Six months in two pages

 

Jeremias with his family

I’ve just looked to see when we last wrote a blog… I’m very embarrassed but not at all surprised! Since the last blog post our world has been a little shaken to say the least. But if I’m honest, I know I’ve been putting off writing about our life here as I’m still taking time to make sense of the country we live in and our recent experiences. Anyway I’ll do my best to fill in some of the details of the last few months.

I’m sure that many of you who follow us are aware that I (Christine) was involved in a car accident in April. Having driven for nine years without an accident it was pretty terrifying. As is so often the case here, while I was driving on a clear road with no car in front or behind me, a boy (Jeremias) of around nine years ran straight out into the car. Thankfully he is alive and despite serious injuries which originally looked fatal, he seems to be making a full recovery. This happened soon after our last blog post and affected a great portion of our time and lives afterwards.

Our language teacher at work

The time after the accident in some ways went on as normal: we’ve had Portuguese lessons every morning at the language institute and various BMS tasks to do in the afternoons as well as extra informal language on top of bringing up two lively children. But Mozambican culture dictates that we were also expected to regularly visit Jeremias who was staying in Beira hospital with his father recovering from serious injuries and waiting for various surgeries to restore him to health. It also dictates that not only did we need to visit but were also required to provide for all the needs of Jeremias as well as his family while they were staying away from their home. Although officially hospital is free here and food is provided for patients, needs of family members staying with the patient are not. Jeremias’ family had no relatives here so we became providers of food, company and accommodation as they were needed. We made cultural mistakes on the way but the family were gracious in understanding our lack of cultural knowledge.

At times we found the visiting and expectations very difficult to deal with especially in a society that says the driver of the car, whether at fault or not, has to provide for the injured party’s needs. I’m pleased to say that we have formed good friendships with Jeremias family, especially his father and that Jeremias is back near his home town on his way to a hopefully full recovery.

As part of the continued sorting out of the accident I was called to a tribunal up in Manica near the Zimbabwe border. We were reassured that this was just a regular procedure to formalise the expectations of the driver towards the injured party and their family. We received a letter telling us to be ready outside the courthouse at 9am and that failure to turn up could lead to a prison sentence! Knowing this we were nervous as to what to expect but safe in the knowledge that the proceedings, however intimidating, were to work out what the insurance company would pay out. Manica is a five hour drive from here but we decided that we could go and come back in a day so as not to have to ask a great deal of the babysitters who were looking after the children.

 
Leaving at 4am with a friend, Camica, who had kindly said she would translate for me we started out to Manica. The thick fog on the dark roads did not help my nerves but Camica, happily chatting away despite the hour, was a real blessing. We picked up Jeremias’ father and mother on the way and continued to the courthouse. Arriving early, we handed in our paperwork and waited to be called. Here I got a huge lesson in patience, a seven hour lesson to be precise. Eventually we were called. I think the Judge was as hungry for his lunch as we were by this time and didn’t even open the paperwork provided by ourselves and Jeremias’ family which explained what had happened. He assumed as with most motorists here that I had simply run away and had been caught by the police at a later date. Needless to say, proceedings did not go exactly smoothly: I was refused a translator, told I was a bad person, and then the case was thrown out as we needed to wait for a final report on Jeremias’ health which would be more likely to come along in January 2013. With the insurance company lawyer not even being given permission to speak we decided to go out for a late lunch all together. After a long day we drove back to Beira arriving to find the house still enshrouded in darkness from the longest power cut we’ve had since we’ve been here (over 48 hours). I can’t say it was one of the best days in my life but I was very thankful for all the friends and family both here and back in the UK who supported us with practical help, prayers and messages.

A cafe: the most important stop on a guided tour of Beira

I could say that since then life has continued as normal and so it has in a manner ‘normal’ to life here. Soon after the accident my Mum came to visit and was amazed at how long everything takes. Getting money out the ATM seems like such a simple task but does rely on the ATM having money in it and working! Sorting out a small issue should just be a short phone call but is often hours spent sitting in an office, followed by collecting of documents that need signing and stamping which then involves sitting in another office for hours waiting for the official person to stamp your papers. So life goes on.

We have finally finished our formal language studies and are officially fluent in Portuguese at least if not in reality. We still make plenty of mistakes but can generally say what we need to say and understand what needs to be understood. As I’m still learning new words in English I’m sure our informal study of language will never end. We marked the finish of our language study with a visit from Geoff’s parents and my cousin, Jen. We took some well-earned holiday, showing them around Beira cafes as well as going to Savane Beach resort for a few days followed by a visit to Gorongosa National Park where we were privileged to see a lion as well as some elephants pretty close up.

The last few months have probably been some of the most trialling we’ve been through, however, as formal language is over it’s back to a slightly different type of work. I’m starting to visit some of the church pre-school program as Geoff starts looking at how to practise some of the basic farming techniques he has leant on a ‘Foundations for Farming’ course in order to help some orphanages in the local community provide their own food.

We’ll keep you updated with our progress.