Mozambique Additional ResourcesThe following material may be used to supplement the other resources available on this site. Children: Bibles $5.00 for Mozambique. (Some pastors have one Bible for their circuits of 5-12 churches.) In Vacation Bible School or during Lent -- $1.00 a session would pay for one. How much would it take to buy a bicycle for pastor? (a Sunday school class could do this) Family: Sponsor a student to vocational school in Mozambique – (compare monthly cost with how much it costs us to eat at a fast food place) Something any family could give. (Only 40 percent of the population can read or write.) Men’s Group or Class: Well Drilling Truck for Mozambique Church: $,5000 to start a church. First $1,000 is start-up money and builds the parsonage. An additional $3,000 buys a bicycle and pays three years of salary for pastor. Final $1,000 pays for pastor’s training and Bibles and hymnals. Disaster Relief -- Clothes are NOT needed. To See Swords Turned to Plowshares, Visit... www.africaserver.nl/nucleo By Cornell Jackson "He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." Isaiah 2:4 There is an art exhibition in London titled "Swords Into Plowshares: Transforming Arms Into Art." This exhibit shows how Mozambican artists turned weapons into sculpture. It was amazing to see the ingenuity applied by the artists to turn these weapons in to works of art. There were roosters, bugs, a flutist, a man playing the violin, robots, storks, a working saxophone and chairs! The genesis of this project was the enormous amount of weaponry left at the conclusion of the civil war. A large amount of these were buried in caches all over Mozambique. Needless to say, these weapons were an invitation to trouble. Armed robberies increased dramatically after the war. The UN was supposed to disarm both sides but the weapons remained hidden in the caches. The Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) came up with the idea of exchanging tools of war for tools that earn people a living. The Mozambican government fully supports this effort because it knows that former Renamo rebels would never turn in their arms to the government. The CCM sponsored street theater groups who would spread the message through plays performed on the street. With no questions asked, the CCM has exchanged the following for weapons and ammunition:
So far, the CCM has destroyed over 200,000 guns, grenades and rocket launchers. The amazing part is that the CCM only has a staff of 12! Most of the weapons turned in are destroyed immediately. However, a small portion of the weapons have been turned over to the Nucleo de Arte, an art cooperative in Maputo. It was the artists working there that created the art works on exhibit in London. Those of you who are interested in seeing pictures of some of the artworks can find them on the Internet at www.africaserver.nl/nucleo You can select the English text but the titles of the artwork itself are in Portuguese. |
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