Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Africa 6

Food. What did they eat? What did we eat? The common people of Mozambique eat rice, bananas, mangoes, coconuts and anything else that they can grow. If they are fortunate they get a chicken on occasion. The man that drove us around is well off by Mozambique standards. His family eats meat once per week. And of course there are wealthy folks [a few] that eat as we do in America.

So when the Americans come to visit and there is a fellowship dinner after church with chicken and beef, this is real news. In fact, if we could keep the church supplied with chickens, they could have the kind of dinners after church on Sunday that would draw a crowd. The women cook outside over open fires and on Saturday I took pictures of a cow being carved up on a table next to the tin roof fellowship hall. a fryer chicken costs $3.

When we sat down to breakfast at the guest house, the meal consisted of one egg each, bread, and occasionally something that looked like spam. Lunch and dinner were chicken, rice, soup, and maybe fish or beef. We were well taken care of, and I was surprised at the amount of food that they put on our table. I was surprised until I found out that the food on our table was also meant to feed the cooks and security guards.

After we were done eating, you would find the cooks and security guards eating breakfast- bread and jam. And after dinner, eating whatever was left. This tended to cause us to eat a little less so that there was more for them.

We should always be thankful when we sit down to a plate of food because we are so blessed and so many others do not have the basics.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

1 comment:

Nicole said...

Hi there :) My name is Nicole Hale and I have been coming to your church since October and truly believe I have found a home to grow in spiritually. In the first of the Advent series the pastor mentioned water.org; may I dare say to challenge the members to look at heifer.org? This organization provides teaching for 3 world countries to start raising animals. A flock of chickens or ducks costs only $20. Imagine helping these people raise chickens so that they may have meal. Just a thought I had on my mind after hearing your sermon.