About the Jail

The jail looks like any American jail on the outside. They are all kind of bland places, tending towards darkness rather than light (physically, not just spiritually). What sets this jail in Mozambique apart from our jails though is the holding area where prisoners wait to be transferred or charged or released. Unlike our system which mostly guarantees basic rights, their prisoners are not afforded some of the same basic luxuries. While the holding area is supposed to be a place someone stays no more than 24 hours, prisoners can be there up to 2 weeks (in fact from the way Luis talked, spending 24 hours or less there seemed to be the minority of circumstances). This becomes especially problematic from a social justice standpoint when you hear that while there prisoners are not provided with any food.

What We Do

The jail system is something Luis is intimately acquainted with. Prior to Jesus, he was one of the top thieves in the city and led his own gang. This landed him in that same holding area many of time. In fact its quite amusing to hear him tell of the guards shocked at his turn around and what he now does. Anyways, he knows of the lack of humanity inherit in that system and is seeking to change things for the better.

And so we loaded into a chappa and headed to the city. Once there, we headed to the jail to make sure we all were going to be able to head back to the holding area (luckily it wasn’t a problem). Then, we headed out to the markets to pick up bread and other foodstuffs (beancakes and perhaps other things). And then we headed back to the jail and a guard led us around back, making sure we stepped over the urine pools, to the holding area.

Once there we passed on the food and our team leader Jason talked ever so briefly and then we prayed for everyone as a group. Unfortunately the guards didn’t really want us sticking around long and wouldn’t let us pray for the people individually. After that, the guards led us out and we headed back to the orphanage.

What I Thought

While definitely a meaningful trip, it didn’t hold as much meaning as the hospital did. Unfortunately circumstances kept us from interacting too directly with the prisoners and the guards ushered us in and then back out super fast. Truth be told, I think one of the more beneficial things about this trip was getting to know Luis and where he has been and where he is going (as well as being able to see the impact he has made in other lives). Honestly, it’s something I’d definitely do again given the opportunity but in a much smaller group (maybe only 2 or 3 instead of 7) to set the guards and everyone else more at ease.

And that was the jail visit.

About the Hospital

The hospital was actually in the town we were staying in, Matola. It is divided into gendered floors, the bottom couple being for the newer patients and the upper couple for the highly contagious terminal patients. We rode a chappa to the hospital and upon exiting were met with an interesting site. The building itself looks kind of like any other bland government building – honestly there is not much to set it apart. It is surrounded by a fence with a gate but security wasn’t an issue. I expected to have to go through something in order to get in, but we just walked right on through the gate (I don’t think the security booth was even being manned by anyone at the time). Upon entering the hospital we were met with drab, dark halls on the bottom floor. It was rather depressing – in comparison our hospitals look like amazingly bright and cheery places. I remember the colors as gray scale and just blah. The second and third floors weren’t much better although numerous windows made for a much brighter atmosphere. On these patient floors, the stairs emptied into a kind of common room that had tables and chairs setup (it was here we talked to and prayed with the patients). On either side of the common rooms were the halls with patient rooms.

About the Patients

All of the patients here had AIDs. Most had other, secondary diseases as well, the most common being tuberculosis. Generally speaking, its not AIDs that kills people – its the opportunistic secondary diseases that their bodies can’t take care because of immunodeficiency. The onset of these diseases is generally what takes people to these hospitals to spend their final days. The patients on the two floors we couldn’t go onto where in their final stage of life. The highly contagious form of tuberculosis is mostly what we heard they had. The plan in future years is to bring HEPA masks and robes so that we can go onto these floors but lack of appropriate safety equipment kept us from talking with these patients this time.

The patients on the two floors we could go onto where dieing as well, some from diseases other than tuberculosis, I would guess. Many of them looked too weak to even be up and moving around, but come out they did. I remember praying for one woman, my hand on her shoulder as we generally did, and quickly moving my hand off in fear that I would break her. It felt like i was touching bone (and that’s all most of these individuals were – skin and bones).

Sharing and Praying

All eleven of us did not descend on the hospital at once; rather, five went the first week and six the next. I went in the first group. We had originally thought that we would just be going around to rooms, chatting briefly and then praying with the occupants. The common room was a surprise to us (as was Luis telling us that someone needed to stand up and share). I decided that I would take the opportunity to do that on the guys floor and felt led to share briefly and broadly about what I was reading in Isaiah and how their lives were important to us and more importantly, were important to Jesus. We then paired up and prayed for everyone of them. We next went up to the girls floor and did the same. As the “have something to share” thing to our group slightly by surprise, none of the ladies with us had anything in particularly to share so I once again took the lead. Rather than talk about the same thing I did on the guys floor, I decided that it’d be much more worthwhile to talk about Hosea. Don’t ask me why – it was a last minute change as when I stood up the Isaiah bit was still on my mind – but Hosea it was and it seemed to go alright. And after the sharing we followed the same routine, praying for everyone individually.

The Aftermath of the Visit

There were several important aspects of this visit. If I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it right now – this was one of the most important things we did in my mind. At least, it was one of the most impacting things we did to me. For one thing it was one of the more emotional things we did. I’m generally not an emotional dude but it was impossible not to tear up, standing in front of these hopeless, dieing people and not tear up. Their environment just felt wrong and depressing. They really had no hope to ever leave that hospital. They knew there days were numbered and that there was pretty much nothing that they could do about it. And what where we to do? How where we to pray knowing that it would take one crazy miracle of God to ever get them free of that hospital? It’s important to be able to look deep inside of the dark and hopeless places and know that the light of God can penetrate even there and that’s what we were there to do, and what Luis is there to do week after week. It’d be easy to find places like this here in the states but we shelter ourselves off from it for no good reason. That’s definitely one thought I took away.

Other things I took away were much more trivial (or at least they feel trivial compared to the above). One – God will give you the words if you trust. Two – I want to be given the words more, I need to put myself in that kind of situation more, however you want to word that. Three – One of the oddest sites I have ever seen occurred on the ride to the hospital (because it happened on the way there, and with everything else going on, it’s automatically lumped with the hospital experience in my brain even though it doesn’t necessarily deal directly with it). As we were driving past a poor village, one much like the one I’ve posted pictures of with dirty roads and small poorly built houses that lack what we consider basic needs (running water, etc), I never expected to see a brand new, blazingly clean and white, four door Mercedes sedan pull out from its dirty streets. The contrast of rich and poor was never clearer (or more inappropriate, or so it felt). That will be a fuller conversation for another post yet it is tied intimately to the whole hospital experience, which is why I mention it here.

I would post pictures but I don’t have any of the hospital. It is illegal in Mozambique to take pictures of government building, monuments and officials and not knowing if the hospital falled into one of those categories I decided against whipping my camera out. Better a post without pictures than time in a Mozambiquan jail I think. The lack of color in this post is more fitting anyways to the environment of the hospital I think.

One thing can certainly be said for them: they quickly got us over the American desire for some semblance of personal space. There are government regulations that they can’t fit more than 30 people in one but it is quite common to have well over 20. People stand in aisles over other people. They sit on laps. They double up in the very front. The fullest one got in which I was in was at least 25 (I lost count at this point). As I said, these suckers afforded no personal space whatsoever.

On the other hand, they were a lot of fun. You never knew who you were going to sit next to and there were quite a few interesting conversations. I met one guy named Sebastian that really wanted me to send him an Oxford Bible Dictionary. I actually would have probably done it but he never found me again (he said he was going to try). There were several other interesting encounters as well as that.

When we went into Maputo for dinner in the evenings we actually bypassed the normal chappas and rented our own, guaranteeing that we could all fit (this had the added benefit of guaranteeing it would be somewhat comfortable as well).

Oh and the cost of a taxi to anywhere? About 35 cents (so 70 cents if it was roundtrip). This is one of the reasons they jam the buses full of people. The driver/doorman do not actually own the taxi; rather someone else does and expects them to bring in a contracted amount every day. Anything above that amount is theirs to keep so it is to their benefit to rustle up as many fares as possible.

I was able to be apart of many conversations with Pieter (as well as some of the guys he is discipling – primarily Luis) and it was quite interesting listening to their approach to this other aspect of ministry in Mozambique. One of the statements made early on was that Africa didn’t need just more big churches, that it had plenty of those. He fleshed this out by explaining that African people, living in the states that they do, constantly search for a new form of blessing. We (white people from rich nations) come along talking about our God and they instantly see a new route towards automatic blessing (whether this is verbalized or not). Pretty much any one of the eleven of us could have gone out and drawn a crowd of hundreds and started a church with little trouble. This is problematic though because, as Pieter told us, a good number of these churches quickly devolve into something distinctly less Christian. As the church doesn’t provide the blessing the people expect, syncretism kicks in and an odd blending of the traditional and Christian faiths occurs. No longer is the Gospel the forefront of things, instead its replaced by other doctrines, symbols or traditions. Anyways, all that to say – Africa really doesn’t need just more big churches. Instead, intentional discipleship needs to be at the root of things. We as disciples of Christ need to be intentional passing what Christ has passed to us onto others and then sending them out to do likewise. To facilitate this, church on Sunday doesn’t happen in a building somewhere. Instead it happens in homes. Further, it not just composed of people searching for the next blessing but rather people intentional seeking Christ above all else. Pieter has a group of four men from the neighborhood that he is intentional working with several times a week. We had the privilege of being able to join in this, leading some of the discipleship times and just befriending and helping the guys any way we could (as well as participating directly in the Sunday worship time).

It really was quite awesome to see these guys hearts (especially Luis and Pieter). Prayerwalking through Matola with Luis is one of my fondest memories. It was just so encouraging to hear him pray for his neighbors as well as hearing his desires to learn all he can and then take it north where there are people that have never even heard the name of Jesus.

Flowing from this church planting/discipleship push seemed a natural drive towards community development. In an ideal world, community would mean much more than it does now – neighbor WOULD take care of neighbor, the orphan WOULDN’T have to worry about their next meal, the widow WOULDN’T have to worry about how they would provide for themselves and the poor WOULDN’T have worry about just getting by. Unfortunately that is just an ideal and it is far from being realized in the world we live in. The Church (universal) though can do much to usher in the ideal of the Kingdom of God and this desire to see the Kingdom realized fuels the drive for community development. One obvious way this is happening is through the baby house. Having a stable and loving place for these orphaned babies is an awesome thing that God has blessed. This isn’t the only way though. One vision in the life of Pieter and Rika is to see extended family taking responsibility in the lives of orphaned and abandoned children. This is often quite difficult due to many reasons (like money) but it is important to children that they are able to grow up in loving homes. As such, when family is found willing to do this, Pieter and Rika help provide the support to make it happen. The one example of this so far is the Grandparents house. They are raising three of their grandchildren on their own and struggle to get by. Weekly, Pieter provides groceries and while we were there, we helped start the process to get running water to their house as well as building an outdoor cooking pavilion (they had just been cooking in the dirt). Things like this go far in developing community. Other active way include: taking an interest in those considered marginalized (ie, visiting dieing AIDs patients or prisoners in the jail), paying attention to the rhythm of a community and taking interest when someone is really sick or in need.

I know a lot of this did wonders in broadening my horizons in what church planting and community development work really looks like, particularly how closely they are linked. I am super thankful for being able to walk into and live out Pieter and Rika’s vision, if only for a couple of weeks. It’s certainly a vision that will not quickly fade…

As I said though, the chores were secondary to loving and playing with the kids, however that looked (be it holding them, rolling a ball back and forth, letting them jump on you or just watching them ride small plastic motorcycles across the backyard). This really was the primary duty because many of those kids are so desperate for love and emotional healing. I imagine few people that read this can really understand what it must be like to have been completely abandoned by your parents or to have entered the world with a terminal disease and numbered days or be forever scarred by markings and insertions made by pagan witch-doctors. I know I can’t. But showing these kids love, particularly an all encompassing love that only comes from God, the road towards healing can be and is paved. And this is what we were primarily in Mozambique for – to join in with and aid the process of healing for these kids (and others we came into contact with). It’s heartwarming to see the difference even two weeks can make. Not that we did all that much at all but even to see what were able to see and for the missionaries, Pieter and Rika, to comment that our time really did make a difference in the lives of these babies makes it all worth it.

Next time I’ll begin to talk more about the other 1/3 of our time. That was generally the work that connected the most with me (it being more community development, discipleship and church planting work).

In this picture, going from left to right, are Kristin Bauer, Mary Gray, Luis Tembe (he is lives at the orphanage and was our primary aid…basically, he was the man), Shannon Jaqua, Jason White, Kelly White, Erica Carey, Kristin Kleinkort, Brady Smith, Daniel Morris and Jake Bauer. I’m of course taking the picture (I just break cameras anyways when I’m in the picture). We were a varied group, ranging in age from 19 to about 28. Two of the couples were married which made for an interesting dynamic. Luckily though we all bonded as a community surprisingly well. There weren’t any major fights or dislikes and we were all able to be open and honest with one another (as well as being goofy and playful). So anyways, this was our team.

[Pieter and Rika Boersma][1] run the orphanage. They have three natural children and are from South Africa originally.

In addition to their own children, they are raising 8 babies that have either been orphaned or abandoned. We spent a lot of time playing, loving and caring for these children so I will introduce them next.

From left to right in this picture is Aninha, Luis, Paulo, Quiteria and Idrussi. Aninha is the oldest child (she is about 4). She is free of AIDs but she does have serious problems with her ears. Truth be told, the infections are bad enough that her ears constantly drain. One of the big things that Pieter and Justin are working on this summer is getting her a passport so that they can take her to a specialist in South Africa (they’ve exhausted resources in Mozambique). This has proved difficult though as her dad is still alive. Since he is alive, all paperwork is supposed to go through him, although he wants nothing to do with her and ignores contact regarding her. Thankfully, while we were there, Pieter and Justin were able to legally remove his name from her birth certificate, hopefully speeding up the remaining process.

The next baby is Luis. He is an AIDs baby but has improved dramatically since going on the anti-retrovirals. Hopefully this will remain the case. In other news, he is one of the most mischievous of the children. He was always getting into something, especially if you turned your back on him for even a second. On the other hand he is also very loving. He loved to be held and hugged.

Paulo is the next boy. He is actually the newest baby to come to the orphanage, having been there only about a month. He tested negative for AIDs while we were there, which is a huge blessing. Unfortunately though, from what I understand, his past is pretty mysterious. He was basically abandoned and no one knows anything about his history. He was a really sweet little boy. He loved playing ball (and running up and giving hugs). Of all of the kids, I probably bonded with him the closest.

Quiteria is the next little girl. One of the neat things about being there was seeing all of the kids personalities (and seeing them grow in just the short 14 day time period). Her personality is all attitude. She has a shirt that says “Can’t do it, Won’t do it” and that pretty much sums her up. She was fun to play with though. She’d pick out a couple of us, grab our hands and position us to play ball or frisbee with her often in the afternoon play times.

The final baby in the picture is Idrussi. His nickname around the house by everyone is Doo-Doo (for the reasons you’re thinking right now). He is also an AIDs baby and like Luis, he has done much better since going on the anti-retrovirals. It’s somewhat hard to tell from this picture but he is HUGE. That’s primarily because the workers who slept in the baby room would give him 6 to 8 bottles of milk per night to keep him quiet (this was put to a stop as soon as Pieter and Rika found out about it). His claim to fame is pooing like none of the other kids (and like no one else in this world). His diaper was never fun to change.

This is Ricardo. He’s pretty young and wasn’t walking when we got there. There verdict is still out on whether or not he has AIDs. He tests positive, but that is likely because he still has his mothers enzymes. They won’t know for sure until he is tested again in a few months. His father is still alive and does occasionally visit (which is different from all the other kids) but visits are few and far in between. One of the coolest things that happened between all of the babies was seeing Ricardo starting to walk. He was just crawling (actually butt-crawling) but the last three days we were there he was walking everywhere. That transition was just really neat to witness.

This is Pieter (the missionary) and Alicia. Alicia came to the baby house last November with no name after having been abandoned at a hut in the village by her parents. She was incredibly malnourished and had the scarring indicative of witch-doctor insertions. Needless to say, she is dealing with serious abandonment and emotional trauma and is just barely two. While she has healed a lot, there is still a lot more work that needs to be done in her life. On another note, she was also one of the sweetest girls. In fact, she was the only baby I bathed that didn’t (a) cry or (b) put up with things. Rather she had a great time laughing and giggling and splashing. I couldn’t help but smile when she would look up at me with a huge grin on her face.

This is Marcelino (Marci). He is the oldest boy (he’s three) as well as the child who has been there the longest. He is a lot of fun because he’s at that age where he can play and react a lot better than the younger kids. He also can be a troublemaker with Luis. I have one picture of him, taken after afternoon nap, where he is covered in lotion and powder because he climbed out of his bed and got into it.

Well, I hope this introduction to everyone is helpful. I’ll be using a lot of these names over the coming days and weeks as I write about things we did and saw and got to participate in.

Now, I’m catching up on lost sleep and getting back into the swing of things at work (tonight was my first late night at work). I’m also working on compiling stories to stick up here. I’ve already got all of my pictures on flickr so be sure to check those out. Many of them will end up in the stories as well. For now, enjoy a picture of our team (minus me who’s taking the picture).