Week One Over and Time is Flying!

The first week has been an exhausting blur of eye-opening experiences and activities. The Sede group, facilitated by Lynn, had a focus on community and orphan home visits, health teaching in women’s and adult literacy groups, and some experience in the health post nearest the farm. One highlight occurred during a women’s health class for ladies of the Pina community. As rhythm and music is such an integral part of African culture, these women joyfully sang and danced for the team before the lesson began. Needless the say, the team was nearly brought to tears by the beauty of the moment, and especially the joy on the women’s faces. It’s quite unbelievable to see what can come about with a group of Mozambicans and one small drum. After this, the team had a “class” discussion on health promotion and illness prevention, as well as a special section on health during pregnancy. The women were animated and engaged in the discussion…and a real sense of connection developed, despite culture differences and language barriers. After all, we were all women… The Zuze group, facilitated by Joanne, went to the Mucombeze Interior each day (45 minute drive one way) to work in health-related activities based out of the elementary school and area. They were involved in health education and helping with the lunch program in the elementary school, some observation in the health post near the school, and implementation of a First Aid Course for community leaders at the school (teachers, health care worker, women’s leaders and pastors). Of particular note, they (along with Joanne and Lynn) were given the opportunity to meet with the Director of the Vanduzi Hospital and organize a mobile immunization clinic to be run on Thursday, March 13th at the school. This will be an all-day “blitz” that the team is greatly anticipating.

Another exciting update is that the team has hired an English/Shona (local dialect) speaking woman named Vimbai to assist with laundry and cleaning, as well as translation for team members who are visiting people and homes in the nearby community. She is a Zimbabwean refuge who was an elementary school teacher in Zimbabwe and is proving to be an invaluable asset to our team…having quickly become the “seventh member”.

As the teams have become more involved in working with the people in Mucombeze, we’ve developed a greater awareness that, while there are certainly vast differences between rural Mozambique and rural/northern Saskatchewan, there are more similarities than we first might have imagined. Such parallels include:
· The further away one is from big centers (Maputo, Mozambique; Saskatoon/Regina, SK) the less likely he or she will be able to access adequate resources (including health care). This is due to the challenge of making scarce resources available to a scattered, impoverished population.
· Poverty, the struggle to meet basic needs, is the norm. This disheartening knowledge has affected our health teaching (including lesson planning) in that, while the people can grasp and understand concepts around hygiene and food/water safety as means of preventing illness, they rarely have the means to implement these lessons. Soap, for example, is far lesser on a priority list when the few meticals that are earned do not even cover food costs to feed one’s family. This mirrors northern Saskatchewan in terms of the relative expenses for food and sundry items.
· Traditional healing practices and the focus on spirituality which permeates every day life.

Daily we have been inspired by the generosity demonstrated by community members, despite their bleak circumstances. One example of this occurred when an elderly, disabled woman with little means to earn money for her family, yet is taking care of her own children as well as an orphan, offered to give us her only chicken in return for the supply of maize, salted fish, rice and beans that the mission gave her. As well, we have been moved by the perseverance and resolve of the children, such that they will walk up to 40 kilometers a day to receive an education and a meal, prepared by a dedicated cook “Fernando”. This has challenged the team, both professionally and personally, to be better stewards of the resources that we have been given and to maintain an attitude of thankfulness.