“Aqui é sua casa”

Hi guys! Tudo bem? Here goes another update!

I am actually not feeling that well right now and staying home from work…I have that messed up belly problem that most travellers in tropical countries have to cope with. I didn’t sleep all night (my first night in my new room!!), because, well….I’ll spare you the details! ;) I have some fever too. Hope it’ll pass soon, because tomorrow morning I have my first interview planned, with the executive director of AMOPROC (Associação Moçambicana para a Promoção da Cidadania). Pretty exciting!
I also went by the “Fórum Mulher” yesterday, to see if I can make an appointment for an interview. But I’m still waiting for an answer. I did buy a very practical book, called “Manual on Gender Mainstreaming”.

Since my last blog, I had to present my research to UN-HABITAT during my first staff meeting with them (and before going on the fieldtrip to Chibuto). Their comments were positive, although they thought the research might be too ambitious (and even worthy for a PhD heehhe)...I initially wanted to study participation and gender issues in relation to water delivery, but the staff at UN-HABITAT is working on setting up a simplified land registration system and would like me to focus on that service too. I don’t disagree, but since this service is less physical, I can’t really see the participation part...Anyway, I’ll see how that works out. Then, we discussed a working plan for the fieldtrip, i.e. who was going to do what. Apparently this is only the second time for them to visit Chibuto Municipality, so I haven’t missed out on that much! Next to that, there have been municipal elections recently, so all of the Municipal staff is new (since their last visit)...so we all sort of had to be reintroduced to each other.

So, on Thursday I got picked up by UNDP’s 4x4 (UN-HABITAT doesn’t have its own vehicle yet) at around 06.00 a.m. in the morning by driver Abu. Our team consisted of Camilla, Anselmo, Sérgio and I. Some Danish anthropologist also joined us, because he had written his PhD on urban housing and land tenure. At around 09.30 a.m. we arrived at our destination and I must say, Mozambique has a stunning landscape...so green! Endlessly green! We couldn’t immediately get started though, because upon our arrival there was a party going on in town! The “primeira dama” (Mrs. Guebuza) was visiting! Unfortunately we didn’t meet her, but this caused a delay of about 2 hours, before we could introduce ourselves to the Municipal staff and the President of the Municipal Council. No worries though, because this made us want to “matabichar”, which literally means “to kill the beast”....or in other words...TO EAT! In the local café we had some sandwiches and “pregos” (beef on your bread).

After presenting ourselves, we were welcomed in the best way you could imagine. The President of the Municipal Council even finished off by saying “Aqui é sua casa!” (this is your home). On the one hand, this is of course a good thing. But on the other, we think we might have created very high expectations. After the introduction, we talked more in depth with some of the municipal councillors and technicians about the land registration process. We also went to a neighbourhood (“25 de Junho”) to collect GPS coordinates, so that the land plots can be better identified in the future. A clear geographical map of the city, with its neighbourhoods and streets does not seem to be available. The Municipality only showed us a large areal picture of Chibuto Municipality. This mission was my first acquaintance with Chibuto and the impression I got is that the Municipality is more rural than urban. Next to that, the Municipality seems to be dealing with quite some problems. The Municipal staff members expressed a great need for the organisation and restructuring of Chibuto’s neighbourhoods. Other problems include the water delivery system, which does not cover even half of the population. Furthermore, the Municipality is experiencing difficulties in the collection of taxes.

Anyway, we finished the day off with a meal together with some municipal staff members and had chicken and “xima” (some corn substance that actually doesn’t taste of anything, but seems to be the main source of alimentation for a lot of Mozambicans). At around 08.00 p.m., when it was already dark, we went to our accommodation facilities (little huts, but made out of cement) and I couldn’t stop staring at the sky! I have never seen such a beautiful sky full of stars in my life....soooo many stars! Almost hypnotizing! We had some drinks (I tried “Amarula” for the first time, from South Africa...very Bailey’s like!) and called it an early night.

The next day we drove a bit around Chibuto and passed by “Rosita’s house”. This is a girl (by now 9 years old) that during the floods of 2000 was born in a tree! Afterwards, luckily she and her mother got saved by a helicopter. After this amazing event, the Mozambican state offered them a house with all the luxury you could imagine (in that area). I have some pics of the house, but unfortunately Rosita was not at home. We also entered the bairro 25 de Junho again and then had lunch at the house of Sérgio’s parents. He is originally from Chibuto. Again, we had chicken and xima! Hhehehe And I tasted some “Kanyu”, an alcoholic beverage made of the Kanyu fruit. Didn’t taste that nice. On our way back to Maputo, Sérgio took a plastic bottle of Kanyu with him in the car, but when he wanted to drink it, the whole bottle almost exploded in the car (very champagne like)...too bad the smell was not that nice.
On our way back we also bought some fruit from people that were selling it on the side of the road. I also bought my first cashew nuts! Maningue nice!

On Friday evening we went to the birthday party of a Chilean colleague, Fernando. It was nice to meet new people, including a Brazilian girl, Sofia, from Recife. I might meet up with her sometime this week. On Saturday I went to the crafts markets and bought a very nice bag, made out of “capulana”. This is a material that almost all Mozambican women use as a skirt, on their heads, to carry their babies in, etc. I also bought some capulana earrings. And then I went to check out a big shopping mall....they even have the shop “ZARA”, but it’s called ZON...I don’t know why exactly; probably so that they don’t have to pay that much for having that shop there. In the evening I met up with Anna, a German girl that I met for the first time. She is also doing an internship, at the German Development Agency. We had dinner at Mundo’s (coconut fish), then had some caipirinhas at Café Camisa...a place where some very artistic people hang out. We immediately integrated with some Mozambicans who insisted on sitting at our table. Afterwards we were introduced to the whole group of friends and even got to see their pieces of art (?). We finished the night off at the bar of CFM (the old train station)...quite weird to be dancing on the train platforms! And of course, we took a taxi back home.

Sunday was actually a rainy day...I transcribed my comments from the fieldtrip to Chibuto into a word document and did some internet research on NGOs / institutions that I could get into contact with. On Monday morning (yesterday) I moved into my new house and so far it’s been all good...expect for my belly :(. I took some nice shots of my new crib for you to see. I might have to start using those little chapa busses though...because on Monday I have been walking for two hours to get around in town. Not something you would do every day in this heat!

Well this is it for now....I am typing this with a slight fever....pfff, sweaty behind the comp! Heheh I hope I get better soon, because next week I was planning on going to Chibuto again for 4/5 days. I hope all is well over there?

Beijinhos!!!

PS: For pictures, see the following link (or copy paste it into a new window):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=103602&id=566821030&l=05bde