Global Poverty Monitor

[Later] we went back to the youth group at Chitima town where we had been last night. They greeted us with singing just as they had the night before, and then there was some dancing, and then some prayers and what they called a debate. This debate consisted of questions relating to the Christian faith being asked back and forth from us to the Mozambican people. One problem that we faced was that these people thought that since we are working with World Vision, we must be devout Christians. The problem really occurred what a teenage boy asked us for advice on what he should do if he has a friend who does not want to convert to Christianity, and how he should make him. We fielded that question by saying that in Australia, people are free to believe in whatever they want, and that not everyone who works with World Vision is a Christian. I wondered if the translation was accurate since this was not what the translators wanted to hear.

Next we went to visit some chronically ill children who lived in an area and were being assisted by home care. We didn’t stay there long, and our next stop was to visit a man who had TB and had been assisted by World Vision. Another ill man came to the area to meet with us and share his story. By then I was really starting to feel the heat quite badly, and sort of zoned out when it came to hear the second man’s story. Lucia knew by then that we were exhausted and very hot, so we finished up and drive back to the Lodge.