One of the most depressing things a war does (except off course for the loss of life and the other injustices) is that it robs an entire nation of color.  Look at any building during any world war (Berlin, Germany is a good example) or just there after.  It’s gray, half destroyed and is always a reminder of what happened.  Mozambique is no exception to the rule. I have spend a chunk of time the last few years making sure that kids enjoy the “joy of color”!  Churches, schools, orphan houses and whatever I can paint I make sure we paint with lots of color.

We were privileged to have had a team from the RA (Polokwane) – they called themselves the ‘Eight Team’.  They came loaded with paint, brushes and a great team spirit to transform one of our government schools I work close with.  The transformation was phenomenal.  Within 5 days a whole school was changed from being an reminder of many years of war to a symbol of hope.

Everyone participated and the kids couldn’t wait to lend a hand.  Although not always professional in their painting efforts it was great to see how they wanted to be part of the solution.  It was a great and successful endeavour with the local  community and it strengthened the relationships as well as bringing hope.

The kids were so excited that they could hardly wait for us to arrive early every morning.  Screams and greetings of joy was the first thing I heard every morning and the last thing I heard as the team left tired every evening.

A special word of thanks to the Polokwane team who helped us to bring ‘life’ and a new song to a suffering community in Mozambique.