Quelimane

Stefania and I flew to Quelimane, the capital of Zambezia province, on Thursday. It's a world apart from Maputo. Everyone I spoke to about coming up here only had one comment about the place. 'It's really hot.' And it is. Really hot. And it's only October - December, January, February will be worse. But, I really like it here. It's very laid back, everyone cycles around, and i feel much safer (apart from near misses with bicycles going at break-neck speed). There isn't really much to do here; just 2 cinemas showing bollywood movies, an disused, old - i think the oldest in Mozambique - cathedral from the eighteenth century over-run with rats, a big mosque and not much else. It's very charming in it's own special way. There are hundreds of fruit bats that hang upside down in the trees squeaking away during the day, and flying around at dusk. There are also lots of rats - really big ones - and stray dogs.

We've been passing the time doing random shopping. I have added to my collection of capulanas (mozambican sarong things for those of you who haven't read the previous posts). I'm too embarrassed to admit how many i have. I'll definitely be buying a suitcase to take them all home in. Have also had some dresses made from the capulana's. They are so unsexy. I look like an extra from a dodgy 1970's movie. If you're lucky i might take a picture of me wearing it. Have also bought a big knife, a pillow and various bits and pieces. The knife isn't for my personal protection (i already have pepper spray), but for doing exciting things like cracking open coconuts and peeling mangoes and pineapples. So far i've only been eating lychees, kilos of them, but they don't really require knives.

There is no running water here, but i have perfected the art of showering with 3 litres of water, although i am very close to shaving all my hair off. I might get some braids when I go to the province to begin work as i can't cope with trying to keep it clean and tangle free. And i'm not going to break my promise to my mother, who thinks i might be tempted to return with dreadlocks, just in case anyone else is worried.
Managed to get what i thought was a mosquito bite on my arm. Was subsequently told it could be a spider bite. It looked like something was growing inside it, so yesterday armed with a needle and disinfectant i investigated. You'll be disappointed to know that there were no larvae inside it. I've got a nice selection of mosquito bites everywhere else. I think they are resistant to 'Peaceful Sleep' which is beyond me as i practically pass out from the fumes every time i apply it.

We're still waiting to hear when we can leave for the provinces. Slowly getting used to the pace of things in Mozambique. I'm functioning at half speed because of the heat so it makes sense that everyone else does too.

Goodbye Maputo

Finally after weeks of obsessively checking our emails, Stebba and I have jobs, albeit unpaid ones. We head up to Zambezia province to work for ActionAid; i will be stationed in Maganja da Costa, Stefania in Pebane. For those of you interested in finding it on a map - the nearest big town is Quelimane, i'm just under 100km away as the crow flies, but it can take up to 5 hours to drive there. It's about the same from me to Stefania. Maganja isn't on most maps, but if you can find Quelimane and Pebane - i'm about halfway and a little inland (unfortunately no beach, sea breeze or giant prawns for me)

On our last night in Maputo we went to the fish market with lots of people for supper and ate huge amounts of crab and prawns. The market is amazing, lots of little stalls with fish and prawns etc - you choose what you want and they cook it for you while you sit at little tables nearby drinking beer. I have decided that food that requires effort to eat it tastes much much better. Crab is definitely my new favourite food, despite cutting my fingers trying to break the shell. I also think I could eat the local prawns endlessly - and they are huge, although not as big as they used to be, apparently.

Had more drinks afterwards with Margeir and Franklin, and then stayed up until 4am packing. Not fun.

Coconuts

Stebba and I at last ventured out to sample Mozambican night life. Adelson works for ActionAid up in the Zambezia province, and will be my new boss, his friend was Danilo. Danilo is the one on the left, Adelson on the right.

The club was very expensive by Mozambique standards, but we consoled ourselves with the one free drink on entry: a really dodgy bottle of alcopop cider. The 'musical highlights' of the evening were a Cape Verde boyband called 'Quatro +' who sing in Creole, dress all in white and have the obligatory syncronised dance moves, and the local MC Roger. Both acts were incredibly popular, especially with the laydeez.

We've since heard Quatro + and MC Roger songs on the radio, and all Mozambicans we meet seem incredibly impressed that we have seen them. I think it's the equivalent of seeing Blue and Sean Paul in one night.

If you're really lucky i'll bring back a selection of the music for your listening pleasure.

Life in Maputo

We spent the first week or so in Maputo too nervous to leave the house on our own. We watched so much cable we began to detect underlying thematic programming. I think I have now seen every film Ashtun Kutcher has made.

Thankfully we broke this cycle and braved the 'chapas' - notoriously dangerous mini buses which cost 10p, crammed full of people, and jump red lights. Stebba often sat on my lap, and the conductor hung out the window. We discovered Gianni's icecream place, the Polana shopping centre (not really worth the effort), the beach and that there is life outside Sommerschield.

AVIMAS

Stefanía and I went to visit AVIMAS as unofficial and oblivious representatives of ICEIDA. AVIMAS (Association of Widows and Single Mothers) began in 1997 and members are taught various skills (sewing, embroidery, hairdressing etc.) to enable them to support themselves, their children and grandchildren.

We were there to take part in a 'capulana ceremony'. Capulanas are Mozambican sarongs which the women wear over their clothes, around their waists. The women had made the capulanas from fabric and paints ICEIDA had provided and we were officially handing them over after they had signed some kind of contract, at least those who could write - some of the older women were illiterate and had to ink their thumbs and make prints instead.

Jeramiah, a Mozambican ICEIDA employee who was with us, helped us ask the women some questions. One of the founding members spoke to us about AVIMAS - she said it was created to help women forget their problems, their worries. When the women were at the centre they forgot the pain of losing their husbands, they forgot to worry about their poverty. They felt empowered to improve their lives, and the lives of their families and they were able to take control of their futures. It was very moving to hear this woman speak; she had such an amazing, expressive face.

The AVIMAS ladies sang us a few songs, Jeramiah tried to translate some of the lyrics. One was about listening to advice being important, another about ICEIDA - thanking them for their help. They began dancing, and decided that we should to. I think I proved that white women can't really dance, but it was great fun, and it must of ingratiated me to them as they began calling me Carlotinha (little Charlotte). I have to learn to dance like them while I'm here.

Sweet apartment

Thanks to Bjarni's dad, things in Maputo have been running very smoothly. I'm staying with an Icelandic girl called Þóra who is the intern for the Icelandic International Development Agency (ICEIDA). She has an enormous apartment with 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a guard and an empregada (a maid) called Laura, internet and cable TV. There's another Icelandic girl living here called Stefanía from Akureyri who is in the same position as me (i.e. turned up in Mozambique looking for work with only a vague idea of what to do). So, we have a pretty sweet set-up here. I don't really feel like i'm slumming it 'le bique' style though.

On the first night Margeir (B's dad) and his collegue Franklín took the three of us to Mundo's, a restaurant I had heard of before I arrived. It's where the author Henning Mankell (look him up if you like crime novels) eats when he's in Maputo. I had an enourmous, delicious steak, and tried the two local beers, 2M and Laurentina There seems to be an on-going argument over which is the better of the two; I am yet to decide where i stand on this issue.

Jo'burg - Maputo

I apologise to those I promised not to take the bus from Jo'burg to Maputo, but at short notice, it seemed like a much, much cheaper alternative to flying. In retrospect, I don't know why I was so worried, maybe the uncertainty of what it would be like. I'm very glad I took the bus, and unless I can find very reasonable flights, I would do it again. This will only confirm Alice's suspicion that I'm a sadist when it comes to long distance travel.

The trip was uneventful; the highlights were seeing a zebra on the edge of Kruger park, eating ostrich biltong and the bus not breaking down. The disparity between South Africa and Mozambique is what fascinated me the most. Everything changed on crossing the border: landscape, people etc. The South African border was air-conditioned, clean and efficient; the Mozambican border was crowded, smelly, disorganised and the staff more friendly.

We waited in the mid afternoon heat while the customs officials went through all our luggage. In the valley below the Mozambican border was a little town called Ressano Garcia. There were lots of mangy dogs, chickens and goats roaming around, and a fellow bus passenger told me that they ate anything and everything: monkeys, lizards, frogs and rats etc.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful. I looked at the arid landscape with little clusters of reed shacks every couple of miles until we arrived in Maputo an hour later.

Much Ado About Nothing

Flying over the coast of East Africa, Zanzibar and Lake Malawi I was quite tempted to abandon the idea of working in Mozambique and travel all over Africa instead. I think I might have slightly annoyed the lady next to me by constantly leaning over excitedly looking at the view and trying to work out what I was looking at. On descending into Jo'burg the enormity of what I am about to do suddenly hit me and I was terrified.

Once I got off the plane and found the taxi I'd booked I felt much better. When, as we left the airport carpark the driver had to take his keys out of the ignition and then restart the engine to prove that he hadn't hot-wired the car, I was reminded of how different things are in South Africa. As we drove into Jo'burg, I chatted to the driver. He was quite a strange man - born in Malawi and brought up in Rhodesia - he made lots of jokes that I didn't quite get and after I told him that I studied the 'antichrist in art' at Edinburgh, he proceeded to tell me that we were living in the time of 'iron and clay feet' and that Christ would soon be coming back down to earth to judge us. I'm not familiar with the book of Daniel, but I think he meant that the end of the world was coming. (Just to warn you)

I stayed with Margaret - a good friend of a good friend - she was incredibly nice and had gone out of her way to make me feel welcome. We sat in her garden and drank wine, and after supper her son Andrew invited me to go out with him and his friends. It was interesting to be immersed into a complete group of friends from a different country - I couldn't quite work out what was different about them, and I couldn't get over how cheap the beer was. They all seemed very nice and were hugely entertaining, but at 1am, after a 4am start and an eight hour flight I had to go and sleep.

On Friday night, Margaret, Andrew and I went to see Bryan (an old friend of Andrew's and one of the people I had met the previous evening) in the Wits University production of 'Much Ado About Nothing'. Even though it is one of the few Shakespeare's I haven't studied, I immensely enjoyed it. I thought the energy and dynamics of the cast were excellent. There was lots of jumping around the stage, singing and chanting and the overall use of space was very effective. I confess that I did have some problems following some parts of the play, but Shakespearean language is never easy, especially in a strong South African accent. Bryan who played Benedick, and the guy who played Claudio were by far the best. I decided not go and see Mr. Scruff with Andrew, Bryan and their friends. If I hadn't had to wake up early to go to Mozambique I would have loved to go.

My time in Jo'burg was definitely too short. The Stuart Watsons took great care of me, and I will definitely go back and visit them. Whilst I didn't feel safe in the city, I think the majority of that unease came from people in the UK scaremongering, and maybe reading the local papers doesn't help.

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