This is something I thought was hilarious...there we were driving down the road and in front of us was a van with LIVE goats and chickens hanging out on top just cruising down the highway. Look close, you can see them.

Building Benches for the Machessas

When we drove up with the wood and supplies for the benches the ladies in this community started singing and dancing. It always gave me chills when they did. It's so different in person but the video is still moving.

We spent time in 4 different communities building benches for their Machessas (community centers). CFL supplied the wood and supplies needed and the children were more than wiling to help. I once had a man take a hammer out of my hand while I was in the middle of pounding in a nail because he was so excited to help. The children would watch and wait and as soon as we even looked at them they would run over and hold a nail for us or steady a board.

The younger children were sent outside to play and sing songs while the older kids got to help build the benches.

When we were done the children piled onto the benches. I don't know what they were more excited about...the benches or getting their picture taken!

Rice



We saw mozambiqueans pounding rice in front of their homes every day and we finally got a chance to try it ourselves... I was terrible at it! The big pole is heavy and awkard to hold if you don't know what you're doing...and apparently I didn't because the Mozambiqueans thought I was hilarious looking and giggled at me the whole time I tried.



They make it look so easy with babies strapped to their backs!



They're awesome...

I love this picture.

I took it while we were sitting with the children and teaching them to sew. The younger children were supposed to be outside playing while the older ones sewed bags but this little one snuck in. He was standing there looking shy and curious so I tied some extra string around his ankle and took a picture. He ended up running outside very excited to show everyone and one by one some of the other children would sneak in and stick out their ankles to me and smile huge when I tied little bows around their ankles. Every once in a while Vicinte (our driver who helped manage the children when we did crafts like these) would shoo them back outside but they would giggle and sneak back in for more string when he had his back turned. By the end of this visit there were about 20 little boys and girls running around showing off their little ankles with bows on them.

This little girl is very special to me. She has a head too large for her body and a belly that is swollen and legs that are so skinny she can hardly walk on them but she is so beautiful! I fell in love with her one day when I saw her standing next to me looking a little lost and shy so I gently touched her shoulder and she immediately melted into my leg and her reaction is something I won't ever forget. She never said a word she just looked at me begging me to love her and I did. Though she walked very slowly she would follow me around and hug my leg quietly and sweetly. I miss this little girl and I think about her every day and wonder how she is doing and if she knows how special she is and that someone loves her very much.

This is a video of me and her....and a lot of everything else that was going on around us.

Kedesh

I LOVE THESE GUYS! The Kedesh orphanage is an all boys orphanage that is more like a big family. The boys here are very well taken care of and most of them speak English because of the man that runs it who is from the US. We loved visiting Kedesh because the boys are so much fun! The picture above is of them with their new blankets that we tied.

Capueira

As a thank you for the blankets we were invited over for food and dancing. The boys showed us their sweet capueira moves that were amazing to watch!

There's so much talent at the Kedesh orphanage! Dancing, singing, capueira, and cooking...these guys are awesome!

Water fight at Kedesh!

Water fights happen often at Kedesh because of the heat and humidity. It was a warm day on one of our visits so naturally a water fight broke out...and this is their winter!

SOAKED!

Noemia

This is my friend Noemia. She is a little girl we met at the Dondo Orphanage. My friend Stacy met her two years before I did when she volunteered with CFL and asked me to find her and take pictures with her. She was shy at first, but we became good friends! We took nail polish on one of our visits and she decided she wanted her nails pink and she helped me paint them...

Then she decided she wanted to paint all by herself...


Check out the talent!! Of course when the other girls saw her painting my nails they all wanted to try painting too so by the end of our visit I had about 10 layers of pink nail polish on my nails...We had a lot of fun painting but...I am glad someone thought to bring nail polish remover!