The Project

"Kapasseni was once a dead village, but now has come back to life."
........- Francisco Semente, Kapasseni Village Chief

The Kapasseni Project is dedicated to assisting in the regeneration of Mozambique by providing children and their families with educational opportunities, clean water, health care and spiritual support. Joseph and Perpetua Alfazema came to Canada to escape a 30 year war in their homeland of Mozambique. When the war was finally over, Joseph and Perpetua returned to Joseph's home village, Kapasseni, for a visit. The situation touched their souls.

The civil war in Mozambique had destroyed much of the infrastructure, leaving the country without crops, schools, churches, hospitals, or roads. Many people were suffering. People were handicapped from the land mines that are still spread over much of the countryside. Children had no educational opportunities, preventing them from gaining the knowledge and skills they need for a better future. Medical treatment was scarce; many people suffered from easily treatable illnesses, and HIV/AIDS was starting to take a terrible toll on the population.

As Joseph recounts in the film Journey to Kapasseni, "The chief said, "Could you go and ask friends in Canada to help us to have a school here, because we need a school for kids. Kids without a school - there's no life in the future." Chief Francisco Semente gave them a letter to take home, asking for help with the school, healthcare, water wells, and spiritual support. Neither Joseph nor Perpetua had any idea how to honour the chief's requests, they only knew they had to try. At the outset, they had nothing but their faith that it might be possible and their determination to do their best to make it happen.

When they returned to Canada, Perpetua and Joseph discussed the situation with their friends at Redeemer Lutheran Church. Their church community were eager to help, and formed the Kapasseni Project Committee, who meet every month, overseeing the Canadian end of the project.

More support came with a fortunate meeting at the Victoria Folkfest intercultural festival in 1998. Joseph and Perpetua were performing with their Mozambican Choir on the same stage as the Gettin' Higher Choir, a large community choir directed by Shivon Robinsong. Perpetua and Shivon started an enduring friendship, and when Perpetua related stories about the suffering in Mozambique, Shivon and GHC members were moved to become partners in the Kapasseni Project. In 1999, the GHC was joined by Ann Mortifee in a benefit concert that sold out St. Andrew's Cathedral and raised almost $11,000 - enough to launch the project.

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