. Uh-oh.

I talk to Julie next. I find out that there has been a hugemiscommunication! And we can’t leave Maputo. Well I guess technically Iprobably could have gone, but there is no way I’m taking a bus for 2 – 3 dayswith 210 pounds of luggage in a country where I don’t speak the language. Juliebasically tells me if I can help Nunu then I should stay.

To be honest I’m just in shock. In one hour a taxi issupposed to pick us up to take us to the bus. I just want to see my boys and Iestimate flying with all of my luggage to cost around $700! I also didn’tbudget to spend more time in Maputo. My heart is breaking but all I can do right now is think of the practical issues... I’m going to need to spend to either stay or to go.

I cry. All I want is to go to my room, curl in a ball, nextto my fan and fall asleep. But I can’t. All of Nunu’s clothing is spread outthroughout all of my bags. So one by one I unlock them and start pulling hisclothes out. I can tell Michael and Nunu both feel bad for me and they probablyaren’t really sure what to do. I assure them that I’m okay, I’ll be finetomorrow… this is just how I process things.

Prayer Requests: I'm so behind on my blogs that it's been hard to make many requests, because they wouldn't make much sense.

- I'm still in Maputo. Depending on how things go tomorrow and Sunday, Nunu and I will leave on the bus on Monday. I'm hoping and praying that we go no later than Wednesday.

- Tomorrow we are meeting with Pastor Felipe from Ponta de Ouro. I'll explain things better in more detail but just be praying for our time together tomorrow (Saturday). Also, be praying that his church would come along side of us in Ponta in many ways, but our biggest need now is volunteers to build to keep cost down.

- Finances. I'm pretty sure that I am fine with money. I've even had a friend email not knowing any of this saying... let me know if your in a pinch, I could send you some money. But so my prayer would be that in addition to provision... that I would find good deals and my budgeted money would stretch far.

What's for dinner?

2012-02-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

In all of my travels the thing I’m most curious about is howpeople live. I always wonder what the inside of people’s houses look like andhow what is life like. How do they cook, do laundry all of the daily tasks.

Nunu’s is from the “suburbs” of Maputo and he is stayingwith his parents while we are working here. He asked me if I’d like to come tohis house one day and I jumped at the chance!

Sometimes I’m even surprised at my own reactions and thiswas one of those occasions… whenNunu asked, my actual response was, “can we kill a chicken?!” I’m not a hunterand I’ve never killed anything and then eaten it. This is the way of life herein Mozambique and something I’ve been really curious about.

Buying a live chicken is 100 MTN ($3.50), I think last yearwhen I bought frozen chickens in Pemba they cost like 300 MTN. Chicken is aluxury and not often eaten because of the cost… to a local they would probablythink I was crazy if I brought over a frozen chicken.

We arrive at the house just after 1:00. While the house issimilar to many that I’ve seen in Moz, the land is different. It’s obvious thatsomeone has a very green thumb. Even the “fence” that surrounds the property isof shrubs. As you enter there is a path with little plants on each side. Thetour includes which fruit grow on the trees. If I remember correctly there aremango, lime, orange and palm (coconut) trees. I even notice a new tree that isencircled by cinder blocks, for protection. There are also various plants inthe ground… sweet potatoes are the only one I can remember.

Entrance Gate

Entrance path, with house in the background.

Protected baby tree =)

The house itself is very simple. As you are walking in onwhat we would call a porch is the kitchen, or at least the part of the kitchenthat all of the cooking is done in. It is entirely to hot to cook inside herein Moz. It’s a three room house with one master bedroom, one spare bedroom(which is also used for storage of some kitchen items) and a livingroom/kitchen. The kitchen half has a freezer, counter and storage bins forfruits and vegetables. The Living room half has 2 (leather looking) love seatsand one matching chair. There is a small tv sitting on top of a big chest.

The house... I love this kind of stuff!

From the outside I can see where the window openings wereblocked up and there is just small spaces at the top. Windows in Moz are aluxury item, because you can’t just have a simple screen (people would cut itopen). You at least need steel bars and a screen, glass to keep the rain out isnice but not necessary… and I think the local would get cold at night if theyhad to always have windows open. Anyway, not many people have windows in Mozbecause they don’t want their things to be stolen.

I sit on one of the couches and I just feel the heat. I askif we can move outside. The yard is so beautiful and offers so much shade AND abeautiful breeze.

Yard to the left (as you enter) of the entrance path.

I offered to pay for our meal… I figured chicken wouldn’t beon the menu except since I requested it. Maria heads out to the market andbefore I know it she is back with the chicken. She corners it in a small areain the kitchen and gets busy getting the fire and a few other things going.

-------------------------------------------------

WARNGING: Stop reading now if you don’t want read thedetails about the chicken. Skip to the “WARNING OVER” below.

Nunu eventually tells me it’s time to kill the chicken. Idon’t actually want to kill it, I just want to be part of the process. Nunu takesthe chicken by the wings but he is waiting for the knife. I think this is thepart that would be hard for me… he affectionately strokes the birds belly. WhenMaria comes out with the knife, he looks up at me and says, “I haven’t donethis in awhile, this is the hard part.”

One last belly rub.

I’m surprised I’m able to watch. There isn’t much blood butthe bird did poop on Nunu’s shoe! As soon as he is done Maria comes over andtakes the bird. She sticks it in a large plastic bowl and using a kettle fullof boiling water, she starts cleaning the bird… it’s body reacts to the water.That was strange, I’ve heard of a chicken running around with it’s head cutoff, but to see a headless chicken moving is just strange!

I wanted to help some with the preparing of the chicken, butI always forget how hard a language barrier can be. So I just sit and watchMaria stand bent at the waste plucking the feathers off the chicken. But shemust get how curious I am… she tells Nunu to tell me to come help AND I thinkshe even tells him to take pictures!

Once again I surprise myself and dig right in pullingfeathers, Maria is a little intimidating… you can tell this isn’t her firstrodeo, but she is encouraging and we laugh and enjoy ourselves. She makes itall looks so easy and the bird is naked within 10 minutes tops.

Plucking feathers with Maria... and I'm still smiling!

When we are all done, I look at the bird in the bowl… if itdidn’t have feet it would be no different than what we are used to. She cutsthe feet off, I find it kinda interesting and think to myself, “oh now thatlooks like a chicken leg.”

WARNING OVER

----------------------------------------------------

At this point the bird in the bowl looks no different thanif we had bought him at the store. Next Maria is on to make a marinara for thebird. I love to watch her work… all her movements are so rhythmic and precise.

First she cuts a coconut in half and she lets me drink themilk. It’s better than I recall coconut milk being. She then sits on thislittle stool with some sort of a contraption sticking out of the side. It’slike a spoon gone wrong, or better yet like a spork (spoon/fork). She startsscraping out the inside of the coconut. She is like a machine, only stoppingevery once in awhile to see if she has scraped to the brown.

Maria shaving out the center of the coconut.

She picks about four limes from the tree and cuts them inhalf. She squeezes the limes into the coconut scraping using her left hand likea strainer to catch the seeds. She also dices up some garlic adding it to themixture. With her hands she mixes the coconut scrapings, garlic and limes.Mashing all the ingredients together. Then she picks up the coconut and startssqueezing out all the juice.

The chicken has been cut so that it will lay flat in a pot.Maria also makes cuts deep into the meat. The juice is poured all over and someof the coconut scraping and juice are put in the cuts. With this the bird isready to be cooked.

Chicken cooking in the coconut/lime/garlic rub.

After the bird was cooked through, Maria put it in this
contraption over the store to grill it a bit. She asked me if
I thought it was browned enough and so I flipped it.

With precision, I watch as Maria peals and slices potatoes.She also peals a carrot and cucumber. She is persistent in asking for my help,not that I really do much, but I appreciate her efforts. And it’s interestingseeing how much goes into making a meal.

Potatoes cooked in a little oil... so yummy!

Official taste tester of the day... Maria insisted I sample
everything to make sure it was cooked to my liking.

In the end we feast on chicken, potatoes (fried in a bit ofoil, not quite a French fry, but close), rice, and salad (cucumbers, onions,tomatoes, and oil). I’m surprised by the chicken, while it tasted amazing (Ilove lime!) it wasn’t quite as tender as I would have imagined. I thought ifanything the chicken would be more tender than what I’m used to, since it wasso fresh.

When I asked to kill a chicken, it was one of those thingswhere immediately I wished I could take it back. I’m not a very adventurouseater and I really didn’t know if I would be able to eat something that I hadseen killed. I think so much of it has to do with where I am. I can’t evenimagine trying to explain no I can’t eat that because it used to be alive. Itwould be like if you went to a lot of trouble to prepared a special meal for aguest and when you all got seated at the table the guest told you that theycouldn’t eat it because you bought it at the store.

I’ll tell you one thing thought, I was beyond thrilled thatthere were no gizzards or livers served… cause this story may have ended on acompletely different note!

Prayers and such:
My blog is way behind, almost 2 weeks (I was sick for 4 days and without the net for 5 days before that, so I've been playing catch up). So to catch you up to speed. I'm still in Maputo. I'll be blogging shortly to explain why, but the short version is that Nunu and I are trying to get some really important paperwork turned in. I'm really, really, really hoping we can leave this Saturday to travel to Pemba. Above all I want to be where I'm needed and where God wants me, but I'd really love to be up in Pemba.
- If you could be praying that we would get all the documents we need, to get the papers filed, and that we would be in front of the right people at the right time (as for one paper we've been told 4 different thing about what department it needs to be filed at, different department in different building in different parts of town).
- Nothing here is easy. So I don't even know what to ask for other than that doors be opened and that God prepare the perfect path for the documents we need to turn in.
- That Nunu and I would be on a bus to Pemba on Saturday.
- As always for continued health.

Bobble Heads

2012-02-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

Today I head back to Maputo. I check out at 11 and make the 15 minute walk to where theschapa’s pick up in Ponta. There is a schapa waiting. A woman and her twochildren are already inside. After a half an hour, I ask Nunu if we will haveto wait for the schapa to fill up before it leaves. He says no. At about 12:45we leave with about 6 people and the back seat filled of bottles for return.Nunu and I are in the front row this time and I have a window! I’m thrilledbeyond belief about how much space I have! I can't believe how empty the schapa is, and I think "This is gonna be the best 3 hour ride!"

"Downtown" Ponta - The store with frozen water is just to the left.
I saw one other cluster of stores in a different part of town, but
this is center of town where locals go to buy things and catch a schapa.

About 20 minutes later Nunu points and says, “This is theborder to South Africa.” I’m instantly confused… we aren’t going to SouthAfrica? Why are we here? What? Turns out that the schapa goes from Ponta tothis border stop to get more people! We pull in behind another schapa that isalso going to Maputo. Apparently that schapa is waiting to fill up (it only haslike 1 or 2 spots) and then once it’s full then our schapa can fill up and goto Maputo.

We park under a shade tree and there are about 10 smallbuildings. Not only do they sell food and drinks but I also notice that onebuilding has a pool table. I ask if there is a bathroom inside… this guy tellsme, “No” and then points at this bamboo outhouse. He goes on and on about howgreat it is, how clean things are. I honestly thought I was just going to haveto go outside, so I was happy there was an outhouse, but this guy just kepttalking.

I didn’t go immediately, I only wanted to go once and so Iwas waiting till we were about to leave. So then people felt they needed toconvince me to go… that and I’m pretty sure they were convinced I was scared sothey were laughing. I eventually went… would I call this outhouse clean… notreally… but hey it was 4 walls… I’ll take what I can get.

I think it was around 3:00 when our schapafinally left for Maputo. Before the trip even begins we’ve already been sittingon here for 3.5 hours! My neck pillow doubles nicely as a seat cushion. Thistime around we only had 16 people (and 2 were small children) in the back ofthe schapa.

As we drove I kept thinking about bobble heads, I’m sure that iswhat we all looked like… a schapa full of life sized bobble heads.

Heard of cattle, the rest were off to the right. It's REALLY
hard to take pictures while on the schapa!

Almost 2 hours into our trip, we stop in the same area as on the way. For the first time I get out of the schapa. I'm not going anywhere but a stretch is much needed. Almost immediately after I get up the little boy, Juma, sees my purple neck pillow laying on the seat. Juma picks it up, everyone here has me so worried about people stealing my things, my instinct is to gesture that it's mine and ask for it. But I quickly realize he isn't going anywhere with it... I'm surprised that he knows what it is. Even though I've been sitting on it, he puts it around his next and a smile instantly spreads across his face. Some people laugh, I think his mother asks him to put it down, but I just stand and smile to show that I'm okay with him playing with it. He didn't even do anything with it, but he thought it was funny and so did everyone else... it was a nice comic relief. Either that or people realized I was sitting on it and maybe that gave them a good laugh, who knows!

About 15 minutes before we arrive at Catambe, I realize that Juma is throwing up. I feel so helpless, I want to do something, but don't know how to ask if I can do anything. The mom came prepared and she had a big plastic blow. She asked the driver to pull over and with the quick rinse of her bowl she dumps it's contents out the window and we are ready to go again. I offer Juma some toilet paper to wipe his eyes and mouth... poor little fella.

It's a Blue Gatorade Beach!

2012-02-03T10:39:00.000-08:00

I didn't spend much time at the beach during my stay in Ponta, but it feels wrong to come to such a beautiful beach town and not speak of the ocean. Also just a quick few random things about Ponta.

Ponta de Ouro means "Tip of Gold" in Portuguese. It is known for all things ocean... diving, dolphins, fishing and surfing. It's only a 20 minute drive to the South African border, but 4-wheel drive is a must. Most of the visitors to Ponta are from South Africa and for that reason many of the restaurants except the SA Rand. In one place I paid in Metical to use the internet and they said they could only give me change in Rand... okay.

Indian Ocean

The backpackers place I’m staying is like 100 feet from theocean. I can hear the waves as I walked up to check-in. I love listening to wavesas they crash, so I’m instantly happy.

Yum!

My favorite gatorade is Glacier Freeze, it's a beautiful light shade of blue. The first time I went to Cozumel, Mexico I started telling people the water looked like blue Gatorade. Blue Gatorade has become a standard of how I describe a beautiful beach (well mainly the water). I love nothing more than looking out and seeing the light shades of blue as the sun shines deep into the water. The picture below doesn't do the beauty justice, but hopefully it helps (that is why I made the pic so big, be sure to scroll right to see the blues in the center of the photo).

Beautiful Blue Gatorade Water!

I go to stick my feet in the waterexpecting bath water (as in Pemba), but I’m shocked that it’s cool andrefreshing! The waves are huge! One minute I’m standing ankle deep the nextmoment I’m knee deep. The other thing that surprises me is just how strong the pullof the waves is back out to the ocean.

Aaaahhh, so fun!

I love playing in the waves at the Cottage in Sawyer, MI,but these waves are crazy and I don’t have an inner tube. I’m a strong swimmer,but I’m not a stupid swimmer… I don't go out past my waste but have fun playingin the waves.

You literally get thrown around like a rag doll. One wavepushes you down and kicks you out to shore, as you try to stand another wavecomes crashing on top of you. I have so much sand in my swimsuit I could give athree year old a run for her money after she's spent 8 hours playing in the sand! I die from laughter as I try to rinse mysuit out in a wave but end up with more sand in my pants than I started outwith.

I quickly find that playing in Ponta is just as exhaustingas working. I make a note to myself that sturdy inner tubes and four-wheelers couldsolve my “problems!” Ahahahaa maybe next time!

Agua Gelada... Agua Gelada...

2012-02-02T12:33:00.000-08:00

This morning we are meeting with the Luis, he is the son ofone of the pastors in town who has been helping The Dream Project (TDP) withthe land. I’m told it’s like a 45 minute walk from town to TDP’s land. So thatmorning I fill up my water bottle just like any day and I figure since we willbe outside I should wear some sunblock.

When we meet up with Luis he mentions needing to fill up hiswater bottle. It’s in this moment I start to wonder just how bad of a walk weare going on… no matter where I’ve gone or what I’ve done in Mozambique nolocal has ever brought a water bottle.

This would be like the suburbs of Ponta.

We start making our way winding around following sand paths.It quickly becomes evident that we are headed to the middle of nowhere. Thesand dunes get bigger, up and down. I feel like a schapa driver, but I’m notavoiding holes in the ground… I’m going to where the shade is. I realize that Ishould have brought twice as much water.

Cooling off in the shade.

I don’t like to eat first thing in the morning, so I packeda peanut butter sandwich. We’ve been walking for about 25 minutes (40 since myhotel) I ask if we can stop so I can eat it. I’m not really that sweaty but I’mso hot… I imagine my face is beat read. When I ask to stop they walk for about3 minutes more, it feels like eternity. Especially because we are walking up adune, but when we get to the top and sit, I realize that because we are on topof a dune the breeze is amazing. We sit in the shade. I eat and reapplysunblock. For the first time I really understand why people take afternoon napsunder trees… it’s a different world here under this tree.

The Land! I didn't do a thing to this photo... it's really this beautiful!

The rest of the walk seems to fly and we are at the landbefore I know it. It is marked by large posts in the ground. The land is on arolling hill, it is covered in long grass with trees scattered all around. Wewalk from post to post and I do my best to take pictures to describe thelandscape. There is a dirt road that runs through the property. I find a treein that is near the center of the land and I climb it to try and take pictures.It’s not very tall, but it helps me to see a little bit more.

Wish I had a pic of the whole tree, cause it wasn't that big.
It'd probably look funny that I decided to climb such a small tree!

We take one more break under the shad of a tree beforemaking the trip back. It’s about 11:30 and the sun is so hot on my skin. Westop again in the same shaded area. Walking in sand dunes is no easy task. Wewind our way back to town. I like to look down when I walk, so I looked up andsaw this huge dune in front of us, we get to the top and sit to take a break. Ihear a really faint pop. I sit for a second and then take off my sun glasses.The plastic below the lens had snapped. They are black sun glasses, I probablygot them at Target for $10… it sounds crazy but I think the heat from the sunsnapped my glasses!

A little bit of the rolling dune trail on our way home.

I’m just about out of water, I’m so thirsty but all I wantis cold water. I joke with the guys that I’m so thirsty I’m thinking of coldwater in Portuguese… “agua gelada, agua gelada, agua gelada!”

Luis tells me that from his house to the land is a littleover a 3 mile walk, probably 4 miles from my hotel. I think years from now Iwill be telling my grandchildren about the walk in Ponta… up sand dunes bothways, in the intense heat of the African sun.

We make it back to town and I run into the store to buy a large bottle of water. The store is about half the size of a 7eleven, there is a counter for paying and other than there there are three freezers along the right wall. It's so hot here that fridges can't keep up with all the opening and closing but freezers do the job well. Above the freezers are shelves with warm beverages, I dig to the bottom of the freezer and find a frozen bottle of water. I sit on the porch of the store and I embrace the bottle of water. I melt enough to drink and can't describe how amazing this cold water is as it hits my mouth... it puts me in a daze. I drink a bit more and just sit staring out.

Three young girls approach the bar next to were I'm seated. They are probably about 7 years old. They hand a woman some money and she brings out a pitcher of water and fills one glass. Each girl takes a turn drinking the entire glass until the pitcher is empty. I notice they have a small bag of mangos. I wonder, "were they sent to town to buy mangos?" and "how far did they walk?" I'm encouraged that they understood the importance of water. As I sit and watch them, I can't help but wonder about their daily lives and what is normal to them.

Prayer Requests:
- I've been sick for the last 4 days. I think I had a coke with ice in it. I was feeling much better yesterday but then I think I got sick from the medication I was taking. I feel great right now, prayer that this feeling continues and I stay healthy! (Praise God it's not Malaria!)
- I'm still in Maputo. Doing my best to help Nunu as we try to file some important paperwork. It's very confusing and nothing is easy. Pray that God would open doors and give us grace and wisdom as we collect and file paperwork.

I'll try to post more, but it's been hard not feeling so well. I'd love to know who is reading my posts, so please shoot me a message or make a comment. Thanks for reading, praying and thinking of me... it all makes me feel so loved and supported!

It Takes a Village!

2012-01-28T01:56:00.000-08:00

January of 2010 was when I first heard about The DreamProject (TDP). When I spoke to Jeanine on the phone she explained to me thatthere was a Center in the north in the town of Pemba and that TDP had about 6acres in the south in a town called Ponta do Ouro. Minutes after getting offthe phone with Jeanine I got onto Wikipedia & google maps and startedlooking at the two towns. I was very drawn to Ponta and was hoping that I couldgo there on my first trip to Moz, but decided not to go as I would have had togo alone.

When planning this trip, I was told that we would be takinga bus from Maputo to Ponta. It’s a three-hour trip, the shortest of all of myscheduled bus trip… no big deal.

The route we took was straight south from Catembe.

Maputo is a costal city and we have to take a barge acrossthe water to a town called Catambe to catch the bus. As we exit the barge Ilook around and don’t see any buses… only schapas? Oh that’s right people callschaps buses…

I know I’ve written about schapas before, but I feel theneed to write again so you get a better idea of my experience. A schapa is across between a mini van and 15 passenger van. The height and width of a mini,but closer to the length of a 15 passenger. There are four rows of seats,behind the driver are permanent seats that are designed for two people then atthe end of each bench is a chair that folds up and down so people can come andgo (it folds up to look kind of like an arm rest for the two seater). Only thefront two rows have windows, the back two rows have a bar going length waysthough the middle of the window… to hold on I guess?

So in my eyes this schapa would comfortably seat 12 peopleplus 2 up front. But not in Mozambique… When we arrive there are probably 9people or so already on. I ask when the schapa leaves… the answer I get… “Whenit’s full.”

What’s full? Full ends up being four people in each row, oneman sitting backwards on a small seat behind the driver and three people upfront… 20 people! For three hours. I feel bad for the guy in front of me, thebench in his row is taken up by two larger ladies and he and another lady areleft smashed into the chair that flips down. Not only are there 20 people inthis schapa but we all have our bags and purses on our laps. I was happy to bein the last row with 3 skinny guys, one of which I knew making things slightlyless awkward… but only because we could coordinate who should lean forward andwho should lean back.

I’ve been squeezed into this back row for 30 – 45 minutesand we haven’t even left Catambe! The driver takes all of our names and we eachpay 175 MTN (abt $6.00) and away we go! It has been raining so the air is cooland the breeze feels so good against my face. The road on the other hand… yeahit’s bumpy. In Moz they drive on the left, well at least that is the idea. Butwhen you get on dirt roads you just drive where the holes are the smallest. Soour driver zig-zags all over this dirt road. After about 30 minutes I close myeyes, I start praying that I don’t get carsick.

I actually started thinking if they had schapas in Americawhat would be on the warning sign at the station: “Warning: It is stronglyrecommended that you don’t take schapa if you are even the slightest bit proneto motion sickness, are claustrophobic, have any sort of tail bone problems,have a weak bladder, and easily lose sensation in your feet. Take the schapa atyour own risk. Thank you enjoy the ride, please come again.”

I don’t get sick, I eventually open my eyes and realize thatwe are actually on a paved road. My guess is that it was paved once years agoand never again has any work been done to it. I think the holes in the pavementwere actually bigger than the holes in the dirt road. Funny, right?!

With all the rain, we do come across a few sections of theroad that are covered in water. I forgot to mention that that schapa has 4 wheeldrive, one thing for sure… the drivers are professionals, they can get over,around, and through anything. While I’m looking out the window, I keep noticingthese little pools of water that are connect to the road. Some are really overgrown, but then when I see one only surrounded by dirt I realize that they areman made ponds. They were dug so that the water would have a place to pool up,besides the middle of the road. Maybe it the designer in me, but I’m always soimpressed with simple solutions such as this. One thing I love about Mozambiqueis looking around and seeing simple cost effective solutions to problems.

This was the best picture I could get. In most places the
pond would fill leaving the road dry. The pond is the angled body of water .

About one hour into the drive we pass a woman and her youngdaughter. They have a flat tire. Our driver pulls over to help. He takes thespare from under our schapa… I think that’s amazing that our tire will fit theirtruck. Not so amazing when the driver rolls our tire back 15 minutes later! Bythis time 2 other schapas and one truck have also stopped. Looking back out ofthe schapa window, I think to myself, “I guess it also takes a village tochange a tire!”

The rest of the ride is uneventful. We make a pit-stop aboutone hour before we arrive. There are a few little bamboo shops so people canbuy drinks and snacks. I stay on the schapa… I’m not sure if I can move and Idon’t want to be left behind.

When I was researching Ponta, everything kept saying 4 wheeldrive is required. I was really curious if they were just being cautious causethey are sick of tourists getting stuck… I mean it’s a horrible road but 4wheel drive? Well the last 45 minutes of the trip I finally understood why youneed it. Once you get off the dirt road there is a one way trail going up anddown sand dunes. Most of the dunes are covered in grass with the exception of 2tire marks winding up and down and up and down… talk about bumpy! When avehicle comes from the other direction each person gets one tires mark and theother tires goes off road.

It was not the most comfortable rides I’ve ever been on, butit wasn’t horrible either. I love learning about life in Mozambique, I willnever forget my first “bus” ride to Ponta do Ouro!

The Big City

2012-01-28T01:13:00.000-08:00

Maputo isn’t exactly what I thought it would be. In someways it is just what I think of a big city… in other ways not so much. I thinkthe best way to describe Maputo is that it’s 10x’s Pemba. I know that 99.99% ofthe people who will read this have never been to Pemba, so I will try toexplain what I mean.

In America when you go from a small town to a big city thereare changes in architecture, clothing, driving, food and so many things that gounnoticed. Here from Pemba to Maputo I feel like everything is just multipliedby 10. From the downtown part of Pemba to Maputo the buildings look a lotalike… they are just 10x’s taller. 90% of people here dress the same as thosein Pemba… there are just 10x’s as many people. When I go to a restaurant thefood is basically the same… there are just 10 more places I can go to eatchicken. Other things there are 10x’s as much of: police, cars, street vendors,taxi’s, the size of the city and schapas (buses).

There are some different things between Maputo and Pemba.About 10% of the people are dressed very well in trendy clothing with no holesand they stop along the way to have their shoes shined. Many of the cars arethe same, but the variety is much greater here. I’ve seen everything from a VW “slugbug” to a brand new Mercedes luxury 4 door. There are also a lot of Rav 4’s andcars similar to the Honda Fit (I think that is what it’s called).

For as long as I can remember police have intimated me. Evenin America when I see a cop, I get a few little butterflies and wonder if I’mdoing anything wrong. I’ve noticed that the number of butterflies goes upsignificantly depending on the size of the gun and number of police officers Isee in any given day. Maputo is crawling with police and they don’t have a cutelittle gun in a pouch on their side… they all have some sort of rifle on astrap hanging over their shoulder. Many of the police are dressed in what anAmerican would call army fatigues. I know police are supposed to give you asense of safety and security, but these guys scare me! I think the fact thatthey are usually walking around in pairs of two makes it worse… if they weredriving past in a car I probably don’t notice as much.

Everything in Maputo feels like it takes forever to get to. A30 minute walk is the norm, but all the walking is helping me to sleep betterat night. Good bye jet lag!

I called South African and was happy to find out that my suitcase was waiting for me at the airport. The airport is on the outside of the city and so you can’t take a schapa to get there. Nunu thought it might be cheaper to take a schapella, so we did. A schapella is a little motorcycle on 3 wheels, the driver sits in the front and steers with handle bars, while the patrons sit in the back on a bench and the entire thing is covered by a canopy.

So thankful that I got my suitcase back in one piece!!!!

Casa K

2012-01-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

While in Maputo, I will be staying in a home formissionaries… I’ll call it Casa K. Other Dream Project missionaries stay atCasa K while they are in town and was told that the best part about it is thatget home cooked meals every day! Casa K is run by 2 widowed sisters from Maine.They have both lived in Moz since around 1965!

My favorite part about staying here has been the othermissionaries that come and go. Some come for one night while others are in fora few days. Upon my arrival I was surprised to find Michael (another DreamProject missionary), I thought he left a few weeks back but it has been nice tocatch up with him.

My second night a Brizilian family came though with twochildren, a three year old boy and a six year old girl. The sisters who runCasa K usually start dinner off with a song and a prayer. When asked what songwe should sing the little boy put down his head and started praying (inPortuguese). It was so cute, I didn’t know exactly what he was saying but Iknew what he was praying was sincere.

I also met a missionary from Nampula (which is about 3 hoursfrom Pemba, a larger town from what I understand). He has the most amazingstory! He grew up in poverty in Nampula, taught himself English, worked in thestates as a missionary and began college. While he was stateside he realizedthat with the money people were giving him for seminary he could put all 7 ofhis other siblings through college in Mozambique. So he approached thesupporters and that is what he did. He and his wife now run an orphanage of 42(60 is there max) children and one of his brothers is one of their largestsupporters as he has gone on to become very successful. I was so touched by hisstory.

Since my arrival in Maputo it’s been raining. Raining is thewrong word… it has been torrentially down pouring! For at least my first 2days, there was so much rain it was coming sideways in my window! The goodthing about rain is it’s cooler =)

I left Casa K for the first time on Tuesday morning. Ineeded to give Nunu some paper work. The rain was so bad he had to take a taxi tomeet me and the driver dropped us a few blocks away at a bank (as I also need to get localcurrency). Maputo is the capital of Moz, so the roads are paved, there arecurbs and sidewalks. With the water you could see where the road stopped andthe side walk started. I just kept watching people walk with water up overthere ankles and then they would take a step and their cavles would disappear underwater.

I so badly wanted to take pictures, but it is illegal to take pictures in Maputo! You can take pictures of people…so I made Nunu pose for me. It’s hard to see but beyond the green benches is the sidewalk, it is completely covered in water about 5 feet from that the street starts. I admit this isn’t the best picture, but it might be the only one I ever take in Maputo. The building and cars in the background are typical, so I hope it give you a feel of Maputo.

Rainy season in Maputo!

Prayer Requests:
- On Saturday I will be getting on a bus to Pemba. I just learned that a major bridge along the way in the town of Xai-Xai (Shy-shy) is out (because of all the rain). I'm not sure how it will impact my trip. I will be going to buy my bus ticket on Wednesday. Flying isn't really an option as I have so much luggage this one way ticket would cost me ALOT of money.
- Health... every time I get a mosquito bite I wonder about Malaria... my ankles are covered.
- Praise God my body is responding well to Mozambique, no travel sickness (continued prayer in this area as I am probably susceptible to this for the next few weeks)

Last One On Is A Rotten Egg!

2012-01-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

Sunday started out early. Nunu and I were catching the 7:50bus out of Johannesburg into Maputo. I bought my ticket a few weeks back onlineso all I needed to do was get my boarding pass. I’ve never taken a bus before,but I thought if we got there 45 minutes early we would be okay.

When Cesar dropped us at the bus station I immediately knewI was in over my head. I was imagining a small strip mall with a bench outfront, but this place was huge!

We finally made it to this huge lobby that was full of buscompanies and food vendors… more like a mall than what I had imagined in myhead. Each line had a handful of people in it, so I was beginning to think thatwe had timed this just right. We were taking the City to City bus but I didn’tsee a counter for them. The information desk wasn’t open, so I went to theTravel Lux Bus counter (I think it’s a sister company). The woman told me towalk down another hall and I would find it. So thankful they speak English inSouth Africa!

Nunu and I wound down another long corridor happy that wedidn’t have one more 50 pound bag to be pulling (because it was lost on myflight). We get to another lobby, my stomach instantly sinks… this place ispacked full of people. I come to realize that the majority of people in thelobby are waiting in line for City to City! Nunu waits with our bags (healready has his ticket) and I jump in line.

It’s 7:20, I stand there for a few minutes and the line goesnowhere. I have a sinking feeling in my stomach. It’s now 7:30, my bus leavesin 20 minutes. The line has moved about 5 feet, the line winds around for asfar as I can see… things aren’t looking good. If I were in America I would havestarted working my way up the line asking if I could go in front of people, buthere I’m not sure what to do.

I ask the woman in front of me if she thinks I will make itto my bus on time. She looked over my ticket and told me to go to the securityguard near the front of the line and show her my ticket. I make my way up tothe front trying not to look like I am cutting… luckily the security guard isnear the outside where I can reach in to get her attention. The security guardis a no-nonsense woman. With a stern look on her face she reads over my paperwork. I’m shocked when she tells me I can go to the front of the line. I getthere and I’m not really sure how to cut in. People are very protective oftheir spots and not to keen on the idea of letting me in front of them. It’shard for me as I’m sure these people have waited there turn for hours and hereI come just stepping right in.

A woman complains about me and the security guard comes upand physically puts me right in the front of that line! The guys behind me arevery kind… I think they could see the look in my eyes. I’m guess I had the lookof shock on my face as I really couldn’t believe how long this line was and Iwas trying to grasp the reality that I might miss my bus.

I get to the window. It’s typical glass with the openingbelow for you to exchange money and ticket. The window is heavily tinted, withthe exception of a small circle that is slightly tinted. I’m not sure what goodthe circle does, I could barely see the man. I slide my internet print off in. And strain to look in thewindow. The man says nothing to me, which is probably good because I don’tthink I would have been able to hear him. He moves at a snails pace handwriting out my ticket.

As soon as he hands it to me, I head off back to Nunurunning! As I’m making my way back through the line the woman who was in frontof me reaches out and say, “Did you get it?” When I said, “Yes” she got a hugesmile on her face.

One of the things I love about traveling is you get to meetso many people. Some people that become your life long friends, others who areinvolved in your life for only a matter of moments. Just as in the States, someof them aren’t in the best mood, while others want the best for you. I was sotouched by this woman’s concern for me and my bus ticket.

I’m not sure where the bus is, so when I find Nunu we takeour bags and hurry down the corridor. I was so happy to find that it was justaround the corner from where Nunu was standing. We get my bags loaded and geton the bus to claim our seats. Nunu says that he will wait outside to watch ourbags under the bus.

He comes in a few minutes later to check on me and I ask himif he can buy some phone credit so I can call South African Airlines again. Iasked him this because I thought there was a guy selling them just outside ofthe bus. About two minutes after he leaves the bus driver comes down the islechecking our tickets and passports. Nunu isn’t back yet, so I made my way tothe front of the bus so I could be looking out for him. I hand the bus drivermy ticket and say, “When are we leaving, my friend should be right back.” Hisresponse, “We are leaving now.”

Still no sight of Nunu, I tell the bus driver I am going tolook for him. I head out and watch thinking, “how long can it take to get phonecredit?!” I finally see him and am able to gesture that he needs to hurry. Ashe gets closer I notice that he has more than just the phone card. A bag of Chicken Licken and a Coke! Not sure where or when this bus stop alongthe 8 hour drive, I figure that this was probably a good thing as all I had wasa few granola bars in my bag.

Best fried chicken I've ever had!

I get back to the bus and the driver ask, “Where is yourfriend?” Nunu boards right after me and I point. And the bus driver closes thedoors shortly after. I’m not enjoying this trend of being the last ones on.

The bus stopped at least two if not three times for bathroomand food breaks. We also made a stop at the border. It was pretty confusing,I’ve never walked through a border before. I’m not even sure if I understoodwhat was happening. But I think we got stamps from South Africa saying we wereleaving and then stamps going into Mozambique. All I know is we kept waiting inlines. But we basically made it through without any problems.

The first stop our bus made. It's a gas station, note the parking spots all have canopies.

South African farm house.

So now I’m in Mozambique! I’d like to say the most stressfulsituations are over, but on January 28 Nunu and I will be taking the 2-3 daybus ride up to Pemba. I’m excited to see more of Mozambique but just hoping wearen’t the last ones to get on the bus!

Prayer Requests:

- That I would get over my jet lag, for 2 nights in a rowI’ve woken up around 1 am and I find myself not ready to fall back asleep untilabout 6 am (11 pm back home).

- A safe bus trip on January 28^th. Not only forNunu and I but also for our luggage =)

The Adventure Begins!

2012-01-17T07:51:00.000-08:00

My morning started out with a last minute trip to AAA to getan International Drivers License. According to the internet they open at 8:00am… when I arrived at 7:55 I was disappointed to find out they open at 8:30am.I had other errands to run so I figured I would just do them first. By 9:00 amI had gotten my International DL, gone to Wal-mart, and to Michael’s.

I spent the next 3 hours finishing up my packing, cleaningmy room and getting ready. And it was off to the airport at noon!

I arrived in Washington without any issues. My friend Karinis spending a year in Lesotho so we planned our trips together so we could betogether for the 17 hour flight from Washington to Johannesburg. I kept tryingto call her because I thought she was supposed to arrive before me but it keptgoing straight to voicemail. Our flight was at 5:40pm, at 4:30 they startedboarding… and I still hadn’t heard from Karin!

She finally called me at 4:40 to say that her flight fromChicago had been delayed an hour. I knew she was cutting it close but I thinkit took me about 30 minutes to get from my United flight to our gate, so I figuredshe would make it. She also told me that she got bumped from her seat on SouthAfrica. We had called 2 times to make sure we had seats next to each other butshe still got bumped.

I went to the counter to see if we could get seats next toeach other (isle, window like we had reserved) and all they had was middle ofthe center… wah wah waahhh. I asked for us to be switched and then stared downthe terminal waiting for her to emerge through the crowds… and finally she did!

We were literally the last 2 people to get on the plane.They “made” us gate check our rolling bags as they weighed to much to go in theover head bins. This was amazing… one less thing to worry about on the plane.Gate checking is the way to go!

Settled in for the 17 hour flight!

Sure enough we were both in the middle of the center, butluckily each leg (the plane stops in Senegal) there was an empty seat on oneside of us. I didn’t sleep much on the plane, I wanted to but our flight arrivedin Johannesburg at 5:40pm and so I was hoping I would be exhausted when welanded.

Karin’s friend Justin picked us up from the airport. We metNunu at our hostel around 7:30. It’s really nerve wrecking having to coordinateso many people without the use of cell phones… so praise God everything wentoff without a hitch. We watched movies till it was time for bed. Karin and Ilay there like little girls giggling though out the night… We were both sotired but falling asleep was impossible. I think we both took a few naps, butit was the worst night of “sleep” ever!

Johannesburg was interesting. It wasn’t what I expected. I’msure it was in part because of where we were. The hostel we stayed at has adriver they always use, her name is Cesar. She was telling us that the area westayed in was like the melting pot of Johannesburg… Africans from all over moveinto this part of town. I guess I expected it to be more like America than itwas. We went to the main street of this part of town to eat and so I could buysome shampoo and conditioner (as they were in my “lost” bag) and it’s back toschool season. It was so funny to me that I was so far from home, but seeingsuch a familiar sight of mothers frantically running around a store with schoollist in hand scooping up backpacks and pencils. We did go to a mall and once wegot inside it felt just like any suburb in the states… more stores than anyonecould ever need, escalators, and a food court.

I’m not sure if it will ever work out for Karin and I to flytogether but it was so nice to travel with a friend. I think my parents wereless nervous this time around knowing that I was flying to Washington alone andthen Karin would be by my side until she handed me off to Nunu who will take methe rest of the way to Pemba.

210 Pounds later!

2012-01-16T11:59:00.000-08:00

I love packing for trips like this. I think I like the challenge of getting as much (both weight and size) in the suitcases I’m allowed. I tried to document the process a bit to share but I started packing on January 1st and was hoping to be done by the 8^th but I ended up packing till the morning I left.

See below for a list of what is in the bag I'm packing.

My flight was through South African Airlines and they allow two 50 pound checked bags and two carry-on bagsthat are supposed to be under 18 pounds. I ended up getting so many donationsfor Christmas that I decided to take a third 50-pound bag! It allowed me SOmuch more room for things =)

When I arrived at the airport my 3 big bags were about eightpounds over, so I fit what I could in my carry-on bags (which each probablyweighed about 28-pounds). I had to take out a bunch of Matchbox cars, 2 soccerballs and some cups… they will make it over eventually.

All together I think I had around 210 pounds of luggage!

Knowing that every pound and inch counts… I decided to dressin a few layers =) Wearing my jeans under my skirt meant that I didn’t have topack my jeans or my belt. And carrying my pillow meant I could stick my towel(which I like to use as a blanket on flights) in there.

At the airport ready to go though security.

One of my bags didn’t arrive in Johannesburg =( But I wastold yesterday that they found it and will forward it on to the Maputo airportfor me to pick up. It was actually nice not having to drag that bag to theairport… so maybe having a lost bag for a few days isn’t such a bad thing!

Here is what I got in one 50 pound bag (the one that is "lost"):

18 – Swim Trunks

9 – Water Bottles

2 – Splash Balls

39 – Matchbox Cars

1 – Flashlight

2 – AA Batteries

4 – Watches

5 – Headlamps

12 – AAA Batteries

3 – MP3 Players

12 – Boys Underwear

1 – Tripod

5 – Boxes of 8 Crayons

4 – Boxes of 24 Crayons

2 – Remote ControlledHelicopters

2 – Remote Controlled Cars

2 – Puzzles

48 – Glow Bracelets

2 – Soccer Balls

1 – Air Pump

1 – Laptop Bag

2 – Rubbermaid Boxes

2 – Long Skirts

1 - Dress

1- Swiss Army Knife

1 – Sun Block SPF 15

1 – Hand Sanitizer

1 – Shampoo

1 - Conditioner

1 – Child Cough Syrup

1 – Adult Cough Syrup

100 – Band Aids

20 – Gauze Pads

1 – Bottle of Liquid Band Aid

1 – Tube Canker Sore Cream

1 – Bottle of Pepto BismalTablets

1 – Bottle of Benedryl

1 – Pack Imodium AD

1 – Pack of Day Quill

1 – Bottle 500 Tylonel

9 – Travel Pack of Kleneex

1 – Pair of Scrub Pants

2 – Bags of Suckers

1 – Alarm Clock/Flashlight

1 – Barbie Doll

1 – Hair Clipper Set

I've tried to take pictures of most of the things I packed.

Things to Pack: Pic 1 of 4

Things to Pack: Pic 2 of 4

Things to Pack: Pic 3 of 4

Things to Pack: Pic 4 of 4

My garbage pile... After I flattened and recycled the big boxes it still filled up 3 garbage bags!

Prayer Request:

- Health, mainly that I would stay healthy and get over my jet lag.

- Traveling & Safety... That my guard would be up.

- That my bag would arrive in Maputo in one piece =)

Countdown...

2012-01-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

Look what came in the mail TODAY!!

2012-01-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

With 3 days to spare! Whoot Hoot!!!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying with me about this!

I leave in ONE week!

2012-01-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

I don’t even know what to write today, I have so manythoughts in my head…

I leave one week from today! While I am thrilled beyondbelief, I have so much to do. Oh and there is that little fact that I don’thave my visa yet and I had to send my passport along with my application in themail. I sent both off on December 19^th to the Embassy in Washington,with the assurance that it takes 3 days to process. I figured a few days in themail there a few days on the way back, no big deal.

Well I called yesterday, because I was surprised that Ididn’t have it back yet and they said it arrived on Tuesday! I’m not sure iftheir office was closed between Christmas and New Years or what, but they toldme it would be in the mail no later than today.

I’m a worrier. So this isn’t easy for me. There are fewthings that could keep me from going… one of them would be not having apassport.

I find comfort that God is in control, that He has calledme to Mozambique, and that things will work out according to His will. I keepmy Bible open to Matthew 6 and when I feel the worry creeping up on me I readpart or all of verses 25-34.

These verses talk about how God provides for the birds andlilies, yet we are so much more important to God than these things, so ofcourse God will provide for us… He knows what we need. Verses 33 and 34 say, “But seek firsthis kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you aswell. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry aboutitself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

All this being said, I’m finding peace knowing that God isin control and that at least one of us knows the difference between a need anda want.

Support Update:

I’ve raised 82% of the funds needed for my trip in Januaryand 24% of my goal for monthly support for long-term ministry.

Prayer Requests and such:

- Praise God! I’ve been so overwhelmed with the way peoplehave responded to the kids Christmas needs. I’ve surpassed my goal of raisingmoney for shoes and presents! Because of this generosity we will also have somegifts for Children’s Day in June!

- That my passport & visa would arrive before WednesdayJanuary 11^th.

- That I would continue to find peace knowing that God willprovide what I need, and understanding that what I need isn’t always what Iwant.

- Harvey & Carole Curley are hosting a SpaghettiFundraiser for me on Monday January 9^th at Genesis (309 N. MainStreet in Royal Oak, MI). Pray for a good turn out.

- That God would continue to give me peace and directionabout the role I’m in. That He would give me more ideas than I know what to dowith and the resources to see them through!

Dreaming of Christmas... in Mozambique!

2011-12-21T21:33:00.000-08:00

It blows my mind every once in awhile that it was in 2008that I first felt called to spend Christmas in an orphanage. Now for my 2^ndyear in a row, I will celebrate Christmas in an orphanage… who cares that itisn’t on December 25^th. I’m happy to celebrate the birth of Jesusany day of the year and so are the kids and staff in Mozambique!

As if it’s not enough work to raise financial support formyself, I’ve been busy collecting money and gifts for the kids in Mozambique. Ihave to say that it’s a really hard balancing act… since I don’t have all of myfinancial support raised I should probably be focusing more on that, but Ireally want the kids & staff at the Center to be blessed this Christmas!

It thrills me that people are so generous and it’s soawesome to see how faithful God is with carrying out the crazy things he layson my heart! I also love that God has given me the gift of giving and I get toput it to such good use!

This Christmas God has given me big ideas for the kids…well maybe the ideas aren’t big but when you are trying to buy gifts for 15 –40 people and then travel 8000 miles with them… it’s a big deal! I’m planningto take as many water bottles, headlamps, pairs of underwear, watches, coloringbooks, crayons and key chains over as my bags will allow! I’m also excited thatI will be able to buy bigger things like shoes and soccer balls in Maputo (thecapital city).

Here are a few specific things I’ve been doing togather donations for the kids & staff this Christmas...

Two weeks ago Genesis: the Church held it’s annual Hopefor the Holidays market. I sold items hand-made in Mozambique and alsocollected donations for the things I plan to purchase in Maputo.

I’ve also had an amazing opportunity this year at Barnes& Noble (in Grosse Pointe, MI)… I’ve been wrapping presents for donations! Ilove wrapping and I love that the donations will help us to buy Christmaspresents in Pemba this year!

I’m such a planner when it comes to things like this. I’vebudgeted out everything from a low to high figure and how many each dollaramount allows me to buy for. Also as the number goes up it allows me to splurgea little more and buy good shoes for each child and a few fun things for thekids to share… like a few remote controlled cars =) Who doesn’t love a remotecontrolled car?!

I’m happy to say that I’m right around my low figure and Ithink after wrapping gifts this Friday and Saturday I will have enough money tobuy all the kids (in the house) new shoes! And these are just my efforts alone!

So I guess that means it time to get back to my ownfundraising.

But one last thing… I’m featured in the Christmas videothis year, so be sure to check it out, it's only 2 minutes long.

The Dream Project Christmas 2011

Support Update:

I’ve raised 68% of the funds needed for my trip in Januaryand 21% of my goal for monthly support for long-term ministry.

Prayer Requests:

- With 20 days before my trip, I’m starting on some of myfinal preparations. Just that I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed with all that I needto accomplish in 20 days.

- I sent my visa application off on Monday (passportincluded). Join me in praying that I filled everything out correctly and that Iwill get everything back in a timely manner.

- That God would continue to give me peace and directionabout the role I’m in. That He would give me more ideas than I know what to dowith and the resources to see them through!

Official Countdown Clock!

2011-12-12T20:56:00.000-08:00

One Month from TODAY!!!!

2011-12-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

One month from today… I will be leaving for Africa!! I’mexcited and nervous.

My trip plans are coming together slowly yet surely. Istill need to apply for my visa. I just need to go over all my paper work onelast time, go get a money order and then I will be all ready to mail it off tothe Mozambican Embassy in Washington.

My plans as of right now are to fly from Detroit toWashington… where I will meet up with my friend Karin. She is spending the yearin Lesotho and so we are flying from Washington to Johannesburg together! Thisis a 17-hour flight and so I couldn’t be happier to have one of my best friendson it with me! We will arrive in Johannesburg Friday night and spend it in ahostel with some friends… before Nunu and I take the 8 hour bus ride to Maputo!

When I’m in Maputo, I will be staying at a guesthouse forMissionaries. Nunu and Sumate (national missionaries who work up in Pemba) willalso be in Maputo visiting family. They will be about 1.5 hours away but haveagreed to show me around and help me buy Christmas presents for the kids…things like shoes and soccer balls. I have a feeling I won’t leave theguesthouse unless I have someone by my side.

Nunu and I will also be traveling to Ponta de Ouro for afew days. The Dream Project has 6 acres of land in Ponta. My hope for the tripis to be able to document the land by taking pictures and measuring anythingpossible so that one day when The Dream Project is ready to build, I will havea good sense of the land and be able to do some architectural drawings forthem.

The final leg of my trip is to Pemba, to celebrateChristmas with my boys! I’m going by bus and I’ve heard this trip can take upto 3 days! I feel like this is going to be a whole new experience for me andI’m hoping I will have lots to blog about… or maybe I should be hoping for theopposite! I think I will be up in Pemba around February 1^st, but itwill depend on when Nunu’s work in Maputo is done. I’m surly not brave enoughto take a 3 day bus ride alone in Mozambique!

It is hard not having exact days, but this is life inMozambique and it’s good for me to get used to being laid back about things.I’ve heard the bus to Pemba doesn’t really run on a schedule… I mean I’m sureit’s supposed to but just because the schedule says it goes on Wednesdays andSaturdays doesn’t mean much. When Nunu & Sumate were looking into their busrides from Pemba to Maputo, one of them was telling me that there are no busesat the station and so they couldn’t find out when the next bus would leaveuntil a bus arrived from Maputo.

I’m trying to learn to go with the flow and not build upmy expectations… as I realized on my last trip that if you don’t expect much,you’re never let down.

Support Update:

I’ve raised 66% of the funds needed for my trip in Januaryand almost 21% of my goal for monthly support.

Specifically a few of my needs are:

Financial Support – You could personally support me or you could host a book party or fundraiser of any sort.
Communication Support – I have a few people on my mailing list that don’t use email and I’m hoping to find someone that would be willing to mail them an update or two while I’m gone.
Logistical Support – While I’m gone someone that would be willing to follow up with some of my contacts and arrange book parties or speaking engagements.

Prayer:

- Visa preparation and approval.

- Keep my focus… as I was challenged last week in my smallgroup, remembering the Gospel everyday.

- Not getting caught up in the details… going with theflow!

- I’m collecting Christmas presents for the kids. I’mtrying to keep things organized… what’s been donated… what do we still need…how much money has been collected… what can I buy with that in Maputo… and ofcourse will it all fit in my suite case!

- Support raising!

Wedding Bells are Ringing!

2011-12-06T17:13:00.001-08:00

I’m not really sure where November went?! It was a busyfast moving month for me! For the first two weeks I was in Chicago.

I spent part of the first week working in my oldArchitecture firm! It’s defiantly not the same without my co-workers, but itwas nice to have a “real” job for a few days. I’m now able to work thereremotely… so anywhere that has the internet! I haven’t been able to do much asof yet, but I’m going to start putting aside 1 day a week for this. As myChristmas list is long this year (living in an orphanage will do that), I’dbetter start logging some hours! Seriously it really is a blessing to be ableto make a good hourly wage with a completely flexible schedule.

I had two weddings this November… my brother and goodfriend from High School. They were the reason for the lengthy trip. Mybrother’s wedding was really nice, but I think the best part was that peoplegot to see a side of him they didn’t know existed. The way he looks atPriscilla would melt many hearts. I couldn’t be happier for them.

One of my oldest friends, Erin, whom I met in 8^thgrade also got married… 1 week after Josh. I’m equally excited for her andRyan! The wedding was very Erin… Elegant with a hint of pizazz… that’s my girl!

The nice thing about my "job" or the position I'm working toward, is that I can do much of it from anywhere. I always love my trips to Chicago and being able to spend time catching everyone up on my life and the ministry I'm working with.

Support Update:

I’ve raise 63% of the funds needed for my trip in Januaryand almost 18% of my goal for monthly support.

Monthly financial support is still my greatest need. Click here for more information about giving and my other support needs.

Prayer Requests:
- I'm gathering Christmas presents for the kids and national staff, pray that we would raise enough to provide a great Christmas in Mozambique!
- Visa applications
- That I would be able to build a solid support team. Click here for information about support.

Wanna go on a short-term trip to Moz!?!

2011-11-15T17:39:00.001-08:00

After spending a week at home, I headed off for Atlanta! Iarrived and 3 hours later was presenting my videos and sharing stories about mytrip to Mozambique! No rest for the weary…

Many people don’t know that I graduated from High School inDacula, GA and my mom and step-dad still live there. They were kind enough toset up two different opportunities for me to share about my book and plans forMozambique. It was also nice to meet so many of their friends who I hear somuch about.

Saturday my friend Taylor came to visit. Taylor and Ivolunteered at Campus Life in Downers Grove, IL for 3 years together. She movedto Charlotte, NC about the same time I moved to Detroit. We daydreamed aboutorganizing a short-term missions trip to Moz… aahhhhh what a lovely thought. Iwouldn’t be part of the short-term, but I would get to host them!

Speaking of short-term trips, two guys from Indian RiverMethodist Church went on a short-term trip to help with a building project.They got a great start to a new home that will allow us to house short-termteams and long-term missionaries. If you are interested in taking a team toMozambique please e-mail me!

Support Update:

I’ve raise 57% of the funds needed for my trip in Januaryand 15% of my goal for monthly support.

Monthly financial support is still my greatest need. Click here for more information about giving and my other support needs.

Prayer Requests/Updates:
- Julia & Adriano are getting ready to travel to Brazil.
- The boys semester just finished, they are on there summer break. Many of them just took finals and will find out their scores in a week or so. In Moz not everyone has finals each year, only certain grades.
- Support raising! That I will meet my goals =)
- I'm hoping to book a one way flight this week! I'm hoping to fly over with my friend Karin, who will be serving for a year in Lesotho. We're looking for good connections and cheap flights!!!

Thanks to all who read. Your support means the world to me!

Rock Bottom Deals!

2011-10-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

It seems like each month is full of new experiences andfeelings. October has been no exception. It has been a hard and exciting month.I spent the first week or so in Chicago.

I went into Balsamo, Olsen and Lewis (my old architecturefirm), because they were kind enough to let me use a computer with AutoCAD towork on some drawings for The Dream Project. I hadn’t been back to the officesince my trip last year. I ended up showing Sal (my former boss) my book and hebought 2 books! Not only that but he asked if I could come in and work for himfor a week. He also joked about setting me up for remote access so I could workfrom Africa!

Judy was also excited about the work I’m doing and she toldme about this place called Rock Bottom Deals. She asked me to create a wishlist of items for Africa…

I checked out the site andit’s pretty cool. You are able to buy things in bulk at a discounted price, forexample you can buy coloring books that would cost $3.00… for $.60 the onlything is you have to buy 12. But what a deal!

The best part is you can make wish lists for others tofulfill =). So I created a Dream Project wish list and Judy hooked us up! I’mexcited to say I have 2 boxes full of things like puzzles, coloring books,hand-sanitizer, and cups have arrived for Christmas!

The day after I got home from Chicago, I didn’t move. Mywhole body ached and my throat was starting to hurt. I never realized howexhausting this would be. I love sharing. I love talking about my passion forthese boys and Mozambique. I guess I just never realized how mentally andemotionally exhausting it was.

Support Update:

I’ve raise 50% of the funds needed for my trip in January and 14% of my goal for monthly support.

Where did September go?

2011-10-20T17:17:00.000-07:00

On September 24^th I was asked to share at theAmerican Baptist Churches of Michigan annual pastors meeting. They had a panelof short-term missionaries all share about their trips and give advise aboutshort-term trips. Here is a little of what I shared…

Even though my trip was only 7 weeks long, I beganlooking for an international group to serve with 2 years before. Watching doorafter door close or not even open was hard, but I just knew this is what Godwas calling me to. As I was preparing to leave for Mozambique I knew that I wasgoing in God’s perfect timing. Time and time again on my trip I was remindedjust how perfect the timing was. I have a friend who likes to say “nothing iswasted in God’s economy,” many days in Mozambique I found comfort looking backover my life and thinking God was preparing me for this day, nothing has been awaste.

September ended with a book party. My friend Leslie was kindenough to open her home and allow me to sell my books and share the passionthat has been laid on my heart for the beautiful country of Mozambique. ThanksLeslie!

For the first time I also sold pictures and purses. I’ve hada few people ask if they could buy pictures and so I’ve created a book to showwhich prints are for sale and what they cost.

When I was in Moz I bought about 10 or 12 yards of fabricconvinced I would do something cool with it when I came home. On my trip toMozambique I carried a fabric purse. I took it with me everywhere and it wasawesome but I remember a few times wishing it was a little bit bigger. About amonth ago I decided I would sew myself a bigger purse out of my Moz fabric. Iloved it so much I decided I would keep sewing bags and try to sell them toraise money.

I've got a few more book parties lines up between now and the end of the year, but if you would like to host a party at your home, church, schoolor anywhere you can think of please email me at amanda@thedream-project.org.

Support Update:

I’ve raise 41% of the funds needed for my trip in Januaryand 14% of my goal for monthly support.

Prayer Requests;

- My health

- Building project in Pemba. Walt and Trent arrived yesterday and will begin building tomorrow!

Can you sign my shirt?

2011-10-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

I started off September with a trip to Missouri. My dad, Linnea and I drove down to Neosho to visit family. We volunteered for a day in Joplin, tearing out the floor of a home. Joplin was hit by a huge tornado in May. The tornado tore right though town, not only taking out one of Joplin’s hospitals, but also the majority of it’s school and killing over 160 people. I’ve been going to Joplin my whole life and I lived there in 2005… it was surreal going back.

Google's picture 1220 Roland... pre-tornado.

1220 Roland post-tornado... crazy.

Dad & I pulling up the floor.

Yep... I wore my TOMS =)

Almost done!

On our way home we went to Kansas City, Missouri so that I could speak at Paxton School. I was asked in as a guest author by the Librarian, Jennifer Day, to speak to the entire school of 4^th and 5^th graders (just under 400 students). I hadn’t spoken to Jen in probably 10 years when she reached out to me on Facebook. She asked if I could come share how I wrote the book as well as some of my experiences in Mozambique. I was both thrilled and honored that she would ask… and was very excited for this opportunity!

I was given the choice of speaking to small, medium or large groups. I went with small and so I shared eight times in two days! The students were so amazing though! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but they paid attention and asked really good follow up questions.

I showed part of my trip video and asked the students some questions while pointing out similarities and differences from USA to Moz. I walked them though my writing process as well as my picture taking process. I also brought in some fabric from Moz and showed how woman would wear it and how they would use it to carry their children and babies. I used volunteers for that and let the students carry around baby dolls. In conclusion I challenged them to dream big… and think of how they can help others.

The funniest thing was being asked if I could sign their shirts or their arms… I said no =) The coolest thing was that two girls came up to me afterwards and asked “If we give you something will you bring it to Mozambique?” I said, “Sure.” They took their headbands off of their heads and gave them to me. After school the same two girls came in and gave me a ponytail holder and pair of glasses with no lenses. I was so touched. It’s not about how much you give, but about giving of what you have. Kids are just so amazing!

September has been a great kick-off to my fundraising. As of today, I’m 39% to reaching my goal that will allow me to go to Mozambique this winter, but I’m only at 7% of my overall monthly support needed. Which means I’ve gotten a good amount of one-time donations (including book sales) and have just scratched the surface of monthly donations.

My goal is to reach 50% of my monthly support by the time I leave this winter and raise the other 50% after I return in March. Lots of goals I know, but I’m a detail person… most of your eyes would cross if I showed you the Excel Spreadsheet I’ve put together to track donations and sales!

If you would like to host a party at your home, church, school or anywhere you can think of please email me at amanda@thedream-project.org.

Prayer:

- Trip to Atlanta – October 19^th – 26^th.

- Helder (one of the boys) was hit by a car last week. His injuries were minor, but he had a few stitches on his head and scraped up his arms and hands.

- Fundraising =)

- My health… as I’ve been feeling a little under the weather this week.

Missionary Author... how did that happen?

2011-09-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

Many days I am in disbelief with my life. I don’t know what is more surprising… moving to Mozambique (essentially) or publishing a book?

I’ve been phasing out of my role with U.S. Operations and started preparing to head back to Mozambique as a full-time Missionary. I don’t know about you, but when I hear the term Missionary my mind is flooded with thoughts. Some negative and some positive, but I don’t really feel like many of those thoughts describe me.

I’m still getting used to the idea of being an author. When I think of authors I think of people that can spell and have a large vocabulary. Neither are my strong suit =) I was thinking the other day how hard English class was for me in High School, but then I remember that the one thing I was good at was descriptive writing… who knew all these years later I would use my descriptive writing skills to publish a book!?!

As far as my plans for the future, I’m planning to head back to Mozambique for Christmas and stay for another 3 months. I know when most people become Missionaries they go into the field for at least a year… well as usual I do things different. I’m still making the year long commitment, but I really feel like I’m being called to go for a few months and then come back to the States for a few months to share how TDP is changing lives of people in Mozambique. Not just to report back but to really give supporters an idea of who lives and works at our Center.

I’m also really excited to get to visit Ponta de Oruo, Mozambique! The government has given The Dream Project 6 acres in Ponta and we hope to eventually have a ministry there as well. I was unable to visit on my last trip, partially because I didn’t know anyone in Ponta. This winter TDP is going to be doing a small building project in Ponta. I’m not sure what just yet, but a national worker (and possibly another American missionary) will be in Ponta overseeing the project. It looks like TDP will be sending Namorado, it will be nice to have a friend who speaks English (and Portuguese) and knows the area.

We have another building project going on up in Pemba. We are currently trying to purchase a piece of land that will connect our two existing properties. We have a team coming in October to build and if we are able to purchase the land we will be able to enclose all of our land in one fence. This will help a lot with security. The team this fall is building a few new dorms and bathroom. It will allow us to repurpose some of our rooms, so that we have a space for storage, an office and a true common room (meaning no one’s bedroom) for the boys. All are much needed and so this is really exciting! I can’t wait to see the changes!

As always thanks for reading!

Please be praying:

For my trip plans
Building in October, that the neighbors will sell to us for a reasonable price. Also that we are able to get the permits in time =)
Building in Ponta. From filing for permits to finishing paperwork after the build.
The house mom’s son is in the hospital. Keep his health in your prayers.

Chicken & Mashed Potatoes

2011-07-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

For weeks now I have been thinking it would be fun to cook for the guys and Michael. I think it's because every time I look at Sheema (flour cooked with water) all I think it mashed potatoes… from there I end up thinking about Thanksgiving! My favorite meal is a typical Thanksgiving meal.

I head to town with Nunu and I'm surprised to find how empty it is. We wonder all over trying to find what I'm looking for. The best part was when we were at this little shop buying chickens I was going over what else we needed out loud… butter, bread, potatoes, etc. I look at a box and it says "Amanda!" Why is it so exciting to find things with our names on it?! I ask Nunu to find out what it is and it's butter! I was planning on buying it no matter what it was, but I even needed it.

I get to the house and start thawing out my birds. The water is off, so I have to go to the well to get water and I have to boil it so I don't get sick. I get everything going, my birds in the oven. The kitchen is 109! I step outside and I feel like I'm walking into air-conditioning! My potatoes only need a little bit longer to be done and I'm gonna have to watch the birds, since the stove setting are just low to high.

I glance at the stove and realize that the flame under the potatoes had gone out. I try relighting and get nothing. It takes a minute for it to click that the stove is hooked into a gas tank that sits under the sink and it must be out. I search the garage, there are other cans but they all appear to be empty.

This is something you can't just run out and grab, not to mention Michael isn't home. I tell the guys what is happening and they tell me to cook the stuff on the charcoal stove. I know you can cook a chicken on the grill, but not with the supplies they have here.

Since I had just put the birds in the oven minutes before the gas ran out, I decide to just bag everything and cook it later. If we can get gas in time… if not I figure I will just let the guys cook it how they like.

I try not to ask much of Michael, because everyone asks the world of Michael and I know it's stressful. So I'm surprised after church on Sunday when he asks if I want to go get gas. I'm actually thrilled because the power had just gone out and I knew we would have to cook the birds today.

We get the gas. I cook the food and Michael, Sumate, Nunu, Santos, Ernesto and I sit around eating in the Kitchen eating chicken and mashed potatoes. We also had corn and bread but those are very normal here. It's fun to be able to share some of my life with them… especially cause they all love chicken!

Dreaming of Mozambique!

2011-07-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

I'm not exactly sure where the time has gone. Life is finally getting back to normal... or at least my new version of normal.

As far as The Dream Project goes... I've started the process to become a full-time missionary! I'm hoping to head back to Mozambique this December! I'm hoping to help grow the communication between the children in Mozambique and our supporters in the States! I really feel God calling me to this right now and I'm excited to see where it all leads.

I'm guessing if you are reading this you know that I used my blog to keep in touch while I was gone in Mozambique. When I got home my plan was to print them up and bind a few copies to share with people that never made it to this site.

Well to make a really long story short... what started out as my idea for a print out has turned into me self publishing parts of my blogs along with some of my favorite pictures from the trip. I have titled the book Dreaming of Mozambique.

Cover of Dreaming of Mozambique

Dreaming of Mozambique will be selling for $25. The proceeds from this book will help pay and prepare me for my next trip to Mozambique in December! The book is 65 pages and has over 120 colored images. I've gotten really good feed back from my team of proof readers and I'm excited to use this book to help people understand life in Mozambique a little better.

The Proof Copy!

To purchase Dreaming of Mozambique:

If you wish to write a check please send it to:

Cost: $25.00

Cost w/ Shipping: $30.00

Amanda Nichols

309 N. Main Street

Royal Oak, MI 48067

Book: Cost $25.00
Pay with PayPal

Book + Shipping: Cost $30.00
Pay with PayPal

Robin Hood and the Market

2011-05-16T20:16:00.000-07:00

Every other Monday we buy food for the house that will last 2 weeks. Maria, Joao and Izack are in charge of the bi-weekly outing. I didn't know much about it all I knew was that they went into the big Market a few blocks from downtown and it required getting a taxi for the ride home.

As we stood waiting for the bus, I remember Maria noticing all of my bed bug bites. Sometimes I forget how different things look on my skin verses theirs. It was also really cute, Maria insisted that I stand in the shade of a electrical pole while we waited in the hot sun.

We got to the Market and I felt like we were entering a club or something. All these times driving past and I didn't realize that there was more to this place than just the shops along the street. We walked down this narrow alley that was less than 3 feet wide and about 20 feet wide.The walls were lined with DVD's and CD's. Not like what we have in America, rather flat boxes in plastic bags. I didn't get a good look but the covers had more than one movie on them and I didn't get if the actual DVD was in there or if these were just display cards.

Once we make it though this isle, things open up a little. The isles aren't any wider, but there are booths and items set out on short tables. The tables being so low to the ground make it feel less claustrophobic. Shops all sell different things. Right now I'm looking at underwear toward the right and coffee mugs, plates and other kitchen wares to the left.

We take off down another narrow isle. Izack and Joao have both told me to follow close, but they keep looking back to make sure I'm still there. We pass wood furniture, I see an iron, and clothes. The sound is chatter with different types of music, but as we turn a corner I hear American music. Loud. We pass some potatoes and turn again. We arrive at a different booth that sells beans, potatoes and onions. Izack and Joao obviously know the guy.

While they chat, my eyes wonder. We are directly across from a music booth. The music booth consists of CD's and a guy sitting at a computer with HUGE speakers. They are BLASTING the Eminem's song that came out just before I left… I think it's called "Everybody."

The only reason I mention the song is because since the day I've arrived I've noticed Pedro attempting to sing songs that are popular in America. I couldn't put my finger on the first one, like the lyrics were sitting on the tip of my tong. For a few weeks he was singing a Justin Bieber song, but the last few weeks he has been singing "Esteybody" and I've been wondering what song it was, case closed!

I watch as Maria and Joao snap the beans (raw baked beans) in half and examine them before eating them. Who knew this is how you buy beans… I sure didn't. Izack has a laminated list of what to buy, Joao has a calculator out. I'm sure they are figuring what we can afford based on the going price. Potatoes are next and I notice right away the the biggest potatoes are in the front, but that the guy grabs from the back. I think Maria comments, because he pulls some of the small ones out. We buy two grocery bag full of beans and one full of potatoes.

We walk towed the way we came, but go straight rather than turning. This stop onions and garlic. One grocery bag of onions. We keep walking. The boys are carrying all of the items in their hands and Maria is carrying her own purchase on her head, which is the norm in Pemba.

We wind our way back to the street while passing just about every miscellaneous thing you could ever want. From flip flops to plumbing equipment to mattress. Kinda like Target before they started adding the grocery sections to their stores. Well like an out door Target with a dirt floor, loud music, bamboo "department" dividers and the occasional cat.

We walk down the street till we come to a big parking anchored by what I think is two stores. The only reason I think that is because there are two doors. Both store have mercy inside and out, it's apparently bulk food.

I wait with all the food in the parking lot while everybody else goes in. They come out a few minutes later with 3 gallon sized containers of oil, 3 50 pound bags of rice, and a few small boxes. Neither Joao or Izack are great English speakers, but they communicate that they are going to get a taxi and a few more things. Maria grabs broken down boxes for us to sit on and we wait with the food. While we are sitting there a guy comes from behind us and grabs 2 of the bottles of oil. I'm not sure what to think. Do we know him? Is this the cab driver? Maria is putting her shoes on and goes after the guy. I'm still not sure what to think, because she isn't running. Also, now here I am left with ALL this stuff just waiting.

While I'm waiting a woman leaving the store says something to me in broken English. She says something like, "Not safe for you and all this food, trouble." Whatever she said I remember feeling like she was implying that I was asking for trouble, almost inviting it.

The thing that gets me the most about this is I feel like lots of people have that Robin Hood mentality. I'm white, therefore I must be rich, so stealing from me because you are poor is okay. Don't get me wrong theft is an issue here, but as I stand there in that parking lot I wonder… "did this guy steal from us because I'm here." Did he look at me and assume that I could just buy more oil. The oil cost 300 MZN, which is about $9.60. Sure I could have spent $20 to replace what was taken, but I didn't bring money here to replace stolen goods. I decide to buy one oil. As if it was my way of taking some sort of stand and showing that white people can't fix everything. Probably crazy thinking, it's not like the guy was even there to watch me not buy 2 things of oil.

Once the shopping was done, my plan was to go to the internet place. I thought we were going to the middle of town, so it all made sense to me. Well I didn't realize that we were going to a market just before town. It wasn't a far walk and it was broad daylight. I think I would have been fine walking, but the boys insisted that I didn't. Joao and I took a cab to the internet place, Joao got out of the car and walked me the 15 feet to the door. I tell you these boys are amazing. I never have to ask about things. They all just take care of me as if I'm the child in need.

One thing about all of these boys is they do have so much respect for their elders. You can tell by how they speak to people. They always add either "Mano" or "Mana" to the beginning of the Missionaries and workers names. I'm Mana Amanda or there is Mano Sumate, Mano Michael and so on. The other thing I've noticed is that when an adult shows up and there are no chairs the kids will automatically get up and give the adult their chair or go find one for them to sit on.

Pass the Kleenex...

2011-04-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

Ok so here we go again. I guess I should mention that I will do my best to keep things in chronological order, but when I stopped blogging I wasn't journaling either. Also it is easier for me to recap the story as if I was there, so that is what I will do.

Game on...

As if my little buddy Juma Pequeno doesn't have enough to deal with by being small for his age from malnutrition and having AIDS/HIV, the poor kids gets sick a lot. This time he has a cough and runny nose. I find myself in all these strange situations. I know what to do in America, but just cause it's what we would do doesn't mean it's what I should do here. When his nose is running do I wipe it? What do I wipe it with, the don't have kleenex. When he is coughing while he is trying to sleep should I do something, should I wake someone up, will he just fall back asleep? Before I am even done having the conversation in my head he does fall back asleep.

I decide not to do much, but only to ask Juma P to cover his mouth when he is coughing. Every time he coughs I say his name and cough using my hand to cover my mouth. I realize that I probably should have used my elbow, but decide to just be consistent. He is pretty good about keeping his mouth covered, but like all children he needs constant reminding. One day Juma P and Helder were standing right in front of me watching me work on something and Juma P starts coughing. At that moment I know I will too have a cough and sure enough a few days later I am officially sick.

Apparently something is going around Pemba and so it's not just me and Juma P. Now that I'm sick though it really get's me thinking. In a week or so I go though 8 travel packages of kleenex. They are 3 ply and so when I notice how fast I'm going through the beautiful, soft, luxurious kleenex; I start pulling the pieces apart and using either 1 or 2 ply(?) at at time. Sure I have toilet paper but I think I could blow a hole though it from across the room. I'm sure it's similar to what you have to use with a septic here in the US but my guess is it's thinner. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, imagine really natural looking recycled paper. Then look at how thick it is and cut it in half.... so basically really really thin recycled paper.

So anyways, all this nose blowing has me wondering what everyone else is using to blow their nose? Ask and you shall receive as soon as I started wondering I got my answer. WARNING THIS IS GROSS… I saw a guy blow the nastiest snot rocket (when you push one side of your nose closed and blow with all of your might to get everything out), I mean yuck! All snot rockets are nasty, but this was nasty based on quantity... ugh there was just so much snot!

I don't think I made a face when I saw the snot rocket, but I definitely though YUCK! No one else even flinched, it's times like these I wonder am I thinking like this cause I'm a girl or because I'm American? Do the girls here blow snot rockets in public? Aah the life one lives when surrounded by males 24 hours a day 7 days a week for 4 weeks (cause I had Julie for the first 3). Sometimes the norm here is just so strange to me. I even thought should I offer these guys kleenex or some toilet paper, but they probably would have put it in there pocket and saved it for the bathroom and thought I was nuts for suggesting that they blow there nose in it. I mean snot rockets are free?! So in a town where a days wage is $3.20 a little more than some boxes of kleenex, you do the math.

The other really funny thing about all of this is that with ALL of the medicine I brought… I didn't bring one thing for a cough. Another one of those little lessons that any planner hates learning. It's humbling knowing that I will never be able to prepare for everything, at some point I just have to be ready to hand it over to the Lord… even the little things like having a nasty cough in the middle of Africa. But man what a blessing the day I found Halls cough drops in one of the little grocery stores. It really is the little things here in Pemba... 3 ply kleenex and a package of orange flavored cough drops.

Juma P these were taken before his cold set in.

Juma P and Amido... they sure love posing for the camera!

Let the debriefing begin...

2011-04-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard... I'm back in Detroit.

I'm not done blogging about my trip, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend any more time in front of my computer while I was there. I will try to finish writing the last 2 weeks of blogs, but my computer either has a nasty virus or the hard drive is about to crash. Yes all of my pictures are on there =( They think they will be able to transfer them over, but that requires me getting a new laptop... which I don't exactly have the money for after my little adventure!

All this to say I'm home and more stories and pictures about my trip will be coming soon!

I would appericate your prayers while I try to face the reality of being back in the US and what life looks like now. It is shocking for many reasons, but the biggest is being alone for the first time in 2 months and dealing with the silence. Sure I listen to music, read and watch tv, but the noise of the House in Mozambique has become my norm. 12 hours of a keyboard playing 5 feet from my door, constant knocking on my door at all hours of the day to ask life threatening question like "can I use your soccer ball?", kids screaming, laughing, crying, asking for hugs, wanting to sit on my lap, wondering if I'm going to the beach the list goes on, but that is what I miss.

A day in the life...

2011-03-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Since getting here I have been meaning to write about what a day is like for the boys. So here is my best attempt at doing that.
On weekdays the boys are up no later than 5am, but sometimes as early as 4am. They start there day off with a time of singing and prayer. After that they all have chores. They sweep the yard, their rooms, do any dishes left over from the night before and do their laundry. For breakfast they eat bread and drink tea.
School here operates in half days. Some kids go from 7am till noon and others go from noon to 5pm. The kids that aren’t in school get tutored at least two days a week by some of the workers or even the older children. All the kids eat lunch at the center, either before or after school. Lunch is usually beans and rice.
The music teacher, Daniel, comes a few days a week to teach the kids to play the piano and the guitar. They all have time slots and get lessons each week and then practice when the keyboard isn’t in use. Some days the keyboard is played from sunrise to sunset.
The art teacher, Zito, comes two days a week and helps the kids make cards and necklaces. It is amazing watching the kids and Zito create the cards with such simple tools.
Dinner is usually sometime between 5 and 6pm. Dinner is usually a starch and a protein or salad (if a large serving of protein was served at lunch). The starches are rice, spaghetti or sheema. I just found out that sheema is basically flour cooked over the stove with water, no wonder it tastes like nothing. The protein varies each day from beans, fish, or goat meat. Salad is cabbage and cucumbers and sometimes a banana or other seasonal fruit.
At 7pm the boys all gather to talk over their day. They all sit in a circle and one of the Maputo guys goes around asking them to share about their day. They usually say things like “my day was good, I went to school.” Sometimes they share about how something bad happened to them or a funny story. Last night Latino shared that on his way to school his pants split open and riding his bike made the hole get bigger and bigger. He ended up stopping to ask a taylor to fix his pants. He explained to the man that he didn’t have any money but wouldn’t be able to go to school with the hole in his pants. The man fixed his pants while Latino waited in his underwear… everybody got a good laugh out of that story.

The kids start making their way to bed around 8 and lights go out at 9. All the boys share one shower and so there is usually a line for that and others try to do more laundry.
On Friday night the kids get to watch a movie. They have tv in the common room and a DVD/VHS player. They mainly watch movies in English and they talk though the whole thing, but they love to laugh at the funny parts. The tv is locked up during the week and only gets brought out for the 3 or so hours of watching. Bedtime is extended to lights out at 10pm and the kids get to sleep in until 6am on the weekend.

Depending on who is around is what shapes the weekend. When Julie was here the kids went to IRIS ministries for church in the morning and then we all went to the beach in the afternoon. Now that Michael is here the kids have the option to attend the church of their choice but we also have service at the house.

Hopefully I'll have more pictures next week, but I didn't realize that I wouldn't be able to get the ones I took last week off of my camera...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020325&id=102500461&l=51b516af63

The foot Doctor is in?!

2011-03-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

These kids constantly think they are sick… especially Pedro. He has gotten so bad about my “medicine” that I’ve had to cut him off from band-aids and I’ve started telling him that he can’t have pepto bismal tablets unless he lays down… I mean if your stomach hurts laying down makes sense right?
The funny thing is it isn’t just the kids. I gave Michael some nasal decongestant and when I left his place 4 adults were grabbing their throats asking for medicine. I’m also apparently the local foot doctor. Ugh I hate feet! With all the walking and poor shoes here it makes sense that there are a lot of foot problems. I’m just like I’m no doctor people but they think I have medicine for everything. I do my best to clean the cuts and put Neosporin on them, hoping they don’t get infected. The “best” part about being the local “doctor” is that most people come to me days after getting cut… so yep things are infected. Amido had a cut on his leg and we had to poke it with a needle to get the puss out before I could do anything. I looked away for a minute and he grabbed a rusty nail off of my floor and went to poke it… I was like “NOOOOO!!” The Juma G came to me with a cut on the bottom of his foot and there was so much dirt in it that I had to try to cut it open enough to attempt to clean it. I was using a needle for that too and Pedro brought me this rusted up exacto blade and I was like “no dirty!” In total I’ve clean 6 feet, 2 shins and 1 elbow. I’m sure glad I brought gloves.
It pains me to tell you that my mouse problems aren’t over. I noticed more poop and set my trap near the door again. I woke up this morning to really weird screaming noises, but the boys run around right outside of my window… so it’s normal. I usually lay in bed trying to figure out who is making the noises until I fall back asleep, as I was listening to this noise I noticed that something was scratching/sliding on the floor. I popped up really quick, put my glasses on, grabbed my flashlight and looked at my trap only to find a mouse screaming and trying to escape the sticky glue!
The funny thing about this is that modesty is big here and so for me to go running out of my room first thing in the morning isn’t ideal… so I’ve altered my pajamas keeping that in mind. It was a good thing too, because from the safety of my mosquito net I leap of the bed put my shoes on and am out the door looking for someone to help. These kids sit on the porch all day but when I need them they are nowhere to be found. Luckily I found Momade and he came and got the little sucker. I got a good look at this guy and he looked more like a little rat than a mouse, about 4 inches in length. It gave me the chills thinking about his screams.

The boys all think it’s hilarious that I don’t like mice, so they got a good laugh while I was sitting out on the porch at 7am trying to work up the courage to get back in my bed. I finally make it try to carry on like it is any other morning. I start out by listen to my ipod the first song is always “Lead me to the Cross” by Francesca Battistelli. I had my eyes closed just trying to relax and take in the words. I was about 2 or 3 songs in when I opened my eyes and saw a mouse climbing up my window!!! I screamed and he fell onto my bed! The only thing that separated us was my bug net. I flew and I mean flew off of my bed and went running out the door yelling for the boys to go find it.

They went in and I got the dogs (who like to eat mice). The kids and Daniel took my room apart looking for the little guy, but they didn’t find him. Sumate was out there when I went flying out of my room and I don’t think he will ever let me forget how I reacted. All day every time he sees me he starts laughing… ugh. Apparently girls here aren’t afraid of mice.

I probably stood on the porch bare knees without shoes on for an hour. It’s just funny and hard because no one relates… it’s a strange cultural difference but it definitely is a difference.

Uggs?

2011-03-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

My visa was only for 30 days and so I had to go apply for another 30 visa. Michael also needs to renew his Dire (similar to resident visa), so we’ve made several trips to immigration. My visa only took 3 trips but I was so afraid that they were going to keep telling me to change the text in my letter explaining why I was here. The Dire on the other hand… I’ve lost track as to how many times Michael has gone to immigration. You go and they tell you go get this document translated at an official office. You come back and they then tell you one more thing to go do. It really is a strange system. I had to give them my visa for a week, which is also nerve wracking but at least I have copies of it =)
If you checked out my Facebook profile picture then you’ve already heard part of this story, but it’s cute. Juma P has become my little buddy. Even though he is 7, he like a 4 year old (if not younger). He usually takes an afternoon nap where ever he gets tired. He comes to my door a lot in the afternoon while I’m typing and so I’ve started inviting him in to sit in my other chair. It’s crazy how such a little gesture can put a smile on a child’s face. He sits down watches me type for a few minutes and then he passes out. Sometimes he sits on my lap and one day I asked him if he wanted a hug, but he speaks no English so of course he had no clue what I was asking. I hugged him a few times and would say “hug” while I was doing so.
The next day when Juma was standing in my door as he often does I said “Hug?” to which he put his head down, smiled and shook his head “yes.” Later that night I ran to Michael’s place to grab something and heard Juma talking to me while I walked over there. I was in a hurry and didn’t really pay attention because I never have any idea what he is saying. When I got inside he waited on the steps for me and when I came out and was locking the door I heard the cutest little voice say “uggs?” My heart melted and I looked at him and said, “do you want a hug?” and he shook his head “yes.” This has become a daily thing for us and has expanded into him taking a few of his daily naps on my lap.
Some of the older boys think it’s really funny and some of the middle kids try to be cool about asking for hugs and even tease me about it by chanting “hugs.” The ones who tease are of course the ones who want hugs themselves. I ususally try to force a hug on them when they tease me about it. The other night we were watching a movie together and Juma P asked for a hug as he was going to bed and it started a waterfall effect where Pedro, Amido and Juma G asked for hugs. How is it that something so simple can impact my life and their lives so much?

Prayer |Requests:
- Continued health. I'm still taking my Malaria pills but some days I forget. I don't like them. They are suposed to make me more sensative to the sun but when I put sunblock on it stings... same thing with bug spray. Also if I don't have just the right amount of food in my stomach I get sick. On the bright side I found out that there are different types of Malaira and the type here just gives you the flu and you take meds to cure it. In other parts of the world you get it and have it for the rest of your life.

Go play in the STREET!

2011-03-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

Last Monday some guys came out the dig a new drainage field for our septic system, because our current field leaks whenever it rains (stuff bubbles up). The hole is about 10’ deep and was supposed to be about 6’x 8’. The entire project was supposed to take 4 days. Well the one edge of the hole keeps collapsing which keeps adding to what they have to dig, by hand no less. The hole was finally dug and the guy doing the work went to cash our check to buy materials and it bounced and we didn’t get money wired till the following Monday. One night we got a really bad rain storm and when I work up there was about 7’ of water in the hole, which by now has spread to 8’x 12’. It took two days for the guys to remove all the rain water, using oil jugs with holes cut in the side and rope. One bucket at a time for two days. Last night I noticed that one of the guys was in the hole shoveling out some of the mud from the bottom of the hole, they had finally finished. About a half an hour later I noticed the most disgusting smell and I looked out and everyone was standing around the hole with their hands over their noses. Another chunk of ground had caved in and it opened up to the old drainage field. Yuck Yuck Yuck! For 30 minutes it was like Niagra Falls pouring into the hole and it smelled so bad I had to wet a wash cloth and put it over my nose.
We are now on day 11 with a big hole and huge pile of dirt right in front of the house and about 5’ from my window. Michael was able to find a sewage waste company to come out and drain our hole and septic tank, but that is an additional $250 that we didn’t budget. I laughed at the check bouncing, more than anything because I think it’s good for people to see that the ‘white’ people don’t have an endless supply of money. It is hard though because money is tight for the organization right now and even though someone stateside made a donation for the septic system repairs we have surpassed the donation. Where does the money come from then? Michael. I’m amazed at how many times both Michael and Julie have dipped into their own pockets to cover expenses that we didn’t budget for. There is always something and none of it is cheap.

Yesterday the guys pulled 4000 Liters out of the hole, they came back to finish the job but their truck wasn’t working. They were supposed to come back at 7am today, but I think it was raining. When I looked out my window this morning the hole was full again because of the rain last night. With all the rain we’ve been getting how is this hole ever going to get filled?!

The hole has made life interesting at the house. It was about 5’ from the door when it started and now is probably less than 3’. I brought a few soccer balls from the states and laugh every time a kid asks to use it and I say “Go play in the street!” Of course no one here thinks that is funny but I laugh every time.

Prayer Request:
- Please continue to pray for Pedro, I still don't know what to do with him most days.
- My computer... it is still having problems and now 2 of my memory cards aren't working right either. So I am not able to get the pictures off of them. I'm hoping that I will be able to get a mini usb to usb to try to pull them off the camera that way.

Just say no to bugs.

2011-03-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report that things have slowed down here. Not a whole let has been happening, partly because I"ve spent so much time in my room writing blogs!

The biggest adventure of this week was taking the shopa. It's their version of public transportation. It cost 5 MZN (less than $.15) and you basically get what you pay for. When Nunu told me how cheap the shopa was I commented how cheap that was and it's times like this I feel like a spoiled brat. His response was "Not for most people." They range from the 'nicer' (nice only cause there is more room) bus that seats 3 across to a van that has seats for about 10... the thing is they pile as many people in as humanly possible.

Nunu also showed me around town, not that there is really much to see, but you just get such a different feel for an area when you walk it.

I've also been hanging out with Nunu, Santos, Sumate and Ernesto a lot more. I'm not sure if they just decided that I don't bite or if it took them some time to warm up to me. I've said it before, they are all amazing and I love to watch them interact with each other. The other night I was in there room (which is about half the size of mine) to watch a movie. There room is very small it has room for 2 bunk beds and 2 storage shelves and that is it. The fan basically takes up the rest of the floor. Anyways it's a tight fit and I was sitting on Santos' bed and the other three guys laid/sat on the other bed. Correct me if I am wrong, but I just don't think to many American guys their age would have done so. It was just one of those moments were I have to convience myself not to smile.

After a few hours of watching movies with the guys Santos decided to tell me that something in his bed has been biting him at night... I was like great. Sure enough the next day I had red marks on my arms and I went to see if that is what he was talking about, but of course with the difference in our skin color we couldn't compare.

Sure enough this morning I have more bites and more than likly I have bed bugs!

I've also had some funny conversations with them trying to explain Sunburn and why I have to wear Sunblock and what aloe is for. It is hard to explain what a sun burn feels like, but I ended up putting aloe on Santos' arm and sticking it in front of the fan to be like this is the only thing that makes it feel good after you get burned.

So more on the bugs, my computer is also having issues. I have a memory card that isn't working right and so I haven't been able to pull pictures off of it. I'm pretty sure it has a bug.

I guess all of my prayer requests have to do with bugs right now =) If you all could pray for my bed and my computer I would really apperciate it!

Amanda

The Beach & The Breeze

2011-03-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

I typed this blog while I was still in Moz... it should have posted between "The Market" and "Just say not to bugs" not sure why it didn't post, but enjoy. More blogs to come soon!

Julie and Adriano left today. Everyone went to the airport to see them off. We packed as many people in the truck as we could and then the rest of them made the 10 minute walk to the airport. Now it’s just me and the boys, I’m the only female sleeping in the house. It will be good though, because I will be able to get to know Michael better and see what he does here and I will have more time with the boys.

After the airport I walked to the beach with Ernesto, Joao and Mack. It was probably a 30 minute walk, but it’s nice to get out. I was also really excited because when I was cleaning out the garage I found a Frisbee, so I brought that along. As we walked the beach we saw a few of our kids running around and eventually we came across Nunu and Santos sitting talking, so we joined them. We eventually got up to play Frisbee and it made my day! The funniest thing was that Nunu was near the water and there were big piles of dried seaweed, so depending on the throw he would have to jump up on one. I threw it to him and I thought he tripped, but everyone was laughing so hard. Well I finally realized that he split his pants and then I could barely throw the Frisbee I was laughing so hard.

I think I like walking so much here because there is always a good conversation, with Joao and Ernesto other days and with Nunu today. Every day that we are out I see two guys holding hands, so I asked him about that. I guess it is a cultural thing and the norm to walk down the street holding your friends hand. Not that I wondered if there were homosexuals in Africa, I just wondered more about them being Muslims or if they were ostersized from the community. He just said yeah there are homosexuals and you see them more at night. I also found out from him that a lot of Muslims in Pemba still have arranged marriages.

The power had been off all day probably about 12 hours by now. When we go to the house I was praying that we would have power, but we didn’t. I was now hot, sticky and sweaty from the walk back from the beach. I was trying to work myself into taking a bucket shower, when poof the lights came on and at the same time the most amazing heavenly breeze started blowing. Even though I wasn’t praying for those things I really feel like God has been using the strangest things to communicate with me here. This time it was with the most beautiful cool breeze on a hot day and the restoration of power.

The other night I was talking movies with the guys and they were telling me about this movie that they like about all these famous painters… the movie may have been called Magliano. So we watched that together. It was good, not the best movie I’ve ever seen. It just makes me mad that I forgot to bring some movies with me. I guess there is always next time =)

Picture Link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020325&id=102500461&l=51b516af63

Thanks as always for your prayers!

Amanda

The Market

2011-03-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

Saturday afternoon we went to the market so the kids could buys some clothes. They were each given 150 MZN, about $4.80. The market we went to was the one near JP’s house and the roads were even worse than the other day. We had to drive through two sections of moving water and the erosion was insane. We got stuck in the second one and as always the community is there to push you out, granted they want money for their work but still it’s an event when we get stuck.

I’ve come to realize that the House or Center is like a bubble. Yeah it’s Africa, but it’s this safe little place that feels like home to me. When I’m in places like this village that is when I realize I’m really here! Julie loves to take Mack with her on our adventures, so today was no different. Mack is the nicest yellow lab, but the Muslims in the area believe that all dogs have venom in their teeth and so they are afraid of him.

When we got out of the truck this little girl picked up a handful of dirt and threw it at Mack and then she acted like she was kicking him twice. As we would be walking people would look at me and Julie kinda curious, and then they would see Mack and there expression would change. They would take two steps to the side, some kids would even turn and run. Also, while we were standing still I noticed kids inching toward me and when I would turn away I feel them rub my arm. By the time I looked back they would be running away rubbing their hand on their face. I started sticking my arm out to let them touch or to shake their hand but I think they were all sure I would rub off on them.

Eventually when we started walking they wanted to hold my hand. So I walked though the market with as many as five kids holding my hand, wrist, finger… whatever they could. This one little girl kept peering in front of me to my other hand and giggling, by the way they were reacting you would have thought I was famous.

We had to wait for some kids so we sat on this cement step for a bit with our entire entourage there must have been 25 or 30 kids, some of them ours, some we met in the market. My little hand holders sat and stood all around me, including a few girls behind me. Just like with my skin they kept sneaking touches at my hair. I pulled it down for them to play with. They really didn’t do much they just kept smoothing it down and trying to tuck it behind my ears. I just remember being that age and how much I loved playing with hair.

We had a long walk back to the truck and we were escorted most of the way by out entourage. Once we got out of the market two kids from the house came up and grabbed my hand out of the village kids hands. Not in a mean way but kinda like they were saying “okay, you’ve had her long enough… it’s our turn.” They eventually let go of my hands but I like to walk in the back of groups, not sure why I’ve just always done that. I guess Amido was concerned that I was gonna get lost, so he kept coming back to grab my hand.

I’m so glad that I’m able to be here for so long. I feel like some of the kids are ready to open up the second they see you, while others take weeks to let you in even the slightest bit. A few weeks here just wouldn’t have been long enough, and it breaks my heart knowing that my seven weeks will eventually come to an end.

The older guys have been harder to get to know. I’m not sure why, we just haven’t talked as much. The tides are however changing. Ernesto wanted to make friendship bracelets so the two of us set out to do so and before I knew it the other three joined us. We talked about the funniest stuff too, Sumate has a girlfriend and so we got on the topic of marriage and it was just funny to listen to these four guys tease each other and fill me in on the ongoing jokes. Who would have thought I would have bonded with these guys over friendship bracelets and a marriage discussion. It’s funny how often I forget that these guys are still in High School. They act so much more mature than any 18/19 year olds I know in the states and they have so much more responsibility. They work at the Center, while going to school full time. They discipline, love, care, encourage and live life with these boys. I asked once if they thought that too much was asked of them and they were all looked at me strange and were like “no.” They have all chosen to be here and they actually moved from Maputo (the capital) to work with The Dream Project in Pemba.

It's funny how many times I think... oh my timing here is perfect! The Maputo guys are just another reason. They arrived late December early January so we would have only crossed paths and they are working on writing support letter and so I have been able to help them with their typing/grammar and add in some pictures. I'm just remembering that when I was talking with them and Julie about their letters and we were talking about how much they are trying to raise... they thought that $200 a month was to much. It was hard to try and explain to them that $200 isn't much to most Americans and that they weren't asking for to much money!

When it rains it pours...

2011-03-11T08:06:00.000-08:00

Early Thursday morning the power went out. We have been having lots of rain storms the last few days. It doesn’t just rain here it’s either sun or torrential down pour. This morning it was so nice and cool (78) from the storm that I didn’t even put the batteries in my fan. It was completely silent in my room and when I put my head on my pillow I could hear the mouse! The word for mouse in Portuguese is rato, they don’t differentiate between mice and rats. So sometimes when I hear the thing or see signs of it my mind starts running wild. So that morning I laid there imagining a cute little mouse like you see in Pet-smart. Also the boys think nothing of mice when I tell them there is mouse in my room they don’t even acknowledge it. Julie is always ready to lend an ear when I need to talk about my cockroach and mouse problems =) What am I gonna do once she leaves?!

Today I also got to really experience Africa. We went into one of the village to meet with Juma P’s mom and to hear their story. Driving there was crazy. The center is about a 3 minute walk to a paved road, Juma’s house is probably a 45 minute walk. The main street is lined with bamboo stalls selling things like peanuts, fabric, flip flops, used clothing, soap and other basic necessities.

We wound our way though bamboo fences and houses where we came to a small hole in the ground that was full with water. A mosquito breeding ground no doubt and right next to that was Juma’s house and their latrine. It actually looked like one of the nicer house in the area made of sticks, stones and mud.

Juma’s mother and younger brother were there and I also got to meet his sister Gina. Gina is such a beautiful little girl with an amazing smile. I instantly fell in love with her. She is so shy and you can tell she just wants to fade into the background.

Julie interviewed the family for me and I asked her to try and focus on the positive. Juma’s mom speaks Macua the local tribal language, so Julie would speak to the camera in English, then to Momade in Portugues and he would speak to Juma’s mom in Macua. Her story is heart breaking and it’s difficult to tape and take pictures of such pain and suffering knowing that I’m planning to share something so private.

The house they live in is not their own, rather a woman is letting them borrow it. She fears that one day the woman will show up asking for her house back and they will be put out on the street. I asked Julie what a house would cost and she thinks around $1,500. Might not sound like much but in a community where $100 a month is a good wage, for a woman who doesn’t have a job it’s unthinkable.

At some point her husband died from AIDS and she too has tested positive along with Juma P. She said that much of her family have stopped talking to her, I can’t remember if it is because of the death of her husband or because she has AIDS. Either way she is fighting this battle alone. I will make a video about my conversation with the family and post that once I’m home.

As far as the house itself goes it consists of 2 bedrooms and 2 common rooms. One room has a few bowls and pans and the other contains only a bucket for drinking water with a cup on top. I am surprised at how clean a house with a dirt floor can be kept. There is not bath in the house and up until a few weeks ago they were taking bucket showers in one of the rooms. What changed, The Dream Project built a latrine outside for them to go to the bathroom and take bucket showers. Be sure to see the pictures, it’s crazy how a family can be in need of something so simple.

Michael has officially arrived. While we were in taping the family, he was outside evangelizing to the neighborhood and counted 17 people committing their lives to Christ. Even better he told them he would be back the following Monday to disciple them and teach them more about the Bible.

I also handed out crayons and a sheet of paper to the kids Michael was talking to and three minutes later a group of people showed up wanting them, including this really intimidating woman. It’s just so hard because I have no clue what people are saying and they really don’t smile in daily conversation. Once someone explained that there were no more crayons she was fine. She went to grab this little girl who doesn’t speak, hear, see or walk. Michael prayed for her and it was a very precious moment.

In one of my letters I spoke of Izack’s and Njuale’s mother. She passed away a little over a year ago. She is buried at the cemetery with a simple wood cross marking her grave, and because of that the boys are concerned that someone will bury another person on top of her or something like that. We are trying to figure out how to put a cement cover over her grave to mark it.

Originally we were supposed to get it covered today but we were running out of daylight. We ended up buying cement blocks and cement and other stuff. It turned into a much more expensive project than Julie had thought and Abhrimo thought it would be better to wait till the next day to start at 5:30am.

That night we ate at one of the tourist places where they import everything from South Africa. I got myself a burger and fries with a coke, what a treat… but it still just isn’t the same as at home =)

Every morning since setting my mouse traps from behind the super protection of my mosquito net I look to see if I have caught any mice. This morning I looked at the spot under the door, but there was no trap. Weird, because I had duct tapped the sucker to the floor since the mouse kept pushing it out of his way. I shine my flashlight all around looking but nothing, so I decide that when the boys swept that morning they must have seen the tape and pulled the trap from under my door and thrown it away.

I spend the next hour or so reading and decide it’s time to shower. I walk toward the door to turn my radio on and I see movement! It scares me half to death and I have no clue what came out of my mouth... some sort of yelp scream combo. So here I am still in my PJ’s (shorts and a tank top) trying to decide if I’m dressed appropriately enough for the boys to see me (bc women are supposed to keep their knees covered). I throw on a tee shirt and decide changing my pants would take way to long. I pull open my door to see who is outside and start saying Rato, Rato and gesturing for someone to come help me! Carlos comes in and I cower near my bed, and I’m like get it out and don’t come near me with it… of course he speaks no English. Then I’m like wait I want to see how big it… so I peak over Carlos’ shoulder for half a second cause the little guy is in one of those sticky traps and I hate to see them squirming, I think he was about 4 inches long… yuck! The worst part is Carlos brought me back the trap… he somehow managed to pull the little sucker off of the sticky glue. I tell you these kids are fearless.

Julie then asked me to organize some of the toys in the garage and all I could think about was mice hiding out in the corners of things. It was so hot in the garage, even with a fan I was dripping sweat. I did find some good toys, books and movies for the activities cabinet.

Adriano took me into town to show me all the good places to buy things and I learned that I have to hand over my passport for about 2 weeks. That’s weird to me but in order to extend my visa I have to do that. On the way back to the house, we stopped to get the boys from the cemetery the two hour job turned into a full day of work.

Back at the house Julie tried to pay Abrihimos 500 MZN ($16) for his work keep in mind that a good days wage is 100 MZN ($3.20), he was like no I want 9,500 MZN (about $300)! A few days back he came into the Center asking for work saying he would take whatever we would pay him and so he was hanging some awnings over a few windows for us. Julie never even thought to ask what he would charge because he said pay him what we want. He said that he would normally charge 15,000 MZN but that he was cutting us a ‘deal’ and the reason the price was so high is because the grave yard is filled with bad spirits that could have chased him home and done bad thing to his family.

This is a Christian man, but here in Pemba the belief in spirits and witch doctors is so culturally strong it hard for people to break away from the thinking.

Things here just don’t work like they do in the US and if Abrihimos decides to take us to court and they saw we were white and Abrihimos was native he would win before we even opened our mouths. The truth is that The Dream Project is on a very tight budget over here and we don’t have an extra $300 to pay someone. When someone said this to Abrihimos his response was I know money is tight but you should have asked what the cost was.

Ugh what an ending to a long day. I just sat and listened but there was probably three hours of conversation trying to speak some truth into Abrimhos, but he wouldn’t budge. These are 4 kids with nothing who just wanted to properly cover their mother’s grave. The younger 2 are orphans… it’s just mind boggling. Abrihimos apparently saw the opportunity to take advantage of us and was going for it.

He wouldn’t accecpt any money even when Julie tried to give him either 1000 or 2000 MZN. The next morning he was supposed to come back to finish his other work with the awnings but it was raining. I heard singing and I looked out the window and Abrihimos was out with all the guys singing and worshiping. I won’t even recap all of what happened but after another 3-4 hours of talking with him he finally accepted the 2000 MZN. It was crazy though!

I think the longer I'm here the more evident my Prayer Request become based on my stories. I'll let you know if I have anything additional to what is written in my stories.

For those of you that have commented one way or another... thanks! It's nice to know people enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing.

Love you all!

Amanda

A mouse in my house...

2011-03-10T04:25:00.005-08:00

Just so you know all my blogs are about a week behind. This past week has been the most interesting so far, so I have a lot to say! I’ll break the blog up throughout the week just like I did last time.

I realized last Tuesday that I had a roommate. I opened a drawer where I was keeping gauze pads and rubber gloves and thought to myself “I didn’t open those?” It took me a minute to realize there was a mouse in my drawer! My door has a mouse hole in it and I was sure there was a mouse going in and out of my room, but Adriano was trying to tell me that I was seeing Salamander poop… I know better.

We have a team coming this fall to build some new rooms for the house. We are hoping to purchase one of the neighboring plots of land to expand, but as soon as the neighbors realized that ‘white’ people were interested he tripled the price or something! We are hoping that we can talk them back down and purchase the lot for between $3000 and $5000. So in an unexpected twist I have been able to use my Architecture skills since arriving, well really just my autocad skills. I’ve been drawing up the existing plans and drawing our wish list of buildings and additions or a room here or a bathroom there.

That night while I was in Julie’s place the kids were coming in and out. Pedro came in and was saying that everyone was his brother and then he called me his mother =o (ß my mouth dropping open). I had no clue until Julie told me after he left, but this kid just worries me. I’m not sure who he thinks I am, I don’t remember when but he asked me if I could bring him back to the US with me. He really just makes things here hard for me when he takes things so far. What stinks the most is that if any other kid were to call me their mom I would be happy, but Pedro just thinks about thing differently and he takes things SOO personally. I’m not even sure how to explain it.

That night when I got back to my room I opened THE drawer and I’m 99% sure that I saw a mouse tale! I immediately went to get the dogs and Adriano, but when they came back there was no sign... although the dog definitely caught the scent of something.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned the dogs yet or not. Most of the dogs here are random strays that my doctor told me to stay away from. She actually told me not to look at them, at the center though we have some dogs. Mack an older yellow lab who Julie was given by a missionary from South Africa, Black aka Blackie a black street dog who is a GREAT guard dog, and then we this little guy the kids have name Max who wonders in and out of the center. The fear with most dogs here is rabies, but we vaccinate Mack and Black and if Max is around the next time we call the vet he will get shots as well.

Wednesday is when the week started really getting interesting. I was sitting in my room trying to get some work done and I heard people yelling and the dogs barking. At first I thought nothing of it, the kids get loud you have to yell over them sometimes, but once I realized that the dogs kept barking and barking I looked out my window. I saw the music teacher waving his arms and just going off. Then I saw him pick up a rock and whip it at Black. So I went flying out my door and yelled at him.

Turns out he was drunk. He speaks English but he speaks really fast and it is hard to understand, so I’m not really sure what he said to me, but the boys were all like Amanda just go back in your room till he leaves. Shortly after I went back into my room Momade walked him outside of the gate. About half an hour later though I heard the dogs going crazy again, I looked out my window and sure enough it was Daniel. He had calmed down but I could tell he was still ranting about whatever it was, and he left a short time after that. A short time later he came back again, this time I looked out the window and I could tell that Nunu was talking to him.

The American in me was like… he is done. He has no right here with the kids. Not that this justifies his actions but Julie had commented to one of the kids not to let anyone in the house and he took serious offense to that statement.

The leadership team met the next morning as usual and decided that they wanted to walk alongside Daniel and give him another chance. It is times like these that I realize just how different things are here. Not because of the response but because of the reason behind the response. The leaders here realize that if they kick Daniel out he doesn’t have another outlet. I doubt they have AA here. It definatly isn’t Western thinking but I understand and respect the decision they came to. The only condition was that he apologize to the children for how he acted.

That night I wanted some Milk. Pedro and some of the kids love to run errands, but they were all nowhere to be found. I’m sure I would be fine alone, but it’s a good excuse to spend one on one time with the kids which doesn’t really happen that often. Joao agreed to go with me.t then as we were about to walk out the door Ernesto was like let’s go to the school. We decided to make a big loop and go to school and then to get milk.

This was my first time walking around Pemba so I was actually excited to go with them. It was really fun because we just talk or make attempts to talk. The learned how to say walk and sweat in Portuguese. Ernesto also asked me what an adjective was and I was like oh boy… uh I think it describes something. Here we go again the girl who at 30 still needs her parents to do proof reading is being asked questions about the English language. (Stop laughing Nay!)

We decided to help each other with our language skill with the help of my little Portuguese to English dictionary. Later that night he came in my room and we worked on some words and just tried talking. I feel charades should be part of the training for missionaries… I’m constantly trying to act things out or use my hands to explain what I am saying!

Then I hear a knock on my door and it was Nunu. He said “Amanda I’ve got a question for you… when did George Washington die?” I almost burst out laughing and was like why do you need to know that?! He had a History test today and I think he got it wrong or wanted to check if he got it right or something. I was like I have no clue. I officially feel like the dumb American.

Projecto Sonjho

2011-03-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

The Dream Project in Portuguese, Projecto Sonjho.

The kids that live in the house, I’m guessing on their ages. Many of them came to the house without a birth certificate, so we have to create them once they arrive. We currently have 11 living in the house, because social services has asked us to leave a bed open for them in case of emergency. We hope to have an addition built in the fall allowing us to house 2-4 more children.

Amido – abt 8

Carlos – abt 16

Helder (silent ‘H’) – abt 7

Izack – abt 13

Joao – abt 16

Juma P (Pequeno, because he is the smallest and youngest of the 3) – abt 7

Juma G (Grande – big) – abt 11

Latino – abt 16

Nelson – abt 9

Njuale – abt 13

Pedro – abt 12

We also have some 4 Interns that live in the House. They are like the kids older brothers, making sure the kids are staying on task. It has been amazing to watch them interact with the kids, you can tell how much they look up to these guys. They all go to school during the day, except Nunu who takes night classes.

Sumate – Activities & Family Time/Bed Time

Nunu – Tutor & Administrative (Leadership Team)

Santos – Finances

Ernesto – Wake-Up & Morning worship

The workers are also like family to the kids. You will notice we have many cooks. Many people are in need of work and this way we are able to give them a little bit of money and feed them. To give you an idea in Pemba, $100 a month is considered a decent wage for most people.

Maria – house mom (Leadership Team)

Daniel – Music (guitar and piano)

Genito – cook

Musa – cook

Antonio – Administrative (Leadership Team)

Zito – Crafts (mainly cards)

Mendes – Night guard

Momade – cook

Geneito - cook

We also have kids we work with in the community. Some of them you would think live in the house, because they are here so often, others come out for lunch during the week or on Saturdays to check in.

Helena (aka Bitta or some sort of nickname – she is Maria’s granddaughter ) – abt 5

Elsa

Chuale – abt 16

Antonio – abt 15

Osvaldo – abt 8

Mateus – abt 16

Anna – abt 8

Juma Mendes (his uncle is Mendes, not actually his last name)

Elicio

Aida

This house really does function like a family. In fact, a lot of the kids and even some of the adults are related. One example is Izack and Njuale are twins living here and their older brothers are Musa and Genito who both help with the cooking. They have lost both of their parents, but because of The Dream Project they are able to see each other daily.

For Prayer Requests today, please pray for the kids/adults by name =)

It will make them happy to know people in the States are praying for them!

Amanda

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020325&id=102500461&l=51b516af63

Retreat in Paradise

2011-03-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went away from Saturday to Sunday. We went one town or so over to Murrebue It was supposed to only take us a half an hour to get there. Our directions were, ”once you get thought the town look for the white sign with blue writing, go left. At the triangle, go left.” Of course we got lost. Lost in Africa is amazing though, well except for the roads. It just so beautiful out here. The roads make Detroit’s roads look amazing. We were out in the country and when there is a hard rain it really takes a toll on the road. The rule of thumb is drive where the road is the best. You’re supposed to be on the left, but if the best side of the road is on the right that is where you go. Granted there isn’t much traffic out in the country, but still it’s a new experience. One part of the road was so badly damaged from rain the locals had crammed bags full of trash in the space where the water had eroded the road.

I forgot to mention that we got 31 people and 1 dog with food, clothing etc into 2 vehicles. One vehicle is a mid-sized SUV and the other a truck with 5 seats and a roof over the bed of the truck.

The beach we stayed at was so amazingly beautiful, it was paradise. Crystal clear blue ocean and sand so soft it might be mixed with baby powder. We set up tents on the beach for sleeping and I introduced the kids to some Campus Life games. These kids are hilarious and unlike kids in the states, they show NO fear. I mean NO fear for themselves or others. We played Buck Buck, where you jump on each other backs trying to create a big pile of people without anyone falling off and they just threw themselves onto each other with no regard for heads or backs anything. It was so funny to watch them though. We also played a game where you pile things in the center and each person around the edge gets a number and when the number is called people have to run in and grab as much stuff as possible. Granted I probably didn’t set up a big enough game site but you would have thought this was tackle football. The last number I called every kid ran in and we had a huge pile up!

The kids played soccer or football as they call it till dinner… they have so much energy I don’t even know what to do with myself. After dinner we had a fire. The kids were so funny they went out hunting crabs in the dark, armed with bamboo. They would see one making a run for it and then wack it on the head and then bring them back for cooking. I went out with them with my flashlight and I don’t get how on earth they could find these little fast moving crabs in the dark. They dog must have been their secret weapon. They probably got about 20 or so and they would just bring them back and cook them. I ate some at it was much better than what I remember crab tasting like.

The boys began singing around the fire as well. I don’t even know how to describe their singing, but it was so amazing! Jesus was about the only word I could pick up on and they probably even sang some in their tribal language. These boys are just all so talented and full of life, it’s just amazing to watch them be themselves.

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sleep on the beach in Africa… so while everyone else slept in a tent or on a tarp surrounded by all the tents, I slept on a blanket on the sand. I probably should have slept in the really soft sand closer to the water, but I didn’t want to get run over by any crabs =)

The sky was amazing and the stars were so bright, looking around you see no sign of life. No building, no electrical towers, no nothing… just God’s beautiful creation. I probably ruined the moment by reading on the Kindle app on my phone, but I can’t resist a good book and crashing waves.

Sunday morning Adriano and Michael had to run to town, because the kids who packed the food had forgotten the spaghetti for dinner the night before, which threw every meal off. While waiting for them to come back the kids played Uno, Jenga, swam and who knows what else. We all hung out in the shaded area and once the guys arrived back we ate, and had church.

After lunch we played capture the flag. They played on the beach and it appeared as though they all really like the game. I sat the one out and went swimming in the Ocean and took pictures. I still can’t get over how warm the water is here. It’s actually more refreshing to jump in and then get out that it is to stay in the water.

The weekend was lots of fun, but it was nice to get home and sleep in my little bug protected bed =)

Prayer Request:

- Continued prayer for health and learning Portuguese.

- Julie and Adriano are leaving on Sunday for Brazil and then the US. Pray that they are able to accomplish what they need to before they depart and for their stress level.

Same Pictures as last time: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020325&id=102500461&l=51b516af63

Amanda

Typing and English Lessons... who would have thought?!

2011-02-28T09:54:00.000-08:00

I’m really starting to get to know the kids. I have a new buddy, Latino. He is amazing! He is 16 and in 8^th grade. I know that sounds weird, but here you start school when you can afford to pay for it. He goes to a special school that offers trades he is in the business trade (there is also mechanical and somthing else), he wants to be a doctor.. While most of the kids have a 15-20 minute walk to school, Latino has a 1 hour bike ride! Not only that but most days he rides home to eat lunch and then go back! Latino speaks decent English, I don’t always understand him, but he usually gets the point across.

He has asked me to help him learn more English and at first I wasn’t sure how I could help someone who already knows so much. I’ve decided to start writing out the lyrics to songs and then playing the songs for him, and then we talk about the lyrics. We actually sign the songs together too, and some of the other boys have joined in with us.

The next night Ernesto , one of the LIT’s (Leaders in Training) asked if I could show him some stuff on the computer. He only speaks a little English, so I think something got lost in translation. I was surprised that he couldn’t type, so what started out as a lesson about Excel and Word, turned into a lesson about where “Home Row” is. Eventually he and Latino just started typing things to each other and Latino would ask is this true? Meaning does his sentence make sense… those of you who know me are probably laughing at the thought of me teaching someone grammer!

This has cause some jealousy though. Pedro apparently thinks I’m his, or that I shouldn’t be letting other boys help me and what not. On top of that I don’t think Pedro really gets that I don’t speak Portuguese, either that or he is just convinced that if I hear enough of it I will just get it one day. He always talks to me and then gets mad that I don’t know what he is saying, or if someone says something mean to him that I don’t defend him. I’m not really sure what, but it’s hard for me to handle.

On Wednesday night while Ernesto and Latino were typing Pedro came in my room and said Mama Julie and motioned me to come with him. Figuiring she needed me for something, I went. Turns out Pedro and I were in for ‘council’ he wouldn’t look at me and he kept his arms over his face. It stresses me out just typing about it, but as I said Pedro’s feeling were hurt and he wanted to bring Julie in to translate and fix things. We tried to explain to him that I need to be able to spend time with everyone and Latino translates for me and that I don’t speak Portuguese. After much coaxing from Julie he said sorry and gave me a hug.

The next morning something similar happened and eventually he said sorry and gave me a hug. Then again on Friday something happened. I’m not even sure what. I was doing with the other boys, but I think one of them said something about him. Because he kept going on to me but all I understood was ‘Juma.’ He got so bad I just had to ignore him, but I was the only adult and no one there spoke English. Pedro was in full temper tantrum mode though crying/yelling in his room. Temper tantrums from English speaking 5 year olds are bad enough, but from 12ish year old Portuguese boys I just don’t even know what to do! Learning patience in Portuguese is like learning a new language. Eventually he settled down, but man was he wound up. About an hour later he gave me a hug and said sorry. I’m just not sure how to convey to a 12 year old who’s language I don’t speak that this isn’t okay.

This has really consumed much of my week, but a lot of other stuff has happened too. Michael Goodnight (the other founder) arrived on Wednesday. It was nice to finally meet him.

I washed clothes for the first time outside. I also did some laundry in the sink of my bathroom, it reminded me of being in Europe.

I was supposed to go with Julie and Antonio to Juma P’s house with Social Services on Thursday. They are going to show Antonio how they would like to have each child documented. A man showed up on Wednesday night saying a woman would be by the next day. She never showed. Apparently that’s the norm.

You might be wondering why Juma P is living with us if he has a home. Well he is 7 but because of malnutrition and HIV/AIDs he appears and acts like a 3 year old. He wasn’t taking any medication while he was living at home, nor was he getting enough food. The house here is for orphaned and impoverished children.

Prayer Request:

- Continued prayer for health and learning Portuguese.

- I’m not even sure what to pray about for Pedro, just that he would chill out. That the other kids and I would show him grace and forget the way he has acted this last week.

- Patience and whatever else I need in all of the difficult and new situations I will be placed in this week.
I'm going to schedule some other blog postings for later in the week, but here are all the pics from Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020325&id=102500461&l=51b516af63

Amanda

I'm in AFRICA!!

2011-02-22T07:05:00.000-08:00

Bummer I blogged yesterday, but it didn’t upload. Sorry about that.

Well I made it to Pemba, Mozambique on Wednesday Feb 16^th after about 24 hours of flying. I was met at the airport by a bunch of the boys. They had each drawn me a picture, they were all very shy about saying hello. That night Julie cooked for me and while she was cooking the boys all poked their head in one at a time to quietly say hello. One boy popped in and said “Peter” and I thought “strange I don’t remember that name. I wonder if this is Pedro my helper.” Sure enough that’s who it was. He doesn’t speak a word of English but introduced himself as Peter!

Speaking of my helper he has come in very useful. My first night here I put a bug bomb off in my room. When I went back in there were a dozen or so cockroaches! I was just gonna sweep them out but I went to open the windows first and one fell so I jumped back. Pedro came in and started picking cockroaches up off the ground throwing them outside. He also recruited a few more helpers and they did a through job checking to make sure they got them all.

If you haven’t heard yet the boys waited for me to celebrate Christmas. I was so sleep deprived that it didn’t even click that my plan was to be here for Christmas. It was an amazing day though. We ate fried chicken, fried potatoes (like French fires), salad (cabbage and onions) and of course rice. Julie shared about Christmas and Sumate interpreted for me, because Portuguese is the national language. The children got a truck, a backpack, stickers, a fork and other small toys. The were so happy it was unbelievable! The boys also took a liking to my video camera and we had a party in my room that night, so I could record them all singing and dancing. First they did a Portuguese rap for me and then one of the boys wanted to dance to Michael Jackson! Good thing I didn’t know that we were only supposed to play Christian music, so Isaac’s MJ skills were a one night only show and I got it on tape…

On Sunday morning the power went out at 6am and didn't come back on till 11am on Monday. 29 hours without power, the hardest thing was that the kids kept saying let's make a movie or let's listen to music. Or at least they would get that point across and I couldn't figure out how to tell them that since the power was out I couldn't charge my electronics.

Okay well I think that is the basics of what I wrote yesterday, moving on to today….

Exhale. We just got to the internet café, but on our way we came across an accident. A man was laying in the road, who had just been hit by a motorcycle. We pulled up behind the man and Julie (a Physician’s Assistant) jumped out of the car to see what she could do. In the time that it took her to get out the car and walk 5 feet to the man there was a swarm of people looking at him lying on the ground. Another truck pulled up in front of the man and before I knew it they were picking him up like a doll. The crowd was carrying him only by his arms and legs. It was crazy. I wasn’t scared just couldn’t believe what I just saw.

Julie just kept saying they needed to support his neck and depending on his injury they could have just killed him when they picked him up. We followed them to the hospital, and they didn’t treat him much differently. Not being careful of his neck while they picked him up.

We were dropping one of the older boys off to get a Malaria test. Adriano had to coach him through demanding that he get tested. Apparently health care is a big problem in Mozambique. Doctors often send people home with medication when they should be spending a night or two in a doctor’s care. In the case of Malaria they have had another guy go in to get tested and sent home with Tylenol.

Whew.

Where to go from there?

A few things that I forgot to mention yesterday. I have yet to get sick, well sorta. I threw up my first morning (Thursday) in Pemba. I took my Malaria meds on an empty stomach which I also did at home, but I think combined with the heat it did me in. I’m not really counting that though, so thank you for your prayers about my health =) The rest of the day I just sat in front of a fan, helping Julie sort and wrap Christmas presents.

I’ve had jet lag before, but never have I had such a temperature difference. It’s about 85 and humid. It’s so humid here, that there must be another name for it. I just feel like I’m constantly covered in yuck, I think it’s getting better but for the first few days it was hard.

Adriano and Julie take one day off a week. This week, on Friday, they went to Pemba Bush & Dive Camp ( I think that is what it’s called), and I joined them. Going to the beach here is strange too. The water is so warm. It’s the opposite of back home, you search for cold spots rather than warm spots. I was so hot laying the shade that I actually didn’t even want to get in the water, but once I got in it was great! It was also interesting bc the tide rose about 6 feet in the 4 hours that we were there.

Every Sunday the kids go to the beach, Wimbie Beach. It’s a secluded beach on the out skirts of town. They go to this beach so they can bring the dogs, because the Muslims don’t like dogs. They think their teeth have venom so they are afraid of getting bit.

I was unable to upload pictures, but click on the link below to find them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020325&id=102500461&l=51b516af63

Well that is probably enough for today, I’ll leave you with some prayer requests:

- The man hit my the motorcycle. That the doctor’s would take adequate care of him.

- My continued health.

- My ability to learn Portuguese.

- The children’s ability to learn English.

- One of the children, Amido, was living on the street and at the garbage dump before come to house. He would sell things he found to survive. It has proved a hard habit to break. He sold 2 small cars that he got for Christmas and got 2 metical, about 7 cents. I ask that you would pray that he would come to understand that The Dream Project will provide for his needs and that we will continue to provide for him.

Thanks again for all of your support on this journey of mine.

God Bless,

Amanda

The highs and lows

2011-02-13T07:15:00.000-08:00

What a busy two weeks it has been! On Sunday January 30, I finally booked my flight to Mozambique! I was very excited and slightly overwhelmed that I would only have to weeks to prepare for my trip.

That next morning I woke up and my dad said we needed to take Maddox (my 8 year old shar pei/ pit mix) to the vet, because she wasn't doing very well. She has been sick since Thanksgiving and that Monday she was worse than ever. The vet told us that she wouldn't make it though the day without a blood transfusion, and there was only a 50/50 chance that would get her through the day. She hadn't been herself since Thanksgiving and so we made the very tough decision to put her down and end her suffering.

How can you not love that face?!

Well here is the last letter I sent out, including all my flight info. I will do my best to update while I'm gone!

It’s official I BOUGHT MY PLANE TICKETS!! For months I have been planning this trip and for one reason or another it kept getting moved back. Planning this trip has become such a daily thing that I was starting to feel like for the rest of my life I would be planning a trip to Mozambique, “In about a month.” Well now it’s less than two weeks away and I’m not sure what to do!

A few weeks ago I went and got four shots; Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Polio, and MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella). I also took the pill vaccine for Typhoid and got three more prescription’s for Malaria and two types of antibiotics. All I have left now is the second Hepatitis B shot. That’s more shots than I’ve had in the last ten years!

I spoke with Julie this morning and she said that one of the boys, Pedro, wants to be my assistant. I’m not really sure what this means especially because he doesn’t speak English! It makes me smile that the boys know I’m coming and that one of them wants to be my helper.

I’m so excited to go on this journey and thankful that you have chosen to come along side of me. Raising support is one of the most humbling experiences of my life and I truly have appreciated each and every dollar that you have generously given, each time you have prayed for me, and that you’ve walked beside me while I prepare to go. I really couldn’t have done this alone!

I will be doing my best to keep you all updated from Mozambique. The internet isn’t very good so I’m not sure if I will be able to upload pictures, much less video. I will be using my blog (www.amanda-nichols.blogspot.com), Facebook (search Dreaming of Mozambique – Amanda Nichols), or if you would like email updates let me know.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

Amanda

Travel Itinerary:

Monday, February 14, 2011

Detroit (DTW) 10:02am – Washington (IAD) 11:32am

Washington (IAD) 5:40pm – Dakar (DKR) 6:10am (+1 day)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Dakar (DKR) 7:10am – Johannesburg (JNB) 5:30pm

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Johannesburg (JNB) 8:40am – Pemba (POL) 1:10pm

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Pemba (POL) 1:50pm – Johannesburg (JNB) 6:30pm

Johannesburg (JNB) 9:30pm – Dakar (DKR) 4:10am (+1 day)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Dakar (DKR) 5:10am – Washington (IAD) 10:20am

Washington (IAD) 12:15pm – Detroit (DTW) 1:45pm

I'm back...

2011-01-25T18:18:00.000-08:00

Not from Mozambique... I still haven't left, but I’m back.

My work with TDP is emotional, many a days I’m completely tapped and on the verge of tears. Grandpa Charlie’s death pushed me emotionally over the edge. The weeks following his death were hard and I avoided a lot of things, but mainly TDP. It’s not to say I didn’t work, it’s not to say I didn’t try, but the reality is I pushed anything that required thought off till another day. I did what I could, which wasn’t much.

We had a Memorial Service for Grandpa Charlie near the cottage in Sawyer, MI. Despite the insane lake effect snow, we had a good turn out and celebrated the life of Charles Berg.

I can’t explain it but that following Monday was the first day in a while that I felt like myself. I headed back to work trying to pick-up the pieces and push forward. I was excited to discover that two women had emailed me asking about volunteering at TDP and I was excited responding to them.

I’ve really been in need of a volunteer who has the time to come into the office on a weekly basis and has a basic knowledge of computers. I’ve had so much going on that I haven’t even known what specific things to pray for as far as volunteers go. So all I’ve been praying is "send me help!" One of the ladies, Nicole, that wrote to us asking how she could help has agreed to come into the office two times a week. Not only that but she has a great heart and feels very passionate about what TDP is doing in Mozambique.

If you know ten things about me, odds are one of them is my love for Australia. It all started back in 6^th grade when I did my country report on Australia and started dreaming about traveling there. Some of you even know that I made a video to apply for The World’s Greatest Job in Australia in 2008 and today if you ride in my car with me you will notice that my GPS has an Australian dialect. What does all this have to do with anything, well Nicole is AUSTRALIAN!

Would I ever in a million years asked God to send me an Australian to help out in the office?! Uhm no. It just absolutely amazes me how good God is. I mean really I don’t even know how to put this in words. So if you don’t understand what I’m talking about… let me know and I’ll attempt to explain.

TRIP UPDATE:

Good news here too… I got my shots about 3 weeks ago. They cost me $509! I’m $400 short of my $3,000 goal! I’m hoping to purchase my ticket in the next 2 weeks, but I’m waiting for a few more checks to come in first. My goal is to be on a plane no later than February 20^th and it looks like my flights are going to cost around $1,800, but I continue to try different combinations looking for a better deal.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

PRAISE – Nicole my new office helper!

Vision/Planning – How to lead move TDP forward financially and with policies and procedures.

Financial Support – I have a few more follow up calls to make so pray that people feel led to support me and that they do so in a timely manor =)

The Silver Lining

2010-12-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

I'm not exactly sure where the time has gone. I didn't know that time flies when your overwhelmed, but you can quote me on that. It feels like every week is filled with a new fire to put out. My lack of blogging is because when I was done working the last thing I wanted to do was blog about work. So I didn't blog.

I'm still very overwhelmed and not really ready to write much about my day to day at TDP but at the same time I want to keep people updated.

I still don't have definite plans for Mozambique, but looking at the last week of January or the first week of February. The Lord is defiantly trying my patience in more ways than I knew possible. I've been at peace about not going to Mozambique for Christmas, I understand that things will happen in His perfect timing. Last week was a reminder of that.

For those of you that haven't heard Grandpa Charlie died on Thursday. As hard as his passing has been it's REALLY allowed me to see just how caring and merciful our God is. Just think had I made it to Mozambique as i had planned I would have left around December 12th. I will be forever grateful that I was around to spend time with family these last few days. It's amazing that even in such difficult times the Lord has blessed me with a silver lining.

I was also able to be with my Architecture girls from Judson. We've had a yearly Christmas dinner for the last four years. A few weeks back I realized that I wouldn't be able to make it. It was a hard decision but I couldn't justify the cost. Well we usually exchange gifts that night as well but this year we decided not to because money is tight. Well little did I know that rather than gifts they all conspired giving me money to go toward my trip to Mozambique... I was literally speechless.

Grandpa Charlie was an amazing man. I truly feel blessed that I got to share life with him. I'll never forget the road trip we took this summer from Chicago to Detroit and the sight of him working his way in and out of my little car without air conditioning. I went to put on music and asked him what he liked, of course he answered "the Gathers." Well I don't have any of them on my ipod so I asked "what did you listen to before them" and he answered "The Gathers" =) Don't get me wrong at times he was a grumpy little old man but for the most part he cared so much for others and put them before himself. The whole week he was in the hospital leading up to his death he kept asking how Maddox was doing (cause she was sick) and how my fundraising was going. The night before he passed, he asked Millie to bring his checkbook in and he wrote me another support check. To the very end Grandpa Charlie was an amazing man whom I loved dearly.

What are you passionate about??

2010-11-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks have been hard. If it wasn't for the new computer, I probably would have found good reason to stay longer.

Upon arriving home I learn that the Kiwanis grant I had been working on needed to be sent from a Kiwanian Club, which I knew. I didn't realize though that they met on Mondays and therefore I had to get the grant to them in Northern Michigan by noon on Monday so they could look it over. I realized this on Thursday and needed to allow mail time. Thursday and Friday turned into very frantic days BUT they received it in time for their meeting on Monday, which was a HUGE relief!

The grant was interesting. The actual grant wasn't all that difficult it was more the fact that the information I needed wasn't already put together in some way. The organizational side of me wants to be able to open a pretty little file that is nicely labeled and find all my pretty information to answer my questions. You would be surprised to know that file didn't exist. So even though I'm supposed to be working on growing TDP by getting the word out and speaking with pastors all I want to do is set up a process and a place for everything.

I was also able to order Quickbooks & Microsoft from techsoup and I have spent much of this week trying to get everything downloaded. The products from Microsoft face value were $2,135 and I paid $89!!! Amazing! If you work with a non-profit you should look into it.

I'm also bummed because fundraising for my trip in December isn't going well. I was hoping to go from the 2nd week in December till the 4th week in January. My goal is $3,000 and I'm around $700. The good news is this isn't a now or never kinda deal, I'll just go when I have the money raised. However, I was hoping to be there for Christmas. Anyone have any tips on raising support?

I'm not sure if it comes across in this post, but the last two week have been really hard. I miss Chicago. I miss my friends. I miss Harvest (my old church). I want to go to Mozambique. I want TDP to succeed. I want others to see what we are doing and be compelled to help. I think my dad said to me this week that I get teared up cause I'm passionate about TDP. If that is the case as many of you know I have been a very passionate girl over the last year!!! aaahhhh

I am passionate and that's why I've picked up and moved to Royal Oak and why I'm making less than minimum wage for the hours I'm working, but passion doesn't make it easy.

I was able to set up online giving for myself this week, which is exciting! So if you have interest in supporting me financially you can click to make a donation:
https://www.eservicepayments.com/cgi-bin/Vanco_ver3.vps?appver3=KnEfwLTdYW3K91xbjq7ex1dkt8AWwuRjhXzQNnmQIAc1bIk-TtGNB0wHk48mwD2Fy5BT4oxcRE8Z6x6L3s4P576e7T7e5d1xK_7Pibkln7pANSZKy_HDQZJlGOv25kP0yyQBRA8y7IaR_8dqrgcf-NSC0oiMki7dYBUMYukEzfc=&ver=3

Wow that is long!

If you wish to support me through prayer my requests this week are:
- Vision & Planning for how to direct/lead TDP
- New group of friend & support circle
- Financial Support
- Volunteers
Oh and I created page on facebook for my trip as well, please join it =)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Dreaming-of-Mozambique-Amanda-Nichols/165757266780231

As always,
Thanks for reading,
Amanda

Take me back to Chicago...

2010-11-12T12:59:00.000-08:00

I started this a few weeks ago, but my computer crashed and I forgot to send it... oops!

Last week (Oct 25 - 31) I headed down to Chicago for the Campus Life Banquet. It was on Monday night and it was amazing! It was so weird though... I've only been gone two months but there were volunteers and students I didn't know. I obviously didn't expect it to be the same, but still. It was amazing to just sit back and watch, knowing full well how much work goes into such a night. Just how important volunteers are. I so appreciate the work that the Darrah's and some of the other families who were instrumental in laying the foundation at Campus Life in Downers Grove.

It probably stood out to me so much because that is the point I am at with The Dream Project... how do I grow this organization. Not just increase giving or the number of people, but how do I help lay a firm foundation for TDP to grow from? It's a daunting task. One thing going back to CL made me feel is very alone at TDP... I really need a Cathy Darrah... hahah, seriously though. How do I find people who are passionate about our cause and willing to give up parts of their week because they feel so passionate about our ministry?

All in all I had an amazing week, I think I met up with someone for just about every meal... well at least lunch and dinner. I went to my old small group and to Connect. I felt like I ran around non-stop, but yet I still didn't see everyone.

I could sit and describe every moment to you, but that's not important. What was so great about the week was just being surrounded by so many people that I know and love.

While there I also began to really push forward with the Kiwanis International grant. Trying to answer the questions to the best of my abilities. Being so detailed oriented, I'm enjoying working on this but I'm also having to dig to find answers to some of the questions.

Prayer Requests:
- Volunteers (Quickbooks & Website)
- Kiwanis Grant Application
- Laying a strong foundation at The Dream Project
- Personal Financial Support

Thanks as always for reading!
Love
Amanda

Communication: There is no such thing as a stupid question!

2010-11-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

Ugh. Two weeks ago was interesting, probably not the correct word but it will have to do. I had my second Volunteer meeting scheduled for Thursday night even thought I hadn't gotten much response from emails I was still praying that a few people would show up.

Ann. That's who showed up, just Ann. Oddly enough I wasn't crushed or anything along those lines. I mean we still got a lot done. I'm not sure what TDP used to look like, I only know what it looks like now. When Ann showed up she was shocked that it was just the two of us.

Do you volunteer somewhere? What keeps you going back?

For those of you who don't know TDP went through some major changes in March. From what I have heard and what I have read around the office I can tell that things were assumed and that people didn't confront each other or communicate well. Aaah communication, it makes the world go round.

Isn't it interesting when you have a conversation with someone but you both walk away thinking different things? I feel like I ask so many questions already, but I was reminded that Sunday just how important it is to ask the right questions.

One thing I have been excited about since day one is getting a volunteer desk set up and running. Complete with pens, printer, sorting trays, and of course the ever so important computer. TDP has a laptop, but it's slow and you have to pull on the power cord just right because something is apparently loose in the machine. There was rumor of another laptop this summer, but it was never found. Just before Julie left she mentioned a desktop of hers that we could use at the office. Arrangements were made for me to get the desktop after she had left the country. So last Sunday I drove to pick it up. Just before I left I realized that I didn't really ask to much about the machine, but I think it won't be that old. Boy was I wrong. I peek in the box and one glance was all it took. I saw teal. Remember those big colorful Mac's from back in the day? Yep that's what I got.

Lesson learned (I hope). Communication is key. I asked for a computer, and that is what I got. I didn't specify that it needed to be able to run new software. I didn't even ask if it was a PC or a Mac! This is such a little thing, but I look back and see God's grace. What a blessing that I learned this lesson... or at least started learning it over something so small.

Even better than that, I shared the situation with Dad and Linnea Sunday at dinner. Well by Monday afternoon The Dream Project had received a $400 grant from the Royal Oak Mission Fund to purchase a machine. My dad found a refurbished Dell tower at Micro Center for $179! With the rest of the money I was able to buy a 20” monitor, wireless usb, surge protector/battery backup, another surge protector (for my desk), speakers, and 2 2G thumb drives! Oh and I still have $25 left over for software! God really does provide... now if only he would provide me the knowledge to set up the wireless usb!

Prayer Request:
- Volunteers would invest in The Dream Project (especially people for: Website Maintenance and Quickbooks Data Entry)
- That I would learn from my communication flop and help build good communication amongst the organization.
- PRAISE GOD! For our 'new' computer!

As always thanks for reading. I can't express how much your support means to me!
Love
Amanda

New Church, New Small Group, New Friends

2010-10-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

The last week or so hasn't been the most exciting here at The Dream Project. Lots of busy work. Trying to catch up with contacts that Julie has made over the summer. I've also done a bit of organizing the office... it's looking MUCH better! I'll post more pics soon, but I want to get some things hung so you can see the final product =)

I did have an appointment with our Accountant last week. I'm supposed to be learning Quickbooks but TDP has the 2007 version and our Accountant has 2010, so I'm praying that Techsoup will come though on this one for me. Techsoup is a website for non-profits. Companies donate software and you just pay an admin fee... pretty cool!

Since moving to Michigan I've been attending Genesis the Church. Last week they kicked off a new Small Group series called Portrait of a Disciple. So I joined a new Small Group and went last Wednesday for the first time. About 10 or so ladies showed up and it's a mix of singles and married women, with and without kids. I'm a creature of habit and had gotten so used to my Small Group in Wheaton that was 20 something singles so I wasn't really sure how I was gonna feel about this new group. I'm happy to say though that I had a really good time and the mix is actually quite nice. The best thing is that this weekend The Women of Genesis went on a retreat. I would say the group was about 35 and it was really nice to meet so many of the women I go to church with. It was really funny too seeing the mom's out of there element. On the way up my car stopped at Jimmie John's and Niki (mother of 4) got a cookie and said something about how nice it was to have a cookie in front of her and not have anyone ask when she was gonna eat it and if they could have some. Maybe you had to be there but I thought it was funny =) The retreat was great and I'm so thankful for the ladies that I was able to meet but it hit me while I was there that in October of last year I went on the Connect (20 something group at Harvest Bible Chapel) fall retreat not knowing anyone. That is where I met some of the amazing ladies I spent the last year hanging out with. It's just weird to think how little we know of God's plans for us.

Oh one other thing about this series last Saturday at 8pm I got a call from one of the pastors at Genesis asking if I would be willing to share some of my journey over the last year the next morning in church. Yeah. Of course I did it but that kind of stuff sure does make me nervous, but I figure God has given me this story of course I'm gonna share it. It was a Q & A that was supposed to last about 3 minutes so it's a lot of info in a little time but here are my note:

How did you get here?
A few years back a coworker and I started talking about working with the Peace Corps. I started the application process but could never bring myself to finish it because of the details. In February 2009 I got laid off from my job and four days later my Peace Corps application was submitted. I made it though the first few rounds but they could never place me. I really wanted to go with PC bc they pay for everything and even pay you a monthly stipend so it's not that I was against missions I just didn't want to have to raise support. By August of that year God had changed my heart toward the idea of raising support and I applied to International Ministries. It was strange though they almost couldn't understand that I would be willing to go anywhere so long as there were children, so I was waiting to be placed and I think they were waiting for me to pick a location. In January I applied to International Teams and heard about TDP for the first time. I met with Julie and the Garlands to talk about the Ministry. Shortly after my return from that trip I was accepted to International Ministries and The Peace Corps. I decided that I would continue to pursue all my options until God closed the doors. I was one question away from completing my TDP application when I got an email saying that TDP was going through a transition. I waited to hear what that meant and went on with International Ministries to be place in Bolivia. I declined from the Peace Corps feeling that God was leading me a different direction. Sent an email to the Missionary in Bolivia saying what next and because I couldn't stop thinking about the Orphans in Mozambique I emailed Julie to see what was happening and to ask her if they were accepting applications. Julie wrote me back immediately asking me to send her my application and I didn't hear back from the Bolivian Missionary for a month. A week or so later I got a call from Julie asking if I would be willing to work in the office here in the US. After a few trips up here, prayer and the blessings of those around me I accepted the position here in Royal Oak.
How did you know that was the right choice to make?
Throughout the last 2 years God has had me on this really strange journey of highs and lows but through it all as I look back the thing that I see is growth. So even though I would have never imagined myself living in my parents basement in Royal Oak, Michigan, I'm here bc I feel as thought it where the Lord wants me and I have Peace about it.

Given that this is not the normal path of a college graduate? Why?
About a year before I got laid off it hit me that all I was doing was making rich people richer. At this time I was also volunteering with Campus Life and my work there is what got me through the day. Volunteering with them helped me to discover who God created me to be, I learned things about myself that I never would have in my 9-5. That is when I started thinking about the Peace Corps, because 5 or 10 hours a week just didn't feel like enough. I wanted to be able to serve 24-7.

In closing I came across this verse in my Small Group study this week:
Luke 18:14b For everyone who exhalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

The last few years have been very humbling for me, but I hung this on my wall in the office as a reminder for this next 'chapter' in my life.

Well congrats if you made it though such a long post! Feel free to leave a comment, don't be shy I'm curious to find out who is actually reading this =)

Support Letter

2010-09-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

Major changes are happening in my life. You may remember that I was laid off February of 2009. I knew God's hand was in that situation, but couldn't figure out exactly what He was calling me to. I applied for the Peace Corps and different missionary organizations. To say it's been an interesting journey would be an understatement. I would be approved but wouldn't hear back from people for months, then I might get an email response and the waiting game would start all over again.

That is until I found out about The Dream Project, an organization that works with orphans in Mozambique, Africa. I met Julie, one of its founding missionaries, within weeks of hearing about the organization. While I was filling out my application to work in Mozambique for a year, Julie asked if I would be willing to help here in the states. My answer wasn't immediate. Over the next few weeks I prayed, went to a few meetings and asked a million questions before realizing this was a great fit. I feel that God has been using my volunteer experiences with Campus Life to prepare me to work with The Dream Project.

The Dream Project's US headquarters are in Royal Oak, Michigan, where I just moved. I have been volunteering with them from Illinois since early June, working on a policy and procedures manual, brainstorming and organizing. For those of you that don't know, I'm a huge detail person and I love to organize... just not my own things =).

In December I hope to go to Mozambique for two months. As much as I'm excited about working behind the scenes in the US, it pales in comparison to how I feel about meeting those touched by this ministry. While in Mozambique, I will take pictures and videos of what happens on the ground, gain a richer, first-hand understanding of The Dream Project and Mozambique, and bring that back to share with others.

The Dream Project primarily works with children orphaned and abandoned by the AIDS epidemic. It provides fresh water, food, medical assistance, education, vocational training, and homes for countless children and families in this war- and AIDS-ravished country. Most importantly, The Dream Project brings the love and hope of Jesus to those who so desperately need it. Rather than build large orphanages, they place children in small, home-like settings with loving Mozambican houseparents. We empower them to be self-supporting leaders in their communities. We also invest in the communities by teaching practical life skills, as well as training in the Word of God. Our desire is to raise up Godly leaders, equipped to help others suffering from spiritual and physical poverty.

I am writing today because I need your help. I know that money is tight in this tough economy. If you do not feel God leading you to support me financially, I ask that you would still support me in prayer. In return for your help, I will be able to work in The Dream Project's headquarters helping to keep the “dream” alive.

My goal is to raise $2,400 per month and an additional $3,000 for my December trip to Mozambique. If you wish to support me financially please fill out the enclosed form. All donations are tax-deductible since The Dream Project is a registered 501 (c)3 organization.

Please let me know if you would like more information about The Dream Project, or visit our website www.thedream-project.org. You can also check for updates at www.amanda-nichols.blogspot.com. Thank you for your support!

TDP orphanage is in Pemba, the government has also given us 6 acres in Ponta D' Ouro.