Update (3/18/08)

We should be moving into our permanent house very soon; there is just a few more things to get finished and we will get the green light to move. We thought we would have moved in well before now, but we are being patient and trying to make the best of it. Beth and I worked in the yard at the new house all day on Saturday. We had a good time making it feel like it is ours.

Orphanage of Catembe

This past weekend we had a chance to visit an orphanage in the village of Catembe. We went there with a group from the Church we have been attending. The trip to the orphanage is an adventure of it's own. We met at 7 am to ride the ferry across the Maputo river(you have to arrive early to get in line to load your car on the boat). We rode over with a friend so that was great. The orphanage is called The Family House of Hope and it consist of five newly constructed houses on a large piece of land. There plan is to have a married husband and wife live with twelve children in each house. Right know there are twenty six children living there ranging from one year to sixteen years of age. All of the kids love to play, laugh, and to be loved. Many of the kids wanted to hold hands with us and set on our laps just to have the contact that they have been missing. We planted several trees and other plants for them and then took a ride down the road to a small school that the Church is helping to run. There was four classrooms about the size of a class room at home with one exception: they're class sizes are about 45 kids per class. Many share a desk with two or even three kids per desk, and thats just the first group of students! They have three groups that come for three hours each day. Thats about 530 kids everyday in this school with the same teachers all day from 8 am to 7 pm everyday. Beth and I have been thinking of a way we might be able to help the teachers out with visual teaching aids or even writing paper. The day was topped off with a great lunch with the kids at the orphanage. We took a few packs of baseball and football cards to give out they seemed to like them very much. We will make a trip back out again soon.

Inhaca and Ponto do Oura

We've had a chance to get out of the city on a couple of weekends. We went with a couple to an island called Inhaca. It's across the bay from Maputo. We went there by boat and stayed overnight at a small camp. It was nice to be the only ones at the camp. The water in the bay was very warm. We spent a lot of time just floating around and enjoying each others company.

We also went to Ponta do Oura, this is truly a hidden jewel. It is in the most southern part of Mozambique, just a few miles from the South African boarder. Jon and I had been taking a scuba diving classes and this was the weekend for our open water dive. A friend loaned us his Land Cruiser to drive there because you have to have a good 4x4 (and liscense plates). The roads are very rough outside of the city and mostly barren of people. We made five dives, three on Saturday and two on Sunday, the reefs we dove on where beautiful. They had lots of life: we saw two sea turtles, a large sting ray, many lionfish, a large star fish, several giant potato bass, and even nemo and his family. Very cool.