The Training Center in Maxixe

Here is our new training center under construction in Maxixe
Its currently our forth church building here in Maxixe, we have been out growing the previous buildings at the rate of one every two years

The first one was a beautiful tree that the church met under for the first year, which Armindo later chopped down for fire wood!

We then built a building from local material as we call it, meaning palm fonds and poles, which cost about forty five pounds to build!...very beautiful but not very durable, fortunately we out grow this one before it rotted and blew away

Our last building was a bit posher again with woven reed walls and a corrugated iron roof, trouble with this one was . You slowly got cooked under the tin whilst preaching, or you had to stop the service during a hail storm due to the excessive noise coming from the roof.

This building was nearly washed away in the sub tropical storms as the water from the road pored through the walls across the church floor out the other side through Armindo`s house and finally filled up the 3meter deep long drop out door toilet to the top with sand rendering it useless! Such are the hard ships that a church building in Africa have to endure!

In all this the people continue to flock to church

We are now building our Forth church to stay! Its four times larger than the last one made from concrete with enormous foundations and a modern roof, this building will function as the church with two other very important functions , It will become the Training center where up and coming leaders from the surrounding area are trained for the ministry
And at least in the short term one third of the building will be partitioned off to be used as the Sewing school which is running here in Maxixe to help widowed ladies come out of poverty and start their own businesses

Thank you so much to the people who have helped us with the construction of this what eventually will be a fantastic building for our work over the years to come in Mozambique

Home grown school uniforms for our kids!

Pictured here two of the children who have stolen the hearts of alot of people Celenia and Alfredo, it does not seem long since we brought them into the orphanage sick and very weak from severe malnutrition, now they are up and running and off to school

Up till now our children have been going to school with no uniforms, which the goverment allows but is not good for the poor children who obviously feel awkward and left out. Its not only a huge joy to see them so excited and happy but even more than that our very own sewing school in Maxixe has produced the uniforms themselves, we started this project in Maxixe just over a year ago bringing in a tutor for six months to teach the ladies how to sew. Now these ladies are producing clothes to order.

For more on the sewing school visit blog 18 oct 2009

Exciting News at the Medical Center

We now have a Doctor at our medical center at the orphanage!

Its been a joy to connect with Dr Madalane from the hospital in Manhica a well liked and respected lady by the local people in the area, With a real love of children she was delighted when we approached her to see if she would be prepared to come and do some clinics for us.
After further chats with the director of the hospital who was also thrilled about our work with the orphan children, The director happily released her with her blessing telling us we could also open the clinic up to the surrounding area and that the hospital would help with the medical requirements .
Its difficult some times to contain your joy, when a door of opportunity opens, for the past few years we had planned to build a medical center at the orphanage, believing as we prayed that this was one of the projects God wanted us to do
See the building under construction please visit blog 17July 2009
The Medical center is now finished and tiled with running water, electricity, and a doctor
We are currently raising funds to further equip the building
Thank you again for every one who has worked so hard on this project and supported us amazingly

Blessing Pete

Back to Mozambique!

Its been an absolute thrill to be back in the country that I love for a holiday after being away for nearly nine months.
Over the past 6 months I have been undergoing chemotherapy and numerous other treatments to try and fight off an extremely rear disease that hes been attacking my nerve system.
For the last few years my body has been producing a rouge anti body called "Mag " that has been attaching its self to my nerve fibres and progressively destroying them, It has been a difficult experience as I helplessly watched my body slowly degenerating. Knowing very little about the disease and less about treating it my neurologist refer ed me to the Cancer hospital in Manchester where they eventually discovered the Mag anti body causing the problem.
The hematologists got together and decided to give me a strong course of a particular type of chemotherapy in the hope that it would kill the anti body and so stop the progression of the disease.
On January 11th both my neurologist consultant, and my hematologist consultant at the Christie in Manchester gave me the go ahead to go back to Mozambique. Its currently looking like the spread to the disease is now no longer getting worse and could even be starting to reverse its self! I am due to see my consultants again mid April. Thank you so much every one who has been praying for me, for so long, and sorry for not being in touch for so long,
Its been such a joy to visit friends again and so see our children at the orphanage, our churches and other projects we are currently running in this beautiful but very needy country
Thank you for journeying with us in the exciting work God has given us to do, please continue to pray for vision Mozambique, that God would continue to lead and guide us into all that He has planned for us to do.
God bless
Pete

Update - Lazaro

Can you remember Lazaro's story. See the link for more details : http://visionmozambique.blogspot.com/2008/09/lazaro.html

Lazaro was brought into the orphanage by local government officials, who recognised our work, helping needy children. His mother had died of AIDS, leaving him in a terrible state of neglect. He had a very deep ulcerated hole in the side of his head and another on his jaw. The holes were so big, you could fit your finger in. He was very sick and weak and his little body was full of worms.

Martha, the carers, and the children fervantly prayed for this poorly little boy, but it was doubtful that he would last the night.

Two years on, and this little boy has grown up into an entertaining youngster, with a loving heart and a happy grin, he spends his days playing with Alfredo, Selena and Zacharius. He loves football, and has quite a talent for it

Update - The Twins, Selena & Alfredo

Do you remember back in September 2008, when we brought the twins back to the orphanage?

Click on the link to refresh your memory - http://visionmozambique.blogspot.com/2008/09/twins.html

Look at the desperate look on Selena's face. So many emotions, all in one. If you remember, the twins were suffering from severe malnutrition, and whilst they were nearly three years old, they really were tiny - in fact they were so tiny, we dressed them in baby clothes on their first arrival.

Well look at them now. Two happy, chatty children, full of fun and mischief.

Have a look at the video below for the proof of it. Both Selena and Alfred love attention. Selena just squeals with excitement. Alfredo loves cameras and just wants to get closer and closer, as you will see.

Update - Marta, Leopoldina & Zacharias

Back in December 2008, Martha and myself went to visit a lady who was looking after seventeen children. Her siblings had died, leaving their children behind. She was cooking a small pot of beans to share between them all. She was at her wits end trying to feed them and look after them.

I noticed a young boy on his own, sitting quietly near a hedge. He was very sick, covered in sores and extremely weak. The lady broke into tears as she lifted the boy up and told us the story. He was HIV positive and too weak to do much now. He was five years old, could we help??

Look at the faces of these children - how many emotions can you see?

Nearly two years on, and a great deal has changed for the brother and sisters.

Marta, who at 14, was too old to go into the orphanage, moved into Martha’s house as she was a similar age to Martha’s daughters. Both Leopoldina and Zacharias were just 500 yards away at the orphanage. Close enough for Marta to vist every hour, if she wanted to.

Marta started studying an agricultural course in Maputo, in September 2009. She misses her brother and sister, and is homesick, but knows that this is a great opportunity for her. She comes home every few months.

Leopoldina, now nearly 10 is a happy, go lucky child. She has a fantastic voice, and is always singing. She's a typical cheeky ten year old.

Zacharias is now seven, he is on some fantastic medication that helps to manage HIV, and he’s doing really well, and as you can see, he's got a good appetite!!

Armindo’s House

You might remember back in December, when I posted a blog about the start of Armindo’s new house. At that point the walls were probably about three feet high. You can see how much progress has been made in just a couple of months. Since this photograph was taken, the roof trusses are now in place, and the roof will be going on shortly.

Back in the UK, I’m sure that the house would be finished, painted and lived in by now, but in Mozambique, life is quite different, both in time (Mozambique time usually at least one hour late, and also down to the availability of tools). Just check out the scaffolding as an example.

It’s an exciting time for Armindo and Delfina, who in just five years have seen massive changes in their lives, through the work of Vision Mozambique and your support.

They have seen their Church grow from just 13 people under the shade of a tree, to several hundred at the church in Maxixie. We also have six other churches, with between 60 – 80 in each church. They have seen the benefits of sustainable projects, such as the sewing machines, and the shop. The shop provides a valuable outlet to their community, so that you can buy just 1 cup of rice, rather than a packet – it helps families to survive on a day to day basis with a meagre allowance.

Armindo and Delfina are extremely generous with what little they have, as proved when a UK team visited last year. They welcomed all of us into their little reed hut, and shared their food, and treated us like royalty. It was a very special time, and a very humbling experience.

Delfina keeps her little reed house immaculately clean, but no matter what, there is nothing she can do to stop the rats from chewing through the walls and breaking into her beautiful little home.

Armindo and Delfina have two reed huts, one with two bedrooms for their children, and one with living space and their bedroom. Their new house will accommodate the whole family under one roof

Medical Centre Update

Whilst the video is a couple of month old now, you can see how much the medical centre has progressed. We have used the same footprint of the house, from both Martha’s and Armindos, and also implemented the lessons learn’t along the way. Such as adding an extra foot to the veranda, and making sure that the roof slopes just a little bit lower than in the last two buildings.

Initially, this valuable resource will be utilised by the orphanage. It will help to provide an isolated and peaceful place for the children to be cared for and recover, from such things as Malaria or HIV related illnesses. The clinic will also be used for weighing, de-worming and delousing the children, as is often the need, on arrival at the orphanage.

The work-force really are putting their backs into it, and I’m confident we will be finished by August. Have a look at the tour of the medical centre, to see the latest developments.

Here in the UK, we have recently been having a bit of a heatwave, and it often leads to slower days and hotter tempers. Out in Mozambique, these guys are using the most basic of tools, slogging away in 35° heat – I think that is something we can’t imagine. I’ve included a video of one of the guys putting rendering onto the wall – check out the speed and rhythm he’s using – and with the weight of that rendering and the heat, he’s not even broken a sweat!

Little Donkey

These two boys were gathering water for their neighbours, some distance away.

On the cart there are about twenty four empty drums, when they are full, it weighs nearly half a ton.

Poor Donkey.

Our cup runneth over

Following on from the trauma of last year when the well broke, I just wanted to share with you just how important this well is to the local community. This picture is taken from the water tower you can see how long the queue is. Some of these people had been waiting since 4 am.

Our well provides essential water for washing, cooking, and cleaning for the whole of our orphanage and provides a huge amount of water (up to 20,000 litres every day) to the local community. Water sales have dropped off considerably recently due to the government wells that have recently been reopened.
Thank you for your prayers.

Below is video, please just click the play button.

Hello Friends

Hello Friends

I really must apologise for the absence of news from Mozambique. Back in March I travelled out with my Mum to get an update on the medical centre and also have a holiday. Whilst I was there I began to feel unwell and was advised by medical professionals to get home as fast as possible. I arrived back just after Easter and have been having tests etc since then.

There really is so much to tell you, about the medical centre, the orphanage, the well and also Armindo's new house. Keep an eye on the blog over the next few weeks as news will be flooding in, along with photos, videos and updates on the children

Please continue to pray for the people in Mozambique, the projects we are working on, and I'd be really grateful if you would pray for my ongoing recovery.

Many blessings to you


Pete

2010...The Most Exciting Year Yet!

We currently have the most exciting program ever lined up for this year in Mozambique 2010

You may never get the opportunity to visit this amazing country and experience the contrast between extreme poverty and the frality of life out in Mozambique, and the exciting things that God is doing in the lives of these very same people.

But you can journey with us and be part of our exciting work through praying for our work and following progress on this blog

This year in 2010 we have 5 different groups of people who are coming out to help us in all kinds of capacities

In July the pastor form our church in Bollington Steve Thomas will be coming out again for his third visit to help train leaders

Later that month a youth group from Truro will be coming out to help us with our work at the orphanage

In August Deborah Robert and Cheryl are coming out to officially open the Medical center at the orphanage

Another group is coming out end of August to help us plant a new church in Inhambarne

In October Dr Andrew Shepherd and his wife Marie will be coming out to do some clinics in and around some of our small bush churches and to help teach our new belivers

One of the most exciting projects we are doing this year is to build the new training center at maxixe where we will be offering the local people the opportunity next year to come and study the bible for three months

On top of that we will be continuing to preach the gospel in the remote areas,

Preaching and teaching in the local jail

We will continue to rescue desperately needy children who are sick and abandoned who desperately need our help

My encouragement to you this year is to join us on the journey, please pray for us, Satan is dead agaist all of our work, we are up against all kinds of pressures, from lots of different areas, we need your prayers

I will be triing to post a weekly blog from beginning of May onwards which is when I return to Moz again for the next seven months

God bless you richly

Pete Houston

Armindo's house

Its been along time coming but its here now, Armindo's House is now well out the ground!

A very proud Armindo surveying his new build!

Checking on progress !

His lads are excited too!

I have been working with Armindo and Delfina since 2005 when we did our first small crusade in Maxixe, Armindo had 13 people in his first church at that time and we used to meet under the shade of a tree

Armindo is a great example to all of us, crippled from birth with club feet due to Polio, and unable to work he refused to allow his disability to limit his possibilities in life. Grasping the fact that God has a plan for each of our lives he started to pursue his relationship with God and study the bible.

Armindo now heads up our work here in Maxixe, overseeing seven small churches, he is a gifted leader, a born evangelist, with a passion to reach his nation for Christ

Vision Mozambique has been supporting him and his family for the past four years , and built his first small reed house with the limited funds we had at that time,  it is our pleasure to help him now build his new block house

Kevin Betts and a number of very committed friends have worked incredibly hard to raise the funds for Armindo's dream, to get out of a rat infested reed house into something which is going to last them their lifetime!

A huge huge thanks to all the guys who have helped raised the funds to help build this house with their sponsored bike rides

Any one else wishing to help contribute to this project would be enormously welcome!

more photo,s of this project will be following over the coming weeks

Thanks again to all of you who support our work so faithfully

More on the Medical Centre

It's been great to work with Manuel on this exciting project, our new Medical Centre coming together by the day!

Our new building showing off its roof system, which Noah would have been proud of !

More on the roof system.

Manuel fitting the doors and window frames.

At last we have a building! The internal walls are now being cement rendered, the door and window frames are already fitted, it's looking better by the minute!

The building is lovely and cool inside with its Luzalite roof, a cement based roof material, which is so much cooler than the zinc coated steel sheeting that so many buildings are equipped with, and it also has the big eves, which help keep the sun off the walls of the house.This is a winning combination, in such an environment, with temperatures at 40 degrees and more, at the present time.

.

.

.

Trouble at the Well!

We have some difficult times recently with the well at the orphanage. Our well provides essential water for washing, cooking, and cleaning for the whole of our orphanage and provides a huge amount of water around 7,500 litres each day to the local community


The well failed for the third time in a month, leaving the whole area without water, except for local surface water supplies that are not clean. People had seen one person removing condoms from the water, before taking the water home to drink. Things were getting desperate!


We had just had a new pump fitted after waiting weeks for someone to come out and help us, then to our horror, discovered the next morning that the whole shooting match had come undone at the top of the well, our pump, cables and pipe work had somehow dropped down 10 meters into the well. We still had the rope attached to the pump but every thing had jammed! And we were now in danger of snapping the rope, it had already started to fray...


No one would come out to help us, the word was that we would not be able to recover the equipment, and worse still we would need to drill another well, at a cost of around £12,000


Long story short... we stopped everything and prayed that God would give us wisdom and a way out.... It's amazing what happens when you pray. Things that would normally be impossible, somehow become possible as you trust God and believe.


Trying to get as much wisdom as possible, we talked to loads of people in South Africa... the word was still the same. " You would not get it out! it's too narrow a well to get specialist equipment in, and too deep down to do anything"

However God was speaking a different Word!


Much thought and prayer later, and we decided to dig down as far as we safely could, and break in through the well casing, so that we could then reach down still further, and try and attach something to the water pipe.


I found an engineer in South Africa who loaned me a steel cone with a coarse thread on it, which we welded on to a very long steel rod, back at the orphanage.

Against all the odds, and after quite a struggle, we managed to locate the 2'' thick pipe, and screw the cone into the pipe, strongly enough to get a good hold.


With bated breath, and with six of us in the bottom of a narrow hole, sweating and straining, standing on each others feet, hands wet and slipping on the muddy rope, we heaved.... To our amazement the pump came free, and we managed to lift it off the bottom by about a metre. It was dark now, so we decided to leave until the next day.


At 4 am the next morning, our strength recovered , hoping and praying the thread in the pipe would hold, we started the long pull up, 220 feet and weighing about 250 kg


Screams of delight and shouting went up as we dragged the obstinate beast out of its hole. None of us could believe it. We had not just managed to save the well, but all our equipment as well!


The next few days were spent sourcing new well casing, refitting new connections, and lowering the pump back into the well.

With everything back in place and securely fastened, we turned on the electric.... nothing happened for a minute, then there was water every where!


Taps that had been left open for weeks, began pouring out the treasure!


Screams of delight were heard from over at orphanage. The liquid treasure was already pouring out there too! It was so moving to see the reaction of the local people and the kids, God had answered their prayers!


Thanks so much for supporting us in prayer and words of encouragement, and a huge thanks to our amazing God, who helps us as we call on Him, who is able to do so much more than we could ever imagine or think!

Digging down, in up to 40 degees, for five days, was not funny!

The beast was out!

Filling back in the crator!

All hands on deck!

Loading it all back in again. 190 feet of pipe work, pump, and electrics in a 220 foot hole!

Then the water arrived!

Time for a proper wash and a cool down!

Every one was overjoyed ...
.
.
.

Medical Centre Update!

The front of the medical centre showing the veranda.

End view of the building.

.

.

Septic tanks going in!.... probably not the most exciting photo!... but very necessary!

.

It's exciting to see this project coming together. As you can see the concrete shell is complete and looking great!

.

It's a good size building, Twelve metres by nine, with a waiting room, a room for the doctor to see their patients, two spare bedrooms for poorly children and their carers to stay in when needed. It will have a small kitchen, a bathroom and toilet and a veranda.

.

It's been great to work alongside the guys building the medical centre, they are really enjoying this project and have kept up a good standard of workmanship throughout.

.

I pick them up at 6.00 am so they don't have to walk the five miles from their homes to the orphanage. I then spend most of my time sourcing materials in Maputo, and generally keeping an eye on the job.

.

We now have most of the roof trusses built and I'm back off to Maputo tomorrow with a lorry to pick up the roof material.

.

It is good to see it taking shape so well.

.

Meanwhile we are just putting the finishing touches to the new room at the orphanage, which will enable us to start to take more children in again!

.

.

.

The Sun shade project

.

.

The finished article!

.

.

Trying to source some straight poles was a real challenge!

.

.

The main frame goes up!

.

.

The main structure built and time to put the kettle on!

.

.

We now have another valuable addition to our buildings at the orphanage, a traditionally built sun shade, built from poles and local reeds.

.

This is primarily for the children to play under, when it's either too hot out side or when it,s raining. It is already being well used. It's cool under the thick thatch of reeds, and with open sides the breeze brings additional cooling, especially at this time of year, when temperatures are regularly up in the late 30's

.

Steve, Oliver, Ked and myself put in several days getting the main frame put up, then we employed local builders to come in and do the thatching.

.

The building looks great now, and has put a great feel to the place, a big thank you to Steve and Paula who have funded this project for us.

.

.
.

UK team hit Mozambique with a purpose

The willing team land in South Africa.

Steve and Paula having far too much fun!

Stacy and Grace hard at work!

The finished house looks fantastic!

One of the projects our team from the UK got involved with this year was to help paint the first project we completed in Mozambique, which was a house that was built for Martha and her children, after she was left widowed in 2000.

.

Before she moved into her new house in 2004 she was living for 4 years in a derelict building, sleeping on the floor, with her children and some orphans.

.

Martha heads up the orphanage project, where we now have twenty children who are all doing really well!

.

Steve, Paula, Kerry and Stacy worked very hard to transform Martha's house into what it is now, having taught Martha and her children how to paint with care, they continued the work themselves once the team returned to the UK. They were able to finish the remaining rooms which now look outstanding!

.

Stephen Cuss, who came out on the team to teach English, spent many hours wire brushing and undercoating the security iron work around the house that again, now looks brilliant!

Needless to say Martha is delighted, a huge thank you to the team, who put in so much hard work to get such a great result!

Medical Centre

At last the Medical Centre at the orphanage is now under construction and it's flying up!
.
After many hours of planning and measuring, carefully situating the centre in the best place, in the beautiful grounds of the orphanage, our local builder and his team began the huge job of digging the foundations by hand.
.
In less than a week, the trenches were dug, and ton after ton of concrete was also mixed, all by hand and the foundations were poured.
.
We managed to get the best builder in town to build this project. His name is Emanuel which means God with us, which is always reassuring!
.
Typically on most builds in Africa, the plans are drawn, measurements are specified then altered by the builder to suit their budget, resulting in thin narrow footings on which a large building is built, often with dire consequences.
.
At the start of the project I spent some time encouraging our builder with the importance of putting in the correct depth, width, and strength of concrete, to ensure our building would still be there in twenty years time. And told him I would be keeping a careful eye on this importantant part of the job!

A somewhat weary Emanuel, a week or so later, said "I've never put a foundation in like this one before!" People in Africa just don't have the money to do that!


As I write this, the walls are now going up and are looking great!
I'll be posting more pictures shortly!
.

.