Posted By Archie - Trouble in Mozambique

Following is an excerpt from an email I got from friends in Mozambique today:

Thank you all for praying for R’s safety. His flight managed to leave Maputo today but getting to the airport was an ordeal, no taxis were on the road as drivers feared that people would throw stones at them. Eventually a hotel worker arranged a ride in the truck of a friend who was willing to brave the trip. As they drove through the city they saw where fires had been burning all along the roads. There were burned out cars. Many riot police and soldiers with weapons patrolled the streets. At the airport they made it safely through a barricade. When he arrived at the terminal he met up with friends from Nampula who had been forced to spend the night in the airport because their flight had been cancelled due to the riots. They all managed to get on the flight to Nampula because almost half of the passengers were too frightened to make the trip to the airport so the plane that had been fully booked was half empty.

Tensions were high in our office at morning prayer as co-workers discussed what was happening in their country. Although Nampula remains calm and no violence here at present there is still an underlying feeling of anger and helplessness as people see food prices soar and their ability to feed their families diminish. Over the past year the Metical has gone from 25 MTs to 38 MTs to the US Dollar forcing the price of imports up. A large portion of Mozambique’s produce (rice and corn meal) is imported from countries like South Africa, India and the Middle East.

Things like this are a reminder of how quickly it can get ugly for our folks on the field. It is essential for us all to keep on praying....