Corruption hits a new low today, which I have little doubt is normal day to day living for Mozambicans. 

          We as most of you know we tithe 10% of all monies that come into Kedesh to our widows project.  It is this money that we use to build widows houses, medical needs, blankets, food and the like.  Today I had sent a couple of boys with 10 bags of cement to finish off a house we are building for a lady (about 100USD worth).  The cement was loaded up at our house onto a chova (a two wheeled push cart about the size of a back of a Toyota truck, the local means of transport of goods) and was headed to the widows house when it was intercepted by police.  The police accused our boys of stealing the cement, and demanded that I come and confirm that their story was true.  I pedaled on my bike to where the guys are and tell the police, who recognize and know me, that yes this is our cement and what we are doing with it.  Not good enough I have to go home and write a document certifying that this is our cement, with the Kedesh official stamp on the document (they love stamps on papers and documents here).  I said I’m standing here in front of you telling you what I would write down.  Nope, no good they have to have the stamped document!  So I asked them if it would be OK if  I wrote and stamped the document and sent it back with Andre pointing to one of the boys.  They said fine and in front of the police I gave Andre money to get back home and get the document I was to write.  They insisted that the chova and cement had to continue on to the police station until they had the document that was another 2 miles 3ks down the road.  When you are pushing a cart that has a load of 500kgs or 1100 pounds on it…this is not good news.  Especially when you will have to turn right back around and take it back.

          About an hour later Andre shows up and says that the police made them off load the cement and that the document that I had written signed stamped was a forgery… I’m fuming now…  Tomorrow I have every intention to submit an article in the local newspaper, go to the anti corruption board, to the governor and to the chief of Police.  I’ll get counsel from Gango and go from there.

          Joao Simao went to the police to try and reason with them and show them the receipt of when we bought 100 bags of cement but the shift had changed and all the offenders had gone home…

          To be continued…