Mieze Grand Opening

Mieze is a little village just 20 minutes out of Pemba, and has been the focus of much of our activity these past 2 years: It started out as just another Iris church, where orphans were looked after by the local pastor, but it has grown into something so much bigger (& better)! So…

This past Sunday was quite a special day for Iris – our very first Children’s Village was opened! It is fully staffed and run by Mozambicans, with only minor oversight from Papa Don, but it’s really the start of the realization of Iris’ vision - to have the majority of the orphans in villages like these - and I was privileged to be part of the grand opening on Sunday April 6!

They have a chicken farm, a goat farm and good, clean, easily accessible water means crops; so in reality they are self-sufficient! The kids who live there are part of one big family, where everyone helps, nothing is just handed to them on a plate.

The day started with a shortened church service, and I think that the award for ‘most energetic dancing while singing’ goes to them,

they were just bouncing up and down, and jumping constantly in the little sauna they call a church. I do not know how they do it; it’s one of the hottest mud buildings I’ve ever been in! But it was good. (You can just just see me in the corner!)

After the service all the people were invited to join them for lunch, a special chicken meal prepared by all the kids and adults, using their very own chickens! Then Papa Don arranged for a truck to take all the kids to the beach after that, so all in all it was a lovely day for them!