Ngupa1 and Ngupa 2

I missed a post yesterday.  Had a great morning.  Trained the Care for Life staff on infectious diseases.  They were very eagar to learn and expressed a great appreation for the insight they recieved.  In the afternoon evening and all night till 4 am today Joao, Jonothan and I translated the booklet into Portugueese.  I mostly watched.  Today we went to Ngupa 1 and Ngupa 2.  On the way to the village we were waved over by the police.  They wanted to check our papers.  The military was there with their AK-47s and they querried Jonathan, because he spoke fluent Portugueese and wanted to know where he was from.  When he told them he had served a mission in Rio de Janero they were asking him questions as if he were a drug smugler.  They threatened to arrest us because some of us did not have our passports and visas on us. I just sat quietly and said nothing so they ignored me.  This is the first time I have ever been asked for my passport.  We were allowed to leave but were told that if we had 6 people in the truck again they would jail us and confiscate the vehicle. You can put 100 people in the bed of a pickup with them hanging all over the edges but we couldnt have 2 people sitting on a bucket seat in the front.  The Shoppas which are small minivans that are commercial transportation cram 16 people, charcoal bundles, straw bundles, chickens etc and that is common to see.  Both villages today were very receptive and the people have already seen dramatic improvements in their lives as the begin to follow the Family Preservation Program.  Only 1 out of the Ngupa 2 leaders used a latrine before Care for Life and now they all  built and used one.  In each group only one person could read so it is back to revising our health care booklet to more pictures and less words.  The people were like sponges anxious for the information we had for them.  We were greeted and sent off with an enthusiastic traditional singing and dancing expose.  What a reward for what little we do.  Tonight is Joao's famous home made Brazilian pizza, so tchau!

Gorongosa

We had a great opportunity  to go to Gorongosa, a very large national park in mid Mozambique.  This park was decimated during the civil war when soldiers killed most of the animals.  The park is down to 300 elephants, 40 lions, 5 zebras etc.  The park was bursting with life however.  We saw hundreds of baboons, hundreds of bush pigs, scores of monkeys , hundreds of imapalas, and all types of antelopes and the most beautiful birds.  I do not have room to show them.  We did see a large crocodile in the waters in the foreground of the last picture posted and caught a glimpse of an elephant as it walked away from us through the trees.  We were able to drive our car throught the park unaccompanied.  Due to the recent rainy season many of the roads were still closed due to mud but I can surely vouch for the parks nickname "The Lost Eden."  The plains were spectacular as far as you could see with animals all over.  The grass was green and lush.  In the forest it was higher than the car and in many areas impossible to see anything if it was there.  Greg Carr from Idaho  committed $40 million dollars to the park over the next 20 years and was given an exclusive contract to run the park.  It was well worth the drive inland.  The bridge in the top photo was destroyed during the war and rebuilt.  The canyon it crosses is spectacular.  The eagle on the ground with the white head had just caught a large catfish in one of the evaporating ponds and it was so large it could barely get airborne a few feet to get away  from us.  Tomorrow is Sunday and we will be receiving 3 volunteers to help us during the upcoming week.  I look forward to posting next weeks activites.

Where Does the Time Go?

Today is Thursday!  The week is flying by so quickly!  This morning we visited the village of Nhamainga.  This village is nearing the end of it's Care for Life affiliation.  The above to photos show Joao Bueno organizing the village leaders into their zones.  He is amazing how he works with these people.  You can really tell he loves these people and the work of Care for Life.  I again had the opportunity to teach the leaders key points on Malaria prevention.  When I asked who in the group has had malaria they all raised their hands. This seems to be an inescapable disease for these people yet they survive.  The things Care for Life teaches them will help reduce this chance.  Sleeping in mosquito nets is a must.  When I told the group that it is the female mosquito that does all the biting they  got a good laugh. The bottom 2 pictures show many of the children who are also anxious to learn.  They  belong to the Kids Club program and are also taught helpful life saving skills.  The program helps the children during vulnerable years of 8-14 to gain the self esteem to avoid the pitfalls of early sexual activity which is often forced upon them.  It teaches them vocational and life skills and encourages them to delay sexual activity until appropriate to spare them the ravages of HIV.  HIV in the Beira are has been reported to run anywhere from 17-24% of the population.  Our Summer volunteer groups work closely with these younger children.  One such group will be arrriving this summer.  If you would like to know more or possibly participate in a future trip to Mozambique contact Linda or Ruth Anne thru the Care for Life web site at careforlife.org

Video

This link is for video taken on Monday at the Care for Life training meeting.  The people here usually open and close their meetings with a prayer.  It is amazing to listen to their pleadings to God for their blessings and success.  They also like to sing and dance which I must admit is contageous.
http://youtu.be/k0RQk6j1sXc

This next link is from Nhamatanda and again the people followed the same pattern of offering prayer and singing and dancing.  It is amazing how they can be happy with almost nothing.  There are clearly lessons to be learned for us.
http://youtu.be/LRdxVEslqMk

Families and Communities Move Forward

The top three photos represent our visit to Ngupta this morning.  This is a village about 2-3 miles off the main   highway.  This is one of the new villages Care for Life is starting their program.  The spiritual leader of the commuinity in the white shirt was going to make an offering to the deceased ancestors of the village to get their blessing on the upcoming participation in the Care for Life program.  His father was the spiritual leader and recently died so he was a rookie performing the ceremony.  The ladies on the mat with him coached him and helped him complete the ceremony.  He offered rice, bread, chicken, Fanta orange, Beer, and another beverage.  He placed them on banana leaves that had lit candles and incense on each side.  The ceremony was a success which will mean and great partnership with Care for Life Family Preservation Program.
The remaining photos were taken that afternoon in the Village Casa Banana.  This village is just finishing up the Care for Life program.  There was a village celebration to honor their success with the program.  There is always singing and dancing.  The internet is slow here.  I will soon post some video of the dancing and singing.  We were able to compress one and put it on You Tube and I will put the link on my next blog.  In the society here in Africa the women are the strong ones.  They take care of the families, feed and care for the children and do just about everything else.  Rewards were given for those who achieved their goals.  Eighty percent of the families in Casa Banana now have and use well constructed latrines.  They have increased literacy, built tamburas or dish/pot racks and have strengthened and rebuilt many of their homes.  The children have been taught abstinence as a way to prevent HIV.  I was pleased to give the first award of Chairs to a woman who had successfully completed all of her goals.  Many people selected cement.  Hundreds of bags were given to families who completed goals.  The women carried these 50kg bags on top of their heads while carrying a baby (over 110lbs).  Some selected pieces of tin for their roofs.  This village will continue on following and building upon the principles they were taught by  Care for Life making thier lives healthier and happier.

A Great Day

I would like to introduce you to Miguel a collegue in the village of Nhamatanda.  Miguel comes from a long line of spiritual mystics and is a traditional healer (witch doctor).  He brought me into his office and gave me a free consultation. (professional courtesy)  He told me that I had problems in my family and it was due to the fact that I had a bad spirit.  He told me I needed to cut myself in 3 places and then place a certain root on the cuts.  He then told me that he would envelope me in a certain type of smoke.  He said that there were people angry with me and they were out to hurt me.  I gave his wife a free consultation about a her son who sounded like he had malaria.  I was priviliged to teach the village the importance of building and using latrines to help prevent the spread of disease.  I previewed the Care for Life health booklet we are developing and encouraged them to try to accomplish all the goals they set with Care for Life to improve the lives of their families and the community.  I had the oportunity to award some of the members of the community a mosquito net and a waterer for accomplishing their goals with the Care for Life program.  I made a friend with Philiip.  He was playing football (soccer) with a small ball made out of scraps of plastic grocery bags.  I was doing a little scouting for the Diamondbacks and taught the boys to throw and catch the ball instead of kicking it with their feet .  They enjoyed catching the high balls I threw in the air.  They seldom missed the ball.  On the way back we bought vegetables and fruit from the roadside market and stopped at the river to buy some shrimp.  We paid 450 metacai ($15 US) for 2 laundry tubs of fresh prawns and believe it or not the 4 of us ate them all when we got back. Jonathan made a shrimp cream sauce with sweet cream, garlic, and dijon mustard over rice.  Interesting taste.  He got the recipe while living and serving a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Brazil. I can't wait till tomorrow.

The Training Begins

Monday morning started early.  I was up at the crack of dawn.  Since we only had some eggs, Joao scrambled some up for breakfast.  I also had some dried mangos.  We had several presentations on income generation by Jonathan, data entry by Jason.  I gave my health presentation and got some good feedback on local issues that will allow me to alter my  presentation.  We plan on doing some live cooking demonstrations next week to empahsize nutrition. The promoters reported that many families do not plan their meals and infact have nothing to eat.  They head out daily to scavange and find something to eat.  They did not quite understand how teaching them to properly eat would help.

Back in Mozambique

     Jason and Joao fixing faucet in kitchen and Benjamin our guard in front of the Care for Life center.


We arrived in Mozambique this afternoon and overall had a good journey.  The fog in New York was heavy yesterday morning and my flight came all the way down on final approach and then had to go around due to the runway not being visible.  After circling around we landed about 30 minutes later.  My other traveling companions, Jason and Joao were not as fortunate. Their flight originated in Salt Lake City and had to hold due to fog.  When the plane got low on fuel it diverted to Newark New Jersey where they refuled and then successfully arrived at JFK airport.  I boarded the flight for Johannesburg not knowing if they would make it.  They had to hurry but were able to board and we traveled the rest of the way together.  It is always nice on a long triip to be with friends.  We arrived in Manga and our first task was to install a new water purification system since the water even from the city system is not safe to drink.  Joao pulled the top off the faucet and water was spraying all over the kitchen.  There are no water shut offs so we fortuantely had a new one to quickly install and we got they system up and running.  This is critical for the team that will arrive in July.  We also discovered one of the rooms is missing the glass in a window so we will have to get that replaced before the team arrives. The mosquitoes are in full force tonight and I have already provided meals for several.  We are looking forward to jumping in to the fray tomorrow.

Neves several years later

Neves still has eczema but it under much better control.  I make it a point to stop by and see him every trip I make and look forward to seeing him again.  During my visit 2 years ago he was outside playing soccer with the other children.

NEVES

Neves was a young boy I met on my first trip to Mozambique.  He lives in the village Mbatwe which is right next to the airport in Beira.  His mother brought him out to meet our group.  He stayed in the house covered with a cloth to keep the flys off him.  He has severe eczema and his skin weeps and oozes tissue fluid.  The skin is cracked and very uncomfortable.  We went to a near by pharmacy and got soap for cleansing, moisturizer to soothe his skin, an antibiotic to cover infection and topical cortisone cream to reduce the inflammation.  I stopped by to see him 2 weeks later before I left the country.