Munguluni Mission

A few weeks ago Drew and I were presented with an opportunity that we could not pass up. Two friends of ours needed to go to Mungaluni Mission in the North of the country. They had acquired a vehicle and paid fuel for the trip through their work (ADRA), and asked us if we would like to drive them and come on the trip. This was an amazing opportunity as we both (Drew in particular) have wanted to go to the north of Mozambique for quite a while now. It is a place of intrigue - the REAL wild Africa. When you look at a map of Mozambique, it doesn't seem very big in comparison to the rest of Africa, but let me assure you, it's a long country. I just did a google search and found that California coastline is about 840 miles. Mozambique, on the other hand has 1534 miles of coastline. And most of this coastline is completely unspoiled! Pristine white sand beaches, etc... I could go on and on about the beautiful beaches here... But let me get back to the story. Fuel is expensive here, so having the fuel paid on this trip was a big deal. We could not say no. So we packed the back of the Toyota Hilux 4x4 and took off to see the north. For four people, it was a very full truck! But with good reason. You see, one cannot just stop at a restaurant and get food whenever you want when you are in the bush. Especially 4 vegetarians! So, I had cooked a heap of food and froze it in our deep freeze. This was our food supply, but it was bulky. Here is a picture of Drew deep in the back of the truck.

We were supposed to leave Thursday afternoon, but Drew got tied up at the farm finishing a project that had to be completed before we left. By the time we got into town to pick up the girls, it was about 8pm. Not only were they tired, but Drew was tired as well. Our friend Elizabeth had been moving out of her apartment, cleaning and packing, and had just handed the keys over that day. This is what they looked like when we got in

All but me voted to sleep and leave the house at 2 am. Unfortunately I was very awake at this point, but tried to sleep anyway with limited success. I was up again shortly, and we left at 2:30am on the beginning of our trip north! Drew and I tag-team drove, and I happened to be the only one awake when the sun came up. It was beautiful! Especially for a night person who doesn't like mornings. But, as this was an exciting morning with new adventure ahead, it was beautiful. We ate snacks and drove all day, noticing that the further we went north, the smaller the road got. Notably, this is the ONLY road that goes North-South in Mozambique.

You'll notice that one truck had to hit the ditch for them to pass. How do they determine who hits the ditch when it's oncoming traffic?!? It's like playing chicken every time you drive... Also, the further we got north, the further south the quality of the facilities went. In Maputo, at least you can find a toilet with a seat on it. North of Maputo, none of them had running water, never a toilet seat, and the smell became increasingly bad. In the end it was much better to go in a bush. These are two of the better toilets

Then we crossed the Save River. This is essentially the mid-way point in Mozambique.

After this we started seeing many vehicles/busses/tractor trailers that were on the side of the road abandoned after accidents, mostly of which included fire. Here is one of the busses.

The road was narrow and bad with a lot of pothole dodging and fairly intense driving. There were always people. There is no way you could check a text message while driving - you might hit a goat, dog, giant pothole, or crazy driving car who is also trying to dodge potholes causing severe and sharp turning sometimes into your path. Even if you were looking for a snack! As the sun set and we welcomed the Sabbath we were greeted by this beautiful bridge

I have never experienced a road that would surpass the road we then encountered. This road was the worst of all roads. In comparison, the road to that point was nothing - like a beautiful road. By this point it was late at night and we just wanted to BE THERE!! The potholes were so bad that it bounced our battery out of it's place and the truck shut off. We coasted to the edge of the road and got out under the starlight to try to fix. Amazingly enough, even at 10:30 at night, when you think you are way out in the middle of nowhere, there are still people. We were surrounded by a small group of curious villagers in minutes. It was at this point that Drew found the battery connector didn't have a nut to tighten it to the battery post. Not only that, but the battery was the wrong size for the battery holder, of which was also broken. Oh dear. It was held on with a flimsy sort of wire, which had wiggled loose and broke with the bad road. This is how things are fixed, even on a new car here in Mozambique.... no wonder you don't see many old cars on the road. They don't last that long!! Thankfully we got the connection back but did no have the equipment to fix it correctly. We would drive a little further and another giant pothole would dislodge it again. This proceeded to happen at least 10 more times on this road. You see, the problem is that the road construction crew would sneakily repair a section of road, making you think that the potholes are over. As you slowly gain in speed and confidence that you may be out of pothole territory, you are greeted around a corner with the worst of the potholes that you are completely unable to slow down for. Needless to say, no one could sleep during this section of the road. Poor truck. I wish I could have gotten a picture of this road... Alas it was dark. During the night we also came across a terrible accident. With no markings, no warning, and had we not been paying attention, we would have crashed right into it as well. There were no people there. Hopefully they had gone to seek medical attention. As we passed we learned that the first truck had pulled over, putting a small branch of a tree in the road as a warning (as they do), but the second semi didn't see the warning and plowed into the first. Yikes!!!

We finally arrived to Gary's house just after 2 am. It took us 24 hours to get there! We were exhausted, and shortly fell into bed. The reason that we had pushed through those 24 hours was so that we could make it to Munguluni for church. We had made it to Mocuba, which normally is only 1.5 or 2 hours from Munguluni, but due to large floods earlier this year, the bridge was washed out. The only way to get to Munguluni was by a boat crossing. We had coordinated to cross in the morning, and dutifully got up early and left Mocuba at 5 am. (note how much sleep we had... :/ Gary drove us to the river and we were able to see the devastation that the floods had. Very impressive destruction! It was here we saw that we were going to cross this river in boats that were made out of bark.

I'm standing on the edge of the bridge. Can you see where the road picks up again on the other side?

They can carry all kinds of things over this river! Just not a truck :(

We unpacked our things into a boat and got in as well. As the "driver" pushed off with a large stick the water lapped at the side of the boat with only a few splashes coming in. The water pooled at our feet and we were quite happy to make it to the other side.

This is our scared friends Evani and Elizabeth following us across in a different boat. A staff member of Munguluni was there to greet us and take us the rest of the way to the mission.

Attracting all kinds of attention

We drove down a little trail that was called a road and encountered a few other bridges that had been swept away by the floods. These had been repaired by industrious local men who had charged a toll for anyone crossing directly after the floods. By this point, there was no one manning the bridges as there was a very limited number of cars on that side of the river anyway. Apparently it wasn't as lucrative as they thought. I could not keep my eyes open as we crossed over these bridges because they were that scary. I had accelerated heart rate and sweaty palms... and if you know me very well, I don't get scared easily. I actually got out and crossed one bridge on foot as I was sure the truck would fall through.

I made a short video of this potential destruction, but they made it across the bridge. If I can figure out how to insert that, I will... We made it to Munguluni and were greeted by Evani's house mates who hadn't seen her in many months! (She was unable to return to Munguluni for some months as she was down south when the floods happened and bridges destroyed). We had breakfast with them in their humble home (which was one of the nicest in Munguluni) and walked to church. We were stuck with how beautiful it is there. Munguluni is surrounded by these interesting and beautiful mountains.

Church was translated from Portuguese to the local dialect. Too bad for us. According to the nice people around me, I am learning Portuguese quite fast, but I still could only pick up on maybe 2 words per sentence if I'm lucky (and very focused). Regardless the church service was most interesting. All the children sat in the front. None of them with their parents. The older ones took care of the younger ones, no matter if they were family or not. They sat still and quiet through the entire service.

Then the most interesting thing happened. It was time for offering. The deacons got up and held plates at the front of the church. A few people came forward and put their offering in the plate, but then two men brought forward a large sack stuffed full of corn. Then a lady came forward carrying a large basin on her head. She knelt and put the basin down in front of the deacon filled with rice she had grown. This continued as the people of the church brought their first fruits of harvest. I was blown away! I had heard of giving of your first fruits in the Bible, but never thought of it happening in real life. It was such a simple, wonderful, pure gesture. Seeing this type of giving, giving of what you have, is very humbling. It makes your re-evaluate your giving habits. Are you really giving what you can to the Lord? Isn't it all His anyway? I wish I had a good photo of this... I really do need to figure out how to upload videos here, because I have a video of this. Seems like I've done it before, but like... 10 years ago. Gettin' rusty We enjoyed the rest of the day with a larrrge nap. We got up for supper on Sabbath. Truly a day of rest! And we felt sooo much better after that sleep. We were truly sleep deprived and I don't think I have done a road trip like that since college! That evening we played games with our new housemates - Rummikub was the favorite, though Uno a second. The generator came on nicely just after dark for the few hours a day of electricity that they have at Munguluni. The lights went out during play, and so we finished playing by candlelight (and the light of a cell phone). Imagine only having electricity for about 2 hours a day.

Sunday we went for a walk out in the village and were greeted by many friendly villagers, with relatively tidy homes. This lady was pounding corn into a corn flour that they use for their staple "Xima" pronounced "sheema"

Monday was a holiday, and we were in the right place for it because it was Children's Day. This day is set aside to celebrate children. I think we should have this day in the states as well! Munguluni has about 400 children in their school and they all participated in a day of fun including songs, sone dancing, and presentations from the classes. We started at their normal gathering place for information and songs, but then moved under a large tree, enjoying the shade for class presentations and games. They loved the sack races in particular.

As I was taking some pictures, I noticed that there were so many american t-shirts! You know that the kids or their parents don't know what the t-shirt even says. So, if you donated children's t-shirts to Africa. Be assured these kids and all of Africa got one.

As we headed back we saw the washed out bridge from the other side. What a devastation. You can see that a lot of trees and such had washed up and gotten stuck on the right side of the bridge. This apparently was there from a previous flood and was not removed. The water therefore could not get through during the recent flood and instead choose a new path washing out around the bridge leaving a huge gap. Careful! There is only a small stick warning that you may drive off the cliff!!!

Overall, one of the best experiences that I've had in Mozambique was at Munguluni. It is filled with amazing people, warm and friendly, and I can really feel the Spirit of God at work there. There is not much information about Munguluni. If you are interested in learning more about this amazing place, follow this link:http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/SEQR/SEQR19610301-V28-01.pdf