Final days

Thursday ended up being a busy day.   Packed in the a.m.   I noticed in the last couple of days that the expresso machine in a corner of the dining area, which I assumed was non-functional (since we had instant coffee and hot water on the breakfast table every a.m.), actually works and was used for after dinner coffee for some of the Portuguese volunteers.   I asked the Padre if I could have some expresso for breakfast.  It was so good I had a second cup.   I wish I had spoken up earlier as the instant coffee is a very poor second choice.  

Adriano and I were picked up by one of our SNV colleagues to go to their office and discuss the draft of the business plan I had emailed them on Tuesday, with a 2nd draft on Wednesday.   It turns out there was a pretty significant math error I am still at a loss to understand .   We went hauling off to FM’s warehouse to reclaim all of the flip chart pages that had our original figures.   It turns out the error was in FM’s favor.   The start up costs are considerably less so they will not be as stretched in coming up with their share of the money.   I went back to the guesthouse, revised, expanded and sent off the third and hopefully, final draft of the plan.   Left feeling positive about the chances of FM to get the grant.  

Thursday afternoon, we left Molocue about 3 and began the dusty, potholed drive to Nampula.   On the way,  I had the opportunity to learn more about 
Adriano’s experience as an English teacher during the acquisition of his university degree.   He was assigned a location about 70 km from Nampula (no city, just a cluster of huts and a very primitive classroom.   He said there were no books, no paper, no pencils.   Occasionally, they ran out of chalk for the blackboard and he had to use dried cassava to write (!).   While we can say alot of things are wrong with the education system in our country,  this brings new meaning to “challenging learning environment”.  

 This is NOT the hotel where I stayed.   I took this picture from

this hotel room.   All the mod cons, including airconditioning.    Met a friend of the country director who was in town for a USAID conference.   We had an interesting conversation over dinner.   He has been involved in ag extension work most of his career.   He was in the Peace Corps in Brazil in the 60s, married a Brazilian and divides his time between there and Texas.  He’s had several overseas assignments, including two years in Armenia in the mid-90s.   It was very nice to reminisce about our mutual experiences.


Scene from outside my hotel room.

Since I wasn’t leaving Nampula until 5 on Friday,  I asked Adriano to stay with me for most of the day.   We went to a museum but didn’t see the exhibits.   He wanted me to see the carvers outside the museum, making their carvings in a traditional manner.   (see pics).   We also shopped briefly for capulanas (the cloth from which the women make their garments), I bought yet another one, bringing my total to 4. 

We had lunch at this attractive local restaurant and around 3, left for the airport. 

I spent Friday night in Beiria at the same hotel where I started this venture.  

Saturday morning in Beiria by the ocean with a book

Then starts the exhausting journey home.   First a flight from Beiria to Johannesburg.    Eight hours in J’burg airport waiting for the next flight.   One nice piece of luck.   I asked about an upgrade to comfort coach and sure enough, I could get one.   Expensive and it took nearly two hours of dashing from one end of the airport to another.   I had to go from the international transfer area, go thru passport control to actually enter the country of South Africa so I could go to the KLM ticket counter and buy the upgrade.   I had a decent lunch in one of the airport restaurants, then started the 11 hour flight at 11 pm.   Landed in Amsterdam about 10 am Sunday (same time zone, 6 hours ahead of US EDT), had time for a nice croissant and a cup of good cappuccino, then onto another flight around 1 with a 9+ hour flying time.   We left about an hour late and after landing in Atlanta and waiting over 30 minutes for my bags,  I had less than 20 minutes to clear customs, recheck my big bag, go thru security, take the train to the proper terminal and walk FAST to the very last gate in that terminal.   I arrived 5 minutes before the plane was supposed to take off with no one at the gate.   The plane was still there, so I begged and pleaded and after a bit of pins and needles was finally allowed to board. 

Home again.   I write this from my comfortable easy chair with Stella (my dog) sleeping beside me, a cool breeze drifting in from my front porch, my mountains in the distance and an heirloom tomato on my counter.   Life is good. 

Day 12 addendum

In case you dont hear from me for awhile, it may be attributed to a mysterious dinner dish that was supposedly fried beans, mashed into patties.  They tasted good, then someone pointed out the ants mashed into the concoction.   Hopefully, they were well fried and count as protein, not poison.   Lots of ants all over the place.   They are very small and can creep thru very tiny holes.   I had my room cleaned every three days or so to keep them at bay.  

  Day 12

Today was another day to learn more about the area.  The meeting with the local NGO which was supposed to happen yesterday afternoon did not happen today either.   Tomorrow morning... maybe.   Instead I was able to get a thorough tour of the facilities sponsored by the church in the compound where I am staying.  

These kids are pre-schoolers learning a little English, along with the alphabet, numbers and how to write their names.   There is very little opportunity for education for many of the people and over 40% of 7th graders are still illiterate.   This is a good service this group provides.   My dropshots site has a little video of the kids singing numbers 1 - 10 in English.

 

  

I like these paintings in the lobby of the guesthouse.







The church sponsors a wood shop. This is one of the priests who found this broken down electric saw in another city and thinks he can make it work.   No such thing as Home Depots here. 


tools are somewhat primitive

we left the shop

and visited a sewing center.   The machines are all manual (steady electricity is a problem here).  

 This is the woman who teaches some of the classes.

Below are murals on the outside walls 

at this location

 another mural








this is one of the sewing classes in session
and below this pic is a chart of dresses so customers can come in and show what they want made.

 

This young man is painting a mural on the wall in one of the sewing rooms. 

More preschoolers learning to write their letters.   The helping hands you see are the Portuguese volunteers.   The priest who took me to all of these sites would be very interested in finding out about possible contributions from other organizations.   If any of these readers have any ideas, let me know.   They could use some better tools for the shop, more books for the students (they get almost nothing in their regular schools - no blackboards, frequently no desks or chairs, thatched huts, etc), donated computers and even such simple things as paper, pencils, pens.

Adriano and I took a walk in the neighborhood. This woman is explaining that the structure you see is stacks of bricks that are heated up to cure them and make them last longer.   The various holes at the bottom are where they place wood to heat them.   Then they dismantle the structure and use the bricks.

 Local watering hole.   This is near a river and there is a hand dug well of sorts with a pipe coming out that delivers clear water.   I didn't see any kind of a pump mechanism.   Basically, people (mostly women) come down the hill with their 5 gallon and bigger containers, fill them up and walk back up the hill with the water buckets balanced on their heads.  

I enjoyed having the luxury of a day with no specific obligations tho I had to talk myself into it.   When I'm on an assignment like this, I feel like I should be busy every minute.   Tomorrow, we leave Altomoloque - sometime in the afternoon, preceded by the meeting that was supposed to happen Tuesday afternoon, sometime in the morning.   I will spend the night in Nampula, all day Friday in that city, with one meeting already scheduled (no time specific, just "morning"), then board a plane to Beira around 5 pm, spend the night in Beira, then head home on Saturday.  

If you've been looking at the calendar and counting, you'll know today is really day 11, not what I said in the previous post.   Oh well.   Its interesting having the large group of 14 Portuguese volunteers in the guest house.   A couple of them speak a little English, but basically all the conversation is in Portuguese.   I'm pretty sure the Padre told me I have to say the prayer before dinner tomorrow night.   Adriano said it tonite.  Should be interesting.   I like the Francis of Assisi prayer tho it is more about food for the soul than food for the body.   Back to needlepoint and reading.

Day 9
 This has been an interesting day so far.  Yesterday I was hunched over the computer all day writing the business plan.   I took a break in the early evening and walked to “town” with Adriano to meet some Peace Corps vols - two young men teaching in the local schools in this area.   Interesting how universal some Peace Corps experiences can be - unhelpful bureaucracies, transportation challenges, exciting secondary projects, overwhelming desire for peanut butter.   I had one chocolate bar left from the stock I brought (made in Asheville at French Broad Chocolate, of course) and gave that to them.  You would have thought I was presenting them with casks of gold. 


As I wrote and wrote yesterday,  I realized I needed much more information and arranged an appointment with the President of the federation.   We are without transport today as our coordinating ngo is in another city with both cars.   So he was to meet us at the guest house at 10.   When we finally reached him at 10:30, he said he had problems w/ his motorbike and would be there shortly.   We called again at noon and suggested he come as 2 as it was too close to lunch time.  

Meanwhile,  I spent some time sitting outdoors.    I saw a man sitting nearby with something that looked like a round waffle iron.   As you can see from the pictures, he was making communion wafers for Sunday.  

 Notice the design on the grill.  

Then he stamps out the wafers and puts them in a container to await Sunday.   Pretty cool.

 Little kids come up to inspect and love having their picture taken.

 I told them I'd take a video of them if they would sing me a song.   Unfortunately,   I don't think the internet and my portable modem can handle the length.   I'll have to post it after I get to the US. 

                                  posing with Adriano

Its 1:30 now.   I wouldn’t lay odds on our visitor showing up at 2.   My time here is drawing to an end.   I have today and tomorrow to refine the business plan.   We leave Thursday morning for the 3 hour drive to Nampula where I will meet with my country director and spend the night.   The next day I can explore Nampula, the 2nd largest city.   Maybe I’ll find some more fabric.   We fly Friday night to Beria where this whole adventure started.   Then Saturday to Johannesburg in the morning, wait til 11 pm for the flight to Amsterdam,  wait 3 hours for the flight to Atlanta, wait two hours for the 45 minute flight to Asheville and home again, home again by 8 pm Sunday August 11.    Rats, just found out I won’t be leaving for Nampula til Thursday afternoon - transport problems.   I’ve run out of activities here.   I will just use the time as relaxing - reading and needlepoint with some local area walks thrown in. 

Day 7

Rained most of yesterday so stayed inside most of the time.  A group of 14 Portiguese volunteers have come to the guesthouse where they will be spending a month working with the local people on a variety of educational and entrepreneurial areas.   Its nice to have a full table at meals.   Right now it is early afternoon and the area around the guesthouse is full of the sounds of children playing.   Most enjoyable.


Had an opportunity to drive around the "city", visit local markets and take a few photos.  Here goes.

 The bougainvillaea next to the guest house.   This is trimmed as a bush but I think its still the same plant

 Life outside the guesthouse gates

Daily business

This is where you buy chickens.   I guess turning them into dinner requires all the old fashioned activity - killing, defeathering, etc. 

This is how they are carried around by the purchasers - still live, upside down

 I understand bikes sometimes have 4 people riding.   Three seems a gracious plenty.   Notice the beautiful fabric in the background.   Yes, I bought some.

 At the market

 At the market, piles of clothes, literally in piles and piles of shoes in no particular order.  

 Beans and eggs.   The driver said the last time he bought eggs there was a developing chicken in one of them, so...

 the seller looked closely at the eggs in the light to make sure no unsuspecting babies lurked.

Yes, these are bundles of mice.   I didn't ask any questions, just moved on quickly.

carrying baby and chicken

                        Stuff to buy and lots of it

beans and tangerines

                   


                      wall art outside the market

time to wash clothes - I asked my interpreter if that how my clothes got cleaned at the guesthouse and he said yes.  I dont think that is what really happened as my clothes were returned very clean and ironed. 

 This structure which looks like a toll booth for a small person is right beside the bridge where I took the clothes washing pics.   I liked the art work.  No one in my car knew what it was for.  

 people make their own bricks to build their  houses.   These are drying.

                            scavenging in a dump 

this house belongs to the head administrator of the region.   His own electrical tower - and a huge satellite dish which you cant see in the pic

A hotel where I could have stayed - nice looking on the outside, but away from the city and no running water.   I think I lucked out where I am.  



Here's the three pieces of fabric I bought.