October 16, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
We are thinking of you and feel your prayers with us in Mozambique.
On Monday we visited a log milling operation. In the US when we want to purchase windows and doors the question is which brand, size, style, etc. to select. In Mozambique one selects the logs to be milled and pays for the milling. Then the lumber is delivered, perhaps by a hand truck, to a carpenter who constructs the frames. The window and door frames are then brought to the site without glass in the windows.
The building is coming along. On Tuesday we worked on the report detailing what was purchased so that more funding can be sent. We will visit the site again before the end of our trip and can take pictures of the progress made while we are here.
Wednesday and yesterday we visited the English classes. Armando has classes in Beira and James in Manga. We have not yet observed the classes taught by Daniel but hope to do so before we leave. I left materials for the art/English project with the two teachers and have photographs of the students in one class. I had hoped to be there when the students were working on the project but as Volunteers in Mission we have learned to go with the flow.
It was good to spend some time with Pastor Filimao to talk about the scholarship students and the process used to select them. We also discussed that more information about the students is needed so that our Mozambique Connection executive board will be able to better tell their stories and hopefully inspire more Americans to sponsor Mozambican students. The cost for most students who study in Beira is approximately $1,500 a year for tuition, books, fees and transportation. Quite a difference from our American costs! Students work very hard here and passing one's courses is a great achievement. No inflated grades!
Martha is working hard on putting an Internet café type computer station in place at the conference office. She has arranged for a high speed connection until December 1 which I am now using. The hope is to benefit students who do not have access to computers and to those lucky enough to have a computer but could use the wireless connection at the conference office.
Yesterday Martha and I attended two of the women's groups. I was at Central church and Martha was at Beira. All women arrived proudly wearing their red jackets, black skirts and white hats. I spoke to them about the solar oven that VIM Cynthia bought from South Africa and had sent to Beira. They had not heard of them but were excited about the idea. We will need to discuss this project at our next executive board meeting.
At the women's meeting I also discussed the idea of a dress-making project. Some have basic sewing machines but no one had one that could do the distinctive embroidery that they would like to add to the dresses. This can be another discussion at our next executive board meeting.
Today we leave for Gorongosa wildlife preserve. John is now at the store purchasing food and water. We will get to to the park in the evening, stay overnight and then get up before dawn to be in time to see the animals in the early morning.
On Sunday each of us will preach at a different church. We plan to use parts of the messages we gave to our own congregations before we left and adjust them for Mozambican congregations. Please pray for our us that we are able to reach our brothers and sisters in Mozambique.
Monday we leave for Lichinga to observe the farm project there.
Please keep us in your prayers.
Peace be with you,
Annette