Inguri to Jovane
Inguri forms maybe the largest area of “development” in Angoche. Its spine is a wide dirt road with a string of street lights and power poles down the middle. As you walk into Inguri you pass a somewhat tired-looking mosque and then small concrete houses built by the Portuguese. Small businesses inhabit the verandas where you can find tailors, shopkeepers, hairdressers and even a football table shaded by a small tarpaulin. On parallel streets the housing is less robust and small covered markets are cramped between the simple dwellings. During the day many of the men sleep and then go fishing during the night. Timber poles are fashioned from the mango groves which form many of the islands and a multitude of boats ply a trade carrying fishermen, timber, provisions for the islands and of course passengers.

Inguri street

Inguri mosque

We walk for about half an hour through the early morning sunshine and then arrive at Ussein’s house. The cyclone that hit this area last year destroyed many houses and places within 100 meters of the shore were inundated with sea water. All that remains of Ussein’s home are the remnants of stone and mortar which had originally been applied to a lattice of timber poles. The remains project out of the ground like broken teeth. So now he lives with his family in a small shack that many of us would consider to be a very fragile garden shed. Ussein is one of the leaders in Inguri and is taking us today to Jovane which is an island community located 45 minutes across the water.

On this trip we are accompanied by friends and family, as our daughter Hannah is visiting on her way through to Pemba. She’ll be about 6 hours drive north of us for the next 3 months, helping care for more than 300 street children and attending a school run by Iris Ministries.

Did anyone bring a paddle?
So a ten minute walk takes us down to what we call “Pooh Beach” and we pick our way through to a small boat that awaits our custom. The men roll up their trousers and the ladies raise their skirts to waddle out and embark in as dignified a manner as possible. We wait awhile and then set off, but this boat has a propulsion problem as the power plant comprises one man and a paddle. A few minutes out and caution overcomes valour. We return to the beach to be joined by another boatman carrying two more paddles and a stick. The stick and some rope form a rowlock which provides some leverage for an oar arrangement. Our late arriving boatman set himself at the bow, facing towards the stern placing his feet on a bench seat. He rows for the full 45 minutes and hardly breaks into a sweat. So we arrive on the island safe and sound to follow a sandy path under some coconut palms and past a small “passengers waiting shack”. The path emerges from some long grass and then we begin the 3 km walk to the village. We traverse some wide open and flat areas which seem to have been periodically covered by tidal water. At times we meander through mango groves about 0.5m high or so, paddling in places through curiously cool water. By now it’s nearly 9.00am but the sky is clear and the sun is hot so progress is gentle.

Some of the guys on Jovane

Is this like your church?
We arrive at a small cluster of houses and greet the villagers with our broken Koti language skills. This evokes laughter and great pleasure from our hosts. Some mats made from coconut palms have been laid out under the shade of a large cashew tree and about 35 adults quietly assemble under the direction of Ussein. We enjoy worshiping together and entertainment is provided by a stray dog. He wanders in through our midst, his muzzle decorated with a sprinkling of green “seeds”. He has obviously been poking his nose into where it should not have been. He plonks himself down at the edge of the crowd and one of our number beats him with a stick made from a coconut palm leaf to move him along. Much to everyone’s amusement the dog wins. He simply lies there and whelps when he’s struck, looking disdainfully at his assailant. The meeting proceeds and Annie presents Hannah to our new friends using her “proficient” Portuguese which is then translated into Koti. I follow with a short talk based upon Luke 6 using my “irregular” Portuguese which is manfully transposed into Koti. I speak about not condemning or judging one another, but rather showing love. The passage moves on to talk about planks and specks and then the blind leading the blind. At this juncture two Virgin Atlantic Premier Economy eye patches are employed to demonstrate how ridiculous it is to see a blind person leading around a blind person! More laughter. The point is made regarding the choices we make in terms of who we follow. We then ask the assembled group to pray for us and kneel down on the mats to be encircled by a throng of fervent prayers! Then our team pray for those who are sick, including back pain, a cough, a fever and stomach problems. It’s odd but I am slightly surprised that they have the same sort of ailments as us – what was I expecting – I suppose malaria or worse. Upon reflection maybe this is what some of them have? The team then prays for everyone and our meeting closes with bread and juice (communion) and an offering, polished off with prayer for Mozambique and other nations.

Dog at the end of the meeting

Well, well….
Shortly afterwards lunch appears in enamel bowls on an aluminium tray. This comprises shima and gamarau (a warm dough like substance made from a ground root vegetable and prawns). About 8 of us eat watched by 30 others, a slightly uncomfortable experience. During the time of prayer we were asked to intercede for rain and water. Conversation over lunch reveals water supply as a major problem. The only well on the island at best provides 20 litres per day and there are hundreds of inhabitants. The well needs to be deeper, but the ground is too hard to dig any deeper with the tools they have available. So water has to be collected from the mainland and carried back to the villages.

OK you have guessed it……….we want to help so have started to make enquiries how the well could be improved and how much it would cost…….watch this space.

We trudge back across the sand, accompanied part of the way by our new friends singing and laughing and eventually arrive home, tired, happy, thoughtful and honoured to have spent time on Jovane.

Postscript: The Jovane “Family of Faith” started about 10 weeks ago and is visited weekly by Ussein, often accompanied by other leaders from Inguri. The island has no school or water, but they have discovered something which is obviously very precious to them.