Report from St. Stephen's

St. Stephen’s Community Center of Matola is a not-for-profit religious organization dedicated to the care of deprived children: orphans of parents who are victims of HIV/AIDS, other diseases or disasters, abandoned children, those at risk of sexual abuse or prostitution and those in absolute poverty.

Education

The Center includes a community school teaching grades 1 through 5. The students come from other programs of the Center and from the surrounding community.

In addition to these students are others who attend grades six though eight at public schools.

In the school year 2009-9 the Center enrolled 120 pupils. Of these only 97 completed the year as shown in the table below.

One hundred pupils were enrolled for the school year 2009-10 distributed as follows:

To support the activities above, in the period September 2008 to April 2009 we received donated money from Anglican parishes in the United States, and from one Mozambican company.

We ordered twelve desks with the balance of $1,200, which have already been placed in classroom No. 1 and the pupils are very grateful for this support.

With the $600 received from St. James in Danbury we paid for the costs of the funeral of one of our colleagues at the Center who died of an illness, whose funeral had to be in Sofala, her native land^¹. The family of the deceased was very grateful for the help they received.

The 25,000 meticais covered purchases of food of which a part was used for the festival of June 1, 2009, the International Day of Children. We bought sweaters for our children for which they were very grateful. We paid water and electricity bills.

The amount of $10,520 that we received was put towards the purchase of books, foodstuffs, day-to-day expenses, salaries, water, electricity and other expense.

At this moment we have a balance in the amount of MTN 167,527.70 meticais ($6,194), which has been carried over to the month of May 2009. This amount will cover expenses for approximately six months.

Dietary

An instructor who prepares meals with several selected children leads this department.

In addition to purchased foodstuffs we use vegetables and leafy greens from the garden.

Embroidery

The children are still learning and they prefer to use canvas for needlepoint. But this material is expensive and costs about 400 meticais per meter (~$13 per yard). Given that we choose to use another less expensive cloth because the Center is not in a financial condition to buy canvas.

Agriculture

With the beginning of the cold season the children, together with their instructor, began to work the soil in the month of March, sowing seeds for planting, which later would be transplanted.

The recent harvest of corn was weak because of the rainfall in January 2009, which left a large part of the crop underwater, and the part that survived was stolen. We were only able to harvest one 20-liter tin of corn of the three sacks that were anticipated.^²

Payments to St. Stephen’s Parish of Matola

The Center continues to support the parish^³ through the payment of electricity bills, as well as tending to the Millennium Monument in the garden.

Successes

With the help of God, we already have a donor for 2009, which is the Parish of St. John’s of Connecticut.

The amounts received have arrived at opportune moments for we didn’t know how we would overcome the absence of a continuing donor.

In addition we have the promise of a considerable sum for purchase of materials for repairing the septic system and bathrooms, and for the fabrication of 65 more desks for all three classrooms Now that we already have ten desks we only need 15 more to have 25 in the first classroom. When the three classrooms have been outfitted with furniture and the toilets and septic repaired we will be able to take advantage of the benefits of the Ministry of Education concerning payment of teachers and books for the children. All this is thanks to the Parish of St. John’s of Connecticut.

Outlook

We are about to try to achieve financing to fix the problem of standing water at the Center, because when it rains heavily we can’t work, that is, everything stops because of the water. The place becomes completely inundated with rainwater. When the standing water becomes warm from the sun it kills everything that is planted there, as well as certain types of trees, like oranges and bananas, which grow in the low lying areas where the water takes longer to evaporate.

The children don’t go to school because the site is inaccessible. When it rains a lot, principally during the time classes are held, instead of becoming happy, we become sad because of the problems mentioned above^⁴.

Interviews with five children from the Center

This primary school girl was born in Inhambane (province) and lives with her grandfather; her father abandoned her and the mother lives elsewhere. She says that after she finishes 12^th grade she would like to be a teacher. She started at the project four years ago and says she likes to be at the Center and that thanks to the Center she is now in 5^th grade. She likes to do cross-stitching and to cook.

This student was born in Maputo and studies at Nelson Mandela Secondary School. Her parents are alive but are very poor, live in unsuitable conditions and represent absolute poverty. Her dream is to become a physician.

She has been at the center for seven years, says that she likes to embroider, feels good about being in the Center and that she is now in the 8^th grade.

Her mother died and she lives with her grandmother. Her dream is to become a journalist. She likes to be at the Center because she learns a lot: schooling, embroidery, cooking and gardening.

She has both living parents but they are in absolute poverty. Her dream is to become a teacher. She’s been at the Center for six years and says that she feels very good to be there. She likes to be in the kitchen and learn how to cook well.

He lost both his mother and father, his mother died a month ago. He now lives with his grandmother who doesn’t work. His dream is to become a policeman. He came to the Center three years ago. He’s happy to be there and to be in second grade.

1 Sofala province is six or seven hundred miles north of Maputo.

2 Translator’s note. A one hundred pound potato bag holds about 50 liters. One twenty-liter tin is about 15% of the three bags they had expected.

3 Translator’s note: The Center uses the facilities of St. Stephen’s parish of Matola.

4 Translator’s note. Because Mozambique has experienced drought in several recent years rainfall is usually considered a blessing. Too much, however, is a bane.

Class	No. of Students/class	Passing	Failed	Withdrawn	Absent from the exam
Primary	22	22	0	0
First	27	13	9	5
Second	20	5	11	4
Third	16	7	8	1
Fourth	14	5	4	5
Fifth	15	3	4	6	2
Sixth	6	6	0	0
Total	120	61	36	21	2

Class	No. of Students/class
First	37
Second	19
Third	16
Fourth	10
Fifth	11
Sixth	4
Seventh	0
Eighth	3
Total	100

Balance carried forward from 2008 received from the Parish of St. John’s, Connecticut for the manufacture of 10 desks.	$1,200
From St. James, Danbury, CT	600
From St. John’s Connecticut	2,015
From the Episcopal Church of St. John’s, Connecticut	10,520
Total (from US church sources)	$13,135
From a Mozambican company (25,000 Meticais)	$924