Guess Where Now

- This country is one of 2 British Commonwealth Members that was not previously a colony of England. (they were colonized by Portugal and the other member is Rwanda)

- This country was torn apart by landmines and is still trying to deal with them after a tough civil war.

- This country is the only country to have an AK-47 on its flag

- This country is home to around 300 of the worlds 1000 whale sharks

- This country’s tangerine season is July and August.

- This country just had China build them a $61 million football stadium on credit.

Nope, not Saudi Arabia (they have swords on their flag) it’s Mozambique! This was the first place that I really have been punched in the face by the language barrier. I previously thought that Portuguese would be relatively similar and I could float by with my Spanish. I now feel quite stupid for having that thought. The language aren’t that close. This country struck me with contrasts.

The capital Maputo is a lot bigger and a lot more developed than I thought. There is a visible gap between the very rich and very poor but not to the extent that the US or especially South Africa has.

I will start with one side of the contrast. We had an interesting bus ride from Maputo up to Tofo including blown out breaks and a horribly failed bus off-roading attempt that involved all the passengers getting muddy and sweaty pushing and pulling the bus out. This is not what I want to talk about though.

A friend of mine gave me this book called The Invisible Cure by Helen Epstein. Unlike Shaka, I genuinely recommend this to everyone. I had held off reading this book under the suggestion to read it while I was travelling through all the countries mentioned in the book. This was a quite interesting experiment. I remember passing Kalafong Hospital in Pretoria just two days after reading the chapter about the mysterious deaths of several AIDS patients in an experimental study by Triangle Research (which I believe is based in my second home state, North Carolina) and how African Renaissance man President Thabo Mbeki has helped hide the truth.

As I read and travelled alongside all sorts of people the book and real life collided like nothing I have ever experienced. On our bus trip from Maputo to Tofo a younger man staggered slowly onto the bus and with a huff sat down next to me. Too be honest, I wasn’t paying much attention. As the day continued, the sun rose and the heat came out. The man next to me ended up taking off his jacket exposing his arms and neck. Those around us collectively gave a low audible gasp. The man next to me had sores all over his neck, arms and legs. This coupled with his deep cough registered only one thing in my mind. It was confirmed when I overheard a lady behind me whispered to her friend, “sidia” which is a variation of the Bantu word sida which translates to AIDS. I had perused through the pages of this AIDS book, reading the staggering facts, and gross missteps on all sides of the battle against HIV/AIDS. Now it was sitting right next to me and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Not to say that I would do a lot. As the bus ride went on and everyone was out trying to push the bus out of the mud, this young man just sat in the shade. My heart just broke as I became increasingly covered in mud and sweat, seeing that this man struggled just to sit in the shade. I wished I could have intercepted all the stares, glares and dirty looks thrown his direction but I couldn’t. AIDS has ravished this entire country and the looks on people’s faces were mixed with judgment, anger, and sheer frustration as the disease could have affected everyone in a personal way. I don’t know a single word of the many local languages or any lame translated Spanish to Portuguese. I had nothing. Even in the toughest of situations, I usually whisper to someone, “you’re loved.” All I could do was sit and pray. Pray that life would go easy on him, pray that he has loved ones to care for him, pray that everyone else would get past their personal motivations and work together to give the best solutions, cures and hugs to those in need.

Sidenote: I recently had an article published in the Reject Apathy section of Relevant about AIDS and missed the mark. I get the negative parts and disconnect that both abstinence and condom use or church vs. UN/NGOs programs are not getting the job done. A better answer is the African grown zero grazing campaign or stopping of concurrent relationships. Apologies to everyone

I’m glad it’s not up to me. I’m glad that it’s bigger than me but it also hurts to not be able to do something. I think God has given us the power to bring about heaven on earth and obviously this young man whose name I don’t even know (this hurts too, that I can’t even communicate to know names, to be more human) has crossed my life for some reason. He’s not mine though, he’s God’s and sometimes maybe that’s all God wants you to do. Give it up to him. Trust that the unknowable depth of his love and power God has will hold this young man in his hands.

Please God, bless him for the remainder of his life. Be on his side, be the merciful God that I know and love.

I never really know where these things are going to end up. I originally was going to contrast this post with a slice of heaven on earth called Tofo but it doesn’t fit, I’ll save it for tomorrow.