Real Dream Community Center - Update

Work continues on welcoming children to live in the recently completed dormitory of CCRS. When we left Mozambique, there were several matters outstanding: the windows and doors needed to be installed, and there was uncertaintly about what the government would require in terms of a bathroom and kitchen. We learned after returning to the States that the carpenter that was originally building the windows and doors absconded with Ernesto's funds without completing the project. Ernesto was really heartbroken over this, as were the villagers. The carpenter's family all live in Possulane. However, praise God that Ernesto located another carpenter to finish the work. God provided Ernesto with a job at the Nigerian embassy laying tile (see photo below) in order to have the funds to pay for completion of the doors. During the process of praying for resolution with the carpenter, Ernesto prayed and fasted for several weeks. Pat, Sheri, Greg and Michaela joined him (at Ernesto's request) in fasting and praying for several days. Ernesto is such a walking example that ALL challenges should be met first with prayer!

Doors installed

The bathroom and kitchen situation are also getting resolved. Originally, the plan was to have a bathroom within the building, but the authorities changed their minds after the plans were submitted, determining that the planned facilities were not large enough. We had first thought that this was going to be a major setback. Would we be required to construct permananent stand-alone kitchen and bathroom facilities at significant cost and delay? Ultimately, when Ernesto gave the authorities a tour of the village in Possulane and they saw how the children were living, the authorities made significant accomodations to allow children to begin moving into the dorm. They are going to allow the construction of a bathroom and kitchen out of what are called "local materials". Basically, this means dirt floors, woven mat walls and either a thatched or metal roof. The bathroom will be similar, but with a concrete floor. These will serve temporarily until funds can be raised to build more permanent facilities.

Ernesto had the following to say regarding the recent events: "But I thank God for his goodness and holiness, he has given us a power and strength to pray and fast, thank you all for joining me in this hard work and for your obedience to the word of God he has spoken to us all, the Lord has spoke in some several ways about our ministry CCSR and how to resist and overcome those obstacles, guys God has confirmed that he is really guiding us in all our doing, I pray that you may not be discouraged about the matter of the carpenter, understand that this was the enemy reaction remember what the scriptures say in the book of Job chap 1:6-7-8¬-9-10-11-12 read carefully 20- 21-22. However fasting and prayer has been a meaning to me because is in him where I seek for help psalms 121:1-2-3 I am still in the spirit of prayers every days and nights till it come to pass. I Thank God for sending me his word of sacrifice through prayers and fast, because during the period of sacrifice he has shown his hand by touching the representatives of the government in the social affairs department, and the carpenter’s family they are all moved in their families and the village chiefs."

Another praise: The money has been generously provided to purchase the first 25 beds. Each of the beds comes complete with frame, mattress, sheets, pillow and blanket. We are one step closer to having the children leave behind the streets and the minute by minute struggle for survival, and be welcomed into a place where this is love, learning and hope.

I'll close with another quote from Ernesto: "What will happen next? I am keeping praying and continue trusting in God to work as we have planed knowing that the Lord is guiding, let’s put our dream on action according to our plans. All things are in God’s hand and let’s thank him in everything. "

Our next challenge is to raise the funds to purchase a truck and to develop a business plan for its use. This will be our first effort toward sustainability. Praise God for all He has done and keeps doing.

Update from Ernesto - May 18, 2010

Ernesto emailed yesterday and shared these pictures with us.

The windows have been installed in the dormitory (Pat and I saw them as they were being built). Each window is constructed by hand, using only had tools. Amazing craftsmanship.

























With funds contributed from supporters, Ernesto was able to purchase a cell phone that doubles as a wireless internet connection so that he can send and receive emails from his home instead of having to travel into Maputo and use the internet cafe.































Food, mosquito nets and clothing distributed to the families of Possulane.

We left Ernesto and Seba with a healthy to-do list at the end of our trip. They had additional items to acquire, food and supplies to distribute, bank accounts to open and information to gather. We have anxiously awaited an update from Ernesto and Seba, and it arrived yesterday. I am so encouraged to see the progress they have made, and reminded that the interruptions we take for granted are significantly more impacting in their culture. Turns out Ernesto and his son have been very sick recently, and his sickness kept him in bed, and in pain, for some time. Praise God they are healed.

Instead of editorializing and rewriting Ernesto's letter to us, I have copied it below. Although Ernesto's English is very good, sometimes his choice of words is not precise, so you may have to do a little interpreting. Also, he responds to some questions that Pat and I posed in an earlier email. I am copying it here so that Ernesto's letter makes more sense.

Our letter to Ernesto and Seba:

"Thanks for the information. Pat and I wanted to visit with you briefly to see where you and Ernesto were on the following tasks:

1. Did you get the phones? If so, are both of your phone numbers still the same?
2. How are you emailing me? Are you at the internet café or using the new phone?
3. Did you get Filo a new phone?
4. Did you meet with the welfare ministry? If so, how did that go? What are you going to have to do so that children can start moving in?
5. Did Ernesto get bids for the beds (with mattress, pillow and linens)? If so, how much are they if we buy all 25?
6. Are you tracking the food usage?
7. Did the store room in the building get built? How about the ventilation holes?
8. Have the windows and doors been delivered and installed?
9. Can you send pictures of the ventilation holes and doors and windows?
10. Do you and/or Ernesto have a skype account set up? If so, what is your user name? When can we schedule a time to have a skype call?
11. How did the return of Pastor Adamo's car go? Was he upset by the damages?
12. Did you get a bank account open for CCSR?
13. Did Juliao get patrimony for Leadership Foundation Mozambique?

Ernesto's response:

Hi friends and brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, thank you so very much for your prayers and support, we also thank the Lord for his goodness and love to all of us both you and I. your efforts were very strong my brothers I really appreciate your kindness, and you have been a blessing to our lives, ministry and for our hearts, I appreciate God in you Mr. Albert Pat Pattillo, Mr. Creg Richards and Mrss. Michaela Richards may the God of almighty bless you and your families.

1. Thank you for another computer laptop
2. Thank you for video camera
3. Thank you, for another digital camera
4. Thank you, for tripod
5. Thank you, clothes you brought for me, hay Richard please help me thank your wife for a wonderful dress she offered to my wife we are so happy for it and it is nice, it makes us remember the time we met at the first time. Thank so much we love you and we pray for you and your family.
6. Thank you, for chairs for the church we really cry when we look at those chairs and we just remember your chining faces thank you
7. thank you for the speaker and the micro phone
8. thank you for all the kitchen set, the foods and the mosquito nets
9. Thank for been with us we have learn a lots from brothers and we are read to implement the instructions we got from you.
10. Thank you for taking your time listening to my stories, may God bless you in advance.

I want to apologize for this delay we didn’t forget you brethrens we have been facing some health difficulties; me and my boy Caleb, he had some allergic symptoms his body was crushing, and myself I had some infections of Herpes simplex virus, it is so painful I can tell and it took a quit number of days paining me, we understood that it was enemy attacks but God he is so faithful for me and my family.

But with JESUS I have overcome this and I have victory, my son Caleb is also well by the grace of God, please continue to pray for me and my family, we are also in a spirit of prayers to overcome this obstacles.

So this was the reason of taking long time no communications between us, but now it is well with me, and ready to work. God bless you as you understand.

Going to your questions:

1. Yes we gotten the phones both of us, yeah we still using same numbers.
2. Praise God no more internet café I am using the phone internet in my house office.
3. no I wasn’t able to get Filo’s phone because we had Mets 20.000 in this 12,500 it was to get mine, and 2,500 for seba’s phone and 4,500 for pastor Adam’s car and 500 for airtime.
4. yes we met the welfare ministry two time, first we went to their office to give them the latter they asked for, and second time they came to us to see if we have proceeded with their assignments of ventilators hales, the well cover, and we also negotiate with them about the toilets and the kitchen, so then they agree that we can start with the local material to build both structures, and they advice we must build it and then we can move the kids in once we finish.
5. yes I have gotten the quotation of bids for beds, and the double one is, Mets 7.500 which is $ 235, mattress is Mets 2.800 $ 90.00 blankets Mets 2200 $70, pillows and linens is 1.800, $ 60 Total $ 435 for one ×25= $ 10.875.
6. Yes I’ve tracked the food distribution: we gave to 6 family in which corresponded a total of 16 children. We gave to them 200kg of rice, 55kg of sugar, 50 kg of pin net, 3 kg of tea bags five roses, 2 creeds of condensed milk, 40L, of cooking oil, 25 mosquito nets.
7. The store room in the building is done we been speaking with assirio to come and take the food to there, and look like he is busy. The ventilators holes are also done and fixed.
8. We have received the windows and are fixed we’ll review all pictures, the doors are still in a process of being construed, on next week we will take apart of them and fix.
9. Yes Sir you will be receiving soon!
10. About the skype account we will be working on it soon I Ernesto I had any old one but I need to reactivate, I will let you know within next Wednesday.
11. He was not upset because when I got to him told him first we went to see the mechanic, and I bought some new part of the were spoiled the amount that I paid for labor was Mets 2,900 $ 90, 50 cents.
12. Yes Sir the bank account of CCSR is opened

13. Yes Juliao he has got the patrimony for LFM but I think he is waiting for Certificate, but he is not getting it yet and I don’t when he will be receiving, he and Chris they are working it and we are praying for this progress.
Hay Creg thank you so much my brother for the gift you gave me, I’m talking about the wash it is so nice Creg thank you.

I really appreciate your love Richard the way you are dressing me. May the Lord bless you so much, you are so grateful friend.
The clothes are warming me my brother to innocent in my life I never wearer a nice clothes as this, thank you; because of you I’m look so hansom, and my wife she can smile when she looks at me.

I also thank for the camera and the person that God has used to bless with this camera
This is amazing thing happened on this day you guys brought a big joys and surprises in my life; may the God of all power bless he/her in Jesus name
This camera makes lot of cense in me and the Center.
Put my father in Christ Jesus I didn’t know what was beyond you heart and this your chining face, you have filled me with a lots of emotions my tears were running in my spirit; I had no word to say, it was only this smiling I could offer and say thank you Lord.

This computer is one of the thing that shakes my heart and move my spirit, look even this time I am writing this message my tears are flowing down, since I received this vision from God I never, never met with some people like you guys, I will pray to God for him to strength this relationship to strong.

Thank you put you; the Lord has used you to bring joy in my family, church and ministry; this is building hope of CCSR.

Thank you for the Cell phone it is so great internet Model is my time to rest now no more crossing roads and streets to internet café praise to Jesus and to God be the Glory; as you see on attached pictures I am doing the work at home the cables connected from cell phone to the computer, and everything be came easier for me.

Help me thank all the women of Chicks with Sticks that have take their time sowing those wonderful heats, this it is helps us preventing cold this winter, and the children they are well protected from cold, we are day and night praying for each one of them that the Lord bless them in advance, and increase the knowledge of the works they are doing, and may the glory of God follow them all the days of their lives. Please forward this message to them (James 1:27);

And also to everyone that have contributed for the clothing the children look so beautiful, we thank you so much, please continue to help us with clothes, we thank you and May the Lord bless you.

Once again I am sorry is the sickness that hold me to not move forward; and assistant he able to achieve all in my up sent that’s why I’m doing my best to train him in all thing, I am really sorry I know the time is already gone; but we can still do some thing to cover the time lost.

Any questions suggest you are free; I am now online in the house waiting for your reply.

Your brother in Christ Ernesto Chauque.

Mozambique Trip - 2010 - Days 10 and 11

Day 10 and 11

Every morning at breakfast I would see the gardener sweeping up in the courtyard. He had a quick smile and a very quiet disposition. Noticible was the condition of his shoes, if you could even call them that. They were those old black, bulboused-nosed, combat-boot looking lace-ups remniscent of WWII. They were so torn up and cracked that his feet were very visible within. I felt compelled to try and find him something better. Each time we were in town I looked for some newer boots amongst the multiple street vendors we encountered. I never could find anything acceptable. So, on our last day in Moz, I approached the gardener with my 10 year old hiking boots and a pair of wool socks. The boots were well worn, but still in good shape. Ernesto interpreted for me. I told the gardener that I wanted him to have my boots. He smiled broadly and thanked me profusely. Then, as I was commenting on how worn out his current pair were, another man sidled up beside him, and with a wide smile revealing only two eye teeth, he politely said something to me as he pointed to his shoes. I turned to Ernesto and asked him what the man said. "What about me?", came the translation. I turned back to the man and looked at his shoes. They were even WORSE than the first guy. Out of shoes, I told him "next trip". Like I have said many times, the opportunities here are endless. Even a pair of old hiking boots is a heavenly gift - a miraculous provision.

After packing, we said goodbye to our hostess for the week, Carmen. She seemed to work around the clock. At not quit five feet, she presents herself with this tough, brash, "don't mess with me" exterior. She barks orders to the other employees and is generally serious and pensive. As we were leaving we thanked her profusely for taking such good care of us and gave her a card expressing our gratitude, and a small gift. She walked away with it, not wanting to open it in front of us. We pretty much expected not to get a response from her. Then, to our surprise, she re-appeared 10-15 minutes later, with tears in her eyes, gave us the biggest hugs, and then, without further comment, disappeared again.


We left our hotel, Complexo Touristico de Roger, and headed for the city. We wanted to try and get some gifts to bring home.













Ernesto drove us into downtown Maputo, near the embassies, business buildings and larger hotels, and we walked around and bought a few things. The street scene below was typical of what we encountered. Each of the vendor's was eager to show us their inventory when we were directly in front of their area on the sidewalk. Then, when we would walk beyond their tarp to the next guy, they would respectfully stop selling and allow the next guy to pick up the process. We found some interesting local art, woodworks, and jewelry.

Ernesto went back to get the car and planned to meet us further down the road. When he finally showed up, he had this dis-illusioned look on his face. "It happened again," he said. In the span of a few blocks, another police officer pulled him over and took away his license. This bribe only cost us 500 meticai, or about $15.00.

We arrived at the airport with Ernesto and Seba. It took the better part of 30 minutes to say goodbye. These guys were wonderful hosts, and inspiring friends. As is typical of most short term mission efforts, we gained so much more than we gave. As I write this, almost 6 weeks after the fact, I find that my conversations with Ernesto and Seba continue to inspire me. Their faith encourages me to grow my faith - to trust that God is good, and that no matter what the obstacle, He finds a way. "He will do it!" as Ernesto says.

Three planes and 30+ hours later, we were back in San Antonio. We all made it home safe. As I was unpacking my bags and putting away my luggage, I wondered how long it would take me to "unpack" all that I had seen, heard and experienced over the last 11 days. All I can say now is that I am still unpacking...

More to come...

Mozambique Trip - 2010 - Day 9

Day 9



After a marathon of planning on day 8, we spent the morning today prioritizing the tasks and goals that we had identified. We made a list of things to address within the next 30 days, and then divided those tasks among us. Chief on our list was to improve our communication ability by having Ernesto and Seba purchase a cell phone that could double as a wireless internet access for Ernesto's computer. This would allow him to email / skype us from his home or Possulane, and avoid having to make the arduous trip into Maputo to use the internet cafe. We also tasked he and Seba with getting a bank account set up for CCSR (the community center / orphanage) so that he could track income and expenses related to the center more accurately.

The "to-do" list stretches out over a year and has goals set to accomplish within 90 days, 180 days, 270 days and one year. We fully realize that we must be flexible in our expectations on timing to accomplish much of what we have planned. Things move much slower in Moz. (The bank account mentioned above took 9 days to get open).

We left our hotel and headed for Possulane, where a meeting was planned with the Department of Health and Welfare to discuss completion of the dormitory and foreign adoption of Moz. orphans. We were greated warmly by Adolpho and Anna at the center, and after some brief introductions and comments, we dove into the the subject of adoption. With Seba translating, Adolpho confirmed that foreign adoptions have happened, but that they were infrequent, and would likely be a last resort for the courts. They mentioned that in order to adopt a child from Moz., that child would have to be without any family whatsoever in the country.

Further raising the bar was the requirement that a family would have to live in Moz. for 6 months prior to finalizing the adoption. When asked why, Adopho responded that his department would need to get to know the parents and the children of the adoptive family.

We took the opportunity to tell him that the requirements he was describing were similar to what we had in Texas (Pat and I have both handled several adoptions). He seemed open to the idea of having the Texas authorities coordinate with those in Moz. to conduct home studies in lieu of having the adoptive families live in Moz. for an extended period of time. The lack of depth of understanding of international adoption was quickly apparent. They referred us to the main office in Maputo if we wanted to explore this further. We pointed out to Adopho and Anna that adoption was just one of many ways that we wanted to help the children of Moz.




We next turned our attention to the requirements that were necessary to complete before children could move into the dormitory. Imagine City officials doing a walk-through before giving a certificate of occupancy and you'll get a feel for how this went. They walked through the building and pointed out some obvious and some ridiculous requirements that they wanted addressed. (one being that they wanted cartoon animals painted on a sign out front so that people would know there were kids present). Ernesto, ever confident of his mission, sat there smiling and when we nervously pressed him about how they were going to get it all done, he smiled wide and said, "All these items are negotiable." Add seasoned contractor to his list of talents.

Ernesto drove Adolpho and Anna back to their office in Marracuene and then returned and we held the dedication. Pat and I both spoke about the significance and opportunity of the dormitory, what it represented, and how the Lord saw special significance in the caring for orphans (see James 1:27).

Afterward, the ladies treated us to some traditional Mozambiqan foods - boiled Cassava root, homemade guacamole, boiled peanuts and a fruit called Ata.

The Ata fruit looks kind of like an artichoke on the outisde, but broken open, it reveals this tender, fleshy fruit that surrounds black seeds. There is no easy way to eat this fruit except to stick your face in it, swish the fruit around your mouth and then spit out the seeds. The white fruit is about the consistence of yogurt and tastes similarly.

On our way back to our hotel we drove through the "downtown" area of Marracuene and down to the river. The picture below is of the river basin area and a small neighborhood.

The ferry is the only means of access to a neighboring small island community.

Once back at Turistico Complexo de Roger, we ate our final meal and paid our tab for the week. To our amazement, our entire restaurant tab was about $200.00. That included all meals for Michaela, Pat and I. Seba and Ernesto ate with us as well almost every night, and for one lunch Ernesto's entire family was in attendance.

During dinner, we asked Ernesto to tell us more about how he came to be involved with the Leadership Foundation in Moz. He said that in 2006 he was asked to come to Pretoria, South Africa to speak at a conference. He took a bus 12 hours and showed up with nothing prepared to say. He said he decided to "tell the story of my life." In attendance were Bob Reeverts (of the Denver Leadership Foundation, who helped put the trip together in 2008 when Sheri Pattillo went) and Juliao Mutemba, the Anglican priest that leads the Leadership Foundation in Moz. Interesting how God uses the smallest efforts of obedience to set into motion great works.

One of Michaela's little friends, Nusta, who to me looked like a little pixie. She was ever-present at the orphanage.

Mozambique Trip - 2010 - Day 8

Day 8

The first 5 days of this adventure in Mozambique were about information gathering and getting a sense of the pulse of Marracuene and the village of Possulane. Pat has relentlessly asked questions of everyone we have met - digging in to learn their story, trying to understand their take on life and their circumstances. In a sense, Pat was gathering all the puzzle pieces. Today would be about throwing all those pieces on the table and trying to sort through it and make sense out of it all. The question we all wanted to try and answer was "Now what?" Keeping with the puzzle analogy, the first and most important question we needed to answer was "What is the picture on the front of the box?" If you know what you are trying to create, the task is much easier, right?

As an aside, I must confess that although my family had been invited into this journey from the very beginning, I had in my mind that once the orphanage / community center was done, the work would be fairly complete - that we would just need to focus a little effort and energy on helping them get organized. Wrong. There is so much more opportunity in this village and in this country. So much so that it is difficult to know where to start. The articulated needs of most everyone we talked to involved the basics - food, water, housing, clothing, medical care, and jobs.

So the day began about 7:00 a.m. with me trying to put together an agenda for the day. Sheri Pattillo, the point person for Partners in Ministry's efforts in Mozambique, had requested that we videotape Ernesto and Seba answering questions about the state of affairs in Mozambique. That seemed like a good place to start the day - a recap of all that we had discussed for 5 days. So, we filled over three hours of tapes listening to Ernesto's and Seba's testimony, the history of how their work with the community of Possulane began, their roles in the work and the elements of their typical day. We then talked about education in Possulane and the challenges the kids face in getting into school and being able to stay there. The conversation then shifted to health and medical needs, food and housing.













Once the taping was complete, the four of us (Pat, Ernesto, Seba and I) pulled chairs to the table and began to strategize. We decided to stay at the hotel for the day, as it afforded us some nice surroundings in which we could have our discussion and a restaurant to feed us. The pictures below are of the pavillion where we spent the day.

























Pat and I came to the table with similar attitudes. We both wanted to help and contribute to Ernesto's, Seba's and Filo's efforts in Marracuene and Possulane. We saw ourselves as "interested consultants" so to speak. As I opened my mouth to begin the "consulting", Ernesto, somehow sensing this "consultant mindset" pre-empted me and looked at both Pat and I as though he was looking at us from his heart. He said this work is "our work. You, Michaela, Pat and Mama Sheri (as he called Sheri Pattillo) are our partners in this work." The invitation to take ownership in this effort was unequivocal.

We then turned our attention to identifying "the picture on the box." It is worth mentioning that planning is not a natural response for most of the people of Mozambique. They are mostly reactive in their thinking, and the reactive thoughts and behaviors are born mostly out of the need to just survive. We spent some time discussing the value of planning and looking a long way down the road instead of at just the next step. Fortunately, both Ernesto and Seba were starving for a plan. Their heart's desire was to "teach the people how to fish" - to give the people of Marracuene and Possulane the ability to feed, cloth, educate and house themselves. We worked our way through the process of coming up with a short, focused statement that would describe where we wanted to go - a mission statement. Or, for our purposes, the picture on the box. After much discussion and multiple revisions, this is what we came up with. CCSR (Real Dream Community Center) exists to be a beacon of Christ's love to children and families in darkness, seeking to meet their immediate and long term physical needs in a sustainable fashion, and giving them the light of Chris to carry as they go. Each word was carefully chosen, and represents a specific part of the "picture" that we all see.
























The rest of the day was spent making the initial effort to identify the corners of the puzzle - those foundational things that needed to be accomplished first in order to realize the vision. We listed our goals, assets, challenges, opportunities, the roles we would each play, how we would be accountable and transparent with one another, how we would handle communication, ideas for income production, a budget and a timeline to accomplish our agreed tasks. I'll defer some of those details until later, but suffice it to say we covered a lot of ground. We completed our day of planning about 20 seconds shy of midnight - the day of planning had taken 17 hours. And, we had only just begun!















Ernesto (left) and Seba.















Pat during our conversations

Michaela writing in her journal

Ernesto's son, Caleb (10 months). He was Michaela's favorite subject to photograph and hold. We had to peel them away from each other at the end of the day. As you can tell, this kid is personality plus.

Mozambique Trip - 2010 - Day 7

Day 7

Since the day we arrived, we told Ernesto and Seba that we had come with money to go shopping for supplies for the orphanage. At first, they responded with a non-commital, "yes", the way people who don't speak your language respond when they don't really know what to say. Finally, after four days of pressing them, we said today was the day. We sat down for coffee this morning and said again, "what do you need". Once they realized we were serious, the list started and began to grow. We then strategized our plan of attack - where to go first, and how to get the stuff back to Marracuene and Possulane. Ernesto enlisted the help of his cousin, Assyrio, who owns the little yellow Toyota that is in the pictures below. So we started for the car only to find out that Ernesto had left the lights on during breakfast. The battery was dead. Like other hurdles that we encountered, Ernesto's immediate response was, "Let us pray". For full effect, you have to imagine the way Ernesto rolls his "r's" - Prrrrrray. We did pray. We would need God's provision to get out of this jam. There was only one other car in the parking lot and the owner did not have jumper cables. I'm not sure about Pat, but my anxiety started to rise - we have this list, this plan and we need the whole day to execute it. We don't have time for a dead battery. Ernesto and Seba started talking to Carmin, our hostess as the hotel, and they were running through ideas. Then Carmin barks an order to one of the groundskeepers and he disappears and then returns with a car battery he unhooked from the hotel's generator. We talk Seba out of his idea to invert the battery and try and touch the battery posts from the car battery to those of the generator battery. I can just see the battery exploding and all of us permanently scarred from spewing battery acid. Instead, he puts the generator battery under the hood and holds the connections to it. Then he tells Ernesto to start it. "Wait, wait, wait!" I told him. "You are going to hold those connections while Ernesto trys to start the car?", I ask Seba. He looks at me with that look that communicates "I know what I'm doing." Well, the car starts, Seba is injury free and we are on our way.

The purchases were all over town and we tried to get around and buy everything and have the stores hold them until Assyrio showed up with the truck. We bought pots, pans, toothbrushes, plates, bowls, forks, propane cook stoves, rice, beans, sugar, salt, canned milk, ground corn, mosquito nets, oil, and plastic chairs. Below is a picture of Pat negotiating the chair purchase from the roadside vendor. By the way, there are very few stores in Maputo. So much is sold on the side of the road. In this case, we never even saw the chairs displayed for sale. Ernesto knew a guy who knew a guy, we told him we needed fifty chairs, we drove down the street, and there they were, delivered by 5 or so other guys, and waiting for us to load them.

After the chairs were loaded, we went to the wholesale food store and picked up all the grocery

items. As you can see, our purchases filled the truck. From our own funds and those generously donated by Soul Cafe church, Covenant Academy, and many other individuals, we spent over $2,000 US this day and bought a 90 day supply of food for the orphanage. It was so great to know that there would be more than biscuits and juice available for these kids.

Assyrio loading the truck.














Greg, Michaela and Ernesto with the stoves that will be replacing campfires as the primary means of cooking. These stoves will provide a much more efficient means of cooking meals at the orphanage.

Pat with the mosquito nets purchased with donor funds.

Back(Assyrio, Pat, Seba and Greg); Front (Ernesto and Michaela)
All packed up and ready to go.












Ernesto sent Seba and Assyrio back to Marracuene to unload all of the supplies. We stayed in town to complete some shopping. As we were driving through an intersection, a police officer waived Ernesto to the curb. He came to the car, asked for Ernesto's license and then disappeared with it. After some time he returned and wrote out a ticket while giving Ernesto a lecture. The officer left and Ernesto explained that the ticket was not for any specified offense. More troubling, though, was the fact that the officer confiscated Ernesto's license and told him he could pick it up in 90 days. The thought of being stuck in Maputo without a licensed driver, knowing we had two checkpoints to go through to get home, was not a welcome thought. Of course Michaela was more optimistic. As we were lamenting our problem, she looked at Pat and I and said, "Dad, you and Mr. Pattillo are lawyers; do something about it." It doesn't work that way, dear. Pat encouraged Ernesto to go back to the officer and ask him if there was any way something else could be worked out. Ernesto did and we waited anxiously for him to return. He did, but with this dumbfounded look on his face. "The officer told me that if I wanted to, I could just pay him the ticket and get my license back." That incident set us back 1,000 mt. ($30.00 US), but Pat and I both agreed that $30 was a cheap price for getting such a good story!

On our way out of town, Ernesto asked if we would buy him a loaf of bread. As he was driving he asked me to make him a sandwich with the bread and some dried sausage that we had purchased earlier in the day. His specific instructions were to put three slices of bread on top and three on the bottom. We just had to take a picture of this. He ate the whole thing.



Getting things done in the city was difficult. There are people everywhere and lots of them. We got it all done, though.

Mozambique Trip - 2010 - Day 6

Day 6

Today we headed into Maputo to meet with Fr. Juliao Mutemba, an Anglican priest, and head of the Leadership Foundation of Mozambique, the sister organization to Partners in Ministry - the Leadership Foundation of the Texas Hill Country. Fr. Juliao is currently completing his doctoral studies on "The Theology of Garbage". He has for some time worked with children and families that live at the dump outside of Maputo. We had planned for this day to go to the dump and visit with some of the people living there, but unfortunately we ran out of time. The compound where the church is located has an area set aside for construction of a future guest house. Fr. Juliao explained that Mozambique is extremely short on trained medical personnel. He would like to someday host medical missionaries from other countries and house them on the grounds.

After touring Fr. Juliao's house and church, we headed out of Maputo to the south and west of the capital city. Fr. Juliao wanted to take us to visit a clinic he was working with that served a small outlying village. I snapped the picture below on our way out to the clinic and was taken by the similarities that this area had to the Hill Country of Texas. Unlike Marracuene, which is very sandy coastal plains, this area was slightly hilly with lots of brush cover and rocky soil.

Once at the clinic we visited with a man named Jacinto who headed up an organization called "ARPA", the english translation of which is "The Association for the Eradication of Absolute Poverty." Jacinto works with a group of men that were former military, but now serve as "activists". Jacinto dispurses these guys out into the vast and unmapped countryside, where they identify needs and seek to try and provide for them. The primary thrust of their efforts is to provide much needed medical attention in rural areas. We split into two cars and left the clinic with these guys as our guide and headed back into the wilderness. We were almost immediately separated from each other. Pat was with Jacinto and several of the activists in a truck. Michaela and I followed them in a car. The roads got bad and we got lost. We eventually found our way back to the main road and waited for hours for Pat and the others to return. Fr. Juliao took it upon himself to go and borrow a motorcycle from the nurse and go and look for the others. When we asked him if he had ever ridden before, he smiled and remarked, "No, but I always wanted to try." Then off he went.

Pat and the others finally returned from the bush, where they met individuals and families that were far worse off than those we had visited in the village of Possulane, outside of Marracuene. There were many very ill people, some near death, and although the clinic was a resource available to them, getting there met a four hour walk through rough country. And, their first effort would be to make the appointment. They would then have to walk back the day of the appointment.

Pat snapped the picture below of a meal that was being prepared at one of the homes they visited. I'll pass.

Once we made it back to town, we stopped and visited another ministry run by Kate DeTomb, called Project Purpose. She ministers to prostitutes in and around Maputo by trying to provide a way out for them. She also takes in many of their abandoned children and provides a home, food, clothing and education to them.

Chris and Kate DeTomb were recently married. Chris had been married previously and his wife died from cancer. Kate has been a missionary in Mozambique for several years and Chris had a ministry in South Africa. They met two years ago at a conference that was happening while Sheri Pattillo was in South Africa on her initial trip there. Interestingly, Chris and his wife Kate grew up 20 minutes from each other in Michigan, but never met prior to South Africa. Pictured below is one of the DeTomb children holding on of the orphas they care for at Project Purpose.

Mozambique Trip - 2010 - Day 5

Day 5

We began day 5 with a trip to town to replace a camera charger that was lost and to buy some additional video tapes. We planned (and ultimately accomplished) getting almost 6 hours of video on our trip. Much of it is Ernesto and Seba relating their history and testimony, as well as describing in detail the state of affairs in Marracuene regarding medical needs, education, food, and housing.

On the way back to Marracuene and the orphanage, Ernesto said he needed to stop off and buy the "biscuits and juice" for the children. I'm thinking big buttermilk biscuits and orange juice. Come to find out "biscuits and juice" means slightly sweetened crackers and something like kool-aid. For the 50 or so kids that were fed that day, each got 3-4 crackers and a half cup of juice. What you see in this picture is the bag of "biscuits" and the juice. Ernesto said that for many of the children, this was all they would get to eat. We saw first hand the truth of that statement when later in the day we went with the village chief, Andre, and toured the village (Possulane) and met many of the people that live there.

On our way, we saw a little girl on the trail headed home. We met her at the orphanage. She was born without a leg. She was scooting along the path, unassisted. My heart absolutely broke for her.

One of the young girls we met in the village was especially memorable. She had that thousand yard stare that people get when they have experienced severe trauma. This little girl's father and mother were both either dead or gone and she (at probably 11-12 years old) was left to raise her younger siblings.

Consistent at each home was an open fire on which the one small daily mean was cooked. For some the meal was rice, others beans or ground corn. Housing was very basic - usually what Ernesto called "local material", which meant a mat of woven river reeds that was used as walls and either a thatched or tin roof. All homes were very small and accomodated several people. Most did not have any electricity. None had running water. Men were noticeably absent. Children were plentiful, especially the young ones. Some were truly orphaned and living with "substitute families". Others were deemed "vulnerable". Ernesto explained that for many of the families there was just not enough food to go around and when that happened, it was usually the kids that suffered. The atmosphere from home to home, however, was not one of despondency or despair. Rather, smiles were fairly easy to come by, as was laughter. Fatigue is the cloud that hangs above it all, though. You get a sense of what it takes to survive there. Imaging you have gone camping and most of your gear disappears, you have no transportation, no home to return to and no resources to replenish your needs. That is how these people live daily. Most survive by trying to farm a small garden to raise corn, cassava root, cucumbers and squash. Proximity to the coast allows for some fish.

Meeting the families in the village made me realize how significant this community center / orphanage will be to not just the children, but the families as well. Imagine that in these circumstances, three people (Ernesto, Filo and Seba) and many volunteers, most of whom are barely better off than the people in the village, are sacrificially helping feed the children and their families, educating the children, and looking for ways to do more. Ernesto's, Filo's and Seba's vision for the community center is that it will serve as an orphanage to young boys, to educate and train them so that they can support themselves. While the boys are in training or school, they want to use the building for the young children in the area, feeding them and teaching them Portugese so that they can attend the local primary school (most kids are raised to speak the tribal language and few know Portugese). There are also plans to create a farming cooperative that would create jobs for many of the villagers, helping them consolidate their efforts to produce a cash-crop instead of just subsistence farming. The opportunities are literally endless. One could do anything for these people and it would be helpful to them. Consistent in all of the dreams we shared was the desire to help the people of the village help themselves - to teach them how to fish so they could feed themselves for a lifetime. First things first, these people need something to eat!

The above picture is Ernesto with a grandmother that is raising the five grand-children you see pictured. Below is a woman we met on the way home. Like most women, she carriers what she needs on her head and her baby is strapped to her. This woman has aids, Ernesto told us.

At the end of the day, as my daughter, Michaela and I were talking, I asked her why she didn't seem more moved by the circumstances of the people that we had seen. She responded and said Dad, I just want to great them with joy and a smile, not sadness." Wow! She's 11.