Muzo

The contract for the job has still not arrived from the head office. However it was definitely the right decision to head to Maganja da Costa as opposed to sitting around in Maputo or Quelimane.

Even though we are not yet official employees of ActionAid we were invited to go to the field by Adelson. The locality of Muzo is approximately 80km from Maganja and is really remote. No longer can we complain that we are isolated after visiting that place.

The narrow road was in bad condition after the heavy rain the night before and we occasionally went off road through trees where the road was impassable. Children ran to the road screaming and waving when the car approached and women stood watching at the side of the road wearing only a capulana tied round their waist. Stebba and I have tried to find the logic in the fact that we have to have our knees hidden from view, yet women can go topless. Much as we try to adapt to the local culture, we decided that baring our breasts might not be a wise move.

We stopped briefly and the car was swamped by dozens of people appearing from nowhere. Lots of curious children and terrified babies and women with little scars all over their chests and faces in patterns from the traditional healers (or witch doctors). We picked up two local men that were involved in the ActionAid project and went to visit the machamba (moz word for field). The road deteriorated quickly and there was a debate on whether we should continue by foot. The driver decided that the car was a better option than walking 7km in the drizzle. One of the locals assured us that the road was frequently used by cars - when asked how frequent was frequent he replied 'very, there was one car last month'. Stefania and I began to face the prospect of sleeping a night in the bush. The 7km took nearly and hour, which included 20 minutes of being stuck in a ditch and getting filthy pushing the car in ankle deep mud.




We visited the machamba, which was not ready for planting, and shortly after began the meeting. We sat on under a thatch canopy with members of the community involved in the project, and everyone else who wanted to hear what was going on. This included four little boys who had followed the car for 7km by foot. I doubt the average 8yr old in Europe could run that.



There were some children playing with bicycle tyres with enormous swollen bellies from malnutrition, and two little boys, about 2 years old, hitting each other with knives. (No wrapping up children in cotton wool here!) You can just about see the knife in the hand of the boy in the foreground of the picture. Mostly they sat very quietly at the meeting, listening to what was going on.



The meeting was in Portuguese and then translated into the local dialect. Whilst most people in the country speak Portuguese, in the very rural areas they don't. ActionAid is providing seeds for this community and those involved in the project will work collectively on the machamba and will have food and a small source of income. It all has to be monitored very carefully so the seeds don't end up in market the following week being sold for immediate profit.



It was nice that Stebba and I were introduced to the people and I was very impressed with the way that Adelson spoke to the community. He was very clear that things had to be done the correct way, but he was also making jokes with them and they were laughing and seemed to really respect him. After contracts had been signed we were offered cashew fruit and boiled cassava, and were given a live chicken and some maize flour to take home. Cashew fruit is really strange - it's quite bitter and stings the bag of your throat, there's something similar to an apple about it, but it really is unlike anything else.



We headed back, this time bringing some extra people to help push the car. Adelson decided as no one would sell him a pig, he would buy some cockerels off an ex-Renamo fighter instead. (see picture in next post) We waited as two men ran around the bush trying to catch the most attractive cockerels, and they were tied up and put in the back of the truck to endure the bumpy 80km ride home.

The trip to the locality of Muzo was really quite eye-opening. The thing that amazed me is how good humoured these people seemed who have so little. I'm not so naive that i think they are happy and content, but it made me realise how much fuss we make over hardships that pale in comparison.