Back in the Saddle

We are starting our second year in Mozambique.  We actually observed the first anniversary of our arrival in Moz/05 while we attending Strategic Church Partnership meetings in Minnesota.  Quite a contrast to the weather we experience in southern Mozambique.  This week I asked Rachel if we had sent a weekly letter to folks back home and she said, “no, maybe we don’t have so much to write home about now that everything is “not so new” anymore.”  So maybe we won’t be “flooding” your inboxes with mail.

 

It has only taken a few encounters with retail establishments here to remind me of the ease of doing business in the USA and the difficulty of doing it here.  We wanted to buy a phone card of substantial size with a substantial discount, so we went to a place where they were prominently advertised.  After paying and getting a ticket indicating I had paid, I was directed inside another part of the business and told to collect the card there.  When I went in and asked, the guy behind the desk grimaced and said, “oh the cabinet is locked and the guy with the keys is gone.  You will need to go somewhere else to buy your card today.”  You’ve got to be kidding!  He wasn’t, so we did.

 

The same day, we tried to find a store listed in the phone for 2005-2006.  Well, they apparently closed the store or moved it and the phone book is so badly outdated that it has all the old area codes from before the middle of 2005.  We should have called before we tried to find it, to verify it still existed.  It is tough doing business as well when the South African rand is so strong and many of the items sold are linked to the rand price. 

 

During the week we spent time in Chokwe and met with one of our facilitators who is working out in a village doing child evangelism.  The name of the village means little witchdoctor.  It is a very dark place and needs lots of prayer and grace.  She seems to be struggling and we ask that you pray for her.  Her name is Herminia.

 

We have had three different vehicles to drive in the two weeks we have been back.  Ours was supposed to go north after we came back, but it went while we were gone.  We managed to retrieve most of the items we had in the truck, but not all.  Then we had to negotiate/borrow and work at getting other vehicles freed up to do our travel and work.  Oh, well.  We manage somehow. 

 

While at the fuel pump I noticed the price of fuel is at 26 per liter and it was 14 when we first started driving a lot 9 months back.  Prices for feed is higher and we are told that it is related to import costs of the raw materials.  The Rand is also strong against the Metical, so that doesn’t help.  Chicken feed has gone from 475 to 580, about a 20% increase with no real increase in prices for the sellers at this point.  Challenges abound. 

 

The AHA! moment of the week came one morning when I opened the fridge and saw two antennae moving behind the mayonnaise jar in the door.  Yikes.  I made quick work of the 3 inch long cockroach as he was pretty cold.  Who knows how he got in there.   Thankfully we only see one about once a month.  Our apartment is definitely not air tight.  Welcome to the tropics!

 

Take care,

 

Steve and Rachel