Pembury Baptist Church

So, everyone, I have just got back from doing my final visa trip, hopefully!! I want to try and extend my visa for the last month as otherwise I will have to leave the country again just before I actually leave which seems pretty pointless! It was good to get away this time. Jill and her friend Ally needed to go down to Maputo, as she has been given permission to take the twin babies they are currently fostering to England for Christmas, so needed to get passports and visas for them. So we all drove down last Friday, stayed a night at the beach on the way, and then carried on and arrived in Maputo on Saturday evening. 2 days driving with 15 month old twins is hard work!! We didn’t really stop at all, so that we would be able to get there before dark each day, and so we skilfully mastered the art of feeding and changing and entertaining the babies whilst on the move!! The car got attacked by baboons at one point. We had to stop for a poo explosion, and suddenly the car was surrounded and there were monkeys all over the windscreen and roof!! We just drove till they fell off, but it was quite funny!! We also got fined for speeding by accident, but the police told us we didn’t have to pay if we would marry them!! We definitely paid!!
 
When we arrived in Maputo we got a bit lost, and drove round and round the same road so many times!! We finally got to the house where the girls had arranged to stay at about half nine at night and I just decided to stay with them, instead of trying to find the way to where I was staying late at night. It was with a Mozambican family that Ally and Leanna know, and it turned out to be one room for all three of them plus me, plus the babies!! It was full of mozzies and rats, and was so hot in there!! Hence none of us got much sleep but I was so glad I had arranged to stay somewhere else, in a friends house, who has air con and running water and satellite TV. Despite the fact that we were so tired from the journey, it was still fun!

Then on the Monday, I went to Nelspruit to get my visa stamped at the border. Last time I went it was so easy, but this time it was a bank holiday, which I forgot about, so the border was closed due to people striking!! So we sat at the roadside for an hour waiting for them to open it again, which was fine, but the same thing happened on the way home, meaning that we had to walk up the motorway to the border gate as the queues were so long, walk through and then wait at the other side for the bus to meet us!! During this time, a lady got bitten by a snake when she sat on the roadside to have a cigarette, I got 3 marriage proposals from border officials, and our bus got searched for non-existant animals, cos one of the passengers had brought a cat carrier back from SA. They thought we were hiding animals somewhere so we all got searched and held back for questions!!
 
We finally made it back to Maputo ok, and then I came back to Beira last night on the bus which took 19 hours because the road was bad and full of potholes!! For 12 of those hours, the bus played Michael Jackson concerts non-stop, and so today, I am quite tired!!
 
So all in all, it was quite an eventful trip, but all though it sounds non-stop when I write it like this, it was actually really nice to just have a couple of days doing nothing. Maputo scares me a bit cos it is so big compared to Beira and there are so many cars and people, so I didn’t venture very far. I actually only went round the corner to a café for a milkshake, wandered down the road slightly, and so spent the rest of the time watching day time TV and reading and sleeping!! Normally I would get so bored doing that, but it was actually really nice and just what I needed.
 
I had two revelations whilst I was away. One was in South Africa. The bus I got just takes you to a mall and picks you up a few hours later. When I have been before, I have found it a little overwhelming, but have always had stuff to buy or do, so it has been fine after being there an hour or so. However this time, I didn’t really need to buy anything, so when I arrived, I really didn’t know what to do with myself. I just wandered around aimlessly and then decided that I needed to make a plan, so and locked myself in a toilet for a bit, so I could think without having lots of people rushing around me. Whilst in there I realised that my eyebrows were not actually fit to be taken into the world of civilisation. I don’t know how I didn’t see this before, considering the fact that we have quite a good eyebrow mirror at home!! So that gave me a plan, to go and get them seen to and then once I had done that, I felt a little bit more normal again!! I managed to navigate my way round the shopping centre and get home again in one piece!!
 
It was a little scary knowing that one day in a shopping centre could do that to me, after all the years I have spent loving going shopping. And it’s not even like I have been deprived of civilisation for the whole time I have been here. Going to SA has always felt like a big day out, but it has never scared me like that. It was a very weird feeling!!
 
Whilst processing all of this on the bus home and trying to work out why I would be feeling like I was, I had my other revelation!!

I decided that life is like one big road trip. I love going on road trips. Even though some might say that the road in Mozambique is pretty boring, it is not. It is long and straight and most of the time all you can see is fields and land that go on for miles, but I think in my time here, I have had the best thinking times and conversations with God whilst I have been on a journey somewhere.
 
My thinking this time went a bit like this. Jen left two weeks ago, and I have been a little sad ever since then, and felt a little bit lost. Of course this is a bit silly, because life was fine before I met her, but it is very strange not having her around. Of course there are other people, and I have managed to master the Portuguese that I have needed to sort out house issues, and work out all the bill paying etc, but I really miss not having her there at the end of the day to chat to and laugh about stuff with. Of course I have the phone and I can talk to anyone, but it’s not quite the same as having someone there with you. I decided though, that I can either embrace the rest of the time here, and brush myself off and get on with it, or I can sit on the sofa every night wishing that Jen was watching TV with me, which is not going to happen!! Of course I wish she still was, but I know now that is ok that she isn’t and I can find plenty of other stuff to keep me occupied!
 
I have also been wondering why God provided me with Marina, Jill and Jen and has given me great friendships with them all, but he is taking them away again so quickly. I have just been thinking that that is quite mean, and don’t really get why this has to be the case. This is from an entirely selfish point of view, as I know that for them, it has definitely been the right time for them to leave, and I’m glad that they did for stuff that is going on in their own lives, but I’m not sure why it has to be like that for me.
 
However, now I have realised it is ok. I will carry on missing all the girls loads, because we have had some fun times, but this quote in the book I was reading put my thoughts in perspective and helped me feel a bit better:

“Sooner or later you figure out life is constructed specifically and brilliantly to squeeze a man into association with the owner of heaven. It is a struggle, with labour pains and thorny landscape, bloody hands, and a sweaty brow, head in hands, moments of severe loneliness and questioning, moments of ache and desire. But all this leads to God”.
 
So I came to the conclusion after reading this, that although this time is really hard, it will be ok in the end, and the bonus is that I have now got people to go and visit in other countries, meaning I have more holiday destinations!!
 
Other news is pretty much the same. The new girl, Jo arrives next week, so I have been busy setting up orientation stuff for her and will be busy helping her out in her first few weeks. I am actually quite looking forward to having someone to look after, after all this time of people looking after me!!
 
The clinics are still running well. We are looking to make a few changes as logistically things are getting a bit difficult in terms of transporting all the equipment around. There is too much to carry now, and so we either need to get a car, or to hold the clinic at one location and get people to come to us. The latter would be better as it would be cheaper and easier, and it would make the clinic a lot more effective, as I would be able to keep everything in one place, and keep track of it all.

There is also the issue of finding staff to take over once I have gone. We still aim to employ another nurse, but things have been so busy, it is hard finding the time to get all the stuff sorted for it. There was a few weeks where we thought we wouldn’t be able to get funding for the other community projects, to fund the next financial year, but we have managed to get enough to tide us over for now. So I am busy making plans for my departure, and making sure everything is in place!
 
There have been a few sad cases with the babies in the nutrition programme. There are a couple who have many problems with development and growth, and who aren’t putting on weight. They are typical Great Ormond Street babies, and there are loads of tests and stuff that they need to have done, but they are just aren’t available here. I have had to consciously make a decision to draw a line at the amount of treatment I can give them, because if you investigate too much, there is a risk of finding out stuff that you can’t do anything about. It is so hard doing this, because I know that if they were in a different country, the story would be very different, but I think it is kinder to them, just to feed them and treat them for basic stuff, rather than open up the whole hospital option, knowing they are going to be subjected to lots of suffering, and have a very slim chance of anything positive coming from it. It also takes the pressure off the family for paying for the medical bills too. We can’t pay for every baby in this situation, because there are just too many, so if the family can fund it that’s fine. But the majority of them can’t, and so it is more cost-effective and more sustainable for the future, if we just provide the basics and give the baby and family as much love and advice as possible.
 
I think I could write a whole essay on the ethics of life out here, because it is so frustrating and seems so unfair. But I have had to learn that you have to look at things from the bigger perspective, and work out what is best in the long run in relation to the quality of life out here, and the way that society works. It may not be the best solution in from my point of view, but I have not grown up in this society or culture, and will never understand it fully. I would bring them all to England if I had my way, but what good will that do in the long run?
 
So those were my adventures and thoughts for the last few weeks!!! Will let you know how I get on with Jo arriving and whatever!!
 
Lots of Love,
Lyndsay xxx