I made this video for the boys the day before we left. Enjoy! And by enjoy, I mean check this blog again in a few weeks once internet is decent. My b.
Have you ever gone somewhere and within 5 minutes of pulling up, you felt like you were home? And then have that feeling last for the entire month you’re there? Welcome to my month in Beira, Mozambique.
I fell in love with Kedesh Orphanage the second we arrived, and it felt like I was leaving part of my heart behind as we drove away an extremely quick month later.
I could go all day telling stories from this month. There were water fights, we climbed trees, we went to town, we went to the beach, ultimate Frisbee in the rain, sleeping in tents, cooking outside, playing volleyball every night, long talks in the water tower, dance parties, Lost marathons, tutoring the boys, dog attacks, bible studies, and disc golf. The list could go on and on, but instead I’ll try and share the highlights.
WR Community
This month I finally got to spend time with Team Unchained Rhythm, which is one of the girls teams on our squad. Sure, it can get crazy with so many girls and so few guys, but hey, that’s life on the race. Plus, they are super fun to hang out with. They are all awesome girls, so it was cool to not only spend quality time together but also encourage each other to keep pressing into the Lord. It was the perfect month to just chill with them. We also got to hang out with Team Cherished Flame a few times which is always a great time (I’m an honorary member of their team. Hot dog!). One day we got to celebrate asquadmate’s birthday with pizza and the beach, and another time they came over for volleyball, relaxing, and a delicious BBQ. One of the best parts of the race is when you can spend extended periods of time with big groups of squadmates. It may get ridiculous, but it’s fun.
The Boys
There are several boys that I became close with while at Kedesh. Some of them include Frankie, Nando, Bude, Cisco, and Francisco. But I had a special bond with 3 boys in particular.
Tito
I got the opportunity to tutor Tito in English for 2 weeks. Every day for an hour, we would meet at one of the tables in the shade and learn the alphabet together. Tito is 14 years old and didn’t know the alphabet. While it sounds like a sad story, seeing the joy in his eyes as he repeated the alphabet after me was compelling. Not only that, but as he learned it, he would come running up to me randomly and recite the alphabet to me. Sure, it’s not difficult to go through the alphabet with someone, but knowing the impact it had on him made it 100 times more fun and exciting for me.
Julai
Julai is one of the oldest boys at Kedesh, and so I got to invite him along for all my trips to town (usually for logistics). That meant hours in a small chapa together, hours walking around Beira, and plenty of time to be ridiculous. I should mention that Julai is extremely sarcastic and a major jokester, so naturally we got along just fine. I got to hear about his desires to be a doctor, his hope to see all the boys in Kedesh leave and make good lives for themselves, and to see his technical skills. Two funny stories that highlight how awesome Julai is. First, one day we were walking to the foam store to pick up new foam and we had to meet Julai at his school. Not only did he try and lead us in the wrong direction, but he was embarrassed by us picking him up at school so we made a big deal getting his attention and then proceeded to ask him if every person we passed was his friend. One girl even yelled his name and that about set him off. Classic. Secondly, on the last day at Kedesh, I asked Julai if we could get a picture together, and right before the picture, he ripped open his button up shirt (I pretty much never wore a shirt so this made my day).
Blandie
I’ve never really considered adoption, but if I could adopt Blandie and bring him home, I would do it in a heartbeat. We had a connection day one, and it never went away. We pretty much did everything together, and if there wasn’t anything specific going on, we would just hang out together. The best part of Blandie is the fact that he has more personality than 100 of me. He is hilarious. He dances like a champ, He constantly would say “don’t cry, Nick” just because he thought it was funny. We cooked popcorn together; we cleaned bathrooms together; and attacked people with water together. And the best part of Blandie? He always saluted. He could even dance while saluting! On the last night at Kedesh, after a sweet dance party, Blandie made me a friendship bracelet. And then stole my heart and hid it at Kedesh. He’s probably my favorite kid of all time.
I know this is a longer post, but I can’t finish a month without a By the Numbers!
-Number of times I left Kedesh: 5
-Number of boys at Kedesh: 26
-Number of Monitor lizards seen: 4
-Number of times I completed the tree challenge: 8
-Number of disc golf games: 3
-Number of water tower conversations: 10
-Number of boys who slept under my rainfly: 4
-Number of kilos of popcorn per night: 2.5
-Number of times we ate rice: 54
-Number of meals with beans or cabbage: 50+
-Number of songs in the Kedesh playlist: 493
-Number of songs in the wakeup playlist: 5
-Number of water fights: 5
-Number seasons of Lost watched: 1 (all of season 2)
-Number of days with oatmeal: 27
-Number of shirts I wore: 2
-Number of African Church services: 2
-Usual number of clothes I was wearing: 1 (my boardshorts…only)
-Number of Mataquena in my feet: 14 (a W squad record!)
