Synod Moderator Rowena Francis, Mission & Development Enabler Jo Merrygold, and seven young adults from our churches flew out from Newcastle to Mozambique on Monday August 23rd for a two week visit to our global partner church, The Presbyterian Church of Mozambique.
Day 1
Michael ended up with two body searches, losing his bottles (unfair as others kept big water bottles without comment) and being frog marched to a different check point; Kate slept throughout; Emma after much abuse from fellow passengers ended up sleeping on the floor of the plane; screaming kids or was it only one was a distraction to many.
All in all a good journey over 24 hours to Maputo, Mozambique via Heathrow and Johannesburg. At Joberg during a five hour wait we sang and were joined by a Maputo Christian who taught us a praise song in Portuguese. A warm welcome and chicken meal awaited us; plus showers in a wonderful guest house with impressively hard beds. Here ends day 2.
Day 3
Time begins to confuse us. Travel took on a Quirky Mozambiquan style – the rules of the road being a mystery to many. One of our vehicles has a fractured windscreen and access to the road if you can call it that, through a hole in floor, no seat belts but with a good driver included.
We visited Malo-Ricatla rural parish. We were only an hour late but still they waited for us and welcomed us with song. Davida was amazing, the grandma of the Parish who could certainly rock it.
Toilet – what toilet - we managed in a breeze block roofless hut. But the reason for our visit was to plant trees around the borders of the church land so that outsiders from the city do not come and build houses on church land and so involve the church in more land conflicts. We want pictures when they have grown to 30 metres.
Kate’s expletives when told she had to wring the neck of the chickens in the synod office grounds ready for dinner were best left to the imaginative. Ernesto, the General Secretary, we suspect will follow her for the duration, clucking away and doing the funky chicken dance.
We had the privilege to share lunch with the 4 administrative staff of the IPM synod. It was chicken and noodles.
Then it was off to the beach for a swim or paddle once through the seaweed. All day the markets had been calling – can we stop asks Emma again. So now we do but the market came to us in a swarm as the vehicle door opened. You buy this! You buy this! Sarah did end up with a keepsake of a beautiful wooden giraffe – name to be decided.
The chickens live another day as tonight we had beef and rice. Then we gathered in the guest house and without alcohol or a committee wrote three days worth of blog.
Tbc.......
