Cast Your Burdens

The Rubatano Volunteers



Since I last wrote a lot has been happening. The team from California left yesterday. The last 10 days have gone so quickly as we were busy showing the work of Rubatano and doing lots of special events. One day we hosted a workshop for about 250community caregivers, the next a workshop for 45 Rubatano volunteers, the next a day for over 400 children to gather and play. It was busy and it's getting hot so by evening we were all ready for some rest.
As usual seeing so much and processing the lives lived here in Mozambique can be exhausting. It has been incredible to see things anew again. With Bridget here, and the team, I have been sharing and rethinking a lot of what I have been experiencing in the last few months. It is A LOT to process. I am repeatedly reminding myself that it is because of all this that I would obviously be tired. Today I have been thinking...most of these things that burden me, and make me feel so overwhelmed, are truly not my burdens to bear. "Cast all your anxiety on him for he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7 That sounds simple enough doesn't it? Unfortunately it is something I am struggling with. So I pray for the faith to be able to do my part yet cast my anxiety unto Jesus to do the real work. I continue to be thankful for the perfect timing for Bridget to come and for the team to come. It was such an encouragement to have the team from Wellsprings here. It was incredible to see and hear the things that were challenging them. Most of all it was exciting to know that now 9 new people have seen the work, the need and the heartache here. Thank you Wellsprings from coming and caring. Thanks for your encouragement and energy.



As I continue to try to find renewal, energy and strength, I am looking forward to a break. After much prayer and contemplation, a few weeks ago I decided that I need a rest. On Oct 2nd I am flying to Ghana to spend 12 days and see the friends that I spent time with last year! I am so excited. When I told the people from the team that I was going there for my "holiday" I realized how much I have changed in the last couple years. I never dreamt that I would think a holiday would be to go somewhere where there is no running water and I may eat rat! BUT, I am sure that it's the company that will truly grant me the rest I need. As I enjoy the last few days of Bridget's stay I look forward to this trip and a chance to leave behind some burdens, at least for a few days.
Please pray for me as I continue to learn how to "Cast my burdens..."

Blessed

God is good to me. Very good to me. I have always known this but yet again I am reminded. As fatigue, exhaustion and feeling overwhelmed has heavily set in I am slowing being restored, renewed and refreshed.
Before I left AZ to come to Africa there were numerous people speaking of visiting Mozambique. Of course this sounded wonderful but I wasn't sure it would really happen. Well...Thursday I made the 2 hour trek to Beira to pick up Bridget at the airport. How fun it has been to show her the area, introduce her to people and to see things with fresh eyes again. As Bridget read me the email she was writing to her family and friends, I cried. I am not sure why. I think it's because after all this time finally someone else can see the things that make me laugh, cry and get on my knees to pray. It's so special to have her here and to share this time with her. What a blessing!



Before heading out to the "bush" we enjoyed some seafood at the beach. Mmmm, prawn curry- my Mozambican favoriite!



Here I am buying some vegatables at the market today. When I couldn't understand the number that the guy was saying he grabbed a carrot to write the number on the dirt. So clever.
I will try to write in the next couple weeks but if it isn't as frequent it's cause I am enjoying my time with Bridget. We also have a team coming from CA on Tues and they'll be here for 9 days- we'll be busy.

Do you have a Mom and Dad?

I realize I write for therapy. Sometimes it’s here; sometimes it’s in my journal. Again today, I have a lot on my mind.
There’s a girl here at the mission. She’s 15 years old. I met her one of the first days I arrived to Mozambique. At that time she was pregnant, very pregnant. She’s petite. When I met her, she was stone faced. I am sure she didn’t want to be pregnant. Shame, fear and anger was written all over her face. The night before she delivered when we sat with her she hardly responded to any interaction. I wondered if she even knew what was about to happen. A few days after she successful delivered her baby we were asked to pray for her. She needed to bond with her baby, to show some interest and interact with her- to feed her. Eventually she did, she’s now feeding her baby and taking care of her needs. She’s now a Mom.
Recently she’s been stopping by our house more. She quietly comes to the door. She still doesn’t say much- her English isn’t that strong, neither is my Portuguese. It’s a bit awkward sometimes. I don’t know what to say after a few minutes. She drinks some juice and eats an apple.
One time I was taking my bath and heard her come. There were some others sitting on the veranda with Laura so I didn’t rush my bath. When I opened the door of the bathroom she came in, “Sista Dara? I need money. Tomorrow I need to take the baby to the hospital for injections and I don’t have money for the chapa (transport).” I am ashamed to say my first thought was, “oh, great, now I she’ll be coming asking for money all the time.” Then it hit me. This girl didn’t ask for this life. She didn’t even really want this baby. She’s asking for the equivalent of 2 dollars. I gratefully gave her the money.
Today she stopped by again. She was suddenly at the door, as quiet as a mouse. I invited her in. I greeted her with the typically Mozambique greetings and got her her juice and her apple. That’s about all I know to say to her. Then we sat in silence. She doesn’t feel uncomfortable, I do. Baby is eating- Wow, is she beautiful. She has such a thick head of gorgeous black, curly hair.
Then as I sat there with the pile of “work” before me, she said, “Do you have a mom and dad?”
I was shocked. Frightened even to respond. “Yes, yes, I do. I am very blessed,” I said.
She pressed on, “Do you have family?”
“Yes, I have a sister and a brother-in-law and a nephew.”
“Oh,” she said expressionless.
Then it was silent again.
I wondered what she was thinking. I can’t relate. I don’t know what to talk to this young mom about. I can’t even believe we are living on the same planet. She asks if I have a mom and dad like I ask my friends if they have a boyfriend- they may, they may not- no big deal either way, just a question.
I spent the rest of the afternoon with her. She’s so quiet. I don’t know what to say. I am learning though. Maybe I don’t need to say anything at all. She keeps coming back. I don’t know what to do but I’ll sit with her- in silence. If she wants to talk, I’ll talk. If she wants to eat apples- I’ll buy an orchard.
I don’t know what to do with these thoughts. I don’t know what to do with these relationships. I don't know. I just don't know.
I’ll see what tomorrow brings and I’ll pray that I can love enough to make a difference, that she'll know she's loved.
Even just to one…

Wind, fire and prayers!

This week has, yet again, showed me more challenges of life here in Africa. As if I wasn't thinking life here isn't hard enough for these people, it just got harder. It's been crazy this week. This time of year it is quite common for the people to burn the land to clear brush and tall grass. A good idea if your other option is to clear the whole land by hand with a machete. BUT, it is a bad idea if there are gale force winds and your house has a dried grass roof. Tuesday I did home care and the wind was blowing so much my skin turned black and the volunteers skin turned white. In some places on my drive home there was fire on both sides of the road. Despite this, there were still people riding along the road on their bicycles hauling wood, charcoal or livestock. What else can you do when you need to survive? To make a long week brief, the wind and fire did major destruction on Tuesday. Many houses lost their roofs. Many houses burned to the ground- some with people inside. Some people died as they were working in their fields and the fires encircled them. Things are heavy here. Heavier. I figure it is bad when I hear Mozambicans say they just wish Jesus would come back. Somehow we keep keeping on. I find things to laugh at. We've been out of power all week. As a result my new favorite accessory is a head lamp! In an attempt to save my food I ate more meat last night than I usually eat in a week. It's always interesting. Despite it all, God is good, tomorrow will be better and if my heart hurts, how much more does God's?
Keep praying...miss you all!
(If you don't hear from me it's cause we still don't have electricity, I am in town at a friend's now typing this. I will be back on the weekend if there still isn't power).

Thank you from little hearts!

Success! It was a bit chaotic. I was a bit stressed at times as I tried to eye up the children and see what articles of clothing would fit but...all in all yesterday was a wonderful day. The volunteers did most the work of going through and sorting the clothes but you can only do so much prep before hand. You can't chose clothes for kids before you see the kids. In the main area where we distributed the clothes we used a building which is usually the chicken coup! The chickens have grown and new chicks haven't yet arrived so the building was able to double as the clothing store.
This is a picture of me with Carlos and Santos after most the clothes had been sorted.



Here we are sorting clothes early yesterday morning before the kids arrived. Laura and I had 3 of the bales of clothes at our house to take to this area first thing yesterday morning. For those of you who have ever helped me move or seen me try to lift something heavy, you know that my lifting ability is closely related to my laughing ability. Laura and I had quite a time trying to lift these 100lb bales of clothes at 7am- I am quite sure I am weaker than normal at that hour!



Here are a few happy children with their wonderful volunteer Adao. In addition to the bales of clothes we purchased we also had these cute colorful t-shirts from GSK (a donor) to hand out. These clothes and t-shirts will be seen around the community for a long time!



Here are some more children with their new things.







One of the sweetest moments was after we had fit a dear little girl with a few things. She left the building glowing. As she walked away I watched her. As I did, she took off running up the dirt path towards her home. She was so excited and she wasn't going to risk anyone else getting her hands on her new things. Her little legs had a new bounce in them. She found joy today. I don't think this is day she, or hundreds of others, will soon forget!
Thank you for your help and entrusting me to be a part of something like this. Thanks for allowing me to be the one to reap the benefits- to see the smiles and get the hugs. I think God smiled down on Mozambique yesterday as many people came together and did as Jesus said, "I needed clothes and you clothed me..." Matt. 25:36
Thank you, thank you and thank you! God bless you!

Significance??

Many days I continue to wonder what the significance of my being here actually is. As far as doing anything for Mozambique or the people, most days it feels as if it is too big, the need is too great and I am too weak. All these things are true. I can do nothing here. I realize that more and more each day. My ideas of leaving a mark or doing something "significant" has changed drastically. I continue to have to shed my Western mind. I feel the "honeymoon" stage of missions is over. Now, each day, I learn something more about the culture. I am gaining more insight into life here. I see the web of problems and the depth of them. What can I even dream of doing to help?

I have come to realize there are two parts in answering this question. The first is that these feelings of helplessness are a lie from Satan. He is trying to discourage me and make me give up. I will NOT give up. I will persevere through this knowing that I AM here for a purpose and it is God who has called me here. The second answer to this question is that I really can't do anything here. That probably sounds like I am little crazy. Let me explain...to think I can do anything in my own strength is a joke. I can't. I am just now learning about HIV/AIDS and tropical diseases. I know very little about any culture other than my own and I can't even communicate with these people! BUT (here's the good part)...God can do amazing things! If I am called here just to pray that is far more than I can "do" on my own. God can (and is) making changes here.

On Tuesday we went to a town called Nhamatonda where we did training to volunteers who are starting a home-based care program. It was incredible to see how keen they are to learn. Their enthusiasm to serve there community is based on nothing else than a desire to care and love. They have no other motivation to do this than God. It is a desire that has been put on their hearts. The fact that I get to be part of this by training them to care for orphans and patients is significant. God can use them to make a difference for a long time after I leave! I now see that even though I am doing very little- God is doing very much. The most important thing I can do is pray for this new project and the volunteers. God can do something significant with that.

Here they are! Joyful and ready to go be the hands and feet of Jesus!



In the midst of so much heaviness and darkness the simple things are big here. Blowing bubbles for children- such joy!



As we departed they gathered to send us off singing "God go before them and bless their travel..."



Beautiful! Just beautiful! This is significant.

Estamos Juntos

This is my Mozambican family! They have taken Laura and me in like we are their own. Carlos, Pascoa and the girls are so much fun to be with. We spend much time with them. Today I was thinking about them and came to the realization that if nothing else happens in my time here or I learn nothing else, the impact that this couple is having on me will make this whole year worth it. There is much to learn from people who start their day at 3am just to pray for their community. There is also much to learn from a young lady who, when she was 16 yrs old, took in an orphan and has since loved her as her own. It's people like Carlos and Pascoa that are making a difference in Africa. Not only to Africa but also to people from around the world that get to work with them! Bless them!





Here's Laura and me with the girls- Jessica, Nyasha, Tabitha and Dominga.



We all spent yesterday together just having fun. Our friend Carly from Hands at Work South Africa is also here with us for a week. We all drove to this incredible dam and water reserve. We then went swimming in a pool and had a wonderful lunch together. It was a much needed break from the challenges of daily life! We always have so much fun singing, dancing, laughing and playing together. They do all they can to make us feel welcomed, loved and at home. The common Mozambican motto is this: Estamos Juntos, meaning, we are together! We are...we are together! ESTAMOS JUNTOS!

Thanks!

Here are the bales of clothes that we have purchased to distribute to the children. Carlos and the other volunteers have been very excited to purchase and coordinate giving the clothing to the children. This coming Saturday is the usual day when all the orphans gather to have a fun day. This month they'll all leave with new clothes. This is such a blessing. Thank you all who have helped to make this happen so quickly. Things don't often get done so quickly here in Africa. This is a wonderful ministry to be a part of and it is happening only because of your faithfulness. Thank you. A key phrase that Carlos speaks regularly is this..."Wow, that is a powerful ministry!" And I would agree, clothing these children..."This is a POWERFUL MINISTRY!" Thank you so much.

Thank you!

Muito Obrigada! Muito, muito obrigada!!!! I now have enough money to purchase the bales of clothes that we have asked for for the orphans! I can’t thank you enough or make you realize the impact this is about to have on the community! Thank you for your faithfulness. In the next couple weeks we plan to go purchase the bales of clothes in Chimoio (about 35km from here). I think it will take a few days to organize and arrange all of this. Once the clothes are delivered to the Rubatano center we’ll have to go through them, sort them and organize them for the orphans to come. Once we do this over 600 kids will go home with new clothes! I can’t wait! I will be sure to take pictures of the process and share them as soon as I can. I can hardly imagine what this is going to be like but the volunteers we work with are truly amazing and they’ll make this happen beautifully I am sure.

(Praying for an orphaned family after the volunteers bathed the children in the nearby river)


Before I left to come here a close friend/mentor told me boldly, "Dara, be prepared and available for the Lord to use you however He wills. It may look different than you're expecting. Just be willing to do whatever He asks of you." At the time I thought, "Of course, I am open for anything." Now I see what that meant. I have been gone about 6 months now and things are very different than I imagined they would be. We are still waiting on our nursing licenses to be recognized. This means we are still unable to treat patients. That's where these important words have encouraged me. God has asked me to do different things that I thought I would be doing. We still have hope that our nursing licenses will get cleared "any day now." In the meantime were educating the local volunteers and writing proposals to help Rubatano expand and strengthen the work they are already doing. One of the biggest things that I would like to see happen is for us to find a local Mozambican nurse to start working with the home care volunteers. If this were to happen that nurse could carry the work that Laura and I are meant to be doing. The whole heart of Hands at Work is sustainability. We want to support and encourage the local church and community to take care of their own people. This is so much more effective. We learn this more and more each week. Coming in as an outsider is very challenging. We not only look different and speak different but we don't understand how these people think. One day as we walked through the bush we crossed a small, dirty pool of water. We asked the volunteer we were with if that was the water that the people drink from. "Yes, of course." "Oh, great," I thought, an educational opportunity. So, being the nurses we are, Laura and I started in on the importance of boiling the water (in a clean pot of course)at a rapid boil for at least 2 full minutes. Our volunteer kindly, respectfully listened and then truthfully said, "Okay, good. Right. Yes, but the patients won't listen. They have been drinking this water their whole lives. They aren't going to change now."
"Oh, of course," I thought. Why would they change suddenly when the white girls show up and tell them that the way they are living is all wrong! So, the challenges continue.

Another funny thing is that this is the same volunteer who the other week saw me drinking water on a "cool" African winter morning and said, "You drink water when it is this cold?" (I am sure it was like 65 degrees). I said, "Yes of course! You don't?" He responded, "Sometimes I go one week without drinking water." Ah ha! That explains the headaches! :)
So, with that, please keep praying. Some days are long, some are discouraging, most are overwhelming but thankfully I know a friend who says this..."Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light." (Matt. 11:28) Thank you Jesus for this promise. I will wake tomorrow and face another day.