Day 3 – Baby Orphanage and Ngupa 1 (Manga, Beira, Moçambique)

Sorry for the late post! Internet was down last night...

What a day! Today was our first real field day and it was so much fun. We are spending today and tomorrow to visit all of the project sites and to get up to speed with what Care for Life currently has going on. Our first stop this morning was at the baby orphanage which is put on through a partnership between the City of Moçambique and a woman named Dona Ana. I won’t really be doing too much work with the orphanages, but after today, I wish that I could! The moment we walked in, a rush of bald headed (they shave all of their heads) kids ages 0-5 came running up to give us hugs. Not a bad way to start the day! It was such a heart-wrenching experience to find out the background behind why so many of the kids were there at the orphanage. The majority of them weren’t there because of the parents deciding they didn’t want a child, but rather because they were rescued from an abusive situation. We were there today to help out during their “play-time,” something that Care for Life has been doing for years as a sort of break time for us in between our various field sites. We ended up playing a much cooler version of “duck, duck, goose” and then sat back as the kids had a dance off. Wish I had moves like they do… Maybe someday. I wish I had pictures to post! Dona Ana asked that we save pictures for our last trip there. I promise it will be worth the wait J

Our afternoon was spent in a village called Ngupa 1. The villages are settlements outside of the city. They are significantly poorer and is where Care for Life has spent most of its time and efforts. Whenever a village his some of the milestone goals they have established, they throw a “celebration.” I wasn’t totally sure of what to expect but when I got there I could tell that it was going to be fun. The celebration ended up being a gathering of the entire village (150 people or so) and a series of skits, songs, and dances. There is so much I could tell you, but I’ll try to be brief and just talk about a couple of experiences from the celebration.

Ngupa - Fernando is the one in the blue shorts on the right.

First off, I want to tell you about Fernando. Fernando is a young man that on first glance, looks to be about 11 , max. I was spending quite a bit of time trying to get to know the people better. I wanted to understand how they thought, and specifically, how they perceived the situation they were in. It was an enlightening experience. Getting back, as I was doing so, I ran into Fernando. We started to chat and he was much more talkative than the rest of the boys his age. It soon came out that he was actually fourteen, and could speak English (and decently well!). As I asked more, I found out that he had learned English completely on his own, looking through a dictionary and another book in English he had. What??? Who learns a foreign language looking through a dictionary? I offered to help him with his English if he would help me learn the local African dialect, Senna, which was something that has been at the top of my bucket list while I’m here and which I have no hope of doing other than to have one of the locals teach me because there are no books on the language. He graciously consented and we spent the next half hour together using our Portuguese to improve his English and my Senna. Toward the end of our time together, I stopped for a second my eyes were opened to see the immense potential this child had. I could see him excelling through school, college, and onto a prestigious profession. As I was dreaming off, reality hit me hard, very hard. He isn’t ever going to finish school or go off to college, much less leave that little village where he lives. A huge feeling of injustice sunk in as I imagined how much more he deserved even an ounce of the opportunities that I, or you, or anyone else enjoy, but that he would never even dream of having . Why???  As he won over my heart, I thought of how I could rush in and save him from his impoverished existence and take him to a decent school, etc. As my mind kept on running through these hypothetical options, I realized that there are thousands, no millions, of Fernandos out there with just as much potential as he has and that is why we don’t rush in to give an opportunity to the one, but rather work to help them build that reality themselves so that Fernando’s kids, or grandkids, or great-grandkids, might have a chance at realizing their rich potential. The world is an unfair place! It’s hard to realize that.

On a lighter note…. Soon after Fernando and I finished talking, some Mozambican techno music started playing and the dance party started. As soon as the music stated, the little kids went CRAZY. Be jealous… I had a dance party with 50 Mozambican kids. Needless to say, my less-than-fluid dance moves helped me to stand out even more than before, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Please notice the cloud of dust in the crowd shot of the little kids. Just to give you an idea of how much they love to dance :) …

For your viewing pleasure (sorry some are out of order):

The village paramedics and ambulance.

Our bedroom pet

A gift from a village. Soon to be dinner

The drive to one of the villages. Lion King anyone?

The village celebration at Ngupa.

Some of the kids watching the celebration.

A celebratory dance.

More kids watching. I'd love to know this kid's story.

Kids taking care of kids. All too common...

After a few hours at the celebration we had made a lot of friends :)

Couldn't help but to take this picture. The future of Moçambique (the kids) in front an arch made up of some of the goals and initiatives we work on here.

Notice the cloud of dust... The dance party!  You can't really tell but they are all dancing. I'll try and get a video up soon!