Report by BHW Mozambique Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

Recent Events

Within the last year a Western couple has come to live in Angoche and work with Tarikhi ya Haakhi (TyH). Tim is from the UK via Australia and Sarah is a Kiwi via Australia. She was on the first team to this area when the gospel arrived on Buzu. They are here to serve the ministry and local leadership and appear to be doing it well. They have a nice way about them. (Photo is of Vitor - one of the local leaders)

The previous leader we have dealt with in the past, Inacio, has been moved out as the result of many financial irregularities. This has caused much grief and confusion over the last year but things are now returning back to normal. It has resulted in the weeding out of a number of people who were implicated in the fraud. 

A very nice facility has been built as a community centre and is well used. They are very encouraged now by how things are going. The coming of Tim and Sarah was perfect timing as it has turned out. 

The number of believer groups and zones has continued to increase. Along with this the number of zones has grown as well. Last time I was here in 2015 there were about 6,000 people in the network, now it is around 10,000 they think. To contain this development they have formed 12 more training centres in various areas to which the leaders of the zones gather every week for ongoing training.  

Engaging a Community

Most of the communities are not places where there is much peace so the team spends a lot of time talking about peace and trying to model it. New zones develop when they are invited to go into a new area where TyH is not operating. They pray about the opportunity and send people in to speak to the local people and assess if there is someone there who would become the key leader. They also pray about who should go into the new zone to work there. Once that person is sent they would send teams in to work with them. A new zone is confirmed after prayer and the bringing of the new person into the leadership meeting. 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

The influence of TyH at the community level is both positive and negative. There is a reaction to their coming. Many are strongly opposed and the leaders of mosques particularly are threatened. A great deal of witchcraft is used to try and get them to leave. 

On the other hand, it is hard to argue against transformed lives. One of the cultural practices that is threatened by the coming of the good news is the initiation of boys and girls. These are particularly evil initiations and the girls are taught much sexual evil. In most Muslim families, after the initiation the girls will be expected to make money through prostitution, girls as young as 11 or 12. This creates many issues from unwanted pregnancy, abuse and violence, and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. 

Many Koti girls are expected to do this, they have no option. TyH stands against this practice. Most of the women in the church have experienced this so are able to talk about it with personal experience. They have developed alternative Christian initiation rites which teach much more wholesome practices. 

Most of the men are very promiscuous and it is a badge of honour to sleep around as much as possible. Many children are born to single women. Some of the guys from TyH talk openly about the brothers and sisters they have around the community. 

Plans for the Future

There is a group of farmers at Fuini that are keen for Foundations for Farming and I think it would be worth more investment in them. The US$510 sent for a demonstration farm is nowhere to be found apart from a few seeds handed out far too late.

Current Issues and Challenges

The movement has started to grow beyond the capacity of their current structures so they are looking at these constantly. Keeping records is a challenge and their current systems cannot take them much further in this area. 

Their primary purpose is the Koti people. This can be overlooked by the numbers of non Koti responding. However, they strive to make sure they stay focused. Every group prayer time in all the locations prays for the conversion of the Koti people.  

Inacio, the previous leader, was misusing funds. BHW supplied funds for the purchase of bicycles to enable the leaders to attend regular meetings. In many months the money was not there, it was stolen. This has been sorted out but the money is still missing and they are now behind in the bicycles. Three months ago they again began purchasing three bicycles / month.

Along with this there is a need for the leaders coming on be able to communicate. Many of them do not have phones so they are going to help some of them get phones. 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) The continued growth of the work despite the compromised leaders in the last year. Pray that those stepping into leadership will be men and women of integrity. 

2) In 2016 1,206 people were baptized and last year more than 1,600 with 100 of them being Koti. 

3) That more Koti will discover relationship with Jesus and the barriers will be broken down. 

4) There has been a witness in some communities for some time with no breakthrough. In some places there have been numerous supernatural events, but no breakthrough with people coming to faith. 

Comments

It is great timing that Tim and Sarah came when they did, not necessarily to sort things out but to provide some direction and support in their decision making. They do not intend to be there for a long period but it has been good to have them around and I am not sure that the leadership is strong enough frankly without them there. Even in the short time I was here it was obvious that there are still issues and a lot of procedure has not been put in place. Because of this, the same thing could happen again. It is better in that there is not one person controlling things but there are many gaps. And with two vehicles at their disposal, I can see some huge issues developing. 

I think the budget should remain the same and be reviewed again in 18 months or 2 years. I’m not sure that enough time has elapsed for the new leadership to bed in, especially as there is still a Westerner involved. Currently their total budget from outside is around US$9-$10k per month, our input to all aspects is around US$20k, about 17%.

We have said in the past that we would be interested to invest in an income generation activity but there was no mention of anything. It’s not on their radar and I do not think there is anything likely to happen in the near future. One of the major issues is that there is no one on the ground making the big decisions. Tim has more of a handle in regard to thinking about the future in a holistic way and we talked about a 10-year plan to become self-sustaining. At the moment he is not in a decision making position but does intend to remain involved even once they leave.