The Lucia "Anointing"

When kids are sick I do have a lot of sympathy and patience for them,some more than others it's true, but none the less when they are young,sick and it's a horrible hot day I do like to make sure they know someone cares.

Today Lucia has kept us on our toes. For most of the day her temp has been around 103F and she has just been having a bad day.

So being the caring soul that I am went tonight at dinner time to spend sometime with her. The Tias were busy with the other kids so I thought it would be a great idea while she was quietly sitting on my knee to give her the medication she needs.

Things were going very well and I was almost done. I was chatting to my friend Meghann who was also there saying how good it was that she was not vomiting on me and was taking the meds very well! But of course - I spoke too soon.

There was a massive projectile from the little person on my knee - I was covered while everyone else in the room looked on and reacted like you would in a slow motion movie.

We all recovered from the shock and amusement at my complacency. I then went to put her down so I could start to clean up. There was so much mess on the floor as I held her, she couldn't find her footing at all and was sliding around like a person on a frosty morning - forgive me but it really was the funniest sight. I passed her over to Meghann who also then tried to put her back down but the same thing kept happening Meghann held her while Lucias feet just kept slip sliding in sick. I could do nothing but laugh at this poor wee soul so sick but yet so comic. My compassion went right out the window as the giggles took over. Me covered all over, Lucia not able to stand and the Tias in shock at a white person covered in sick. It really was something from a comedy movie. I truly received an amazing anointing.

I still don't quite understand why no one would hug me tonight!

The Famous Four

There are some days in my life I wish all my friends could be a part of and get to see the kids here and the fun I have with them. The nursery at the moment is such a fun place to be.

As the weeks go by its amazing to watch their different personalities come through

Dionisio

When he is not licking everything in his sight, he is pulling is funny smile face or demanding Agua. Yesterday was one of his funniest moments. One of the tia's is quite short and she was standing at the changing table working with another kid. D walked her to her and blew a big raspberry on her bum. Well I creased up, as did the tia. When he realised how funny he was he too started in to laugh. He was so proud of himself. A major achievement this week is that he can now stand up on his own. This is a major thing for him. When he is not doing any of the above a new found love of D's is to scream at the top of his lungs. He also have a fear of the weirdest things; a cake tin, bubbles, drums and birthday hats.

From Jo In Moz

From Nursery Kids

From Jo In Moz

Chelsea

I walk into the nursery and immediately there is a little body which crab walks towards me. Arms in the air for balance and a big smile and a new squeal which she has learnt from D (thanks mate!). Chelsea has a laugh that sounds like a cat but loves to be cuddled and also loves to eat everything in sight, including her crib.

She is into everything and misses nothing, and a great game for her is pulling her sock and shoes off. Of course bottle time is her favourite time of all, she quietly sits in the chair and bothers no one.

From Nursery Kids

From Nursery Kids

From Chris's Jo in Moz

Cleita

Being the youngest of them all you have to be quite a tough kid and she is. Cleita loves to be kissed by Lucia and laughs so much when Lucia does it. She also gets comforted a lot when she cries by Lucia which she loves too. Also when she is winded does very satisfying burps!

At 4 months old she is not smiling and pulling funny faces oh and has also discovered her voice so chatters away to herself.

From Jo In Moz

From Jo In Moz

From Jo In Moz

Lucia

I could write pages about Lucia but today she was quite the circus master. Just before bed time she was walking around getting everyone in the room to clap their hands while she danced and shuffled round the room. She is such a mother to Cleita, when her dummy falls out Lucia walks over to the cot and puts it back in and gently pats her calm her down. She smothers Cleita with kisses and loves to be the centre of my attention. I normally walk into the nursery to be met with a round of applause from Lucia. She is learning to talk and now say "Ola" and we are working hard on Sapatos (shoes). One day she will be an excellent drummer or dancer.

From Jo In Moz

From Chris's Jo in Moz

From Jo In Moz

All four can be a handful but also bring me so much laughter as the older 3 fight to get into the nappy cupboard or escape from the nursery door. Even stealing toys from each other can be a fun game (sometimes). But I also love them when they are all sleeping!

From Jo In Moz

From Jo In Moz

Joy

All the children I work with are walking miracles in one way or another and its a privilege to be part of their lives.

Angelo is one of these kids. I think he is 1.5 or 2 years old and he lives at the Bocaria. When he is not at the preschool attached to the church he is being looked after by his older brother who is 11. His mother leaves the house at 6 am and is often not back until 8pm at night. This is quite normal here. I have been to the house they live in and its a nice house, the mother clearly loves her children but has to work to provide for them.

Angelo is there most weeks on a Wednesday and loves to run over to us when we arrive. I have often given bible lessons with him in my arms as he seems to cry when he is with the Mozambicans.

He is a very cute child and an infectious giggle when he is tickled.

Today during worship he really caught my heart. We were there dancing away, clapping and doing all the actions. I look down and there he is dancing the best he can and keeping a really good rhythm it was the sweetest sight. He then got really into the dancing and the only way to describe what he looked like was a wind up toy kinda out of control. He really was the funniest sight and I stood for a few moments just laughing at this very precious miracle in front of me and thanking God Angelo is in my life. Today this little child, without knowing it, brought me the biggest amount of joy.

From Chris in Moz

What we all need is a break from the old routine

It's so nice having visitors. I can't believe that Jo leaves tomorrow and I am really not thinking about it. I have really enjoyed having her here and the kids have loved having someone else to play with and tackle.

One of the highlights was getting a break to Kruger where we managed to see 11 lions - not bad for one trip. Still no leopard. Kruger is such a good break for me as I enter a world of animal and not another of people, though I do think that God should have painted Impala pink rather than the same colour as a Lion - it can all get very exciting for a moment and then "oh its just another Impala". Jo was almost kissed on the nose by a Buffalo and we watched Lions stalking Zebra.

Staying one night at Mercy Air was also a real blessing. We were woken in the morning by the monkeys playing in the tree outside. Only in Africa. We also managed to find the stadium where the World cup is going to be played in Nelspruit, looks very impressive. In preparation for the football the town has got its first McDonalds, so yes I gave in and had to have a drive thru Big Mac. Its amazing that having been away 10 months, the taste has not changed and the beef still tastes like cardboard.

The kids here at the moment are all having colds and fevers. When something like that gets into the base its hard to get rid of for a while.

Photos from Kruger

Fogo

There are some phone calls in my life I will never forget. I have a few - my parents being called into school, the call to say my grandfather had died, another to say my dad had a heart attack and todays will be added to this list! "Chris, you need to get up here quickly - there is a fire at the nursery." 

There is nothing like it to make me shift my butt into gear. I ran the whole way (that in itself was a sight). One of the pastors said as I ran past him its ok you are too late you missed the drama. Seeing the drama was the last thing on my mind I just wanted to see if the kids and Tia's were OK! 

I got there to find all the kids fine and quite enjoying the attention they were getting from the on lookers.Thankfully, beside shock everyone was good. The building was dusty and smokey but nothing that didn't take too long to sort out.  

It could have been so much worse. The gas bottle caught on fire, the how and why I really won't bore you with but man what a day. 

Please pray for the tias it's been a real week for them. 

In times like these

These last few days I have found myself standing back and looking at the kids more. Life here can be so busy that it is possible to not spend any time with the kids. 

But the two who have stood out to me more over these last few days are Lucia and Latifo (no real surprise there). 

As you know Latifo moved up to the Baby House a while ago, and has been on and off with his health, we also discovered that his right shoulder was really bothering him. We think that one of the Tia's probably picked him up by one arm (a very cultural thing and awful to watch) and because he is heavier his joints probably couldn't take the strain. The last few weeks for him have not been great. 

The other evening I was briefly in the Baby House and he caught my eye. He was sitting watching TV with Adilson and just clowning around with him. These boys are almost the same age but in size they are very different but it was amazing to see who kids who have both come in very malnourished and need a lot of attention now playing together and growing and for the first time saw Latifo play like boys his age should. He still is not walking but now he is interacting really well with the other boys. 

Twice today Lucia really melted my heart. When she decides to be, she can be so compassionate. One of her favourite things at the moment is getting to give Da-ba's (kiss) to Cleita. She will land big kisses on her face, watching her often reminds me of how I was when my sister arrived. Today Cleita was in the swing chair and was starting to get quite unsettled so Lucia crawls over there and starts pushing the swing to try and settle Cleita, it was one of those moments. Later today Dionisio was bawling and so she moved over to him and started to pat his back (well more like pound) to help pacify him. Where does a child at 15 months learn this. My prayer is that she never looses it and grows into a woman of God who always has a soft heart. 

This ones for the Children

There is a lot to be said about living here - the highs and the lows but today I think goes in the Highs. I am helping look after another dorm at the moment. It has 8 children between 4-8 living in it. They really are a hoot. All with their own little personalities and life stories they make up a merry bunch to take out for an afternoon. 

We headed to a park in the city for a plate of chips and a drink oh and of course a tall climbing frame and swing. They were so happy, socks and shoes came flying off as each got more excited about the days adventure. 

What makes it more funny for me is that the site of a "Grande Barco" (large boat) cause the most screams of delight. If I had know that would be the most exciting thing for them, I would have saved the money and sat them down at the docks. 

From the dirt to a Princess

One of the joys being here is getting to dress the kids. 

Yesterday I was able to put Chelsea our girl from the Bocaira into a beautiful navy chord Ralph Lauren dress. She looked lovely. It was a moment when you look at a kid who was living in the filth and rubbish of the bocaria and was now sitting in a lovely dress and she hasn't got a clue about any of it. It really made me smile. 

All quiet on the Eastern Front

T.I.M - This is Mozambique. 

Where can I start to tell you about the last few weeks. The pace here certainly seems to be picking up. Thank goodness we are in the winter season where its only low 20's. 

Next week there is a conference happening for the Nation. There is a real level of expectancy with this, so will be interesting to see what will happen. 

Last week I took the biggest group yet to the Bocaria, we had almost 40 people there. It was quite a site, a violin and 2 guitars also helped make a joyful noise.  

Today I got up a stupid o'clock to take kids for their BCG. As we waited sitting opposite us was a row of women with their day old babies having their vaccines, then of course once that is one they get to go home!. A lot of these women were still having massive trouble walking. The mind does boggle at this thought, then the other side of me thinks, well if they were born in the community the women would continue with life anyway.There is something to be said for having the kids vaccinated at birth as it took 3 people to hold down one of the girls we took today!. 

Also this week I have had the pleasure of buy a kid their first pair of decent shoes now I feel like a proper grown up!. 

There are no words

It's fair to say that I have found today in my top 5 days that leave you emotionally wrecked.

One of the boys we have been close too at the dump stole a phone at the weekend, so local vigilantes are now looking for him. This means he has run to the streets rather than have them find him. It's hard to imagine him living on the streets. Sadly, he will survive only too well there. I am praying that our street team find him soon.

Today the mother of a family we are close to at the Bocaria andspoke to me at the end of church and said she really needed prayer. She went on to tell me that yesterday a girl was raped in the bathroom of her (the mothers) house. The suspects are her young teenage son, who I know, and his friend.

I fought hard to bury my own emotions and feelings on this and held her tight in my arms as she wept sore...She is scared her son will go to jail.

The police are involved and the mother said "the Girl was OK, She had no marks on her!!!" OK?.... OK?.... how can anybody be ok after that? I was SO angry with this mind set, as were a few other females around. I had to fight to not jump on the judgmental bandwagon and be calm and pray for her.

This woman has been though a lot - her "husband" has not been around for a long time. He has many women in many places and she knows it!!!! She has been faithful to the church and to her kids.....now she has to try and get the truth from her son - she is so scared he will go to jail. I held back from saying what I think should happen!

But today has taken every ounce of compassion I have to try and remain un-judgemental...... and show love to this broken woman while everything inside me wants to react to this appalling act and find the guys.....

Old Friends

When I arrived back in Moz, there were a few people I was really looking forward to seeing. One of them was Olga - since my first visit here I have always taken an interest in her. I started to ask around to find out where she was and found out she had been reintegrated with a family member.

One my first trip here she was sick with a fever so I went to her room to pray for her, then a few days later I got sick with Malaria and she came and prayed for me in the dining room. I really valued her heart of compassion that day.

Then on my next trip here we got to hang out more and share the Saturday evening milk and cookies.

To it was a real joy to be able to go and visit her yesterday in her house where she is living with her brother and other family members. The ministry still helps them with food and clothes. Sadly she doesn't have a lot of clothes so yesterday we were able to give her a lot. I pray the other family members let her have them and don't sell them.

She gave me a big smile when I spoke to her yesterday. It was amazing to be able to spend a little time with her.

Olga and I yesterday.

With her brother.

Wearing the some of the new clothes we brought her.

Funeral for a friend

Yet another day here I hope I don't have too many of.

Today was Jamie's funeral. As I stood and looked at the small white box it suddenly hit me that the last funeral I was at was also that of a child, in London just over 2 years ago. Now here I am today at another child’s one. In fact today there were two children being buried and the coffins sat side by side. Jamie's tiny one and another slightly larger one which was that of the other child whose funeral was going on at the same time as ours. The women and men stood on different sides of them.

It was all in Shangann (local language) and the only parts I got were the very loud AMENs that occasionally broke up the very fervent preacher.

So when the preacher was finished what felt to me like a heartless talk (but as I didn't understand a word he said I could be wrong) the coffins were opened for the mourners to go and look at......

Today I have seen a dead baby and the dead child of someone I never knew. Just felt bizarre.

The coffin was then carried to the end of the grave, the other funeral went to their grave, but both groups keep singing together across the graveyard, and there and then Jamie's body was put into the ground and covered in by the father and other helpers.

What I also find sad is that I am sure his wife/Jamies mother was the mound beside his. She died a month ago. So he stood alone looking at what should have been a happy family with a 1 month old but is now a man alone with nothing really.

Today there was very little emotion, very little personal about the funeral. Men don't cry here, or if they do it's for a very short time because you have to keep finding a way to survive. At least the body was found and he was able to bury his son properly.

A life that I knew for a very short time, but had the chance to love and care for along with others, is gone. Here death is too much a part of life. People dying is never easy and sometimes hard to understand but I do struggle so much more with the death of a child. In the time it has taken me to write this and you to read, so may more children have died though out the world. I don't think I will ever be ok on children dying.

'Cause it's a Bittersweet Symphony this life.

It's that time of life again here on the centre. We are able to re-integrate some of the youth back with family members we have been able to track down, or who are now in a position to care for them.

This news, both for the dorm parent and the individual, is very much bitter sweet time. There is happiness that family has been found, but there is also a lot of uncertainly about the future. A number of the boys get quite scared and so stealing can go through the roof at this time as they take what they can. They have made a lot of friends here and for a lot all they have know is living here and this is family. Going back to a new community can be overwhelming. Please remember these guys and the dorm parents, I know there is a name on the list that I am really miss, a kid that one day I hope will be an international speaker.

Ooh Heaven is a place on earth.

There are some nights that will stay with me all my life. I think one of those nights will be last Thursday.

We have a few good worship leaders here but one stands far above the others in this season - Vovote. At the moment he has a real anointing for worship. Each week I stand amazed as I watch God doing a new thing in him as each week as he takes us deeper in worship.

On Thursday we had a real buzz about the church service = we had a great time before the service and at the moment we have a team from SA here who are very gifted. Anyway, we were deep in worship and singing "Open the flood gates of Heaven, let it Rain, let it Rain" and out of no where, unaided and very quietly to begin with the younger girls at the front broke out in Song. Not only song but in perfect English!. Singing " Jesus, you are Holy Holy, send your fire, holy fire". Just out of no where it started really softly and then it grew in volume and the whole place joined in this song from heaven.

I felt I was experiencing a little of what Rolland's Grandfather did in "Visions beyond the Vail". A real moment of heaven touching earth.

There's One More Angel in Heaven!

Jamie went home on Wedneday.

What is crazy is that the hospital did not ring to tell us he had died. His father arrived with us yesterday to "tell us".

I don't understand why they couldn't have even texted us........

Anyway, second baby into the hospital from the nursery, second one not to come back to us.