Kooshoo kooroo!

Spelled phonetically...that means THANK YOU in Makua.  And that is what I want to say to you all.  Thank you for supporting us, praying for us and giving Mike and me the opportunity to make this trip to the island.  After right at 48 hours of travel to return home, 6 loads of very dirty laundry, piles of mail to dig through and a very needed grand baby visit, I already headed back to Dallas to work a Tokyo trip...yawn....and write this as I am returning home from that.  We felt blessed to return in time to worship with our Auburn church and have a chance to share lunch and stories of adventures with some of our dear friends.  

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!  

Aprons and Invites

Most of you know that my "job" during this trip was to make curtains for the Schmidt's home.  I enjoyed the work and the time spent with Lynne as we worked together...talking and listening to music from every genre and artist imaginable.  It was a relief to have the curtains hung...seeing them fall evenly and fit the windows.  Whew!  

Notice the café/half curtains in the kitchen....this is an example of why curtains are needed.  The picture does not show the dozen or so neighborhood kids with their noses pressed to the window looking in!  Hopefully the novelty will wear off.  But in the meantime, other windows are covered so that there will be a certain amount of privacy!  Pictures are showing you the living room and part of the kitchen.  We were also able to complete bedroom curtains and sheers, bathroom curtains and also ones for both of their son's bedrooms!  

But my sewing skills drew other attention!  When Mike had lived on the island for 2 months in the summer of 2011, a local lady, Fatima, had cooked lunches for Mike and his team of workers.  Fatima's husband, Hafiz, is one of the island's Muslim clerics...a very influential position.  Hafiz has played a large role in Rodger and Lynne moving to the island.  While of different beliefs, Hafiz cares so much for the young people on the island that he desires the economic possibilities that the Schmidt's will bring. Mike had shared about this couple so along with gifts for some of his special workers/friends...I had wanted to being gifts for Hafiz and Fatima too.   On Thursday afternoon, I finally had a chance to give Fatima her apron.  I had even embroidered it with her name.  Within two hours, she is back at the house with Hafiz.  He came not to thank us for his gift (an In 'N Out Burger t-shirt which he did love) but to talk to me about the apron.  It seems that their 2nd oldest daughter wants to go into design/sewing as a profession.  He was there to ask me to please come back to the island to not only teach his daughter but also other young ladies how to sew.  There is beautiful fabric available there that could be used for many things and that could create business and income for these young ladies as they learn to make different items from the capalana fabric.  

My mind is already churning with what this teaching would look like, what items could be made, what things we would need for them to be successful and have the tools they need.  The "Martha" in me got very excited.  I know we are looking at at least a year or more before this can happen.  Please pray for us to be open to the correct timing for such thing to happen.  Pray for others that would want to join me there.  It would probably need to be a longer term stay to be effective and get all of the things taught to the young girls.  Pray for what this could mean in their lives and for the relationships that we can develop.  I don't want to jump ahead of when this should be done but be open to the proper timing.  But I am so excited to see a way I can use my skills and talents to further the work the Schmidt's will be doing on the island.  

Oasis

Oasis:  1.  A small fertile or green area in a desert region, usually having a spring or well.  2. Something serving as a refuge, relief, or pleasant change from what is usual, annoying, difficult, etc.

Because Rodger and Lynne's house is not yet ready for move in, we have all been staying in a lovely small hotel/guest house called Escododiño.  I believe in Portuguese it means something like "a little resting place".  It has truly been our oasis.  It has old world charm, beautiful grounds and a lovely pool. Lynne and I have been doubly blessed with this oasis since while the guys have been working to make sense out of the chaos at their house, we have been doing our sewing projects here. 

But it makes me think about what their life is going to be like here. We plan to move them in on Thursday.  I know it will still be chaotic.  They have chosen to live on the part of the island called Makuti town. (Makuti means thatch...what most of the roofs are made from). Most Europeans or non-natives choose to live on the northern 1/3 of the island called Stone town.  Maybe 3 to 4 thousand people inhabit this section.  (Realize the island is about 2 miles long and maybe 3/4 mile across.) The remaining 16,000 or so people live in Makuti town.  This is where the Schmidts home is located.  They have a beautiful view of the ocean on one side, two different cemeteries on two other sides and the closest neighbor is a thatched roof hut where they cook over charcoal and pound grain to make their flour. Little children are running around everywhere. Many of the youngest run around naked. It has another world, National Geographic feel to it.  Life here will be difficult. Just getting things like toothpaste, shampoo, basic groceries could take a several hour trip to the mainland. Life here is loud and public. Every move they make will be scrutinized. 

Where will be their oasis?   It will be in each other.  In the little successes of changed lives and growing relationships.  In visits from their boys between school terms.  But most of all it will be in our " friend".

Please pray for them on an on-going basis.  They will be doing what very few of us would even consider doing.  Living in a barren, foreign land where there is incredible need, incredible poverty.....incredible dirt, incredible mosquitos....but incredible people.  Pray for seeds to be planted, watered and nurtured that they may grow into a green oasis on this island.  

Matricula

Matricula:  on Wednesday the men went to Nampula to get needed supplies for the construction.  Since they would be returning late, Lynne and I left before dark to go get dinner.  On the walk back from the restaurant, Leena (as she is called here) talked with a young man she had met on the street the day before.  As he walked back with us, he told Leena that he should have been in 9th grade this last year but had not had the "matricula"....school fee....for the year.  As with most people on the street, he was asking for something from the "wealthy tourist". But Rodger and Lynne know that once you make a handout to one, you will be a target of all. Many of you have known me through the trips I have made to Brazil or even been there with me.  There are some kids that just get to your heart and become something special to you....my Tevas or my Brazilian "daughter" Letitia. Lynne had that feeling about this boy.  She told the young man that she could not make this kind of decision without talking it over with Rodger.  She told him that he must come and talk to Rogerio "man to man".  He needed to come back the next morning to our guest house by 7 am to see Rodger or go to the house around 8 am.  He did show up the next morning asking for Leena.  No...he must go talk to Rodger ....again, man to man.  And we were proud to find out he did.  He ended up helping with some grout work in the kitchen and then raking in the yard.  And earned his matricula!  The amount....around $10 US which would allow him to go to school this coming year seems so little to us.  But he can be proud to have earned it and not just gotten a handout.  Rodger asked him to later bring him the registration paper for school and then to show him a good report card during the year.  We can hope he does so and proves worthy of what Lynne saw in him.  

On the road to Ilha...day 4

Our final travel day was finally here!  I mean...no more searching for hotel rooms in the wilderness, hopefully I had learned how to humor police in order to keep Rodger out of jail and the rebels and all the fighting was several hours behind us.

We drove for an hour or so, filled up with gas and headed across the Zambezi river!

For the most part the last day was uneventfull....well up to the last few hours.

We actually made it through all the police stops...we lost count of how many.  As we got closer to Nampula, the road construction forced us to drive on several sections of dirt roads.  We really needed a rest stop, and since we are men...well, we were surrounded by numerous locations from which to choose.  

At this point I do need to add one comment about day 2 and it has to do with "potty stops".  

About 30 or 40 minutes prior to our losing the tire off the trailer and while we were in rebel territory, Mother Nature called my name loud and clear.  In fact, good ole Mother Nature began to scream my name so loud...we had to stop immediately!  I did not get more than 15 feet off the road when I knew I had no choice but to stop, drop and...I am sure you get the picture.  Fortunately there wer only 4 vehicles on the road besides us and we had passed all 4, so my close proximity to the road was of no great concern.   That is except for the fact that this was not going to be a quick stop.  Three of the vehicles, all big trucks, caught up to us and passed us by and finally a Toyota that was having a difficult time of going faster than 4 mph even managed to pass us.  I can still see the woman on the passenger  side of the car holding up her hand beside her face so she could not see me!  

Anyway, back to day 4.  We made our stop and as Rodger walked by the trailer he glanced down at the tires.  The tread on both brand new tires was almost scrubbed off!  We drove another 1 1/2 hours until we got to Nampula to fill up with gas for our last 2 1/2 hour drive, which ended up lasting 5 1/2 hours.

The tire on the left side of the trailer was now showing the steel belt of the tire.  We tried to find a tire shop, but no luck at 5 p.m. on a Sunday night.  

We had one good spare so we changed to worse tire only to now discover the lug nuts had not been fully tightened and that is why the tire wore so rapidly.  We tightened the lug nuts and we were off...for about 10 minutes.   BOOM...our one good tire blew out and bent the fender of the trailer.

God really was looking out for us.  As soon as Rodger got the van and trailer stopped on the shoulder, we were surrounded by 20 kids all wanting to see what we were going to do.  One young boy got us a BIG hammer and Rodger was able to pound the fender away from the tire. Someone else found us a big piece of wood to put between the jack and the trailer to lift it high enough.  

We the discovered the "other" problem.  The nut holding the hub to the wheel had not been sufficiently tightened and that wobble was enough to ruin the tire.  How we made it as far as we did was only by God's protection.

We put the old tire back on and drove the the last 2 hours between 40 and 50 kmh to try and save the tire and limp in to Ilha.   The last 45 minutes of the drive I watched sparks fly off the tire as the steel belt continued to hit the pavement.

Finally at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday night we made to Hotel Escondinho on Ilha de Mocambique!

On the road to Ilha....day 3

After a good breakfast...we left at 7:00 a.m.

This is pretty much what we faced all day, although some sections were better than others. 

The police have traffic control stop points in all sorts of places.  Most are consistently in the same spot at a guard house or under a shade tree.  Today, our second stop was under a shade tree.

When we come to a stop, I always pull up behind the trailer and wait.  Rodger talks to the police and explains he is moving to Ilha and I am there to help...but I don't speak Portugese.

Today a young soldier came to my window with his AK-47 slung on his shoulder and asked me a question.  I looked at him and said, "No Portugese, only Engish".  He smiled and said, "That's OK, I speak English". He wanted to know where I was gong and why and then asked if I could give him money or something to drink.   He saw the Coke cans and wanted one of those, so I hopped out and got a cold Coke from the back of the truck, which seemed to do the trick.

When he walked back to the bench that he, a young female police officer and an older male officer were sitting on, I knew something was wrong.

Rodger was involved in an animated discussion with the 2 police officers and in a couple of moments walked back to the truck I was driving.  He asked for some paperwork for the truck and the calmly told me he was probably going to jail until Monday.  Since this was Saturday afternoon, I was looking at a loooong wait.

The young female police officer did not like Rodger's Colorado license.  His international license was being sent to him, but he had been assured by other officers that this was OK.  This was NOT OK with this young woman, and she was writing up a citation that had to be paid right then back at the police station.

The male officer had other thoughts.  He did not like Rodger in the least little bit and had decided that Rodger had not properly respected the officer's authority.  He was going to write up a report and Rodger was gong to jail until Monday.  He left to go get his Dell Laptop to write his report.

Anyway, we changed car keys and Rodger took off for the police station to pay his fine and, of course, left me on the side of the road with the van in the middle of Mozambique.  I started talking to the soldier and the nice police lady.

The male officer returned to the check point with his laptop and when he got out of the car asked me where the other driver was.  I was all, "no Portugese, only English", only to find out he spoke very good English.  After a quick explanation, he calmed down and wanted to know if I was also from Maputo.  I told him no, "I'm from California".   He looked at me and asked, "California"?  What's it like in California"?

I have to stop here and let you know I had really been praying.  Rodger and I both felt we were under attack from the enemy, and I was praying that the Holy Spirit would soften this man's heart.

Well, we stated talking about California and what it was like and he was explaining to me about him being a traffic officer and just as I was explaining about our Highway Patrol, Rodger get back on the scene,

Rodger approached the police officer  and showed him the receipt from having paid his fine and then stood politely and humbly before the officer.  The officer was sitting I his chair and then reached over and got Rodger's license and residence card.  He held them in his hands and looked up at me and said "Let me tell you about your friend".  At this point I couldn't claim I did not know Rodger, so I leaned down to listen to what he had to say.

He explained that the Colorado license was not valid by itself and Rodger needed 1 of 3 other types of license.  I nodded by head and said I understood.  He then went on to say that in all of their "talks", Rodger had called the female officer and him thieves and this was an insult to their authority.  Of course, Rodger did not call them thieves.  I, on the other hand, looked at officer very sincerely and nodded my head up and down and said that I understood. 

The officer then handed Rodger's ID's back to him and said he had decided not to send Rodger to jail and that we could go.  Rodger thanked him and we walked to the van to exchange keys and decide where to stop very shortly so Rodger could collect himself.  I took my keys and walked past the trailer and I was going to go straight to my truck without saying goodbye to the nice police officers and young soldier.  But I just had to stop....

I walked up to the male officer and shook his hand and thanked him. 

Then I invited him to come visit me in California!

After the officers, the soldier and I laughed, the officer wanted to know my email address, so I nodded my head politely and gave it to him.   I have not heard for him yet, but I am sure I will.

We drove for another 4 hours and finally pulled off the road for the night to an unbelievable oasis in the middle of nowhere.

After a restful night....we were ready for day 4.. 

Curtains!

Curtains!  Most of you know that was my "job" for this trip...to make curtains so Rodger and Lynne could move in their house and have a sanctuary away from eyes that watch every move of the strange new people moving in!  below see picture of the completed kitchen curtains and one panel of the bedroom curtains.  Progress has been slower than we would like.  However there are so many praises in the midst of this.  

The sewing machine was donated by wonderful friends of the Schmidts from So. Africa.  (That frees up some of my support funds for other needs). The fabric was picked out also in So. Africa and they just estimated what would be needed.....not even having exact measurements for the windows.  And the expenditure for that was much less than budgeted and we will have plenty of extra fabric for other   

uses.  Then, if you saw the house and all the projects going on there (plumbing, carpentry, floor stripping, staining and sealing, among lots of others).....we had no idea of how we could work there.  But the guest house where we are staying was gracious enough to let us use their conference room with huge tables and plenty of room to work.  Lynne and I have had quality time and wonderful talks while working together on this.  I feel so blessed by her friendship.  Hopefully the kitchen curtains can go up tomorrow.  And we will begin on the living room and bathroom ones.  Don't worry...I will post completed pictures of them all hung by the time we leave next week.

The guys are also progressing slowly on the house.  Today they traveled to Nampula to buy more supplies.  Please pray for their continued strength.  Also for Mike Hagar who is not feeling well....some kind of respiratory thing that has him really wiped out.  

You will enjoy reading Mike's stories of their drive here.  That brings up another huge praise.  We don't know whether it has hit the news there but there has been political unrest between two government parties here that has progressed to riots and shooting.  This happened in the area where Mike and Rodger had their trailer axle break during their drive.  The UN is now telling any non-Mozambiquans to avoid the area completely. What a blessing our guys were there several days before this happened and made it through.  

Any way...the weather is hot but the breeze comes up by late day which helps cool things down.  The electricity and the Internet has been sporadic.  But the food is wonderful. Lots of crustaceans! 😄

More soon.  Thanks for your prayers and support.  

Love, Diane