I started writing a blog entry several times on the return flight but each time deleted what I wrote. No amount of words can really even begin to describe the experiences we had...the sights, tastes, smells, the people...
Mike and I have been involved in many many mission trips over the years. We have experienced working in areas of great poverty and crime. He had tried to prepare me for the island but words can really not describe it adequately. It is such a step back in time. Parts of the island architecture remind me of New Orleans. There is a beauty in the iron trimmed balconies...but it really looks like the war zone it has been. Salt air and poverty have destroyed many of the buildings and they are crumbling into ruin. The Makuti town end of the island where the Schmidt's house is located is a mix of thatch roof huts and simple concrete homes. 
Even as a water pipeline is being brought in by the Chinese and hopefully will be completed by the first of the year, a common site is women or even young children carrying containers of water on their head. (Unfortunately many of the people still won't have the money to bring the water from the pipeline directly to their homes but at least there is a possibility for clean water that will not have to be carried as far.) They have a talent for carrying things on their heads I don't know if I could ever learn. The women usually do this with a baby slung on their backs. One simple length of fabric called a capalana serves as a skirt, a dress, a baby sling, a head wrap....they are beautiful and colorful and simple. They love bright colors. And in the midst of the island poverty, they are surrounded by sparkling blue waters of the Indian Ocean on one side and a beautiful bay on the other. 
Unfortunately the beach area closest to the Schmidt's house is also used often as a toilet. There are people every where...walking, riding small motor bikes, lying outside their homes, sitting on curbs and corners visiting. Fish and seafood are a staple of their diets. Fishing boats that look like something out of Biblical times are seen casting out their nets. People walk in the water when the tide is out looking for sea life that is edible. Also for things that wash up from the many shipwrecks in the area. Many of these things are then made into jewelry. There are some fruit trees on the island...mostly mango and papaya but vegetables are almost non-existent with the exception of manioca...a starchy plant similar to a potato. One local dish is called matapa and is made from the leaves of the manioca plant. It is absolutely delicious. (I will be trying to make it soon although I will have to use collard greens...the closest thing I can get to the manioca leaves!). Rice is a staple of diet and is almost always made with coconut milk. There are children everywhere. They are precious with their dark faces and huge white smiles. 
On Thursday, we were able to move the Schmidt's into their house. Curtains were hung, furniture was unpacked, bathroom work was completed. 
While they still have electrical to be finished, unpacking to do and painting to complete, they were able to spend the first night in their own bed in over a year and a half. Lynne...superwoman that she is...cooked us a delicious meal...amazing in the midst of the chaos. We took time to sit on the dock outside the future hotel property and watched the sunset over the bay.
Then we returned to the house for dinner and great conversation. Rodger and Lynne shared with us about plans for their work there. With all the plans for economic development that could make a huge difference in the lives of many young people....that is unimportant unless these same people get introduced to the Reason life is worth living with lives and behaviors and futures changed. Rodger and Lynne will mainly spend the next year in serious study of the Makua language. While they are fluent in Portuguese, the common language of the local people will be very important to learn. They have 25 acres on the mainland that will be the site for agriculture work/training. 
There is an immediate need to get a thorn bush hedge planted to establish their boundaries and show intent to work the land. They have been given a large number of coconut trees that will get planted. A well on the property has to be improved on. Then in the future, it will be a place to teach conservation gardening and hopefully raise dairy goats for both milk and to teach them to make goat cheese. There is also a property on the island that will be a future site for a small boutique hotel. 
This will give them an opportunity to work with young women on housekeeping and hospitality skills. The immediate plan is to open up a small coffee/pastry shop in a street floor room. Eventually they hope to add pizza to the menu...and we suggest ice cream or gelato too.....but then, we kept coming up with big plans for them! Down the road, they may try to also open a fancier restaurant in the hotel. All of this is a way to help the people with jobs, skills and training....but mostly to build relationships in which to share about things that are much more important.
Will you please be praying for the Schmidt's? Pray for their adjustment to living in a very difficult location. Pray for them to learn Makua quickly and easily. Pray for relationships to be built. Pray for the correct timing for all of these enterprises. Pray for people who will commit to long term stays to help in teaching these job skills....people who will partner with the Schmidt's and have the specific skills needed for different aspects of the businesses. Pray for us as we look down the road at how we can be used there also.
Again....kooshoo kooroo!
