Avõ Rosa

(written 10/9/12)

Avõ Rosa has lived quite the life. She is 71 years old and is currently raising her 3rd generation of children. She has cared for an albino granddaughter that everyone wanted to kill, she has raised great grandchildren that she walks to school every morning, she has worked in the fields every morning, made 3 meals a day for countless people for close to 65 years now. But in Mozambique, none of that matters. She is old and in the way. Everyone sees her as senile and someone to take advantage of. I have lived with her for 3 weeks now and have seen her go without meals and leave to go to the market and have family members come and take her clothes and not leave her with much of anything. She wears countless layers of clothing and at first I thought she had dementia, but it is because if she doesn't wear it, she won't have it. Every garment she wears has things tied into it. Money, cashews, peanuts, you name it, it's hidden in her garments. Don't get me wrong, African culture is very much so community but in Mozambique, the elderly have no rights. They are charged with crimes they didn't commit in order to get rid of them. Their families take from them what isn't fair to take. They go without meals when they work hard to farm and prepare the meals simply because someone else came and took their share. Injustice is all around, in all shapes and sizes, but Avõ Rosa and those her age are ones who suffer from more than the rest. the average life expectancy in Mozambique is 37 years old. This woman has almost doubled it and her reward is being treated more unjustly than the rest.

I have been hit in the face with injustice for most of my life, whether it be in Detroit, Jamaica, Trinidad, or on the Res and this trip is no different. From July 7th when I first stepped off the plane, I have been bombarded with things in this life that are simply not fair. Why am I typing on an iPad while the woman I am living with has to guard everything she owns in her clothes from her remaining family members, those who haven't died from HIV/AIDS or skin cancer or some other violent death? Why has she worked so hard for everything she has and I have been blessed immensely? No matter how long I spend in the mission field, I don't think I will ever understand injustice or be able to explain it, but I do know injustice is why I wake up in a grass hut every morning and want to give up everything I have been given. Injustice shouldn't exist and is my motivation to keep moving forward and keep giving of my life and my heart. Avõ Rosa should be cared for and appreciated for everything she has accomplished in her life. She saved a girl from being killed and was kicked out of a village for the life of her granddaughter and now instead of being looked up to as wise and full of stories to pass along, she is taken advantage of and left to fend for herself. For avõ Rosa and the rest just like her, I will continue to run this race.