There is a song by John Mayer that says, “Didn’t have a camera by my side this time, hoping I could see the world through both my eyes…”
That was my precise thought as I went through this past month in Mozambique.
I decided to leave my camera in South Africa and have it returned to me here in Swaziland.
Not only was it for safety reasons, but I wanted to stop seeing the world through a lens, and start watching instead.
Not only did it open my eyes to things I may have otherwise missed, but it forced me to be more specific in my journaling about what I was taking in.
Here are some of my thoughts and experiences from this past month through the lens of my journal…
May 11
“I was reminded last night why I love Africa the way I do.
I was playing the guitar for the kiddos and after I was finished, I asked them to sing- it went something like this…”Cantar, Dancar, dos? Otra?”
How is that for some good Portuguese?
J
But I got them to somehow understand!
They launched into the most adorable songs.
Tears came to my eyes as I watched them dance and smile from ear to ear.
I love the way their dark faces are illuminated by the fire and how their laughter is contagious.
I love that their joy comes from deep in their spirit.
And even though their clothes are dirty and torn and their living situation less than desirable, they are truly and genuinely happy.
… I don’t quite know what it is, but it makes me come alive inside…”
May 15
Today Morgan and I probably spent an hour just observing and laughing at the kids in our village.
They really act like any other group of kids.
But they do smack each other a lot more!
We ate the peanuts they were roasting over the fire and I helped them take these stringy things off the lettuce…although I failed miserably at first and they let me know it!
It was just fun to sit with them.
Later we took a half hour walk down the long dirt path to the main road.
I was the white giant among them.
I shouted, “Uvu Killique!” (How are you) to everyone we passed and they laughed hysterically, but I don’t care!
The sun was going down and the stars were getting brighter as the kids ran and chatted…I only could imagine what they were saying to each other!
They started singing songs in unison and their voices lifted to the heavens.
I remember a specific moment where I cemented the sound of their voices in my memory. It was a precious moment with them.
May 17
I just finished taking a bucket bath and I forget what a task it is!
No wonder we don’t bathe for 3 or 4 days at a time!
It takes a lot of work with no clean conclusion seeing as we bathe with dirty water to begin with.
However I feel relatively “clean” right now.
You know it’s time to bathe when you wake up in your tent, crawl out of your sleeping bag and can hardly stand your musty, home grown smell-when your feet and legs carry so much dirt in, you are basically living in a sty you have created for yourself.
Showering is slightly refreshing, although to get there you have to make a couple of trips; first with your things, then with one bucket of hot water and one bucket of cold.
You have to conserve as much water as possible during the actual event because you don’t know if you will have enough by the end.
Today was a rare occurrence because #1: I shaved.
We barely even care anymore if our legs are hairy, much less if the guys even notice our prickly skin.
And #2: the “bath house” was occupied so I showered in the squattie getting even more sand on me than water.
Then, after getting out I apply deodorant in my tent and then proceed to wash my feet and shoes (again) and set them in the sun to dry.
I put on my other pair of shoes and hope my feet stay clean for at least one hour.
I can secure that thought if I decide to sit on this bench for that long.
Beyond that, there is no guarantee.
J
Now my hair is drying in every direction and I should really pluck my eyebrows today.
But maybe I will save some of that excitement for tomorrow.
I hadn’t intended on journaling a full page and a half on bathing.
But these are the experiences that define our sweet lives in the bush of Mozambique.
And I imagine it will evoke a laughter or two in the not so distant future when real, live, hot showers are in abundance and our lives become less adventurous.
May 24
Hannah, Annie and I went to a village in the bush called Temane to an orphanage that Jaco started a couple months ago.
There are 23 children there that were essentially dropped off on the side of the road and left for dead.
As we drove up to the orphanage, my heart sunk.
All that was there was a large green UNICEF tarp held up by some wooden beams.
To the side was a rack with all their dishes and lined up in two rows were the children singing, “You are happy to be together.”
We went to deliver some food, straw mats, blankets and towels.
Before the cyclone, the children didn’t even have the tarp to sleep under.
After, that was all they had.
They slept on the dirt ground in nothing but the clothes on their back.
I imagined them all huddled together to avoid the cold winter nights.
Their faces were dirty and emotionless.
There were two women there that cook for and watch over them.
But besides that, they have no one else to love on them.
Each of them have a very individual story, but some can’t even remember their lives before these past two months.
Our hearts were out of our chests for these children and we plan to return to them on Sunday.
Even now as I shiver in my sleeping bag and tent, I think of them on their new straw mats.
May 30
Today is our last day in Temane.
What a great couple of days it has been!
As I write now, there are 7 children gathered around me watching me write.
They are astounded at the speed I write and I imagine are trying to figure out what I am so vigorously writing about!
There have been no fireworks about what we have done the past couple of days.
But we are answering the command of Jesus to take care of the orphans and widows.
We have done a lot of hugging, kissing and playing games.
I have colored with them in their school workbooks with nothing more than a pencil.
We kicked around the ball for a while, ate with them and slept with them.
The first night was probably the hardest for me.
I was reading my Bible before bedtime and as I glanced over to my right and to my left, there were little brown eyes staring back at me.
I snuggled up in my mummy sac and heard some shifting going on.
When I looked up, I saw the two kids on my right pushing their mat up to mine.
I tossed and turned all night long trying to avoid the cold and my limbs falling asleep.
When morning came, I awoke to the children snuggled up on my side.
My heart continues to be softened for the unloved and the unlovely.
And the truth is they are more visibly seen around the world.
It takes a more attentive eye to spot it in America, but the unloved and unlovely are everywhere there too.
God is raising my awareness and spiritual eyes to see people’s needs. I never want to lose that.
May 18
Yesterday we went to an elder’s ladies prayer meeting which we didn’t actually realize was very exclusive until after the matter.
But they welcomed us in, no questions.
And it was really beautiful.
They met in a room in a concrete house that still had debris all over the floor from the cyclone.
There was no ceiling, just two wooden beams resting where the roof should be.
But the sky was clear and strikingly blue.
The trees were so green; it all looked like a picture in a book.
And as the ladies stood to pray in their colorful head garments contrasting their dark skin-I decided this was a memory to tuck away for all eternity.
They were the older women in the village, so their skin was very wrinkly and their eyes more tired, but you could sense the years of wisdom in that room.
The things they have seen, the families they have raised and the length of time they have spent following the Lord.
They poured out their hearts, sitting and praying and giving their testimonies before one another and God in a language I don’t understand but in a tongue that the Lord created, knows and loves as much as English.
However, the most touching moment for me was when they read Scripture together.
The gal next to me opened her Bible to 1 Corinthians 13, and I glanced over her shoulder as they read.
I could barely make out the words, but was able to read along the best that I could.
Tears came to my eyes as I realized that God Almighty…this is the WORD OF GOD.
This is the living, breathing message God has for them and for me in a language they understand and glorify Him with.
This world continues to be the biggest place I have ever explored.
But the simplicity of truth-of the Gospel-of the Word of God remains and lives truly on every corner of the planet and in so many hearts devoted to Him.
I am beyond blessed to have glimpses into the church here in Mozambique.
Psalm 86:9-10
“All the nations you have made shall together worship before you, O Lord; and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.”
