MOZAMBIQUE LIFE: DIFFERENT, YET SAME

Jessica Berryman was a Y-Press member before her family decided to sell most of its belongings and become missionaries in Mozam bique.

During the next two years, Jessica and her sister, Chelsea, will file periodic reports from their new home in Maputo, Mozambique's capital and largest city.

Their parents, Glenn and Kris Berryman, are undertaking their new work with the support of OMS International, an evangelical, interdenominational faith mission based in Greenwood. The family will be spending two years setting up an English-as-a-second-language program to help Mozambicans better compete in the global marketplace.

The Berrymans arrived in August. Soon after, the girls started attending the Christian Academy, which educates not only missionary kids and children of foreigners who want a U.S.-based education, but Mozambican youth as well.

The family is beginning to adjust to the poverty of its adopted country.

Foreign investment followed a 15-year civil war that ended in 1992, and Mozambique is slowly recovering. Though it has little arable land, it does have some sizable mineral deposits, which are being exploited.

The Berrymans hope their work will help Mozambique take another step toward self-sufficiency by giving it "the international language of business," according to the family's Web site (www.hopeinafrica.com).

Jessica and Chelsea's first dispatches concern their first impressions of Maputo, its people and the adjustments they have had to make since they left their home in Greenwood.

Enjoying the people, not the uniforms

We live in a skinny house in Maputo, the capital. It has four floors. If you designed this house as a single floor, it would be the size of a regular house in Indianapolis.

We were home-schooled in Indianapolis, and now we go to a private American Christian school. It's a change, but I am getting the hang of it, although we have to wear uniforms, which I don't like at all!

There are some good things about wearing uniforms, such as you don't have to worry about picking out your clothes in the morning and you can keep concentrated on your schoolwork. However, everybody looks the same. We need color in our school, and sometimes I get tired of wearing the same thing every day.

I have nine students in my class. Two others are from the United States, and the rest are from Brazil, India, Kenya and Congo.

The language here is Portuguese. It is difficult to learn, although I had taken Latin and Japanese classes before.

I have made a lot of friends through school, but not as many as I had in the States. They all speak English, and most of them speak Portuguese. My Brazilian friends keep talking about their country and how wonderful it is. I really want to go now!

After school, I usually come home or go over to one of my friend's houses, where we do our homework. Then we have dinner and watch TV, study and check our e-mail. We have Internet access in our house, but TV stations here are always one season behind those in America, and we don't get many of the shows on Fox or WB or ABC. I miss the shows I used to watch.

In Indianapolis, I jogged with my friends, but you can't do that here. It's not safe to walk alone on the streets. We can play outside, but there are bars on the buildings. It feels like we are in jail at times. Most of the people are friendly, but you still have to be careful. In Maputo, you can't really go out and do a lot because you could get mugged.

Most Mozambicans live a much harder life than what we enjoyed in the U.S. There are people here who live by digging in trash containers, begging on the streets and having car shops on the side of the streets. My parents remind us of the risk of being kidnapped or injured.

The Mozambican kids don't get as much education as we do. Transportation is difficult and because of health issues such as AIDS, many older kids have to care for young siblings.

They dress like teens in America, but their clothes are dirty and have holes in them.

Before we came here, I got rid of everything but my laptop, my clothes and my iPod. I miss what I had in the States, mostly my friends and other family members, along with the great American food!

It might be a little soon for marriage

I have spent most of my life in Greenwood. I loved going to movies and checking out what was happening at the mall. I love to shop!

When we first arrived in Maputo, I didn't know what to think. I wasn't sure if I'd like it. Mozambique is one of the more peaceful countries in Africa, but some of the customs take some adjustment. The first Sunday here, I received a marriage proposal, which really shocked me. I've learned it is not unusual here to get "married" at age 12, though it's not always marriage as we know it; often they just live together and have children. That happens at young ages because the Mozambican lifespan is only about 40 years.

It costs a lot of money for an actual wedding, which happens more in the cities. The ceremony lasts for days.

Life in Maputo is different from life in Greenwood. I miss being able to walk around by myself.

The food here is wonderful, but sorry, there's no McDonald's. There is a lot of Indian food, and we have noticed that there is a sizable Indian population in Maputo. There are a lot of Brazilians, too.

Most of my day is spent in school, but when not in school I just hang out with my friends, who are mostly Brazilians, but there are a few Americans, too. Mostly we do normal teen stuff like listening to music, watching movies and going to the beach. Sometimes we go swimming near the ocean but not in it because of the filth.

It's getting hotter here now because we are on the opposite side of the equator from the U.S. So if you want to visit during our summer, you should come soon, so you can get a nice little tan.