My Sweet Chico

Last week I had the bitter sweet privilege of taking my sweet Chico home. Chico is 11 years old and has been around Masana for a couple of years. His life on the streets started out a little different. Chico is from a community near the city. He and his friends would come to the city during the day to beg and then return home at night. Eventually they started spending the odd night on the street and then go home the next day. As they became accustom to the freedom of life on the streets, they started going home less and less. Eventually they found themselves living on the streets. With each passing day, it became harder and harder to return home.

Until last week.

After about a month of talking with Chico about going home the day finally arrived. I half expected him to change his mind and not show up that day. But he arrived at Masana bright and early ready to say his goodbyes and go home. He directed us on how to get to his family's home. Upon our arrival, his mom hug him and his little brother, who was playing at a neighbors, came running too. We sat under a tree with his mom, 2 aunts, and an older, respected neighbor from the community. 8 or more kids gathered around to watch and listen in on our conversation. Chico's mom explained that Chico had never done anything wrong at home but had simply disappeared. She was so grateful to have him back.

I already miss my daily hugs from Chico and having him around to hang out after Masana each day. I know I'm not suppose to have favorites but Chico is one of my favorites.

Please keep him in your prayers as he readjusts to life at home.

Pray against the temptation to return to the streets.

Pray for new friends in his community who are not interested in that lifestyle either.

He Will Laugh

Isaac. He will laugh. This is the biblical meaning of the name given to the firstborn son of Abraham and Sarah.

Here at Masana, God blessed us with an Issac and, true to his name, he brought much joy and laughter to our home. Isaac grew up on the streets. At the age of 14, he decided it was time to go home. In October of last year, Isaac moved in with us as we began the process of reintegrating him with his family. During this time, we saw him transformed into a young man who knew how to be serious when necessary but also delighted in bringing laughter to those around him.

We succeeded in finding Isaac's grandparents in a community near the city but, unfortunately it did not work for him to live there. His grandparents helped us find his other grandmother, his mom's mom. Isaac desperately wanted to reconnect with his mom and live with her. It had been at least 5 years since he had seen her. After many attempts at contacting the grandmother who could lead us to Isaac's mother, we finally met her. 2 weeks ago, she accompanied us on the hour and a half drive from the city to show us where Isaac's mother now lives.

Today, Isaac is living with his mother and younger brother.

Please keep Isaac in your prayers as he adjusts to this new life. Pray for him to make new friends. Pray for him to be comfortable enough being himself so that he may continue bringing laughter to all he meets.

One Year Ago

This time a year ago, I was in South Africa undergoing tests because of a lump I had found in my breast. A few days later my life was changed when I received a phone call from my doctor saying the biopsy had come back positive for carcinoma. I had cancer. Suddenly I was faced with having to make a lot of tough decisions about my treatment – return to the States or stay in Africa? Lumpectomy or mastectomy? Proceed with chemo despite the effects it could have on my body?

I can say without a doubt that I felt the Lord guiding me in all of those decisions. I’m not going to lie….it was a crappy year and I am very thankful it is over and I hope and pray that I never have to go through it again. But having survived cancer, I have so much new revelation of God as my strength and Comforter. He so graciously surrounded me with amazing family and friends to care for me during the 7 months of my treatment. He gave me strength when I needed it. And through it all, He deepened my love and calling to the street children in Mozambique, Africa. You see, that was the hardest part….being away from my boys. Surgery was no fun, chemo was really hard and radiation was so drawn out…..But all of it was easy compared to being separated from my boys for 7 months.

I’m home now. It’s been 4 months since my treatments ended. I’m healthy and loving my life. Upon my return to Mozambique in October, God gave me so much grace to just pick up where I had left off 7 months earlier. In many ways, its like I was never away. I am so grateful for God’s kindness and the promise found in 1 Corinthians 10:13 – “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength but with your testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

Thank you to all of you who stood beside me and cried with me and counseled me and prayed for me. Thank you to the wonderful doctors who provided my care. Thank you to the friends who went to chemo treatments with me and to those who so graciously invited me to out to lunch or a movie. Thank you to my mom and dad for taking such precious care of me even when I wasn’t very fun to be around. I love you all so much and am forever grateful for the family and friends God has blessed me with!

Ministry Need

Hi friends! I wanted to share a need that we have. One of the boys involved in our project, Paito, has started playing guitar. He is incredibly gifted and is learning so rapidly! He has been playing for about a year and already has been invited to play with our church worship team and with a band that some friends of our have.

Paito is 17 years old. He lived on the streets for a few years. In 2010, we felt that God was calling us to take him in as a son. He has now been living with us for about a year and a half. His father lives nearby so he visits him from time to time but it is not really ideal for him to live there. Upon moving in with us, Paito began playing around with the guitar. Within 2 weeks he was playing songs and soon passed the skill level of our friend who was teaching him. We've been able to talk to him a lot about how this ability is a gift from God and we're excited to see him learning more about the heart of worship.

As Paito has begun playing in the worship band and this other band, he is in need of an acoustic guitar that plugs in. If any of you have one in good condition, laying around or know of someone with an extra one, it would really be a blessing to Paito as he continues to grow in his gifting. There is a team of visitors coming to Mozambique in May from Georgia and they would be able to bring the guitar over. Or if someone wants to donate funds, we could purchase one in South Africa. Please send me an email if you can help (solds19@gmail.com)!

If you'd like to donate funds towards the guitar, you can make a check payable to Abba's Ambassadors with "Masana Guitar" on the memo line. They handle all of our ministry finances. Their mailing address is:

Abba's Ambassadors
P.O. Box #1848
New York, NY 10156

School Registration

It's that time of year again. We've been busy busy busy getting all of our reintegrated boys registered for the new school year. This is always a mission as things aren't necessarily easy here in Mozambique. This process of school registrations always reminds that i live in a 3rd World country! Here are some of the frustrations:

* The responsibility lies with the parents or guardians to go to the schools near their house and search for a school with space for their child. The schools here are very over-crowded with an average of 50-70 students per classroom so this is not always an easy task! Some of our boys live with aunts, uncles, or grandparents who are not able or willing to oversee the registration process so the responsibility then lies with us.

* Because most of our boys abandoned school in the past when they began living on the streets, the process of getting them back into school is even more complicated. We have to go speak to the directors personally and explain the role we, as a project, are playing in helping the boy reintegrate into his family and community. Often we have to pay a fine as well for the boy to be allowed back in the school.

* If the boy is starting at a different school then where he last studied, we have to go to the old school and request his grades. This usually takes a day or two so we have to return later to pick it up. With some of our boys, we have had to go to 3 or 4 different schools in his community before finding one with an opening in his grade.

* Many of our boys do not have proper documentation (birth certificate) or if they have it it is at a family members house 2 hours away. Without documentation its difficult to register a boy for school because we cannot prove his age. In these situations, we are usually able to get special permission from the director for the boy to start studying with the promise that we will organize his documents within a set period of time. Other boys have documentation but it's not accurate. For example, we have a 12 year old boy whose birth document says he is 16. We are trying to register him for grade 4 or 5 and having lots of trouble because of the age on his document.

At the end of the day, its worth all of the frustration of going from school to school because we firmly believe that education is an important aspect of our boys being successfully reintegrated into their families and communities. Without education, their are few hopes for a successful future. Without school, many of the boys would end up right back on the street.

Please be praying for our boys as they begin their new school year in the next week or so. After being on the street it is hard for them to discipline themselves to go to school and study. Pray for good teachers who will really invest in them. Pray for the boys to truly see the value of education and the impact it has on their future.

December in a Nutshell

Even in Africa, life is busy during the holidays! So here is a picture-summary of December:

On December 1, the Masana day center closed for the holidays. We had a party and gave out soccer jerseys to the boys that had done well in school during the year and to those who had had the best attitudes.

Little Chico with his jersey that he got for always helping out with our daily cleaning.

Isaac and Felix helped us put out some lights and Christmas decorations. This is Isaac testing to see if the lights work!

This is George the Giraffe all ready for Christmas!

Our beautiful little Christmas tree!

I dyed my hair red!

We spent my birthday at the beach/pool. This is little Chico enjoying one of my yummy birthday cupcakes.

Lauren and I bought the boys that live with us a fun Christmas present. Wrapped in sales ads of course!

Christmas stockings are a foreign concept in Mozambique. The boys always try them on as boots!

It's a ping pong table!!!

Isaac decorating cookies that we gave to all the Masana staff.

Felix was so creative with his cookie decorating! He made plenty of extras to take to his family that he spent Christmas day with.

On December 21, we had a FUN Christmas party for all the street kids!

I spent the Christmas weekend in Durban, South Africa with my roommate Lauren and her family. Then I was back in Mozambique for New Years where I got to set off fireworks with some of my boys.

Happy New Year to all and may 2012 be filled with blessings!!!!

Street Kids Christmas

On December 22, we had a Christmas party for about 35 boys. Each year, our day center closes for 6 weeks during the holidays. We encourage the boys to go visit their families during this time. Some do and some don't. For the younger ones that choose to stay on the streets during the holidays, they rarely bathe or wash their clothes. So needless to say, on the day of the party, we were prepared for some dirty, smelly boys! We pulled out some clothes that had been donated and offered a t-shirt and pair of pants/shorts to each boy as he came in. Sadly, most of the clothes were way to big for the boys but I handed out strips of curly ribbon to be used as belts!

Once the boys were all nice and clean, the party started! Some friends of ours who also live here in Maputo, Dave and Amy, organized a bunch of fun games for the boys.

We bobbed for apples (the first time the boys had ever seen that game!).

We played chubby bunny.

We had a bubble-gum-bubble-blowing contest.

We did the classic relay race of finding the candy in the plate of flour using only your mouth.

We had a water balloon toss followed by a water balloon fight!

And finally the boys made paper chains and blew up balloons to decorate.

Meanwhile, Mama Julia was busy busy busy in the kitchen preparing 15 chickens (that we had killed and plucked the day before), salad, rice, and french fries. Before lunch was served, we gathered all the kids together and Luis told them all the Christmas story and talked about why Jesus came to live on the earth. If you've ever visited me in Mozambique, you know what a great story teller Luis is. He really gets into it! This story was complete with jumping up on one of our picnic tables to act out the part of the angel who appeared before Mary. Unfortunately, our tables are a little worn out and his foot went through the table as he was jumping down (sorry Ian!).

After the Christmas story, we served lunch and yummy chocolate cake

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Before the boys left, they each got a small present. For some reason, Lauren and I had the great idea of giving each of the boys a box of Pops....those little things you throw on the ground and they make a loud popping sound. Very quickly the boys discovered they could throw the Pops at their friends feet and scare them with the noise. A popping war broke out!

And that is Christmas with the street kids. Beautiful, isn't it?