Pemba Mieze Village Center
Our chlldren living in their new home at Mieze
Mieze Reports from Dr. Don and Elizabeth Kantel
April 28, 2008
Dear Friends and Partners in Ministry,
Just a brief update from our work in Pemba, Mozambique with Iris Ministries.
Our primary reason for writing is to provide the address for our new website focusing on the “Mieze Model.” This is a prototype for transformational development in a village setting which we have been working on over the past year and a half. The results have been so wonderful that we are looking forward to seeing similar projects launched in several other villages in northern Mozambique over the next few years.
You can visit our website by pasting this address into your internet browser: http://web.mac.com/kantels (Don’t start with “www.” It won’t open the site.)
Mieze Website Link
We anticipate a final decision about the location for our next development based on the Mieze Model within a few days. Heidi recognizes the strategic value of such a development for effective Christian witness in a village setting, so this decision will be of utmost importance for the advancement of the Kingdom in this area!
The new website has many pictures of the project at Mieze. For that reason, it may be a slow download for those with dial-up or slower internet service. But most should be able to download the site and access the pages without difficulty. Your comments and feedback are most welcome.
Blessings,
Don & Elizabeth
March 2, 2008
We returned from Canada a month ago to the rainiest rainy season we have experienced in our years in Mozambique. In addition to humidity continuously approaching 100% and almost daily torrential downpours, we had a cyclone two weeks ago that brought strong winds and horizontal rain for a couple of days. This is also the growing season, of course. Everything is lush and green and maize seeds have been sown everywhere there’s a patch of soil. We don’t suffer here from the flooding that’s endemic from the rivers of Central Mozambique and it looks like this year’s rainy season will yield more food than usual for the ensuing year in the north.
Mieze church building on right, with playground behind and pastor’s house on left, and water and mud everywhere!
Our orphan village at Mieze is a source of great joy. The nearly 40 resident children ranging from 2-15 years in age are like a big, happy family and the 15 staff are like parents to them all. In spite of all the rain and mud, they keep their new homes spotlessly clean, their beds are neatly made every morning, and they head off to school in clean white shirts and blouses. The children are eating well, receive medical attention when needed, and most have small chores and jobs that contribute to the well-being of all.
And they love the Lord and often spontaneously begin singing African worship songs together in Portuguese and Makua. I recently had a few visitors at Mieze and two had serious medical problems. We joined hands and worshipped together for awhile and then the children prayed fervently for the two ailing visitors for a long time. I spoke to one of the men later. With tears in his eyes he said he was overwhelmed and speechless from what he had just experienced from these precious children.
Here are a few brief highlights from the past month:
We’re making school uniforms for our resident kids—plus another 40 or more extremely poor children in the Mieze church—and paying school fees and providing required footwear and school supplies.
We’ve begun raising the first 400 chicks in our chicken farm. They’ll be ready for market in four more weeks and we’ll be able to add a weekly meal of chicken to the children’s diet from then on. We’ll gradually increase to over a thousand meat chickens every six weeks—plus keeping about 30 laying hens—and the children will learn about caring for animals and running a small business in the process.
We built fencing and a shelter and bought 26 young goats this past week to establish a goat herd at Mieze. We’ll double their number this week, and the goats will soon be providing milk, meat and some income for the orphan village.
- We have received funding to build a new “community centre” at Mieze to replace the present tiny church building. The Mieze church has tripled in numbers over the 16 months of our involvement there, so the new structure is designed to accommodate 450-500 and will include an office area and perhaps a pre-school.
- We’ve also received funding to purchase a hydraulic block-making machine. This eco-friendly machine mixes local soil with a reduced amount of cement to produce a stronger interlocking building block. Concrete blocks are the major cost in our building projects here and the cost of cement has escalated significantly over the past year. This new system will cut the cost per block in half and reduce labour costs as well. We’ll use it for the new community/church building at Mieze and in construction of new orphan villages this year.
- Enough funding is in hand to begin what is hoped will be the first of three new orphan villages patterned after the Mieze model in 2008. Construction will begin as soon as the rains end in another couple of weeks.
And here are a few quick stories from the past weeks.
- The parents of a grade 9 boy from a rural village recently went to Social Services in Pemba for financial help for their son to continue in school. The government said they had no money to help but wrote out a “Certificate of Poverty” describing their need and told them to take it to Iris Ministries either in Pemba or in Mieze because they knew we were helping children go to school. They came to us in Mieze; we were able to help; and the whole family is now attending the Iris church in their village.
- Several days ago I had taken off my sandals in Mieze because it was so muddy, and I was walking around the orphan village barefoot in the mud. When it was time to leave, I had my arms full and was about to try to clean my feet and put my sandals back on when several of the kids quickly brought some water, washed my feet with their hands and put my sandals on my feet. I was completely overwhelmed by this spontaneous gesture of love, and I realized that we are often privileged to be living out the New Testament in this setting.
- I spoke at several churches while in Canada in December and January. One Sunday brought the kind of snowstorm that often results in church being cancelled, so the congregation was significantly reduced in numbers. Unbeknownst to me however, the pastor posted the audio track of my presentation on the internet and it was picked up by “Google Alert-Mozambique,” a daily list of news headlines and links to stories posted by Google. These headlines normally change every day, but for three days Google Alert-Mozambique included a headline reading, “Does God Still Multiply Food? Check out this story from Don Kantel, missionary in Mozambique.” The link went directly to the full audio track, and only God knows who listened to these modern miracle accounts!
We continue to be so grateful to all who pray for our ministry here and, by your financial support, enable us to be part of the Lord’s wonderful work in Northern Mozambique in these days. Gifts for our personal support or in support of projects we’re involved in can be sent to Iris Ministries Canada. Please see www.irismin.ca
We are up-dating our Personal Ministry website with new pictures and will soon send you a new website link.
Miracles Continue! November 28, 2007 Report by Dr. Don and Elizabeth Kantel
After many months of planning, working and praying, we have finally been able to open our new childrens' homes at Mieze. We already have 17 girls and 16 boys from 3-14 years old in their new homes, with only 4 more places left to fill. There are also now 14 full-time staff that include guards, kitchen staff, house-mothers and cleaning staff.
It has been amazing to witness the process as new children have been arriving almost daily. Each one is welcomed with some new clothing (though we will always be in need of more), a towel, toothbrush and toothpaste, a new bed and many new friends. Most have been living under the most deprived circumstances up till now, as witnessed by the worn rags they usually bring with them. I watched in silence as 14 year-old Muanaidi arrived from a neighboring village with her 2 little sisters. She unwrapped a small piece of material containing all the clothes the 3 sisters owned. She folded them neatly, and deliberately placed them in their drawers beside their bright new pink towels. (I discovered the kids didn’t know the word for “pink” in Portuguese or even in Makua. Life has been very basic and drab for them before now.) This week, many of the kids have seen themselves in a mirror for the first time. Electric lights, running water, flush toilets and showers are all new experiences for everyone. The showers have been a particular hit, especially given the heat and humidity of this time of year. At all times of the day, kids appear dripping wet and grinning from ear to ear.
They have also been enjoying 3 good meals a day that includes a cup of milk a day plus fish and fruit several times a week, in addition to the more familiar beans and rice. A Mozambican visitor said to me the other day, “This is wonderful. The kids are all so happy. They’re already like one big family!”
One of the truly wonderful things is watching the kids gather for a meal. They don’t just say a quick grace and get on with their food. They worship, loudly and joyfully, for at least 5 minutes. All are led by 11-year-olds with no adult prompting. And then the older ones help the younger ones before they settle down to their own meal.
This project has involved the participation of many financial and prayer partners over the past 10 months. Two-thirds of the funding has come from Canadian churches and individuals. Canadian churches are providing monthly support for the on-going operation of the centre. Based on 1 Cor 13:13, we are calling the girls’ home “House of Faith,” the boys’ home “House of Hope,” and the whole centre the “Village of Love.”
Miracles Continue!
In this remote Mozambican setting, God continues to demonstrate the breaking in of His Kingdom by doing what only He can do! At last Wednesday’s medical outreach in Mieze, we didn’t have a doctor available, so the nurses and other visitors prayed more. With only one exception, everyone they prayed for received immediate healing! That included one man’s leg growing longer to enable him to walk without a limp for the first time. When a baby with a very high fever was brought, they noticed the baby was wearing a witch doctor’s fetish around his wrist. They explained this to the mother and asked permission to cut it off and pray for the baby. When they did, the baby’s temperature immediately returned to normal.
An overnight village outreach saw a blind and crippled man, who could only crawl, get completely healed on Thursday evening. He walked to the meeting Friday morning. There, 3 more blind people had their sight fully restored!
Thank you, Jesus!
FEBRUARY 2, 2007
Dear Colleagues,
Last Sunday was one of the highlights of our time in Africa for Elizabeth and me. I spoke at Mieze--to 200 people jammed into the tiny church building, and another 100 outside in the pouring rain. We were celebrating the blessing of God to this village of 6,000 of "the least of these," as expressed by the provision of running potable water.
After 4 hours of exhuberant worship, we went out in the rain and slippery muck and gathered around the water taps to pray over this gift of life from the people of Canada. From the youngest to the oldest, their gratitude was so heartfelt. Pastor Juma is in the centre of one picture leading the praise.
Many thanks to the Directors of Iris Ministries Canada for supporting this wonderful project!
Blessings,
Don Kantel
Associate Director, Pemba
Iris Ministries Inc.
Personal Ministry Website: http://web.mac.com/Kantels/iWeb
Thanking God for the gift of potable water in the village of Mieze
Access to good water is a great blessing to those who have never had it before.
Keep the blessings coming. Your love makes a difference.
Mieze Village Playground built by a Canadian team
Orphan care at Mieze. The two youngest were near death when baby formula and care were given
the children.
May 30, 2007, More food multiplied
Last Saturday, I took a group of visitors led by John Arnott’s daughter Vicki to Mieze. They played games and did activities with the kids for a couple of hours and then we gathered the kids in the church building for a snack. (These impoverished kids wouldn’t normally have any food at all for lunch and would consider themselves fortunate to have one plate of boiled rice a day.)
We had bought 120 cokes, 110 buns and some bananas for about 100 kids. But when they gathered and sat down, it seemed like God had supernaturally multiplied the kids! There were nearly 240 of them. After a time of lively worship, we gave one coke to every two kids and broke the buns in half. God was at work as the visitors were distributing the buns, because there were several large handfuls left over when there shouldn’t actually have been quite enough to go around.
Then Pastor Juma announced that the children would leave by the side door and each would receive a banana as they left. There were 60-80 bananas in the basket at most, enough for perhaps a third of the kids. Pastor Juma began handing the bananas to the children one by one, and he was joined by a few of the visitors. Then he stepped back and watched with me as the visitors continued to give out the bananas: 100 kids…150 kids…200 kids…230 kids. And we jumped into each other’s arms as we watched Vicki Arnott hand the last banana to the last child to go out!!
On Sunday, Elizabeth and I visited the Mieze church. Four hours of joyful celebration and energetic worship! We watched the offering with fascination. A few people brought a few small coins; but most brought fruit or vegetables. And there were three live chickens added to the mountain of produce. Then Pastor Juma announced that the entire offering would be given to the Iris Pemba Base as a love-gift from the Mieze church. What grace! I spoke about the miracles to choruses of enthusiastic praise; and we commissioned the children who have seen God’s supernatural provision to be witnesses and evangelists to all their friends and neighbors.
In one of the two attached photos you can see some of the children praying in part of the little church. Notice that all the window openings are also filled with people who had to stand outside. The other shows the morning’s offering, including the three live chickens!
The orphan-homes we are building at Mieze are progressing well. One will be open in a few weeks and the other a month later. We’ll write more about that project next time.
Elizabeth has recovered from a major bout of malaria earlier this month; and we’re both gearing up for the busy weeks ahead with 200 student pastors in the Bible School and 175 students in the Missions School. Thanks so much for your prayers and support.
Love and blessings,
Don and Elizabeth
The children praying at Mieze
The offering for Pemba from Mieze
Food Multiplication Again, April 30, 2007 Report
Dear Friends and Partners-in-Ministry,
After an extended break in Canada, we are back in Pemba. It was wonderful to see and talk with so many of you during our recent travels in Ontario, New Brunswick and PEI.
I (Don) am involved in many projects and was in regular communication about progress and issues related to these while away also. I’ll update you on the one that’s closest to my heart in a couple of weeks: the construction of two orphan-homes for 32 village orphans in Mieze. Construction is well underway, though there’s not as much progress to date as we had hoped for (partly due to the very heavy rains through February and March). It now seems realistic to plan on occupancy of the girls’ home on July 1 and the boys’ home a month later.
Many people were blessed by the story of the supernatural multiplication of the children’s cookies at Mieze in January. Apparently that account has made the rounds via the Internet and I was asked to repeat the story several times during our travels.
Well, God did it again yesterday (Saturday) at Mieze!
I was there to do repairs on the children’s playground and gave Pastor Juma some money to buy some cookies and juice powder for a treat for the children. The cookies were in one clear plastic bag about the size of a small plastic grocery store bag at home. The drink was in three plastic wash basins about 5” deep. This time, the children were seated in neat rows inside the tiny church building; and when everything was ready, there was extended prayer of gratitude to God by Pastor Juma and all the children for this unexpected blessing.
Again, Pastor Juma asked me how many cookies I thought he should give to each child. I sized up the situation and said, “three.” As he distributed the cookies to each child, I counted the children: 45. Other helpers were following, distributing plastic cups of the juice to the kids who already had their cookies. I thought there would be some cookies left over for a second round, but I had my doubts about the juice.
When all the kids had received their cookies, Juma held up the bag to me…and it was clearly as full as when he began! We both started shouting Hallelujah! and I motioned Juma back to the first row to start again. This time he was giving four or five or more cookies to each kid. Their cheeks were bulging with cookies and they were stuffing them into all their pockets. I also noticed that at least another 15 kids came in during this time—and all 60 or so received another four or five cookies. That’s well over 350 cookies in total…and at the end, the cookie bag was still as full as at the beginning!!
The juice supply also multiplied. The helpers gave a cup to each of the original 45 kids, and then they, too, went back to the first row and started over. The second time, 60 kids received a cup of juice. And all three basins still had lots of juice when they were finished!
Pastor Juma and I quickly agreed that the cookies should be used for communion with the church on Sunday. Then he led the children in nearly an hour of spontaneous, joyful worship and praise.
I had thought a lot about the January miracle over the intervening weeks and wondered what it signified (besides the extravagant goodness and love of God!). Why children’s cookies when there’s so much suffering all around? In fact, one of the first things I learned when I returned was that Pastor Juma’s only son, two-year-old Moises, had died two weeks earlier. I immediately went out to Mieze and Juma and I wept together. He explained that he had had to choose to reject bitterness and embrace joy in the face of this devastating loss.
But as I witnessed the outpouring of praise by Pastor Juma and the children, I think I began to understand. I noticed that several of the songs were being led by young children. I recognized many of the children as coming from Muslim families and they were singing and worshiping with such joy. And Juma called on two 9-year-old girls to pray; and they prayed with a maturity, intimacy and fervor that made me think I was the child.
Iris has been at the forefront of a wonderful move of God in Mozambique for the past decade; but we’re longing for full-blown revival and lasting transformation! I think what the Lord showed me Saturday is that if revival is to come it will be through the poor--and especially through poor children like these precious children at Mieze. That's why God is allowing them to experience his presence and power breaking through the suffering of their daily reality. When revival comes through "the least of these," God alone will get the glory.
The Kingdom of God is breaking through and the power of God’s love is touching the nation of Mozambique. But God is saying there’s more…much more. So we pray harder, love more, serve better, and get lower still, so that Jesus is lifted higher as a testimony throughout the land.
Thank you and bless you for your part in this wonderful ministry of love.
Don and Elizabeth
Dr. Don Kantel
Associate Director, Pemba
Iris Ministries Inc.
Personal Ministry Website: http://web.mac.com/Kantels/iWeb
Financial support can be sent via Iris Ministries Canada. Please see www.irismin.ca
Food Multiplication Miracle at Mieze, January 4, 2007, By Dr. Don Kantel
We have a wonderful story of God's love and provision to share with you. Let this encourage your heart as we enter 2007.
Two days ago, I (Don) took a team of medical personnel to the village of Mieze, about a 20 minute drive from the Iris base in Pemba. As you know from our reports, I've been doing this every week for the past 4-5 months. The Mieze church is headed by Pastor Joao Juma, a joyful brother who has planted and oversees about 30 churches in the area. Our makeshift clinic was a slightly shaded area alongside the Iris church building. As has become usual, dozens of adults and 70 or more children gathered˜many seeking medical attention, others socializing...and children playing on the recently constructed playground in the attached picture.
After a couple of hours in the heat and dust, I gave Pastor Juma some money to send an older boy to the market to buy some biscuits and juice powder as a rare treat for these impoverished and malnourished children. When the drink was prepared, Juma instructed the children in their Makua tongue to form two lines to receive their biscuits and then proceed toward the playground to receive a cup of juice. He then began to pray in exuberant thanksgiving for this gift, and the children joined in loudly and enthusiastically.
The two bags of biscuits were dumped into a clear plastic bag and Pastor Juma was about to begin distributing them. He asked me whether we should give two or three biscuits to each child. I looked at the bag and then at the two long lines and imagined how disappointing it would be if the biscuits ran out before the children at the end had received any. Two, I said; and Juma nodded in agreement.
I was only a few feet away, observing the various medical stations and answering questions, and watching the kids scamper happily toward the playground clutching their two biscuits. Then I noticed the bag of biscuits was still very full. Juma noticed my look, raised his hands in a gesture of surprise and began giving three biscuits to each child. A few minutes later, I looked again. The bag was still full and we both began to grin. Our God was doing something marvelous before our very eyes! The kids who had quietly taken their place at the back of the line and waited their turn were rewarded with handfuls of biscuits. And still the bag was full. Juma gave more biscuits to every child in sight and then went around to the several dozen adults and gave them large handfuls of biscuits. And when we couldn't
find anyone else to give biscuits to, Juma held up the bag, which was still as full as at the beginning; and we both praised God for His miraculous provision and love for the least of these.
Continued love and blessing in 2007,
Don and Elizabeth Kantel
News From Pemba and Mieze, December 23, 2006
Dear Friends and Partners in Ministry,
It’s nearly Christmas. Apart from a few incongruous decorations in the city of Pemba itself, you’d scarcely recognize that fact here in remote northern Mozambique. In a setting where actual survival is most people’s daily challenge, the Western shopping and social frenzy around Christmas couldn’t seem farther away.
Here at Iris though, Christmas has real meaning because Jesus is the true centre of all we are. We’ve decorated with Christmas lights to the kids’ delight. And there’ll be a candlelight service Christmas eve; a Christmas gift for every child Christmas Day; and a chicken dinner for 2,000 which will take most of the rest of the day. There will also be a baptism in the ocean for several hundred new believers.
In addition to many roles we fill at the Pemba Base, our ministry at the nearby village of Mieze continues. The weekly medical outreach expanded during the recent Missions School, with larger teams of doctors and nurses participating regularly. We’ve also had medical personnel visiting our Base for shorter periods, who have found great joy in administering medical and spiritual healing in the heat and dirt of the village setting. Last week, we had an American cardiologist on the team helping treat poor villagers for scabies, worms, and myriad aches and pains. (We suggested he could add that to his resume, but somehow we don’t think he will.)
A recent UN index of child suffering in the world placed Mozambique fourth from the bottom. Life is very hard for most kids here; and most suffer needlessly from entirely preventable conditions. The attached picture shows a couple of Mieze kids awaiting treatment for scabies. A few days after their treatment, the itching will be gone and their sores will heal. But there are countless thousands more suffering similarly; and we long to be able to bring community health care on a wider scale to this whole region.
We are now also feeding about 50 starving children every day at Mieze. Iris Ministries Canada has recently committed to support that program financially. Half these kids are orphans. The attached picture shows one group of orphaned siblings aged 1-4 we are now caring for. The two youngest were close to death when we began providing powdered formula and clean water for them. It’s wonderful to see how they’ve responded after several weeks of improved care. Your prayers and gifts are being received as tangible expressions of the Father’s love; and the impact is not being lost on anyone throughout this village of 6,000.
Thanks for being a vital part of this compassionate ministry which is fuelling revival and transformation. We pray for a truly joyful Christmas for all our family and friends.
Love and blessings,
Don & Elizabeth Kantel
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