Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Day with your families.
Since this is only an American Holiday, our staff spent the day blessing others with a food give out to the orphans that totaled 2.5 TONS of food.
Layla and I took the afternoon off to eat a simple meal from local foods and played a Rummikub tournament. (She won 3 games to 2.)
Fellowship, food, and fun. Keeping Jesus and His Love at the forefront all the time.
For Jesus is LOVE and in HISEYES, all that matters if that we show it daily to all those around us.
This week flew by as we spent each morning loading our Land Cruiser pick-up (the work horse of Africa) with small loads that totaled 9.2 TONS total, and sent it out to our 12 remote village Pastors and their families
Our Pastors received this food offering as part of their “benefits”, to help supplement what they grow in their own fields.
Our goal is to make sure that their families have enough to eat during the tough times of the year.
Preventing “distracted Pastors”, keeps God’s Word going forth all year round.
Hungry Tummies have no ears (listen to no one), and in this case, no strength to teach!
We also distributed 3 tons of rice to our staff’s families as December to March is the severest time of hunger for many in Mozambique.
The harvest was poor this year, and many families are now out of food, including our workers.
Yes, they get a salary and do buy what they can, BUT food prices have sky rocketed with the unstable worldwide economy.
Rice, the only bulk food available this time of year, hasDOUBLED in price in the last 30 days.
A 20kg (55lb.) bag of rice now equals a week’s pay for most of our staff, so our rice offering was a big help.
We can’t help everyone, butTHANKSTOYOURLOVEGIFTS, we are doing what we can to help those in our “extended family”
MANUELANDCREW made 2 round trips this week to Meluco with our 7 ton truck. This filled the Meluco warehouse with enough food to feed the 400+ orphans through May, 2016.
Each trip is 9 hours one way, so it is always an overnight journey. They also did a major water well repair with all new piping while there this week, bringing clean water to a village of over 5,000 people.
On Tuesday, this coming week, this same crew will take the final load of food, machetes, and corn seed to the 115 ELEPHANTVILLAGEORPHANS.
Warehouse Team sewing up corn sacks that have just been sifted and cleaned for milling. Our hammer mill turns the whole corn into corn flour for the orphans. The corn flour is boiled until it is stiff, forming the popular food, “Sheema” as it is locally called. The bland Sheema is rolling into a ball, as they eat it with their hands, and then dipped into whatever sauce (meat or veggie) they have for that meal.
Carpenters cutting 4x4’s into 2 x 4’s to repair termite damage in one of our warehouses. The termites, better known as the “underground mafia” are a constant challenge in all of Balama. The two young men on the right are orphans who grew up in our program and are now training to be master carpenters.
Our week’s work is better told in photos than in words, so I bid you goodbye till next week!
It was a hectic 11 days with 5 of those days being in the air or on the road so I could join my family in Eagle Lake for my Mom’s funeral.
I was greatly encouraged to visit with all of you who were able to come, as well as those who were able to call.
I truly appreciate your love and kindness during this difficult time.
TVCREWVISITSOURBALAMAORPHANS
While I was busy in the USA last week, Capena, Layla, and our entire staff were moving 20+ tons of corn and beans (seed and food) over a 4 day period to 1,697 orphans and widows in 20 villages.
A Mozambican TV crew traveled with them to all the give outs, filming what we do best (serving orphans & widows in distress).
They have promised us a DVD of the program once it airs in Moz. So please be patient, and we will get it onto our website ONCEITISAVAILABLE.
They gave us no date, so I am not sure how long that will be.
The 356 widows who care for these orphans were very excited as several donors made it possible for us to gift new MACHETES (Pangas) to them. We plan to give the remaining 250 widows in Meluco District a machete by January. Machetes are used daily in Mozambican homes for everything from cutting fire wood, to killing snakes and any other “critters” that happen to become a nuisance around their homes. A highly valued tool, greatly prized in every Mozambican home.
SURPRISEDONATIONFROM A LOCALFOODCOMPANY!
Our children were blessed with over 100 lbs of beef, pork, and chicken last Sunday. Layla was super surprised on Sunday morning when a new food company working in the area “dropped by” with a Freezer box full of meat! Most of our children have never eaten beef, so this was a great treat for them.
On Thursday, Nov. 19, this same company blessed us with 2000 cups of YOGURT! A treat that our children have never tasted!
The looks on their faces were precious, as they sat licking their cups and trying to figure out what they were tasting. Most have never had milk since they were weaned from their mothers.
They also received bananas to go with their treat, so it was a super fun day watching kids experience a new food
God is blessing us in new and mighty ways. He never ceases to amaze me.
BALAMAGOATHERDISSTILLKICKING
Many of you have asked me how our 230 goats are doing. They are producing well, as we were blessed with the birth of 5 new baby goats last week.
I love to cuddle these soft and fuzzy newborns, but they are not too fond of being picked up!
We presently have 32 males weighing over 70 lbs each that are ready for market. The sale of these 32 males will provide our 95 school aged orphans with school books, and some of the fabric needed for their 2016 school uniforms. Your love gifts gave us the goats, and now the goats are giving to the children.
Thank you for helping us bring education to the children through our 4 legged friends.
DEATHOFONEOFOURTEENAGEORPHANS
It is a sad day when sadistic, satanic, ritual killings strikes one of our own. Assane, an Albino orphan who grew up in our program, was murdered last Saturday night by a group of 3 very evil people. They were caught and are in jail as I write. Assane, 16 years old, had been relocated last year to his home village with our help, along with his grandmother and sister. We bought them a mud hut, and they were organizing their farm to become independent of our village food distributions by 2016. There is no explanation for this horrible deed, except that these people were part of a cult who believed that Albino body parts held special powers.
We appreciate your prayers for his family.
Blessings,
Bush Bunny Brenda Lange
Layla Silva
“Bush Bunny” Brenda Lange
LOVEGIFTSTO: ORPHANSUNLIMITED, INC.
11152 WESTHEIMERRD., PMB 391 HOUSTON, TX 77042
