… is not easy at all.
The great thing about Lichinga for me has been two groups of people who I haven’t really found elsewhere in my travels around Mozambique: young ex-pats working as volunteers (or low-paid workers) here in foreign aid, and a group of missionaries, including some Aussies (yay, token Aussies!). In fact, there are heaps of missionaries here.
Which is strange, because it is really tough to be a missionary here. As I’ve fellowshipped, sang songs, and ate with these people (and for free! I tried to pay, honest…!), I’ve really enjoyed their company, but become increasingly aware of the difficulty of their task.
So, on that note, I’ve compiled a list of ...
7 reasons why it’s hard to be a missionary in Lichinga
1. Everyone stares at you. It probably doesn’t happen much in Maputo (heaps of white people there), and I didn’t really notice it in Chimoio, but I notice it here. It is hard, never quite fitting in, always being looked at (though for a while I thought it was because of my overwhelming attractiveness).
2. You are the handyman for everything. Pastors think they have it tough in Australia, having to do paperwork, admin etc (and I agree they probably have to do too much). If you’re a missionary in the middle of Africa, you have to do everything, from physical things (fixing doors and pipes and houses) to admin things (standing at the bank for hours to get money out), not to mention all the spiritual things of teaching and prayer and outreach.
3. It can take years to see fruit (not that kind of fruit, spiritual fruit!). For most ministry things I’m involved with, we prepare for an event for a few weeks, maybe months, and then it happens. For missionaries, they spend YEARS preparing – learning the language, building a house, getting settled … before they even start spreading the gospel.
4. You don’t have many friends (just through sheer lack of supply, not because you’re not likeable!).
5. You still have to worry about money and fundraising – particularly for unexpected costs. For example, in Lichinga, you need to purchase a license for just about everything – having a car radio, the right the carry more than 3 people in your car, put stickers (or even pieces of paper) on your car, take photos of buildings – these are the results of having excess government bureaucracy, each department creating ways to increase revenue and bribes (This is Africa, boss!).
6. A lot of people don’t like you and think you are rich. The local YWAM base here has been robbed 3 times in the last week, including twice yesterday (once during the night and then once during the morning when the guard went to report it).
7. When you’re sick, you’re sick! I went to the hospital the other day to have a look, at it wasn't pretty (and I'm not talking about the matron). Vials of blood and pieces of glass being wiped with recycled towels ... ugh! You are hours (and a number of roadblocks) away from decent medical treatment.
On a brief side note …
I always thought that if I ever became a missionary in the middle of Africa, I would leave behind all my business and management consultancy training. Far from it! Missionaries here need to be smart with both time and money (just getting enough time to do actual ministry with all the bureaucracy is tough!), and I’m finding in my discussions with the problems they are going through I can add a lot of value by using issue trees* and a lot of the efficiency/effectiveness analysis tools I learned at McKinsey …
God bless
john
*The tree of the knowledge of good and evil perhaps? =)
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