Volunteer Center

A 6-year old living in Munhava (one of the poorer and more needy areas that we work in) was abandoned by her mother after her father and twin died 2 years ago. She was referred to CFL by the ?chefe? (supervisor) of that neighborhood. Paulino, an activist and neighbor with 4 children watches out for Enriqueta. He has been making sure that she takes her daily tuberculosis medicine. Also the CFL OVC supervisor brings her milk from that program.

Just wanted to give you an example how collaboration between the community leaders, the medical system, our public health team, and our OVC supervisor is making a difference. I envision continued collaboration, with a greater emphasis on prevention and education, and better defined monitoring and result indicators.

Today I worked with the all of the activistas in Munhava. It was a very rewarding day because the activistas are so upbeat and anxious to get to work. The need is certainly great in that community. I hesitate using phrases like "I can't really explain it, you just have to experience it" but that's how I feel (and I know that you have experienced it). I didn't really see what I saw today when I came in July because I did not go out with activistas. We are losing people almost daily. I guess I will simply say that, in the past, I have doubted the statistics: no way 20% of the population (in Sofala providence) could be HIV+! I am becoming a believer. This is unacceptable.

Alright, I'm going to try to detach myself again. Maybe I'lll watch a movie.

From Manga,

Chad.

Dear Loved Ones –

It’s early morning and we will soon be off but I wanted to write a quick note to you. This experinece has been so amazing that after one day I could have come home and it would have been worth the trip. We are in the captiol – Kampala. It’s not as poor as Mozambique. Marabou Storks are everywhere – like we have robins at home. Literally you can see them in almost every tree. They are 4 feet high and have nests like laundry baskets. It’s the craziest thing. They make loud noises and fly right over your head. People just seem to ignore them.

We spent Monday (a holiday for Easter Monday) with the founder and director – Jolly and Lydia – just listening to their story and asking questions.

Then yesterday we spent at their office – learning more about their programs and with their wonderful staff. For the first hour we had a devotional – from the scriptures and then a hymn and prayer. You could feel the spirit strongly. They have such a sence of service and are doing what they do for God and their neighbors. Their office is very plain – and they only get salaries when they get grants to pay for them. They owe a $45,000 mortgage on their building – and it is coming due very soon. They have no idea how they will pay it – but are praying God will provide a way.

We have learned so much from them. Their programs focus on community empowerment and they train their families to solve their own problems as much as possible. Only after the family has done what they can – and their action support group has done what they can (that is the group of neighbors in the program they meet with) – then will AFC provide “add ons .”

They have been operating for 10 years and have reached thousands. They organize youth clubs for the children in the communities and early childhood development centers – basically a place where old grandparents or single parents can leave their child with each other while they work in their fields, etc. They look at the psycho-social aspects of care. For example they took the old grandmothers who were chairpersons of their action support groups to a hotel for 5 days. There they listened to their pain and they cried for the first two days. These women had lost their children, had sufferred so much, and no one had ever given them a chance to heal. After listening for two days – validating their feelings, etc., they felt so much better. Then the counselors asked them if they could do this for others. They didn’t need to have a degree in counseling to know now how to help those in their community who were in pain – the orphans – the dying – the widows, etc. Now they are the counselors in their community.

Love you all so much !

Mama Cindy

Barely a week and a half after our wonderful wedding my husband, Michael, and I embarked on the most exciting journey of our new life together! We hopped on an airplane and flew for almost 24 hours from Salt Lake City, Utah to Beira, Mozambique which is about as far away from home as one can possibly go! Many people asked us if we were going on our honeymoon to which we always gave a hearty laugh! We made many sacrifices to volunteer in Africa such as selling my car, saving our funds, working and knowing that we would not be making any money for our future college and living expenses. However, we put our trust in the Lord that we would be blessed and everything would work out.

We decided that we wanted to start out our marriage by giving service to those who desperetly need it, such as the citizens of Beira. Consequently, Michael would be helping out with the accounting program at Care For Life while I would be doing data processing. When we arrived in Mozambique we were awed by the gorgeous tropical palm trees and massive African crowds rushing through the streets. Not a day went by where we were not humbled by the hard working and humble people of Mozambique. We lived for three months at Care For Life's homebase headquarters sharing a kitchen, bathroom and living quarters with other interns and employees. Often there were rats and other creatures in our living quarters. We worked for Care For Life Monday through Friday giving the organization all our time, effort and talents. Michael often worked late into the night. On the weekends we were happy to help out at LDS single adult activities like teaching the line dance and electric slide which the kids aboslutely loved. We also loved to play basketball at the parks which always brought crowds of curious and enthusiastic observers. Often we would volunteer at our favorite baby orphanage in the evenings and loved to play and sing songs.

We were able to have many unique experiences like distributing formula to HIV mothers in the community. We will never forget the desperate needs of those mothers and their hungry children as they experience the most severe of challenges. It was difficult to feel self-pity when we saw true suffering in the communities.

All together, spending our first three months of married life in Mozambique was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences that we've ever had! It was often frustrating to work with limited technology, resources and not having the comforts of home. However, we would never trade in our experience in Mozambique! It was extraordinarily rewarding to truly serve people and definitely brought Mike and I closer together as a couple. Now living at home in Provo, Utah and going to school full time at BYU seems easy. We will never forget the sacrifices that the African people make for day to day basic survival. We are eternally grateful for the Gospel, our marriage and everything that we have in life from a sanitary home to nutricious meals. Despite making no money over the summer we now have everything we need and feel that we are being continually blessed. We hope that we were able to make a difference in Africa but without a doubt the people of Mozambique taught us much more than we will ever be able to give back. For the rest of our lives we will not forget the humility, generosity, hard work and optimism of Mozambique! Perhaps one day we will be fortunate enough to return.