Keepin it UP!

This Lenten season has been such an amazing time for reflection and deep breathing. I have been able to focus on the incredible work each of you have made possible. With just a few months of time remaining to keep working, there have been great things to keep the optimism on high.

Papa Sebastiao and I still at it.

This month Project Rx has made some incredible connections with local businesses, (JHI and Mozal, as mentioned in the previous email) who have an overwhelming interest in helping us out! With greater participation with individuals and companies here long term, we can make an lasting connection with locals that want to get involved.

In the conversations I have with so many different people of all walks of life, I realize how difficult it is to see how much need there is here. Even for me, I become detached from the extremities of what I experience each day. Shrugging my shoulders on the days we go without running water, or having to wash with dirty water. I still put my head down when I see babies soaked in their own urine, feces caked to their bottoms, walking around wondering why they are uncomfortable. Just last week when the wiring for the electricity was stolen from the church, we all just shook our heads and wondered what robbers could be so bold.

This brings me to a very important conversation I had this past month. I was speaking to a successful young man who told me what a huge sacrifice it had been having to be relocated to Mozambique, removed from his home and his family. He explained how he couldn't live without his internet, TV, video games, car, clean clothes and clean shower. In frustration he exclaimed, "I know you're trying to help the people here, but they're happy!"

I completely understood his position. I don't know what I would do if I could not find a refuge in these things from time to time. They are the comforts we know so well. However, it was then that I tried to explain to him that poverty does not equal unhappiness. We assume that because people go without, that they are suffering to the point of no return. However, by living here, I have learned that there is so much more to life than the material things we define ourselves by. Even what we deem as essential--clean toilets, indoor plumbing, hot water, three square meals, etc, etc.--it is not the be all, end all of what we are.

There is such a familial and communal richness that we can learn from Mozambicans. The resilience and resourcefulness of the people here is endless. Life goes on where there is no water, no doctor, no food. They will always be searching for a better way of living (as all of us are), but they do it together, with such a great joy and lightness about them. The Mozambican people are happy, but it does not mean that we do not continue to get to work to help them obtain what we deem as the essentials. In fact, their happy position encourages what we are here to do because they are so grateful and loving for what is provided them.

As Easter approaches, I encourage everyone to take as step back and look at all of the wonderful things they have and wonder what it would be like without it. What is most important? What is most meaningful?

Here's a preview of the manual for organic farming preparing to be translated into Portuguese. :)

To recap, here's a few highlights from this month:

* Incredible meeting with Mozal and JHI about their potential involvement in Project Rx and the children's Sunday School program. If you have time, please meditate upon our blossoming friendship and ask what blessings may come our continued interactions.
* I am now looking to stay in Mozambique longer term. I have a flight back home in June and would like to return to continue Project Rx for an extended period of time. I'd like to be back by August to continue work with Project Rx. I just pray that this is God's intention. I will know with more certainty in the coming months if I can balance a new job (with JHI) and Project Rx, and make enough money to return and live here.
* The garden is looking beautiful and the teaching manual is approaching completion. Please meditate over my continued motivation in these endeavors, because working alone is sometimes a challenge.
* As I prepare for what comes next, (ideas, i have many), please pray that blessings be bestowed upon what comes next.
* Please pray for Mozambique in general. Violent and petty crime has been on the rise and many from the ex-patriot community have been affected by criminal events. The police interrogations and road blocks are becoming more and more common. Just last week I was stopped by the police eight times, once three times in one day.

Thank you all for remaining so faithful to Project Rx and for the incredible work you have been a part of. I thank you all and hope you enjoy the video you inspired. :)

New Project Rx Video!

Here's a video we're currently using to do outreach with potential local business partners here in Mozambique.

Feel free to share it!

This Month's Saga

I can hardly begin to write about all of the things that have happened to me this month.

Here's the list of mishaps (I've now accepted and can laugh at):

• Phone and (a lot) of money stolen from my purse whilst at a café.
  
• Car breaks down on the way to Johannesburg. I'm told that I purchased a lemon with a shelf life.*
  
• Pests eat our corn stalks and lots of our tomatoes.
  
• Camera stolen due to my leaving it in a conspicuous place.
  
• My visa expired by 4 days before I left the country and I was almost extradited, but had to pay a hefty fine instead.
• I underwent a minor surgery, removing a mysterious abscess from my arm. The tool of choice to chop me was a box-cutter. ha!
  

*HIGH POINT!: the couple that ran the garage I stumbled upon, gave me a ride to my place to stay while in Joburg.

Here is the list of amazingly incredible things that happened:

• I had a wonderful stay in Johannesburg to pick up Scott, despite the car troubles.
• Got to take a trip to Swaziland! We saw lots of zebra, wildebeest, hippos and such. It was amazing.
• With the help of Scott Keyes, we pulled out the remainder of the last crop and prepared for the garden for the next season of planting.
• While sick, our gardener took it upon himself to carve out completely new garden boxes to prepare for the new season. I thought we'd be a week behind and he made it all happen!
  
• I've seen how amazing people are when you are sick and at your lowest point. I've found such a refuge in friends since I've been here. I couldn't have gotten through all of this without them.
  
• I turned 23!

This time has encompassed so much time for reflection and opportunism to understand how to continue to go forward.

Amidst the questions and confusions, there is always hope!

Project Rx has been blessed with the promise of help from employees from Mozal, a local aluminum smelter, dedicated to local community partnership. A team of 7-10 employees will donate their time to the Project and we will be able to undergo the first digging for our in-house wells for Mozambicans to prepare their home gardens.

This has been one of the best prospects for us, having the human-power to go forward as planned!!


Short garden updates:
Our crop was gorgeous! The entire crop has sold and the money will go to new seeds, and money for the investment of a water-collection well.

We have entered a market within the community that has opened up a huge microfinance opportunity for our farmers. Our okra, melons and eggplant were especially popular within our village. They have increased the diversity of plants available for purchase and are now selling like hotcakes!

We actually in the midst of thinking up ways to keep robbers from taking our veggies while we're not there. What unique problems!

Today we planted carrots and lettuce. Our all-organic garden is flourishing and we can't wait to see what comes for this season. We learned so much from our last crop and are so excited to go forward. :)