A secret life of serving others

Ange (Angela) and Ben Nunn could almost be said to lead double lives. They have built a lovely home at Doubtless Bay, which they share with a couple of dogs, while she teaches at Kaitaia's Abundant Life School and he's a self-employed builder. But there is much more to them than that.

Angela, originally from Yorkshire, and Australian Ben also practise their Christian principles, working to accumulate the money they need to return regularly to a boys' orphanage/sanctuary in Mozambique.

They were packing up once again last week, this time for a year-long stay in the southeast African country. (Ben said all he would be needing was a couple of shirts, some shorts and his kite-surfing board; Ange said she was thinking along "more practical" lines).

The fact that the couple found each other, and that they have become such strong supporters of the boys' home 'Kedesh,' owes a good deal to serendipity, or perhaps God moving in mysterious ways. Ange first went there in 1997, as a member of a Youth With a Mission (YWAM) team, specifically to work with street kids. She had originally wanted to go to Brazil, which she did the following year, but no one else was keen on Mozambique so she boarded a plane for Africa.

It was there that she met Ben, and it wasn't long before they became a totally committed, very effective team in their own right.

Kedesh, founded by American John Wickes, is home to 30 boys aged nine to 18, who find themselves there because they are orphans, street kids, in need of refuge from violent homes and/or suffering HIV. There they are given a home, fed and educated, receive Judeo-Christian spiritual instruction and taught skills that will hopefully give them a future.

This is the seventh time that Ange and Ben have been there, although in the past they have only stayed six to eight weeks.

"Unemployment is really high in Mozambique, but the boys can do quite well with an education and trades training," Ange said.

"We get good and bad results, but one of the boys has just completed a law degree and is in his second year of a Master's in human rights law. He's gone back to Kedesh to help, and to show the boys there now what can be achieved. He's someone they can look up to, someone who can encourage them to lift their sights."

Finding gainful employment was rather more critical there than in New Zealand, Ben added.

"There's no social welfare there. If you don't work you don't eat," he said.

The official language is Portuguese (the country was colonised by Portugal more than 500 years ago, only gaining independence in 1975), with a liberal sprinkling of tribal languages, but neither Ange nor Ben have any great difficulty communicating. And the boys do speak some English (as evidenced in a short video at www.kedeshmozambique.com).

In any event it would take more than a major language barrier to put them off.

"We work so we can do this," Ange said.

"We enjoy it. We like the boys."

Their missions are entirely self-funded - Kedesh itself relies totally on donations to survive. And while they haven't actively sought financial support beyond their own personal means - help from others is accepted, gratefully, as a bonus - they do count the support of their home community as a blessing.

"Words cannot express how much we appreciate the generosity and support of the many people in this wonderful community who have helped us in many different ways," Ange said. The latest manifestation of that was an auction at Mangonui earlier this month that raised $5000, every cent of which will be invested in the boys at Kedesh.

The boys were delighted to hear about the auction, she added, and dispatched a brief video clip to thank those who had supported them.

The auction was organised in something of a rush after Ben won a 'man pram' via an ITM promotion, which contributed $2600 to the sum raised.

Meanwhile Ange and Ben should be in Mozambique by now, just in time for the last couple of weeks of the rainy season, but they will be back about this time next year. Ange will have a classroom full of children waiting for her, and Ben will have a house to build.