Shalom

Shalom is a Hebrew word we use to mean “peace”, and that can also be used in speech as a salutation. But the meaning of the word encompasses much more than just “peace.” Some other English words we use to describe this concept are completeness, soundness, welfare, health, prosperity, contentment, or friendship. A favourite benediction of mine is from Numbers 6:24-26

The Lord bless you

and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine on you

and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face toward you

and give you peace.

Peace. I think of this as a rightness of the world, a contentment that all is well, and for me, an awareness that where I am is where I should be. Though the word shalom is not used, Philippians speaks of “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.”

This week I felt this peace. It is good.

Let us pray for peace for Mozambique. Not just the absence of war, but rather shalom. Though there is not war, there is still darkness here. The other night, I was trying to get to sleep when I heard a series of gunshots. In the morning, I heard that there had been a violent incident nearby involving the police, and one person had been killed. We must pray for shalom.

Yesterday at church, the woman sitting next to me was holding the most adorable fat baby, with whom I promptly fell in love. This is shalom: fat babies. One does not often see that here. Children living past their fifth birthday: that is shalom.

This past weekend, I was able to see a few examples of shalom here in Mozambique.

Sports day

On Friday we got to help out with sports day at the kindergarten. This class is taught in English by a feisty American woman in her 70s. For their last day of school they had a sports day that included races, an obstacle course, a beanbag toss, long-jumping, and a dribbling contest. The kids were very excited and the parents came to watch. One tiny girl won the long-jumping contest, jumping even longer than the measuring stick would reach, and with the celebration after this, one would have thought she had just won an Olympic gold medal. It was a purely joyful moment. Though there are only 12 students, this kindergarten is attended by kids from all over the world. They get to experience something really great: having friendships that transcend borders.

The winner of "jump the river"

On Sunday I went to a church that is on the edge of town on a hill. One of the pastors took us to the top of the hill and there was a beautiful view of the houses and the plain below. Even though the church is only half-built, they still meet in the corner of it that has a roof. My home church in Truro wants to build a new building, but we are waiting to sell the old one and to raise enough money. May I suggest we do it the Mozambican way instead? Don’t wait until you have enough, just build as much as the church as you can until you run out of money!

Part of the church with a roof

Part of the church without the roof

Also at this church, we sang a song that sounded familiar to me—then I realized, it was the Makuan version “Hakuna Mungu Kama Wewe,” a song I learned at an Inter-Varsity retreat. I love the song and every time we would sing it in Canada I used to think “I need to go to Africa.” So actually hearing it in Africa was a dream come true.

Some views from the top of the hill

Hearing that song made me think of all my friends back in Canada (not that I don’t think of them a lot, because I do), and so it was very fun to Skype with my brother and some friends last night. They were at Malagash and they even showed me the view from the deck (sigh) and took the laptop on the trampoline! Modern technology is the bomb. I can be at camp and in Mozambique at the same time, which is really the ideal situation when you think about it.

Shalom, loved ones. 

The staple carb here is xima, made of corn or manioc. Here I am eating it with matapa, a peanuty sauce with greens