Blogs from Inhambane, Southern, Mozambique, Africa - page 2

It was an interesting, if not wholly productive, week here in Mozambique. I started the week off thoroughly uselessly with a rainy, kinda gloomy Sunday where I basically just worked in my room and/or putzed about on my computer. Not must to do when the weather is nice – zilch to do when it’s crappy and you can’t plan for anything. Oh well. Monday came and introduced me to the intricacies of grant writing in Mozambique. I joined the group to review comments sent back on their new grant application, but quickly learned that I didn’t want to open that can of worms and ran back to my room to work on materials for my own project. I have to keep telling myself that I only have three months here (less now) and that I am ... read more

First, I’ll give the basic run down of my week and then we’ll talk about some of the more existential stuff, that’s the fun part anyway. My week is pretty structured for not having a formal schedule or anything. Since I can’t sleep with all this friggin sunlight (hey, I’ve almost only ever worked night shifts, even before I was a nurse) I get up between 6 something and 7 something every morning, even without an alarm clock. My bucket bath in the morning is a great eye-opener and by the time I’m done with that I *almost* don’t need coffee… almost… This week was the first actual week of work since Dr. Arlindo (the director of CoH) was back from Maputo (the capital) and the three missionaries were in the office. Actually, I think only ... read more

Our first anniversary was nearing, and my husband couldn't be more excited to plan a trip to make sure we have a memorable one. However he couldn't keep it a surprise and decided to make a joint decision to zero in on the destination. The options were Botswana (Okavango Delta), Zambia (Victoria Falls) and Mozambique (beach destination). We had already discussed that the place would be unusual where hardly anyone we know would have been. The choice was made soon, Mozambique it was (A Southeast African country). We chose to stay at the Water Chalets in a low profile place called Inhambane in Southern Mozambique. We had a choice of staying at one of the islands within Mozambique however the idea of staying in a water chalet attracted us more and hence we chose the latter. ... read more

We left Malawi with a relief as it has been quite difficult to get around, overcrowded public transportation, daily increases in prices and the troubled currency but we didn’t have a clue how tough it would be for our first few days in Mozambique. Dirty and endless roads greeted us and we soon wished that we would be back in Malawi. We crossed the border happily since our cheap visas (read about it in the previous blog) worked and amazing people met us with bright smiles, and it doesn’t matter that we faced a language barrier already on the border. Soon we realized that we are in middle of nowhere and we were only ones who were crossing the border at the time. Welcome to Mozambique! The next three days included a lot waiting on the ... read more

Oceano Indiano, capanne di paglia sulla spiaggia, un passato da colonia portoghese, musica reggae e birra a volonta': uno potrebbe credere di essere finito a Goa, la localita' balneare per eccellenza della costa indiana, ma in questo caso siamo sulla sponda opposta dell'oceano: in Africa, Mozambico per l'esattezza. Qui il mezzo di trasporto per eccellenza e' il chapa, un vecchio minibus quasi sempre giapponese di seconda mano, con ancora le vecchie scritte stampate sui fianchi, qualcosa del tipo "scuolabus di Osaka Est" o "Monte Fuji sumo club"; la capienza nominale sarebbe di 11 posti, quella effettiva di 15, ma quasi sempre si arriva tranquillamente almeno a 18 e, non essendo per natura i giapponesi dei giganti, si viaggia tutti compressi tra i sedili e schiacciati da borse, valigie, sacchi di verdure, bambini e mazzi di galline ... read more