The 12 Hour Wait.

Tuesday night when Nunu and I arrived at the bus at 5, it was immediately obvious to me that they weighed past 5:00. I have to say this was one of the best experiences of mine in Mozambique. There was a sign stating how much each extra kg cost and there was a scale. It was cut and dry… there was 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. I asked Nunu if he would be allowed to take all this stuff and Nunu said, “Yeah, if he can pay.”  I said, “What about the people who show up tomorrow morning with luggage?” Nunu told me that they don’t care whose luggage fills up the bus, so long as it’s full, so it’s first come first serve. Glad we went at 5:00!

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

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

At around 11pm they start loading the bus and I watch as my 3 bags are carried on. At around midnight there are about 20 people waiting for the bus. People start settling in for the night. Cardboard boxes & bamboo mats serves as beds. I wonder what people will do with the mats when they get on the bus as they are about 8’ x 6’.

A man left a piece of cardboard on the ground and about 20 minutes later… it’s looking like a lush feather bed. Maybe it’s just the thought of being able to stretch out… I don’t know but I tell myself if they guy 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 look around and see strangers sleeping side-by-side. I’m embarrassed to even ask for another mat, so I just lay down.

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

It probably has something to do with the fact that all of my valuables are in the backpacks and my purse. I look over and Nunu is dead asleep with my purse strap wrapped around his wrist. Around 2 I finally fall asleep, 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 like dogs. It makes sense that stray dogs would come out at night. I listen and imagine 2 packs fighting over some good scraps. Part of me wants to get up and go see… I think of what a good view I would have if I could sit on top of the fence. I fall back asleep. But not for long the dog fighting is pretty consistent throughout the night.

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

I wake up around 4:30 and people are slowly rising and brushing teeth and going to the bathroom. The bathroom here is very typical for Mozambique. It’s a toilet you squat over. Not the cleanest bathroom ever, just thankful 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 out that all of their luggage won’t fit on the bus. I’m not actually sure what is going on, I just watch… but I think some bags will be stored in the cell until the 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. The crowd rushes the door, there is nothing orderly about trying to get to the door. Nunu squeezes in the side and tries to give both of our tickets but the man says only one ticket at a time. Luckly the man took my ticket and so I am about the 5^th person on. Another man shows me to my seat in the last row and I put my bag up top.

I try opening my window and it won’t open. The only reason I picked this seat is because it’s the only window on every bus that for sure how the ability to open, because most of the windows span over 3 rows, so the person 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 finally gets it open!

Most of the bus rows are 5 across, I think total there are 63 seats… maybe 4 are empty. After 12 hours at the bus station, I’m happy to be on the bus and in my seat with a window that opens and a curtain for shade. I try to settle in for the long ride ahead.

Peace Out Maputo!

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

Filipe canceled on our Sunday meeting. Then said he could come Monday. We met with him on Monday and once again plans changed. He now thinks we should build a block house (to add value to the land). He walked us through a cost break down of a stick house (as they should be cheaper) and a block 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 2 doors.

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 crazy to me the second he says it. But we’ve kept him much longer than we planned, so I leave it alone for now.

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

Where is Home Depot when I need it?!

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

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

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

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

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

I email my bank and they respond saying that the problem should 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, not only 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 my request. The thing that stinks is that I don’t actually have anything to prove that I didn’t receive the cash other than the fact that the bank doesn’t actually allow a withdrawal of this amount.

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

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

At noon, I still hadn’t packed. We are each allowed 10 kg on the bus, so the plan is to fill Nunu and my backpacks with all valuable heavy items. I thought that we needed to go to the bus at about 9:30pm to get our luggage weighed. Around 2:30, I find out that we need to leave for the bus at 4:30!

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

So here I go off to the bus, 12 hours before it leaves… a new 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 =)

Sometimes I just laugh… it keeps getting hotter. Yesterday Felipe was supposed to meet us. Nunu and I were sitting on the porch waiting for him and even there I was just dripping sweat. Nunu called Felipe to find out 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 I don’t know if we can do this. He says he can come tomorrow. I’m not even sure what to do now. 

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

Felipe gives Nunu some numbers of what he thinks things will cost, 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, I know how to price things. Things in America have price tags, but when you go to the market here you have to ask how much everything costs and hope the price is the 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 all this stuff out.

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

There isn’t central air here, or at least I haven’t seen any. 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 a fan. When we walk in, I wonder around a bit trying to find the coldest spot… I find a seat that I can feel the cold air blowing. I sit. I drink my coke. I’m no longer sweating. I’m happy.

About 30 minutes before the movie starts, I look outside. I notice the branches on the trees shaking and the leaves all being pushed sideways from the wind. It’s also getting dark out, but I can’t tell if it’s a storm or just the sun setting. I say to Nunu that we should probably pay and go, 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 is blowing side ways. Once again calling this rain doesn’t seem right. It’s pouring. 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 it rains like this the scapas stop running and he needs to get home before that happens. I think for a second. We could get a taxi, but it’s raining so hard we would be soaked before we even made it to the curb. I decide to save the money and enjoy the cool rain. We ask for a plastic bag and I tightly wrap all of our valuables (camera, phones, wallets, passports & money) and stick them in my purse. One thing I will never understand is that if money is wet, no one will accept it.

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

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

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

I can only resist a puddle for so long!

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 was the most refreshing rainstorm. Grateful doesn’t even describe how I feel… I feel blessed by this storm.

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

It's HOT, HOT, HOT!!!

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

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

The funny thing is the ladies who run this place. They are about 65 and 80, they are from Maine. However, they have been here for over 60 years combined and they love the heat. In fact they wear multiple layer and even sweaters if it’s in the 80’s! They see nothing wrong with baking bread in the house when it’s 90 degrees outside. When we sit down for dinner you can feel 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 the ladies are sitting there happy as can be loving the hot air… sometimes they even ask if we can turn the fan down.

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

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

I’m so grossed out. I’m so sad. Every beach I have been to has 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 usually has a cool breeze, so we still go.

As we take the schapa up the coast, there aren’t many people. I’m surprised at all the little vendors lined up along the beach. One after 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 or 2 later. It seems this is the place to be after school or work. It’s like a tail gate party but switch the stadium for a beach. The main event is socializing and cooling off. It is Friday, I guess it all makes sense (I often forget what day of the week it is).

We find a shady spot under a tree. I lay my towel down and get comfortable. Let the people watching begin! Well first I start by checking out the water. I don’t get close though maybe like 20 or 30 feet away. This is a strange form of torture. I’m so hot, it’s in the 90’s and that is without the heat 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 few blogs back if you don’t know what I mean). It’s the ocean, it’s supposed to be a beautiful shade of blue, but it makes me think more of a lake.

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

I’m not even sure what else to say. It’s just a very sad situation. Not just the ocean, but all this talk of sewage has me thinking about sanitation… everything from littering  to washing your hands after using the bathroom. While a lot of 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’s probably 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 of sanitation.

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

A Realtime Blog

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 =)

Before I jump back into all the things I’m working on, I wanted to tell you about my first movie experience in Maputo. When I arrived in Maputo I was asking Nunu about the theartre, so we walked past it one day and I remember 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 just wanted to get out of the house. We had no clue what movie was playing but on Saturday 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 6:00 was The Help. The 3:00 was Cowboys & Aliens. We purchased our tickets and went in. A guard looked at our printed tickets and we headed down stairs. I wanted 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 many it would hold (maybe 150/200 people) but probably similar to the Tivoli in Downers Grove. The movie starts on time, with no previews. It is played in English with Portuguese subtitles.

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

About half way though the screen does something strange and goes blank. But then a message comes up saying there will be a 7 minute intermission. Go figure the one time I go to a movie with an intermission I don’t need to go to the bathroom. A few minutes later a preview is played for Cowboys & 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 feel more helpful than I had imagine a week ago. It’s worked out well that Nunu does the running around, we meet each day talking about what he has done and discussing 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 and getting 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 was told last week. When he got there they told him to go to Immigration. On Tuesday he went to Immigration and they told him he needed to go to the Department of Labor. On Wednesday he went to the Department of Labor and they told him he needs to go to Immigration?!

He calls the man at the other orphanage in Pemba and reads him 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 these official offices, we have to print in color. If you don’t, you have to use your organization official stamp (logo stamp)… Projecto Sonhos is up in Pemba. Each time 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 in 5 days (I highly doubt it will be done the, but who knows). Michael is needing to 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 the Department of Agriculture to turn it in. A woman reviews the letter and tells him that it needs to be addressed to the Governor, not the Department of Agriculture. She also tells Nunu that the letter could be turned in as is, but that she would strongly suggest that we make our letter much more convincing. I email Julia with all of this information and she rewrites the letter and  suggests we call Pastor Felipe again to get his take on the situation. She also suggests that we ask him to come up from Ponta to turn the letter in and gives us a budget to work with as far as building on the land goes. 

Felipe has been working with Projecto Sonho to acquire the land since the beginning. He also lives in Ponta and knows how things work.

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

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

By the time I talk to Julia tonight, it’s too late too get Felipe here tomorrow (Friday) to go looking at things. He says he will come up Saturday 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 by then.

The Dire, Despacho & Land Permit...

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

Well so all week, Nunu and I have been working on these three things. Prepare for your mind to be blown at how complicated some of these things are. Also, remember I’m not talking about America, things are done so 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), something must be wrong. Keep in mind that public offices are only open to 3:00 pm and some only keep their doors open to 1:00pm. None of these offices are close to each other and so Nunu is taking schapas (mini-van buses) all around town trying to get these things accomplished.

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

Tuesday he goes back to explain again that it’s for Projecto Sonho (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 bring it back with all of PS’s official paperwork.

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

Most of our workers in Pemba don’t have much computer knowledge.  Antonio can type documents 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 go into 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 the guy from the other orphanage to find why we need to be registered with the Foreign Business office. It takes a day to track down his number and when Nunu gets ahold of him, he is in a meeting.

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

An hour later Antonio calls. He is okay! He is banged up but okay. Bless his heart as soon as he gets out of the hospital he goes to use the internet 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 a meeting with it’s Members, write a letter stating that they need a new Despacho and they all need all the members to sign the letter.

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

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

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

One down two to go!

3. The Land Permit. A bit of background… We were given through January to build on the land. In November and December PS was planning to build on the land, but then someone had the idea to file for an extension (seeing as money is tight for the organization). First I heard about the extension it was to be filed and completed in Maputo. Then a few week before I came to Moz, I heard 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 been trying to follow up on the extension for the last few weeks, but he needed a document from Pemba. The document was supposed to be email 2 weeks before my arrival and he kept texting & calling asking that his message be relayed to the person who was supposed to send the email. The guy who was supposed to send the document lost his cell phone and so communication has been difficult. Nunu was under the impression that because the document hadn’t been sent that things were squared away and we had gotten the extension. Of course there are two sides to every story and the other man thought Nunu was able to get his work done with out the document. Big miscommunication… whatever, moving on!

The man in Pemba who had said he could file the extension is no 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 paper work is out of date.

The task at hand now is to find out if we can still build and file for an extension and what we need to build. We talked to Pastor Felipe and he tells Nunu that it shouldn’t be a problem to get the extension for the land 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 buy land, the government always owns the land. You can own trees, fences and building, but not the land they sit on. So what Felipe is suggesting isn’t out of the ordinary.

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

Today Nunu calls Bruno to get his take on the land situation and 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 2 tasks, but only because we are unable to complete it. I feel like Nunu has been running around like a mad man but even though I’ve been sick, I still feel like I’ve contributed. Being that a miscommunication is what got us here, at least for some items, I’ve tried to keep Julia in the loop so we don’t do anything unnecessary and so she is able to keep giving us input and ideas of what to do next.

I haven’t had much spare time, but I was able to get the remote access working for my old architecture firm. So I have logged some hours, at least enough to cover the cost of a few of my nights here. I hope to do more as I feel better. It’s not the most convenient working environment because I have to sit right by the wireless router to get a signal and that is in 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. Also they shut the net off around 10:30 each night, I’m sure they would keep it on it 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!