Sunshine Nut Company and More!!!

Today was one of my favorite days on the trip so far.  A woman who my mom works with, her brother owns a cashew company Sunshine Nut Company in Motola, Mozambique, which is about a 30 minute drive from Maputo.  He was nice enough to pick us up and have us spend the day/night with him and his wife to visit his cashew company and the orphanage that they are involved with.

First we went to Sunshine Nut Company and got to see the process of making the cashews and just how much goes into the freshness and yumminess of these cashews before they are packaged.  We got to meet the workers who all are extremely happy to have this opportunity to have such a great job and having such a caring boss.   We got to try the cashews hot out of the sunflower oil and they were delicious, best I've ever tasted.

Sunshine Nut Company is a fair trade company and 90% of their proceeds go back into the community, which is almost unheard of!  Of their proceeds, 30% goes to supporting farming communities, 30% to caring for orphans and vulnerable children, and 30% to creating new food companies! Please check the website www.sunshinenuts.com  to find a local store near you that sells these cashews, its for a good cause and they are fantastic!

After this we headed to the orphanage and got to meet Corrie who started the orphanage years ago in hopes of housing 7 or 8 orphans.  She now has over 41 orphans living at her home that she couldn't bear to turn away, 60% of them are HIV/AIDS positive.  It was just amazing to see how big her heart is and how many lives she's saved.  She's an amazing lady.

We sadly had to say goodbye to all the children and Corrie and we went back to the house for a true home cooked Mozambique dinner, it was delicious.  Another inspirational young couple was staying with them as well who live in Mozambique.  They are opening an orphanage and are doing great things for the country, but they just adopted the sweetest, cutest, most well behaved two year old I have ever met.  His mother recently passed away from AIDs and she had asked this couple to adopt him before she passed.  Hearing their stories and what they have been through and the plans both families have for the future left me speechless.

yummy dinner

We've never experienced such hospitality during our backpacking adventures, we felt like queens.  After a great night sleep at their beautiful home we headed back to Maputo for a "9 hour" shuttle to the beaches of Tofo.