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Sunday,March 16, 2008

Victorias Mozambique connection

SARAH PETRESCU, TIMES COLONIST

Children in the small village of Sena in Mozambique have to improvise when it comes to toys, and these kids make do with a soccer ball made from string and rub-ber. That was one of the discoveries that Times Colonist reporter Sarah Petrescu made when she journeyed to the African nation, where she spent the better part oflast month. The area where these children live benefits significantly from the efforts of people with Victoria connections a Mozambican couple who came heremore than 20 years ago to start a new life, and a community singing group that helps provide financial support, among others. Its a story of how Canadian connec-

tions in Africa are doing more than just giving handouts. Theyre building bridges for lasting change. Their story begins on page D1 of Monitor.

Youth, 17,stabbedto deathin Duncan

SANDRA McCULLOCH

Times Colonist

A 17-year-old CowichanTribes member is dead fol-lowing an apparent stabbingon a street corner Fridayevening.

The victim is identified byfamily as Vincent Sampson.

While Mounties yesterdaywouldnt confirm his identityor say how he was killed, sev-eral sources said he had beenstabbed in an altercation witha group of youths.

Two young men under theage of 18 were taken intopolice custody following theincident and remained in

police cells yesterday. Policehave 24 hours to lay chargesor release the suspects, and itwas not clear by press timewhich of those occurred.

The dispute between twogroups of young men beganat the 7-Eleven store at 1006Government St. in Duncan,Staff Sgt. Charlie Schaal saidyesterday. It carried on as theyouths walked for severalblocks and ended with Vin-cent running after a memberof the other group.

Vincents friends followedat a distance and found himsitting on the ground near thecorner of Third Street andCanada Avenue.

He then slumped to theground and fell unconscious.Duncan-North Cowichan

RCMP officers on patrol at11:18 p.m. spotted him lyingdown and bleeding. He wastaken to Cowichan DistrictHospital, where he was pro-nounced dead.

The matter is under inves-tigation by eight officersfrom the Vancouver IslandIntegrated Major Crime Unitand members of the NorthCowichan/Duncan RCMP gen-eral investigation section.

The teenagers familygathered on the reserve lastnight to grieve his death.

He was the quiet one, notmouthy, Arlene Valencia,Vincents aunt, said from herhome yesterday.

I feel sad. I wouldnt wantto know the feeling of losinga child.

She believes the youth was

heading home for the eveningwhen the attack occurred.From what she heard, theassailant just didnt like him.

Schaal said there werefour males in one group andeight in the other, although hecouldnt say which groupincluded Vincent.

Its also not clear if drugsor alcohol played a role. Nei-ther Schaal nor Valenciabelieve gangs were involved.

Schaal said a number ofwitnesses have been inter-viewed.

An autopsy will be carriedout early next week.smcculloch@tc.canwest.com

Slaying followeddispute on street

Tibetan capital quiet after Chinese show of force

AILEEN McCABE

Canwest News Service

SHANGHAI Chinas state-runXinhua news agency said 10people were killed in Fridaysanti-government protests in theTibetan capital of Lhasa, butthe Tibetan government-in-exile in the northern Indian

city of in Dharamshala, toldAgence France-Presse theactual figure is more than threetimes that number and possi-bly higher.

We are confirming approx-imately 30 deaths, and we areeven hearing numbers of over100 dead, but this number weare unable to confirm, TenzinTaklha, a senior official of theTibetan government-in-exiletold AFP yesterday.

Chinese police and soldiersused a massive show of forceyesterday to restore calm inLhasa.

Xinhua said those who diedwere burned to death after

Buddhist monks and their fol-lowers set fire to shops andcars when police tried to breakup their anti-China demonstra-tions that had disrupted thecity for five days.

China will not allow journal-ists into Tibet, and by yester-day, most of the foreigntourists who had been provid-

ing many of the independentaccounts of the turmoil hadbeen convinced by Chineseofficials to leave the mountain-ous region for their own safety.

Canadians planning to visitTibet in the coming days werestrongly advised not to, with theDepartment of Foreign Affairswarning on its website againstnon-essential travel to Tibet.

Tour and hotel operators inChina contacted by AgenceFrance-Presse said many visi-tors have left Tibet or havebeen barred from entering.

There are tanks and armedsoldiers on the streets. We havebeen told to stay in our rooms

the city [Lhasa] is shutdown, Wu Yongzhe, a tourorganizer, told the AFP.

We do not have any moreforeign clients, said anemployee of a Lhasa hotel.

The marches by Buddhistmonks, which started peace-fully last Monday butdescended into violent protestsby Friday when police movedin to suppress them, are Chinasworst nightmare come true.

With less than five monthsbefore the Olympic Games are

scheduled to open in Beijing,the governments plan to usethe exposure to rebrandChina as a modern, progressivestate is threatening to unravel.

Its dismal human rightsrecord is coming to the fore.Around the world, governmentswho usually vie for trade dealswith China are now urgentlycalling on Beijing to exerciserestraint in its treatment of themaroon-robed monks.

Much to Chinas annoyance,the peripatetic Tibetan spiri-

tual leader-in-exile, the DalaiLama, has successfully put theTibetan cause on the worldsradar. The Nobel Prize-winningmonk is now routinely receivedby presidents and prime min-isters he visited Canada andmet with Stephen Harper inlate October and his appealsto China to grant ethnic andcultural respect to Tibetans not independence are gener-ally accepted as both moderateand reasonable.

Xinhua was almost certainly

expressing the pent-up fury ofChinas leadership when it saidin an English-language com-mentary yesterday: Now theblaze and blood in Lhasa hasunclad the nature of the DalaiLama, and its time for theinternational community torecheck their stance.

From exile in India, theDalai Lama appealed in a state-ment to the Chinese leadershipto stop using force andaddress the long-simmeringresentment of the Tibetan peo-ple through dialogue with theTibetan people.

He called on all Tibetansnot to resort to violence.

At least 10 die in anti-China protests;Canadians are advised to stay away

CCTV VIA REUTERS

Armed police escort three Japanese tourists along a street dur-ing a riot in Lhasa, Tibet, in this frame grab from Chinas statetelevision CCTV yesterday.

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Enter to win a Butchart Gardens Easter basketwww.butchartgardens.com 652.5256 (general info)

Kids Easter Bunny Hunt

8/8/2019 Hearts of Africa: Mozambique

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After a long, hot afternoonvisiting palliative careAIDS patients in mud

huts around the town of Sena,Mozambique, Perpetua Alfa-

zema and I walked home alonga dusty red dirt road at dusk.

What inspired the one-timerefugee from the area to returnafter a comparatively cushylife in Victoria for more than20 years surprises me.

Shivon, she inspired me,she said about Shivon Robin-song, the founder of VictoriasGettin Higher Choir. Robin-song has helped Alfazema, 41,and her husband, Joseph, 56,raise funds for their strugglinghomeland since 1997.

I was a refugee. I shouldhave known what it means tobe compassionate because Isuffered, Alfazema told me.

I couldnt believe that peo-ple in Victoria wanted to helpstrangers.

Her story is one example of

how Canadian connections inAfrica are doing more than justgiving handouts to the peoplewho live there.

They are building bridgesfor lasting change.

I spent the better half of lastmonth travelling in Africa asone of five young B.C. journal-ists to be awarded the JackWebster Foundations Seeingthe World Through New EyesFellowship.

I travelled to Mozambiqueand Rwanda as part of the fel-lowship, which is organized inpartnership with the CanadianInternational DevelopmentAgency.

My only reservation in goingto two of Africas poorest andmost problem-wracked coun-tries was: Who will care?

What I found is that people

do care, so much so they arewilling to open their pocket-books and drop their lives tohelp strangers in the midst ofchaos.

My goal became to showwhere the help is going, towhom and what is reallyneeded in these areas struckwith a level of poverty and dis-ease many of us cannot imag-ine.

This is how I found myselfnavigating through a flood dis-aster to find a village calledKapasseni, tucked away in therural central Caia district, nearthe Zambezi River and the bor-ders of Malawi and Zimbabwe.

The hearts of AfricaGenerous Victorians are helping residents create

a culture of hope in flood-wracked Mozambique

SARAH PETRESCU, TIMES COLONIST

Former Victoria resident Perpetua Alfazema holds Nhuo, who wandered among houses in Sena, Mozambique, looking for food. Joseph Alfazema, Perpetuas hus-

band, holds Victor, another abandoned child. The Alfazemas came to Victoria as refugees in the 1980s. They returned to their homeland to try to help in 2006.

SUNDAY, MARCH 16, 2008 D1

MONITOREditor: Phil Jang > Telephone: 995-4443 > E-mail: pjang@tc.canwest.com

SARAH PETRESCU

spetrescu@tc.canwest.com

I N S I D E M O N I T O R Our say and yoursSee the Comment and Letters pages for our

take on the park tenting case, and your take

on everything else in Victoria.

> Pages D2, D3

Seven Days in picturesThe fall of a governor and a fire in James

Bay we look back at the most striking

images of the past week.

> Page D9

Restoring the GardenThe Iraqi Marshlands, believed to be the

location of the original Garden of Eden, are

getting new life.

> Page D5

> How people with Victoriaconnections are building bridgesand making a difference in

Mozambique: Pages D6 and D7

8/8/2019 Hearts of Africa: Mozambique

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Four flights in three days,a small bribe to regain lostluggage and a six-hour

drive in a dilapidated CrownVictoria on a dark highway withpotholes the size of wadingpools concluded the easy partof my journey to Kapasseni, avillage reborn with the help ofcaring Victorians.

It is where Joseph and Per-petua Alfazema, former Victo-ria refugees, are from. Theynow live nearby.

At the best of times, the tinyvillage is hell to get to. In themidst of one of the areas worstfloods, its downright by theluck of God, one aid workerwarned.

Joseph lived in Kapasseniuntil his teens, until conflict

between Portuguese settlersand indigenous populationsturned the area into a war zonein the mid-1960s.

The civil war that followedleft the country a disaster riddled with dangerous land-mines and no infrastructure.Only in the last few years hasMozambique begun a come-back, with stronger democraticgovernance, economic reformand international investment.

The Alfazemas fell in love ata refugee camp in Kenya.When Joseph came to Victoriain the early 1980s sponsoredby a local Lutheran church he saved to send for Perpetua.

The couple built a life here.Joseph worked in the kitchen atChandlers Restaurant and inmaintenance at Gorge RoadHospital for more than a

decade. Perpetua worked as ajanitor at city hall and a nursesaide at Royal Jubilee hospital,leading her to nursing studiesat Camosun College. Theyraised their children: Maza, 21,Rafael, 18, and Sara, 16.

But the familys first visitback to Mozambique in 1995changed their lives.

It was in terrible condition,Joseph said. They walked eighthours through the bush to findtheir village in ruins and thearea littered with landmines.

Kids were just hangingaround with nothing to do.

The chief asked the Alfaze-mas if their friends in Canadawould help.

We werent sure if theywould, Joseph said. Theyasked their church anyway, and

organized a fundraising con-cert with their small Mozambi-can community choir. ShivonRobinsong came on board withthe Gettin Higher Choir whenthe two groups met at FolkFest.

That first concert raised$11,000 for a school inKapasseni. The Alfazemas,Robinsong and friends startedthe Kapasseni Project, and the300-person Gettin HigherChoir became their biggestfundraiser. Each year, theyveraised up to $15,000 with guestperformers like Ann Mortifeeand Nelly Furtado.

Theyve since built a newschool and medical centre andstarted breakfast, music, eyecare and HIV education pro-grams. They have gardens, awater pump and a grindingmill, among other projects.

Perpetua decided to studypalliative care to help the manypeople dying of HIV/AIDS.Joseph enrolled in seminarycollege in St. Catharines, Ont.,to provide spiritual guidance.

In August 2006, Joseph andPerpetua Alfazema moved backto Mozambique to Sena, 22kilometres from Kapasseni. Per-petua started Kuwangisana, ahome-based care project forpeople, mostly women, livingwith AIDS, disease and poverty,using it as practicum experiencefor a social-work diploma. Itsoon grew into a day programfor AIDS-orphaned children andtheir grandparents. The StephenLewis Foundation and MedicalTeams International are funders.

Joseph is a Lutheran minis-ter on a three-year mission in

the area. The Alfazemas planto use their time there to buildon what all started inKapasseni, which has becomea model of hope and success.

This is why I was deter-mined to get there.

1. Safari throughthe flood zoneTransportation off the beatentrack in Mozambique is dismal.Roads where they exist are falling apart. Public tran-sit consists of fume-spewingminivans stuffed with humansand animals. Most people getaround by bicycle or on foot.

Im really proud of you fortrying, are not the words you

want to hear from your guideand translator. Most peoplewould never come in a disaster.

Manuel Miandica, 28, isdirector of the MozambiqueKapasseni Society board. He isa government-certified AIDS-

HIV educator and Perpetuasnephew. He spends most of histime travelling to villages totalk about the disease, usingtheatre and music to connectwith people.

A lot of people think HIV isa curse because thats what thetraditional doctors tell them. ...The only way we can make adifference is through educa-tion, he said.

We got to Caia at midnight.The community is full of non-governmental agencies, and itis where the flood relief effortwas co-ordinated. It was alsothe end of our paved road.

In the morning, we hitcheda ride with one of the mostactive Mozambican aid organ-izations, the Ecumenical Com-mittee for Social Development

(CEDES).Manhica Filsberto and histeam loaded our stuff into theback of their white pickup.They agreed to try to get us toSena, where Joseph and Per-petua live, but the road wasreported to be impassable.

Well have to go see for our-selves, Filsberto said. Hewanted to check on the flood-wracked area and evacuee set-tlements along the way. Heclutched a blue ledger with thenames of 8,000 displaced people.More than 100,000 people havehad to be resettled because ofthe flooding. Seventy have died.

The stagnant water is verybad. If there is not a quickresponse to sanitation, we couldhave an outbreak of disease likecholera or malaria, he said.

Part of the problem is that

annual flooding in Mozambiqueis human-controlled. Torrentialrains in Zambia and Zimbabweswell the Zambezi River. Theirdams are opened, and Malawiand Mozambique bear the bruntof the released water. In the Caiadistrict, whenever the Karibadam is opened, the area floods.

Preparedness has improvedsince 2000, when the countrywas hit with its worst floodsand cyclone Eline, killing 800people and destroying 90 percent of farming land.

When we talk about naturaldisasters and calamities, thankGod for the little help thatexists. But there has to be morehelp and better solutions, Fils-berto said. What is necessary,how we should do it, thats whatkeeps us up at night.

Sugar cane, farms and grasshuts sat in low water that pud-dled on the road. Childrenattended class on the balconyof their submerged school. Wewere several kilometres inlandfrom the Zambezi. Some madeuse of the water, doing laundryand fishing with the blue mos-quito nets that were supposedto protect them from malaria.

We stopped at an evacueesettlement where CEDES helpsbuild permanent houses. Therewere 900 people crammed intotiny huts, waiting.

We try to unite the people,talk things out and send mes-sages on a blackboard. Thisway they feel it is theirs, saidproject leader Inacio Bingala.So when the rains stop, they

dont try to return home andstart the cycle of problems allover again.

Twenty kilometres from ourdestination, we reached a

sprawling lake with womenwashing and children playingat the shore.

This is the road to Sena,Miandica said. Do you wantswim or walk?

On cue, a gaggle of boysstumbled out of the bush wield-ing machetes and grins. Theyhelped clear a road to Senaalong the old colonial railway.

2. AIDS orphans,AIDS grandparentsDozens of children in brownand yellow uniforms rushed theopening gates of Kuwangisana,clapping and singing in theSena language.

They made a song for you,Miandica told me. Theyre say-ing, One Sara has left us but

another has come, a referenceto the Alfazemas youngestdaughter, who returned toCanada a few days before.

Weve been waiting foryou, Perpetua said, Joseph,her staff and a group of grand-parents close behind.

Sena, like much of AIDS-affected Africa, is full of grand-parents left to care for orphans.They meet at Kuwangisana tohelp each other and socialize.Kuwangisana means for thebetter health and well-being ofall.

We gathered in the lastbuilding standing after therecent wild weather, wherechildren sing and take lessons.

But theres a lot in theworks, including a foundationfor what will be the main build-

ing a proper medical room,offices, education room andinterfaith chapel.

Everything here has Victo-ria people behind it every newidea, every plant, Perpetua said.

Two sad-looking toddlersmade their way to the Alfaze-mas laps.

We have three kids, but twomore weve adopted in spirit,Perpetua said. The little girl,Nhuo, used to wander aroundpeoples houses at dinnertimeand beg for food. Neighboursbrought her to Kuwangisana,dehydrated and in pain with abrutal hemorrhoid. We didntthink shed live.

The boy, Victor, is aboutthree. He was also brought tothem with no known family.

These kids have no love intheir [foster] homes. The littlethey get is here. They comehere on weekends because itsthe only food theyll eat, Per-

petua said.The floods destroyed themaize crops they hoped to use tofeed the 200 orphans. What was-nt lost in the water wasmunched by a rogue hippopota-mus visiting the gardens at night.

We can hear him in therepigging out and having fun. Theyre very dangerous, Per-petua said.

Food supplies are danger-ously low. Even worse, theWorld Food Program has yet todeliver on a promise to help.Theyll have to find the funds,and food, elsewhere in theirbudget.

A feisty group of grandpar-ents danced, clapped and sang,though their songs were any-thing but upbeat.

Theyre saying they haveno food, no help and no hope for

these kids, Miandica trans-lated.

Ellen Manoa said she cantfeed her grandkids Liza andLuo, even with a small farm.

At least they can come herenow and are not always homealone, she said.

Chasasa Aniva, the funnygrandma, entertained kidswith songs with a message.

I talk to girls about playingwith boys, staying away fromsharp things, she said. I tryto make everything humorousserious as well.

Francisco Bota invited us tothe mud hut he shares with hiswife and granddaughters Zefa,13, and Machemi, 12.

His son Joseph died fouryears ago from AIDS, not longafter the girls mother.

Their father owned his ownlittle shop. Life was betterwhen their parents were livingand responsible for them, Botasaid. Kuwangisana helps. Atleast I know being part of thisgroup, if I die tomorrow thegirls are in safe hands.

A woman came up to Per-petua to tell her she thinks shehas AIDS. Perpetua asked herto speak to her in private later.

When we first started thepalliative care program we hadto beg people to get tested andcome forward. They were indenial and ashamed, she said.

Increased awareness aboutHIV and patients improvinghealth on the free anti-retrovi-ral drug program changed that.Now they are coming to us.

M O N I T O R TIMES COLONISTD6 SUNDAY, MARCH 16, 2008

PHOTOS BY SARAH PETRESCU, TIMES COLONIST

Chasas Aniva, one of the Kuwang/Grandfolks, is known for her dramatic stories and songs with a message.

Many kids in Sena suffer from simple infections, like this babywho was carried around by a toddler with no parent in sight.

Kapasseni

Vila deSena

Caia

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iver

GREATRIFTVALLEY

20 km

MOZAMBIQUE

TANZANIA

ZIMBABWE

SOUTHAFRICA

SWAZILAND

ZAMBIA

MALAWI

Quelimane

Chimoio

Tete

Pemba

Lilongwe

Lusaka

Harare

Beira

Inhambane

Xai-Xai

MaputoPretoria

AFRICA LAKE

NYASA

INDIAN

OCEAN200 km

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People fish with mosquito nets near Sena. The nets are meant to keep people from being bitten by malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

ROB STRUTHERS, TIMES COLONIST

Caia is the end of the paved road on the journey to Kapasseni.

Sometimes it takes a villageHow Joseph and Perpetua Alfazema made Kapasseni a model of success

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3. Helping peopledie pain-freePerpetua Alfazema modelledthe Kuwangisana home-basedcare program on palliative careexperience in Victoria and St.Catharines, Ont.

She saw no reason why the

practice used in hospitals andhomes to help cancer and ter-minally ill patients die pain-free could not also be used inAIDS-plagued Africa. In Sena,the rate of HIV infection isalmost 20 per cent.

Its still hard to get the mentested, Perpetua said. The pro-grams 12 volunteers oractivists, as she calls them ride bicycles stocked with med-ical kits. They visit hundredsof patients each week, keepingtabs on medications, doctorsappointments, food intake andproviding emotional support.

Every household is touchedby AIDS. Everyone has suf-fered from it, she said.

We walked to see RaimMiquetaio, 19, who has AIDSand advanced cancer. She lay

on a mat in the shade with heremaciated infant son.Im feeling better, she

said, just back from treatmentin Beira for a breast tumourthe size of a watermelon. Shelifted her top to show us herleft breast, shrivelled andscarred. She breastfeeds withthe other one, her sister said.

Perpetua told me about aneighbour, Antonia Simao, whodied the night before.

She was doing fine until atraditional healer told her tostop taking the ARVs (anti-retroviral drugs), she says.To die like that woman likea dog. Rolling around, vomit-ing, soiling herself. It is nothumane, not right.

We met Angistina Simbe,lying half-naked in front of herhouse. She was in pain and

couldnt eat or take medicine.She lifted a bag of yellow pillsand told Perpetua she wouldmake sure someone let herknow when she dies.

Tell her she will get better.Encourage her, one of the vol-unteers said.

When you are in pain, yousay a lot of things, Perpetuaresponded. Ill tell her Ill sendthe technician.

There is no doctor in Sena,only a lab technician who cando little more than dress minorwounds at a bare-bones hospi-tal.

I used to read about AIDSin Africa, thinking it was justwhite people making a big dealof it. Now I see it and think it isway underreported, Perpetuasaid. Youve seen the sad sto-

ries; now its time to see somegood.We wound past huts and chil-

dren who could star in a WorldVision infomercial bloatedbellies and festering treatableinfections but still playingand laughing.

Maria Manuel, a slight,pretty woman in her early 20s,came out of her home to greetus.

I can stand now and dosome work, she said. Shethinks she got HIV from herhusband, who died withoutbeing tested. When she wasbed- ridden, friends told her tocontact Kuwangisana. The anti-retrovirals helped immediately.

I connected with friendsnearby who also have HIV.

They understand, she said.Most of the time we talk,remind each other of dates togo to the hospital to get med-ication and what the sideeffects are. Im really feelingthings have improved and hop-ing it will stay like that for me.

We met another successstory on the trail. Fina Dave, inher late 40s, carried a basin of

water on her head.People used to fetch waterfor me when I was too sick.Now Im feeling better andfetching water for someoneelse in the same situation, shesaid.

She could hardly move, shewas so sick but we got her foodand on medication; her hus-band, too, Perpetua said. Shehad to fight him. He was refus-ing to get tested and threaten-ing to divorce said she wasunfaithful. Now they are inmarriage counselling.

When Dave has a large har-vest, she brings greens for thechildren at Kuwangisana.

Thats how the spirit ofthings changes when you helppeople they help people,

too, Perpetua said. It is veryCanadian.

4. The rebirth ofa communityWhen Perpetua Alfazema setsher mind to something, there isno room for failure or backingout. That is how I found myself

riding double on a rat-trap of abicycle to Kapasseni village, athree-hour trek through roughtrails and hills.

The floods had washed outthe main roads for weeks.

I usually walk, and thattakes six hours, Miandica saidas we took off with the Alfaze-mas and our bike taxi drivers.I was up to my neck in water.

We zoomed through corn-fields, bells ringing to warnpeople and goats on the path.Bare-breasted women carriedbabies on their backs as theywork and say Boa tarde as wepass Good afternoon inPortuguese.

We stopped at one of thedozens of churches Josephleads in the area. About 40 fam-

ilies attend services.I didnt come here to make

people different, Joseph said.But I wanted to offer spiritualguidance and an alternative tothe traditional religion, whichoften says it is their fault badthings happen like AIDS andpoverty.

As we got closer toKapasseni, a magical quality

took over. Kids in school uni-forms with book bags laughedand chatted. One little boyhitched a ride on our handle-bars.

When we reachedKapasseni, it had a differentfeel than anywhere else Idbeen in Mozambique: It isclean, safe, sane.

Several concrete buildingsmake up the compound: Aschoolroom, teachers quarters,a mill house, radio e-mail roomand medical centre amongthem.

Under the shade of a tower-ing Masau tree, children playedthe valimba in a music lesson.

Teacher Adelina Simbe Bed-hame said the kids like Por-tuguese, history and science.

Some students walk twohours to get to school. Its hardto tell how big Kapasseni is.The sprawling spatter of hutshouse about 9,000 people.

None of this was here whenwe came, Perpetua said.Everything here has a Cana-

dian story behind it. Even lookat the flowers we planted.The success of Kapasseni is

in the details. There are schooldesks donated by the CanadianHigh Commission. The waterpump is sponsored by theLutheran Church. A grindingmill was bought with donationsfrom Victorians. Supplies frompeople in St. Catharines, Ont.,were sent in a shipping con-tainer that is now being used asSenas first library.

The stories are heartwarm-ing: In 2003, Gettin HigherChoir co-director Denis Don-nelly raised thousands for areforestation program in mem-ory of his late wife, an environ-mentalist.

Last year, choir memberSabine Laubental raised fundsfor the eye-care program

because she herself was facedwith the progressive loss of hersight. Saltspring Island resi-dent Gary Brooks visitsKapasseni regularly.

Robinsong researched thenutritious value of native plantsto make super-porridge for abreakfast program.

Even the midwife at thehealth clinic wears one of Per-petuas old nursing uniforms.

A letter in the TimesColonist in 2001 pleaded forVictorians to help seven-year-old Nijira Eusebio, who hadsuch a severe cleft palate helooked like a monster, with atooth through his nose, Per-petua said.

The pleas were answeredwith $6,000 in donations andanother $3,000 from Trans-

forming Faces Worldwide. Theboy and his mother went toSouth Africa for facial recon-struction surgery. Hereturned a hero. Hes a normalkid here now.

Kapasseni is flourishing butnot in the clear. Natural disas-ters threaten food supplies andhomes. Many children in thearea are unable to attend schoolor afford uniforms. AndHIV/AIDS education is nowcritical as the area connectsmore with the outside world.

But the Alfazemas, theirCanadian and Mozambicancomrades, are determined tomake sure the communityflourishes long after theyreturn to Canada.

It was risky for us to come

here this long financially andphysically but how could wenot? Perpetua said as we leftKapasseni.

Their next mission is tosecure food for the hundredsof orphans who depend onthem. If the World Food Pro-

gram or emergency fundingdoesnt come through, the newbuilding might have to wait.

We do this one step at atime, she said. I dont believewe can Make Poverty History,like that campaign says. But wecan lessen poverty. The way isnot hard.spetrescu@tc.canwest.com

Sarah Petrescu travelled to Africa toreport for the Times Colonist as arecipient of the Jack WebsterFoundation of Journalism Seeing theWorld Through New Eyes fellowship,created in partnership with theCanadian International DevelopmentAgency.

M O N I T O R TIMES COLONIST D7SUNDAY, MARCH 16, 2008

PHOTOS BY SARAH PETRESCU, TIMES COLONISTWhere the road to Sena ends. Floods created a lake that blocked our passage until some kids with machetes came out of the bush saying they had cleared an alter-nate route along the old colonial railway that morning.

Help the Canadian way

Raim Miquetaio, 19, has AIDS and cancer all over her body. Her infant son is beside her.

How you can helpDonate:

For more information abouthow to donate to either theKapasseni Project orKuwangisana,contact theKapasseni Project atkapasseni@yahoo.ca,visitwww.kapasseni.org. or contactchairwoman Carol Kerr for moredetails: 478-9296

Donations for the Kuwangisanaorphan food program can also bemade through the Ubuntu ChoirNetwork atinfo@ubuntuchoirs.net.

Donation cheques can be sentto Kapasseni Project, RedeemerLutheran Church,911 JenkinsAve., Victoria,V9B 2N8. You mayspecify where youd like themoney to go.

Volunteer: The Kapasseni Projectis run entirely by volunteers andalways in need of more.For more

details, visit: www.kapasseni.org.Join a choir: Victorias GettinHigher Choir meets Mondays,Tuesdays and Thursdays. Newmembers are welcome.To registercontact Bill Hanson at bill@gettinhigherchoir.ca or 250-920-4160.

If you are not in Victoria, checkout the Ubuntu Choirs Network inspired by the Gettin HigherChoir to raise funds for Africancauses. For more information,visit: www.ubuntuchoirs.net.

The Gettin Higher Choir will pres-ent a benefit concert forKapasseni on June 13 and 14 atthe Alix Goolden Hall. Specialguest will be Susan Osborn. Moreinformation will be available atwww.gettinhigherchoir.ca.

A makeshift bridge over the floodwaters in a displaced persons settlement outside of Caia.

Children in Kapasseni line up for porridge made on an open fire.The recipe comes from Victoria's Shivon Robinsong.