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.
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