SAD Tuesday

So this is from Mike (mostly) today:

To be honest, I think I found myself learning a lot about Africa the first few days I've been here... You know how You can know a lot about God, but not know God? well, I think I had been learning a lot about Africa, but didn't truly know Africa.

The last few days I have had so many good conversations with Rick (our missionary host) about life here in Mozambique; specifically in regards to the poverty here. I have learned much about life here, like the fact that the government's minimum wage is 60 mets a day (1 dollar is worth about 33 mets) so that works out to about just under $2/day. Even though I have learned in the past that in 3rd world countries if you buy the same thing there as you would at home, it costs the same, this is still shockin! For example, I went and bought a Cadbury chocolate bar yesterday, and it was 39 mets, so about the same cost as at home. Obviously our way of life than is completely impossible at 60 mets a day. People and families stay alive because they don't buy anything that we would buy, instead they shop at places we wouldn't shop, like the market instead of the store. They don't have shoes or education or healthcare, and they have dirt floor homes... That way, at 60 mets a day they can "survive".

Now Rick has been teaching me that at the farm they run, they pay their workers a full 60 mets a day, which is the government's standard. He says that most places in Moz don't even pay at this level, and in fact at 60 mets a day it is possible to not only survive, but to slowly start saving and to be able to improve your quality of life (as impossible as that seems to me).

I have really enjoyed the last few days expanding my understanding of life here, and learning about the economics of poverty, even though it's hard at time to understand. As i am pondering on all this, I am working with Rick on packing and trying to get the nurse's motorcycle running :)

While we were doing this, a man (on of the workers) came and told Rick that he needs to go home because his son is very sick. As he talked with Rick, we decided with him to the village to see and pray for his son. We pick up the nurse on the way there, and as we get to the tiny thatch roof home, I duck under the about 3ft high door and see this little boy inside. He is maybe about 16 months old, weezing badly and can't stay awake. It is obvious that he is very sick, so our nurse listens to his lungs and takes his pulse and we pray for the little boy. I just don't understand sometimes how God has made our world: why is this boy, born into totally poverty, now stuck with a deadly illness that he might not recover from? I ask God, his creator, to heal him and in my soul I am begging him to heal him.

Our nurse, Karen, wants to quickly go back to the office and try to get the right meds to try to help him, so we agree to meet them again as soon as we can. Raph is taking a nap, and Rick asks Marie-Eve if she would like to come with, so I stay behind. I'm sitting here as suddenly the realities of Africa loose their "problem to solve" state that I tend to function in and suddenly it is a total heart thing: why are some born in Niverville, and some born here? I feel like I had learned a lot about Africa, but now I feel in my heart I am getting to know Africa a little bit...

Poverty is so full of faces, families, children and innocent people who are dying out here from things that at home we don't even think about. It seems like I haven't seen a single African over the age of 60 that is healthy, everyone is missing limbs, or can't walk, or disfigured. At home, the majority of us live past 60 with strong health, in fact my dad is 55 and seems to be a long ways away from the end. What if he had been born here? This boy probably would have been just fine if given the proper meds on time, or even if his father had the education to understand that when a child is sick you have to bring him to the clinic. We have no idea the luxuries that we have, and we forget sooooo quickly the plight of the masses in suffering. We love the parts of the Bible that tells us how to get our sin forgiven so that we can go to heaven after we die, but we forget the many many words of Jesus that talks about reaching out to the poor. How can we live day after days without caring about Matt 25 in the context of places life Africa? It is so easy for me to consume my time and energy with, as Graham says, "rich people problems," and to forget about the kingdom that God asks us to pray would come to earth everyday (and for us to be bringing it here!!)

Ah this point Raph wakes up, so I sit down with him and give him some cheerios and raisins. We then go to Rick and Heather's house as I have an unusual desire to write down my thoughts. Halfway through this, Rick comes back inside, his face is heavy and he tells Heather that he is going to build a coffin for this little boy, as he passed away just minutes ago.

I was going to stop writing there, but in the last few hours since this all happened, I have been shocked to see how the missionaries here so quickly seem to move on... This was a man who they knew well, a child that they held in their arms, but as they say, this happens often and you can't get too emotionally attached or else you burn out.

We are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning for our trip up North, we have about 12 hours of driving to do on insane roads, we will not have any e-mail access during this time.

We will update again once we get back here to the mission base.

LATER. Sorry for the sad blog, I'm sure we'll have more happy stuff to say later :)