It’s been almost two weeks since 11 other women and I pulled up to our new home in Guija, Mozambique. Since arriving we’ve experienced extremely windy days that require some extra tent stakes, extremely cold days where we put on fleece jackets and beanies, and extremely HOT days where my body processes no other function except to sweat profusely.
As a traveler, I was pumped to finally see and live in sub-Saharan Africa and to learn about the “TIA”(“This Is Africa”) lifestyle I had heard so much about. My heart is in Asia, but I couldn’t wait for the new adventures, culture, and people awaiting me. I’d probably see giraffes outside my window or maybe a herd of buffalo from time to time, or maybe even a pride of lions will be chilling as normally as some pups in the states. And as a missionary, I figured I’d see a level of poverty that my stomach would flip flop over. I mentally prepared myself for the hopelessness, the desperation.
I was positive I’d be hit with a major gut check after our host gave us some back story on Mozambique and the area we are living in:
Communist nation,
only one doctor for 45,000 people and no specialized treatment for patients (medicine or treatment fits all type situation),
all the men work in South Africa and typically have families in both countries,
generations have literally been wiped out due to HIV/AIDs,
women are bent over at 90 degree angles from arthritis,
children aren’t named until they’ve reached the age of 3 because the mortality rate is so high, on top of the mothers can only have 24 hours to grieve for their child if he or she passes before that time since they are not yet considered a full person,
locals can’t afford to build a home out of MUD, sticks, and rocks because those are too nice.
Gut-wrenching, right? I heard these facts and couldn’t fathom how my loving God could let any of His people suffer and lack like this. Where are You in this place, Lord?
And when I expected to meet the face of hopelessness, I met the embrace of promise– God’s promise.
But y’all, Africa is not what I thought it would be.
Firstly, none of these as-seen-in-the-Lion-King creatures have been spotted yet, but we have seen spiders the size of our hands, killed 50+ moths/mosquitos/beetles within 20 minutes, looked out for cobras, are so swarmed by flies that we almost look as if we’re wearing them as accessories, and there are cows outside my window as we speak.
Secondly, there are no orphans because someone in the community takes them in,
women are leading the church,
the elderly have caregivers or a church family who help provide,
they rejoice and dance as we come to pray with them or just wave hello,
they are thriving in simplicity.
God has not left His people; He has provided. Isaiah mentions many times how there is a wilderness that is blooming, rising, restoring and that is what is happening here in Guija.
Yes, Africa is hard, wild, and hot, but I have been humbled and put in my place. I can empathize and help where others may need it, but what place does my pity have? I can afford a mud hut and have more than one outfit, but can I find genuine happiness in the intangible like those around me?
“For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. . . .
Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Luke 12:22-34
