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?

A Different Kind of Thanksgiving

This past Thursday, as families all over the States were gathering to celebrate Thanksgiving, I was thousands of miles from my family. But I had the beautiful privilege of taking a boy who had been living on the streets for a few years back to his family.

Abel is 13 years old. His great grandparents live about an hour from the city as well as one of his brothers. His mother and grandmother live closer to the city but for Abel, his great-grandparents place is home. His great-grandparents were so excited to see him, although at first they didn't recognize him as it had been at least 2 years since they'd seen him. His great grandfather pulled out all of Abel's documents and old school papers as well as some family photos. He spoke to us about the love they have for Abel and how they want him to stay home with them and eventually take over the family farm.

Their joy over their returned great grandson was beautiful.

This was a Thanksgiving I will never forget.

Beach Day!

The Mozambican school year has now ended. That means no lessons at Masana for the month of November!! We are seeking creative ways to entertain the boys each day and, living on the coast, the beach is always a hit. So once a week we pile all 30-something boys as well as 6 or 7 adults into our 2 cars and drive to Costa do Sol for a couple of hours.

I love beach days because I see the boys forgetting about the harshness of street life as they play soccer, swim, build houses out of sand and, well, just be kids.

Prodigal Son Party

Back in March, while I was in the States begining my cancer treatments, I had the idea of throwing a prodigal son party at Masana on the day that a boy is being reintegrated. In the story of the prodigal son found in Luke 15, the father gives the son 3 gifts and a huge party:

But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

Luke 15:22-24

So began the tradition of Prodigal Son Parties at Masana. This past week, I was blessed to be here for Solomão's party. Luis, who is the head of our reintegration team, did a beautiful job of telling the story of the prodigal son and the significance of the 3 gifts - a robe, a ring, and shoes. Each of the gifts symbolize honor, position, and sonship. For Solomão, the shirt, ring, and sandals he received are to remind him of the commitment he is making as he leaves the streets and is reunited with his family.

Please keep Salomão in your prayers as he adjusts to life back at home.

Halloween In Maputo

This past Monday I taught all of the Masana boys about halloween and the idea of dressing up in costumes and going trick-or-treating. I had some old pictures on my computer from the halloween parties we use to have at our house in Athens so I was able to print off a picture of me dressed as Strawberry Shortcake to show all of the boys. That night, the 6 boys that are living with us right now sneakily put together costumes and trick-or-treated at our house. Thankfully, there was a bag of Reese's cups in the freezer that I was able to give them!!! However, that means we no longer have a surplus of reese's cups in the freezer for those days when we just need a little taste of America....anyone want to send some our way?

note: all donations of resse's cups and any other american goodies can be sent to our p.o. box in south africa:

Sarah Olds

Suite 337 Private Bag X11340

Nelspruit 1200 South Africa

Tears of Joy

Little David ran away from home over 3 years ago and has been living on the streets ever since. He recently decided he was ready to return home so we drove him there yesterday. His house is in a very remote village about 2 hours from the city. We drove to the house that his family lived in when he left 3 years ago but no one was home. After speaking to a neighbor, we realized his family had moved to a new house. Thankfully, David knew where this new house was located.

Upon arriving at the correct house, David's aunt gave us chairs to sit in. One of his little cousins was quite scared of us because she had never seen white people in her village. She ran away when we first walked up but soon came back to see why we were there. Luis, my coworker, began introducing us to the aunt...."Sarah, Lauren, Luis." Lastly, he pointed to David and said "and this young man you already know." The aunt shook her head no and took a better look at David's face. About the time Luis said the name "David" you could see the look of recognition registering on the face of his aunt.

And then the tears of joy started falling.

David was crying. I was crying. Lauren was crying. The aunt was crying. And shouting. And jumping up and down. And running to call other family members.

It was beautiful.

Another prodigal son is home.

(David in the white jersey with his family)