Arrival to Maputo - from here on out, everything is understated

I am. I am in Mozambique. I am high on Mozambique. These are not my words. I take them from the friends that I have already spoken with, elated to be in this place. It is worlds different from South Africa. This country is run by the African people. There are relatively no white people here, unless they are here on holiday. (:

I arrived and was picked up by an incredible Korean family that has relocated from their previous home of 14 years in Angola and are now living here in Mozambique to start up a new Presbyterian-esque church. Outside of the largest city in Mozambique, they are working in some of the poorest conditions in the world--trying to reach God's people and help their lives and aid their abject situations. This is the place we talk about when we make frivolous comments about 'starving people in Africa'. That guilt radiates from actual people.

I have been able to practice my broken Portuguese with Pastor Juan (pronounace Jou-ahn) and his adorable wife, Maria--(mind you these are all their Portuguese names. Their real names are Korean)--and their two children Juan and Paulos. Pastor Juan and the two sons manage well with their English. I continue to feel inadequate in my inability to speak another language. Thankfully, I'm picking it up fast....

To Mozambique! This city is craziness. 2 million people live in the city and another 8 million live on the outskirts. The people suffer from lack of access to the most common of goods. Food, water, health, sanitation--i can go on for days. And, we've only begun to talk about it. It's not that the government is not trying...there are just too many people. There is too much need and not enough help, not enough solutions to the problems. It's extremely frustrating, but the Pastor lets me know that there is definitely an opportunity to start from scratch and really get things done. He spoke of the present limitations the organizations that currently work here have to deal with day in and day out because of international restrictions and other governing that goes on with aid from outside of this country. Because they are only developing, they have to follow the rules of the people that donate their money.

*frustrated sigh*... where to begin... I feel that the best thing for now is to read the potential of what we have planned and see where we can go. There is so much potential here. The outside of the city needs more help than I could have imagined. The town we will be working in is around 600,000 citizens. There is one governing body that oversees all of that. Under him, it is broken up into thirds and is governed by another branch that takes care of 200,000 people. That is where the governing stops. That is the top, the rest is down. Explain to me how you can get anything done with 200,000 people that you work for?

This is not even scratching the surface. At least there's electricity here. In Angola, everyone lives off of generators (if you can afford one) and there is practically no running water. Here, at least there are good roads in the city (3 main ones) and the water only gets shut off at night. Thankfully, our the "rich" family I'm staying with owns their own water pump. Otherwise, goodbye to running water after 5p. Sigh sigh sigh.

There is no telling what I can predict for tomorrow. Pastor Juan spoke of the swollen bellies of families that cry from their hunger pains. I can't imagine.... I ate shrimp the size of jumbo hot dogs. We are 10mins away from the hunger pains. Here we are--there they are. The world is so small. What am I doing sitting here...?

I am quite encouraged by the need. I feel the purpose and am eager to talk to the people and see where we can begin. There is so much to be done from a billion and one angles... I'll take one..maybe two. For now, I hope I dream in Portuguese. (: