One week remaining in this land of sunshine and mangoes.

We we given some mangoes from a friend's tree.  As a child living in Zim, I didn't really like mangoes. I started to enjoy them when studying in Egypt.  Tasting these, I can't believe I missed out on all those mangoes as a little girl!

Yesterday at church, Pastori Z announced that I would be leaving.  He challenged the church to bring things to help me remember Mozambique.  I just hope no one hands me a chicken next Sunday!

One woman came forward to give her gift and handed Pastori 200 MZN for me.  I didn't even recognize the woman as someone I have met before.  Two hundred meticais is about $7, which may not seem like much.  However, it seems huge when you consider that most families only have one family member (the husband) working outside of the home.  I don't know the details for every family in our church, but most of the men seem to make about 1000 MZN a week, which is about $36. I hate to think about taking a portion of a family's income, especially when that income might be so small.  

Another man came up to me after church.  He speaks English well and he wanted to ask me what I liked, so that he could be sure to bring me something I liked.  I told him I like everything but that having been in Mozambique for four months was enough of a wonderful present.  I really don't need anything more.  He grinned and said he was so glad I've enjoyed it.  Now it is up to the church to give me small things to show others how wonderful Mozambique is and to remember my time here.  That wasn't quite the intent of my comment, but his face showed his joy at hearing how much I've loved being here.

The best parts of the last four months cannot be packed into a suitcase.  They are the people I've met and the gorgeous places I've seen.  The memories aren't all beautiful.  Some of them bring tears to my eyes and make me want to change the world so that life here isn't so hard.  But those memories are just as special as the memories of golden beaches, roads with craters instead of potholes, and seeing how green the country becomes after a few rainy days.  They are all Mozambique.