Orphanage Visit

Man today was by far the emotional days I have had yet.  I wont get to deep into my experience but lets just say it was probably one of the most heart breaking things I have ever witnessed.  I don't mean to have every post talk about the poverty here but my goal with this blog is to help show the reality of Africa.  I love it here and there are so many amazing things about Africa but there are certain things going on here that I want to make everyone aware of. I had the chance to speak to about 70-80 orphans today.  A guy that I work with at Care for Life volunteers at the orphanage every Saturday and he asked me to come with him and speak to the kids today.  I walked in and they were all just sitting there at their little desks waiting for me.  I went up and shook each of their hands and talked to each of them.  Then I had the chance to speak to them.  I had no idea really what to say.  I mean what do you say to kids between the ages of 5-15 who have lost both of their parents to aids and have no family?  Anyways I pretty much just joked around with them and talked about the importance of believing in themselves and I told them that they can accomplish and they can become anything they want to in life if they work for it.  I finished up and asked them if they had any questions.  They were all nervous at first but then they got comfortable and starting asking me questions.  The questions they asked were......well lets just say they broke my heart.  One kid raised his hand and said "Felipe do you have parents?"  I answered not thinking much about it and told them about my mom and dad and siblings and how great they were.  Then another kid raised his hand and said "what is it like to have a family?"  Thats when it just hit my like a punch in the face.  These kids have no parents, no siblings.....they have no one!  The idea of a family is such a foreign dream to them.  All they want in this life is just have a family but even that is not a possibility right now.  Its one thing to suffer from extreme poverty here in Mozambique but to have to deal with that at six years of age with no family.....I can't even imagine.  No one that young should have to face such a harsh reality.  No one that age should have to bear such a burden alone.  It was just super tough to watch.   

So after all of that I asked the guy who takes care of them to see where they sleep at.  He was a little hesitant at first because although he is doing everything in his power to change their living conditions he hasn't been able too.  He receives money from the government for one months worth of food during the year and the rest he has to grow with just the help of his wife for all of the children.  There is no money to help with the living conditions.  He took me upstairs and showed me their "bedroom" which obviously had no beds.  I couldn't believe what I witnessed.  I have attached a picture of their bedroom.  It is a concrete floor and the ceiling has slowly been falling in.  The children don't have blankets or anything and it gets cold at night.  They just sleep on the concrete floor.  They tried to build a new center but they were about $10,000 dollars short so they couldn't complete it and they are stuck in this awful building!  He didn't ask me for any money.  He just asked that I come to the orphanage now and again to help the kids know that someone from the outside worlds knows they are there and cares about them.  

Today completely rocked my world.  I thought I was no longer naive.....I thought I had seen it all but today taught me otherwise.  I really have no idea how I will ever be able to just sit back and live a normal life again knowing things like these are happening.  Someone has to help them.  The kids were so happy and so funny but I have no idea how they do it.  I have no idea how they can even smile or laugh having gone through what they have gone through but yet they are still in good spirits.  If you could have only heard each of their stories at least the ones old enough to tell you their stories......it would have brought you to your knees.  I spent four hours with them and then spent a few very emotional hours at home by myself trying to rap my head around this reality.  This took such a tole on me and I dont even have to go through what they have too.  I have no idea how they can stay so happy and positive through all of this.     
The Lord is the only one who knows what they are going through.  He knows them by name.  He cares about them and he loves them.  I could see and feel their pain from the outside but I can't even begin to imagine what that must feel like from the inside.  To be six years old having lost both parents and all your family.  To be six years old and have to wonder how you are going to survive each day and have no one related to you there to comfort you.  Only them and the Lord can understand what that must feel like.
It was a hard day but it was a blessing to get to see into the eyes of some of Gods most special children.  I wanted to take every last one of them home with me today.  I want every last one of them to have a family that loves them and helps take care of them.  I just want them to feel loved.  They were amazing!
The picture of  the boy in the blue shirt is Tony.  He is 6 the six year old I was referring too.  The other little boy is domingos.  He is five.  Also there is a picture attached of where they sleep.  

  

Fighting poverty
Hey everyone!  Sorry it has been a little while since I have updated my blog.  I have been super busy with all the little projects I am doing.  I have been working hard with Care for Life.  We have hundreds of families that we are working with right now.  I am working on a few big projects to help these families better their financial situation.  I am working with 16 associations that have about 15-25 families each and each association has a saving program.  In Mozambique you can make a lot of money if you have capital to invest in businesses but the problem is everyone in the associations we work with are very poor.  However when you bring 15-25 families together each week saving together after 6 months to a year you will have a decent sum of money that can go into bigger investment opportunities and then everyone who has participated will receive a part of the profit.  Each family has certain saving goals that they make for each week and at the end of the week they give it to the leadership of the association who then deposits the money in the bank.  Also members of the association can take out micro-credit loans to start their small businesses from the group money that is saved and then they have to pay it back with a  small percentage over time.  Anyways this system is amazing because it is all ran by leaders that the association elects amongst themselves.  Last night I had the opportunity to attend an association meeting and they have only had one savings meeting and between the 20 families they have already saved $60!  It may not seem like a lot to an american but that is big money here.  If they can continue saving at that rate of a couple dollars a family per week then within less then a year they will have over $1,000 that they can use to start an association economic project.  With that kind of money they can easily start a business together and help double most of the families monthly income. Anyways long story short I am working on potential economic projects that the associations can do that will be extremely profitable for them.
Also I am doing some of my own business ventures here.  I am invested in several smaller scale businesses that will be profitable but the main purpose is to help certain people who have the potential to help others if they were in a better financial position.  Time and time again I am blown away by how willing the people are to help one another once they are in a position too.
Poverty here is more extreme than I could have imagined.  I have met several people who are dying right now do to certain ilnesses and would be able to live if they just had the financial capabilities to get medical treatment needed.  The poverty here would break your heart.  It has humbled these people to the point that as soon as they become capable of helping they immediately start helping those around them.  Africans have their weaknesses but they are honestly the most amazing people in the entire world.  They don't worry about many of the dumb things that we worry about as americans  Their goal is to put food on the table for their family and survive.  If they can accomplish these simple things then they are happy and if they accomplish more than that then they immediately start helping those around them who are struggling.  It has been such a good thing for me to be back here and remember whats important in life.  Although I am helping them.....it is nothing in comparison to how much they are helping and teaching me.  They make me want to become a better person and they help me remember what is most important in life.  I love them!  Anyways here are a few photos!  Love you guys!

 

Caridade 

Well I'm still alive here in Mozambique!  I am loving every second here.  The people here are so amazing and although their living conditions break your heart they are so happy and never cease to bring a smile to my face.
I have been very busy the past few days.  I have been walking with the staff of Care for Life in the communities this week and meeting with the leadership in the different associations.  Each association has anywhere from 15-25 families.  There is a leadership (president, vice president, secretary) picked from the families being worked with.  Care for Life helps each family being worked with establish goals that will help them improve their lives.  Goals range from starting a small business to starting to treat your water and only drinking clean water to saving a certain amount each week( normally one or two dollars a week) that you can use later on in starting a business or building a latrine.  The Care for Life staff and community leadership accompanies these families with their goals every few weeks to see how their doing and helps them brainstorm ideas on how they can achieve their goals.  Also families can use the money they have saved to to team up with other families in the association to start a small business.  With capital people can make a lot of money in this country but the problem is no one has capital.  However if they bring their money together and 15 to 25 families save tother then they will have enough capital to start a real business that they can all take part in.  I am working with these community businesses right now.  We are trying to make business plans for things that an association can do to double the income of the members of the association.  In a community business the members will take turns working the business (weather it be a small farm, or a chicken coup or another business) and they will split the income that it brings.  The community leadership will oversee the business and schedule people to work and split the profit of the business.  If a family is making $50 a month for example from the parents jobs it is very hard to put their kids through school and feed their family.  The goal of the community business is to make it so on the side of their salary they can make another $50 from their part in the community business which will help them be able to build better houses, latrines, keep their kids in school and help them slowly start pulling themselves out of poverty.  I am currently researching businesses that could potentially be profitable on a larger community scale.  So anyways that hopefully gives you an idea of what I am doing right now.
So I have a quick charity story for you guys about one of my families.  With some money that was raised I am helping Amudi and Fatima (parents of Felipe) build a latrine.  I have attached some pictures of what their bathroom currently looks like.  I have bought the cement and sand and everything is ready to go.  It will take a couple days to makes the blocos that we will use to build the bathroom.  Isacc( the kid I talked about in the last post) has a lot of experience in makes blocos so I have hired  him to help Amudi make the blocks.  I told Amudi and Fatima his story and about what he has been through the day before I brought him over.  I brought him over to their house on Monday night to get to know Amudi so that they could make some plans for the project.  Amudi and Fatima are one of the poorest families I know.  When I was teaching them as a missionary they would go several days without food at a time.  Their conditions have not improved much since then.  They knew that I had plans to eat with my mission president Monday night but when we got their they had a plate of rice and fish prepared for Isacc.  They knew all that he had been through and what he was currently going through and they figured it was what they could do to help.  I attached a picture of the meal and although it does not look like much it was a BIG sacrifice for them.  Isacc was very thankful for the food.  He had eaten about half of the food when Amudis little girl came in and told her dad how hungry she was.  It was then that I realized that Amudis family had sacrificed their dinner that night in order to help out Isacc who they knew was struggling.  Here the struggle is so real and heartbreaking yet the acts of charity that I see day in and day out are absolutely amazing.  As soon as Isacc heard Ines say that she was hungry he immedialty said he was full and gave her and the little kids the rest of the food.  Words cannot even describe how amazing the people are that I work with on a daily basis.  They blow my mind with how kind they are to their bothers and sisters who are suffering as well.  This is the reason I love Mozambique.  The country is beautiful and very unique in many ways but the reason I love Mozambique is because of the special people that are here.    I hope you all have a great day!  Below are the pictures of Amudi and Fatimas bathroom and the meal that they prepared for Isacc and of course a picture of Felipe their son who is the cutest kid in the world.

Isacc

Today was just amazing!  I woke up and went to the villages where our organization works.  I had some meetings with one association and 90% of the families in that association are successfuly saving their money which will eventually be matched to help them start a small business.   

I spent most of the afternoon in meetings with the banks so that I can start some small businesses here and continue to invest in Mozambique even after I leave.  After a few hours of meetings I had an hour to myself before my meeting at four.  I was just sitting on the bench in the middle of the city talking on the phone and this young man came and sat down next to me with a big smile on his face.  After I got off the phone he said "sorry to interrupt but you don't to know of any jobs or any places hiring do you?"  I was happy that he actually asked for work since most people just ask for money but I told him I didn't know of anything.  I made another phone call and he just sat there for a little bit and right as he was about to get up and leave I asked myself what Jesus would do in the situation so I figured I should probably talk to him a little bit.  As we got talking I realized how awesome of a kid he was and he was just so positive about life and everything and I told him about America and my family and girl.  I asked him about his family and he said everyone in his family had died.  I didn't really believe him at first because sometimes people tell you things like that because they want you to feel bad for them but the more I talked to him I realized that he may be telling the truth.  I ended really liking the kid and I connected with him well so I asked for his number so that I could call him if I ever heard of any work.  He told me that he had never owned a phone before and didn't have one.  I had a little time on my hands so I figured I would have him show me his house.  It took about 20 minutes to get to his "house".  It was in the ghetto!  I have attached the pictures of Isacc and his humble little shack. I went in and I couldn't sit in his one chair because I was too fat so I would have broke it so I just sat on his "bed"  which was just a mat on the dirt floor.  We talked for about an hour in his house and I found out that all of his family really was dead.  His only brother died when he was ten and his parents died when he was twelve.  He wanted to live with his uncle but his uncle wouldn't let him because he couldn't provide for another kid.  So Isacc has been living on his own since he was twelve years old and he is seventeen now.  He kept going to school but had to stop once the school started requiring ten dollars a month to continue on with his education which he couldn't afford.  However he is super intelligent and can read really well.  He has to pay $10 a month in rent(which is way more than he should have to for that shack) which he earns normally by going and helping the crews at sea for several days at a time just to earn a dollar or two.  He wasn't telling me this just to make me feel bad for him but it is just his reality!  He is probably one of the most positive/happiest people I have ever met in my life and he has been through more than almost anyone I know.  He said that normally he is very happy and positive but this morning he had woke up feeling kind of down because he had been a few days without food and work.  He said he asked God if he even loved him anymore and was just feeling very down.  Then he left and spent most of the day trying to find work and didn't find anything but then he saw me and figured he would give it one last shot.  I didn't give him the time of day at first but God knew Isaccs needs and so he gave me a little slap in the face to make me start talking to him.  He said "Felipe, you were an answer to my prayers today.  I woke up wondering if God even loved me anymore and was losing hope for my future but then you came along.  Just the fact that someone who is as busy as you and has so many better things to do than come spend a couple hours with me, someone you don't even know, was a sign from God that he still does know me and loves me."  It was one of the coolest experiences of my life to get a real look into poverty at its most extreme state.  However Isacc has a better attitude and more hope than almost anyone that I know.  Normally I don't give anyone money but right before I left I gave him a little money for dinner that night because he had been without food for a few days and had no way of getting money or food and also a few bucks to help him start a very small business on the side that will keep him from starving to death as he works through this difficult time.  It was amazing, in just a few hours we created a friendship that I could see lasting a long time.  Anyways sorry for the novel!  I hope you all have an amazing day.  

-Josh

      Im alive in Africa!         

       I got into Beira about 1:30 today.  Solomao who is the director here picked me up from the airport and brought me to the house.  I had one of the employees take me to go shopping for food but once we got to the city I was way to close to my families and I couldn't handle waiting any longer so I told him to just drop me off at the stop that leads to most of my families.  I was walking down the path and Anna and one of her little boys saw me from a distance and came running up to me and gave me a big hug.  I then went into their house and saw the rest of their family.  Alexandre (the 10 year old) started crying and Joaozinho the little boy jumped into my arms and gave me a big hug.  It was a better reunion then I could have ever imagined.  Little did I know but the missionaries were over at their house and watched the entire reunion without me even knowing they were there.  It must have been very strange for them to just be at the house ready to start teaching and then Bam in comes another white guy speaking Portuguese and hugging everyone.  I hope it was good motivation for them to try and find families that are as special to them as Dauce and Anna's are to me.  Dauce wasn't there so I just said hi and came back later when he was there.

       Then for the second reunion I went to Amudi and Fatimas (parents of Felipe) and as soon as I came around the corner  both of their little girls starting screaming FELIPE and ran up to me and gave me a huge hug.  Amudi was gone at the time but Fatima also came running up and got pretty emotional and gave me a huge hug.  It was a very sweet experience.  Then she handed me Felipe who is huge now!  He knew who I was because his parents show him pictures everyday of me so he knows who I am but the real life size Mazungo(White Person) was a scary experience for him.  It took him a little while to warm up to me but eventually he let me hold him as his sister Anna took me around the village to show me some things.  Amudi took forever to get to the house so Anna and Ines and me had a little dance party until he showed up.  We actually got a lot of random people walking on the path to come dance with us as well.  Amudi finally showed up and it was so good to see him as well.  Other ward members showed up to his house as well so I got to see a lot of people. 

       Anyways third and final reunion that I had tonight was with Sancho. Lurdes his wife was at school but as soon as he saw me he started screaming WOW WOW WOW! He came and gave me a huge hug so that was pretty cool as well.  The day was just perfect.  I finished by going to the grocery store and getting a ride home late at night on this sketch golf kart thingy which was awesome!  It was a culture shock to witness the poverty again but once I saw my families everything was ok.  I LOVE MOZAMBIQUE!  The people here are so great and I loved being a missionary but it is so nice to just be their friend and get to kick it in the village with them and have dance parties and stuff. The next four months are going to be very challenging on me.  I am getting started with the program in some very poor villages tomorrow.  However the joy that I felt today in seeing my families again will make it all worth it no matter what happens.  I think it was one of the happiest four hours of my entire life.  Words can't even express how amazing today was! 

Here are some photos.  The little boy in the first couple pictures is Felipe who is named after me and the little girl is his sister.