Celebration Day

Many of you may have seen the Facebook post that was shared back in October 2023 when we were seeking to raise 60 donations of $30 each as birthday presents for Papa Don’s 60th birthday. You may have even been one of the 60 people who responded and supported this successful fundraising effort. 

After the funds were raised, our on-site staff members, Chambule and Victor, at the Sunshine Village Project in Muchenguentava met with the families to list out the requirements that were expected for them to receive the award. Among these requirements were: planting all of their 450 cashew trees, proper care of the saplings to ensure they thrive and grow, maintenance of their farming plot by clearing the weeds and grasses growing around the saplings, and creating fire breaks between their plot and those around them. The families set to work under the guidance and watchful eyes of Chambule and Victor. 

Of the 100 families participating in the Village Project, 64 families met the requirements. Each family was given choices of rewards based on the common needs of the community. Chambule and Victor compiled a list, purchased the requested items, and had them all divided up and ready for presentation in the warehouse at the Sunshine Villages factory. 

Additionally, each family would also receive seeds to plant on their farms to produce lettuce, couve, cabbage, and tomatoes. These seeds will provide food for the families until the cashew saplings grow into productive trees. 

Before the families arrived, I walked through the collection of awards laid out in the warehouse. Each pile had a box of Sunshine Nut Company cashews propped on top of the requested items and taped to it was a piece of paper listing the family name. I read each name as I gave thanks for the privilege it is to offer hope and opportunity to these families that live in poverty. I felt emotional as I surveyed what they asked for. It was so simple and basic. It was a concrete demonstration before me of how little they had in this world. They asked for…

building materials for their homes (such as cement, metal sheets for their roofs, and caniso- the grass reeds used for the walls of their homes), 

plastic chairs, 

pots, food (oil, rice). 

The day of the presentation of awards arrived. Rains delayed people from coming, but one by one and in small groups they started to arrive. 

Believe it or not, the very first person to arrive was the very woman pictured in the original Facebook post with Don! 

The longest wait was for the government leaders who were to come. We could not start without them. So, the people began singing and dancing to pass the time. 

Once the leaders had all arrived, Chambule conducted the meeting. He reviewed the requirements that had been set and read the list of families who had success in meeting these requirements.

The local government leaders gave speeches and encouraged the people to continue working hard and tending their farms. 

Awards were presented to a few families so that photographs could be taken with the attending government officials. 

Then all of the families were invited to come and take possession of their awards. Lots of rejoicing and smiles filled the room as people went to see their awards. 

Finally, everyone was given a tour of the mini factory where they will one day shell their cashew harvest to add value and thereby increase their income. These families have watched from outside as this land was cleared, the factory built, and the equipment delivered and installed. They had to have been extremely curious to know what was going on inside. 

Men tried out the equipment used to crack open the hard cashew shells and demonstrated to each other how to do it correctly. 

They checked out the machinery that they will use to shell their cashew harvests. They looked over and explored everything. To say they were excited would be a major understatement. 

It was exciting for Don and me to see them in this factory that was envisioned and constructed for their benefit. We were so happy to share it with them. It was the best of days: A day to see the impact we are having in making the world a better place. A day to celebrate hard work and effort. A day to bless and be blessed. A day to remember.

Divine Connections

We all love stories with happy endings. I have one to share with you today. As with so many stories, it is about triumph that overcame tragedy and about two people who connected despite all the odds being against them. 

Madalena and her siblings were the first children we ever brought home to our Sunshine Homes Project. Cecilia, 12, Madalena, 5, and Antonio, 3, lost both of their parents at such a young age. It is because of them that the Sunshine Homes Project ever began. When we heard about them, we felt they deserved to grow up together as a family, in a home, with a mother to care for them and love them best of all. Thus, the Sunshine Homes Project was birthed in 2014 when we paired them with Zelda and settled them into their home in Matola Santos. 

Oh how these children loved Zelda and thrived in her care. Madalena and Antonio loved her so much that they took turns sleeping in her room every night. I would always chuckle when I’d look in Zelda’s bedroom and see her bed littered with stuffed animals. I would tease Zelda about the “man” ( a stuffed Batman) with whom she shared her bed. 

Zelda was mother to these children for nine years until she unexpectedly died in December 2022. The children were devastated, and understandably so. It was the second time they had lost a mother. Since Zelda’s passing, we have moved forward with a new caretaker for them. They are no longer children but now Cecilia is a young adult at age 22, and Madalena and Antonio are teenagers, ages 15 and 13. 

It has been a very hard road to recover from losing someone as special as Zelda. Recently when we were taking apart the bunkbeds that Madalena slept in, I saw on the slats of the bunk above her that she had written Zelda’s name over and over. My heart broke for her. This why when Madalena asked me if she could take a cake baking and decorating course to honor Zelda, I could not say anything but “YES!” Zelda had taken a course a few years ago. She was really progressing in her talents and was selling her cakes to many people. Madalena wanted to follow in her footsteps. 

Madalena faithfully attended the courses that were held in the city every Saturday for three months, accompanied by her ever-protective older sister, Cecilia. Madalena passed her final baking test and received her certificate. She has begun baking cakes to sell, and we are walking alongside her helping her learn how to manage her money. 

Recently, I brought Madalena together with my neighbor,  Khumbu, who also bakes and sells cakes. She agreed to give Madalena some decorating advice. 

I shared a post about Madalena's lesson with Khumbu on Facebook that was seen by a wonderfully kind supporter of our foundation. Kelli lives in Vermont and also bakes. She sells her items to bakeries and gives the profits to our Sunshine Approach Foundation. When she saw the post, she decided to help Madalena out and sent a donation for her to get the supplies she needed to grow her business. She sent it along with the most beautiful letter to Madalena. 

Dear Madalena, 

I understand that you are continuing an endeavor from someone who you deeply cared for. Baking is so fun. It's such a joy to use your skills to show your love. Love is the key ingredient in baking. Isn't it so fun to see someone eating and enjoying what you've made for them. I am so privileged to be able to send some money for you to buy supplies for your baking. If you were near me, you can bet that we would share the techniques and recipes that we like to use. I understand that you took a class. How fun. I have not taken any classes. 

I would love to see the things that you do. If I can relay one piece of wisdom, it would be this....it doesn't have to be perfect...people you bake for will feel the love you've put into it, before they notice anything you may not think is perfect. 

Love in Jesus, 

Kelli 

Madalena thought long and hard about how to use Kelli’s donation, but in the end, the choice was easy. The oven in her house is broken. When she bakes her cakes, she must go bake at another house, so she decided to buy an oven! She also had money to buy a scale for weighing ingredients and a few other baking utensils. 

Today we tested out her oven by making banana bread. The oven worked great, and the banana bread came out golden brown and delicious. Next up, I am going to teach her to make cupcakes and brownies.

Let me end with the thank you note that Madalena wrote to send to Kelli. I think it sums up how someone can impact another person, half a world away, and whom they most likely will never meet. 

Good evening, 

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to help me so that I can achieve my goals and my dreams. I am very happy when I make cakes because I remember someone so special who marked my life despite everything, a mother incredible, a wonderful mother. Every time I make a cake, I remember her huge, contagious smile. I just wanted to thank you for everything good. As you said, if you had the opportunity, we would exchange experiences together. Above all, God is with us. How wonderful God is! He has a huge plan for me. I leave everything in His hands, and loving Jesus. Thank you very much for the opportunity to make my dreams come true as God is good and very good. 

With love, 

Madalena 

Who knows what will happen next in Madalena's journey to honor Zelda? Maybe Kelli will come and teach Madalena herself one day!

Training Teachers to Impact Future Generations

Don and I love hosting visitors and teams from the US. In fact, we ALL love hosting people - from our staff and employees at the factory - to our staff, children and mothers at the Sunshine Houses - and to the many, many people in the communities who are touched and impacted by those who come stay with us. I only wish that I had started a guestbook for people to sign when we began our time here 13 years ago. I cannot even make a guess of how many people have stayed with us! It is wonderful when they come, and it is so quiet and lonely when they leave. 

While every person who has visited has left their mark in Mozambique, I must give a shout out to the teachers who have come since 2017 from the Landmark School north of Boston. This teacher training program was the idea of our daughter, Cassie, who taught at Landmark School for five years. This school services children with learning language disabilities. The teachers are well trained and are continually being updated with training. Cassie had the idea of bringing a team of teachers during their two-week March break in 2017. The goal was to share their knowledge and training with the teachers here in Mozambique and to also learn from the Mozambican teachers. 

The program has continued each year, except for those dreadful COVID years when we were all locked down. We love this program because of the high impact it has on the schools. This year, we completed trainings to 177 teachers in six schools. Considering the fact that these teachers have average classroom sizes of 50 students and teach morning and afternoon classes because students only go to school half days, this equals out to 17,700 students being impacted by the trainings this year alone! Multiply this number by 5 years and the total result is 88,500 students benefitting from these trainings! 

Escola Maria Ana Mogas

Escola Sao Gabriel 

Externato 20 de Outubro

Escola Primaria Completa Muchenguentava

Escola Primaria Completa Tamwana

Christian Academy of Mozambique

The US teachers prepare PowerPoint presentations on a topic of their choosing in advance. These slides are then translated into Portuguese for the presentations, and we make copies of the slides so each teacher can refer back to the content that was taught. Topics over the years have included classroom management, creating a routine, outlining and notetaking, how to manage large classes, grouping students, challenging students to high-level thinking and creativity, and the ever popular- using games to enhance your content.

 

Some schools are able to give the students a day off so that we can work with the teachers. Other schools are not able to do this, so we work in the classrooms directly with as many teachers as possible and then do a teacher training after the students go home at the end of the day. Our teachers teach in their native English language while our Delcio, always at our side, translates into Portuguese for the teachers. 

At each and every school, each and every year, the participating Mozambican teachers are effusive in their appreciation of having received the training. The most frequent comment we hear is that after their initial college studies, they never receive any further inservice training to help them grow. The second most frequent comment we get….Can you come back next year? 

 

This teacher came up to Michelle 

at the end of of the training to show her that he had already prepared the questions for a game she taught that he would use in his class the next day!

These Landmark teachers come at their own cost, and believe me, a plane ticket to Mozambique is a hefty price. They give up their precious two-week Spring Break vacation. They raise funds to provide the Mozambican teachers with goodie bags, lunch and drinks, copies of the training slides, and certificates. They leave their cold, still wintry Boston weather and arrive in our hot, humid Mozambican climate and must immediately adjust. While here, they deal with trainings at the schools in this hot climate, usually without air conditioning. At our home, they deal with lack of water and power a lot of the time. We do try to make it fun for them with a beach trip, safari in Kruger Park, day out at the artisan market in Maputo, and of course playing and dancing with our Sunshine children. But even with all of this fun, it is a lot of work, and they are usually quite tuckered out by the time we put them on the plane back home. Which isn’t much fun either as they fly 9 hours to Doha, Qatar, endure a 9 hour lay over there, and then sit for a long 14 hour flight to Boston. They arrive back home late Saturday afternoon and are back in their classrooms on Monday morning. Phew…just writing this makes me tired! 

So please join me in thanking these amazing people for their service to our teachers...

Our first team in 2017- Cassie, Lauren, Kyleigh, Kyle, and Kate

Our 2018 Team- Nathan, Victoria, Brigid, Chelsey, and Rachael

Our 2019 Team- Scott, Michelle, and Jamal

Our 2020 Team- Doug, Michelle, and Doug

2023- Michelle teaching solo 

Our 2024 Team- Michelle, Kathleen, Maria (and Me)

Finally, I have to give the biggest ever shout-out to the one constant these past years, Michelle Boucher. After my daughter got this program running, it was Michelle who took it under her wing and kept it going. This past trip was Michelle’s fourth time to come to Mozambique. She says she won’t be coming again (because there are other places in the world to see), but we do not believe her. Michelle has helped prepare teams to come and has expertly guided them through their time here. She has been the main person to raise the funds that were used to bless the teachers. During the years of COVID lockdown, she raised funds to provide uniforms and bookbags to school children, funds to provide for our Beacons of Light community children’s projects, and funds to rebuild the caniso classrooms that were falling down in the village of Muchengeuntava where our foundation has a cashew farming and processing project happening. For me, it was a joy to see Michelle and this year’s team working with the teachers and students in these classrooms that exist because of her. Michelle came on her own last year in March 2023 to see if it was time to again go back to bringing teams from Landmark. While here last year, she did a solo training session at Escola Ana Mogas on her own…so I guess that we now technically have done this program for six years and not just five! 

(Please excuse the mess on the floor. We just got done watercolor painting and had to dry these treasures somehere!

I will end by saying thank you to my daughter, Cassie for getting this amazing program started. And thank you to Michelle for keeping it going. And thank you to all the teachers who have come and invested in Mozambique. 

Michelle…we will see you soon! 

What $20 Did!!!

 People often make donations and apologize for not being able to give more. This always takes me aback because no donation is too small. If everyone gave a small amount, just think what a large amount the final total would be! Also, our money here goes wwwaaayyy further than your money in the US. And every amount given makes a difference in the life of child here. 

A good example of how great of an impact small donations have is in what we will be facing next month...Back-to-School (Our academic calendar runs from February to November). This means the purchase of scads and scads of uniforms, book bags, shoes, belts, socks, school supplies, and text books. The list is as endless as the number of children for whom we must buy. 

We are happy that all of our Sunshine Children are covered by sponsors who pay their monthly tuition and their uniforms. 

Yet we also buy uniforms, book bags, and school supplies for the children in our Beacons of Light community projects who are starting grade 1. We also provide uniforms and book bags for the neediest of children in our local public schools. When we started doing this back in 2017, it was a rather inexpensive undertaking. Then we could buy a uniform, book bag, AND school supplies for only $20. Now to do the same is about $30-$40 per child. When you multiply this by dozens of children, it really adds up. 

BUT...this is why we do it! (Forgive me for being long-winded. I think I have become "Mozambican" as I now tell every detail to a story!!!)

I recently stopped at a local store in the community where we work to buy a bottle of water on a scorching hot day. As I came out, a woman was sitting in the shade on the side of the building. She was selling fish and asked if I would like to buy some. I don't like fish too much to begin with, but I really don't want to buy fish that is being stored and sold outside on a hot summer day. So I kindly said no thank you, and started to climb in my car.

As I was getting in, she got up and came running after me. So much so that it caused Delcio, who is ever protective of me, to get out and come over to my side of the car! She began telling us about her son and how we made life-changing impact on him. When he was younger, she could not afford the school fees to enroll him in school or buy him the uniform, book bag, and supplies he needed. We provided the fees and needed uniform, book bag, and supplies for him. She said that this got him off to the good start he needed. She kept repeating what a good boy he now is and that he does well in school. We were so encouraged by her. Her appreciation was incredibly enthusiastic and heartfelt!!!

I got home and set to finding this photo. I recognized her and remembered her story. Years ago, she sold bread to our community projects. I could see in my mind the exact photo we took of her and her son. So I began painstakingly going through all of my photos. I have so many photos on my phone that I have even had to increase my space in the "cloud"...BUT...I found it! All the way back on March 7, 2018!!!

This dear little guy would now be 11 years old and in going into grade 7 in high school next year! All because of a donation of $20 that paid for his uniform and book bag. So THANK YOU to all of our donors out there. I always tell you that you are making a difference for a lifetime in the lives of the children we serve...here before you is the proof!

Graduation Celebrations!

 November is the end of the academic year for our students in Mozambique. In December comes the long anticipated Bailes. While those of you in the Western Hemisphere are preoccupied with Christmas presents, cards, and cookies, we here are consumed with dress clothes, gowns, and practices. These ceremonies are a combination of a prom/ talent show/ graduation. The students spend many hours practicing and preparing for these bailes so as to showcase their talents for their parents. 

This year, we had 5 students graduate from grade 6- Vicente, Helio, Vasco, Katia, and Maura. . They have completed their primary education at Escola Tamwana and will now move on to high school at Escola Sao Gabriel. 

Each child received their certificate and then performed in skits, dances, and singing. 

Our Virginia graduated grade 12 from Escola Marie Ana Mogas. This is a huge cause for celebration as only 1% of the students who start grade 1 in Mozambique will achieve this milestone. A high school Baile consists of a grand reception and dinner for the students and their parents. The students choose a color and all of the girls have dresses made in this fabric. Here is a photo of the graduating class...

The students prepare ballroom dances which they perform at the Baile. Our Virginia was selected to read a poem she wrote entitled "Crescer" (To Grow), which was an incredible honor for her. Each student receives a certificate and a sash to recognize them as a Finalista. 

Isn't she absolutely stunning?!?

As I sat with my husband during these Bailes, I was overwhelmed and humbled yet again to have a part in the lives of these children. Each of them looked so beautiful and fit right in with their peers who come from a much more privileged life. Only the children and I know the depth of pain, abandonment, extreme poverty, and suffering they came from. I can still picture them as they looked on the day I met them...broken, sad, hungry, sick, filthy, and hard. 

Who would have known that of these beautiful children three had a father who died and whose mother subsequently had a mental breakdown and was taken away to no-one-knows-where leaving them alone with no one, one of whom was named the village thief and had completely stopped going to school. They lived this way for two years.  The oldest of these three children has told me that they were considered to be garbage by their neighbors. She also received advances from a male neighbor who said he would provide food if she would sleep with him. One of these children lived in squalid conditions with a grandfather who did not care for or feed her but instead would drink and beat her. Two of these children lost their father at a young age and their mother then abandoned them and fled to South Africa leaving them alone and defenseless. I am in awe of each one of them... their strength, their perseverance, and their desire to survive. They inspire me!

I couldn't help but think about what would have happened to them if they had been left as they were. It is a road I cannot let my mind wander down. Each of our children are a living testimony of what love and a family provides. They are flourishing, and I only wish I had hundreds more houses to provide for thousands more children who are still our there suffering as our children did. But until I have the means to provide for more children, I will be thankful and praise God for those He has placed in my care as I trust in Him to grow them into the young men and women He has purposed them to be. I am also thankful for the money donors who provide for the children's education, homes, and living expenses. Without their financial and prayer support, none of this would be possible. Together, let's celebrate their success and prepare them for the new season they now enter.