Hey Everyone,
I haven't had the time to edit video of our time in Beira, Mozambique as I have liked, but my teammate Nate put together an awesome blog of a "Day In the Life of an Orphan".... check out his blog below of our time at Mama Ritas!
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In my last blog I
mentioned about a lady named Mama Rita and the 20 orphans that she helps take
care of at her house. We spent over 2 ½ weeks with her and a man named Peter
who has 12 more orphans at his house. About 8 days of that was spent living at Mama Rita's house. I learned about contentment, serving and
incarnational living with the poor all while getting to know beautiful people
of the Lord.
And although I am
currently in Cape Town, South Africa, the next two or three blogs I do will be
about the life-changing time I had in Mozambique.
So come meet some
beautiful orphans and the people who serve them.
This is Patricia.
She is 7 years old
and is in the 3rd grade.
She has one
biological sister named Anaclesia that is 10 years old and 19 other brothers
and sisters ranging from 2 years old to 21 years old.
She likes singing and
playing with her friends.
Mama Rita had this to
say about her,
"I love the deeds of
Patricia. She doesn't fight with others. If she wants something, she makes sure
to ask. She is always very kind to visitors and she has a beautiful smile."
Here is her back story:
When she was 5 years
old, her Father and Mother both found out they had contracted the HIV Aids
virus. They committed suicide by taking poison shortly after they had found
out.
The parents were both
members of the local church Mama Rita and her late husband Ezekiel had founded.
Patricia's relatives would not accept custody and so Mama Rita took her into
her home.
At first, Patricia
took the death of her parents pretty hard and wouldn't eat. She was so thin,
she was taken to hospital and they found out she was extremely malnourished.
Eventually she was able to cope with her parents death better after spending
month's in the loving, Christ centered environment that is Mama Rita's house.
Now, I want you to walk through a typical day for Patricia.
Monday through Friday she attends school from 7 a.m. to 10
a.m. She walks there with a few of her brothers and sisters.
(I apologize for some of the photo quality of the pics. I had to leave in a rush and had to take some of these pictures from video footage. None the less I hope you still get a good idea of what her day is like!)
A good part of the day for Patricia is spent here. Outside the house with the other children and Mom's just hanging out.
As she plays around
the house, her mom and other mom's spend most of the day preparing the food.
But even before the
food can be prepared, the maize has to be mashed. And although Patricia is too
young to do this task, the time will come well this one of her daily tasks in
helping prepare the food.
And trust me this
picture doesn't really do this justice. Doing this is a cardio-vascular workout
few Americans have ever known.
A close up view of this daily cardio-vascular task.
No video games, cable t.v. or toys to occupy her time. She often plays this simple game similar to
jacks except played with rocks. (The
way all the kids hang out and play together is actually a beautiful thing to
witness)
Need water? Well, she
can't just turn on the faucet because there isn't one. The water has to be
fetched from this well down the street. Which she and other kids have the
responsibility of doing.
![](http://nateevans.theworldrace.org/blogphotos/theworldrace/nateevans/TV-watching.jpg")
And what does her family do at night? Just what you thought African orphans might do.
Get together to watch their favorite Brazilian soap opera!
(I'm not kidding about this one. I thought it was hilarious to see 20 African orphans so dedicated to watching a soap opera every night!)
This is Mama Rita
with her 2 year old son Martz. She is the mother of 20 children, so I imagine
being in her arms like that is a pretty special privelage.
Night time has come
and Patricia (center with braids) prepares to find her place on the mattresses
along with her 19 brother and sisters.
She hopes to fall asleep right away but often can't until everyone else is finally settled in.
She is usually woken up around 6 a.m. when other kids start stirring around.
My next blog will
have some video footage of the kids at Mama Rita's.........
Get exited!
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This Blog is from:
I am still in need of support.
$1250... pretty much ASAP ($11,040 by July 2nd)! :) I seriously could not be doing this kind of work without all of you! Thanks everyone for your continual support!
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