God has blessed me with an excellent wife and our children with a wonderful mother. I couldn't do half of what I accomplish without Sharon's support and counsel. Moreover the past few months have seen Sharon taking the initiative in several projects, with my stepping back to offer her the encouragement and help that she needs. My lovely wife celebrates a major birthday at the end of February. I won't provide any further information on this, but I cross the same milestone in another three months. Accordingly I thought it appropriate to focus on some of Sharon's recent activities as the basis for this newsletter.

Malaria

Sharon wrote last month about her plans to distribute mosquito nets in some of our remoter communities and of the numerous set-backs and obstacles she had to overcome. February saw the first of these distributions in the villages of Thondwe and Matambazolo. Although we have churches in these villages, we were careful to distribute nets to everyone in need regardless of whether or not they were members of Elim. Sharon decided to target those households with children under the age of five, as well as those with widows and the chronically sick. A list was compiled, a date fixed, and the relevant families invited to a meeting. But then it rained.

In fact it rained for three days solid. Then on the morning of the distribution it stopped raining. Sharon packed several hundred mosquito nets into the back of our car and set off for Thondwe. The journey went well at first and the car made good time along the tar road even though it was heavily laden. But then Sharon turned on to the dirt road leading to the village. Actually, dirt is a misnomer. Mud would be more accurate. Our car is equipped with four-wheel drive but even this didn't make much of a difference. Sharon slipped, slithered and skidded down three to four kilometres of muddy road, with the wheels at times spinning helplessly out of control. At one point the car decided that it had had enough, taking itself off across the narrow road where it stopped for a rest in a shallow ditch!

Sharon finally made it to Thondwe (fortunately there was only one river to cross!) and she found that a large crowd was waiting for her. The car was unpacked and the meeting called to order. Sharon then presented a talk on malaria and how mosquito nets could greatly reduce the incidence of this often fatal disease. Thereafter the names on the list were called out and each family was presented with a brand new mosquito net that has been treated with long-lasting insecticide. We asked the people to pay a token charge of 10 meticais (approx 20 pence) and Sharon made a point of cutting open each plastic bag so as to discourage anyone from trying to sell their nets in the market. In all 210 vulnerable families received a mosquito net and further distributions will take place in other villages during March and April.

At one level it would have made sense to postpone this distribution until the dry season. (Sharon had to navigate that same muddy road to get home!) But we were reluctant to delay as malaria is at its worst during the wet season. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water, so they breed most enthusiastically during the annual rains. It is comforting to know that, because of Sharon's initiative and hard work, hundreds of families now have the wherewithal to avoid contracting malaria. In a few months time we will conduct a survey to assess how many of those households have actually put their nets to regular use.

Cholera

We have lost count of how many people have died of cholera in the past month. The hospital in Moatize is now only accepting cholera patients. Every day ambulances rush down the main road, sirens blaring, a constant reminder that once the disease has taken grip the patient has only a few hours left in which to start treatment.

Cholera is a particularly potent form of diarrhoea, caused by drinking contaminated water and exacerbated by poor sanitation. People in the UK don't have to worry about cholera as local authorities ensure that mains water is properly treated and household waste is carried safely away through a network of sewers. Here in Mozambique the people drink water from anywhere and everywhere, and it's all too easy for one infected person to trigger an outbreak.

Sharon talks about cholera wherever she goes. She patiently explains about the need to purify drinking water, either by boiling it or by adding a small amount of bleach. The local council is sending out the same message. Sharon also sent out letters to every one of our churches, instructing the people on how to avoid infection. Just last weekend we held another of our monthly leadership seminars. I had invited Sharon to do a follow-up talk on the importance of digging latrines, so as to encourage more of our churches to sign up for our sponsored latrines project. She also talked about cholera and took a number of questions from the 60 or so leaders present. In the feedback session at the end, one of the pastors made a point of thanking Sharon for her practical advice. He expressed delight that our ministry was both spiritual and practical, saying that the Mozambican churches have lost far too many good pastors over the years to avoidable disease.

But the underlying problem remains that it can be so very hard for people to change their day-to-day practices. At that very seminar I knew that water would be served to the delegates in 25 litre drums. So when I arrived, I asked the local leaders if the water had been treated, to which they replied that it had not. Anticipating this, I had brought a bottle of bleach with me and proceeded to purify the water in the drum. A little later on, I referred to this as an illustration of how easy it is to hear practical advice and yet fail to put it into practice. However, despite my saying all this, later on that same day another drum of water was brought into the hall and no one had the sense to ask to use my bleach. Neither did any of the church leaders think to cycle down to the local shops and buy a bottle of bleach. Instead sixty men and women drank from the same untreated water and I can only pray that we have not contributed to the spread of cholera!

HIV

In August last year, Sharon ran a very successful AIDS education programme for all of the church leaders in Moatize. They spent three days together looking at various aspects of the illness and discussing how the church can best respond at a community level. Then in the middle of February she called these same people together for another day of training to look at what progress they had made.

I believe passionately in the importance of training. But I believe that training must be put into practice, otherwise it's just a load of hot air. We first came to Africa in 1992 and have seen so many pastors and church leaders attend HIV seminars. But all too often it seems that this knowledge is not then passed on to their congregations. Some people find the whole area of human sexuality too embarrassing to talk about, others feel that the church should only discuss spiritual matters. And some leaders, sadly, are themselves sexually promiscuous and as such they feel unable to chastise others.

When Sharon ran her HIV conference back in August she made an offer to the delegates present. If any church were to arrange a day seminar on HIV for their own members, she would give a free HIV book in Portuguese to everyone who attended (up to a maximum of 50 books). All the churches had to do was let her know in advance. Sadly, in the months between August and February, only one church took her up on this offer!

Hence the purpose of this most recent training day was to give the church leaders in Moatize fresh vision and to allow them an opportunity to share their own fears and concerns. The seminar also looked at how drama can be used to great effect in HIV awareness. Afterwards Sharon offered to write out some sample programmes that the leaders can use in specific meetings for youth, women, marred couples etc. It is our hope and prayer that the churches in this part of Mozambique will finally begin to take HIV seriously.

Women's ministry

Thank God for Zimbabwe. In the middle of March this year, a group of women's leaders from our Elim churches in Zimbabwe will be visiting Tete to speak at our first ever women's conference. I can guarantee that this will be very different from any women's meeting that you have ever attended in the UK! The majority of women in Tete province are illiterate and largely uneducated. Most don't own a Bible because they couldn't even read it if they did. But our Zimbabwean visitors understand this. They will know at what level to pitch their Bible teaching. They will be able to speak with authority on social and family issues.  And they hope also to teach our women practical skills that they can use to help generate a little extra income.

In the meantime Sharon has an awful lot to organise. We have sponsored this trip, covering the cost of fuel for the Zimbabwean women. But there's still food to arrange, interpreters to be found, and outlying churches to be informed. And of course, as with any large gathering these days, there's the ever present worry about cholera.

Home school

As I write, Sharon is next door teaching Daniel and Nathanael. She tries to do this every morning, leaving them work to get on with when she has to travel. I am responsible for teaching Josiah, our eldest. Right now he's reading a text book in preparation for an essay that he's ever so reluctant to write. The need to provide for our children's education is a constant pressure, but one that's unavoidable. We thank God for our sons and take seriously our responsibility to provide for their education. But sometimes we wish there were more hours in the day. Or that there was a suitable school nearby that we could send them to. Or that we had another family in Tete with whom we could share this burden. But there isn't. As you pray for us, remember to pray also for our children.

Trips and Visits

Here's some good news: there is a trip planned for June for people who would like to come out for two weeks and get a taste of life in Mozambique. For further information contact Pastor Cotter, the Irish missions director, on director@elimmissionsireland.wanadoo.co.uk  But don't hang around - this is your only chance this year .

Speaking of trips, we will be heading back to the UK in August of this year for a short furlough. August will be spent in England and Wales, visiting friends and a number of churches. We plan to be based in Ireland come September, and to put our boys into school for a term, returning to Africa after Christmas.
 

Please Pray

Thank God for the successful distribution of mosquito nets in Thondwe and Matambazolo. Pray for subsequent distributions. Pray also that people would use their nets on a regular basis so as to reduce the incidence of malaria in these areas. Pray that the current epidemic of cholera would come to an end. Pray for the health authorities as they struggle to cope with the many affected. Pray that people would make the small but necessary changes to their lifestyle. Pray for the leaders in Moatize who attended Sharon's recent HIV training, that they would make good use of the information and ideas that they have received. We are so conscious of our need for wisdom and patience. Changes in attitude and behaviour take time, and it proves necessary to repeat the same lessons over and over again. Pray that we would not grow weary in doing good. Pray for the women's conference that runs from the 14-16 March. Remember our children in your prayers, that they would thrive socially and educationally Our international church in Tete is planning to present an open-air Passion Play over Easter. Please pray for the rehearsals that are ongoing. Pray also that we would obtain all of the necessary permissions.

Grace to you

Gregory and Sharon Kane

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Sharon's 'Joke of the Month'

* Tea Service *

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me and my brother who is four years older than I am.  I was maybe one and a half years old and had just recovered from an accident in which my arm had been broken.  Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a get-well gift and it was one of my favourite toys.  Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news and my brother was playing nearby in the living room when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water.

After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home. My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!!'

My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up, then says, 'Did it ever occur to you that the only place that baby can reach to get water is the toilet??'

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Gregory's 'Quote of the Month'

* Ronald Reagan on Ageing *

Responding to the charge in a live television debate that he was too old to run for a second term as President

"I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit
for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience."