Through hardship, floods, cyclones, persecution, and all manner of pressures, we are seeing Mozambique coming into fullness of life in Jesus. With Jesus, the church is able to endure and overcome. At the end of the last school term we went on outreach to some of the most flood and cyclone ravaged areas, providing support and preaching the gospel.
Reintegration has come a long way since its inception over 15 years ago. Thanks to the support of IMC we have an excellent team, a car (which we could not do home visits without), money to build houses and enable children to be reunited with family, and a process to provide families with small business ventures.
It is now over a year since Betty Blanchette passed away at the Base. The team put together tributes, videos and messages to send Bob and his family on the anniversary of Betty's transition to Heaven.
A worthwhile legacy in ministry is to know that the owrk carries on once we leave.
In the case of Bob and Betty’s ministries in the sewing and carpentry areas, a great legacy remains.
October was an intense month with lots of challenges. We had some major challenges at one of the 13 different secondary schools our children attend. We had to make significant changes in the arrangement of our girls’ houses, but all was eventually resolved. David, together with other leaders, were forced to do some quick work in hiring new teachers for the Iris Africa Primary School. We had found some excellent teachers at the beginning of the year, but two of those new teachers bailed early in the year. Interviewing is time consuming and quite difficult.
“Pastor, when I came here to the bible school I had been living with my partner since 2007, thinking everything was fine. But I was challenged by the word of God and now that I'm back for the second level I have decided to get officially married. I would like to invite the staff of the bible school to attend my wedding". These are the words of Philip, a second level student who is currently getting ready to get married at the end of this month.
Reintegration continues to be integral in the continuum of care of children with complex social and medical needs. The team is responsible for many issues in an attempt to uphold the rights of the child.
The team maintains home visits for children who need out of home care. Home, social and health assessments are crucial to the evaluation of the needs of both the family and the child, keeping in mind that the outcome of the assessments might see the child accepted into Zimpeto children’s crisis centre.