Pemba

After what felt like a full vacation in itself.  We hoped a plane from Maputo to Pemba.  What an amazing example of God's variation in his creation just a few hundred miles away.  It did feel sort of like a 180 to go from the savanna grasslands of Kruger to this tropical paradise

Flying into Pemba

Larry and I exploring the beach in front of Bekki and Alan's House

And into a third-world country

Bekki and Alan live in a beautiful home right on the ocean.  It was so comfortable to stay and we woke up every morning starring at the sunrises.  The sun gets up very early in Pemba, which demands that you get up as well and soak up every last bit of potential the day has in it.  I loved that about Pemba.  Contrary to many "tropical" environments, the Pemba mindset isn't exactly one of leisure.  Everyone is busy.  As Larry would say, many, especially the locals, are "busy doing nothing," but very busy indeed!  There seems to be a gender difference and the degree of work one does in Mozambique.  Its hard not to notice.  You see women with babies strapped to their backs working in the garden or carrying firewood and water down the long roads.  You also see the tiniest of children taking care of infants, or walking down the roads carrying a cup on their heads like their mothers with a 10 gallon urn balanced unwavering. 

Very few men seem to work, or at least their jobs do not occupy a great deal of their day.  I became very interested in the "whys" of Mozambique.  It can be very confusing how different we seem.  Our "common sense" is not common to them.  For example, a timber business owner who employees a great deal of men for his business has difficulty keeping his employees during casava season.  They will, in essence, quit their jobs to go plant this traditional crop.  In their timber jobs they make 3 times in one month what they would selling this plant in 3 months!  One might think that it was something deeply rooted in tradition and culture, and that may be, but it is very hard to see this on the surface.  This may be due in part to the case of colonialism in which large numbers of people depended on the large plantations for employment.  When the Portugese left, so did the jobs.  Soon thereafter a great civil war ensued between the Frelimo and Renamo vying for control of independent Mozambique which forced many off their land and in attempts to be near clean water and safety.  Many settled along roadsides where they remain today.  Perhaps its not lack of initiative, but broken spirits.  The Mozambiqans, similar to other native populations are tribal.  Many tribal leaders were killed when the colonials settled and certainly any that got in the way of the civil war.  So the people were left without leaders and land.  The family dynamic was forever changed.

In a culture where the life expectancy is somewhere in the late 30s and people have been exposed to the atrocities of war for over a century, life must seem even more of a flash than we see it.  I don't want to go into the horror stories we heard about how this is evident for the people and animals of Mozambique.  Instead I ask you all to pray for these people, that they may know Christ like we do.  In attempts to make sense of these things, I know I'm trying to apply my own sensibilities, cultural patterns, and religious beliefs to gain understanding and this cannot be done. 

Change of gears here!  Back to our wonderful friends~
I think we all thought that Bekki was relaxing at the beach everyday while Alan was working.  Sipping cocktails and doing the occasional deworm, vaccination, etc.  Well boy were we wrong!!!  Bekki and her partner have a very demanding vet practice, without all the luxuries of "modern" medicine.  I am so impressed with Bekki and her doctor skills!  If you want to be further impressed check out her blog!

I'm so happy that Bekki and Alan have made so many friends there.  In fact, there are actually a great deal of ex-pats that are in the region for various regions.  One reason that Bekki is so busy, but selfishly the reason that there are SO many AWESOME restaurants.  Starfish - South African, the Indian place - absolutely divine, Russell's place - a fav for backpackers and really great pizza and although we didn't make them all it was incredible to get authentic Italian food from Il Pirata.  The scenery wasn't too shabby either!

I wish this was my back porch!

I think Larry is getting used to this vacation thing

Ok, maybe we both are =)

The closest Larry and I are ever going to get to a beach vacation

Il Pirata

While in Pemba we celebrated Alan's birthday....again ;-)

Larry got a coconut out of the Watts' tree

We ate well!

We went on a very expensive 8 hour tour of the Indian ocean.  We caught 1 wahoo, which the deckhand knocked off the line, but Larry touch the leader so apparently that counts.  We saw a sea turtle and enjoyed the beautiful day with friends

As I mentioned earlier Bekki and Alan have GREAT friends there in Pemba.  When someone throws a party or event it is a really big deal and EVERYONE comes.  We got to experience this first had through the Famous People party.  They celebrated everyone who had a birthday in November and had it at Russell's place.  There was one special performance by Bekki and her 4 dear friends which I got to help them prepare for nightly leading up to the big party.  These gals performed Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" dance.  It was magnificent!

Tina Turner, Marilyn, Mulan, Nelly Furtado

Bekki and I were having so much fun, we sent the boys home to pack for our Luwire trip while we danced the night away.  I think I only slept 2 hours that night but it was worth it.  What a great night!

To be continued....

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1