All Nations Mozambique

Michael and Rita served with us for three months as volunteers. They did make a difference, as I read their blog it reminded me of a saying by Heidi Baker, that we should stop for the one. Here are a segment from their blog.

It seems Michael and I just hopped off the 12 hour bus ride from South Africa to the sandy streets our new home. This blog entry only touches on the edge of what we have experienced during the last three months. I am sure when we see you all we can share more stories over a latte… When we arrived and saw the poverty, the countless children lining up at the AIDS clinics and women struggling to care and support for their families, I would often think – ‘what if the world was different?’

What if the world found a cure for AIDS so the children here didn’t have to suffer? What if the world donated one day of their Starbucks coffee change to provide a malnourished child with suitable formula? What if the world provided free food to street children and children here didn’t have to eat out of the rubbish dumpsters? The list could go on, what if the world was fair to children? Pause. I have my breath back again. Yes, I am venting my frustrations. I’ll stop now. Mike and I often debate the state of these issues as we lick our mango stained fingers and have wondered if we have made a difference?

There are so many problems with so few answers that are effective and little changes. The emphasis is on the word ‘change’. Change in Mozambique is slow but constant. Its because of people like you, that are reading this that have given your time, support, prayers and funds to various causes including to the children here that new lives have begun to change. You can see Daniel and Nicholas are flourishing in their new home.
This change couldn’t have occurred if it wasn’t part of a bigger plan and your help. I read once that living today well, makes tomorrow a dream towards happiness. I have learnt here that change takes action and action isn’t always instant, but without it; happiness cannot begin to occur for others. I found that if you look at the enormity of the world’s problems, it can be exceedingly overwhelming. Yet, if I take the little steps to change the environment positively that I am in, a corner of the world is improving.

Michael and I can see in the last 12 weeks that change has happened here. Nicholas isn’t skin and bone anymore. Telma is no longer malnourished. Aninha is beginning to smile, Ricardo does not have HIV. The children are learning to enjoy the simple pleasures of childhood.

Friday we had an early Christmas party with the children. We took all of the, with our staff and some visitors to a restaurant. It was such a fun day to be able to take everyone to have a meal together. The children were all dressed up and are always excited to go out for the day. They were served chicken and fries. We were amazed how much they ate; some of them ate more than half a chicken.

After our meal and ice cream dessert we went home to hand out gifts. It was such a blessing to see them receiving their gifts. Christmas is truly a great day if we celebrate it in the right Spirit. Celebrating the gift of Jesus with our extended family here in Mozambique touched me again in so many ways. Each of these children is a gift to us from Jesus and Jesus gave each one of them a new life. Friday night the children fell a sleep very early with their gifts with them in bed.

Thank you so much for sowing into our small ministry here in Mozambique, so that we are able to bless the children Jesus entrusted to us. There are more photo’s on our website under Christmas Party.

The Second baby house is doing really well. Zaffira, Maria and Dulce are doing a wonderful job. Nicols and Daniel are gaining so much weight. Their health is also much better and we give Jesus the glory for this.

Thank you so much for being part of our lives here in Mozambique. Much love, Pieter, Rika and the All Nations family

Ricardo’s mother died of AIDS, we tested him at the age of 10 months and he tested HIV positive. Sometimes the mother’s enzymes are still in the blood and this makes children under 18 months test HIV+. Ricardo is older than 18 months now, so today we took him for an HIV test. This test will determine his HIV status. We were really nervous knowing this test will have a major impact on his future. The test came back negative; we were so relieved and happy for him. We praise Jesus for this good news. Thank you for praying for Ricardo. (Ricardo is on the right)

Rika and I will never call our self activists, but we do feel the need to speak out about AIDS and orphans affected by AIDS. Nicols is our latest baby and his mother died of AIDS only a few weeks ago. In the end she was mentally ill and tried to smother Nicols, so Social Welfare had to take him from her. He is only three months old and is without a mother. He tested negative on his HIV test, which is a miracle, but we will test him again in a few months. Baby Luis was not so lucky, his mother and father died of AIDS, and he is living with AIDS.

As followers of Jesus we can not just stand on the side line and watch as millions of children are orphaned, because of AIDS. The church has a leading role to play to take care of these children, and to help in the fight against AIDS. Jesus is the only answer to prevent further growth of people living with AIDS. As churches we should prayerfully consider how we could help. Training councilors to assist people living with AIDS are a huge need here in Africa, coming along side single mothers with AIDS, supplying anti retroviral etc. This is just some of the ministries we can get involve in, to help people living with AIDS or who are affected with AIDS.

God is challenging us even more to be a voice for the AIDS orphan and children affected by AIDS. Please prayerfully consider how you can be involved.

(Photo of Baby Luis when he first came to us. To see what he looks like today go to Photo’s)

The second baby house are up and running and is such a miracle to be able to take in more babies. Currently we have Daniel and Nicols living there. They are both doing really well and have visibly gained a lot of weight. They are both four months old and our educators at the new house, Zaffira and Maria is doing a great job. We visit there often and the house is always in immaculate condition. Our staff at the first house for babies trained Maria and Zaffira. They did an excellent job and we are very proud of them.

Many people have asked us if it is possible to sponsor an individual baby on a monthly basis. We have done this and up to know we were not successful in doing it. So we decided to start again with a baby sponsorship program. We have profiles of all the babies on our website, so if you are interested in doing this it will be a great blessing to us. To sponsor a baby on a monthly basis will be $40 or R250. It will also be wonderful to send the babies gifts on their birthdates etc. Please e-mail us if you want to sponsor a specific baby. To you, who are already sponsoring a baby, thank you so much for your support. With the second house we have so much more expenses and we are really stretched at the moment. We praise God for His faithfulness and provision.

We will be in Cape Town for December, spending time with our families and friends. So if you want to come and spend some time here in Mozambique at the baby house it will be a great blessing for us.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your support of our work here in Mozambique