Dear Friends,

For a change I am going to give you a very tiny flavour of some thoughts from an African view point. For many years I have been interested in different cultural ‘world views’. How people view their world in relationship to others. It is always interesting to find out how other cultures look at us foreigners and what they think about our customs that seem so strange to them. I have also been amazed at how resourceful people are when faced with difficult situations.

Note: Azungu is a term used for foreigners in most of Southern Africa.

Azungus are very strange. They spend all day in their house. What are they doing in there? Here in Africa a house is for storing things in, or sleeping in during the winter. But everything else is done outside. Did you know that Azungus actually eat inside their house? And they relieve themselves and even take a bath inside the house. Such practices are bizarre and unsanitary to Africans. This makes us wonder if they are doing secret things in there.

Another thing that is strange is that their houses are gigantic. Most Africans build a group of small buildings in their yard. One is for the husband and wife and small children. Another is for the teenage boys. Another might be for storing grain or other things. But the Azungus build one gigantic building for everything: everyone lives together inside, sleeps inside, even socializes inside. Maybe this is a practice that has been imported from the cold parts of the world where for several months of the year it is dark and the ground is frozen. Here in Africa it is almost never too cold to go outside and how are you supposed to socialize with your neighbors if you’re hiding in your house?

We landed in Pemba, Mozambique at about 7.40 pm and after some time were asked to board. As we sat waiting in the plane, the captain announced that the flight would be delayed because the Nampula airport runway lights were not working. We disembarked and waited in the Pemba airport departure lounge. About two hours later we were asked to board again. I saw the fuel truck pulling along side to refuel the plane, which they had already done earlier, but I thought nothing of it. Then the captain announced that we were ready for take off, “Nampula runway is ready with “mínimas condições” (with minimal means)”. I thought to myself, “goodness, what does that mean?” But we took off and were on our way. The landing just before midnight in Nampula was smooth and uneventful. However, as the plane was slowing down and I looked out of the window, I saw something that I just could not believe at first! I looked again, and what I saw was that the actual runway lights were not on at all, but next to each light was a large oil lamp with a bright open flame flickering in the wind! One lamp after another, all the way to where we turned into the taxi way. At first I was amazed, then quite amused . Then the force of it all hit me . The amazing feat the Nampula airport authorities had just pulled off. They could easily have said, “Sorry passengers, see you tomorrow morning at sunrise”. That would have been a very reasonable response to the failure of the electrical system. But no, they had a plan, a rather elaborate contingency plan. It was a plan thought out ahead of time, because they had more than a 100 oil lamps, with enough fuel and matches stored in some place for this type of eventuality. Just imagine the flurry of activity that night. After trying to find the electric problem and failing, they activated the back-up plan; to get out the 100 oil lamps, round up a group of 10-20 men and put the lamps all along the 1,7 km runway, and light the lamps, 50 “candeeiros” on each side. ………...

All of this was done within the two hours we were flying. They pulled it off in such a way that those flickering lights had enough oil to keep them burning until the large Boeing 737 could take off from Nampula for Maputo an hour after we landed safely. Then I thought about the extra fuel they put on in Pemba just before take-off? It was certainly part of the plan. If for some reason rain or a gust of wind blew out the oil lamps lining the runway, the plane could still abort the landing and aim for the nearest airport. They had thought of everything.

What I appreciated about this contingency plan was that it didn’t stop with what modernity had to offer. When modernity with all its gadgets failed, they fell back on antiquity, and their final back-up, the unfailing open flame. They still believed in it and it worked. It was a massive joint effort, but they did it.

As I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep in the early hours of the morning, I could not help but think of one of Jesus’ parables where five wise girls also had a contingency plan. They were ready at midnight when the bridegroom came along unexpectedly. My next sermon was forming in my mind as I fell asleep.

Two ants do not fail to pull one grasshopper. This Haya proverb of two little ants pulling a grasshopper demonstrates how the unified power among brothers and sisters can be very strong. The meaning is that they control it together and both of them will eat it. "Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help" (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

A debt is not a loss once one knows the debtor. The Batembo people of the Democratic Republic of Congo say that the one who lends to you is the one who values you and puts his confidence in you. In the same way, a farmer entrusts the seed to the plowed soil instead of eating it. The one who gives out his goods to his fellow in need knows that he is not losing; but in the exercise of generosity and sharing, his act will be reciprocated. “Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from someone who takes it. …And if you lend to those from whom you hope to get money back, what credit can you expect?” (Luke 6:30, 34)

Our colleagues shared a story that we just have to pass on to you. The Koti are predominately Muslim. The last few years have seen a lot of people come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. One man who is now heavily involved in the church there used to be an important Muslim leader. One day he borrowed a bicycle from one of the Bible Translators, Jose. He was stopped by the police at one point and because he didn't have the documents for the bicycle, he was arrested. There was a man who was being held in the same facility who was very ill. This Muslim leader decided to pray for healing in Jesus' name for this man because he had seen his friend Jose do that. So he did, and the man was instantly healed! The police were so amazed they released him and gave him the bike back. Out of that miracle, a new Christian leader was born! Praise God for his faithfulness and the ways in which he chooses to work.

Rejoice with us in what God is doing in this small corner of His world. You are a vital part of it through your prayers, financial support and encouragement.

Thank you

God bless.

Roy & Rose Tibbit