Mud Pies

I am going to miss my friend Philipe.  While waiting for villagers to arrive for a training session I played  a little soccer with him.  His ball made out of tattered shopping bags held up relatively well.  I felt bad when his father sternly scolded him for not attending school that day.  Evidently  our game became so intense he forgot to go to school.  His father told him if he wasnt able to go to school he would not be able to play and made him come sit on the porch of the family home.

The act of mimicking the preparation of food appears to be universal.  This young girl was busy making the best mud pies in Nhamatanda.  Her mother was busy frying some type of dough balls that looked like hush puppies so she could sell them. Mozambique is making progress.  Individuals are starting small businesses from making and selling food, selling fruits and vegetables, making consumer items like furniture, bricks, sifters and many other items.

These are the items that the mother of the girl making mudpies was frying.

This man has taken bamboo and cut it into thin pieces and will weave it into the bowl held below.  This instrument is used to separate the chaff from rice and corn.  The finished product will sell for just over $1.00 in US funds.

The above 2 pictures are of a brick making process.  This entrepenuer has hired a few boys to apply the outside mud coating before firing the bricks.  The bricks were made on site from the clay soil.  Wood is placed beneath the bricks and will "fire" the bricks. They are stacked in such a way for the heat to move through collumns in the stack.  There are 12,000 bricks which will sell for 1 metical each.  This is approximately 11 cents per brick.  When these are all sold it will give the owner enough money to buy a motorcycle which will be a huge sign of success in the community.  It is going to be hard to leave Africa. Our training is over.  I will train the staff one more time Monday morning before my flight leaves for home.  I do miss my family and look forward to returning to Arizona.  There is still much work to be done and we will be doing another revision to the Health Booklet.  We learned so much by teaching the people.  I learned more than I taught.  I also gained a greater love for these wonderful people in Mozambique.  If you have any desire to help dont hesitate to contact Care for Life on their website careforlife.org