A Mozambique Homecoming

The anticipation of our first build reached enormous highs, apparent by the early rising of the team hours long before the mandatory “wake-up time.” Rumor has it some team members didn’t sleep at all.

We boarded the bus and headed off to a warm Mozambican welcome with song and dance and smiles as vast as the Indian Ocean.

Trista, one of our most experienced team members, calls Mozambique her second home. With five children and a full life at home, she jokes this is her African family, and it is immediately clear why: team members cried at watching the joy between Trista and Mama Aida’s embrace and the greeting from our builders Pedro and Lucash. I think that many of us are also feeling at home here, and it is only the end of day one.

On the build site our homeowners worked with tremendous vigor without hesitation to see their new life take shape. But in perhaps the most moving turn of events, the entire village took part. They all had a visible drive to better themselves through selflessness as they worked to see their village change, and that was the most moving change of all.

The transition that occurs when anyone leaves their home and family is always a meaningful one because upon return, they bring back a renewed sense of purpose and a far greater depth than could ever hope to achieve in the lap of luxury. Women have a very different life experience in a civilization with few protections for their civil and legal rights, and with such a tragic level of HIV and infant mortality. We have learned this is why Habitat Mozambique focuses their efforts in Gaza Province near the city of Xai.

Habitat’s impact has gone further than building homes. During our welcome ceremony we learned that in the short time that they have been building here, the attitudes towards women working on homes has changed. Women who once thought of it as “men’s work” are now building alongside volunteers and have even joined us on the scaffolding. At times there are so many women volunteering on the site that the men find themselves standing on the side lines. This is truly remarkable in a culture that limits women’s rights. As Mama Aida says “Times are changing, because of the example volunteers set”  

At the end of day one we are a bit tired, our muscles are a little sore, but we are content and eager to learn what tomorrow might bring.

Will Stahle, Team Member, Woodbury MN