So just back from Mozambique followed by a few days in South Africa. Great to have my brother Alistair and Ian and Liz Linton with us in for most of the journey. Angoche continues to inspire, challenge and present the extremes of life. The next generation are confronting the issues and stepping into greater responsibilities for their own families and community. Success continues with the farming project, with 60 x 50kg sacks of rice being harvested. The Community Centre is being well used and the natural medicine clinic is seeing patients treated with diseases such as malaria with artemisia each week. Timmy and Sarah and their lovely children live out life with wisdom, courage and fun and are consistently kind and generous hosts. So we come away bruised by the bumpy journeys, humbled by having our feet washed when disembarking through the mud around the island of Mutabane and hopeful for a future shaped by young couples committed to one another. The picture below shows me helping Rebecca pummel rice from the Farm Project ready for a little cabbage and rice supper…… all part of life for the hard-working locals who perform tasks to survive that have little comparison to our western conveniences. 

Bumpy Times…. so the work in Angoche has gone through some bumpy times recently but with increasing maturity and wisdom is stepping towards its future. The road to Angoche was missing numerous bridges and comprised an unusually generous sprinkling of craters so that we lurched back to Nampula somewhat bruised and dusty! British Airways didn’t want to miss out on the fun so the turbulence shook at us as if Africa did’t want to let us go. Returning to the UK from such extremes of poverty is always a bumpy experience which does not get any easier,  but we are privileged to be able to count as friends people who live such different lives with such ability and determination.

 

In 2008 a Kiwi missionary visiting the island of Caluculo off Angoche in northern Mozambique came across a somewhat drunk Koti fisherman called Ali, sitting in the sand and spoke with him about becoming a Follower of Jesus. Something life-changing happened and later that year Ali and his family including daughter Monica were baptised (see photo below). Wind the clock forward to June 2017 and Ali rescued us when our boat got blown into the mangroves and the mainsail became ensnared on the tenacious branches which were unwilling to let us go in one piece. A ragged mainsail coaxed by Ali got us safely back to Angoche. The rescued became the rescuer!

 

His daughter Monica married one of the young leaders called Amadinho and they now have two well cared for and gorgeous boys. To quote Graeme Fawcett, who pioneered the work in Angoche “Amadinho is one of the most capable and gifted young leaders in TYH. He has a different temperament and gift-mix to some of the others. He’s more of an organiser, very responsible and always faithful to arrive early and set up for meetings.”  Two years ago Monica asked for prayer for her brain ….. literally! She said she couldn’t read and was desperate to read the Bible. A year later and a different girl bounded up to say that God had answered her prayer. She and Amadinho work together wonderfully and they have great potential to become key leaders in Angoche.

In order to fulfil this potential, we’d like to ask you to help them. We want the young leaders in Angoche to:

• Learn English so they can interface with the outside world as leaders;
• Broaden their perspectives of church life and ministry;
• Grow in the Lord and ministry experience whilst maintaining roots with TYH.

In 2018 we’d like them to study at Missions Campaign Network in Nairobi (see the following link)           https://www.facebook.com/missioncampaignnetwork/ learning English from February to May followed by a 7 week discipleship course followed by a further 12 month course at MCN.

Last year MCN hosted another young couple from Angoche both confronting stuff that needed to be dealt with as well as loving and affirming them. It has been a real success!

In order to fund Amadinho, Monica and the two boys we are fundraising from around the world and need £11,235. which covers:

• Set-up and living costs, language study and course fees £480 per month for 18 months
• Fares and visas for the family £2,685

Yes, it is a lot of money, but we think this is a great investment into the next generation.

         Amadinho, Monica and the boys at the new TY Centre in Angoche – July 2017

How to give – see the link below but basically:

You can set up a monthly Standing Order to River Church and if you are a tax payer this can be Gift Aided marked “Moz Leaders”

A one-off donation made out to River Church which can also be Gift Aided and also marked “Moz Leaders”. This can be made in an envelope on a Sunday morning or by bank transfer. Best not to use PayPal as it is quite costly.

http://riverchurch.org.uk/Groups/2814/Home/Church_Life/Giving/Giving.aspx

Thanks as always for your continued support and prayers. We’ll be back in Angoche in 2018 if you want to join us for a week…….?

Julian and Annie Bullen  – October 2017

 

For readers of Tolkien’s The Hobbit the words “There and back again” will be familiar words, being the alternative title to a book that sparked my interest in the written word.

Our Koti Journey continues in June when we go there and back again to Angoche. By that time Prague will no longer be our permanent home, but we will be going there and back again one week a month.

Building the community centre in Angoche has required repeated long-distance conversations with the South African steelwork fabricator. I have felt that we have been going there and back again!

Now I am going to desist from these “There and back again” references and try and share some significant stuff. Good news….. the community centre has progressed well and the buildings are already being used, even though they are not completely finished. The first usage was a conference attended by 300 leaders in January and a further conference is scheduled for June. We had the opportunity to speak at River Church in Marlow recently and shared the stories of some of the amazing young people who live in Angoche. More than £750 was raised towards the Natural Medicine Clinic being run by Pai Maggia which forms part of the development.

Over the newly built wall picture of the centre

Amade, Nuru, Inacio, Vitor, Talsamo and Amaral

Youth Leaders conference January 2017

So this note is just to keep you informed and engaged and hopefully a little inspired! To deliver the project more than 250,000$ have been raised from New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and the UK to name but a few. Regular prayer on the site and hard working locals have moved this forward, ably managed by Inacio one of our Tarikhi ya Haakhi (translates from Koti into “The True Way”) leaders and Francisco our Portuguese builder. We have worked hard to engage with the local Council and have created the first facility of its kind in the region…… I wonder if this can be repeated? Would anyone like to go there and back again?

One of the indicators of progress can be physically seen in Angoche as the new community centre buildings rise up out of the ground. Providing a focus, opportunity and support to this remote Koti community the new buildings are providing responses  to needs such as education, health, hygiene and linguistics.

Pimo clearing the foundation pads for inspection

 

 

Annie marking up the agreed floor plans

 

 

 

Looking from the back of the site towards the reception and office block

Inacio in front of the new offices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another significant measure is the continuity of commitment and engagement from the community of faith and hundreds of people continuing to become Followers of Isa. A particular encouragement are the younger generation, who have grown from teenagers to young adults, getting married and starting families. The examples they set are profound and humbling. In the face of adversity and challenges that would becalm most of us they continue to catch the windInacio in front of the new officesand pursue their callings. One young man that Julian taught English to is now fluent (with a nice English accent!) and runs his own English classes on a voluntary basis. Another young couple have moved 8 hours up the coast and they are reaching the unreached in a location where there is no drinking water within 15km and gatherings are held in the evening to retain a low profile. They are seeing some success and hope to start a small hair cutting business to help support themselves.

So it was a full week in Angoche moving the project forward to the next exciting stage. This means completing all the first phase buildings including offices, reception, toilets, kitchen, translation room, natural medicine clinic, 50 person meeting room and 25 X 16m main meeting space. We have raised about £135,000 and all of these spaces can be completed within this figure. The lights, tiles, sanitary goods and fixtures have been selected and the orders placed for work to continue.

Yes we need more funds to finish fitting these out, with items such as stainless steel kitchen tables, PV energy panels, fencing, hard and soft landscaping on our list. We hope that showing progress will release more funds.

Visitors from New Zealand and Japan are visiting over the next few weeks, including a team of 10 young people obtaining a first African experience.

The dynamic mixture of faith and development reaching one of the poorest community’s in Moozambique provides a powerful prayer-based model. With outbreaks of armed conflict in the centre of the country, a failing economy and natural resources unethically pillaged you might think why bother? Having spent a challenging week with my friends who fed us from their empty tables, I would say………. they are more than worth it!

Transitioning back to Prague where I am helping to deliver a 400 million Euro luxury development couldn’t be more of a contrast. Our calling to be a bridge between people and nations continues to stretch and inspire us and Europe’s needs whilst completely different seem just as acute….. but as I said before, that’s another story.

 

 

You may have heard some recent news from Heidi Baker ministries based further up the cost from Angoche in Pemba. They report famine amongst the communities they work with and are raising funds for some immediate relief.

This story is a familiar one, and finding ways to both provide immediate relief when needed and also build longer term risilience are sometimes competing, but always two very necessary responses.

The Angoche Community Centre project will provide a focus for immediate relief when it is needed, such as the Natural Medicine Clinic, but also strategic development through education and business initiatives.

Blocks are being laid at the moment for the kitchens, toilets and administration buildings. At the same time colours and final design have been selected for the 25 x 16 metre community hall, and delivery is being arranged for the steel from from South Africa.

In late June Annie and I return to Mozambique after more than a year away from Africa(the longest break for awhile enforced by Julian having pneumonia). We have been challenged and inspired after running a one week DTS for YWAM in Albania. Returning to our current home of Prague, where we will be staying until the end of September, our hearts were touched by a younger generation so full of ambition but will such significant stories. The family histories we heard included war torn Ukraine and Syria, political and economic  strife and unrest in Venezuela, and orphanage life in Albania. It all seemed very reminiscent of the stories we often hear in Angoche.

So whilst travelling to  meet and encourage young people in such places is not easy, we  know that without these journeys we would not have the same sense of purpose and fulfilment.

So we encourage our readers, friends and supporters to push into our God given callings, even if we don’t fully understand what they are as along the way we might just discover places and people of personal significance.

Being in the centre of Europe in a land that has been fought over and carries so many of it’s own challenges, when we as a nation consider our European destiny has been enlightening…… but that is for another time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the amazing support of people in the UK we have been able to arrange 3 flights to deliver urgently needed medicines to Angoche. With the road bridges washed away and extensive flooding, it has been impossible to get through to Nampula. Working with District officials, Inacio of TYH helped to arrange these relief supplies.

 

A flooded Inguri, the town area of Angoche closest to the sea

 

 

Mission Aviation Fellowship land in Angoche with medicines for the hospital

On Sunday we are launching an appeal at River Church in Maidenhead as a consequence of extensive flooding in Mozambique. On one co-operative farm we helped to start 7 huts have been washed away. The people there have lost everything and have returned to the main town of Angoche without food, clothing or shelter. But many parts of this town are flooded and the main road to the city of Nampula is closed.

We have a fund set up with River Church which you can give into. A simple hut costs £70 to build and it’s about £50 to keep a family going with basic food for a month.

If you are not able to be there then drop us a line and we’ll let you know how to give.

Great news from Angoche as the foundations are constructed for the first ever community centre of its type in northern Mozambique. With a mix of a publicly accessible community hall, a literacy and translation centre, youth facilities, classrooms, natural medicine clinic, business units, prayer room and of course the usual administration, kitchen and toilet facilities the Angoche Community Centre will provide a unique mix of services to a community of some 65,000 people.

in response to a vision held by local leaders to see such a facility, works started on site early in 2015. Our overall cost plan anticipates a budget of $250,000 (£162,000) wherever possible using locally sourced labour and materials. We are about half-way to our fund raising target with gifts coming in from Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK (to name but a few).

Digging the foundation pads

The next step is the erection of the steel framed auditorium, manufactured in South Africa and transported by road up to Angoche. Steel erectors from Mozambique will be supported by local labour, and we hope to be on site in about 3 months time.

We continue to engage with the local community, with prayer teams meeting together early every morning on site to soak the project in prayer. You can engage in this project too, by praying for all of us, following this blog and if you’d like providing some financial support. On site pray for Inacio  as he takes the lead in supervising the project, liaising with the local Council and arranging materials. Pai Pimo is the on-site eyes and ears, making sure there is no problems with issues such as theft. The newly built store room will be very useful, and will eventually become the natural medicine clinic at the front of the site.

Inacio and his daughter Eunice lining up the foundations

Vitor (leader of Tarikhi Ya Haakhi) and the ground-breaking ceremony

So having been back in the UK for a week we have had a little time to reflect on our travels. A packed agenda with lots of travelling and numerous meetings  delivered all that we hoped for and more. We reconnected with some good friends, made some new aquaintances  and were encouraged with the progress of a new generation in Angoche.

We found the Van Renen family in good spirits, proudly sporting a new swimming pool and patio doors and preparing themselves for a major remodelling of their home in Bryanstown, Jo’burg. Jane had oiled the wheels for a really good meeting with Family Impact in Benoni (close to the airport) and we met the members of their board. Their vision is to see delivered a contextualised version of the marriage course to rural Africa. Our approach delighted them and with our fund-raising continuing we hope to fly some trainers up to Nampula later this year.

 

Meeting the leadership team of Family Impact – Lynn and Andrew with Jane Van Renen

 

Bill Smith of SpanAfrica flew Julian down to Pietermaritzburg to visit the factory quoting for the steel frame and cladding for Angoche Community Centre. A fruitful visit helped to firm up the quote and agree logistics, arranging for a Mozambican team to erect the new building.

Span Africa Factory

 

A meeting with a Portuguese contractor in Angoche then paved the way for the earthworks and foundations to be quoted, so all the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. Julian now has to issue info for the civil’s quote and issue a formal project proposal to funders. Annie joined others praying at the existing centre at 5.30am each morning whilst Julian pretended to be asleep under the moz net.

A few days in George on the Eastern Cape at a beautiful house by the sea run by Peter and Anne-Marie Helms http://www.seebreez.com facilitated some strategic discussions with Graeme and Lucy Fawcett and Linda Harding. One key topic was how can we support the next generations as they seek to reach the unreached, giving them back-up and letting them stand on our shoulders.

 

 

A drive along the garden route then took us into Parow, Cape Town where we met with Lighthouse Church. We helped with a short missions course, met up with Chale and Nuro from Angoche who are students there and also discussed with their leaders how they can help with the building project in Angoche. We are all on the same page and hope to use the project not only to deliver a new centre but also up-skill locals.

Sunday morning at Lighthouse Church

Two more flights and a 4 hour drive in a 4×4 brought us to Angoche after sunset. During our time there Julian spoke about communication to the leadership team and presented the vision for Marriage Course 101.  He also ran a pilot session with Annie modelling how to run session 2 around the theme of “communication in marriage” using materials provided by Family Impact (www.familyafrica.org). The team staying in Angoche at its maximum comprised 16 people from South Africa, UK, New Zealand and Japan. The next generation are stepping forward and it is a privilege to be one of a cloud of witnesses cheering them on.

On the last day we were joined by Paul and Cathy Middleton of Mercy Air who landed at Angoche airstrip in their 6 seater plane. Mercy Air are looking to focus on Mozambique and can help with literacy, medical and practical work which would be really welcomed in Angoche. We visited a lively gathering under a large tree with about 200 Followers of Isa. With 2,000 children developing literacy at lessons run by 48 teachers we want to improve the quality of what we are doing, drawing upon those with African experience. Mercy Air work with literacy experts so this was another fruitful connection. An amazing flight down the coast to Beira and then on to Kruger International was followed by a short hop to White River and an overnight stay at the Mercy Air base.

 

 

Some new Canadian friends called Dwight and Lynn Lagore of SAM Ministries http://www.samministries.org drove us down to Jo’burg and then it was back on the Dreamliner for a smooth flight back to Frankfurt and on to Heathrow.

 

Looking back this has been one of our most successful trips to Africa which as always leaves us with delight amidst profound challenges.

Future opportunities may include some facilitated workshops with leadership teams of some of the organisations we connected with, helping them maximise their potential and work together more effectively.

So we are now at White River staying at the Mercy Air base for one night and fly out this evening to Jo’burg.

Julian will have taken 12 flights in 17 days, but the packed schedule has been really fruitful.

More detail to follow, but in the meantime…..

The Marriage Course meetings with Family Impact and the training sessions in Angoche could not have gone better.

Contractors identified for the community centre and meeting held with them in Pietermaritsberg and Angoche. It coming together nicely.

Very good time in George in a lovely house overlooking the ocean talking strategy about the future.

Acting as repair man for the guest house we have rented with the Fawcetts for the year, fixing beds and mosquito nets to accommodate 4 people from New Zealand, 5 from Japan and 3 Brits.

Great to see young leaders stepping up the plate and for instance leading the literacy programme with 48 teachers and 2000 students!

…… and lots of flying from the biggest airline in the world to a 6 seater (the 6 seater was the best)