And now the post you have all be waiting for…
How to talk like a Mozambican!
1) Menigue nice.
Most Mozambicans are bilingual, speaking Portuguese as well as their local language, which varies around the country. In common speak, these language often get mixed, sometimes with a little English thrown in for good measure. Manigue means “very” in the local tongue, so when asked how you are, or how the food was, or what you think of a new song, the correct response is “Manigue nice!” (pronounced men-ing-gee) Or you can go for “é manigue nice” if you want to have three languages in the same sentence (é = is). Also popular is the saying “Mozambique é manigue fish!” Yah I don’t get it either.
2) Toh bisi
Mozambicans can be very busy, even if it seems like they are just sitting around. But when then want to tell you how busy they are they don’t say “estou occupado” (I am busy) in Portuguese, they say “toh bisi” where “toh” = estou shortened (because heaven knows they are much too busy to say both syllables) and “bisi” = a Mozambican version of busy. What, you want me to explain it better? I can’t, toh bisi!!
3) Esta lá
Want to know where something is? If you ask a local, you are almost 100% guaranteed to get the answer “esta lá” (it’s there) with a vague hand gesture in the direction of the thing you are trying to find. “So it’s down that street?” “Sim, esta lá” (yes, it’s there). And surprisingly enough, it usually is “there”!!
4) Tah nice
Similar to #1, this phrase “Tah nice” is used to mean “that’s fine”. I’ll meet you at Nautilus tomorrow at 2pm? Ok, tah nice!
5) Matabisho
When you wake up in Canada, you have breakfast. In Brazil, you have “café da amanha” (morning coffee). In Mozambique, you have “Matabisho”. You might be asked “Já matabishou?” (did you already have breakfast?)
6) Epa!
Every language has a word or sound used to express surprise or shock. In Mozambique, that word is “epa” and can be said with a lot of feeling behind it. What, you didn’t finish the work? Epa!
7) Kanimambo
Kanimambo means thank you in the local language and can be heard fairly often on the street. Plus, it sounds really cool!
8) Frigorifico
This is not a common word that you will hear often, but it is a treat when you do because it just sounds so awesome. What is it, you are wondering? The Mozambican word for a fridge! But whenever I hear it, it sounds to me like an adjective. You aced the test? That’s frigorifico!!
9) Brutal
I think this phrase is from Portugal. In English we use this word to indicate something bad. Oh you lost your wallet? That’s brutal. Here, it means the exact opposite – something really great! You got a new cell phone? Brutal! (pronounced with emphasis on the “tal” part)
10) Toh a pedir
This one is a little hard to explain without some language lingo (which I am very rusty at). I remember learning in French class that there were certain phrases and cases where we were to use “a + verb infinitive” rather than conjugating the verb when describing the act of doing something. There were only about 10 verbs that did this, but as long as we remembered which ones, it made things much simpler. So, just as the Brazilians have simplified Portuguese by removing a pronoun and rarely using the complex reflexive verb crazy stuff (Portuguese is a complicated language), the Mozambicans have taken to using the “a + verb infinitive” in the majority of cases, eliminating the need to conjugate in the case of “doing” an action. The most common case we hear is “toh a pedir” which means “I am asking for”. Can you imagine why this is the case we hear most often? “Toh a pedir 10 meticais. Só 10 meticais. Por favor”. But even Vera says this a lot. “Toh a pedir uma colher” (I am asking for a spoon). Daudo considers “toh a pedir” to already include the “please” but I remain unconvinced.
So, now that you are all experts on speaking like a Mozambican, see if you can understand the following:
- Oi tudo bem? (Hi how are you?)
- Toh maningue nice.
- Eu tambem (me too). Já matabishou?
- Nao ainda (not yet)
- Quer comer comigo? (want to eat with me?)
- Nao posso (I can’t). Toh bisi.
- Epa!
- Meu frigorifico novo vai chegar esta amanha (my new frigorifico will arrive this morning)
- Brutal! Almoco entao? (Lunch then?) No Nautilus? (At Nautilus?)
- Onde esta? (where’s that?)
- Esta lá, no Polana. (in Polana (a neighbourhood))
- Ok, tah nice.
- Oh, toh a pedir suas fotos do Xai-Xai (… your photos from Xai-Xai)
- Ok, nao tem problemas (ok, no problem)
- Kanimambo
- Até logo (see you later)
- Tchau (bye)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Cocktails
Well it’s been quite the week so far, featuring not one but TWO cocktails that were both very interesting and very different.
The first was an event that we have been planning for an entire year. The idea was told hold a big event to march the official “launch” of AIESEC in Mozambique. The original plan was to do this in December, but it didn’t quite work out, so we waited. Of course, we have been running operations since October and have already realized 6 exchanges and several other projects and events, so it’s not really a “launch” so to speak, but an event to mark that AIESEC is here and established with a strong plan for the future. This wasn’t for the students of the universities - they already know us. This was more for the government and the business community to take us seriously and know how they can work with us.
So the date was finally set for June 30th, the last official day of our term on the national team. We invited more than 60 influential people from around the city, including government, student organizations, companies and organizations. We had three guest speakers – Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique and an honorary member of AIESEC, the CEO from Ernst & Young and The Minister of Education. Lilian was our moderator and Daudo also gave a short speech. Marco was in charge of the guest list and I was the official photographer.
We started a bit late, in true Mozambican fashion, but the event went pretty smoothly and we got good feedback at the end. We had a lot of our members there as well. The two major Mozambican TV stations (TVM and STV) both came and filmed the whole event and did interviews with Daudo and the other guests. The next day, STV showed a two-minute clip about the event on the evening news! We will see in the next few months if the event achieved its objectives.
After the event the four of us all went out to a traditional Portuguese restaurant for a fancy dinner. It was really nice and the food was incredible. It was a big weight off our shoulders. As Daudo said “Next week will be the first week since we arrived that we won’t have the Official Launch as a weekly priority”.
So now AIESEC in Mozambique is officially launched! The event has garnered us 12 appearances in the media in the last two days alone.
As the Official Launch was only June 30th, you can probably guess what the second was. Yes, the day after was Canada Day and I received and invitation to go to the Canadian High Commissioner’s house for another cocktail. I wasn’t expecting a large crowd – maybe 20 or 30 people – but there were more than 100! Not all of them were Canadian, some were guests and affiliates, but there were still a lot of Canadians there. The first lady I talked to was from…. Victoria! What are the chances!
They played all Canadian music and they had a group of school kids sing O Canada and the Mozambican national anthem. Then the High Commissioner gave a speech – all in Portuguese, which was a little odd. But it was nice and I understood most of it, especially since he spoke very slowly.
There were lots of snacks as well, starting with sausages, cheese with crackers and some sushi-like things. Then came dessert, featuring brownies, chocolate cups and… wait for it… maple leaf shaped sugar cookies and plates of mini pancakes with maple syrup dip!! It was very yummy!
Then, just to make us all feel more at home, it started to pour. Because I walked to the place, I ended up staying an extra half hour waiting for the rain to stop. At least tropical rain is intense but short-lived. And until that day, it had not rained for over 2 months! Mother Nature was saving up just for us!
Now that it’s July, we are just wrapping things up and finishing our transition with the new team. I am working on my plans for what comes next. Two more weeks until we are all done! Crazy!
The first was an event that we have been planning for an entire year. The idea was told hold a big event to march the official “launch” of AIESEC in Mozambique. The original plan was to do this in December, but it didn’t quite work out, so we waited. Of course, we have been running operations since October and have already realized 6 exchanges and several other projects and events, so it’s not really a “launch” so to speak, but an event to mark that AIESEC is here and established with a strong plan for the future. This wasn’t for the students of the universities - they already know us. This was more for the government and the business community to take us seriously and know how they can work with us.
So the date was finally set for June 30th, the last official day of our term on the national team. We invited more than 60 influential people from around the city, including government, student organizations, companies and organizations. We had three guest speakers – Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique and an honorary member of AIESEC, the CEO from Ernst & Young and The Minister of Education. Lilian was our moderator and Daudo also gave a short speech. Marco was in charge of the guest list and I was the official photographer.
We started a bit late, in true Mozambican fashion, but the event went pretty smoothly and we got good feedback at the end. We had a lot of our members there as well. The two major Mozambican TV stations (TVM and STV) both came and filmed the whole event and did interviews with Daudo and the other guests. The next day, STV showed a two-minute clip about the event on the evening news! We will see in the next few months if the event achieved its objectives.
After the event the four of us all went out to a traditional Portuguese restaurant for a fancy dinner. It was really nice and the food was incredible. It was a big weight off our shoulders. As Daudo said “Next week will be the first week since we arrived that we won’t have the Official Launch as a weekly priority”.
So now AIESEC in Mozambique is officially launched! The event has garnered us 12 appearances in the media in the last two days alone.
As the Official Launch was only June 30th, you can probably guess what the second was. Yes, the day after was Canada Day and I received and invitation to go to the Canadian High Commissioner’s house for another cocktail. I wasn’t expecting a large crowd – maybe 20 or 30 people – but there were more than 100! Not all of them were Canadian, some were guests and affiliates, but there were still a lot of Canadians there. The first lady I talked to was from…. Victoria! What are the chances!
They played all Canadian music and they had a group of school kids sing O Canada and the Mozambican national anthem. Then the High Commissioner gave a speech – all in Portuguese, which was a little odd. But it was nice and I understood most of it, especially since he spoke very slowly.
There were lots of snacks as well, starting with sausages, cheese with crackers and some sushi-like things. Then came dessert, featuring brownies, chocolate cups and… wait for it… maple leaf shaped sugar cookies and plates of mini pancakes with maple syrup dip!! It was very yummy!
Then, just to make us all feel more at home, it started to pour. Because I walked to the place, I ended up staying an extra half hour waiting for the rain to stop. At least tropical rain is intense but short-lived. And until that day, it had not rained for over 2 months! Mother Nature was saving up just for us!
Now that it’s July, we are just wrapping things up and finishing our transition with the new team. I am working on my plans for what comes next. Two more weeks until we are all done! Crazy!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Independance Day - 35 years
Some photos from Independance Day!
The City Hall, where the ceremony took place.
Some performers at the event, though I didn't see them performing
Looks it's Guebuza! Can you see him? In his nice comfy chair!
The torch!
Some kids getting ready to perform
Some performers at the event, though I didn't see them performing
The torch!
Some kids getting ready to perform
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
35 years of Mozambique
This Friday (June 25th) marks the 35th anniversary of Mozambican independance from the Portuguese in 1975.
Mozambican history from the 60s through the 80s was not pretty, including the war of independance, followed by the civil war which finally ended in the early 90s. Eduardo Mondlane (who the university is named after) was the first leader of the independance movement, but died during the war and was succeeded by Mozambique's first president - Samora Machel.
There is a torch of independance which has been slowing making its way around the country over the last few months and will arrive in Maputo this week for a big celebration. Coverage of the torch has been shown regularly on the TV stations here. It's a national holiday as well, so hopefully I will be able to check out the celebrations.
Mozambican history has a number of interesting stories, including one that I have heard often about when the current president (at the time, the minister of the interior) famously declared the 24/20 rule. A large number of Portuguese residents had 24 hours to leave the country with a maximum of 20 kg of luggage. However, this exodus caused a huge leadership gap, since most of the Portuguese were the business owners and managers and there were no obvious replacements prepared. National leadership is still an issue here as even now a lot of the big businesses are owned and managed by foreigners, mostly Portuguese, Nigerians, Indians and South Africans.
Now with 35 years of independance and almost 20 years since the end of the civil war, it will be interesting to see where Mozambique is headed next.
Mozambican history from the 60s through the 80s was not pretty, including the war of independance, followed by the civil war which finally ended in the early 90s. Eduardo Mondlane (who the university is named after) was the first leader of the independance movement, but died during the war and was succeeded by Mozambique's first president - Samora Machel.
There is a torch of independance which has been slowing making its way around the country over the last few months and will arrive in Maputo this week for a big celebration. Coverage of the torch has been shown regularly on the TV stations here. It's a national holiday as well, so hopefully I will be able to check out the celebrations.
Mozambican history has a number of interesting stories, including one that I have heard often about when the current president (at the time, the minister of the interior) famously declared the 24/20 rule. A large number of Portuguese residents had 24 hours to leave the country with a maximum of 20 kg of luggage. However, this exodus caused a huge leadership gap, since most of the Portuguese were the business owners and managers and there were no obvious replacements prepared. National leadership is still an issue here as even now a lot of the big businesses are owned and managed by foreigners, mostly Portuguese, Nigerians, Indians and South Africans.
Now with 35 years of independance and almost 20 years since the end of the civil war, it will be interesting to see where Mozambique is headed next.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Overdue Update
No posts for a long time. Sorry about that. Things have been happening but nothing very big or new. That and I have been a little lazy to write. So, here’s my chance to catch up a bit.
Tomorrow we will be sending our very first Mozambican on exchange! Ivan from UEM will be spending two months in Brazil (and during the world cup too!). He is very excited and we are very happy to finally be sending someone abroad. We have a few other matching right now, so hopefully they will be following him soon.
Speaking of the World Cup, the fever has pretty much invaded Mozambique. This is not as visual as they were in Brazil in 2006, where there were decorations of green and yellow on every street and people everywhere wearing Brazil jerseys. Here things seems quieter, but once the games start, small crowds of people can be seen gathering almost anywhere – in a bar, in a restaurant, in a driveway, on the sidewalk, in the chapa – watching or listening to the games.
If you ask, most Mozambicans will tell you they sheering for Brazil and Portugal and all the African teams. So they are pretty flexible on who to cheer for. A few have even told me they will cheer for whoever is winning the game.
Lilian and Daudo are both going to see games, but not the same one. Daudo is going next weekend for Brazil vs Ivory Coast. Our CEEDer Orlando will be there as well, with his family from Botswana.
Orlando will be leaving us on Thursday after being here for almost a month already. It went by fast! I have been working with him a lot on TM stuff and he has been participating in a lot of our activities. We had a cultural presentation last Saturday and I actually learned quite a bit. What do you call a person from Botswana? Boswanian? Botswanan? A Botswanite? Nope, all wrong. The person is called a Motswana. Their currency is stronger that the rand and is called pula, which means rain in the local language because rain is so important for them (70% of the land is desert).
Last week we also had the first ever LC meeting for AIESEC in UEM. It went really well and all of the members who were present participated a lot and stayed for almost 2.5 hours. The TM team led the meeting and I was really proud of them. It was nice to just sit and participate rather than have to manage everything. They are becoming more and more independent!
Just this afternoon, we had the first session of the Learning Program, which is a series of sessions where we discuss different world issues and share ideas and opinions. Today’s topic was three of the millennium development goals. On the topic of universal primary education, pretty much everyone agreed that it was important and that quality was also needed, not just numbers. However, the topic of gender equality launched an interesting debate, with some of the guys arguing that a working women is neglecting her job or raising the children, or that it is the wife’s job to take care of the home, the children and the husband, with the girls arguing back that this was not true and that they should have the same opportunities. Some of the guys agreed with the girls and some remained neutral, but some strongly defended their opinion about the woman’s role.
In the reception booklet for our interns (which I wrote a few months ago), I put a note in the culture section that Mozambican men tend to be old fashioned in terms of gender equality. One of the (male) VPs asked me a couple weeks ago “Jess, why did you write that? Old fashioned? That’s not true”. I think anyone who attended the discussion today would agree with me. Maybe they just don’t see it because they haven’t seen it any other way.
I am very curious to see how the same discussion will play out at ISCTEM, where the students are generally well travelled and have more exposure to other ideas. But we will have to wait a few weeks as their session was postponed due to exams.
We have started transition now with the new team who will be taking over in July. My successor is from Brazil, but speaks good English and has a lot of really good experience so I am really excited. I think she will do a great job and bring some different ideas and fresh energy.
This Thursday we have an information session for people interested in going on exchange, so hopefully by next week we will have more applicants for the program and more people to send on exchange.
It is now officially winter here in Mozambique, which means the days are still fairly warm but not hot (20-25 degrees) but the nights are quite cool to cold and it is impossible to sleep without a warm blanket.
Well, I think that brings you pretty much up to date. I’ll try to write again sooner this time!
P.S. I will try to upload some pictures for this post when I have open internet.
Tomorrow we will be sending our very first Mozambican on exchange! Ivan from UEM will be spending two months in Brazil (and during the world cup too!). He is very excited and we are very happy to finally be sending someone abroad. We have a few other matching right now, so hopefully they will be following him soon.
Speaking of the World Cup, the fever has pretty much invaded Mozambique. This is not as visual as they were in Brazil in 2006, where there were decorations of green and yellow on every street and people everywhere wearing Brazil jerseys. Here things seems quieter, but once the games start, small crowds of people can be seen gathering almost anywhere – in a bar, in a restaurant, in a driveway, on the sidewalk, in the chapa – watching or listening to the games.
If you ask, most Mozambicans will tell you they sheering for Brazil and Portugal and all the African teams. So they are pretty flexible on who to cheer for. A few have even told me they will cheer for whoever is winning the game.
Lilian and Daudo are both going to see games, but not the same one. Daudo is going next weekend for Brazil vs Ivory Coast. Our CEEDer Orlando will be there as well, with his family from Botswana.
Orlando will be leaving us on Thursday after being here for almost a month already. It went by fast! I have been working with him a lot on TM stuff and he has been participating in a lot of our activities. We had a cultural presentation last Saturday and I actually learned quite a bit. What do you call a person from Botswana? Boswanian? Botswanan? A Botswanite? Nope, all wrong. The person is called a Motswana. Their currency is stronger that the rand and is called pula, which means rain in the local language because rain is so important for them (70% of the land is desert).
Last week we also had the first ever LC meeting for AIESEC in UEM. It went really well and all of the members who were present participated a lot and stayed for almost 2.5 hours. The TM team led the meeting and I was really proud of them. It was nice to just sit and participate rather than have to manage everything. They are becoming more and more independent!
Just this afternoon, we had the first session of the Learning Program, which is a series of sessions where we discuss different world issues and share ideas and opinions. Today’s topic was three of the millennium development goals. On the topic of universal primary education, pretty much everyone agreed that it was important and that quality was also needed, not just numbers. However, the topic of gender equality launched an interesting debate, with some of the guys arguing that a working women is neglecting her job or raising the children, or that it is the wife’s job to take care of the home, the children and the husband, with the girls arguing back that this was not true and that they should have the same opportunities. Some of the guys agreed with the girls and some remained neutral, but some strongly defended their opinion about the woman’s role.
In the reception booklet for our interns (which I wrote a few months ago), I put a note in the culture section that Mozambican men tend to be old fashioned in terms of gender equality. One of the (male) VPs asked me a couple weeks ago “Jess, why did you write that? Old fashioned? That’s not true”. I think anyone who attended the discussion today would agree with me. Maybe they just don’t see it because they haven’t seen it any other way.
I am very curious to see how the same discussion will play out at ISCTEM, where the students are generally well travelled and have more exposure to other ideas. But we will have to wait a few weeks as their session was postponed due to exams.
We have started transition now with the new team who will be taking over in July. My successor is from Brazil, but speaks good English and has a lot of really good experience so I am really excited. I think she will do a great job and bring some different ideas and fresh energy.
This Thursday we have an information session for people interested in going on exchange, so hopefully by next week we will have more applicants for the program and more people to send on exchange.
It is now officially winter here in Mozambique, which means the days are still fairly warm but not hot (20-25 degrees) but the nights are quite cool to cold and it is impossible to sleep without a warm blanket.
Well, I think that brings you pretty much up to date. I’ll try to write again sooner this time!
P.S. I will try to upload some pictures for this post when I have open internet.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Two Celebrations
Hello again everyone. Today is a day of celebration!
Yesterday, we had a CEEDer arrive from Botswana, making him the very first CEEDer ever for AIESEC in Mozambique. Today he came with me to ISCTEM and attended the first ever ISCTEM LC meeting. He’ll be here for 3 weeks helping me in the TM area. So this is the first celebration!
Next, the Corporate Relations team (Daudo and Lilian) confirmed one more national partnership today meaning that in the month of May they have raised more than $20 000 USD for AIESEC in Mozambique!! This includes 4 new national partnerships.
We all went out to dinner to celebrate!!
Yesterday, we had a CEEDer arrive from Botswana, making him the very first CEEDer ever for AIESEC in Mozambique. Today he came with me to ISCTEM and attended the first ever ISCTEM LC meeting. He’ll be here for 3 weeks helping me in the TM area. So this is the first celebration!
Next, the Corporate Relations team (Daudo and Lilian) confirmed one more national partnership today meaning that in the month of May they have raised more than $20 000 USD for AIESEC in Mozambique!! This includes 4 new national partnerships.
We all went out to dinner to celebrate!!
Friday, May 14, 2010
An eXcellent Day
For the non-AIESECers reading this, we use a lot of acronyms and short forms. X stands for exchange, which is at the heart of what we do. It’s what connects all of the countries of AIESEC together. Sharing experiences, cultures, ideas, etc.
So when I say that today is an eXcellent day, now you know what I mean.
Today we had our fourth intern arrive here in Maputo. She is also from Brazil and will be working here for one year in a book company helping them to build and execute a strategic plan. This is the first reception that is planned by the LC members rather than us on the national team, so it is a significant event for them. Their first airport pick-up! Though it turned out to be a little less than ideal when one of her bags was lost and she got stuck in the airport waiting for it to arrive on the next flight. As I type she is still there, but they should arrive soon.
While the members were waiting at the airport I was at home online doing some work. I talked for a long while to a fellow Canadian AIESECer who I know from some conferences a couple years ago and who is interested in applying for a position we have open. We talked for a long time about living in Mozambique and about AIESEC here, and now she says she will definitely apply!
Meanwhile I was also tracking down one of our EPs (Mozambicans going abroad on exchange) to tell him about a really great opportunity I heard about by email yesterday afternoon. It’s a two month position and they are looking for someone who speaks Portuguese and has exactly the background of my EP. It took some doing, because he was a little reluctant and nervous at first, but I convinced him to apply and that this could be a really good opportunity for him. Now I am awaiting his resume and cover letter to send to the AIESECers in the other country. Of course there are other candidates and it’s not for sure that he will be selected, but I think he stands a good chance and I am glad that at least he won’t let the opportunity slip away without even trying. Even if he doesn’t get this position, I think he will be more motivated to look for other options.
Tomorrow I have a meeting with another of our EPs so perhaps the eXcellence will continue!
So when I say that today is an eXcellent day, now you know what I mean.
Today we had our fourth intern arrive here in Maputo. She is also from Brazil and will be working here for one year in a book company helping them to build and execute a strategic plan. This is the first reception that is planned by the LC members rather than us on the national team, so it is a significant event for them. Their first airport pick-up! Though it turned out to be a little less than ideal when one of her bags was lost and she got stuck in the airport waiting for it to arrive on the next flight. As I type she is still there, but they should arrive soon.
While the members were waiting at the airport I was at home online doing some work. I talked for a long while to a fellow Canadian AIESECer who I know from some conferences a couple years ago and who is interested in applying for a position we have open. We talked for a long time about living in Mozambique and about AIESEC here, and now she says she will definitely apply!
Meanwhile I was also tracking down one of our EPs (Mozambicans going abroad on exchange) to tell him about a really great opportunity I heard about by email yesterday afternoon. It’s a two month position and they are looking for someone who speaks Portuguese and has exactly the background of my EP. It took some doing, because he was a little reluctant and nervous at first, but I convinced him to apply and that this could be a really good opportunity for him. Now I am awaiting his resume and cover letter to send to the AIESECers in the other country. Of course there are other candidates and it’s not for sure that he will be selected, but I think he stands a good chance and I am glad that at least he won’t let the opportunity slip away without even trying. Even if he doesn’t get this position, I think he will be more motivated to look for other options.
Tomorrow I have a meeting with another of our EPs so perhaps the eXcellence will continue!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
This is the first weekend I have had free in a very long time. Last weekend was the conference. Technically the weekend before that was free, but I was sick with a cold the whole weekend so I didn’t really get to enjoy it. The weekend before that was our Team Days (though we DID get to spend a day on the beach, so I can’t complain too much…)
I slept in late and then made my self a big stack of pancakes to start the day. Daudo is in South Africa for the weekend for an AIESEC meeting and Lilian went to the beach with some others. So it’s just Marco and me at home this weekend. We decided it would be a good day to hit up the Natural History Museum. I wasn’t sure when they are open, so I looked up their number in the phone book, only to find out they weren’t listed! Rather strange. But we called another museum (which is closed for renovations, too bad) and they told us it was open.
We hoped on chapa and head to Polana. The Museum itself is in a really nice colonial style building that is well maintained
It’s a decent size, filled mostly with exhibits on the animals native to the area. There was a whole room of reptiles, another of fish, another of mammals, you get the idea. They even had a whole room of bug (Bonnie would have DIED!)
At the end we finally made it to the ethnography room. I was not expecting, but hoping there would be some early hominid specimens, though I can’t remember ever learning about specimens from Mozambique. Well, there weren’t any but they did have a nice collection of ethnographic materials – pictures, pottery, musical instruments, basketry. It is rather funny actual, as Marco commented, that most of the things that were in the museum could be seen every day in use on the streets.
After the museum Marco had an appointment so I went for a walk around Polana. I wandered over to the waterfront where I found these benches. At least they are promoting awareness!
It reads: "Prove your love, take the HIV test with me"
I walked a bit more and stopped for an icecream cone, which proceeded to melt all over me, so I went to the mall to use the washroom. I stayed in the mall for a while. There was a nice store that had some very African style dresses. I asked how much they were – 1500MT (~$50) !! So I didn’t buy anything. The as I was walking back to the chapa stop, I saw some nice dresses and other clothes on the street. The lady who was selling them was really nice and we talked for quite a while. Of course she quoted me high prices, but in the end I bought a dress and a top for 600MT (~$20) which was probably still a bit overpriced but not a bad deal.
Overall a very nice day. Now I just have to make plans for Sunday!
I slept in late and then made my self a big stack of pancakes to start the day. Daudo is in South Africa for the weekend for an AIESEC meeting and Lilian went to the beach with some others. So it’s just Marco and me at home this weekend. We decided it would be a good day to hit up the Natural History Museum. I wasn’t sure when they are open, so I looked up their number in the phone book, only to find out they weren’t listed! Rather strange. But we called another museum (which is closed for renovations, too bad) and they told us it was open.
We hoped on chapa and head to Polana. The Museum itself is in a really nice colonial style building that is well maintained
It’s a decent size, filled mostly with exhibits on the animals native to the area. There was a whole room of reptiles, another of fish, another of mammals, you get the idea. They even had a whole room of bug (Bonnie would have DIED!)
At the end we finally made it to the ethnography room. I was not expecting, but hoping there would be some early hominid specimens, though I can’t remember ever learning about specimens from Mozambique. Well, there weren’t any but they did have a nice collection of ethnographic materials – pictures, pottery, musical instruments, basketry. It is rather funny actual, as Marco commented, that most of the things that were in the museum could be seen every day in use on the streets.
After the museum Marco had an appointment so I went for a walk around Polana. I wandered over to the waterfront where I found these benches. At least they are promoting awareness!
It reads: "Prove your love, take the HIV test with me"
I walked a bit more and stopped for an icecream cone, which proceeded to melt all over me, so I went to the mall to use the washroom. I stayed in the mall for a while. There was a nice store that had some very African style dresses. I asked how much they were – 1500MT (~$50) !! So I didn’t buy anything. The as I was walking back to the chapa stop, I saw some nice dresses and other clothes on the street. The lady who was selling them was really nice and we talked for quite a while. Of course she quoted me high prices, but in the end I bought a dress and a top for 600MT (~$20) which was probably still a bit overpriced but not a bad deal.
Overall a very nice day. Now I just have to make plans for Sunday!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Foi um fim de semana fantastica!
Foi um fim de semana que eu vou lembrar sempre.
Foi um fim de semana para todos... amigos juntos.
Foi um fim de semana muito especial pra mim.
On Saturday morning I wasn’t sure quite what to expect. Would they show up? Would they like the conference? Would it have as much impact on them as my first conference did for me so many years ago?
Our chair, Jeanne, arrived from South Africa on Wednesday night and we spent all day Thursday and Friday preparing. We had some challenges. The t-shirts were done wrong. The OC was a little bit lost with what they needed to do. We were running all over Maputo getting last minute things.
When we arrived at the hotel on Saturday morning there were already a group of members there waiting for us with big smiles on their faces. By the time we were ready to start, almost everyone had arrived (a big achievement for Mozambicans!) The LCs had prepared their roll calls. They were there, they were excited and they were ready.
The members of the LC had only met each other once or twice and the new members of the two LCs had never met before. During the opening ceremony we had ISCTEM on one side and UEM on the other. By the end of the morning, they were talking and laughing as if they had known each other for years.
They participated a lot in the sessions and asked a lot of good questions. They wanted to understand and to know more. While the new members were getting some training, the EBs went off with Daudo to discuss Gen 2010, a new initiative from AIESEC International. Francisco, the LCP, came back so excited! “We are Gen 2010” he said “we have so much to do!” Then in the afternoon Daudo took them to sit around the pool and just share their experiences as leaders so far and how they were feeling. I asked some of them later how it went and they said that they really enjoyed it and really appreciated the chance to share their thoughts with everyone else.
On Saturday afternoon we had two excellent externals come present. One spoke about the seven habits of effective people. This was completely new for the members and they loved it! Then we had Fernando Mendes, the AIESECer who tried to expand to Mozambique in 1999, come and talk to the members. I actually understood most of his speech and it was really amazing. He talked about what it really meant to be an AIESECer and I think even the facis left feeling inspired.
On Saturday night we had a Global Village where the members showed off the different regions of Mozambique and they dressed up in traditional clothes. It was a lot of fun and the first time for the members to interact in a truly social environment without sessions and content to worry about. Everyone was dancing Marrabenta and chatting and having a really good time.
On Sunday we worked in our functional teams and mapped out the projects and activities we would be starting in the coming months. After Daudo presented the projects, he asked the members what they thought, and they were all really excited and liked the ideas.
We also had Cindy, the Africa Director from AIESEC International, join us on Sunday and share some of her experiences. I think she and Jeanne really helped to make the members feel like they were part of a global organization. All the facis also had a chance to share their experiences and I talked a lot about Brazil and Kenya. The members asked me some really good questions as well, like how I have benefited personally from my experiences and what my biggest challenges have been. I remember participating in sessions like this when I was a new member, so it was really nice to be on the other side.
In the afternoon we did goal setting. In Canada, a lot of members don’t take this session very seriously because we spend our whole lives setting goals at school. Here it is something very new and they were really focused on filling out their forms and mapping out their futures.
During the closing everyone was sad that the conference was coming to and end. They were all frantically writing sugar cubes and dancing as many roll calls as we could queue up. Everyone was talking group pictures and it really struck me that people who had been complete strangers just a day before were now best friends. The members said they really learned a lot and enjoyed the weekend. They left the conference feeling motivated and empowered to achieve.
When Cindy arrived at the conference, she said “wow, this feels so AIESEC!” Considering that just 6 months ago, AIESEC didn’t exist here and now we had 40 people participating in the first National Conference, I think today we can be very happy :)
Foi um fim de semana para todos... amigos juntos.
Foi um fim de semana muito especial pra mim.
On Saturday morning I wasn’t sure quite what to expect. Would they show up? Would they like the conference? Would it have as much impact on them as my first conference did for me so many years ago?
Our chair, Jeanne, arrived from South Africa on Wednesday night and we spent all day Thursday and Friday preparing. We had some challenges. The t-shirts were done wrong. The OC was a little bit lost with what they needed to do. We were running all over Maputo getting last minute things.
When we arrived at the hotel on Saturday morning there were already a group of members there waiting for us with big smiles on their faces. By the time we were ready to start, almost everyone had arrived (a big achievement for Mozambicans!) The LCs had prepared their roll calls. They were there, they were excited and they were ready.
The members of the LC had only met each other once or twice and the new members of the two LCs had never met before. During the opening ceremony we had ISCTEM on one side and UEM on the other. By the end of the morning, they were talking and laughing as if they had known each other for years.
They participated a lot in the sessions and asked a lot of good questions. They wanted to understand and to know more. While the new members were getting some training, the EBs went off with Daudo to discuss Gen 2010, a new initiative from AIESEC International. Francisco, the LCP, came back so excited! “We are Gen 2010” he said “we have so much to do!” Then in the afternoon Daudo took them to sit around the pool and just share their experiences as leaders so far and how they were feeling. I asked some of them later how it went and they said that they really enjoyed it and really appreciated the chance to share their thoughts with everyone else.
On Saturday afternoon we had two excellent externals come present. One spoke about the seven habits of effective people. This was completely new for the members and they loved it! Then we had Fernando Mendes, the AIESECer who tried to expand to Mozambique in 1999, come and talk to the members. I actually understood most of his speech and it was really amazing. He talked about what it really meant to be an AIESECer and I think even the facis left feeling inspired.
On Saturday night we had a Global Village where the members showed off the different regions of Mozambique and they dressed up in traditional clothes. It was a lot of fun and the first time for the members to interact in a truly social environment without sessions and content to worry about. Everyone was dancing Marrabenta and chatting and having a really good time.
On Sunday we worked in our functional teams and mapped out the projects and activities we would be starting in the coming months. After Daudo presented the projects, he asked the members what they thought, and they were all really excited and liked the ideas.
We also had Cindy, the Africa Director from AIESEC International, join us on Sunday and share some of her experiences. I think she and Jeanne really helped to make the members feel like they were part of a global organization. All the facis also had a chance to share their experiences and I talked a lot about Brazil and Kenya. The members asked me some really good questions as well, like how I have benefited personally from my experiences and what my biggest challenges have been. I remember participating in sessions like this when I was a new member, so it was really nice to be on the other side.
In the afternoon we did goal setting. In Canada, a lot of members don’t take this session very seriously because we spend our whole lives setting goals at school. Here it is something very new and they were really focused on filling out their forms and mapping out their futures.
During the closing everyone was sad that the conference was coming to and end. They were all frantically writing sugar cubes and dancing as many roll calls as we could queue up. Everyone was talking group pictures and it really struck me that people who had been complete strangers just a day before were now best friends. The members said they really learned a lot and enjoyed the weekend. They left the conference feeling motivated and empowered to achieve.
When Cindy arrived at the conference, she said “wow, this feels so AIESEC!” Considering that just 6 months ago, AIESEC didn’t exist here and now we had 40 people participating in the first National Conference, I think today we can be very happy :)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Ponto D'Ouro
So big long post is overdue I guess. Well here it is!
For Team Days last weekend we went to Ponto D’Ouro (lit. Gold Point) which is a beach on the border with South Africa. This means that there are a lot more South African tourists there than Mozambicans.
Maputo from Catembe in the morning
We left early on Friday morning, crossing on the ferry across the river to Catembe. The ferry itself holds around 10 cars, though there were only a few on with us. The foot passengers just stand in between the cars. Catembe is just across the river but it’s already a different world from Maputo. The buildings are all small shacks and a few small brick buildings. The road is dirt, which is rather ironic considering just after there is a ferry there is a big sign which states that the government is spending 16 million meticais to pave the road and the project will be finished in Dec 2008. Hmmm, I wonder where that money ended up?
I think the government skipped a step
There are chapas that run every day to Ponto D’Ouro but they don’t have any schedule. They just sit there until they are full. In our case, we had to wait about 40 minutes until we had enough people. Then we started off on the dirt highway to Ponto D’Ouro. The distance is not so great, maybe 150 km, but because the road is poor the trip takes between 3 and 4 hours on average. After about an hour on a two lane dirt superhighway, we turned onto a smaller sand road. We went through acres and acres of open savannah (though different from the savannah I saw in Kenya) but saw no animals at all, which surprised me. We even went through the Maputo reserve, which featured a sign warning of alligators, hippos and elephants, but saw none. Too bad. Eventually we came to the border with South Africa, though we didn’t cross it. It was rather funny that we were driving on the sand road and just across the border was dark pavement. There is a big different that you can easily see between the infrastructure of the two countries. After climbing a few sand dunes, we finally arrived at our destination.
Ponto D’Ouro was a bit smaller than I had envisioned. It has two decent sized hotels along the beach and around 7 or 8 restaurants scattered around. There is a gas station and a supermarket (that was quite bare). Then there are the houses of the permanent and long term residents. We were staying in the vacation house of a friend of Daudo’s family. It was a one story building with 4 bedrooms, running water, a shower and a working toilet. Who could ask for more!
The team!
Our main purpose there was to do our planning for the next three months, so for Friday and Saturday we were pretty much focused on this task, just going out to eat and drink “Doshem”. The most common Mozambican beer is Lauretina, which I have mentioned before (the one that tastes like coffee). The other common brand is called 2M. In Portuguese 2 is Dois and M is, well, M. So as you arrive in Ponto there is a sign that says, in English for the South Africans, “In Ponto D’Ouro, just ask for a “Doshem”. So we did!
Note: this is not my picture since the billboard is old and faded now. From the nets.
The service was really slow (as to be expected) but the servers were friendly. At dinner one night a lady asked me if I was Irish. On Saturday while we were waiting for lunch we made a trip to the beach. The sand there is ridiculously soft, and also very hot! The water is quite blue and the scenery is nice.
The beach!
We were supposed to stay at Ponto D’Ouro until Monday but on Friday Daudo received a call saying that his driving exam (written) had been scheduled for Monday morning and couldn’t be changed. So Daudo had to leave early Sunday to get back and study (I told him he could study my 15 steps to driving like a Mozambican), while the rest of us stayed for a relaxing last day. We spent some more time on the beach and then I wandered off to do some shopping.
I found a really interesting shop called Magenta Moon which had all sorts of odd things, from herbal soaps, to afghans to dream catchers. They did, however, have a small collection of books, so I picked up another crime novel for too high a price. Then I wandered over to the craft fair. There were a lot of stand with many different things, most very similar or identical to the things we saw in Maputo and Nampula, only at 3 or 10 times the price. I was looking at some shirts made from capulanas and the guy came over to me. How much? 500 MT. Hmm, I can get this for 100 MT in Maputo. The guy just walked away. He wasn’t going to even try. I was looking at some t-shirts later and the guy told me they were 600 MT. We were talking and I mentioned that I was living in Maputo and he said he was from there. So I told him “well, if you are from Maputo, you should know that I can get this exact t-shirt there for 200 or 300 MT” and he said “yes”! Needless to say I didn’t buy anything, but I saw a lot of South Africans who did. Actually, the original prices were quoted to me in Rands, since they deal with that currency more often.
Magenta Moon
In the afternoon we packed up and went to the chapa station. We ended up waiting for around an hour and a half before the driver decided to leave. We were doing pretty well for time, until all of a sudden one of the tires started making a rubbing noise. The driver got worried and started going much slower, so we crawled the rest of the way back to Catembe.
From the Chapa on the way back
When we arrived Catembe had no power and then just as we got on the boat it started raining. What luck! We managed to cross the river and get a chopela before it started absolutely pouring.
Overall it was a really good weekend. We managed to get a lot of work done and we also enjoyed Ponto D’Ouro and managed to escape Maputo for a few days. We had told Vera not to come until Tuesday, but she called Lilian on Sunday to see if we needed her. She missed us!
Maputo at night from Catembe on the way back
In other news, there is a magazine published here called TVZine and this months edition featured an interview with Daudo and two pictures, one of him and one of the whole team. So I got my picture in a Mozambican magazine! Woo! Except that they said I was Jessica Parker :P Why do people always do that? Lots of people have been calling Daudo to congratulate him, which is pretty cool.
You can read it here: http://www.tvcabo.co.mz/tvzine (Abril 2010, guy with a scarf)
I think the summer here is finally ending. It’s still warm, but it’s been raining like stink and this morning I woke up freezing! I had to dig out the turtlenecks I brought for the first time in months. It’s nice to have a little break from the heat though. It means you can actually go from place to place in the city without dripping sweat.
Less that two weeks left until the big conference! I am getting excited! We have 25 people registered already and we should have another 25 by the end of this week. Things are pretty much on track, though I think there will be a little scrambling next week to get the last things ready.
Ok, I think you are now officially up to date.
For Team Days last weekend we went to Ponto D’Ouro (lit. Gold Point) which is a beach on the border with South Africa. This means that there are a lot more South African tourists there than Mozambicans.
Maputo from Catembe in the morning
We left early on Friday morning, crossing on the ferry across the river to Catembe. The ferry itself holds around 10 cars, though there were only a few on with us. The foot passengers just stand in between the cars. Catembe is just across the river but it’s already a different world from Maputo. The buildings are all small shacks and a few small brick buildings. The road is dirt, which is rather ironic considering just after there is a ferry there is a big sign which states that the government is spending 16 million meticais to pave the road and the project will be finished in Dec 2008. Hmmm, I wonder where that money ended up?
I think the government skipped a step
There are chapas that run every day to Ponto D’Ouro but they don’t have any schedule. They just sit there until they are full. In our case, we had to wait about 40 minutes until we had enough people. Then we started off on the dirt highway to Ponto D’Ouro. The distance is not so great, maybe 150 km, but because the road is poor the trip takes between 3 and 4 hours on average. After about an hour on a two lane dirt superhighway, we turned onto a smaller sand road. We went through acres and acres of open savannah (though different from the savannah I saw in Kenya) but saw no animals at all, which surprised me. We even went through the Maputo reserve, which featured a sign warning of alligators, hippos and elephants, but saw none. Too bad. Eventually we came to the border with South Africa, though we didn’t cross it. It was rather funny that we were driving on the sand road and just across the border was dark pavement. There is a big different that you can easily see between the infrastructure of the two countries. After climbing a few sand dunes, we finally arrived at our destination.
Ponto D’Ouro was a bit smaller than I had envisioned. It has two decent sized hotels along the beach and around 7 or 8 restaurants scattered around. There is a gas station and a supermarket (that was quite bare). Then there are the houses of the permanent and long term residents. We were staying in the vacation house of a friend of Daudo’s family. It was a one story building with 4 bedrooms, running water, a shower and a working toilet. Who could ask for more!
The team!
Our main purpose there was to do our planning for the next three months, so for Friday and Saturday we were pretty much focused on this task, just going out to eat and drink “Doshem”. The most common Mozambican beer is Lauretina, which I have mentioned before (the one that tastes like coffee). The other common brand is called 2M. In Portuguese 2 is Dois and M is, well, M. So as you arrive in Ponto there is a sign that says, in English for the South Africans, “In Ponto D’Ouro, just ask for a “Doshem”. So we did!
Note: this is not my picture since the billboard is old and faded now. From the nets.
The service was really slow (as to be expected) but the servers were friendly. At dinner one night a lady asked me if I was Irish. On Saturday while we were waiting for lunch we made a trip to the beach. The sand there is ridiculously soft, and also very hot! The water is quite blue and the scenery is nice.
The beach!
We were supposed to stay at Ponto D’Ouro until Monday but on Friday Daudo received a call saying that his driving exam (written) had been scheduled for Monday morning and couldn’t be changed. So Daudo had to leave early Sunday to get back and study (I told him he could study my 15 steps to driving like a Mozambican), while the rest of us stayed for a relaxing last day. We spent some more time on the beach and then I wandered off to do some shopping.
I found a really interesting shop called Magenta Moon which had all sorts of odd things, from herbal soaps, to afghans to dream catchers. They did, however, have a small collection of books, so I picked up another crime novel for too high a price. Then I wandered over to the craft fair. There were a lot of stand with many different things, most very similar or identical to the things we saw in Maputo and Nampula, only at 3 or 10 times the price. I was looking at some shirts made from capulanas and the guy came over to me. How much? 500 MT. Hmm, I can get this for 100 MT in Maputo. The guy just walked away. He wasn’t going to even try. I was looking at some t-shirts later and the guy told me they were 600 MT. We were talking and I mentioned that I was living in Maputo and he said he was from there. So I told him “well, if you are from Maputo, you should know that I can get this exact t-shirt there for 200 or 300 MT” and he said “yes”! Needless to say I didn’t buy anything, but I saw a lot of South Africans who did. Actually, the original prices were quoted to me in Rands, since they deal with that currency more often.
Magenta Moon
In the afternoon we packed up and went to the chapa station. We ended up waiting for around an hour and a half before the driver decided to leave. We were doing pretty well for time, until all of a sudden one of the tires started making a rubbing noise. The driver got worried and started going much slower, so we crawled the rest of the way back to Catembe.
From the Chapa on the way back
When we arrived Catembe had no power and then just as we got on the boat it started raining. What luck! We managed to cross the river and get a chopela before it started absolutely pouring.
Overall it was a really good weekend. We managed to get a lot of work done and we also enjoyed Ponto D’Ouro and managed to escape Maputo for a few days. We had told Vera not to come until Tuesday, but she called Lilian on Sunday to see if we needed her. She missed us!
Maputo at night from Catembe on the way back
In other news, there is a magazine published here called TVZine and this months edition featured an interview with Daudo and two pictures, one of him and one of the whole team. So I got my picture in a Mozambican magazine! Woo! Except that they said I was Jessica Parker :P Why do people always do that? Lots of people have been calling Daudo to congratulate him, which is pretty cool.
You can read it here: http://www.tvcabo.co.mz/tvzine (Abril 2010, guy with a scarf)
I think the summer here is finally ending. It’s still warm, but it’s been raining like stink and this morning I woke up freezing! I had to dig out the turtlenecks I brought for the first time in months. It’s nice to have a little break from the heat though. It means you can actually go from place to place in the city without dripping sweat.
Less that two weeks left until the big conference! I am getting excited! We have 25 people registered already and we should have another 25 by the end of this week. Things are pretty much on track, though I think there will be a little scrambling next week to get the last things ready.
Ok, I think you are now officially up to date.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Still Here!
Ahhh, lack of updates! I have the usual excuses. I’ve been very busy. I haven’t had much to say.
But here I am. This last weekend we had the second new member training. This one wasn’t quite as impressive, because this one was with the weaker of the two LCs, but we had some very strong candidates come and I think the LC will benefit from some excellent new members.
On Sunday I was extremely tired and just wanted to relax, so I grabbed a book from our “library”. It’s called “The Impact of War on Children” and it’s written by Graca Machel, the former Mozambican Minister of Education and now a representative of the United Nations. It’s from 2001, so it’s a little our of date, but it’s very interesting and has quite a few interesting cases, including some more recent conflicts that occurred during my lifetime, but when I was too young to know about it (Rwanda, Kosovo, Burundi). She raises a lot of good points, about health, education, and reintegration. Right now I am reading the chapter on Education. She suggests that education should continue if at all possible, even in times of war, and if it can’t, it should be resumed as soon as possible once the conflict is over. It gives communities a sense of stability to know the school is running and bring people back into a normal routine after very abnormal events.
She also gives several examples from the Mozambican civil war, including the fact that 45% of primary schools were destroyed and child soldiers were being employed regularly. It made me realize that since I have been here, nobody has talked about the civil war. They talk often of their independence and fighting against the Portuguese and build statues and name roads after the leaders. Yet the civil war is never mentioned. It’s a subject I would like to learn more about, but I feel awkward bringing it up. Just like Mozambique’s Communist phase. If it weren’t for the street names, you wouldn’t ever know it happened.
Of course, most of the people I am working with were just bring born as the war was ending, but I would still like to hear about what happened and why. A lot of the people in power within the country are those who went through both the independence and the civil war, so it definitely influences the country, even today.
But here I am. This last weekend we had the second new member training. This one wasn’t quite as impressive, because this one was with the weaker of the two LCs, but we had some very strong candidates come and I think the LC will benefit from some excellent new members.
On Sunday I was extremely tired and just wanted to relax, so I grabbed a book from our “library”. It’s called “The Impact of War on Children” and it’s written by Graca Machel, the former Mozambican Minister of Education and now a representative of the United Nations. It’s from 2001, so it’s a little our of date, but it’s very interesting and has quite a few interesting cases, including some more recent conflicts that occurred during my lifetime, but when I was too young to know about it (Rwanda, Kosovo, Burundi). She raises a lot of good points, about health, education, and reintegration. Right now I am reading the chapter on Education. She suggests that education should continue if at all possible, even in times of war, and if it can’t, it should be resumed as soon as possible once the conflict is over. It gives communities a sense of stability to know the school is running and bring people back into a normal routine after very abnormal events.
She also gives several examples from the Mozambican civil war, including the fact that 45% of primary schools were destroyed and child soldiers were being employed regularly. It made me realize that since I have been here, nobody has talked about the civil war. They talk often of their independence and fighting against the Portuguese and build statues and name roads after the leaders. Yet the civil war is never mentioned. It’s a subject I would like to learn more about, but I feel awkward bringing it up. Just like Mozambique’s Communist phase. If it weren’t for the street names, you wouldn’t ever know it happened.
Of course, most of the people I am working with were just bring born as the war was ending, but I would still like to hear about what happened and why. A lot of the people in power within the country are those who went through both the independence and the civil war, so it definitely influences the country, even today.
Monday, April 5, 2010
My babies are all growed up!
I went to an AIESEC conference a few years ago and one of the facilitators said that being VP Talent Management (TM) is like being VP Mom. You take care of the members and manage their learning, from their first introduction to the organization.
Today we had the New Member Training (Discover Day) for the students we selected at UEM. There, presenting, leading activities, managing information, coordinating activities, were the students that just five months ago were in the same seat as the new members there today. And they did great! I was so impressed with their confidence, their knowledge and their passion. Not only did they take what we did and repeat it well, they added their own touches, their own style. I was so proud of them! I spent most of the day smiling.
When we cleaned up after the delegates had left, we packed all the boxes into the car of an alumnus who was giving us a ride home. The Exec team all walked off together, talking and laughing and so very much a team. It’s a moment I will remember for a long time.
Today we had the New Member Training (Discover Day) for the students we selected at UEM. There, presenting, leading activities, managing information, coordinating activities, were the students that just five months ago were in the same seat as the new members there today. And they did great! I was so impressed with their confidence, their knowledge and their passion. Not only did they take what we did and repeat it well, they added their own touches, their own style. I was so proud of them! I spent most of the day smiling.
When we cleaned up after the delegates had left, we packed all the boxes into the car of an alumnus who was giving us a ride home. The Exec team all walked off together, talking and laughing and so very much a team. It’s a moment I will remember for a long time.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
I was walking home from the university yesterday and a student started talking to me. He asked where I was from and I told him.
A little later I was asking him what he studied and then he asked me. Then he asked me "And how are the American schools?"
"I wouldn't know, I've never been to one."
"Oh?"
"No, I live in Canada."
"Oh... but isn't it, like, the same thing?"
A little later I was asking him what he studied and then he asked me. Then he asked me "And how are the American schools?"
"I wouldn't know, I've never been to one."
"Oh?"
"No, I live in Canada."
"Oh... but isn't it, like, the same thing?"
Friday, March 26, 2010
Quick Notes
Sorry for the gap in writing. Things have been pretty focused on work this last week, and I know that that is a lot less interesting for you than it is for me.
A quick update. We did more than 30 interviews at UEM and came up with some very good people. Next weekend will be the new member training (Discovery Days). We started the interviews at ISCTEM and already have some good candidates, but we won’t finish until next week with them. I have focusing more on the conference as well. Today we selected our logo and slogan (you’ll have to wait and see) and we narrowed the possible venues down to three. One month till the conference, lets put it into the next year and get this thing going! We also started building the agenda and doing fundraising. I have a feeling that in April, my life will revolve around this conference.
I have a few more random things to share with you.
In Canada, when we want someone to come, we put our hand palm up and either curl our pointer finger with the others already curled, or we curl all of our fingers together. Are you with me? Here in Mozambique, it’s very different. When Vera first did it, I had no idea what she wanted. The put out their hand palm out with their fingers outstretched, and curl their fingers in as they pull their arm in to their body. I hope you understand what I mean. But to me it doesn’t look at all like “come here”. It looks more like a strange wave.
Here it is hard to find a gas station like you would find in Canada. The sidewalks here are wide (ideal for parking cars, as I have mentioned before). Instead of having a specific place for a gas station, they just build one or two meters into the wide sidewalk. The cars pull on to the sidewalk, like they do anyways, fill up and go.
If you want to take out money here, book off a whole morning or afternoon. In Canada, there might be a line of two or three people ahead of you and you wait perhaps 10 minutes to use the ATM. Here, the line-ups start early in the morning and can reach 20-25 people. Usually you have to wait an hour or more before you get to the machine.
In other news, Lilian’s Mom visited us for a week and brought me 1.5 kilos of doce de leite. Needless to say, there is a lot less than 1.5 kilos now.
A quick update. We did more than 30 interviews at UEM and came up with some very good people. Next weekend will be the new member training (Discovery Days). We started the interviews at ISCTEM and already have some good candidates, but we won’t finish until next week with them. I have focusing more on the conference as well. Today we selected our logo and slogan (you’ll have to wait and see) and we narrowed the possible venues down to three. One month till the conference, lets put it into the next year and get this thing going! We also started building the agenda and doing fundraising. I have a feeling that in April, my life will revolve around this conference.
I have a few more random things to share with you.
In Canada, when we want someone to come, we put our hand palm up and either curl our pointer finger with the others already curled, or we curl all of our fingers together. Are you with me? Here in Mozambique, it’s very different. When Vera first did it, I had no idea what she wanted. The put out their hand palm out with their fingers outstretched, and curl their fingers in as they pull their arm in to their body. I hope you understand what I mean. But to me it doesn’t look at all like “come here”. It looks more like a strange wave.
Here it is hard to find a gas station like you would find in Canada. The sidewalks here are wide (ideal for parking cars, as I have mentioned before). Instead of having a specific place for a gas station, they just build one or two meters into the wide sidewalk. The cars pull on to the sidewalk, like they do anyways, fill up and go.
If you want to take out money here, book off a whole morning or afternoon. In Canada, there might be a line of two or three people ahead of you and you wait perhaps 10 minutes to use the ATM. Here, the line-ups start early in the morning and can reach 20-25 people. Usually you have to wait an hour or more before you get to the machine.
In other news, Lilian’s Mom visited us for a week and brought me 1.5 kilos of doce de leite. Needless to say, there is a lot less than 1.5 kilos now.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Recruitment x2
So as most of you probably know, we are doing recruitment right now for the first members of AIESEC in Mozambique, since we already have the first EBs. We have been visiting classrooms and doing presentations, as well as putting up posters and handing our flyers. We also decided it would be good to host an event at each campus to raise awareness about AIESEC, engage the students and connect with our partners. Thus, the plan was set and the two events happened this week and last week.
The first was at UEM, the big public university. We had a good turnout and the presentations and workshops that we ran were good (according to the students). Almost too good I think, because we ended up with more than 100 applications to be members of AIESEC, even though we are only planning to select 20! The students are really interested in AIESEC, which is great! Now the hard part is deciding who to choose.
On Tuesday we had our event at ISCTEM, a smaller private university. It’s a tougher crowd to get excited about things, so we didn’t have quite as good a turnout, but we still ended up with more than 50 applications after two weeks of recruitment, which is good. Again, we will be selecting around 20.
Now the interviews are beginning and soon we will have 40 brand new AIESEC in Mozambique members! Very exciting! It’s my job to coordinate the recruitment at both universities, so this will be the payoff for several weeks of work (with a lot of help from Lilian as well). Of course things don’t end there. Once we have the new members, we have to teach them about the organization and what they can do. Part of this initiative will include our very first national conference, which I am also responsible for. We should have around 50-60 people at our 2 1/2 day conference at the beginning of May. I have an OC (Organizing Committee) working with me to plan everything. It’s going to be a big challenge, but I’m hoping that it will set the bar high for future conferences. As you might guess from my last blog entry, I’m a little concerned about the hotel we will be working with (which hasn’t been selected yet), but I think we will manage, in a Mozambican way, to pull it all together.
The first was at UEM, the big public university. We had a good turnout and the presentations and workshops that we ran were good (according to the students). Almost too good I think, because we ended up with more than 100 applications to be members of AIESEC, even though we are only planning to select 20! The students are really interested in AIESEC, which is great! Now the hard part is deciding who to choose.
On Tuesday we had our event at ISCTEM, a smaller private university. It’s a tougher crowd to get excited about things, so we didn’t have quite as good a turnout, but we still ended up with more than 50 applications after two weeks of recruitment, which is good. Again, we will be selecting around 20.
Now the interviews are beginning and soon we will have 40 brand new AIESEC in Mozambique members! Very exciting! It’s my job to coordinate the recruitment at both universities, so this will be the payoff for several weeks of work (with a lot of help from Lilian as well). Of course things don’t end there. Once we have the new members, we have to teach them about the organization and what they can do. Part of this initiative will include our very first national conference, which I am also responsible for. We should have around 50-60 people at our 2 1/2 day conference at the beginning of May. I have an OC (Organizing Committee) working with me to plan everything. It’s going to be a big challenge, but I’m hoping that it will set the bar high for future conferences. As you might guess from my last blog entry, I’m a little concerned about the hotel we will be working with (which hasn’t been selected yet), but I think we will manage, in a Mozambican way, to pull it all together.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Mozambique: Where it just can't possibly work
One area in Mozambique that needs a lot of work is the service industry. It is very obvious that the workers here don’t get any training and the expectations of them are very low. Things we take for granted in Canada, like waiters who bring you your food, people who serve you with a smile and staff who will actually help you if you need it, are rare here.
Often we have to repeat our order to waiters who forget or wave our hands wildly in the air to get the bill. The employees are usually cold, unfriendly and do as little work as they can. At restaurants and cafes, servers usually take ages to bring you your change, in the hopes that you will forget or give up and leave so that they can keep it (there is no or very little tipping here).
A good and rather humorous example of what I am talking about was shared by our intern who works in Tete, another province of Mozambique. He needed to attend a meeting at the head office here in Maputo, so the company flew him here and put him up in a hotel, along with a few other employees here for the same meeting.
He checked in and was given a key to him room. After opening the door, he discovered that there was a suitcase and clothes already lying on the bed. He went back to the front desk and explained that the room was already occupied and that he needed another room. After some time, they managed to find him another room. He got there and it was really hot, but the air conditioner didn’t work. He called the front desk:
“Hey, my air conditioner isn’t working”
“Oh…. Ok.”
“Are you going to fix it?”
“Um… we’ll call maintenance”
So he started unpacking and needed to get some shirts ironed for his meeting. He called the laundry service and they came and took the shirt. After a while he called the laundry service to see if it was done. The guy there said he had the shirt but wanted to iron it the next day. Our intern needed the shirt at 9:00. What time would the worker arrive tomorrow? 6:00am he said. OK, the shirt would definitely be ready by 9:00.
After a while longer and still no word about the air conditioner, he called the front desk again.
“Uh, sorry we couldn’t reach maintenance.”
Ok, no air conditioning then. He also said that he had sent a shirt to laundry and that the worker there had said he would have it ready in the morning. “That’s strange,” said the front desk, “because tomorrow is his day off.” Great. So our intern resolved to wake up at 6:00am when the new laundry guy came and ask him to iron the shirt before 9:00.
Just before going to sleep, he talked to a co-worker who told him he had ordered a wake-up call for 8:00 and also set his cell phone alarm just in case. When he met our intern the next morning, he said that he had received a call at 6:30 in the morning “Hello, this is your wake up call!” He had angrily explained that the call was supposed to be at 8:00 and went back to bed. At 8:00 his cell phone went off and he got up, showered, dressed and was just about to leave the room at 8:40 when the phone rang! “Hello this is your wake up call!”
So in one night they had the wrong room, no air conditioning, no ironed shirt and a wrong wake-up call. Oh, and did I mention this was a ***** 5 STAR hotel???
If you come to Mozambique expecting Canadian (or in general “Western”) standards, prepare to be disappointed! Just because you booked something or ordered something doesn’t mean it will be there. Adapt or be eternally frustrated!
Also, I found every kid's favourite store!
Often we have to repeat our order to waiters who forget or wave our hands wildly in the air to get the bill. The employees are usually cold, unfriendly and do as little work as they can. At restaurants and cafes, servers usually take ages to bring you your change, in the hopes that you will forget or give up and leave so that they can keep it (there is no or very little tipping here).
A good and rather humorous example of what I am talking about was shared by our intern who works in Tete, another province of Mozambique. He needed to attend a meeting at the head office here in Maputo, so the company flew him here and put him up in a hotel, along with a few other employees here for the same meeting.
He checked in and was given a key to him room. After opening the door, he discovered that there was a suitcase and clothes already lying on the bed. He went back to the front desk and explained that the room was already occupied and that he needed another room. After some time, they managed to find him another room. He got there and it was really hot, but the air conditioner didn’t work. He called the front desk:
“Hey, my air conditioner isn’t working”
“Oh…. Ok.”
“Are you going to fix it?”
“Um… we’ll call maintenance”
So he started unpacking and needed to get some shirts ironed for his meeting. He called the laundry service and they came and took the shirt. After a while he called the laundry service to see if it was done. The guy there said he had the shirt but wanted to iron it the next day. Our intern needed the shirt at 9:00. What time would the worker arrive tomorrow? 6:00am he said. OK, the shirt would definitely be ready by 9:00.
After a while longer and still no word about the air conditioner, he called the front desk again.
“Uh, sorry we couldn’t reach maintenance.”
Ok, no air conditioning then. He also said that he had sent a shirt to laundry and that the worker there had said he would have it ready in the morning. “That’s strange,” said the front desk, “because tomorrow is his day off.” Great. So our intern resolved to wake up at 6:00am when the new laundry guy came and ask him to iron the shirt before 9:00.
Just before going to sleep, he talked to a co-worker who told him he had ordered a wake-up call for 8:00 and also set his cell phone alarm just in case. When he met our intern the next morning, he said that he had received a call at 6:30 in the morning “Hello, this is your wake up call!” He had angrily explained that the call was supposed to be at 8:00 and went back to bed. At 8:00 his cell phone went off and he got up, showered, dressed and was just about to leave the room at 8:40 when the phone rang! “Hello this is your wake up call!”
So in one night they had the wrong room, no air conditioning, no ironed shirt and a wrong wake-up call. Oh, and did I mention this was a ***** 5 STAR hotel???
If you come to Mozambique expecting Canadian (or in general “Western”) standards, prepare to be disappointed! Just because you booked something or ordered something doesn’t mean it will be there. Adapt or be eternally frustrated!
Also, I found every kid's favourite store!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Bits and Pieces
Back again. Every once and a while I notice something interesting to blog about, but it’s not enough for a whole entry. I’ve managed to save up quite number of these little points, so I figure it’s time to clean house.
Back when I first arrived, I noticed two things about the Mozambican population. First, there is a large proportion of people who have twisted or missing legs, forcing them to walk on crutches. I wonder if this is a legacy of polio. I have a feeling it is, since I met a similar person in Kenya who told me he had it as a child. Also, the people usually seem to be above 30 years old. Second, there are a lot of albino people here. In Kenya I saw one or two in my time there. Here I have seen a lot more. I haven’t noticed any discrimination or staring though, possibly just because it is such a common thing so people don’t think much of it.
A couple months ago, the Mozambican government made a new law that required all drivers to have a reflective vest in their car with them so that if they have an accident and they are standing by the side of the road they will be seen. For a few weeks after the law came into effect, there were guys everywhere along street (always guys, never women) who were carrying around piles of reflective vests. It was quite the sight.
As most of you know, I quite like movies, but I rarely go to the theatre. Only if it’s one of those movies that’s so much more powerful on the big screen. Avatar was one such movie. I really wanted to see it on the big screen. There are a total of two movie theatres in Maputo. One shows only Bollywood movies. I went to the other to see if they were showing Avatar (because of course they don’t have a website). Guess what they were showing? The Soloist. Yes, a movie from 2008. Yay!
Vera is quite the character. She feels very comfortable with us now and loves to sit down and talk. Of course her conversation with me is a little limited, but she talks about all sorts of things with Lilian. She used to be a street seller and survived a knife attack. If we do something in a new way, she gives us this sceptical look. When she disagrees with us, she grunts. She calls Lilian and I “minhas meninas” which means “my girls” and she is already talking about how much she will miss us when we go. She is grateful for every gift, whether a candy, a banana muffin, or a candle for her to light at church.
The two interns wanted a maid to help especially with cooking, because they work until 7pm every day. Vera volunteered her daughter and we set them up. Vera and her daughter don’t speak Portuguese as a first language, so their Portuguese is a little funny (which makes it very hard for me to talk to her sometimes). About a week ago, Vera’s daughter was talking to the guys and saying that she wanted to “senhor senhora” which means “Mr. Mrs.” The guys were very confused. What? “Senhor Senhora”. What? Very slowly… “ralador cenoura” (grate the carrots). Ohhhhhh!!!
If you have a craving for a chocolate bar in Mozambique, you don’t stop by the check-out, you go to the refrigerated section.
The last couple of weeks have been focused (well, as much as I could) on a certain event that happened back home. It was very hard to follow the Olympics over here, in a hot, soccer loving country. I checked the website every day and Mom was sending me updates via email, but I couldn’t find any TV channels, even on satellite TV, that had more than a quick Olympic update. When it came down to the big game (you know the one), I knew I had to see it. I couldn’t watch it on TV. I couldn’t watch it online streaming (the signal was blocked outside Canada). So my Mom put her laptop on the coffee table in front of the TV and turned on the webcam, and I watched it through Skype. It wasn’t the greatest picture, but I could see and I even got to hear the cheers and screams like I was home. A little piece of Canadian hockey history, and I saw it. :)
The closest I could find to the Olympics here was this:
For whatever reason, this is on the gate to the pool that I walk by on my way to ISCTEM. It was built in 1932.
Back when I first arrived, I noticed two things about the Mozambican population. First, there is a large proportion of people who have twisted or missing legs, forcing them to walk on crutches. I wonder if this is a legacy of polio. I have a feeling it is, since I met a similar person in Kenya who told me he had it as a child. Also, the people usually seem to be above 30 years old. Second, there are a lot of albino people here. In Kenya I saw one or two in my time there. Here I have seen a lot more. I haven’t noticed any discrimination or staring though, possibly just because it is such a common thing so people don’t think much of it.
A couple months ago, the Mozambican government made a new law that required all drivers to have a reflective vest in their car with them so that if they have an accident and they are standing by the side of the road they will be seen. For a few weeks after the law came into effect, there were guys everywhere along street (always guys, never women) who were carrying around piles of reflective vests. It was quite the sight.
As most of you know, I quite like movies, but I rarely go to the theatre. Only if it’s one of those movies that’s so much more powerful on the big screen. Avatar was one such movie. I really wanted to see it on the big screen. There are a total of two movie theatres in Maputo. One shows only Bollywood movies. I went to the other to see if they were showing Avatar (because of course they don’t have a website). Guess what they were showing? The Soloist. Yes, a movie from 2008. Yay!
Vera is quite the character. She feels very comfortable with us now and loves to sit down and talk. Of course her conversation with me is a little limited, but she talks about all sorts of things with Lilian. She used to be a street seller and survived a knife attack. If we do something in a new way, she gives us this sceptical look. When she disagrees with us, she grunts. She calls Lilian and I “minhas meninas” which means “my girls” and she is already talking about how much she will miss us when we go. She is grateful for every gift, whether a candy, a banana muffin, or a candle for her to light at church.
The two interns wanted a maid to help especially with cooking, because they work until 7pm every day. Vera volunteered her daughter and we set them up. Vera and her daughter don’t speak Portuguese as a first language, so their Portuguese is a little funny (which makes it very hard for me to talk to her sometimes). About a week ago, Vera’s daughter was talking to the guys and saying that she wanted to “senhor senhora” which means “Mr. Mrs.” The guys were very confused. What? “Senhor Senhora”. What? Very slowly… “ralador cenoura” (grate the carrots). Ohhhhhh!!!
If you have a craving for a chocolate bar in Mozambique, you don’t stop by the check-out, you go to the refrigerated section.
The last couple of weeks have been focused (well, as much as I could) on a certain event that happened back home. It was very hard to follow the Olympics over here, in a hot, soccer loving country. I checked the website every day and Mom was sending me updates via email, but I couldn’t find any TV channels, even on satellite TV, that had more than a quick Olympic update. When it came down to the big game (you know the one), I knew I had to see it. I couldn’t watch it on TV. I couldn’t watch it online streaming (the signal was blocked outside Canada). So my Mom put her laptop on the coffee table in front of the TV and turned on the webcam, and I watched it through Skype. It wasn’t the greatest picture, but I could see and I even got to hear the cheers and screams like I was home. A little piece of Canadian hockey history, and I saw it. :)
The closest I could find to the Olympics here was this:
For whatever reason, this is on the gate to the pool that I walk by on my way to ISCTEM. It was built in 1932.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
How to Drive like a Mozambican
How to drive like a Mozambican in 15 easy steps:
1. Even if it looks like the road is only wide enough for one car, actually it’s wide enough for two, or even three!
2. If the above ends up a little tighter than you thought, feel free to drive on the sidewalk.
3. The sidewalk is not for pedestrians, it’s for parking (and sometimes driving)
4. Pedestrians are like bombs in Mario Kart – you try to avoid them but if you hit one or two, just keep going.
5. Every once and a while you will see these strange stripes along the road, but don’t worry, they don’t mean anything.
6. Your horn is the best method of communication so use it often and loudly.
7. Green means go
8. Yellow means go
9. Red means go until the cars start coming at you in the other direction
10. If there is a car stopped about 100m ahead of you, please speed up into third or even fourth gear and then slam on the breaks so that you stop a few inches away.
11. If you need to drop someone off, please don’t feel the need to pull over. Just stop in the middle of the road until you are done.
12. You must put on the A/C even if the drive is just around the corner
13. You must have your car washed every day by the local kids
14. Pulling into the oncoming lane to make a turn is an excellent strategy
15. If your intersections don’t look like this, you are doing it wrong:
And now for something completely different...
This chapa is no more! It’s ceased to go! It’s expired and gone to meet its manufacturer! It’s a shell! Bereft of gas it rests in peace! It’s combustion processes are now history! It’s off the wheel! It’s hit the bucket and run it over! It’s shuffled off its engine coil, run down the highway and joined the bleedin’ caravan invisible. This is an EX-CHAPA!!
1. Even if it looks like the road is only wide enough for one car, actually it’s wide enough for two, or even three!
2. If the above ends up a little tighter than you thought, feel free to drive on the sidewalk.
3. The sidewalk is not for pedestrians, it’s for parking (and sometimes driving)
4. Pedestrians are like bombs in Mario Kart – you try to avoid them but if you hit one or two, just keep going.
5. Every once and a while you will see these strange stripes along the road, but don’t worry, they don’t mean anything.
6. Your horn is the best method of communication so use it often and loudly.
7. Green means go
8. Yellow means go
9. Red means go until the cars start coming at you in the other direction
10. If there is a car stopped about 100m ahead of you, please speed up into third or even fourth gear and then slam on the breaks so that you stop a few inches away.
11. If you need to drop someone off, please don’t feel the need to pull over. Just stop in the middle of the road until you are done.
12. You must put on the A/C even if the drive is just around the corner
13. You must have your car washed every day by the local kids
14. Pulling into the oncoming lane to make a turn is an excellent strategy
15. If your intersections don’t look like this, you are doing it wrong:
And now for something completely different...
This chapa is no more! It’s ceased to go! It’s expired and gone to meet its manufacturer! It’s a shell! Bereft of gas it rests in peace! It’s combustion processes are now history! It’s off the wheel! It’s hit the bucket and run it over! It’s shuffled off its engine coil, run down the highway and joined the bleedin’ caravan invisible. This is an EX-CHAPA!!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Bubbles
Mozambique, Maputo especially, is a world of bubbles. These bubbles coexist all over the city, but rarely do they touch.
The bubbles are, of course, based on the economic standing of their occupants. There is the rich bubble, with restaurants, coffee shops, office buildings, air-conditioning, maids and vacations. You can live in Mozambique and pretend you are in (hot) Portugal. You can have a brand new apartment, work for a big multi-national, eat out for lunch, drive a big car and never leave your bubble. It’s easy, and a lot of people do it. You never have to think about what is going on outside your bubble.
Unfortunately, as you might expect, a large proportion of the people who live in this bubble are white - Portuguese especially, as well as Chinese and a lot of white Mozambicans of Indian and Middle Eastern descent. Just now I was in a café to use the Internet and EVERY single person inside was white. Many of the biggest businesses in the country are owned and managed by foreigners. Of course you will find some true Africans in the rich bubble. The president is a good example, since he in the richest man in the country. However, you will pretty much never find any of these people near the other bubble – the poor bubble.
Inside the poor bubble is street markets, simple houses, chapas, Xima and, unfortunately, death. The people in this bubble can’t imagine owning a car or eating at “the Meat Factory”. They tend to think about the now instead of the long term. They work at washing cars, building new office towers, selling fruit and cleaning houses. They wear ill-fitting second hand clothes and capulanas. Their health is generally poor and most families are missing members.
If you get inside one of these bubbles, it can be almost impossible to leave it, by will or ability. It’s almost as if there were two completely separate economies running simultaneously in the country. One bubble is leading the country. The other is following along and making the best if it. One bubble is filled with 1000 meticais bills, the other with 5 meticais coins.
The question is, where are the buddles floating to, and will they crash into each other along the way? Will they grow farther apart, or one day merge into a great Maputo Bubble.
The bubbles are, of course, based on the economic standing of their occupants. There is the rich bubble, with restaurants, coffee shops, office buildings, air-conditioning, maids and vacations. You can live in Mozambique and pretend you are in (hot) Portugal. You can have a brand new apartment, work for a big multi-national, eat out for lunch, drive a big car and never leave your bubble. It’s easy, and a lot of people do it. You never have to think about what is going on outside your bubble.
Unfortunately, as you might expect, a large proportion of the people who live in this bubble are white - Portuguese especially, as well as Chinese and a lot of white Mozambicans of Indian and Middle Eastern descent. Just now I was in a café to use the Internet and EVERY single person inside was white. Many of the biggest businesses in the country are owned and managed by foreigners. Of course you will find some true Africans in the rich bubble. The president is a good example, since he in the richest man in the country. However, you will pretty much never find any of these people near the other bubble – the poor bubble.
Inside the poor bubble is street markets, simple houses, chapas, Xima and, unfortunately, death. The people in this bubble can’t imagine owning a car or eating at “the Meat Factory”. They tend to think about the now instead of the long term. They work at washing cars, building new office towers, selling fruit and cleaning houses. They wear ill-fitting second hand clothes and capulanas. Their health is generally poor and most families are missing members.
If you get inside one of these bubbles, it can be almost impossible to leave it, by will or ability. It’s almost as if there were two completely separate economies running simultaneously in the country. One bubble is leading the country. The other is following along and making the best if it. One bubble is filled with 1000 meticais bills, the other with 5 meticais coins.
The question is, where are the buddles floating to, and will they crash into each other along the way? Will they grow farther apart, or one day merge into a great Maputo Bubble.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Xipamanine
The previous post took place on Saturday. On Sunday, I was invited by one of the AIESEC members to visit his house. He lives in Xipamanine, which is a slum not far from our apartment.
Actually, he invited me to go to church with him. I explained that I was not religious, but he said it was ok for me just to come and observe. As you might recall, I went to a church in Kenya to watch, so I thought it would be a good point of comparison. The church in Kenya was Protestant (a legacy of the English) and the church here was Catholic (a legacy of the Portuguese). The church itself would be considered simple considering some of the other famous catholic churches around the world, but was by far the biggest and fanciest building in Xipamanine. It was a brick and plaster building with a tall corrugated iron roof. There were stained glass windows and a number of carvings and paintings inside. The congregation was quite large, about 200 people I think. The priest was an elderly Portuguese fellow with a younger assistant and a few Mozambican helpers. All of them wore white gowns while the priest wore a long green gown. Some of the service was conducted in the local language, mashangane (excuse my spelling) and the rest was in Portuguese (or Latin, I’m not sure). Of course I didn’t understand much of what was said (though more than in Kenya, due to the Swahili) the highlight was definitely the singing. It was true African gospel. Not the kind of bluesy style of the southern US, but very African, complete with drums and maracas. I really wanted to record some of the songs, but I thought it would be bad form to do so in a church.
After the service, I met many members of my friend’s extended family. The concept of family here is much more open, as about 5 different ladies were introduced as his sister. Here close family friends are called aunts, uncles, cousins even without any blood relation.
Afterwards I was invited to his home for lunch, and the rest of my day was quite the experiment in traditional African gender roles!
As we were walking to him house, he told me that his house was very dirty and asked if I knew how to sweep. When we arrived, he gave me the broom and I was expected to sweep the house. Then we needed to buy some things to make lunch. We went to the local market, which was HUGE! It kept going and going! As soon as we bought something, he handed me the bag to carry. We had decided to make salad, so we had bought lettuce, green pepper etc. I said I would be willing to buy a few things as well, thinking it would be for the salad. “What about a chicken?” was the reply. So I ended up buying them a chicken - a live one (which thankfully I didn’t have to carry!)
When we got back to the house, guess who was to cook lunch? Well, me of course! I was taken to the kitchen and told “I don’t know anything about cooking, so if you need me I’ll be around”. Eventually one of his female relatives came home and she helped me. I was offered the chance to watch the chicken be, well, “prepared” but I declined.
Some interesting and rather bitter local fruit
Cooking lunch - charcoal style!
Lunch turned out very well in the end and it was a very interesting experience. I could very clearly see how the women in the family were spoken to differently and expected to do certain tasks without being asked. For one day it was ok, but I think I would explode if I lived like that!
On the way home, we ended up stopping for a beer with some old ladies and a gentleman who was kind of like the “village chief” because I was told that he was often consulted and asked for advice by the people who lived there. Finally I made it home very exhausted.
Me and the "cheif"
I was reminded a lot, of course, of Kenya while I was there. But here I could actually understand more of what the locals were saying, which is rather ironic. I have a standing invitation to visit again so we shall see when I next venture into Xipamanine.
Actually, he invited me to go to church with him. I explained that I was not religious, but he said it was ok for me just to come and observe. As you might recall, I went to a church in Kenya to watch, so I thought it would be a good point of comparison. The church in Kenya was Protestant (a legacy of the English) and the church here was Catholic (a legacy of the Portuguese). The church itself would be considered simple considering some of the other famous catholic churches around the world, but was by far the biggest and fanciest building in Xipamanine. It was a brick and plaster building with a tall corrugated iron roof. There were stained glass windows and a number of carvings and paintings inside. The congregation was quite large, about 200 people I think. The priest was an elderly Portuguese fellow with a younger assistant and a few Mozambican helpers. All of them wore white gowns while the priest wore a long green gown. Some of the service was conducted in the local language, mashangane (excuse my spelling) and the rest was in Portuguese (or Latin, I’m not sure). Of course I didn’t understand much of what was said (though more than in Kenya, due to the Swahili) the highlight was definitely the singing. It was true African gospel. Not the kind of bluesy style of the southern US, but very African, complete with drums and maracas. I really wanted to record some of the songs, but I thought it would be bad form to do so in a church.
After the service, I met many members of my friend’s extended family. The concept of family here is much more open, as about 5 different ladies were introduced as his sister. Here close family friends are called aunts, uncles, cousins even without any blood relation.
Afterwards I was invited to his home for lunch, and the rest of my day was quite the experiment in traditional African gender roles!
As we were walking to him house, he told me that his house was very dirty and asked if I knew how to sweep. When we arrived, he gave me the broom and I was expected to sweep the house. Then we needed to buy some things to make lunch. We went to the local market, which was HUGE! It kept going and going! As soon as we bought something, he handed me the bag to carry. We had decided to make salad, so we had bought lettuce, green pepper etc. I said I would be willing to buy a few things as well, thinking it would be for the salad. “What about a chicken?” was the reply. So I ended up buying them a chicken - a live one (which thankfully I didn’t have to carry!)
When we got back to the house, guess who was to cook lunch? Well, me of course! I was taken to the kitchen and told “I don’t know anything about cooking, so if you need me I’ll be around”. Eventually one of his female relatives came home and she helped me. I was offered the chance to watch the chicken be, well, “prepared” but I declined.
Some interesting and rather bitter local fruit
Cooking lunch - charcoal style!
Lunch turned out very well in the end and it was a very interesting experience. I could very clearly see how the women in the family were spoken to differently and expected to do certain tasks without being asked. For one day it was ok, but I think I would explode if I lived like that!
On the way home, we ended up stopping for a beer with some old ladies and a gentleman who was kind of like the “village chief” because I was told that he was often consulted and asked for advice by the people who lived there. Finally I made it home very exhausted.
Me and the "cheif"
I was reminded a lot, of course, of Kenya while I was there. But here I could actually understand more of what the locals were saying, which is rather ironic. I have a standing invitation to visit again so we shall see when I next venture into Xipamanine.
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