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.
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.
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.
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