A Love Better Than Life

PAY MERI

2009-04-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

On the way home from the beach today we were stopped in the middle of the road by a mob of people parading through the streets. They were carrying money to a family near by. The money that you can see joined by the 2 large poles is to buy a wife. I was shocked to hear that this actually happens. It's called a pay meri.

The friends and family of the groom to be, parade around the streets shouting, singing and squirting baby powder at each other (hence the white faces). When they get to the bride's house they will present the money along with a pig or two to her father. The reason for this is because the girl is a valuable asset to her father, she works long hours in his garden and if she gets married the father will need some money for his loss. The husband pays him compensation. I think a lot of dads would like this to catch on back home.

There's a video on my facebook page if you fancy a better look.

Love Emma x

WALINDI ISLAND

2009-04-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

These are just a few photos from my trip to Walindi island today. It is a beautiful tropical island about 30 mins off the coastline. It was a scorcher of a day with temps reaching around 40 degrees. Sun tans all round.

As soon as we reached the island we went snorkeling around the reefs. It was absolutely beautiful swimming in the warm water of the lagoons. I saw clown fish (nemo's), angel fish and lots of other weird and interesting tropical creatures. I also came face to face with a 4 foot barracuda. He was only about a meter away from my face, I swam like the clappers to get away before he got any ideas of an early lunch. I really wish i had an underwater camera because my words really don't do it justice. The reef at Walindi is by far the most spectacular i've seen so far.

Hope you're not too jealous.

Love, Emma x

KNOCKANI TRIBE - GALILO

2009-04-03T04:16:00.000-07:00

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Knockani tribe in Galilo. It's about a 40 minute drive into the bush from where I live. I love just going and seeing the people in their homes and chatting to them (in the limited Pigeon i know).

Two missionary families have just moved into this tribe about a month ago so it is a very new work. There is a picture of one of their newly built houses at the bottom. It is such a contrast to the housing of the tribal people. Sometimes I think it's a little bit unfair that the "white man" comes in and builds a huge house on their land with all his fancy gadgets, but I was reminded today that this house is not only their home but a school for their children, an office for a pastor, a clinic for the tribe and a 24/7 drop-in centre.

The Knockani people were very welcoming and wanted their pictures taken at every opportunity. It was a great day and I look forward to hearing about the new independant church plant there in the next few years. Pray for the two missionary families as they now start language study and adjust culturally to this new setting.

Love,

Emma x

HAUS WIN

2009-02-25T03:13:00.000-08:00

Sorry that I haven’t been updating the blog as much as usual, I just have trouble getting round to it sometimes. Things are still going well. It’s getting very near the due date for the submission of Map 4/5 (my class) novels. As some of you know I have been “teaching” 13 – 17 year olds how to write a novel. It’s going well considering the last time I took an English class was 2003 and have never written a novel before. What I’m not looking forward to is the 70 pages per student that has to be individually marked come April. Anybody willing to help with this just let me know and I’ll gladly send some your direction.

Some of you have been asking where the pics below are from. They are from a tribe just next door to my house. We went for a little walk through their village, they were so happy to see us. Jumping in front of the camera shouting to get our attention. It’s eye opening to see the difference on the other side of the fence. Literally. There is a wire fence that almost touches my back door and it is what separates this mini America from the real PNG. Sometimes walking through that little tribe I felt very embarrassed as I was so aware that they knew what kind of house I was going back to. The “work meri” that comes to my house to do laundry and that kind of thing comes from this village. Her name is Daileen, she is so lovely. When she heard that we went for a walk in her village she was so excited and has invited us for tea some night. She was on skype the other day with some of my friends from home, she couldn’t get over how you could see their faces on the computer. She kept saying “The faces on the box? sheeeeeee!”. Then when I told her they could see her too she said “Ahhh next time I fix my hair”. She loved it.

Across the road from the base are a few little “haus wins”, they are small stalls that people come and sell their produce at. Lots of the missionaries go and buy the food there, It’s nice to get real carrots instead of the tinned rubbish all the time. The other week there was a bit of a commotion right next to the stalls. During the night one of the haus wins belonging to a lady from the tribe next door had been chopped down. There were just a few remains left. Another lady who had just recently been widowed had come to sell her last little piece of cow-cow (sweet potato) and had set it on what was left of the stall. This was all she had to make a little money. You see when your husband dies here, you are left on your own for a while, no one really looks after you until after the “grieving process” , however long that may be. We heard shouting outside so we went to see what was going on. The lady that owned the stall was throwing everything everywhere and the widow was so upset as she had just lost her last hope of some money. The widow got so angry that she went to get a knife and came back threatening the stall owner. It all got a bit crazy with death threats flying about all over the place. Eventually it calmed down and the haus win got rebuilt (as you can see from the pic below) but it really opened my eyes as to how things are dealt with here. No one calls the police, there’s no point. Every tribe just fends for themselves. The people of PNG are a violent people. More so in the highlands which puts my mind at rest a little considering I’m in the islands region.

It is almost time for spring break here so next week I get off for about 10 days. I will hopefully be flying up to the highlands with Annika and Nya for a few days, it will be nice to see a little more of PNG. When I come back to Hoskins I hope to go into a tribal work for a few days as well. Just to live amongst the people and really see what God is doing will be a great experience.

After break I will be almost halfway through my time here. Time is flying so I better make the most of it. Keep praying for me as I go about my daily routine here and I will try my best to keep you updated on what’s happening.

Love,

Emma x

TRIPLE H // CHELSEA (SCUM) // LEVIS // PNG

2009-02-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

HEROS AND SHEROS

2009-01-31T06:05:00.001-08:00

So as you can imagine there's not a huge amount to do at night here on base. Usually we watch movies or play games, but once you've done that 3 or 4 nights in a row it tends to get a little repetitive. Sometimes the youth leaders here organise something a little bit different to do at weekends. Tonight we had a heros and sheros night. Each of the adults was supposed to dress up as a hero or shero and choose either to be a sitter, runner or hider. If you chose to be a runner your job was to run away from the kids all night trying not to let them catch you. If you were a hider or a sitter your job was to do exactly what it says on the tin, either sit or hide. Once the kids caught you they got points for their team and the winner was announced at the end of the night. It was good fun and and just something a little bit different. Just in case you were wondering, Martina dressed up as a geek and was a sitter with Annika. Simon and I were running ninja's. I wasn't very successful, all my points were given out in the first 15 minutes.

Everything else is going good. I've settled back into a routine after my parents left and am "enjoying" teaching. On monday we all head to the local hotel to watch the superbowl (not that i even know what that is, but I'm going anyway).

Love,

Emma x

LUKIM YU

2009-01-24T18:32:00.000-08:00

Today I had to say lukim yu (bye bye) to my parents who are heading back to the bright lights of Derry city after visiting PNG for a month. They won't arrive home until wednesday your time, which will be Thursday here but at least they're on their way. It was lovely to have them here and it definitely helped me to settle in a lot easier. I know that they found it hard leaving us (especially Nya) as they may not see Simon and Annika for another 4 years.

Please remember to pray for me as I try to settle into a routine now that they are gone and for them as they adjust to life back home.

For me it's 1 month down and 5 more to go.

Emma x

AND GOD SAID, "LET THE WATER TEEM WITH LIVING CREATURES..."

2009-01-20T22:21:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday my brother, Dad and I went deep sea fishing at a little beach near the base. Simon has a local friend here, Robert, who invited us to use his boat for the morning. He said the earlier we left to go fishing the better because the brighter the sun got the less likely it would be for us to catch fish. We left at 5 am, but PNG being the way it is, we were not in the water until after 7 am. I was so excited, more about the possibility of snorkeling at an untouched reef than catching fish but nonetheless I was still excited. In the photograph below you can see our local volcano creating the perfect setting for the beautiful sunrise (although, in PNG the sunrise/sets are nowhere near as lovely as the African ones, just and observation).

The catch of the day was a 10lb Spanish Mackerel. Most of the time our lines just got caught on the reef below. We fished at reefs that none of us had been to before. The ones further out are the most beautiful, the water is like glass so you can see the fish swim right by you. When you reach the lagoon's the colours are breathtaking. I couldn't believe it.

Robert decided to take us to the "drop off". At this point I got a little nervous, the only time i had ever heard of a "drop off" was in finding nemo when he falls off the edge into the unknown. When we got there I realised it was just the edge of the reef but it was beautiful. You could just see the clear blue water of the lagoon turn to black as the reef disappeared and the only thing now below us was hundreds of feet of sea. We anchored to the reef and used banana leaves to tie reef rocks to our hooks. This is what the locals use as weights to make sure their line reaches the depths.

We had a brilliant morning. I could have filmed a whole BBC planet earth documentary on the wildlife, it was that beautiful. Between finding nemo and fish that can fly (they are real), I think it would have been a pretty good episode. David Attenborough better watch his back.

Wish you could have seen it in real life.

Love

Emma x

DAMI

2009-01-18T05:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday i went to Dami beach with lots of people from the base and my new housemate Martina. Martina has just arrived from Holland and we are living in a new house together just up the road from Simon and Annika. I still go and see them lots and help them eat their food.

Martina has just graduated from doing a child psychology degree and is going to be working with the special needs children here at the school. I'm so glad she's here, i was beginning to feel a little bit lost with no one my age around.

It still doesn't really feel like I'm in PNG even though I have been here almost a month. I think it's because I'm still inside this mini america most of the time. It's different from Mozambique in that I'm not constantly with nationals. I see them and have conversations with them everyday but I'm not totally forced to live in their culture if I don't want to. It's a different kind of relationship building you have to do here, It's weird but I'm getting used to it. Although, sometimes I don't feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to if I'm not in the middle of the jungle somewhere eating out of a banana leaf. Hopefully I'll get to make some more national friends soon.

Love,

Emma x

Ps: This is me and Martina at Dami beach.

NAME BELONG ME SPREAD TOE

2009-01-14T04:51:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, me and my family took a trip into the Mangseng tribe. This tribe was actually were Annika grew up and where her parents had planted a church. The church there was now completely independent as all missionaries have phased out. We left the base at 6am and arrived in the tribe at 9am. The 3 hour trip into the jungle was beautiful. We were in a small lorry/truck that just about made it there and back on the bush trail. We stood up at the back of the truck so we could see everything that was going on. The people here are so friendly, anyone we passed was so excited to see us and were saying good morning and waving, it was great fun.

When we arrived at the tribe we first went and met a few people that Annika had known very well. We saw her work meri that had worked for her family for 15 years and another lady that used to look after Annika, her brothers and sisters from time to time. This ladies name was Emma (she is the lady in the 16^th picture down with the stick through her nose). She was so excited to meet me and called me her “one name”. She would have done anything for me just because my name was the same as hers, such a lovely lady.

We then went to the tribal church. Ladies sat on one side and men on the other. Church lasted for what seemed like ages. We couldn’t understand one word and it was so hot but we still enjoyed just seeing how they did things. It great to see the church surviving independently after all the missionaries had left. This is exactly what New Tribes Mission (NTM) is all about. Their motto is “ teach one to reach one.”

After church was finished we met some of the locals. My favorite was spread toe. Believe it or not this is his actual name, spread toe. If you have a look at his picture (9^th picture) you’ll understand why. He was such a funny wee man. He just shook my hand with a huge big grin on his face and said “monin, name belong me spread toe.” Which means, morning, my name is spread toe. He was great. I liked him.

We went to a couple of peoples houses for lunch, I thought I had a hard time with Mozambican food. Nothing had prepared me for PNG tribal food. I had some sort of root vegetable that is pounded, wrapped in a leaf and then cook under the ground in a “mau mau”. You can see it being cooked in the pictures, it’s a hole in the ground with hot rocks and then huge big banana leaves on top. You just had to smile and swallow, we managed ok though.

One of the houses we went to for lunch was Emma’s house. As we sat and chatted we could see that they were just so happy to have Annika back to visit. When Annika had last seen Emma’s children not even all of them were born. Emma now has ten children. Her youngest you can see in picture 7, his name is Ten Man. He got his name because he is the last child, number ten. As you can see from the names mothers give their children, the people of PNG are very literal. They say things how they are. From hanging out with them for the day I noticed that they love to laugh. They were making jokes and playing about all day.

About 3 o’clock it was time for us to head back home. We said goodbye to everyone and as we were leaving the whole village was out to say goodbye, waving and shouting after us. We had a great day. We were a bit nervous about the journey home as if it rained we may have been stranded, because the bush roads here become a mudslide very quickly. It hadn’t rained all day so we were sure it was just about to. Thankfully it held off just until we reached the tarmac.

I really enjoyed my time with the Mangseng people, I will hopefully visit them again before I leave. I am also hoping to get into a few other tribes in the next few weeks so I’ll let you know how that goes.

Some other news :

School is going well, I am enjoying it so far. The kids here are lovely and have helped me settle in quickly. One of my housemates arrives on Friday so that will be nice to finally meet her and get moved into my new place.

Internet has been slow here the past few days but seems to be working again. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep you more updated now on what’s happening around the base.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Love,

Emma x

THE MANGSENG TRIBE

2009-01-11T00:53:00.000-08:00

CHICKEN TOES

2009-01-10T01:32:00.000-08:00

Today I went into the market in Kimbe town. It is about 40 mins drive from the base (at least i think it's 40 mins, I'm rubbish at calculating distance and time.) We just went through the market and some second hand shops looking for a bargain. I found lots of nice things, a few dresses and some meri blouses (a type of top that all the nationals wear here.)

We had lunch in a Papua New Guinea version of KFC. The only thing that was similar in this KFC to the one back home was the fact that the sign outside was red. I'm just glad we ate there and didn't wait until we got right into the market. You can see from the picture below what was on the menu there, chicken toes. LOVELY.

I'm just about to go to bed now, it's 10pm here. We are all up at 5am tomorrow cause we're heading into the bush to visit a tribe. We're going early so that we can go to church and have lunch afterwards with them. I'm really looking forward to it, should be a great day. I'll take lots of pictures so you can have a look at what went on.

Love,

Emma x

MENGEN TRIBE, LELE VILLAGE

2009-01-05T02:01:00.000-08:00

So, I start school tomorrow. I teach PE in the morning, that'll be a laugh and then English after that. I'm teaching MAP 4/5 as it's known here, which is 15-17 year olds in the high school. Really not looking forward to it. I'll blog tomorrow and let you know how that goes.

These are some pictures from the tribe my brother and dad visited this weekend. They really enjoyed their time there and have lots of stories from the trip. I hope to visit a tribe really soon so keep an eye out for the pics.

Thanks for all the comments.

Keep them coming.

Emma x

LELE

2009-01-04T02:59:00.000-08:00

WANTOK

2009-01-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

Already I’ve started drawing comparisons between PNG and Africa. I’ve discovered some similarities like the weather, community culture and the wantok (another new pigeon word meaning friendship.) The wantok system is very common in Africa also, it’s like an unspoken rule. When you make a friend or have grown up alongside someone, if they come under some kind of difficulty you look after them by feeding them, sharing with them, letting them live in your house, whatever they need. If the same happens to you they must return the favour. This wantok system plays a huge part in the PNG culture because they're so community based. If a local is going into town for the day to do something important and they meet a friend they haven't seen in a while along the way, they'll stop and chat. They'll forget about what they have to do in town because their way of thinking is completely relational.

This made me think about home and how we're so driven by our schedules, to-do lists and calanders. Don't get me wrong sometimes things need to get done, but it wouldn't hurt to slow down sometimes and try a bit of wantok.

Emma x

NEVER SMILE AT A CROCODILE

2009-01-02T01:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my family and a few missionaries from the base went to a local resort to hang out and eat some food on new years day. The resort is absolutely beautiful. It has a beach just outside the restaurant where we eat, with imported sand from another country but it still looks great none the less. They also have a little animal park just next to it where we went to visit the crocodiles and where I learnt my new pigeon word : pukpuk (crocodile). One of the guys was beating a stick off something and the croc did a full 180 degree jump in our direction, we ran so fast.

However the best part of the day was when my brother and I went for a swim out to the reef to snorkel. It was an amazing experience seeing the vast array of colours, fish and different creatures. It's crazy looking. I caught another starfish and this time it was a big blue one. I'm getting pretty good at this aren't I? In the next few weeks we'll go to an even bigger reef and go for a dive to see what's within the deeper seas, I can't wait.

I know it may sound like I'm not doing any work but that all starts on Tuesday. Today I had a meeting with the principal of the Malango school here to arrange the work I will be doing. Turns out, I will be a full time teacher of a Secondary School English class. I'm a little scared but hopefully after a few lessons I'll be fine.

I took a few pictures of around the base (mini America) today which I will get up really soon.

In the mean time here's a few of the resort yesterday and the catch of the day, my lovely blue starfish.

Love,

Emma x

WESAN

2008-12-31T16:38:00.000-08:00

For new years eve we went to the beach ("wesan" in pigeon). We did some snorkelling, which was class. We didn't swim the whole way out to the reef but some day we're going to take the boat out and have a good look around. I did manage to find a starfish though which wasn't too bad for my first time.

Today we're going to a local resort to have a BBQ for new years day so that'll be fun. It's so strange celebrating the new year here at 30 degrees! My dad leaves with Simon tomorrow for the weekend, they're heading into the bush to visit a potential tribe for Simon and Annika. I wanted to go but I'll have my turn soon. I'll get them to take some pics of what they did and you can have a look.

Thanks to everyone who has been praying that I'll settle in and feel at home here, it really is a beautiful place and I know I'll enjoy my time here.

Happy New Year and I'll post another update soon.

Love,

Emma x

ps : Keep the comments coming, I like those.

PNG

2008-12-29T23:16:00.000-08:00

THE STORY SO FAR...

2008-12-29T23:11:00.000-08:00

So after 4 days of traveling I have finally reached PNG. My parents are still in one piece, although it was touch and go a few times. Joe nearly had a wee accident when they told him he was going to have to pay over $200 for excess luggage weight.

We flew from Belfast to London and then had a 16 hour flight to Malaysia, stopping in Dubai. We had one hour in Malaysia before our flight to Brisbane. After spending the night in Australia it was the final leg of our Journey up through PNG. We arrived in Port Moresby at about mid day expecting to go straight to the hotel for the night to catch up on some sleep before our domestic flight to Hoskins (Islands region). A man named John met us in port Moresby and directed us straight to the ticket desk, Simon (my brother) had rang earlier to ask if there was any space on the flight that day, luckily there was so they bumped us forward to an earlier flight with no extra cost.

My brother along with his wife and baby girl Nya (she’s class) are full time missionaries with New Tribes Mission (NTM) in PNG. We arrived at Simon’s house late afternoon. We were so excited to see them and the place they have been living. They live on an NTM base, which I think is like a mini America. There is a school, clinic, shop, bank and even the odd swimming pool. It’s really beautiful. The houses are basic but comfortable, at the minute I’m living with Simon and Annika but in the next few days I’ll move into my own house with 2 other girls.

The School that I will be teaching in is on the base. The kids are on holiday at the moment but start back mid January. I’m still not completely sure what I will be doing but I have an orientation meeting soon so hopefully I will know more then.

Right now we’re just glad to be here and are excited about seeing around the place. I’ll be updating the blog quite regularly so keep an eye out.

Please send me some comments, even though I’m having fun here I still miss home and it would be lovely to hear from you all.

Love,

Emma x

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

2008-12-25T17:41:00.000-08:00

For some cool pics from PNG check ERIC LAFFORGUE's Flickr out for size : CLICK ME

The beautiful image in the header was taken from this great selection of pics.

Jonny/Emma

VIDA de INFLUENCIA

2008-12-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

LIFE of INFLUENCE :

So, the internet is really bad here in Mozambique, it's so unreliable. We're now in Quelimane and we actually leave for home next Monday, we've been so busy. Only getting around to putting up new material for your viewing pleasure now.

The capital city of the Zambezia province ("county"), Quelimane is a port city with approximately 200 thousand people living here. The Zambezia province is the largest province amongst the ten provinces of Mozambique. Africa is a largely colonised continent with many people from various other countries coming to exploit and take what they need from the land, sea and people. Mozambique was colonised by the Portuguese, who were made to leave in 1974 through revolutionary ideas that resulted in war. This then birthed communism and a civil war within the country from 1974 until 1992. As well as these radical ideals, the Portuguese impacted a lot of the country's culture and architecture. I mean, is Portuguese football even that good? They seem to think it's superior to the Premiership, I blame it on Portuguese brain washing. (Please, I don't want any comments aboot Ronaldo, he's an exception who left the country to rub shoulders with greatness : SPURS)

Prior to the civil war within the country, Quelimane was a point of export for fish, coconut, cashew nuts, tea and sugar. This is still the case today, but on a smaller scale. Coconut is incorporated into a lot of the local foods including their rice and Zambezian chicken. You have to try Zambezian chicken, BONITO.

The life expectancy here is approximately 37 years old. The people of this city have to deal with many struggles such as HIV/AIDS, unemployment, poverty and alcohol abuse. You can see the effect of aids everywhere, from children at the age of 10, 11, 12 holding their baby siblings because their mother and father has died of the deadly virus. Many children at a young age will raise their siblings while they live with their Granny or Granddad (or any living relative) as adoption is frowned upon by the government.

We are working with Quelimane Christian Assembly (QCA) a church birthed 6 years ago by Owaldo Jorge, a native Mozambican and Annemaree a native Australian. The church is a cell church with various cells meeting around the city during the week which then come together on Sundays for their corporate celebration or service. This is very contextual and relative to the setting of Quelimane and the nation of Mozambique with it's communal atmosphere and relational people. The church has recently been sending out members to various parts of the country, such as Maputo, Morrumbala, Beira, Dondo and Chimoio. From here these members have been starting cells, meeting together and growing. It's great to think that a church doesn't know how big it is or how big it is getting. It's through this impact, that change happens and it's so great to be part of something like this.

QCA is dedicated to 'raising up and releasing a generation of young Christian men and women to impact all areas of society - law, economics, medicine, education, etc'

That's a flavour of what we've been involved with here in Quelimane. I have been working with the football cell which meets on Sunday mornings at 6:30 until 9 whilst the morning service is in action. It's church on the football pitch which is a fresh change. The local "dudes" that come along to this really appreciate any form of regulated football matches and training drills. They're not exposed to this as they grow up playing football in the zones where they live. So, we train and then we share, and invite the new members along to the night service.

It's a great chance to meet new people and make new friends. One of my new friends is Jackson (great name), he's a legend. He's very quiet but every now and again he'll slip out a wee smile or a stupid dance. He shows great dedication to the cell, traveling in each week and each day of the tournament, walking roughly an hour and a half in the Mozambican heat. We're in the process of getting him a bike, this will make it a little easier on his typically thin lanky African legs. The amount of times I've looked at his dark face and it has sparked another beautiful rendition of Johnny (he spelt that the wrong way) Cash from myself. "I'm going to Jackson...."

The last two weeks we've been involved with a football tournament that the church establishes usually twice a year for all the zones around the city which was then capped off with a concert on Monday for International Aids day. It was a great tournament, lots of refereeing, lines manning, sun and a fun concert with lots of people coming together in typical Mozambican fashion for a dance.

I also have been doing a spot of English teaching with the players from my cell in Aeroporto, one of the zones in the city near the airport. As well as this I've been involved with New English Voice Organisation (NEVO), an English teaching school. Here I've been teaching life skills to locals and getting to know them along with their Mozambican thinking towards various subjects such as divorce, homosexuality, marriage and sex before marriage. Today I was in a zone called Namuinho doing a football clinic with locals, it's a more rural zone and a lot of the locals were out to watch the football and see the white boy taking pictures. The work we've been doing here is very relational based, getting alongside people, meeting their family and experiencing their culture. Good times.

Emma has been working with a NEVO cell each Saturday and has been covering topics relating to hope, relationships, fasting and limitation. This cell also becomes a moral teaching class during the week where she has just recently taught on communication. Emma has also been involved with a school in a zone area called Janeiro, she has been going there once a week to play with the local children, teach a little bit of english and meet their families. On Thursdays she goes to the boys home in Sangaglivera for the day to visit the boys and to a cell in the afternoon.

Every street kid that we've noticed on the street knows about the home but doesn't want to live there and we can't understand why. At the centre they have a safe place to sleep and eat but rules are also set in place to give them routine and teach discipline, this may be the reason why they keep running away. Just today we were at a cafe with some friends and a couple of street kids came to ask for some money, when we seen them one of the boys was reaching into the bin looking for something to eat. The waiter caught him and slapped him across the head and began shouting at him. The kid just sat down and started crying, it was so hard to see that kind of thing happening. We couldn't even say anything because our Portuguese is so limited. When you know there's a safe place for them to stay it breaks your heart when you see them being treated like this on the street.

Keep praying.

Love,

Jonny/Emma

MOZ

2008-11-05T10:05:00.000-08:00

ELIAS

2008-11-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

We haven't had any internet access so this is a little late:

Death is something that Africa and the people of Africa have to deal with continually, to the point where it sometimes seems like it has no effect on the bereaved. In our short time here we've begun to see and experience this. It's like Africa in a way has become numb to death. We all know however that this is not the case and that hurt is deeper than we'll ever see. We should be thankful for the lives we have and the fact that death is not a common experience for us to have to deal with.

Elias' father passed away on Friday. Elias is our friend, "tour guide" and employee here at O.W.Y. and we'd appreciate your prayer for him and the whole family circle at this time.

Love,

Jonny/Emma

CASA DE INNOCENCIA

2008-10-28T02:42:00.000-07:00

A little 4 month old baby named Innocencia comes to Bernadette every week with her aunt to the clinic to collect her baby milk. Bernadette wanted to help Innocencia and her aunt by helping put the roof on their house before rainy season comes in January. Bernadette paid for all the materials and labour needed. On Monday Jonny went to help gather grass for the roof to lay onto a newly constructed bamboo roof frame. Late on in the afternoon I came with the camera to get a few pics of what was happening. We'll put these up soon.

There are 4 people living in the house, Innocencia, her aunt and two boys. Innocencia's mother died during childbirth so this is why she lives with her aunt. Her aunt is widowed. As part of O.W.Y Bernadette chooses very carefully the people she helps outside the project. Bernadette helps those in the worst circumstances, facing daily problems.

Read James 1:27 to get a better picture of O.W.Y's mandate.

Also, pray for Lucas's family, his baby daughter is now sick and he has malaria. They're really going through a hard time at the moment.

Love,

Jonny/Emma

GLORY GLORY TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

2008-10-28T02:18:00.000-07:00

Imagine spurs got relegated? What's going on with them? I'm missing the football lads, can't wait to get home to watching spurs on a sunday afternoon. (I'll probably regret saying that)

The Ramos revolution has ceased. Harry Redknapp? I don't know. All will be revealed.

Chao,

Jonny

MAMA GABOUSA

2008-10-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

So Mama Gabousa came to visit O.W.Y this week. for those of you who don't know who mama Gabousa is...she's the first lady of Mozambique. The presidents wife. So it was a pretty big deal. We had to get the place ready for her arriving so we were pretty busy. She came at about 7:30am on Monday morning and stayed for about half an hour, walking around looking at the clinic, school and meeting the children. She was interested in the work going on and when she was interviewed for the radio said she really enjoyed getting to see O.W.Y. This shows how significant the work of O.W.Y is that she would come to visit and Bernadette was very encouraged by this. She was nervous before hand but coped well.

Other News :

We're obsessed with LOST. We started watching season one on Friday and haven't stopped since.
We're now starting to prepare for graduation coming up at the beginning of November.
We're going swimming in the river on Saturday with Elias.
Hippos and Crocodiles also swim there.
Mocuba is beautiful.

Love,

Jonny/Emma

PLAY TIME

2008-10-23T05:02:00.000-07:00

NEWNESS

2008-10-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

GOSTO DE PAINTAR

2008-10-12T05:27:00.000-07:00

We've been painting the new swings that some of the workers made, teaching some english and painting the gate that Jonny helped make last week. It looks great. The nicest gate in Mocuba, we'd say. Bernadette even thinks so...so it must be right.

Eveything is going great for us. We have three weeks left here before heading to Quelimane so we're nearly halfway through.

Thanks so much for your comments and for remembering us in prayer. We really appreciate it.
We're putting up some pics of the kids so we'll now shut up and let you enjoy their bonita faces.

Bye bye

LUCAS

2008-10-12T04:58:00.000-07:00

So alot has happened since we last were on here. Some of it isn't so good but God is still at work. Lucas, a night guard that works for Bernadette was told last week just after arriving at work that one of his children had meningitis and needed to go to the hospital asap.

This will begin to show you the amount of need in Mocuba. The system set up at the moment means that you have to apply by letter for the hospital to send you out an ambulance. It was a shocking thing for us to hear so we knew we had to help Lucas and his family asap. We tried to arrange transport for him to get home to get his child and then to be taken to the hospital. This proved to be very difficult. Lucas lived and hour and a half away from where he was and we had no car to take him anywhere. Operation Mobalisation have a base across the road from O.W.Y so we thought we'd check if their car was working. When we got there the car had a flat tyre.

It took over an hour to find and replace another tyre, so as time was passing we were getting more and more worried because every minute counts when it's an illness as serious as this. We eventually got the car up and running and Lucas was on his way to get his son. At this stage he didn't know what to expect when he arrived home as he had no phone to contact his wife.

They reached the hospital at about 2am after running out of petrol along the way but unfortunately his son died shortly after reaching the hospital. His son was 4 years old. We don't even know if he recieved the right treatment or if any treatment was even given to the child. This is because in the hospital in Mocuba there is no doctor. The hospital serves a 4 hour radius with only one ambulance. This can begin to show you the need there is here in Mocuba and the importance of the work of O.W.Y setting up a medical clinic.

Lucas is one of those African men you just instantly love without even talking to him. Our Potgugese is limited so it's hard to get to know someone terribly well but he's got the biggest smile you're probably ever gonna see. He was only off for 4 days and as soon as he came back he was straight back into work with that big smile and willingness to help. He's an amazing man and it would be great if you could pray for him, his family, the hospital in Mocuba and the work of O.W.Y.

Love,

Jonny/Emma

BONITA MOZAMBIQUE

2008-09-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

SO APPARENTLY "MACUBA" IS SPELT MOCUBA

2008-09-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

We're now at a Dutch familie's home in town using their internet so it's good to see what you're all saying. Keep the comments a flowing. They make us happy.

So we've settled in well at Bernadettes getting to know her and the locals around Osivela wa Yesu (O.W.Y - the pre school and medical clinic complex) alot better. "The mother Teresa of Mozambique" (as we've named her) loves a good film at night and it's great just to spend time with her.

Our Portugese is improving as you constantly are greeting new people wherever you go. Pray that continues to improve as it makes things alot easier.

Emma has been teaching some English to the kids at the pre school and I have been helping make a gate. The gate is being fixed to the entrance wall we made with the C'stone team in July. The wall is still standing and it's looking alot different. The whole complex in general is looking alot different. The Dutch team that came in Aug worked really hard (probably 'cause they're nearly German) and you can see some of their work in the photos.

Yesterday we had a little trip into town on bikes that Bernadette hooked us up with, liscences and all. A local O.W.Y handyman called Elias took us on a guided tour yesterday which was a pleasure. Mocuba is not the "rural village'' we once thought it was, it's bigger than you think. In July we just didn't get to experience anything other than rats, the road to Malawi, Andrew's farts, Philippe, the wall and digging trenches. Mocuba is 'bonita'.

As always, we don't know when we'll get on tínterweb so I hope all is well and we'll hopefully get on soon. Keep praying.

Love

Jonny/Emma

MACUBA

2008-09-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

We're staying at the moment in Quelimane with Oswaldo and Annemaria.

Tomorrow I help with "Soccer" cell group and Emma heads to church. In the afternoon we'll get on a packed out bus and head up to meet Bernadette in Macuba.

Work will begin, internet will be in short supply and we'll hopefully not get sun stroke. It's gonna be great.

Come on the spurs tomorrow. Someone let me know how that goes, we could do with the win.

Loves,

Jonny/Emma

FINALLY QUELIMANE

2008-09-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

...with a taste of "Norn Iron".

Belfast//London//Johannesburg//Maputo

2008-09-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

INFO INFO INFO

2008-09-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

Jonny Holmes and Emma Flanagan are setting out to Mozambique to work alongside two devolping projects.

The trip will be twelve weeks long, split six weeks in Macuba and six weeks in Quelimane.

In Macuba they will work with Bernadette Janssen a South African missionary who has set up a pre school and medical clinic. Bernadette has developed her vision into a complex that seeks to educate, feed, serve and provide medical care for orphans and the surrounding community.

In Quelimane they will work together with Quelimane Christian Assembly amongst various projects they have established. These projects include the ‘Peace School’, a school for three to fifteen year olds and a boys home which houses local street kids, giving them the opportunity to experience God and people who love them.

Please remember this trip and the projects in your prayers. Pray that God will work through everything Jonny and Emma will be involved in. Pray God blesses the work in Macuba, Quelimane and Mozambique as a nation.

Psalm 63.