Commentary: Journey into Mozambique yields five days of wonder
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A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose
An unfinished window frames a view of palm trees at Matingane United Methodist Church in Massinga, Mozambique.
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| An
unfinished window frames a view of palm trees at Matingane United
Methodist Church in Massinga, Mozambique. The United Methodist Church is
alive and flourishing in every province, with a membership of 180,000
and growing. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo #05-M084, 4/20/05. |
April 20, 2005 A UMNS Commentary
By Kathy L. Gilbert* Five
days of hard travel in a little four-wheel drive vehicle with bad
shocks and no air conditioning has a way of bringing people close
together. It
was my great honor and pleasure to be "cooped up" in that vehicle with
my colleague, United Methodist News Service photographer Mike DuBose,
and two of the kindest souls I have ever encountered, Ezequiel Nhantumbo
and Antonio Wilson. Nhantumbo, "Ezy," is coordinator for the Missouri Initiative in Mozambique; Wilson is the conference communications director. For
five days, Nhantumbo and Wilson gave up time with their families to
drive hundreds of miles to show us what is happening in their country
because of the United Methodist Church. We visited churches, schools,
orphanages and women’s shelters, and walked through cleared land-mine
fields, to name a few. Mozambique, one of the poorest nations in the world, has spots of breathtaking beauty and places of heartbreaking despair.
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A UMNS photo by Mike DuBoseThe choir at Matingane United Methodist Church in Massinga, Mozambique, practices a new hymn in its unfinished sanctuary. |
| The
choir at Matingane United Methodist Church in Massinga, Mozambique,
practices a new hymn in its unfinished sanctuary. The United Methodist
Church is alive and flourishing in every province, with a membership of
180,000 and growing. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo #05-M085,
4/20/05. |
Our first stop on the
journey was John Wesley United Methodist Church, in the remote village
of Macia. Bewildered and dazed, I stepped out of the vehicle, not even
sure we were at a church. Outside the little hut made of sticks, most of
the congregation had been waiting all morning for our arrival. I took a
few steps and then felt myself being lifted into the air. The happy
United Methodists carried me around the church yard a few times then
gently placed me back on my feet. Mike, busy getting his cameras ready,
was lifted before he knew what was happening. I have never been treated
as such an honored guest and welcomed into a church the way I was in
this small village.At
the next stop, Chicuque Rural Hospital was overflowing with people
needing medicine and help, both in scarce supply. Nearby, a nearby rural
clinic had little more than a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some
bandages to fix the ravages of those infected with HIV/AIDS. Both the
clinic and hospital are operated by the United Methodist Church.
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A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose
Ezequiel �Ezy� Nhantumbo is coordinator for the Missouri Initiative in Mozambique.
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| Ezequiel
�Ezy� Nhantumbo is coordinator for the Missouri Initiative in
Mozambique. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose, Photo #05-M086, 4/20/05 |
I met people that I
will never forget, like 2-year-old Pedro at Teles Orphanage. He walked
up to me and held up his tiny arms. I carried him around until I finally
had to give him up so I could take notes. I can still feel the warmth
of that tiny body and see his radiant smile.One
of the most out-of-body experiences I had was the morning we met Jacky
D’Almeida— terrorist turned savior—who is director of the Accelerated
Demining Program in Mozambique. We
had to leave our guesthouse at 5 a.m. to make the two-hour drive to
Vilankulo. D’Almeida was waiting to give us what DuBose describes as our
"Mad Max breakfast." As soon as we arrived, a woman started cracking
eggs and frying them up in a black skillet over an open fire on the side
of the road. The dust from our arrival mixed with the eggs, and
D’Almeida was waiting impatiently for us to finish so he could show us
his field of miracles. Along
the way, we met George Muronda, a mine-removal supervisor from Mine
Tech, who has only one hand. He lost the other one in a land-mine
accident. We were introduced to Ernest Morgando, village elder of
Malaica, who took us on a tour that included a site marked with
red-tipped sticks, burial ground for a woman killed by a land mine. Bishop
Joao S. Machado welcomed us into his house as the sun was setting on
another full day. He spoke for more than an hour about his role in the
peace agreement and transported us to another time.
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A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose
Antonio Wilson, with the Mozambique Annual Conference, shows off the nearly completed communications center in Massinga.
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| Antonio
Wilson, communications director for the Mozambique Annual Conference,
shows off the nearly completed communications center in Massinga,
Mozambique. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose, Photo #05-M088, 4/20/05 |
We crossed the
Limpopo River, which flooded in 2000 and 2003, leaving thousands
homeless. I tasted roasted cassava at the "witch daughter’s" shelter and
learned to take a shower out of a bucket at the United Methodist
guesthouses. I climbed a ladder and saw the water cradled in a baobab
tree and ate the freshest fish I have ever tasted at the Morrungulo
resort.It was the most tiring five days of my life. It was the most rewarding five days of my life. After
repeated tries, Wilson finally succeeded in teaching me a phrase in
Portuguese Xitswa, "nzi bongile" (pronounced zee bon geely), which means
"thank you very much." I would like to say a heartfelt "nzi bongile" to all my friends in Mozambique. *Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer in Nashville, Tenn. News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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