Mozambique 2008

At the beginning of July 2008, I was contacted by Ronnie Ravindran from Dubai, who was in need of a stills photographer to photograph an event that an organization called Miracle Moments put together once a year down in Maputo, Mozambique. It is a healing miracle crusade which is held by Pastor Dilkumar of Dubai. People come from all around the country and as far afield as Swaziland and LesothoAnd believe me when I tell you, that in Africa, getting a bus from Lesotho up to Maputo is not something to be laughed at….a long and arduous journey not for the faint of heart.

No sooner had we arrived at our hotel, we were driven out to the venue, which was to be held in one of Maputo’s poorer corners. Nothing but a patch of dirt and the skeletal beginnings of what was eventually to be the stage, greeted us as we arrived on scene. with people running around trying to get organized and the lighting set up, seeing as opening night was the very next day, and typical of Africa, the stage only started getting put together the day before….Africa…you gotta love her!

One of the first things that struck me as we drove across the city, was not the typical sorrow that usually comes with seeing first hand, the blatant poverty on such a scale that seems to have Maputo by the throat. Sure, you might say that there are many countries on the African continent that are poor and poverty is “just the way things are”. There is certainly no doubt that you may well be right in that fact in many cases. Yet still the one thing that I find myself coming back to is so many of the locals there had a smile on their face. Yep, that’s the one thing that gets me every time….a nation of “smilers” fine… laugh all you like, but think about it. Living in poverty like that day in and day out one year into the next, surely must take it toll, and I am pretty sure that if I were in those shoes, and I have been, I most certainly would not have a smile on my face. I think that it shows a tremendous strength in character to be able to laugh in the face of such hardship. But no matter where you go, the locals are always smiling and laughing.

And incredibly industrious is another thing that Sherwin Singh, one of the South African cameramen, pointed out on one of our many trips through the city. There are thousands of people bustling about their daily routines, and every man and his dog are trying to earn a crust. People selling second hand shoes, men with a bicycle repair workshop on their little patch of dirt, women selling oranges in little bags or handfuls of boiled sweets. Sofas, breeze blocks, rusty old beds and tyres for your brand new second hand Japanese import, hell, I even saw what could only be described as a tree of old exhaust pipes.

You name it you can by it, and on a Friday night you can drive down the road and the street has a long line of whisky peddlers that sell their wares at a “slight profit margin” to the unsuspecting tourist in search of a memorable hangover. Just one of the many things I love about the Mozambicans, is that we very seldom saw anyone sitting around doing nothing. The sense of a strong work ethic is very obvious right from the start.

On the first day of the meeting, we arrived early, and the film crew set up their gear and did their checks and ticked their lists, with me and my Nikon, snapping away at anything that moved and plenty that didn’t. With such a smorgasboard of energy and controlled chaos, it was hard not to get completely immersed in the groove of the ghetto. The kids were running wild, leaping about like circus monkeys and performing some incredible gymnastic type leaps and bounds. I caught a glimpse of what might have been a Capoeira style dance, that only a few of the elder kids seemed to have come to grips with, and a good few of the younger ones were giving a good effort.

So with a crowd of leaping youths, men building the stage and erecting the camera platforms, locals going about their daily business of earning a crust and a hoard of onlookers, we were off to a promising start to the event

But…(always a catch isn’t there!), a few hours before the event was to kick off with the voices of Africa and let me tell you, that is something that will always give you goose bumps. There is no sound quite like the resonance and harmony of an African choir…. sorry…getting side tracked here… anyways, the lighting at the front of the stage, ended up being a tad too heavy for the support holding it up and collapsed on one side. Now you might be thinking how on earth do you rectify such an issue so soon before an event, but true to form, the Mozambican workers changed tactics and erected the spotlights on either front corners of the stage quicker that you can say…. oh darn it, the lighting is shot to hell and now there seems to be no easy solution to this here dilemma, but seeing as we are such an industrious bunch, have no worries! With that having been sorted out post haste, the rest of the evenings festivities went off with no other major problems.

Pastor Dilkumar took the stage with casual grace, and within minutes had the crowd enthralled as only a Gospel preacher can do. In having the benefit of moving in amongst the crowd, I got to see up close, the faith and hope that these people wear on their sleeves so easily. The outside world seems to just disappear for those so caught up in their search for deliverance, that even me with my camera, intruding in that private moment, simply vanishes into the ether.
On the second evening with Pastor Dilkumar preaching the good word, I saw this one chap lying on the floor. I would normally have thought nothing of it, seeing as there were many folk who were on the floor at some point by now, but this one chap caught my eye as he was rather well dressed and with him lying in the dirt had me intrigued as to his condition. I asked a bloke standing nearby, and it turned out that this chap in the dirt, having come to the prayer meeting was somewhat struck by the life he had been leading up to that point (I can only assume it wasn’t the noblest) and there he was, crying like a child. Perhaps tears of joy in having finally seen a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel…. I can only guess, but from the look of him, it must have been a joyous occasion.

But he was not the only one to have an epiphany over the course of the three day Healing crusade. There was a young woman, who during a particularly intense part of pastor Dilkumar’s sermon, fell to the ground in a fit of screaming and writhing and had to be carried away. An old man with an obviously frail frame and dodgy ticker, ended his evening by practically doing the Harlem shuffle right then and there. Over the course of the Miracle Moments event, many came to be healed or to be saved, maybe even a bit of both. I am sure there were a few people in that crowd who perhaps just came to the event for the festivity of it, found themselves looking within and seeing the error of their ways, ended up being saved and their faith restored.

The third day of the crusade was very much the same as the first two days, except for the fact that by then, every man and his dog within a hundred mile radius had come to the venue for a spot of song and dance and certain salvation. And heaven forbid i should fail to mention dear Richard Jon Smith (famous back in the day for groovy tunes like “Day O” and Micheal row the boat ashore”) who had the local choir i mentioned earlier, singing with that “goose bump inducing” harmony and rhythm like nobodies business. A group of individuals with beautiful smiles and big voices, and a knack for getting a song stuck in your head for weeks after you have gone home….(Thanks RJay, i couldnt stop singing “things are getting better” for nigh on a month after we left!!).

So all in all i believe the crusade was a hit. A small dose of happiness given readily and freely to those that need it the most, in the tough times they find themselves in, on a day to day basis. Some will no doubt argue,and some already have, that because the entire country is as poor as, and people are a dime a dozen living too far below the bread line, and with such high odds against you, making a tangible difference is practically impossible, so what is the point in going through all the stress and effort to put together such an event for nothing more than a few days of singing and dancing and messages by dear Pasto Dilkumar….

well, i absolutely believe that the exact opposite is true. With a country as poor as Mozambique, even one minute that brings someone out there a moment of happiness, laughter, peace of mind, salvation in their faith or whatever you like is a minute well spent. Sure, there will be those there that just came for the festivities, but i am without doubt that there are alot more that came to the crusade feeling beaten and hopeless, but after the magic workings of Pastor Dilkumar, Richard Jon Smith and his groovy girl choir, and Ronnie with his professional crew, they left with heads and hearts held high, and faith restored anew…each one of them left with a little less hurt and hardship…guarranteed!!

There is talk of a similar crusade in kenya fairly soon so watch this space…. but no doubt you will see the photos first… seeing as i am blatantly biased towards taking photo’s as opposed to sitting behind my computer till the wee hours writing all about it….. much prefer to be trapesing around the continent camera at the ready!!….see you soon