MCC Mozambique Team
Despite the long 26-hour trip back to Maputo, I want to write a little bit about the wonderful time we actually did have in Sofala Province which indeed is the reason that we were able to handle with patience the long trip afterwards. We were to have team meetings in Beira like we usually do every 3 months but this time, on someone's suggestion, which I might add was wonderful, we decided to spend some time at a camp just outside Gorongosa Park and have our meetings in this rural bush setting. For those of you who do not know, Gorongosa Park is probably the best game reserve in Mozambique and if it weren't for the war, it would be one of the best parks in Southern Africa if not Africa for seeing game. At this point you can see warthogs, baboons, vervet monkeys and any number of antelope and gazelle. The lions and elephants are coming back and the setting is very much more rugged and wild than anywhere else I have been in southern Africa and the vegetation and forest savannah beautiful. The park borders Gorongosa Mountain which is unique in its own right. It is a single mountain in the middle of flat savannah plains but full of wildlife and a unique forest on top.
We spent our time in a camp run by a South African couple just outside the park. They are working on there registration for there tourist business and so they have lived Swiss Family Robinson style in a house that looks like a labrynth beautifully made of bamboo, reeds and grasses while they build there more permanent house. The bamboo opens up to room after room as you walk back with furniture and paintings that look like it came from 'Out of Africa'. It is in the middle of the forest and quiet but completely open. Anyone could walk in and not be noticed and there is no security. I asked Piet how they can live without walls or security remembering the gangs of thieves that used to scare us in Gondola, which is only 2 hours drive away. He said they have been here 8 years and nothing ever happened to give them concern. They get along excellently with the neighboring communities who offer them protection and the community benefits because their land is protected from logging companies that want to come in and exploit the land. This is conservation and tourism at its best.
They have a number of daughters and one of them is in charge of tourist trips. She speaks Portuguese, Afrikaans, Sena and English with perfection and is as comfortable with the locals as she is with us, running around in barefeet all day. She is 16 and has been driving since she was 11. The government tried to stop her at one point but they realized she is a better driver than a lot of other locals and so she drives for the government people as well. What an amazing life. She took us one evening to see the stunning sunset over the Pungue River valley. I had been there before with Brooke and Sara but this time we had food, soda and a guitar. As the song goes,"No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that rock I'm clinging. If love is Lord of heaven and earth, I cannot keep from singing." So we sang.
Jon and I hiked up a steep footpath about 50-100 meters up to the top of the fall. We did it in barefeet and I was seriously precarious at times. I felt like I was in virgin territory exploring the deep of the jungle in a remote corner of the world. Actually, we were. This is little known territory but is sure to be known as the tourism grows in Mozambique. The rest took turns jumping into the cold water. I have done that enough in my life, I decided I did not need to do it this time. We all ate lunch there at the waterfall.
On Gorongosa Mountain trail to the WaterfallEach day we ate lunch and dinner together which was cooked by the mother in the bamboo house. It was some of the most amazing meals I have ever had. Especially the gazelle stir fry. We slept in tents with hot showers and spent the evenings sitting around the campfire, playing guitar and laughing. The last evening we spent with Piet and Ria but I was so exhausted that I did not get to talk much. Piet said my face looked familiar from my days in Chimioio. He must have seen me in town somewhere. That made me miss Chimoio so much. If we still lived there we could easily come visit them for vacation.
Amazing Dinners
On Saturday we had a very meaningful worship service and communion together with Piet and Ria. Piet became a Christian sometime in the 90s and they are very humble people. They are also working some with conservation agriculture so we will probably connect in the future now that MCC has translated some materials. They have a heart for the community around them and that is so good to see.
We all voted that we would love to come back to this place. We felt so refreshed spiritually, emotionally and physically that going back on the 26 hour trip to Maputo was not as bad as it could have been. It teaches me once again how important it is to take care of ourselves when doing the kind of work we are doing.
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