News
July 31, 2007
I have been in Nampula now for about a month with the Humanican trips. It has changed so much since the last time I was here, 5 years ago. The city has boomed! Before, I could go jogging in the evenings and run straight down the middle of the streets and not pass one car; now the streets are busy with cars at all hours and the honking never stops! There used to be only 2 flights a day; one into Nampula and one out, now there are 5-7 a day! As for the street kids, there is only one still part of Moises program from 5 years ago, but although the names and faces had changed, they still act like the boys I remember! They are rough and tumble and know how to stand their ground to defend themselves; but that doesn't mean that when they get a good punch they don't enjoy a strong hug and someone to wipe their tears.
The building we are working on is a dorm building so that the boys will finally have a place to sleep and feel protected. It is quite a large building that has a room for a child care worker, 2 large dorm rooms, a large bathroom, a eating/lounging room, and an office/storage room. It is in the shape of an L and also has a varanda around the entire building. The work is coming along, but we do have to do everything be hand! To mix cement we have to shovel 8 wheel barrows of sand into a pit, then add 2 bags of cement. You mix that well and then add 4 wheel barrows of granite rock that you had to break up by hand. Then you add about 10 of the big yellow water containers of water and mix the whole mixture by hand with shovels little by little. You put the mixed cement into buckets and then carry the buckets to where ever the cement is needed. Right now we have finished all the forms for the foundation and have leveled all the rooms with sand and tamped it all down. The sand we used to level the rooms was pickaxed out of an old termite mound that is right beside the building site! Then we would wheel barrow it to the room and tamp and level by hand with shovels and huge blocks of wood with handles for tamping. Tomorrow the floors will be poured and then finally we can start laying the cement blocks.....oh ya, which were also made by hand!!! There is one guy there making about 180 cement blocks per day!
The group of 17 Canadian high school students who are here through Humanican are able to work either at the construction site, in the orphanage, or at a preschool. The street kids are brought to Moises and Connie's home every wednesday and thursday so I'm sure we will all want to be there for that. There the street boys bath and wash their clothes, we give them new clothes every so often, they have lessons taught be Moises and some other volunteers that work with him, then they have lunch and then get to play! We have a soccer field there, a basketball court, and now a volleyball net too! I will add pictures of all of these once I am home and can download them all.
If it wasn't for 2 very important families, this building would not have been possible. First the Beddoe family, who's daughter went on the Humanican trip last summer. They made donations that went towards getting water and electricity on the land where Moises' family lives and where the street boys will be living. There is no running water yet, but about a month ago they were able to get a very good well put in. This well goes far down into the bed rock where the water is potable and it is actually used by the whole village! If we didn't have this well for the construction, we would have to get river water out of a swampy area where it is full of disease and bugs. This is the water that Moises' family used to bathe in and use; as well as the street boys and rest of the village. Now they have fresh safe water that is close by and easily accessable! There is no electricity yet, but Moises hopes that the power lines will be brought to that area soon by the Mozambique government and then they can get it all set up.
The other family that has given so much for this project is the Gordon family. They raised the money for the land where the building is; right beside Moises land, and for the actual building itself. On top of that, the entire Gordon family came with us on the trip to experience the project first hand! They worked extremely hard mixing cement, carrying huge granite rocks, making the best assembly lines ever seen in Africa I'm sure!!! The lives of these street boys is going to change dramatically once they have a permanent place to call home, and the Gordon's provided that for them. I can't wait to see these boys next year after living at the center and see first hand how they change. I hope that they are able to just be boys, and to not have to worry about getting beaten up on the streets and having to be so aggressive. It's time these kids got to be just that; kids!
Tiffany Fontaine
Nampula, Mozambique 2007
June 2007
It has been a year since our partnership with Humanican started and the first trip, of 8 Canadian High School students went to Nampula. That trip was extremely successful, not just in what was accomplished, but also in spreading the word about the trip. This year we are going with 19 students and we even have another trip going as well. The Gordon's are a family from Calgary who's children went to West Island College for High School. Nigel, the head of Humanican is a teacher there, and when the Gordon's heard about Humanican's trips and our work in Mozambique, they wanted to be a part of it. The have raised enough money to build the first official building for the centre. This building will have 2 dorm rooms with a bathroom and if time permits, a dinning area. For now, the building will be used for street children who are most likely to get re-united with their families. That way more children will benefit from the building and Moises and Connie will be able to handle running the regular program and also do the work needed for maintaining the building.
Not all the street kids are orphans, and sometimes they are living on the streets because there is no money to support them or perhaps there step-parent has kicked them out. When a family has very little, a step-parent may not want to support children that aren't theirs; its a horrible reality that many families in Africa have to face. However, if the parents of the street children are still alive, we try our best to re-unite them, and continue supporting them by paying school fees, medical bills, and even bringing food and clothes to them when its needed. The worst thing that could happen is that we get them back into their homes and then money its tight again and they are back on the streets.
When the entire centre is built there will be enough room for all the street kids to live there, and we will hire support staff for Moises and Connie so that there is always adult supervision, teachers and nurses there. We also would like to help volunteers go down to work with the street kids and have a place to stay right at the centre. Every Humanican trip for the next few years will be part of a building project, and our goal of the centre that we had thought would start in 5 years, may actually be finished in 5 years!
I would like to thank the Gordon's for being so passionate and determined to help start our building goals and dreams. Without all the work you have done getting donations, FCCF would not have been able to start building yet. I can't wait to spend time with you in Nampula, working, sweating, enjoying and experiencing Africa!
Finally I'd like to extend a welcome to the students and parents who are coming on the Humanican trip. This will be my first time back to Nampula in five years and I am so excited to share that with all of you. Moises and Connie are some of the most amazing people you will meet, and you will also meet some very interesting and amazing street kids. You will benefit from this experience in ways you may not expect yet, and you will learn things about yourself and the world in general (if you haven't already learnt those things from previous travel experience; but each experience offers something new).
To view previous news from 2006 please click here.