eu vivo em bagamoyo

The area that I live in is called Bagamoyo. If someone asked where I live I would say, "Eu vivo em bagamoyo." I wanted to take an opportunity to share a couple pictures of my neighbors in Bagamoyo. The people that I live around day in and day out. The people I am able to visit with in the evenings or weekends and just talk. I am so grateful for each of them for different reasons.

This is Castelo and his family. We have become good friends over the past several months since he wants to learn more English, and is going to school to become a teacher. He is already very good at speaking English and sometimes talks a little too much. He often has questions about sayings and pronunciation differences between American English and South African or British English. One day he schooled me in Scrabble and we were playing in English. I must say that was a little embarrassing! I've also been grateful to be able to practice Portuguese with him and his mom, Laura. They have even spent some time teaching me shangaan! He attends church with us and the comes to the prayer meeting that usually meets at my house as well. I'm grateful for the ability to learn more language with all of them, to visit and laugh with them.

This family lives on the other side of me. Mary, Felix, Angel and Angelo. They moved to Mozambique from Swaziland and are fluent in at least four or five languages, maybe even more. Mary is a librarian at CAM, so we work together, and Felix works for MozOvos. So our lives are very intertwined. Though they are African, they are not Mozambican. They learn new things about culture here every day as well. I'm so grateful for them as I've been able to spend many evenings visiting and just talking about life here. I've even been able to practice Portuguese with them and could still ask several questions, since they speak English as well.

Living somewhere away from family, friends, and everything familiar can be a little difficult after a while. Those days or nights where I can become so homesick I am reminded of God's provision in relationships. He knows what His kids need. He has provided these people in my life during my time here and I have been so greatly blessed by them.