Mozambique 101 - History Part One

This is the first post in a series titled “Mozambique 101”. This series is my attempt to answer many of the questions that I’ve been asked about Mozambique, other than the ever-popular “where’s THAT?”. Over the next several months, these articles should help you understand what things are like in Mozambique and why they came to be that way. This post is essentiallly the condensed story of Mozambique until about 20 years ago.

Once upon a time, Mozambique was ruled by dinosaurs Mozambicans. Except they weren’t called that. The name Mozambique came from some dude named Mussa al-biqe that was an Arab trader that lived out on the coast. The rest of Mozambique was covered with various tribes, each with their own language and culture. Sure, there were common threads with all of them the same way there for Europeans (for example, they all use the metric system, they’re all snooty and their basketball courts are shaped weird).

Then one day came the Europeans. The coast of Africa was first explored by the Portuguese sailor Vasco de Gama (15^th century).

What he lacked in fashion he made up for with an awesome

beard and superior firepower.

On behalf of the Empire of Portugal he went around seeking places that would be profitable for colonization. Mozambique was an attractive place to settle because of its already semi-established coastal trading network developed by the Arabs. So, Portugal decided to set up shop. As a result, Mozambique now boasts the oldest European made buildings anywhere in the world outside of Europe

The one where the orphanage "goes green"

There’s a fine line between “going green” and being a redneck. Here in Mozambique, we’re doing our absolute best to obliterate that line. Let me show you what I mean. First up is the idea of recycling. What better way to recycle than just never get rid of anything. With that in mind, I present to you the infamous wheel BARrow-B-Q. Mmmmm, look at that chicken cook!

Below is Helder getting the second BARrow-B-Q ready for some more tasty chicken.

Canito (center) and Claudia (right) talk about how great it is that we’ve reduced our carbon footprint while Dorcas (left) takes a break from grilling.

The one where TJ reads a lot.

My first week back in Africa has seen a lot: Driving across town looking for construction contractors, riding on the back of a motorcyle heading to breakfast, eating lots of rice and beans, learning the kids’ new inside jokes, telling them all about my family and how everybody has been doing, and even some espionage…

But above all my time has included a lot of reading. There’s been tons to do and bunches of time to hang out with the kids, but when it gets to be 95° in the afternoon and I feel like crawling under the porch to die reading is an activity that involve zero energy.

So what’s been on my reading list? I’m glad you asked. First of all has been my Bible. Its super refreshing and always encouraging to me. The fact that its at the top of my list should have gone without saying. Second on the list currently is “A Strategic plan for the Development of Nampula”. One of the kids gave it to me because it’s in English (kind of) and they didn’t know what to do with it. Then again, they probably stole it from somewhere and didn’t want to caught with it, and now I have it. It looks to be some sort of intra-governmental publication probably distributed to various NGOs (non-government organizations), government offices (party bosses) and the United Nations.

Yep.

Ahhh Mozambique. We meet again.

Its been the opposite of a whirlwind the last few days. Yes, being back at the orphanage has been exciting and there are tons of things going on and theres never a dull moment. But there’ve been lots of dull moments because I’ve been sleeping of jetlag for the last several day. When I arrived back at the orphanage Wednesday night there was pretty much a party that lasted till midnight (very late for around here). You can read Christina’s account of it here. Thursday I woke up and Christina’s mom made me breakfast. Super nice of her. Christina’s parents were here visiting the last couple of weeks while she and Victor are arriving back and adjusting to life in Mozambique with their new baby Yohani.

Anyways, after breakfast I was enjoying chatting with her parents and some of the kids. I was enjoying it so much I was falling asleep in fact. I did some quick math and figure that I was awake traveling for about 40 hours save a few moments of sleep while changing flights. It’s very hard when you’re 6’3” to get comfortable in an airplane seat. So just before lunch I decided to take a quick nap.

That quick nap lasted for 6 hours! I was so tired that apparently some visitors from UNICEF came by and Victor showed them to where I was staying in hopes of talking loud enough to wake me up. It didn’t work. When Victor did wake me up it was 6pm to tell me that we were leaving in three minutes to have dinner with Dr. Charles. He and his family live a couple klicks up the road from us. He’s a doctor/church planter from America and they’ve been here for the last 20 years or so. I’ve had dinner over there twice now and so far awesome food and his awesomer family are par for the course.

Thoughts from the road

A big thank you to everybody that’s been praying for my trip. Last night I made it safe to Nampula and the Orphanage! There was a very big celebration that took place. But more on that in the next post when I can actually collect myself. I’m still pretty short on sleep and I think my stomach is on a different time zone than my mind and both of them are on a different time zone than Mozambique. So until then, here are some random thoughts on my traveling the last 3 days.

When entering a country, make sure they stamp your passport. Do not assume that the “cah-chunk” noise means they stamped it properly. French officials do not want to hear about how it must have disappeared mysteriously and they should take your word that you actually visited their country.

I am convinced the best way to listen to Phoenix (the band) is sitting in the grass at the Eiffel Tower having a picnic and eating a baguette on a sunny day. I will never listen to Phoenix the same way again.

Leaving in a Few Days

This post has two purposes. The first is two inform y'all that I'll be leaving for Mozambique on Monday. I'll be out of email contact for a couple of days but I'll get it pretty regularly once I arrive in Nampula. I've been very encouraging getting lots of phone calls and emails from everybody. I especially appreciate your prayers, I was worried it was going to be a crazy trip at first, but thankfully the situation in Mozambique calmed down. For those that don't know, there was some hardcore rioting going on. Victor and Christina got a front row seat to all of it, and you can check it out here or click on the link in the sidebar.

If you could be praying mainly for my safety on the trip: That all my luggage gets there without being lost/stolen and the flights I booked in Mozambique actually exists (apparently not uncommon).

Second. I have a full day layover in Paris!!! I might as well try and do all I can. So if folks have been there or have any suggestions on how to do Paris in 10 hours go ahead and comment or email me. Otherwise I'll just go exploring (read: wandering).

Guess who's going back to Mozambique?

Hey everybody. Its been a long time coming but I can now say I'm officially going back to Mozambique. As my departure date gets nearer (within the next couple weeks), I'll provide more details about when I'm traveling and how you can pray for me.

For now, check out my new support letter, download it to get the full view.

I put a lot of effort and poured a lot into the letter so hopefully that explains most of what's going on. As always, if you want to talk or find out more or have any questions, please send me an email and I'll get right back to you.