Pictures

Masana Boys at Lun

Me and Macabeca

Me, Macabeca, Felipe

2 boys returned home!!!!!!

We recently helped 2 boys leave the streets and Maputo and return to their families!!! Here are their stories:

Oracinho

Oracinho has been living on the streets on and off again for almost a year. Oracinho is only 10 years old and still a little baby. Oracinho’s house is an hour outside the city, surrounded by farmland. Oracinho first came to the streets with some of his friends who wanted to see the big city but his friends returned home and he stayed. When we took Oracinho home, so many different neighbors and friends greeted him by shouting out his name, which made him feel welcome. Oracinho left home because he didn’t like his father’s rules and didn’t like getting spanked for disobeying.

Oracinho is so intelligent for his age. Oracinho is one of the few boys his age that knows the alphabet and writes his name. He has such great potential.

Please pray for Oracinho to stay home and realize that by his father giving him rules is a form of love. Pray that he goes back to school. Pray that he sets a good example for his others brothers and sisters.

I taught him how to take self pix

Me and Oracinho at the pool

He loves self pix now...

Pedro (Ernesto)

Little Pedro ran away from home over 3 years ago and has been living on the streets ever since. He recently decided he was ready to return home so we drove him home on Wednesday. His house is in an extremely remote village about 4 hours from the city. Upon arriving to Pedro’s house, Pedro was welcomed home by neighbors, cousins and many friends. His mom wasn’t at home but one of the neighbors called her in a franic telling her that she needed to hurry home because there was a surprise waiting for her. About 30 minutes later the mother arrived really frustrated with her friends because they wouldn’t tell her what was going on. And when she arrived Pedro was inside the house changing clothes, so all she saw was Luis (our director of masana) and I. She began to yell at her friends saying you guys shouldn’t do this to me..you guys scared…you guys made me run all this way just because a white stranger is at my house…in the middle of here sentence Pedro walked out and they made eye contact and she busted into tears. I cried and she cried. She hadn’t seen him is years and she was full of excitement. A lost for words. God had broght her son back home.

I was one of the most memorable moments of my life.

 

God will highlight a certain boy and give me a special bond with him. He'll be one of the boys that we trust a little bit more than the others. He'll be one that opens up to us and shares about his life on and off the streets. And these are usually the boys we see making the decision to return home. And that is what our being here is all about.

7 random facts

7 Random Facts

People often ask me questions about my day-to-day life here in Mozambique. I don’t really know how to explain into words, so I decided I would post pictures of the most interesting parts of my life here.

1.     I volunteer at 2 different centers. The first center is Masana.  Masana is an organization that seeks to reconnect street children with their families.  We run a day center in the city of Maputo, where we are able to provide meals, cleaning facilities, and a consistent learning environment for these boys.  Masana is my home (literally).

2.  The second center is Project Esperança (Project Hope). Project Esperança is an organization that supports over 250 children in need through education, healthcare, and spiritual needs. Since 2003 Project Esperança has been helping support a community in Marracuene, Mozambique (a little community outside of the city of Maputo) through feeding, tutoring, orphan care, and extracurricular mentorship. Though started as a small childcare/HIV prevention center in 2003 the project now oversees the individual care and sponsorship of over 250 children, many of whom have been orphaned or abandoned. 

      

3.     My Best friends are all within the ages of 13 to 17. Felipe is 16 years old, Macabeca (aka Julinho) is 13 years old, and Djuma is now 14 years old.  Felipe and Macabeca are boys that I met in 2010 at a local soccer clinic that we held for all the neighborhood kids, and we been best friends ever since. Djuma and I met at the end of 2008 while he was living on the streets, and to me he is more like my son!

Me and Julinho

Me and Felipe

Djuma 2012

Djuma 2010         

 

Me, Julinho and Felipe 2012

4.     Rice, Rice, Rice, and More Rice. At least once a day I eat rice with a meal. I have become accustom to if so much so that I crave rice when I visit the states. I never knew that there we so many different way to prepare rice. I know how to cook white rice, butter rice, onion rice, vegetable rice, fried rice, oil rice, Cajun rice and curry rice. They are all delicious, I have learned to love rice with anything!

5.     Our Pet is a street dog named Yankee. He was a gift for our boys who found him wandering the streets with his baby sister (she was stolen from us). He isn’t very ferocious or protective because we still get broken in to but he is sweet and innocent and we’ll keep him around!

6.     I speak three different languages fluently. English of course. I have been learning Portuguese since 2008 because Mozambique’s national language is Portuguese. Over the past year I have been trying to learn on of the Mother tongue languages Changaann. I have learned that the best way in this country to connect with people is by speaking the “mother tongue”. God has blessed my ability to learn languages and I hope to be completely fluent in Changaan but the end of 2014.

Amor (Love in portuguese)

7.     I love to BARGAIN. Here in Mozambique there isn’t a “set” price for anything you buy on the streets, whether its produce, clothes, chips, arts & crafts, candy or restaurant food. Since I began to speak Changaan, I find a joy in bargaining prices on the streets. It’s an feeling that I can’t describe. Most foreigners don’t buy local goods on the street because they don’t know how to bargain well, BUT I Love it!

These are just a few areas of my life that are easier to explain.  It’s a little strange but I love it! 

Some boys from Marracuene

Little London

Basketball at Masana

The Boy That Stole My Heart

Back in November 2009, I met a 9-year-old boy named Djuma.  He was short and sweet but tough enough to kick some butt if someone picked on him.  At the time I did not know how to speak Portuguese so our verbal communication was limited, but I found that a little smile went a long way.  

During Masana we would sit and play games and after Masana he would show me a glimpse of his life on the street.  He took me on my first “Shoppa” ride (a form of public transportation), he took me to the local zoo (which consists of a hippo, a few monkeys, a few reptiles and a few birds), we went to the beach, and last but not least, he helped me learn Portuguese.  Over the next several years Djuma and I became really close.  We were practically inseparable.  He would leave Masana around 2 pm and go to different stoplights to beg for money.  Once he got enough money, he would buy 2 packs of cookies and 2 Coca-Colas.  Then he would come ring my doorbell and ask for a Band-Aid or something in order to come in and surprise me.  We would sit on the front porch and talk about everything.  Then the day arrived that I always dreaded but hoped for…he wanted to go home!

After a few difficult weeks of searching for his family Djuma finally went HOME!  Djuma has been at home for a couple of years now.  He is currently in the 6^th grade and is one of the smartest kids in his class.  He lives with his 79-year-old, blind grandmother, 17-year-old cousin and two aunts.   Djuma and his cousin study in the morning until noon and then work together in their grandmother’s garden.  They grow peanuts, cauliflower, corn, parsley, mangos, avocados, lemons and raise livestock.

Djuma is one of the major reasons why I love Mozambique.   He is such a strong young man, who not only cares of himself, but takes care of his blind grandmother as well.  Djuma is 14-years-old and has experienced many hardships, but I cannot wait to see the great things God has in store for the rest of his life!  I am thankful for every day that God has allowed me to spend all this time with Djuma.  I am forever changed.   Djuma has stolen my heart!  I love you, Djuma. 

Djuma 2011

At the beach

Djuma's Grandmothr

Djuma showing me his grades

Djuma's Birthday 2011

love him

Pictures!!

so sweet

Sarah's Wedding 2012

Djuma and I at the beach 2013

Djuma 2013