FPP=Family Preservation Program

Walking through a village that is participating in the Family Preservation Program it's hard to miss all the improvements they are making.  Good hygiene, mosquito nets, latrines and clean water are all things they work on to improve their living conditions.  Most of the homes have gardens and they are taught the importance of eating a balanced diet including fruits and vegetables.

 Here is a man making screens for his windows.

Posted by Margie English

Backpack, backpack

The children's club is part of the Family Preservation Program.  Each year our volunteers attend the children's club to teach them vocational skills.  This year one of the skills we taught was to make backpacks.  The kids LOVED this.  It was a difficult assignment but once completed the smiles were all the payment we needed. 

Posted by Margie English

Dondo

Dondo?  African bird? food?  Nope, Dondo is another orphanage we visit every year.  In 2007 the Care For Life volunteers built bunk-beds and supplied mattresses for them.  In 2009 we painted the entire outside of the orphanage and tried to repair their leaking roof.  The roof was just too damaged though and even with the repairs, during the rainy season the water just poured in.  This year when we arrived at Dondo the children were not there.  The government shut down Dondo because the water leak was interfering with the electric wires and posed a huge safety risk.  We were told the roof needs to be replaced and that the 35 children were all moved to different orphanages or sent to live with family members that live in very poor conditions.  We were all so upset by this news that the volunteers vowed to return home and raise the needed money to replace the roof.  I was so proud of them as I listened to them discuss ways they would raise the much needed funds to help out this orphanage.
Posted by Margie English

One of our favorite places

Kedesh is one of the orphanages we visit.  It is all boys and is run by an American man named John.

Each year John invites us over for a pot luck dinner.  This year we took sweet and sour meatballs.  They disappeared fast.  Then in the evening we gather and dance and sing.  His boys being the main attraction.  A couple of the boys played guitars and sang.  It's a lot of fun for all of us. Here are a few pictures of his place.    Where they prepare their meals and do their dishes.

The volunteers love going to Kedesh.  They play volleyball, soccer and occasionally have a water fight.

 

Posted by Margie English

Work Hard Play Hard

The last few days have been awesome.  We have taken off our work gloves and had some fun.  On Friday we went to a restaurant, called Biques, that had outdoor seating on the beach.  On the menu it said, "please plan on 45 minutes for us to prepare your meal."  So after we ordered we went for a walk on the beach. 

Saturday we made foil dinner.  We invited 8 of our Mozambican friends and went to the beach.  When we arrived it was so dark we used our flashlights to find our way.  We could hear the ocean but we could not see it.  Once we got settled someone said, "Look is that the moon?"  As we searched the horizon there was a red moon barely starting to come up.  We watched as it made it's way up into the stars that were just incredible.  One of the volunteers brought glow sticks and the Mozambicans had fun with them.  Never seeing anything that lights up with a simple break.

 Our Mozambican friends told us they had never eaten dinner on the beach.  What great memories we made.  Love, love, loved it.!!!

Another Great Day!!

We had another awesome day full of life changing experiences.  On the way home I heard one volunteer say, "It just keeps getting better and better".  Another one said, "I feel like a million bucks right now".  
Unfortunately some of our experiences are not that positive.  For example at the baby orphanage one of our volunteers was holding a baby she had fallen in love with.  It looked to be about 6 months old but it had a full set of teeth.  Then we were informed the baby was more than a year old and was HIV positive.  Ever so slowly tears started flowing down my poor volunteers cheeks as she cradled that tiny infant in her arms.  I felt sad for the baby but my tears were for these young volunteers who are slowly realizing that life here in Mozambique is not always fair.

Then it was on to a village called Mafarina.  We were to teach sewing to the older kids there.   And teach we did!!  After a couple hours we had 50 kids happily showing off their new back packs.

This is quite an accomplishment for both the volunteers and the kids of the village.  It takes a lot of patients to teach such a complicated pattern especially when you don't speak the same language.  Even our Portuguese speakers get frustrated because many of the village kids speak a dialect that no one can understand.  So our hard work paid off.  While several of us were hard at work sewing the other volunteers kept the younger kids busy.  They pulled out the jump ropes.  African children are the best jump ropers ever.  It was amazing to watch them do their thing.

More and more kids kept showing up until there were at least 60-100.  The volunteers got them chanting football cheers.  They would mimic their words exactly.  It was loud and crazy.  It sounded like we were at a football game cheering, "We are the Vikings, the mighty mighty Vikings!!"  It was sooo fun the volunteers had a blast.  They all danced, played chase, sang songs and had an incredible time. It was another great day in Mozambique!!
Posted by Margie English

A day in my life in Mozambique

Days start early and quite around here as the early risers try to shower and get ready quietly while the others sleep.  Once everyone is awake life is full of laughter, singing and music.  I love my team.  

They are working hard, being driven by the love that is automatically captured once you arrive in Mozambique.  After spending our time at the baby orphanage we are off to one of the Villages that participates in the Family Preservation Program.  Our goal is to teach the many, many, many children there some type of vocational training.  Our two projects this year are weaving a small bag that could hold a cell phone. (Not that any of them have a cell phone) But they do love the bags.  They hang them around their necks with such pride.  Every once in a while a few mothers show up and want to do the projects with their kids.  They are not as enthusiastic about getting their picture taken but loved looking at it from my LCD screen.

 The next project we have been teaching the children is sewing.  This year they are hand sewing school back packs.  It's a bit more complicated but once they are completed the children are so excited.  Most of them have to carry their school supplies to school in plastic bags so they absolutely love these.

 And finally the funnest project we make are benches.  This teaches the boys woodworking skills and they come so eager to hammer these benches together.

We don't do all the projects everyday, they are spread throughout the week.  When we get home you may think we would be exhausted, which we are but there is no time to relax.  As soon as diner is over and cleaned up the party starts.  Last night we watched The Lion King and tonight has been filled with games and more music and dancing.  Then it's time to prep for the next day and get ready to make new Mozambican friends tomorrow that will forever be in our hearts.

Posted by Margie English

Care For Life Progress

It's hard to believe that in the Villages that are participating in the Family Preservation Program, diarrhea, cholera, and other preventable health issues have virtually disappeared.  As a result the death rate has decreased.   It's a great feeling as we walk through these communities to know that children are not dying and families have hope for the future.  Having improved water conditions makes it easier for families to sustain good hygiene practices, decreasing the incidence of diseases.  Many people do not have access to wells and travel a great distance to get their water to do their chores.  In some communities their water is supplied from a hole in the ground which leaves their water contaminated and unsuitable to drink.  With Care for Life's help wells are prepared and lines with brick to prevent them from caving in during the rainy season.  This provides the family with clean water for many years to come.  And that, my friend, makes my heart happy.
Posted by Margie English

Baby Orphanage

Where do I start?  How do I even begin to express all that I am feeling after being here in Mozambique for just a few days?  It would be easy to tell you how my team and I went to the baby orphanage yesterday.  It has an official Mozambican name but we call it the baby orphanage.  Why?  Because there are 75 children there under the age of 5.  Room after room of cribs and one big room full of high chairs and little dinning tables.  When we arrived the children squealed with delight and ran to us with arms outstretched.  I picked up one little girl and sang with her although I didn't understand her Portuguese song.  It was something about dancing as the other children were dancing up a storm.  I went to set her down to see if she would like to dance and she grabbed my hair, my glasses, my clothes and clung on and did not want to leave the comfort of my grasp.  As I watched the children dance I recognized a couple of the twins I had cared for in 2009 toddling around with their misshaped heads.  That's what laying in a crib the first year and a half of your life will do to the shape of your head.  They are the cutest little guys and I wanted to pick them up and snuggle with them but my little Rebecca would not budge from my arms.  Once the time had come for us to leave none of the volunteers wanted to go.  I had to remind them we would be back each morning to care for and love these little ones.  So the telling of experiences is easy.  The sharing of feelings is the hard part.  Hard to put into words all the emotions, the love and  the sadness.  One of my volunteers from 2009 wrote down her feelings.  Maybe this can give you some idea of how all this makes us feel.
 Orphan
You run toward me extending your arms to wrap around my body twice, with a smile that reaches me instantly.  You run toward me as though the harder we collide, the less likely we are to part.  You run toward me although someone has run from you.  You run toward me, and I fold my body over you as though I could press all the love that you've missed back into your life with one genuine embrace.  I fold my body around you like a mother who carefully wraps a wounded child.  I fold my body over you and for a moment I am all the shelter you need.  I fold my body over you, and you fold your body into mine.  ~Kellee English

A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS

I am resting comfortably back in the lap of luxury.  I still continue to think of my friends in Mozambique every day.  It is hard to forget.  Jonathan Fischer put together a nice piece of video work that I'll admit I was a little embarrassed by.  I tried to get him to dance and let me take video but he declined.  After watching the spiritual transformation that takes place in these individuals as they sang and danced, I couldn't help but feel jealous and sorry at the same time, for in many cases this is all they had, and the release from the day to day struggle was real.  I crawled out of my 2,000 pound shell and tried to dance.  The people really seemed to get a kick out of seeing a white boy try to dance.  I was surprised to find out from Joao that after I left he visited a village I had danced in a few weeks later and a woman approached him and asked if he would teach her the dance that the Doctor did.  I at least have one follower in Africa.  See what you think!
http://youtu.be/TLE4TNioofY

Margie and her group will be in Beira on Tuesday and off and running on Wednesday.  Stay tuned as she will continue this blog with the great work she and her volunteers will be doing.  If you are interested in sharing some of your talents with the people of Mozambique please contact the good people at
http://careforlife.org/