It is hard to believe that my first month of the Race has already come and gone. Mozambique was not the easiest month for me, but the Lord has continued to affirm purpose in the work my team and I did at Kedesh Orphanage.
Those boys captured my heart. I didn’t fully understand the extent until we had to say goodbye to them. I was loaded up in the chipella- a small motorbike attached to a cart frequently used in Mozambique- with Chris and our big backpacks as the boys surrounded us. They grabbed my hand and chased after us waving as we drove away. There is some really sweet redemption in those boy’s stories through the skills, safety, and home Kedesh has provided them.
A goal I have every month of the Race is to put together a photo blog. I love taking pictures, as it is a way to express my creative spirit and paint doesn’t travel super well in a backpack to 11 countries in 11 months. So here is my photo blog for Mozambique. I hope it tells you a story of the kids at Kedesh and the work I was able to share and do with them.
The boys loved climbing trees. The property was filled with mango and cashew trees. Some days we grabbed a few of the boys and just played, climbing trees and laughing. Pictured above- Toni, Cordoso, and Pleaze.
This is Francisquinho- he was one of my favorite boys. He is seven years old and spends holidays and weekends at Kedesh. The ministry hosts does this to support his mom, who has six children and health problems.
We had the opportunity to take all the boys to the beach in Beira one day. We enjoyed playing soccer on the beach, swimming, playing in the sand, and spending time with the boys. This is Francisquinho and Cordoso, who I spent most of the day at the beach with playing in the sand.
Here is another picture at the beach of me with Francisquinho and Cordoso.
This is Bethany and I with Luca- one of the boys we really connected with throughout the month. He spoke English well, so I was able to ask him questions, hear some pieces of his story, and speak truth into his life.
Every Friday we spent the morning and afternoon making flat bread on the charcoal fire for Saturday, which was observed as Sabbath. Cordoso was our helper and made sure that the bread was ‘bon’- or good.
We has so much afternoon hammock time when the heat became too much to work. The boys often followed us back to the cashew tree grove.
Pictured here is Joyce, who comes every day during the week to help cook and clean. One of her daily tasks is sorting beans because no one wants the yucky, defective beans with their rice. I loved spending the in-between times helping her to sort beans.
Pictured here is Dioso- he was quite a character and loved picking on our team. I like this photo because it captures his playful spirit and the beautiful cashew grove where we often found ourselves.
Doing laundry by hand was a new experience in Mozambique- particularly while in the middle of a drought and your only available water is pond water. Once a week we would do our laundry with the boys and hang them to dry.
Manual labor was a large part of this month- whether it was moving bricks for the boys to pave a walkway or spending hours tiling the boy’s dormitory floor, we did the work.
Kedesh at sunset was beautiful. The way the sun touched the landscape of Africa was perfect. I enjoyed a lot of sunsets sitting with the boys or my team.
As I look back on this month, it was hard, but I wouldn’t change it. I’ve learned about expectations- that things probably aren’t going to be like you imagined, but that no matter what happens the Lord is sovereign and good.
