Seattle to Mozambique

One of my main missions on my trip to Africa is to go to church. It’s funny because of my total revulsion to the mission of missionaries but I’m here to understand, not proselytize. There are many different churches in Mozambique but for sure the ones that seem to be springing up everywhere are the Evangelical churches that were so popular in Brazil. Here I am, in the middle of the African countryside, surrounded by savannah and pockets of small villages with grass huts and goats milling about. You don’t see many large congregations of people except under two circumstances, wells and churches. People have to walk long distances to get water and no one would disagree that this is a necessity that justifies the energy expenditure…but church? Perhaps it is just as important as water. Picture a small village of mud and grass huts with a small wooden sign balancing on a stick in the middle of the road, pointing to another mud/grass structure. This is the Universal Church of God and people seem to be dressed their best for church today.

I know many of you will be slightly repulsed by this religious fervor but it is so important to understand. If people put the search for God on par with the search for water then it is very very important indeed. This also puts pastors in particularly powerful positions. Imagine that the pastor is the one that controls the pump. His word is law and it seems that many seek his advice before any other. This has enormous implications for anyone working in health in Moz and enormous possibilities too. Imagine an army of pastors referring people to the hospital, taking care of the sick, educating people about HIV. This is happening now but it is sporadic and there is a lot of difference in the approaches that people take. One pastor will explain that this disease is something that affects the innocent and we need to do all we can to save everyone, another pastor will explain that people get HIV because they sinned and therefore it is those who don’t except the pastors message that ultimately die. If we can get these pastors together and they can teach each other I have faith (hee hee) that they will all bend more toward the thinking of the first pastor than the last. They have to meet people living with AIDS, people who have gotten better, people who can now feed their children and wash their clothes…they need to look at these people and decide whether or they should live or die and whether their children should have parents. I do have faith.