Doing well in Mozambique!

Mozambique

We had a great visit with the Schnabel Foundation and World Relief who are working together in Mukhotwene, Mozambique. The Schnabels are friends of ours from Massillon, Ohio who started their own foundation to do aide work in Africa and partnered with World Relief on the Village Transformation Project. They are doing incredible work in a small rural village. Together with the village they are following the World Relief HEART model, Health, Education, Agriculture, Religion, and Trade. They have a holistic approach for rural development and we were honored to be asked to be a part of their team. We met them in Maputo and spent a week in Mukhotwene. This was a great Rosemark stop. We were a part of the dedication of new water sources. This community lost 37 people last year who were attacked by crocodiles while fetching water or doing laundry at the river. The solar powered water pumps in the village were a much appreciated asset for life. We also witnessed the celebration of new goats and chicken businesses, a new tractor, and breaking ground on a new school block that will add two grade levels to the village education. We also assessed the existing health care system with plans of building and staffing a new structure. This is all the work of the Schnabel Foundation with the help of World Relief as their on the ground coordinators and contacts.

Schnable Foundation and World Relief Team

Lesa and Bob Schnable with orphaned goat business owner.
Danny and Abel, World Relief translator and patient discussing health care.

Good news! Everyone had Danny go shopping in their suitcases before they left so he has new luggage and a full wardrobe again! He has upgraded in style and his medical supplies have been replaced! We are very thankful to all who donated!

After the Schnabels left we travel north 300 miles to the Chicuque United Methodist Rural Hospital. The hospital and guest house overlook the Indian Ocean. An amazing location for UMVIM teams! We spent four days visiting with the hospital administrator and a General Board of Global Ministry missionary couples. The GBGM couple is from Brazil, Claudia and Eduardo who are just beginning work here. Eduardo is one two doctors at this 280 bed, very busy, and successful hospital. Claudia is a biologist who will begin work on Community Based Health Care at the new Center of Hope here in Chicuque. We also spent some time at the Cambini Mission Site, also a UMC facility. In Cambini the second missionary couple is from Germany, Claudia, a nurse and Thomas, a German United Methodist Pastor working at the theological seminary. We spent a day with them touring the mission site including; clinic, orphanage, vocational school, seminary, church, primary and secondary schools, and agriculture training with animals and gardens. This is a very impressive facility.

Thomas and Claudia Guenther from Germany.

Update

We had a bit of a hard day yesterday. Very disappointing when Danny's luggage was not at the airport, I was sick with a cold and cough, a long loud music bus ride, no extra kwatcha for breakfast as we were making our way out of the country and only had enough kwatcha for transport. Africa won yesterday!

We had an easy border crossing however and we are now in Mozambique. A day at the market replaced much of what Danny had lost in his bag. Danny has always said, You can't get too attached to your stuff, now he is having to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. He keeps "quoting" the scripture where Jesus talks about going forth without your stuff. For more information read Mark 6:6b-12.

We are in hot Africa again. Meeting up with some friends in Mozambique to work in a village with them on some projects they have started. Danny is hoping to raid some of their clothes before they leave! They are bringing some of the medical equipment that he lost, stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, and otoscope so he will be back in business. I am feeling better too and glad to still be in Africa!

Rosemark Zimbabwe

After waiting on the border keeping an eye on the political and security situation in Zimbabwe we finally took the plunge and flew to Harare to see how the Zimbabwe and East Ohio Annual Conferences could partner in ministry. We met and toured with the East Ohio Annual Conference team of Rev. Russ Ham, Rev. Howard Pippin, and Kay Panovec who were sent to learn more about the establishment of classrooms in Zimbabwe. We were wonderfully hosted by Rev. Lloyd Nyarota who is the Area Projects and Communications Coordinator for the Zimbabwe Annual Conference. We witnessed schools, Home of Hope, a ministry which cares for orphans by supporting them in their village or extended family, new church starts, Africa University, worship, and the property in the Kensington area where the Emsizini School is to be built. We stayed in people's homes as well as in hotels. We shared many meals with pastors, laity, and Conference leadership. Danny and Kathy learned much about how the global UMC works.

Pray for Zimbabwe and their elections at the end of June. The economy is in shambles with a million percent inflation; which means that flour could cost one price today and tomorrow it would be doubled and your salary remains the same. A newspaper costs 200 million Zimbabwe dollars, but the price changes daily! We carried our own fuel in huge containers because it is difficult to find full gas stations on the road. The people we met do what they can to survive, are peaceful, and hopeful. Bishop Nhiwatiwa preached to a large congregation about keeping peace, dialoguing with people who have different opinions, and telling people he expected that they would not be violent. He reminded people of the global situation with people in China who are in greater need than they are. It was really an amazing service.

The money situation in Zimbabwe, we were billionaires for a week!

We are now onto Malawi where we are visiting with a malaria study connection here with Michigan State University. Next week we will be meeting with folks from Ohio who have a project with World Relief International in Mozambique. Right now we are waiting on Danny's lost luggage to reappear from our flight out of Harare to Lilongwe!

Travel to Victoria Falls in Livingstone, Zambia

This has been a month of travel; some hard, some not so hard! One of our goals for this year is learning how to travel in Africa. I think we have covered just about every mode of transportation there is, boda boda a.k.a. moto-taxis, charter bus, ferry boat, dugout canoe, train, minivan, taxi, and walking. We have learned, tolerated, enjoyed, and experienced much. We are on our way to meet three people from the East Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe on May 27th . . . God willing! We are currently in Livingstone, Zambia resting from travel. We went to Victoria Falls today, what an incredible natural wonder of the world! We will wait to hear from the Ohio team about their arrival next week and then arrange bus travel to Zimbabwe. Please keep in Zimbabwe in your prayers. We will let you know how it goes in our next blog!

New Links

Hello! On the left you will find some new links that Kathy and Danny wanted you to be introduced to. Please feel free to check out the Enfuzi Community Campsite, the non-profit Edirisa and the Nukurub Orphans websites.

Rwanda

We spent 2 days in Rwanda being impressed with the progress they have made since the genocide of 1994 and past division of Hutu and Tutsi people. As we drove into Kigali from the Ugandan border, a 2 hour drive we were awed by the green vegetation around us all up and down the mountains of Rwanda. It was a truly beautiful drive. We spent the first afternoon walking the hills and looking for Hotel des Milles Collines, means Hotel of 1,000 Hill the hotel from the movie Hotel Rwanda. It is back up and running and located right in the middle of the city.

The second day we headed to the Genocide Memorial Museum. What a great place in terms of dealing with their reality and educating people. We were shown the outside grounds by a tour guide. There are over 250,000 people buried in mass graves on the site. They are surrounded by many beautiful gardens and fountains. A flame burns for all of April through June every year in memory of the genocide that happened in those 3 months in 1994 when most of the killings took place. We then went inside to read about the history of Rwanda and how and why the genocide happened. There was a room with bones and skulls on display that we did not go in, and all throughout there were video segments of survivors sharing some of their experiences of the genocide. There were good stories of how moderate sympathetic Hutus hid and saved Tutsi's. The second floor was divided into 2 parts, one was all children which was really hard to read and see, and the other was about genocide in general and about other countries and their past history with genocide. I am embarrassed to say that I did not know many details about some, Cambodia, Romania, Namibia, and even details about Croatia. It was embarrassing to read how the church failed the Rwandans and genocide victims of the past, going along with the killings, even encouraging them. In the evening we went back to listen to a survivor tell his story of life before, during, and after the genocide and then watch the movie Shooting Dogs by the BBC. One of the statements that stand out for both Danny and I from the survivors about those people that were lost in the genocide was, "They should still be here." Our devotion for that day was about every person here is important. How true for what the day held for us. We are both so glad that we went through Rwanda and witness their past and their healing!