Update from Catembe Mozambique

March 25, 2011

Dear Pastor Kathleen,

Greetings for Mozambique. I thank you for your letter, your thoughts and concerns to the children and our church ministries, especially the work at the chapel construction.

Here is what I can say in response to your questions: There are 5 public schools in the entire Catembe; from which one is a secondary school and the rest are primary schools. There is one private commercial school in the village. These schools are far apart from each other and are not enough still to accommodate the huge number of children in the communities and some from our congregation. We have a total of 46 children that are really in need (especially in school materials including the school outfit). These children are vulnerable and mostly orphans and they stay in people’s homes with no basic needs for food. Sometimes we send our contributions for these children in some food and clothing but it is a one time effort. We wish we could have an opportunity to have all these children in a kindergarten.

Under normal circumstances we would need the following in order to care for these (46) children:

• $19.35 per child for uniforms
• $6.45 per child for school books
• $130 for writing pads for all children
• $9.60 for pencils for all children
• $16.00 for pens for all children
• $9.60 per month for food (per child)

In the existing elementary school the children are overcrowded and they are unable to understand the teachings there. This is where the idea of kindergarten comes, because we will have our children in small groups and will learn better. Also these children come from long distances, lack school uniform and sandals and school materials.

There are issues related to HIV/AIDS in our community and also I believe there may be some members of our church with the disease. None have declared yet. One thing we do and taking into the advantage of the existence of 3 nurses in my congregation, they help us in delivering some workshops on HIV/AIDS and other diseases like malaria. This is helping us and the surrounding community to know the dangers of the diseases and work on measures to prevent contamination. Through the Mozambique Christian Center we identified children in our church and community living with the disease and we help with medication. Most do not go through the medication because of lack of food in their home. We pray for these people and help them understand that God is with them.

The Vision of the church of Catembe is to serve the community with knowledge from Christ’s life so that we can better contribute to making disciples, spreading the good news in the communities.

Thanks for your contribution to our mission. May God continue to bless you in all you do there and here in Catembe.

Francisco Rungo, Pastor in Charge
Catembe UMC Mozambique