CHAD Team: Mariah, Chaona, Quisito, Paulo, and Alberto

Mariah in MOZ


2022 Review 2022

In this 2022 review you’ll get an update about the growth of the iReachAfrica base, some highlights of what my team and I did through our Community Health and Discipleship (CHAD) program, and a description of the dream the Lord has given our base for a new cooperative project. 


iReachAfrica welcomed four new missionaries in 2022! Bridget and Valeria earlier in the year, and Sabrina and Eliza in November.


Getting visas for the new folks was an arduous process, but so worth it to have them here. Their unique giftings and fresh energy give strength to our team. They’re all currently working in various capacities to revitalize and expand iReachAfrica's baby nutrition and clinic program. Bridget is directing the program, Sabrina and Eliza contribute their nursing skills, and Valeria’s playtime program stimulates and develops children with special needs.

Some of our iReachAfrica Team

Sabrina, Eliza, Anna, Valeria, Mariah and Bridget

Fall of 2022!


I did some traveling in the fall! First was a whirlwind trip home to see family in Colorado, and a visit to North Carolina to visit friends at the Antioch churches in Raleigh and Boone. On the way back to Mozambique, I attend a conference in Rome for Antioch church planting team leaders, and took a week to tour Rome with my sister, Sarah.

My sister Sarah and I on a bridge in Rome

The Community Health and Discipleship (CHAD) program has enjoyed another great year of journeying alongside communities as they learned and adopted improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices. The team grew in sharing their faith by integrating Scripture lessons into the WASH training. A total of 124 individuals representing 100+ households from four different communities graduated from our WASH course this year, resulting in 36 biosand water filters being installed amogst those graduates. 


I love the following stories from families reached by the CHAD program last year. These families improved their water, sanitation and hygiene practices, but more importantly, they adopted new beliefs and attitudes toward WASH - a signal of deep, lasting impact. 


In June we facilitated the WASH course in a remote, hard to access village, where 14 participants graduated and later received biosand filters. The team made the long trek to deliver a filter to a graduate named Zeca, and experienced the horrendous road that he had bicyled, 6 hours round-trip, to attend our training each week. As they walked around Zeca's family compound the team saw an immaculate yard; a recently-constructed latrine, complete with a handwashing station and soap; and a sturdy dish drying rack. We’ve never seen anyone more dedicated than Zeca to the lessons and to applying what they learned.

A woman called Amelia told us that she and her family used to get diarrhea whenever they travelled to work on their farm, but she didn’t know why. After the WASH training, Amelia realized that the well they drank from was contaminated by the stream flowing beside it, as people bathe and wash diapers upstream. Now Amelia walks 15 minutes longer to fetch drinking water from a safer source. After their most recent trip to their farm, Amelia’s whole family returned home healthy…. diarrhea-free.


Hand-dug wells in three different communities got an upgrade as a result of the WASH course. The initiative came from the communities themselves to dig drainage ditches to prevent stagnant water and run-off from contaminating their wells. One community went as far as to re-dig their well further uphill from the passing stream, lining the top portion with bricks and cement (see below).


Our team visited weekly with disciples in a village we’ve been visiting for years.One man named Moses recently shared how this discipleship changed his life. Years ago Moses attended a local Bible school, filling his head with Biblical knowledge in hopes of a certificate and a potential pastoral job. He confessed that during that time he was stealing motorcycles, getting black-out drunk, and beating his wife. But Moses says his life turned around through studying the Bible with our team, as they always invite the Holy Spirit to lead the study. He began to encounter the Spirit of Truth in the Word, instead of leaning on his own understanding. Moses says he is especially amazed by how God changed his heart after he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. He says he feels like a new man. Moses now earns an honest living making bricks, cares for his wife, and he voluntarily built a house for a needy woman and her children.

Chaona, Moses, Quisito, Tomas, and Mariah

A DREAM THAT THE LORD GAVE US


During a fast in January, the Lord gave a few of us at iReachAfrica a vision for a project that, for now, we’re calling “bush clinics;” regular visits to remote villages from which the more far-flung clients come for the nutrition program. While our nurses attend to clients and Valeria visits homes of children with special needs, the CHAD team will facilitate WASH lessons. We’ll all share the gospel, start Bible studies, and eventually train up locals as community health evangelists. This initiative of integrating multiple ministries to maximize impact is something I’ve had in my heart since I came to Moz, and it’s exciting to work together with these amazing women of God.


Please pray that our planning and dreaming for the bush clinics will be led by the Holy Spirit, and that we will work together in unity to see God glorified in the villages He leads us to. 


I am so proud of my team and pleased with the fruit of their labors this past year. They are raising the standard of health for entire communities and lifting weary heads to see the hope of the gospel. The following verses motivate our work in these precious communities:


“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me,

and I will listen to you.” 

- Jeremiah 29:11-12



Love and blessings!

~Mariah

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