PCM News: November 2021

17 November 2021

Hot and Humid in Beira, Mozambique

We recently spent a very, very... very hot and humid week with a team in Beira, Mozambique where we continued helping with the development of a training centre at a bush location that Clerisnan, a Brazilian missionary is setting up.

Clerisnan with 'Buddy', a rescue donkey he had saved recently.

Our main focus for the week was completing the roof and installing solar power, but of course there were many other things to be busy with.

After our 3hr flight in the Kodiak we met Mercy Air's helicopter which ferried us and our supplies out to the site.

The blue roofed training centre as we arrived

We fixed the solar panels onto the existing roof whilst the other roof sheets were being installed.

Sounds simple, but this took a couple of days. The roof basically sits on the walls which isn't great protection against cyclones - so the next job was to wire the roof to the bricks.

One of the guys who came up with us was an agriculturalist with Foundations For Farming www.foundationsforfarming.org

He gave talks and set up demonstrations of a number of farming techniques for the local families in the area.

Giving the initial talk on farming techniques

Planting without ploughing

A demonstration of composting

Preparing for an irrigation demonstration

Water can be an issue (either too much or too little) and is often sourced from hand dug boreholes. To help with the irrigation we had bought a treadle pump and, in the photo below we were using it to transfer water from the well to a plastic tank placed on a termite mound.

But earlier in the week we had to first fix the plastic tank after it was damaged in a storm.

After we installed the solar power, the villagers could now use a machine to grind cassava, which is a root used as a staple diet in many meals.

The team were also able to use rechargeable clippers to cut the children's hair.

Another bonus was that they were also able to take and power a small projector and show the Jesus Film one night under the stars.

There were many other jobs we accomplished during the week. Some of the more notable were sling loading hard to transport items from nearby locations.

Preparing to sling load a log from a river

We spent the week 'camping', although that amounted to sleeping in a mosquito net tent in the entrance to the building.

My view when I woke up each morning.

As I said at the beginning, this turned out to be a very hot (35 deg+) and humid week. The highlight of each day was going down to the river just before sunset for a 15 min wash and cool off.

There have been a lot of bush fires in Mozambique recently and each night there was one that swept past very closely.

Even on the day we left, the visibility was particularly poor due to the lingering smoke.

Thank you.

Paul and Cathy

A short history of us

Not long after we were married we felt that God had some full time work for us overseas. This initially began with a move to Sheffield in 1992 to work for a Christian management training company. Three years later we felt the Lord's prompting that another change was imminent and this led to a move to Africa where we helped set up a youth program with the Lesotho-Durham link in the capital Maseru. An initial three year commitment turned into four after which the youth work was handed over to the nationals.

Then, after feeling God was moving us into mission flying Paul enrolled at a flying school and completed his South African commercial license with an instrument rating in December 1999.

We moved from Lesotho to White River in South Africa in June of 2003 where we now work with Mercy Air. Mercy Air was borne out of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) and is a sister, although smaller organisation to the more well known Mercy Ships. We are situated near Nelspruit and provide a service to missions and the development/aid community in the southern African region but mainly serve Mozambique.

We operate four aircraft at present - a Quest Kodiak, a Cessna 310 and two Airbus 350 helicopters which are often used for the relief flights.

When not flying Paul is responsible for flight operations and is Mercy Air's Safety Officer.

Cathy, who is a registered Nurse and Midwife works part time at Africa School of Missions which is a bible college preparing missionaries for overseas service. She teaches in their School of Health and is part of a team which visits a number of rural clinics during the week. She is also helps with the hospitality ministry that Mercy Air runs.

Matthew spent four years at Rhodes University in Grahamstown where he studied photo journalism. He has now flown the nest and is living with his wife in Durban. They have a young daughter named Isabella.