Life in Lourenço Marques

During my second weekend (I know, I'm more than a week behind) I walked down to the baixa (which literally means lower), the downtown of Maputo and at the bottom of the hill that the rest of the city rests on. I took the walking tour set out in the Lonely Planet tour book, with a few extra stops of my own added in. The first stop was the Fort or Fortaleza, the oldest historical site in Maputo, but I don't know what happened there. Lame, I know. But thanks to Wikipedia, I can tell you this: "Founded in the late 18th century, the capital city of Mozambique was named for Lourenço Marques, the Portuguese trader who was the first European to explore the area in 1544. After independence, the city's name was changed to Maputo. Maputo's name reputedly has its origin in an old, fierce tribal leader, Maputa, who once ruled over the region." There you go. The fort is very well maintained and beautiful with its many coconut trees adorning the lawn. Even the cannons look beautiful but again reminds you of the bloodshed that happened here. Across from the Fort is is arts and crafts market that occurs every Saturday morning. This picture of the market with the buildings in the back is taken from the top of the fort is my favorite of Maputo so far. Off to the left of the fort is the harbor where apparently watching the freighters unload is quite a sight, but which occurs at 6am, so doubtful I will ever see it. I then made my way around the rest of the baixa, past various cafes, restaurants, shops and jazz clubs towards the municipal market. The market is an experience. You walk in and you are immediately assaulted by the smell of fish. You get used to that fairly quickly, but the children constantly asking for money and asking to help you takes a bit more adjustment. The fish look so good though, despite the flies, and are fresh from the sea. The market is huge, about the size of half a CFL football field. There are people everywhere selling anything you could want from arts and crafts to bath products to hair extensions, baked goods, stationary, footwear, and topped off with pickpockets I'm told. I had no problems, but I was a little on edge. I felt like I was in a scene from Brokedown Palace, and anyone who has seen that movie will understand why I was on edge. After the market, with fruits, veggies, and the best cashews on the face of the earth in hand, I headed over to the botanical garden, which looks alright in the picture, but in person wasn't quite as impressive.
It's no Assiniboine Park or Gatineau Park, that's for sure. But I wont ever tire seeing acacia and coconut trees, no matter where they are. Near the botanical garden is the Praça da Independençia or Independence Square,with Maputo City Hall on the left and the Cathedral on the right. Across from the Praça is the French Cultural Centre where they show films and have various theatrical performances.
This is also where I peed in my first hole in the ground. It was actually quite nice compared to what could, and probably will, be. I have to say, Africa is dirty. You have no choice but to become less prissy about things lest you go completely mad and leave the country. Like when I found a lizard in the pantry, I thought, great, he can eat the mosquitoes. I completely ignored the cockroach in my bathroom, and the tiny little bugs on my bread, I just brushed them off and continued making my sandwich. I guess I'm becoming Africanized, or, possibly losing my mind.

My new best friend

Meet Dambu. Ths is my landlord Taciana's Rhodesian Ridgeback cross. He has become my best friend here while he accompanies me on walks and runs. He is very sweet, often putting his head on my lap or lying on the bed with me. He is also quite the character. He can open doors and often you will find him casually lying in seemingly awkward positions but totally at ease. In the house he seems like he is the laziest dog on earth, he really only moves unless he has to and then only to reposition himself as he lies down again. But as soon as he hears me pick up the leash he screams over and jumps all over me. He usually steals the leash from my hand and runs toward the door but then plays this game where he wont let me have the leash back without growling and play biting me. His transformation from sloth to maniac continues once we get outside where he becomes completely hysterical. He bounds along with me as I run but then stops suddenly every 3 trees to mark his territory. This is a minor inconvenience compared to how much he freaks ou when he sees another dog. I often come home with bruised or blistered hands because of how much he pulls when he sees another dog. And there are a lot of dogs around my neighbourhood, generally guard dogs or the well-off folk with their pets. Mozambicans are typically afraid of dogs. I often see this as it seems like I am parting the red sea of people as I walk the dog, everyone gets out of the way. You can really see the lack of trust on people's faces. Of course, I rather enjoy this because he is my security while I get used to things around here. And Dambu is rather enjoying the excitement as well and is becoming more behaved on the leash and outside in general. He follows me around the house constantly now even when Taciana is home. I find this rather amusing also. I grew up with dogs and LOVE animals, so I am enjoying my new roommate as I miss my kitties Cola and Winkler who are being well taken care of by their grandma.

First weekend

Maputo is cool. Its history of colonialism, independence, civil war, stability and now development and growth makes for an interesting, lets see, what should I call it, a kaleidoscope of landscapes. Its a constant battle between new and old, modernity and history.

On the one hand, you can buy modern brand names like Roxy and Levis, and if the consumer culture doesnt heal your pain you can always visit the traditional doctor who can treat everything from asthma, malaria, heart break and love affairs, and if that doesnt work, he can also try freeing your body of bad spirits. Very often you see beautifully maintained buildings beside abandoned, apparently bombed out buildings. What makes it so interesting is that is so apparent, you cant help but notice it and wonder why its like that. Despite the nastiness of colonialism, Portuguese architecture is beautiful. Many buildings are very run down and abandoned but other buildings have been maintained and restored.
Mozambique managed to sustain a civil war for 16 years, with the help of South African and Rhodesian (now Zimbabwe, and still not any more helpful to African progress) rebel forces and arms from China, France and the USSR (remember them?). 16 years means a lot of guns and arms. The Museum of the Revolution has so many guns on display that as you continue through the Museum, displays gradually stop identifying the guns, and by the end the rest of the guns in the collection are just thrown into a final "display", essentially a pile of guns in a big glass case. The Nucleo de Arte, a very cool art gallery/jazz cafe near my house, has a large number of sculptures made out of arms, rockets, missiles, bullets, guns, etc. No pictures allowed though. Rats. I dont mean no pictures because of rats, I mean too bad. ~I did see my first rat though, in the Museum of the Revolution, dining on some discarded food. It was enormous, the size of 4 Big Macs (BMs) stacked one on top of another. If you are not familiar with that unit of measurement, it was as big as a 2 litre carton of milk. Strangely it didnt bother me as much as it should have. I must be becoming Africanized. Of course it was NIMBY (not in my back yard).

One thing I will definitely miss when I leave here is the outdoor markets and street vendors. Mega malls and big box stores cant ever compete with the old world charm and beauty of an outdoor market on a sunny day. I would much rather deal with a pesky street vendor than clueless Walmart staff any day. I am happy to say there is no McDonalds or Walmart here (but there are Woolworths and KFC). But in my truly anti-multinational corporation pessimistic way, they probably havent bothered with Mozambique because its still too poor. Coca Cola hasnt missed the boat though. They are alive and doing very well here. It's strange and a little sad to see big Coca Cola billboards and signs on run down aluminum shacks that are barely fit for shelter, but are being used as homes and food and drink establishments. But I guess everyone deserves their carbonated, sugary, syrupy vice.

Raison d etre içi (the Portuguese language doesnt have much use for apostrophes)

So, I should tell you a bit about what I am doing here. I am working at the Aga Khan Foundation based in the capital, Maputo. You only have look at the Aga Khan website to see all the good things they do around the world. The Mozambique office is currently running two programs. One is called the Coastal Rural Support Program (CRSP, or what some, including me, like to call "crispy") and the other Bridges to the Future or B2F. CRSP is an integrated rural development program with components in market development, health, education and community capacity building. For those who arent in development, what this means is that the program tries to increase people's access to health and education services, tries to create ways for people to sell things, and tries to help community organizations become more organized and able, all in very poor rural northern Mozambique, in the province of Cabo Delgado. B2F is a human resources development program that offers scholarships to gifted students, educational opportunities for lifelong learning, and helps organizations build capacity to continue this type of human resource development. As part of my job, I will be working with the CRSP program, helping the market development component. We are hoping to offshoot this component into a separate program of its own to build on what its doing already and to complement whats being done now. So I will be travelling up north to the project area to see what we are working with and hopefully can come up with some good ideas. Everyone says it's quite beautiful up there. It is near a resort and a game park, two markets the country is trying to develop. Of course, my work wont be on the resort but in the villages.
I will also be helping with a couple of studies that the office is doing. One study is a civil society indexing study trying to get a sense of how able and organized non-profit organizations are in the country. The other study is focused on pluralism and will look at the demography of Cabo Delgado province and more specifically the cultures, languages, traditions, and history of the people there. Both of these studies are being done so that programs can be better designed and implemented with this information in mind.
Other than these things, I am responsible for writing program performance reports. These are the reports that go to the donors to show that their money is being used well. My boss Kevin is the only other native English speaker and is already doing the job of 2-3 people and up until my arrival he was doing all these reports. He has happily offloaded all this work to me. I will also be writing some internal policies for the office. Top secret stuff, can't talk about it. :-)
And of course there are always the urgent, has to be done yesterday type things that always come up, like the neverending translation of Portuguese reports to English I have been doing so far. But I am not complaining. (Ok, well maybe a little) It is certain that I will be extremely busy during my time here. So sorry if I dont respond to your emails right away!

Finally!

I've arrived! I have now been in Maputo for just under 24 hours. I'm
still getting settled and used to things. It's really surreal being here.
It's quite unusual to spend 2 days inside buildings and airplanes to come
out on the other side of the world. This must be what a time warp feels like. Right
now I am at the Avenida hotel (niiice) a block or so from my place stealing their free internet since my wireless at home isn't working.

I was greeted at the puny and ultra old-school Maputo airport by Djamila, a
co-worker who very kindly took me to the apartment, gave me a phone, took
me shopping and for coffee at the ritzy Polana hotel (owned by the Prince Aga Khan – my boss I guess) on the ocean and showed me around. So I have a cell phone now. Everyone here has a cell phone. It takes months to get a land line. So if anyone wants to call
me you can call me at 011-258-82-602-9282. (By the way, international
calling cards can be purchased at the ethnic stores in any city- of course
in Winnipeg you may endanger your lives by going to those areas of town, so
travel in groups hehe) Of course, please remember that I am in the future
(except for you Dan, you're still 6 hours in the future from me). I'm 8
hours ahead of Winnipeg, 10 Calgary and 7 Ottawa. Not that I wouldn't love
to hear from you, but you know. Text messaging from the cell phone is
also huge here - since it's free.

The jet lag was quite minimal, I'm already on Moz time. Was able to do a
lot of sleeping on the planes. Fell dead asleep on the KLM bus to Montreal
before it even hit the highway. But not before I saw this funny sign in the bathroom. Apparently men in hats aren’t allowed near you while you relieve yourself. The Montréal-Amsterdam flight wasn't full so I had the row to myself to lie down and sleep. I also had some entertainment to keep me from being too bored. This little guy was too funny. The killer 10 hour daytime Amsterdam-Johannesburg flight was nearly full and I wasn't as tired so
there was a lot of reading and a movie. Spent the night in Joburg where my
good friend Gerhard picked me up and took me to visit his parents and
brother. I was pretty wired so I didn't sleep much and in the morning he took me back to the airport. I was happy to see a trusted friend on my way to the heart of darkness.

I arrived in Maputo around 3pm Saturday February 3rd. I was pretty tired but was out and about all day so no resting until I went to bed for the night at about 10:30 or 11. I slept like the dead -hopefully no cockroaches or bed bugs came to visit me. I haven't seen any weird bugs yet, just a couple of lizards, but the first African bug
encounter is imminent I am sure. It's not encouraging that there's a huge can of bug spray called DOOM outside of my bedroom. Alternatively, on the advice of my colleagues at CIDA, I can always try dipping them in chocolate.

My first morning I was text-invited (I meant it when I said that texting is huge here) for coffee with my boss Kevin from Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) at the Jardim dos Namorados (Garden of Lovers on Avenida Frederich Engels). It’s a popular spot for ice cream on the weekends. Ok, so very short history lesson since my knowledge of history isn't the greatest. Mozambique was a colony of fascist Portugal (it gained
independence in 1975). After independence the Mozambican government got help from other communist countries. So many, many streets are named after communist icons and
leaders. There are streets named after Frederich Engels, Kim Il Sung, Mao Tse Tung, Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, Ho Chi Minh...etc. It's quite funny coming from the west to this. Especially funny that the current US Embassy is on the corner of Mao Tse Tung and Vladimir Lenin. But they’re moving. I guess they just couldn’t stand it anymore.

There are a lot of people selling stuff on the streets. Literally everwhere. They can be a bit annoying since they are quite aggressive especially when they spot a newcomer but if you just say no thanks and keep walking they are nice, just folks
trying to make a living. There were some guys selling puppies on the street. I had to look away.

Oh ya, the rumours are true- it's hot. Yesterday was 35 Celsius during the day and about 22 at night. But it's not sickly humid like Ottawa can be so it's manageable. And brushing up my Portuguese although you can get around quite easily with just English. But I came here to learn about this country so I will speak the language. I bought a Portuguese book today by Mozambican journalist Mia Couto. It's a compendium of some of his articles that talk about how Mozambique has been shaped over the years in terms of social conscience and it's place in the world. Anyway I know some of you
are rolling your eyes and muttering "oh, there's that book smart Suzan
going on again about social conscience and the world and stuff -blah blah"- but it will be interesting to
me.

Ok, I better get going. It's just about 3pm now so you all are just getting
up and only about 4 more hours of daylight so better hit the streets. Enjoy
your Sundays as I am enjoying mine. Ate breve (literally- until soon, but
coloquially, talk to you soon).

Ola from Maputo!

I am now on Day 6 here and I have to say it’s still pretty surreal being here. Before I came here I never really believed that I was actually going to live here, and now that I have arrived I still don’t believe it.

Things are very different here and I am completely out of my comfort zone. It’s my first travel experience; other than to the US and to Europe when I was much younger, so those don’t count. So being here for work makes it a bit easier, but actually living here might be the most difficult part.

I have to say though my apartment is pretty sweet. Nice room, bathroom has a bidet (I LOVE bidets- so European), balcony off my bedroom that I share with Maria, the Portuguese
psychologist who also lives there, overlooking the front street and the city and a back balcony off the living room overlooking the ocean. Not a bad set up. And of course there's Senhor Manuel who takes care of the cooking and Othelia who does the cleaning and laundry. I am not used to such luxuries however so I usually just do everything myself anyway. But I have also seen a neighbourhood where everyone lived in shacks- rickety wooden or aluminium walls with either thatch or aluminium roofs. This was near the shopping strip mall where the Woolworths is. I thought Woolworths went the way of the dodo but it is alive and well in Africa. It was a little disturbing to see these living conditions but people seemed to get along fine. And the disparity is obvious in areas like this with big shopping malls across from slums. Disturbing.

What else is different? Besides the obvious, like climate, flora and fauna (there’s a lizard in my pantry – and the bugs! saw my first cockroach- luckily it had already met its maker, the can of DOOM) etc, the most striking differences to me so far are the streets, the driving and the infrastructure. I always get people asking me what I love about Ottawa, and my answer is always infrastructure. You can imagine the puzzled looks I get. But this is why: Infrastructure is what makes a city liveable (and sustainable, but that’s another conversation). Ottawa has a great road system and transit system. Winnipeg, not so much. I couldn’t imagine living in Winnipeg without a car. You couldn’t really unless your life had very limited boundaries or you bummed a lot of rides; otherwise you would spend a good portion of your day and money in transit. In Ottawa, I rarely drive. The parking costs are outrageous which is good incentive to take the bus or train. But they are great systems and get you where you need to go quickly. In Maputo, the infrastructure is very weak. The roads have huge potholes, the sidewalks are crumbling as are many buildings and the public transit system is next to nonexistent. There exist some city buses, but they don’t run well (not mechanically nor efficiently) and the chapas (privately owned minivans or trucks used to transport people) are slow, usually packed and seemingly completely disorganized. There are no stops to catch them; you stand on the side of the street and wait for one to drive by and you flag it down. The locals seem to know where to catch them – I think certain places have become understood chapa stops, but for a foreigner, it seems really random. The chapas also often troll for more people to stuff the van with, which makes them stop often and therefore, slow. Not to mention dangerous since they are way overcapacity and the driving here is insane!!!!

First, they drive on the opposite side here. Fine enough. My international driver’s permit allows me to drive anywhere. If Mr. Bean can drive on the right hand side, so can I. This is not the concern. The concern is that many intersections don’t have stoplights so cars just inch their way through. In other areas, it’s a roundabout and merge system with many streets separated by wide boulevards, and everyone is crazy aggressive. Like the link but African style- chaotic and much, much faster. People go when they feel like it, whether they are crossing the street on foot or driving; there is no courtesy, no letting in, although people seem to signal (at least my friends do). This slight safety precaution provides little comfort however; so many times I thought we were going to run someone over or smash into another car. Whereas in Canada or even the US I feel confident in my driving as an aggressive driver amongst other calmly, defensive drivers, here, everyone is in a rush, crazy and aggressive. It’s not something that can be explained, I hope to take a video. Don’t worry Mom, I won’t be driving here.

Another thing about the streets besides the driving and the lack of city maintenance is the large of people constantly on the streets. Of course coming from Canada with a relatively teeny population (around 33 million) for its surface area (almost 10 million km²⁾, it is no wonder that it seems like there are so many people around. Mozambique has almost 20 million people with a surface area of 801,590. Pretty big difference. We don’t realize how lucky we are in Canada to have so much space to ourselves. Maputo’s population is around a million; hard to get an accurate number with so many living in slums, so there are people constantly on the streets, and not just a few. Dozens, hundreds as far as the eye can see in every direction, almost all the time, during the day at least. Night-time is another story. Many people are street vendors selling whatever good or service they have decided to sell. I have seen people selling fruits and vegetables, food and drinks, arts and crafts, shoes and clothing, flowers and plants, cell phone cards, public telephone services (they have a stand with a phone and the plug it in somewhere and people come and use it as a payphone), electrical accessories like extension cords and converters, and pirated DVDs among other things. I buy most of my fruits and veggies on the street for the best prices but I haven’t gotten the hang of haggling yet. I am probably richer than most of them so I don’t mind paying a bit more as long as I’m not getting completely ripped off. Of course as a Winnipegger, I do love a bargain. But besides the vendors and beggars there are also a large number of people just seemingly hanging around sitting on the sidewalk or the side of the road. Apparently it’s an Africa thing. As my South African friend Gerhard says, “Africans have an amazing ability to sit around and do nothing all day long.” Presumably this is due to unemployment, which at last estimates in 1997 was 21%. In Canada in 2005, it was 6.8%.

So these are the things that make my surroundings immediately different. It is a developing country after all. I’ll have to brace myself for my visits to the poor(er) areas.