Here is an eyewitness update about the situation after Cyclone Idai hit our area. Mozambique is a poor nation and its people experience real suffering caused by poverty and lack of education. Now the cyclone has set them back to having absolutely nothing again; the little they built up has been destroyed. Their houses, the few possessions they have and their harvest, which should have sustained them for the year, are lost. What are they supposed to do? We feel we have an obligation to help them and show the love of God, even in small ways.
So we from Mosaic-Mozambique have started to help with the rebuilding. Our aim is to provide for the re roofing of homes. The people themselves will make the walls, but roof sheets are an expense they cannot afford easily. Materials are available from Chimoio and Gondola. After Kees visited the different areas we made a plan helping four locations: 1) Our immediate neighbours Chegueda village, our community. We’ve registered the households needing help. 2Then the Handicapped people who lost their homes will be helped through the Center for the Handicapped. 3) Next, a team from the Bible School will visit the worst hit areas on the way to Beira and take materials to help people rebuilding their houses. 4) Finally, support is needed for the worst hit households just outside Chimoio and further away in Gorongosa.
Donations are coming in already and included in the next report we hope to send pictures of some newly rebuilt homes! As enough funds come in, at a later stage we will support people with food relief. At the moment, people do have some food left, salvaged from their flattened harvest fields: but later in the year famine will hit, as much of this year’s crop was destroyed and so food will become scarce by September, we expect.
We rejoiced as well, because at our place the electricity poles are up again and electricity is back on! The team and our boys worked hard! We rejoice too, because many of you have given to make this project ”rebuilding” get off to a good start, a big thank you for taking part in the rebuilding of people’s lives! Hope for the hopeless!
The messages we get are heart-warming and we want to communicate the gratitude of the people! We felt to show the love of God in this very traumatic situation and it has done just that. Over 1000 households have been helped and It has been amazing to see God’s provision, just for this. He cares for the poor and Lazarus at our doorstep can not be ignored!
Many thanks and much love from our Mozambican team
