wfn.org | Re: FEATURES SERVICE

[a.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

TITLE:FEATURES SERVICE
April 18, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, UK

[97.4.3.7] ACNS

FEATURES SERVICE

The Anglican Communion Office receives most of the diocesan papers from
around the world.  We use these as resource material for ACNS and
Anglican World magazine but we often find features which we know will be
of interest to other parts of the Communion but which we are unable to
reproduce in Anglican World.  In this weekly ACNS we hope to be able to
post up features which we believe will be of interest to other
Provinces.  The views and opinions expressed in these articles may not
be those of the Anglican Communion Office.  Please credit the author,
newspaper or magazine and ACNS if you use this service. We would also be
grateful to know whether you find this service helpful.

DOING ORDINARY THINGS IN AN EXTRAORDINARY WAY IN MOZAMBIQUE

(from an article In  Lebombo and Niassa Leaves by Christina
Robertson-Pearce)

About two years ago four quite ordinary women in Matola (south of
Maputo) decided that something had to be done about the young girls, who
lived on of becoming street children.  They knew that girls are much
more vulnerable than boys and that living on the streets would affect
the rest of their lives.  These four quite ordinary women started to
count their blessings/resources and one decided to quit her job as a
nurse to help with the girls, another said she would try to help teach
them, another that she would coordinate and cope with the paperwork
while the fourth and her family opened their home for the project. 
Their garage became a classroom and their back garden a kitchen and
playground.  There were many problems and lesser women than these four
would have given up without even having tried.  Nothing daunted them,
not the lack of teaching material, nor the lack of money, nor the number
of girls who needed help and protection. Pooling their knowledge and
resources they put together a fund raising letter, contacted various
NGOs and embassies, spoke to everyone they could think of that could
help in some way or other.  And they were humble enough to ask for
advice and help from another congregation that was already running a
project for boys (St Stephen and St Lawrence, Maputo). From them
they got encouragement, advice and the first substantial sum of money.

The project grew, its profile became clearer, visions were defined and
it became quite obvious that the project was here to stay.  These four
women belonged to a congregation in Matola, St Stephen, and for many
years had met in the home of one of them to worship the Lord.  The place
they met in was tiny, tiny and didnOt allow for growth.  Yet the
congregation grew and that they needed to plan and build for the future.

So what we had was one project that needed a permanent building and one
congregation needing a Church.  We also had a very competent all-round
builder, (not yet Anglican but he became one on the day of the
inauguration), active members and strong faith.  The first stone was
laid and blessed, the rains came and flooded the whole building site.
Countless other obstacles appeared but these ordinary women and men
never gave up. They remind me about Bernard Mizeki, who was said to do
ordinary things in an extraordinary way.

Money was donated by UNICEF, by Save the Children, by the Lebombo and
Niassa Association, by the Dutch Embassy among others.  The new centre
was inaugurated last year.  The crucifix given by Bishop Dinis and Berta
Sengulane was the same crucifix that had been travelling with the
pilgrims to Marondera to celebrate the Bernard Mizeki centenary.  It
found its proper home with ordinary people doing things in an
extraordinary way.