Never too young to change the world

Well as most of you could tell I have kinda given up on this blog thing.  I have just gotten more and more busy during my time here and I wasn't able to keep the blog going.  However I did want to share a cool story from today.
For those of you who have followed my blog you will remember the orphanage story I wrote at the start of my trip.  This orphanage is in terrible shape.  The living conditions are below the extreme poverty level.  Growing up without a family is a hard enough task on its own but growing up without family and living below the extreme poverty line is pretty devastating.  I was pretty emotionally effected by what I experienced but apparently I was not alone.  I have an awesome little cousin named Ethan who read about the orphans and their terrible conditions and he took it upon him self to do something about it.  He is ten years old and has been a good little saver up too this point.  After reading the blog he went into his room and gathered every last dime that he has ever saved and put it in a large bag.  When I arrived in the United States a few months back for my sisters wedding he brought me the bag and told me he wanted me to use his money to help the kids that were suffering in the orphanage here.
Today I was able to use the money.  The biggest problem that has brought so many deaths in the orphanage is Malaria.  It has taken the lives of so many children but it is preventable at times if you use a mosquito net at night time.  Do to the lack in finances the orphanage has very few nets and the few that it has have many holes so the malaria rates are very high.  The first thing we did with Ethan's money is we bought Mosquito nets for every child in the orphanage.  Then we bought blankets.  It is very hot here but gets very cold during the night.  These kids freeze almost every night because they don't have anything to cover them.  We used the rest of the money to buy every kid in the orphanage their first blanket.
You have no idea how big of a party it was today just over mosquito nets and blankets.  For many of these kids this was the best gift they have ever received in their life.  It was so fun to watch the smiles on their faces and there was even several kids that cried receiving their first blankets in their life.  It was such a special and amazing day for me and these kids.
Ethan is only ten years old but he found a way to save and change the lives of many african children.  The kids were SO thankful.  It is amazing to see a kid as young as Ethan make such a difference in the world!

        

What did I do to deserve my life?

I want to update all those who have been following the Isaque story.  He got a new job a couple months ago but with an awful boss that has been treating him pretty poorly so he has been looking for a way out.  We finally finished our chicken coup last week and we received 800 chicks on thursday and the young man that we had originally found to help us backed out last minute.  I had to take his spot for the first couple days as we looked for another young man to work for us.  It was a ton of work and I got zero sleep those few nights.  Finally it dawned on me that I should go make Isaque an offer to come work for us.  I went there and made him an offer of 7 dollars more a month then he was currently making to work for us.  He had to take a beating from his boss before he could finally leave but he got out and last night I went and picked him up with all of his clothes (that he could fit into two small grocery bags) to come work for us.  He will make a little less than $40 dollars a month with free room and food.  We are setting up a savings program for him so that when he is done he can do something with his life.  He is so excited for this new opportunity. I have attached a couple I took about an hour ago of him at the coup.
So this week I have had several experiences that have made me realize how blessed I am.  I don't know why I was given so much opportunity in life.  What did I do to deserve my easy life?  As americans we live very naive lives and we don't realize how blessed we truly are.  More than half of the people in the world sleep on the ground and only dream of having a bed or a mattress to sleep on one day however most die before seeing that dream come true.  What did I do to deserve such an awesome family?  Mozambique has a population of 22 million people and an estimated 1.6 million of those are orphans!  That is 16 percent of the child population in Mozambique.  1.6 million kids here currently have to endure life by themselves in a country that is ranked #2 in the world on the worlds suffering index.  Obviously I did nothing to deserve the amazing life that I have been given but I am grateful for the blessings I have.  I just wish that I could trade spots with some of these people sometimes because they deserve to live a life of "luxury".  They deserve to have a bed, they deserve to have a family, they deserve to have food on their table, they deserve to have a roof covering their heads but many don't have these blessings.  I have just come to the conclusion that they are the elect of Gods children because there is no way I could endure some the trails that they have to endure while still being as happy and as faithful as these great people.  Fighting poverty is a very exhausting experience and it is impossible to pull an entire nation out of poverty.  However I am trying my best to help a few individuals and few families gain a new vision for their life and their potential to leave the bands of poverty.  I have been way more blessed than I deserve in this life and where much is given much is expected in return.  I hope that all of us can open our eyes to the reality of the conditions of what more than 3 billion people in the world live in day by day.  Our brothers and sisters need our help so hopefully we can all find a way to extend our hand.
-Josh

Im still alive!!!

Elections for the new President of Mozambique were Wednesday and well......I haven't died......yet.  Things have been a little crazy over here.  In Mozambique there is two main parties.  Frelimo is the ruling party which has been in power since Mozambique took its independence from the portuguese and is insanely corrupt.  Then there is Renamo which is the rebel army that lives in the forest and starts war every few years.  There is a third party that I love over here called MDM which is picking up momentum and will have success in future elections but is still too young to compete with the big dogs.  The corrupt party keeps all the money in the country to themselves and they are filthy rich and the rest of the country suffers in poverty.  Renamo (the rebels) don't like this and always try to put an end to it but they are just a bunch of crazy fighters of the jungle so they wouldn't do a much better job in running the country so mozambicans are without a good option to choose.  Most of the people from where I am currently am living have joined the party of the Renamo and voted for them on Wednesday.  However the corrupt government cheated and more or less won the elections by bringing in boxes and boxes of "prevotes" that were in favor of them from people in the jungle that"voted".  The few people in the opposition party that tried to stop it and not allow them to cheat got shot.  So long story short life has been a little crazy the last few days but I am still alive and things are calming down now.
Other than all this political madness I have had a great couple weeks here.  I am having a ton of success in training people on their small businesses.  It is amazing how far someone can go with a little knowledge.  Although this country is suffering from political corruption it is amazing me how much it is growing right now.  The investment company that I have created called MircroMoz Investments on the side of my Care for Life work has now focused in on three main projects for our first phase.  We are doing a chicken coup, buying a small transportation bus and doing a potato business.  All three are businesses can bring high returns to the investor while also helping the people who will run them.  We have finished building the chicken coup and we will be receiving our first batch of 1,000 baby chicks on Thursday.  People who will be the operators of these businesses have a percentage of the company and the profit.  They are incentive based businesses designed to make the people who work them extremely well to do in African terms if they work hard and are smart.  We believe that the impoverished do not lack intelligence, honesty or potential but we believe they lack  opportunity.  My companies goal is to invest in these great people and help mentor them on their journey of breaking the bands of poverty.  It is an exciting time to be here in Mozambique and so fun to watch these people change their lives.  I LOVE the african people!
I hope you all have a great week!  I will share some cool life stories of some of the people here throughout this next week so I hope you will enjoy them.  Here are some pictures!  
#1 A 7 year old given the responsibility to babysit her baby sister every day as her parents go to work.
#2 The African Stroller.
#3  Top five greatest moms in the entire world!
#4  They haven't really caught on to the idea of the selfie yet.
#5  Two of my friends from the village.  Both suffer from malnutrition issues.
#6  Neighbors of the chicken coup......they cant wait for the neighbor discount!
#7  The coup a couple days before finished
 

Back in Africa
Sorry it has been like a month since I updated my blog!  Two weeks ago I flew home to Boise to see my sisters wedding.  It was great being home for a few days and awesome to see so many of you guys.  My sister was the most beautiful bride that there has ever been.  She looked gorgeous.  Her husband is one lucky dude!
I arrived back in Mozambique on Thursday.  It is so great to be back again.
Just a few updates on a few projects that I have been doing on the side.  First the Chaganuas (Amudi and Fatima) new latrine is now finished.  I have attached some before and after photos of what their bathroom looked like before and what it looks like now.  In Mozambique 1-5 children die before the age of five due to many health issues.  One of the main causes of their health issues is how unsanitary their bathrooms are.  The Chaganua family is extremely poor and goes several days at times without food do to the lack in income so building a latrine has not been a priority.  The dad is a great/ talented man but has been unemployed for several years now and does not have the money to bribe someone for a job.  They have three beautiful kids!  There little boy Felipe was named after me.  They are one of the greatest families I have ever met.  Building a quality latrine here is not very cheap but luckily I had great support in America and many people kicked in to helping this amazing family.  Today their bathroom is one of the best in the entire village because of your support.  They said to tell all of those who pitched in a very special thank you.  Amudi just got a job and things are really starting to look up as this family makes an effort to leave extreme poverty.
The other update is about Isaque.  He was the young man that I talked about in the first blog.  I invited him to hang out with me and some of my families on Friday night.  It was so fun to see his interaction with some of the families that I baptized.  Having been an orphan most of his life he just latches on to and loves any time of family atmosphere he can get ahold of.  It was pretty late by the time we were leaving so instead of taking him all the way home I just let him sleep at my house for the night.  It was his first night ever sleeping on a bed.  He is 17 years old and Friday night was his first time not sleeping on the ground.  To make things better I gave him a letter from Laurie Abraham (who heard his story) informing him that she would cover his school expenses so that he could go back to school again.  It will not be very expensive at all but for him it meant the entire world to have that chance to go back and study again.  He is a brilliant kid so he will do amazing in school.  It was one of the funnest nights of my life because it was so fun to watch him be so excited.  The only problem is the kid likes to talk!  We ended up talking till 3:30 in the morning.  He told me his entire life story.  His real parents died when he was five years old and then he went to live with his grandma who died when he was 7.  He lived on his own on the streets for a year but was able to stay in school.  His professor liked him so much and felt bad for him so he adopted him when he was 8.  He lived with his professor for four years until he was twelve.  The professor then took a job in the capital and couldn't take Isaque with him.  That is when he moved to the city where I am at now and he has been living on his own ever since.  If I was in his shoes I would be super depressed and hopeless but he is one of the happiest/most delightful people I have ever met in my life.  He gave me so many good insights on how to overcome major trails and still be happy.  Right before we fell asleep he said "Felipe, one more thing...Thank you! This has been the greatest night of my entire life!"  Something as simple as sleeping on a crappy bed and getting the chance to go back to school made this kids life.  It has been a special couple days back in this beautiful country.  Life here is so precious.  You never know how long some of these great people will be around for but I can only pray that they have a long life span so they can continue to touch peoples lives as they have mine.  I love you all!  Thanks for the support!
-Josh

Save Through Investing
         Well its been a week since my last post and that one was kind of sad so everyone probably thinks Africa is depressing.  However that is not the case at all.  There is some sad parts of course but the people here are so wonderful!  I am loving my time here and learning a ton from these people.  I normally work during the day but in the afternoons and night times I normal go to the villages and just hang out with random people that I meet.  I am picking up the tribal language pretty fast again so I go and hang out with old ladies sometimes who don't speak Portuguese so it forces me to learn.  Speaking the language Masena breaks the awkward white man in black Africa barrier that is so strong here.  I can get anyone to start laughing by spitting off some Masena.
           My projects with Care for Life are going great.  Care for Life has helped save thousands of lives through its teaching of important skills.  It has been such an amazing experience to learn from them and the way they do things.   I have also been focusing on a few personal projects of investments here.  Many people are scared to invest in Africa because many times in desperation people will steal or not follow through on certain promises.  However Africa has more potential for investments then anywhere else in the world currently.  Returns here are extremely high because of the risk factor.  However I am working on developing a system that allows me to invest and start businesses here with people that I trust while having a checks and balance system to protect them and me from theft and other things that make businesses fail here.  My belief is that the best way to help pull a nation out of poverty is by investing in the people who are honest and will turn around and help other people pull themselves out of poverty.
       I have started two small businesses thus far.  The first is a small store that I have attached a picture of.  There is a man here by the name of Milion and he is in charge of maintaining all of the chapels for the church in Mozambique.  He is not rich by any means but he makes more than the average Mozambican.  Since getting his job he has turned around and helped many families in the community get power in their houses and get the basics needed to live a decent life.  I have watched him spend hundreds of dollars in helping those less fortunate in his community.  Me, him and a guy who I baptized named sancho have gone in on a three way investment to start a small store.  Milion bought the large container and I invested in buying the products that will be in the store.  Sancho will be the manager and will take care of the store while Milion travels and while I am in the United States.  The return on investment is pretty good but we will use most of our profit the next couple of years to grow it into a large facility.
     Also I am now the proud father of 500 chickens!  I am close friends with a guy that works for Care for Life who has a small chicken coup.  He has taken in two orphans and feeds them and gives them a place to sleep along with a small salary to take care of the chicken coup.  He has grown the business to 1,100 chickens in his coup but it has the potential to hold 2,000.  He does not have the capital to fill it up completely yet so I negotiated a deal with him to raise 500 chickens for me and I would pay him a management fee which will give his business a big boost.  I will make a couple hundred dollars off the deal which I plan on turning around and using to help my orphanage project.  I am also about to start a project to team up with a man here to build a chicken coup of my own.  My goal is not to get rich off the investments but to be able to have something that I can turn around and use to help even when I am thousands of miles away in the United States.  The people here have so much potential to change their country and to change the world if they had the financial ability to do so.  All they need is someone to believe in them and show them how to accomplish their goals and from there they will be the ones who save their own county from the awful situation it is in.  I love the people here.  I love this beautiful country.  I wish all of you could just come see this place and meet these people.  It would change your life like it has changed mine.  I hope you all have a great day!

  

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!