Good-bye Mozambique

Well tomorrow morning I shall head off on my journey back to Michigan. I have loved Mozambique and hope I will be able to come back someday.

My flights are as follows:
Maputo-Johannesburg: 11:50am-1:00pm
Johannesburg-Frankfurt: 7:25pm-6:10am
Frankfurt-Detroit: 2:10pm-5:20pm

I am thankful that the time doesn't change until after I leave Frankfurt. It's easier on my brain that way. And hopefully I'll rest enough to stay awake on the drive back to Grand Rapids from Detroit.

Right now it's hard to imagine that I will really be leaving Mozambique tomorrow. It's easy to think I'm going to head of to Lichinga again like I did last time I was in Maputo. But alas, I must return to finish my last year of school.

I think it will be interesting to see how my life changes and how I have changed as a result of my three months here in Mozambique. It will take some time to know the answer to that however.

Saying Good-bye

This morning Tim and Michele left with Michele's parents to spend a few days in Malawi at the game park before dropping Mike and Nancy at the airport on Sunday for their flight.  They will not be back until Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday. Since I leave Tuesday morning on the flight out of Lichinga they will not be back before I leave.  It was really sad to say good-bye.  I'm going to miss the kids a lot. It's hard to think that the kids will all be 2.5 years older when I see them again.  I can't imagine how big they'll all be. That is, unless I find a way to come back to Mozambique sooner.

It's hard for me to even imagine leaving here. I don't really believe that I am going to get on an airplane that is going to carry me away on Tuesday. It doesn't seem possible. I get excited when I think about hanging out with my friends again and going to church and college group again. But overall, I really have no desire to leave Mozambique and I try constantly to figure out how I can stay a few more months.

One thing I do know for sure, I will come back to Mozambique as soon as I can.

Mapuje Homestay

Me, and the family I stayed with outside the house.

Doing laundry at the river.

Making Shema

Kids gathered around me to look at the pictures on my camera.

I really had a great time in the village of Mapuje, where I lived for 4 days. Tim and Michele took me out there on Tuesday. First we had some baptisms, then communtion, and around 4 in the afternoon they left me out there. I was the only white person around and no one spoke much English either. I had to rely on the Portuguese I have learned over the past few months as well as hand motions and body language. I realized very quickly how much you really can communicate. I am understanding about 70% of the Portuguese I here too, which is exciting. I can't speak it much at all though, which everyone tells me is normal.

I was downright terrified when they left me out there by myself. I really had no idea what to expect and was just overwhelmed and couldn't believe I was actually going to stay there for 4 days. Tuesday night went well however. I slept quite well and woke up in the morning ready for my first day in a village.

Wednesday was an extremely long day. We really didn't do much. We had breakfast, then sat around visiting until lunch. After lunch we sat around visiting until dinner. It was good and is really how they spend many of their days, but for really was very long and boring for me. This was partly because it was my first day, partly because of language barrier, partly because I just didn't know what to do or what I could do, etc. By Wednesday evening I was having a difficult time and was really struggling. I almost turned on the phone to call Tim and Michele, not because I wanted to go home, but just to talk to someone and here someone say I was doing well. But I decided to push through it until bed time and see how I felt in the morning.

Thursday morning I felt a bit better and more relaxed. God is good and we went to the river to do laundry which was something to do all day. It was about a 2 mile walk to the river. Once we got there, we found a place on the rocks along the water and began washing. We washed, and washed, and washed, and washed....Then they laid some of the clothes out to dry on the grass and continued washing again. At one point we stopped and ate some bread for lunch, then continued washing again. Yes, I stood in the river for probably about 4 hours and washed clothes. It was hard work, but standing in the water kept you nice and cool. I wish I had a picture of me in the river washing, but I was the only one who could use my camera. When all the clothes were clean we gathered them up and walked back to the house. Once back at the house we hung up the wet clothes on the line. At bed time, I felt very good and tired and slept well. I was glad I had pushed through the night before and hung on.

Friday was much like Wednesday. We just were around the house and visited. I attempted to make Shema, which was fun. I discovered that it is a lot harder to do than the women make it look. The stuff is actually really hard to stir.

Saturday was again much like Friday, but I did try a few more new things. I carried water on my head, which was really a lot of fun. It was the one thing I did that I thought was not nearly as hard as it looked. Once the bucket was up there, it really was easier to carry than it would have been in my arms. These African women are on to something!! I also tried pounding corn and that was the biggest workout ever. My arms are still sore actually. I came away with a new appreciation for how hard these women work. They are physically as strong as the men and sometimes even stronger I think. They can carry a lot of weight on their heads, and can do so much that I could never do. And they start doing it at 4,5,6 years old; they grow up doing it.

Saturday evening, we went for a walk around Mapuje and I saw the school. Then we walked back to the house a different way. From my walk, I could tell that the family I was staying with was more well off than some of the other families. The family I was with has everything they need, and even some extras. They have a nicer house, beds, lots of chickens, 4 buildings (house, kitchen, storeroom, and bathroom), etc. Other homes simply were homes, and many were in states of disrepair.

And this morning Tim and Michele picked me up on the way to the church were Tim preached the sermon. All in all it was a great experience. I think it's the best thing I have ever done and I will not come away from it unchanged. It would be impossible not to be hugely impacted by it. It will take me some time to sit and think through and process it all though. One thing I learned is that people are people. There are cultural differences, yes; but human beings are more alike than I ever realized.

That's the jist of my 4 days living in a home with an African family. If you want to hear more you'll just have to ask me :)