Here is your agenda for one day living in Canicado, Mozambique.*
6:30am Alarm goes off. Stare up into your bug net from your puddle of sweat and contemplate going back to bed for five more minutes or so.
7:00am Team worship. If it’s your day you get to decide how this time will be spent, whether in prayer, in song, etc.
7:30am Bucket haulin’. If you want water for your toilets and showers, take your buckets to the local well. Fill them up with the pump and wheelbarrow them back to the house, where you will dump them in the barrel that leads up to the tank on the roof. If you were sparing with water use the day before it will take less time.
8:30am Breakfast. Your contact generously provides oatmeal every morning for your team and his four employees. If you don’t like oatmeal, take comfort in the fact that you will be eating it every day for a month.
9:30am Team devotion. If it’s your day you can read off the Jesus Calling app on your teammate’s Iphone or share something you’ve been reading lately in the Bible.
10:00am Build a mud hut. Actually, you don’t know how to build a mud hut, but you do know how to make mud. Dig a giant hole with a hand plow and a pickax, shoveling all the dirt to be wheelbarrowed over to the house. Take a wheelbarrow with buckets across the highway to the local well which unfortunately does not have a pump. Throw a smaller bucket on a rope down there and haul it back up. Take the water back to be mixed with the dirt. Repeat.
12:00pm Lunch time. Go to the local market to buy fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and delicious bread called pao. Take your groceries back to the house and eat your sandwiches with a ripe mango.
1:00pm The heat of the day. Struggle to do anything. Really, napping and reading are the only options. Eat another mango if things get rough.
3:00pm Home visits. Your contact has been building relationships in his community and the surrounding areas for five years so he knows which people to pray for. Go to the homes of paralytics, people with AIDS, and the elderly to give them encouragement and pray for healing. One of your teammates speaks Portuguese and can help with translating but some people only speak Shangan, the local language, so your contact’s translator will come along as well as other staff members.
5:00pm Make dinner. The usual fare includes a stew of meat, vegetables, and potatoes in some sort of sauce served with rice. At times, something more interesting like ostrich or sardines will make it onto your plate.
Sundown. Don’t forget to take your malaria meds and cover yourself with bug spray once or twice over. The entire country of Mozambique is at risk for malaria, but luckily the mosquitoes only come out for a few hours in the evening. With enough deet you can avoid being bitten altogether.
6:00pm Dinner. Sit on chairs outside under your usual tree with your teammates, your contact, and his dogs Jack and Jess. Talk about the day and life in general. Interesting conversation is sure to come up. If there are any mangoes left over, eat one for dessert.
After dinner. Hangout, watch a movie, tell stories, listen to music, look at the stars, sing at the top of your lungs. Marvel at the fact that you get to experience this culture for a month. Count your blessings until you get tired enough to go to bed.
*If at any point during the day it happens to rain, cancel all plans and stay in your room playing cards or watching movies, since you can’t get anywhere when the dirt roads are muddy.
If you are feeling generous this holiday season, please consider donating to my support account, as I still need about $4500 by February 1st.
