I was struck by the poverty I saw everywhere!

When I visited Africa for the first time – Zimbabwe back in 1998 – I had a sense that this was the beginning of something, and that in due time I would be back for a much longer stay. Four more trips to Africa followed to Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique

It was in 2008 during a visit to Mozambique in connection with my church, New Hope Christian Centre, that something clicked and I knew that this was the place I would be coming back to.

Namatanda is a provincial town on the main road between the Indian Ocean and the Zimbabwean border. The orphanage there is run by a Mozambiquan called Pastor Domingo; he has been running it for nine years and currently has 60 children aged between five and 18. They are there either because they’ve been abandoned by their parents or one or both parents have died.

Education in Mozambique has to be paid for, other than by orphans. Unlike here where children go to school all day, children in Mozambique only go in the morning or afternoon – because of the lack of teachers and buildings.

At the orphanage, the girls would look after the home of Domingo and his wife plus any visitors they had; they also help with cooking, washing and cleaning the dormitories. Although there are two ladies who cook for the children, sometimes they have to do it themselves; this involves putting a big pot of maize over an open fire in the courtyard. Daniel keeps chickens and goats in the orphanage yard, and a group of about 12 boys aged 10 and 14 – I nicknamed them the goatboys – were on a rota to take the goats out to the nearest patch of pasture; they had to go out twice a day – morning and afternoon – and the boys alternated this with their halfday at school.

Unlike children in this country, the children have to make their own entertainment because there is no TV, computer games etc; they love playing football although the ball was homemade, consisting of bags squashed into a ball held together with string. When it rains, the sand turns into a mud patch, and the boys are extremely ingenious at making models of cars, aeroplanes out the mud with their fingers. The girls would play hopscotch, marking out squares, and also skipping and jumping.

I was struck by the poverty I saw everywhere – both inside and outside the orphanage. The orphanage is totally dependent on donations from New Hope, without which they couldn’t function. Through donations raised by one of our church members we have been able to build a new building, because there is a lot of overcrowding. It is hoped this building will soon be completed, with children moving in early in 2010. One of my desires is that a new toilet block be built because sanitation is very poor; when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction, the smell isn’t too great!

There is a sense of excitement each month when Domingo goes down to the local store to buy next month’s food supply. Some of the bigger children come back with big bags of sugar and maize on their heads, excited because they knew they were going to be fed again. But hunger is a big problem – the children were always hungry and never had enough food, although they are better off than those in the villages where the situation is even worse.

Life in the orphanage is very hard, particularly for the smaller children, because there is some bullying from the older ones, a major concern for Domingo as it was for me, because these children are being brought up in a Christian environment. There are church services every Sunday and Wednesday and Friday evenings. At these services, the children participate by singing – there is a boys’ choir and a girls’ choir and their voices are magnificent.

My hope and expectation was that, for a short time and in a small way, I would make a difference to the children’s lives and I believe I achieved this. I identified what was missing in their lives: not just lack of food and clothing, but also medical care. They didn’t have toothbrushes or toothpaste. I bought each child a toothbrush and made arrangements for them to have regular supplies of toothpaste. One boy had bad cataracts, so I initiated a visit to the eye clinic, where they operated, and now he can see which means he can join in and play with the other children. One of the boys had such severe toothache that he pulled out his tooth with a pair of pliers; because I was there I was able to take him with the pastor to the dentist to get some antibiotics to deal with the ensuing infection. I also spent money giving the children treats like biscuits, lollipops and drinks.

Although language was a big problem, I was able to communicate with them through a young man called Matthew; I became a link between children and Pastor Domingo for any concerns the children might have. I befriended them and they trusted me.

Although Matthew wasn’t part of the orphanage, I got to know him. He took me to his village where, during the dry season, he had to go two miles to the nearest well to get water for him and his grandparents. Because there is no electricity in his village, once it was dark he used to do his homework next to the fire burning in the yard and I wondered how this would affect his eyesight in later life. Matthew told me of his desire to teach English to young children, but it was only a dream because he could never afford to go to teachers’ training college. After seeing the poor conditions he lived in, I decided I wanted to sponsor him to go the college and he will be there for the new term early in 2010.

My friends and colleagues were very positive about me going to Namatanda, Christians and non-Christians alike. At least one staff member at Cromwell House has said she would like to do something similar.

After living in Namatanda for six months, I was ready to come home. I believed the goals I’d set myself before going had been achieved: I had made a difference, but the expression ‘It’s easier to take the man out of England than take England out of the man’ came to mind towards the end of my stay. I was sad to say goodbye to Pastor Domingo and the children but I know, God willing, I will go back one day.

If you feel that God has laid it on your heart to help by sponsoring a child, or even if you think you’d like to do something similar to me and go over there, speak to me. I’d love to tell you more about my time there, and how you can help the orphans.

Picture Victor with some orphans.