Worms

Just a quick funny story from my day:

Here in Mozambique, we occasionally take pills to kill any worms that might be in the stomach due to food eaten. The Ministry of Health gathered together street kids this past Thursday and gave all of them these pills.

One of my boys, Felix, who is quite the animated one, just told me "esta a sair uma cobra." In English that means, "there is a snake coming out." One of his friends showed me with his hands how big the "cobra" was and another of his friends began to reenact how the "cobra" was coming out. They then offered to take me and show me where Felix has gone to the bathroom so that I could see the "cobra."

I declined the offer.

But oh how I love these boys!

Street Kids in My Home

One of my favorite authors, Erwin McManus, says, "home is ultimately not about a place to live but about the people with whom you are most fully alive. Home is about love, relationship, community, and belonging and we are all searching for home."

the past week or so i have been having some problems with my landlord and neighbors. i live in a building with 5 other apartments and my neighbors have been complaining about the street boys being around. my landlord wants me to set better boundaries between my work and my home. i've tried to explain to him that this is not work for me. i gave up everything to move to mozambique and minister to these kids. that ministry doesn't just end at 2:00 when the center closes. it is so important to me that the boys be able to visit me in my home. they sometimes come to play with the toys i have here or just to ask for a cup of water. they also come to me when they are sick or injured. i love that they do these things!! to me its a very small way to share the love of God with them and its all a part of building a relationship with them so that they will receive the Truth that i speak into their lives. i've spoken to all the boys and asked them to help me by not loitering around the building waiting on me to come home or wake up in the mornings. i've also asked them not to come after dark. in the end, the landlord agreed to give me a couple of weeks and see how it goes with these guidelines for the boys. i'm pretty sure it will be a one chance thing and that if a neighbor calls to complain again i will have the option of telling the boys they aren't allowed here at all or moving out. i would choose to move out before i would tell the boys they aren't welcome in my home. i hope it doesn't come to that though and i ask you to pray. pray that the boys will be more respectful of the other people that live here. pray also that the hearts of my neighbors would be softened towards the boys. the boys aren't doing anything bad but there are so many negative stereotypes about street kids. i've been able to talk to them a bit about this and challenge them to start making better choices about how they behave, treat other people, and even their appearance. i've told them that they can't expect to wake up one morning and magically their life be changed. the responsibility to make wise decisions is theirs and they have the power to help break some of these stereotypes put on them.

i'm only here for 2 more months. november 21, i'll be going to visit my family and friends in the states. when i come back to mozambique in january, i'm planning to live with some friends who are starting a new project called kunhymela house. the heart of this ministry is to provide "a home that serves the disenfranchised just as Christ served them during His walk on earth, by living in community with them and focusing on relationship over all else." i will continue working with masana and we will partner with kunhymela house when we have street kids who are really sick or for the boys who are preparing to return home. it will be such a blessing to live with a other people who have the same heart as i do for the street kids!!!

Bird Catching

Today some of the boys met me at my house at 9:00 in the morning and off we went to the bush so that they could show me how they caught the little bird they had given me a couple of weeks ago. We drove about 30 minutes from the city. Our first stop was this tree:

The boys climbed up the tree and picked berries.

Here is Ernesto with his berries. Inside is a white substance.

They put the white substance in their mouths and chewed it up. Then they stuck it on the ends of sticks. Once mixed with saliva, it becomes sticky like a glue.

Then we drove to another area where there were lots of masala trees. Ernesto climbed up to the top and tied the sticks with the berry glue onto the highest branches.

Then we all hung out in this tree and waited for a bird to land on the stick and get stuck in the berry glue.

Here is the first bird we caught!

It was a cute little bird with bright yellow feathers.

Abrantis poured water into a bottle cap for the little bird to drink some.

Jito got the second bird. He tried to feed it some berries.

And that is how you catch a bird in the bush. I have seen people selling the birds on the street. Not sure who buys them or what they do with them but now I know how to catch them!