So what's next?

After spending Christmas in Cambodia which was very nice but a bit weird to be honest....I mean the beach and BBQ sounds lovely but I really wanted to be eating turkey with all the trimmings, wearing a jumper and be with my family!  So I was very glad that I got to do that on New Year's Day instead after my return to the UK.

After spending some time with my family in Cornwall I will be heading back to sunny Salford to catch up with friends in the North West.  And then I plan to really seek God's face as I prayerfully consider what He has for me next.  As you might be able to tell by my last post about Cambodia I was really moved by what I saw so the future may include a return there.  To be able to use my professional skills, work for a great charity and make a real difference would be an incredible privilege.  Or maybe I'll return to social work in the UK which would also be a real privilege!

So thank you for reading once again - your support and friendship is so appreciated.   Please get in touch if you'd like to catch up and God bless you lots! Liz x

From Killing Fields to Living Fields

After my very fulfilling time in Mozambique came to an end, I co led an outreach with Seth to Cambodia, to work alongside our two Iris bases there.  What an incredible place.  Seth had to put up with 12 girls (!) and did a great job.  

Our first day in Cambodia really brought home the history and present.  In the morning we went to the 'Killing Fields' site where under Pol Pot's regime, about a quarter of Cambodia's population were tortured and murdered, all in the name of an extreme form of Communism.  As I stood on the mass graves and looked at the skulls I realised that on many levels I would have been first on his list. Middle class tick, educated tick, speak more than one language tick, professional tick, live in the city tick.  And what brought it even more home to me was that the killing started in the 1975, the year I was born and then stopped in 1978, the year my sister was born.  I felt chills down my spine along with a sheer sense of relief and great fulness to God that I had been raised mainly in the UK.

Later in the day we went to a cafe called Daughters of Cambodia.  The cafe is run by a Christian NGO who believe in helping women caught up in the present day horror of sex trafficking and prostitution.  All the girls who served us were once caught up in the sex industry but have since been been rescued and given new skills to make a new life for themselves.  From the Killing Fields to the Living Fields all in one day.

What struck me about Cambodia was how incredibly beautiful it is with lush forests and coastline and the people are some of the most friendly and welcoming I have ever met.  But there is another side, a much seedier side.  The brazeness of those involved in the sex industry is so 'in your face'.  The number of white much older men I saw with much younger Cambodian girls in 'massage' parlours made me so angry and the stories of children being abused and paedophiles having such easy access to children just made me weep.

So I was very glad to be part of an organisation that is restoring hope to children and women caught up in the darker side of life.  Children played with, women being taught English at their request and pamper sessions held for them and buildings being developed for children to have safe places to play and sleep as well as many other things beside.  All this being done in liaison with other NGOs and networks to ensure the best care is given and that the work is done in Jesus name, the name which brings real hope, freedom and love.

Mozambique: take two

I can’t believe that I have now been back in Mozambique for a month.  I have 10 ladies living with me from Africa, Europe and the States ranging from 19-49 years old.  My roles for this school have increased and so I am being kept pretty busy!  My work includes overseeing all the families with includes 16 adults and 17 children…they are a great bunch and I am enjoying helping make their experience a positive one in the middle of bad plumbing, lack of running water and electricity!  It sure does make you very appreciative of all that the UK has to offer and keeps you humble.

Mandela land

So after my adventures in Sierra Leone I headed to South Africa for a ‘working break’!  As well as doing lots of admin work for the next school, I got to spend some time in Cape Town as well as in Robertson.  I loved Cape Town and seeing old friends and spending a couple of days sightseeing including a trip up Table Mountain….spectacular beyond words!

I then spent a few days in Robertson which produces some of the best wine I have ever tasted and got to a climb up to a waterfall and live in a cottage with no internet or phone access.  Beautiful!  I also spent many hours preparing for the next school which is now well under way.

A very thankful and proud daughter

The absolute highlight of my time in Sierra Leone and the highlight of 2013 was being able to visit the village where I had lived as a child. After a long bus ride and hairy motorbike ride (first time on a motorbike..and of course there was no helmet or proper road for most of the journey!!) I arrived at the village.  The local Methodist minister happened to be available as we drew up on the motorbikes and when he knew about my family history he immediately stopped what he was doing and took us to the hospital where my father had worked as a doctor and we had lived as a family.

As I stepped onto the hospital grounds memories came back to me and the tears started….and the very first man we met was a gentleman who had remembered my family from over 30 years ago and said with a big smile ‘your father was a great man and a good surgeon’ – I thought my heart would burst with pride!  He also said that I had grown somewhat!!!

After meeting new and old friends I was able to walk round the grounds and visit some of the wards and take plenty of photographs for my parents.  And then we were offered free accommodation in the hospital overnight as we had nowhere else to stay!  The effects of the civil war can still be seen from the holes made by very large bullets into the village’s water tank to the hospital’s generator now locked in a shipping container, hopefully preventing it from further attacks.  Thankfully with generous funding from the West, the hospital is now back on its feet and is training local nurses and treating patients.  My only regret was that my parents were not with me in order to be able to share in the experience but it was still an incredibly special time.

Lawrence of Sierra Leone

So after my first few months in Mozambique I was asked to lead a team back to Sierra Leone, where I spent my earliest childhood memories due to my parents working there.  I ended up going by myself as there was no team..which ended up being a special treat for me!

I spent most of my time in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital city.  I lived and worked with Andrew and his family who lead our charity’s base and church there.  My time was very special and I got to preach, visit some families in the slums by the river and visit the school run by Iris Ministries as well as help edit a book.

It was in the school out in the bush that I met one of my now heroes: Lawrence.   Lawrence was previously a high ranking customs official who during Sierra Leone’s civil war suffered terrible tragedy.  He was late to work one morning by a few minutes and when he arrived he found all of his colleagues bodies strewn on the road as they had been murdered just a few minutes previously.  Having already lost his wife to the war he knew that in order to survive he needed to flee and so ended up in Belgium due to having some connections there.  He made a new life for himself but felt restless and so returned to his native Sierra Leone once the war ended.

Lawrence felt very strongly that he should put his education to good use (he’s clearly very bright -he used the words ‘buffered’ and ‘perplexed’ in the same sentence..and English isn’t even his first language!) and for understandable reasons could not return to his previous customs role.  Instead he retrained as a teacher and rather than accepting a post in a good school in the capital with a decent salary he chose to work for our charity in a small village outside the capital. Lawrence said that these young people needed him more and that he has chosen to live in the school so that he can offer his support to the families also.  I felt so honoured and humbled meeting him and being able to encourage him.

Birthday in the bush!

Well I can’t believe how quickly time has flown…my time in Mozambique is coming to an end..well at least for a few weeks anyway!  Life has been challenging and rewarding all at the same time.  We have seen lots of significant things happen, prayers answered and students complete the training school.  I have enjoyed the work behind the scenes and supporting the families who have attended amongst other things.

One of my highlights, well at least one of my more memorable days was my birthday….in the bush!  We took a team to a couple of villages where our organisation has a presence to help encourage and build the local church and provide medical assistance.  One of the villages had a big problem with worms being in peoples feet..so a team went back to help deworm and provide socks and shoes as well as do some general health promotion.

On my actual birthday I was woken up at 5.30am with a radio held to my ear to tell me it was time to get up to help prepare breakfast ie cut up rolls that had begun to go stale and put jam or peanut butter on them (such a staple food here!)  I was then given the massive privilege of helping inaugurate a new village church building (my hands got to be one of 4 pairs on the scissors cutting the string on the door!) and then eating pork for lunch (the poor pig had been killed the night before..all I could do was cover my ears and pray when I heard the squealing!!) 

Then we had a fairly ridiculous truck ride back with 50 people, 2 live chickens and 12 bags of cement as well as all of our bags and the sound system etc in..and got stopped and fined by the police for people standing…actually I think the police were quite nice to us!

By the time we got back to base I was too tired and dirty to go out for my birthday meal so other staff went out for main course and then came back and we all had cake together (nice lemon cake and brownies which people had cooked..yummy!)…all that was missing was a nice glass of white wine..which will have to wait until South Africa!

So we are now in the process of packing up, saying good bye to students and evaluating our work.  I will miss the lovely girls that I've been to house mama to.  They've bonded well as a house and friends for life have been made.

So what’s next for me?  On Thursday I fly to Sierra Leone, West Africa for just over a fortnight to work with a base there who have a childrens centre and church amongst other things.  I was meant to be leading a team but I seem to be the only person on the team.  After praying I still felt it was right to go anyway..especially as its where I spent some of my early childhood and so the adventure  continues!   

Thank you for your support, prayers and friendship!  Love and miss you all lots xx