Our recent journey to Angoche was not without the usual TIA (This Is Africa) moments. With a delayed flight out of Lisbon, a missed connection in Maputo that generated a 12 hour wait for the next available flight, delayed baggage that decided to arrive more than one week late (“I’ll see you when you get there…..” is what I now say to my suitcase when departing for Africa) and of course some of the contents going for a walk, it was all “par for the course”.
Waiting in Nampula for our baggage gave us time to re-adjust to the African tempo , catch up with our Wycliffe friends and buy some essentials for our time in Angoche. With little recent rain Nampula was as busy and dusty as ever. Works to the main roundabout were still underway (they started in 2008 and it really isn’t that big!) but the road down to Angoche proved to be in good condition. Leaving early morning the 3 hour drive delivered us straight into a 9.00am leaders meeting where we received a warm welcome and reviewed progress on a number of the projects we worked on during 2008/9. The agricultural project had delivered a harvest of 12 tonnes providing food for so many needy families, the fishing boat was receiving its last lick of paint prior to being launched and two tailors were working on the veranda producing school clothing for sale in the local community. Aspirations exist for a new a larger training centre, owned by TYH rather than renting the existing building. Plans were discussed for sending a team to start a similar work amongst the Mwani, another similar people group 10 hours north of Angoche. Oh and the Nissan backie is “very tired”.
We were able to provide a new mini-computer, flat screen and keyboard (which wasn’t stolen from our baggage) and help with final plans for the Youth Conference attended by about 200 young people from the Angoche region. Andrew van Renen made a last minute decision to join us, collecting his visa from the High Commission in London just hours before his flight. His contribution and friendship were invaluable and he clearly enjoyed being back in his Africa.
We loved reconnecting with friends and delighted in the familiar smiles and warm greetings. Some of the predicaments remain the same and simple solutions can provide meaningful answers such as new tyres and inner tubes for Rosa’s disabled tri-cycle or two new footballs for youth on the islands. Some longer term plans were identified such as raising funds for further education of 3 Koti young men and providing replacement housing for single parent families without available income to repair their existing huts. In other instances our presence and words brought much appreciated encouragement and inspiration. (Yes, they are easily encouraged and inspired….)
A worthwhile and successful visit – definitely yes, but full of such contrast. A widow weeping at the loss of her husband the day before in a motor-bike accident. The smile on Rebekah’s face as we gave her a Wayne Rooney football shirt for her younger brother. A group of fragile vulnerable island people crouched on the pavement outside the bakers hoping for some help. The generosity and gratitude of island folk sending us on our way with the gift of fresh coconuts.
Can we make sense of all of this – probably not! Can we make a difference of course yes! Is it all too big and are we too small – need I answer? But we all have the amazing strength of a loving God to call upon and know that of those who have received much, much is expected………
As ever in this part of the world we were challenged by the size of the needs presented by so many. So we will no doubt be bringing further needs to you in the near future, but for the time being we are focusing on the education of several of the young lads – Kabila, Chale and José. The 3 of them finished their secondary education at the end of last year and since then they have been helping Inaçio and Pimo in all manner of ways with the running of the community of faith. However, what they really want to do is to attend and complete some further education in the hope of getting jobs and earning an income. Again, something that we pretty much take for granted for our children – even with university fees set to rise etc, etc. Kabila and Chale want to do a one-year course that will set them up to be teachers. (We saw Chale teach the young children at the madrasa the guys are running on the last morning we were in Angoche and were really impressed). One year is sufficient we understand, and then they will start in a school at the very bottom and hopefully work their way up. José has set his sights on a 3 ½ year course in electrical engineering. They all hope to be able to study in Nampula and return back to visit their families and friends in TYH once a month. It will be quite a big cost for TYH to release them – they more or less run the Cidade meeting every Sunday, help with the madrasa, help with the Saturday children’s meeting, are part of the teams that go out every week to take the good news to new places, and are most likely to be the future leadership of TYH! The understanding is that they will come back when they have finished…….
Unless their parents are abnormally well off, further education is not an option for most children when they leave school. That is of course if they manage to finish secondary school, which many – particularly girls – do not. It’s hard not to compare the prospects for these young lads with our young people over here – government spending cuts, credit crunch, university fees etc taken into consideration, our children are hugely better off and these lovely guys don’t really stand a chance without some outside help. As I walked and prayed around Angoche I was often overwhelmed by the question “what is the future of a place like Angoche and what is the hope for its people?” And of course my faith does have an answer for that question. But the inequality of life and a gospel that touches all aspects of human need, call for a response from me. Hence we will be funding at least one year for one of the lads. I invite you to join us in that response if you would like to but appreciate there is a huge amount of need that calls to us from near and far.
We will need to support the lads with more or less everything – not just fees, registration and books, but also food, accommodation and transport. Their only means of income currently is the “subsidio” (small gift from TYH) because of the work they do for the community of faith. Once they move up to Nampula they will no longer receive this. The process begins in November when they will take a small test to see if they will be accepted onto the course. Presuming they are successful they will then have to pay a registration fee. We have already covered this for the 3 of them – it was about £180 each.
From here they will need a one off payment of about 20,000 metecais – £360 for the fees, and then monthly costs totalling about £110 for accommodation for the year, and about £450 for food and transport. This adds up to about £920 but I think realistically we’d like to give them about £1,000 each as we found the cost of living going up almost visibly in front of our eyes when we were there. Chale and Kabila should be there for one year only, but José’s course is 3 ½ years.
If you would like any more details, please do contact us, but in the meantime I will leave you with a picture of these fantastic lads. From left to right José, Alito, Chale and Kabila – on the night we passed on the football shirts you gave. (Alito is Kabila’s younger brother who is just finishing his penultimate year of school).
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