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.

The Park

The last few posts have been very much focused around work, mostly because I haven’t been doing much other than work recently. The best way to cure this? Have new interns arrive!



We went over for dinner to the guys’ (Miguel and Maico) place on Friday evening. We were a little surprised when dinner turned out to be cooked spaghetti with no sauce, boiled eggs and pieces of cheese! After dinner we went out for a bit and met up with Eduardo (the Portuguese guy). I had to be back by 4am to use the guy’s cable TV to watch the opening ceremonies… or so I thought. We returned and I tried every single channel, including at least ten different sports channels. I found cricket, golf, rugby, even sailing! But no Olympics!! L How disappointing! I should have asked my Mom to tape it at home so I can watch it when I get home. The best I could get was a sports news station which had a report about the Olympics (including news about the tragic accident… how sad) but no opening ceremonies anywhere. I hope they were good!

Today I went with the guys for a tour around baixa (downtown). We went to the river, the black wood market, the municipal market, the train station, the cathedral and the park, stopping here and there for a water and a juice. Maico has travelled a lot so he was really excited. Miguel has less international experience and only in Europe, so I think it was an eye-opener for him.



I’ve already mentioned all of these places in previous posts, but here I want to focus on one in particular – the park. It was built in colonial times, around the turn of the century. It’s right downtown and I walk through it every time I go to ISCTEM. What it is, however, is a real shame.

When it was first build it was obvious that the park was gorgeous. It’s about one block by three blocks, so it’s a good size. It has several paths and big old trees. In the centre of the park is what once could have been called the “crystal gardens” of Mozambique.



There are pools with lily pads, roman-style sculptures, stone staircases and a variety of different plans and flowers.





Now, the roof has fallen in, the walls are disintegrating, the glass is broken, the paths are overgrown and the ponds are full of garbage.







Not unlike the parks and buildings on Ilha de Mozambique, the park has been left to ruin, and it’s a real shame. Of course in a country with so many other pressing issues – hunger, poor housing, education – it would seem irresponsible for the government to spend money on rebuilding a park. Yet, it would be so nice for the city. It’s not that the park cannot be enjoyed as it is, but when it was first built it must have been a really beautiful place. In addition to the “crystal gardens” the park has a small stage, a covered walk, a big tree surrounded by benches and a nice pond.



Sometimes it’s so hard to look around and see what Mozambique could be, but isn’t. Perhaps in time, things will change, but I wonder if the park will last until that time.

Mais Gringos and LC Planning

The busy-ness continues!! On Thursday and Friday we had our LC Planning conference. It was actually supposed to be Wednesday and Thursday, but on Tuesday night when we were sending out the reminders to all the members, one of them replied saying ‘isn’t tomorrow a holiday and won’t the university be closed?’ Nobody told us!! We had no idea it was a holiday! And we had booked the rooms, told all the members, ordered the food and nobody said anything! Sure enough when we called the university they said ‘Oh was it Wednesday you booked the room for? Ya, the whole university will be closed that day.’ Soooo, we had to change the days. Ah Mozambique.

So, we had our planning days anyways and it went quite well. The members were a little overwhelmed with all the stuff we have planned. They are still at that ‘WE are supposed to do that?’ stage because they haven’t realized yet that they can. But I think they learned a lot and they came away having a much clearer idea of what’s going to happen in the coming weeks and months. Plus they spent the whole two days working in their teams, something they haven’t done much yet. We can see them started to bond and communicating better together. Some individuals who used to be very quiet and unsure are starting to speak up and express themselves because they feel comfortable now and they feel that they have the knowledge. I think it will be a big eye opener for them when we recruit the new members because they will realize just how much they have already learned.

While we were getting everything ready for the planning days (without Daudo because he is in Portugal) we also had two other big milestones! Our first interns arrived!! On Friday and Sunday morning we were at the airport to pick up our two Brazilians. One will be working in Tete, in another province, and the other will be working here in Maputo along with our third intern that will arrive on Tuesday. It was really nice to meet them and show they around the city. They are excited to be here and I think it will be great for the members to see the exchange program in action.

Two more crazy Brazilians, just what we need!



At the Train Station again



No hovercarts allowed here!



Next week we are finishing functional training and doing individual plans and then the week after that we start recruitment planning! I’m very excited that this time I get to be the coordinator and the members will be the ones doing the printing and putting up posters and doing classroom presentations and such.

More busy weeks ahead!

P.S. Last week it was really cold here. It got all the way down to 24 degrees ;)

January Work

Back again. The last weeks have been really busy with sessions and phone calls and planning!

We finished developing our National Plan by doing our individual plans for each of our areas and then compiling them into the main document. Now we know what we want to achieve in the next 6 months and how we plan to achieve it. Our goals are ambitious but realistic. A big focus point for us is sustainability, which means having both the membership pipeline to continue our work as well as the financial pipeline to continue activities. It would be so easy for everything to fall apart, so we have to make sure it lasts.

(Warning, this paragraph contains AIESEC-speak) Meanwhile, we have been having training sessions with our members. I think I mentioned last time that we had a TEAM themed reconnect event to bring everyone back together. Since then we have been meeting with them twice a week to pass essential knowledge to prepare them for the coming semester. First we did AIESEC in depth, where we talked about AIESEC History, Strategy and the Brand Experience. On Friday we covered the different functional areas of the LC. Basically, how are the roles divided and what are the activities that happen every day in an LC. Plus we did financial and exchange management so all of them would have a good overview of how the processes work. On Monday we introduced them to strategic planning and the concept of the balanced score card. It’s a lot of information but I think they are absorbing the essentials and they see the value of this information.

Training like this on these kinds of topics has never been available to them before. To be learning about strategic planning, the Belbin team types and financial planning is something very new to them. Some of the member’s eyes just sparkle during the sessions.

Of course we have our challenges. A few of our precious new members have not been showing up to session and disappearing on us. It’s a tricky time because they are still new to the organization, so our culture of attendance and timeliness is still in progress. We have to be a little flexible and patient with them but we also need them to come to the sessions otherwise they are missing very crucial information. Striving for a balance is important, but the members who have been attending all the sessions are starting to get that AIESEC spirit and we are hoping they will spread it to their less committed teammates. Overall I think we are doing well.

Next week we are doing the LC strategic plans with them. Should be very interesting because it will be the first time THEY are producing most of the content rather than us delivering it. They will be discussing and brainstorming and goal setting and I am very curious to see what they come up with. One crucial question we will be asking them is how can AIESEC be most relevant here? I wonder if their perception will match with ours. I am looking forward to these two days of planning and I hope they will start feel more like they are doing that just listening and learning. Soon, it will start to fall on their shoulders.

In addition to the training sessions and National Planning, I have also been working on EP raising (selecting students to go on exchange). I started this back in Nov and Dec but didn’t quite get it done before the holidays. Last Saturday and this afternoon we had our Review Board, which is when we have a panel of people (one AIESEC representative and one business representative) interview the candidates and select who is ready to go on exchange. We are looking for things like ambassadorship, adaptability leadership, motivation and attitude.Of 11 candidates on two days, 7 passed the interview and will be going on exchange as the first EPs (Exchange Participants) of AIESEC in Mozambique. I think the fact that a few failed is actually good because it shows that we don’t accept just anyone into the program and the fact that we had excellent panellists means that we are showing how professional we intend to make AIESEC here. The candidates who didn’t pass are able to apply again next time, but for now I have 7 people to manage and get ready for their exchange experience. They won’t be going for a few months yet, but there is still lots to be done!!

As you can see, I have been pretty absorbed with work recently. I haven’t had time to do much else! Even if you were dumbfounded by the stuff I am working on, know this – AIESEC in Mozambique is moving forward and having success. There are challenges, sure, but we are happy with our progress so far and we are looking forward to achieving all of our goals until July.

And, as our team slogan states, we are “All Together Now!”

P.S. I would post pictures… but I haven’t been taking any! I will try to rectify this immediately.

Start of a New Year

Sorry for the long absence. The week after we got back was very mellow. I watched a lot of movies, finished the book I started on the island and did some walking around the neighbourhood. Very relaxing. Daudo came home about week after us and we had Mexican food (Bonnie I used your tortilla recipe). Then Marco returned the following Wednesday. The beginning of last week was just to get everything started again and prepare some materials for the end of the week, which was crazy!

On Thursday and Friday all day we had our second Team Days, planning out our next 6 months, setting goals and developing strategies. There were long discussions and lengthy debates. After two full days it was finally Saturday… and our first AIESEC event!

On Saturday we had all our members come for a complete day of training all about the TEAM. We did team building activities, did the Belbin test, talked about Team Management and about building Team Culture. Overall I think the members enjoyed it a lot, even though everyone was very tired at the end of the day. Some of the went home, and some of the stayed with us for the other big event of Saturday – The double birthday party. It was Lilian and Daudo’s birthdays on Friday and Sunday so on Saturday we had a party at Daudo’s uncles house with food provided by his aunt (a professional chef). It was delicious and the cake was amazing. Our Portuguese friends came, as well as some more of Daudo’s family. It was nice but I was totally beat by the end of the day.

I did nothing but read all day Sunday to recover after three days of intense work. But it was also fun and very productive. We now have much more direction and we know what our goals will be until July.

For the next 5 or 6 weeks, we will be having training sessions with our members about 2 or 3 times a week to get them ready for the coming semester. I think they are excited about what is ahead, which is awesome. We just have to give them the skills and the knowledge that they need in order to start working and learning by doing.

We have a bunch of other things that we are working on as well, including building some new partnerships, fundraising, sending some Mozambicans on exchange and starting to plan our national conference. There’s lots to do! Plus we have some plans to visit a few more (slightly closer) places around Mozambique.

No pictures today because nobody left me a comment on my last double blog!!!!

Trip North Part II

Note: This is the second of two parts. Please see part 1 below.

Hello again! First a brief history of the island. It was first utilized by the Arab and Swahili traders before being colonized by the Portuguese in the 1500s and 1600s. For many years it served at the site of Portuguese colonial management, especially of Goa in India. It was also the capital of Mozambique (the name of the island and country likely coming from one of the Arab rulers – Moca-Zambiki or something like that) until the government was transferred to Maputo. The island faced many attempted takeovers by the Dutch and the British and so two large fortresses were built on the island. For a long time, blacks were not permitted to settle on the island. Eventually the island was split into two, In the north were the Arabs, Indians and Portuguese. In the south were the locals. Nowadays, locals inhabit the entire island and only the architecture reflects the past division. After the civil war, the island was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO.



But some of the buildings also look like this:


Daudo’s other uncle rents out rooms so that’s where we were to stay for the duration of our visit. On our first morning he arranged for a local to give us a tour of the island. The architecture is very very Portuguese in the north part of the island. Some of the buildings have been very well kept, but many other have been neglected and are starting to or have already crumbled, which is a real shame. There are residences, churches, mosques, sports centres and even a hindu temple. We saw a statue of Vasco de Gama and of a famous Portuguese writer who lived for a few years on the island. There is a four star hotel and a public garden, plus a market a cemetery and a palace. There are stone walkways along the beach which are a bit overgrown. As beautiful as the island is, it could be so much more so if it had been taken care if. I couldn’t help but think that it would have been even more spectacular in the 1700s when the Portuguese were there and the buildings were all brand new. Too bad the country can’t afford to invest in reconstructing the island. There is a lot of poverty there as well, with many families living in the crumbling buildings or in the slums on the south of the island. This neighbourhood kind of sunk into the ground because it is built on the site where the stones were taken to build the fortresses. Most of the locals are fisherman and there are constantly fishing boats sailing around the island.

The palace and Vasco de Gama:


We spent the afternoon at the beach, but we had to be careful which beach to visit. The one across from the house we were staying in, we were told to avoid because the locals use it as a giant toilet (we’ll just say that sanitation on the island is not what it could be…). The other beach, however, was very nice and the water was ridiculously warm. The temperature while we were only the island was always above 35 degrees, several times over 40. It was HOT!!! Sleeping at night was a little tricky between the heat at the very hungry mosquitoes (I was taking my anti-malaria pills the whole time).



On the second day we went to visit the fortress at the north of the island. It was large enough to hold 200 people. It was quite interesting to see and offered a very nice view of the water, which was a gorgeous green and blue. We saw the kitchen, the living quarters, the chapel, the cannons and even the dungeon. In the afternoon we went to the beach again and a café and then stumbled across a bookstore which a huge selection of books in English! Lilian and I each bought a book – she Agatha Cristie and me Jane Austen.

The fortress:


The next day we went to the three museums (which were all located in the same place). First was the old palace. It’s too bad we weren’t allowed to take pictures because it was quite spectacular, with intricately carved furniture from Goa, huge paintings of Portuguese kings and beds that were about 4 feet off the ground and required stairs to get into. There was a chapel as well, and a room for the King, should he ever visit (but he never did). However, it was used once by Samora Machel, a previous president of Mozambique, instead. The second museum was the nautical museum, which had some artefacts recovered from nearby shipwrecks as well as models of the ships that used to frequent the island. Then finally there was the sacred art museum, which had a lot of Christian imagery and statues of many different saints.



That afternoon we went to the beach again and were joined by a troupe of small children who wanted to copy whatever we were doing. They were actually pretty good, but several of the other kids drove us nuts. The young one would point and yell “Cunha!!” which, as you probably guessed, means “white person” in the local language. The older ones would call us “Amiga” (friend) and then follow up with “Da-me dinheiro” (give me money). Once a few of them figured out where we lived, they would stand outside the door saying “Amiga, amiga amiga…” until we told them to go away.

Back to the story. That was New Year’s Eve, and that evening Daudo and his family came to the island. We went to a place called Nautilus for New Year’s. There were some fireworks and champagne.

The next day we went with Daudo’ aunt on a trip to another beach on the mainland. We drove for a long time along dirt roads and then managed to get the truck stuck in some sand. We headed for the beach and saw that the tide was literally a kilometre out. We walked all the way to the water. It was a HOT day but the water in the little tidal pools was even hotter, like a mini hot tub. On our way back we had to push the truck out of the sand, which took 5 adults. I was so tired when we got home that I decided to stay for a nap rather then go to the beach again. I slept a little and then went walking around on my own and bought myself a capilana (the skirts that the Mozambican women wear).



Our last day was pretty mellow. We relaxed a bit and I went with Lilian to look at more capilanas. We asked about a tailor and found one who could add some ties to my capilana so I can tie it on. The next day it was back to Nampula. We stopped a couple times along the way and each time the car was immediately swarmed by people selling all sorts of things – beans, bananas, live chickens. We drove a little around Nampula and then the next morning went to the travel agent to books flights back to Maputo (we decided 31 hours straight on a bus would not be so much fun). Now we are back home and you are probably as tired of reading as I am of writing. So I will leave it at that.

Trip North Part I

Prepare yourself for a monster blog! I have just returned from a week and a half of travelling around Mozambique, with lots to write about. Actually, writing this will be very difficult just because I have so much to say and I am sure I will forget something very interesting that I wanted to pass along. But anyways, I will try my best.

Lilian and I left on the early morning of Christmas Eve by bus to Beira (capital of Sofala province). The bus was very nice and modern, with two levels. We were on the top, which offered a better view of the scenery as we were going. Unfortunately, as always happens when taking pictures from a moving vehicle, my pictures came out a little blurry. We saw lots of small villages and communities along the way. Some with just a house or two, some with six or seven. The huts in the south of the country were usually round. You wouldn’t think there would be a lot of variation in the architecture of mud huts, but the ones we saw further north were quite different, first changing to be rectangular with a roof with two slopes around Beira, and the walls made more often from sticks than mud. Near Nampula, they started having more of a wooden structure showing under the mud and more complex structures (such as having a porch) and have the roof slope at the sides as well as at the front and back.

The trip itself was a good 17 hours, so by the time we arrived in Beira our legs were definitely feeling neglected. We had one stop for a rather unappetizing lunch of fried chicken and french fries and finally arrived around 9 pm. Eduardo (one of our Portuguese friends) picked us up, as he was in town staying with his cousins for the holidays and we would be staying with them for Christmas. We had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. It was duck and cod in different casseroles. Then we went back to Eduardo’s cousin’s house and were very happy to sleep.

Where I spent my Christmas:


We spent a very hot Christmas Day (39 degrees!!) at the beach. We went to the nautical club of Beria for a nice breakfast and spent some time relaxing there in the sunshine. Then our hosts had to leave for the afternoon, so Lilian and I took a chapa into town to see a little of the city. Of course nothing was open because it was Christmas Day (or Family Day here in Mozambique) but we wandered around for a while. It seems like time has stopped in Beira. The architecture of the city is actually very nice, but the buildings were obviously built in the 70s or earlier and so it’s like walking around 35 years ago. All of the corners of the buildings are rounded as well, which gives the downtown area a unique look. There is even one building (a bank office) that was built like a castle and is painted pink!! One other note. Most cities have, in their central squares, some kind of statue or memorial. Not so in Beira. There they have a giant Coca Cola!



An example of Beria's nice architecture:


After walking around for a few hours we headed back to the nautical club and watched the sunset over the beach. Then we went back to the house to pack and relax a little before it was time to head back to the bus station for the next part of the journey, which was to start at 4am. However, our bus had managed to get a flat tire. No big deal right? How long can it take to change a flat? 15 minutes? Not when the process is as such: One guy looks at the flat tire. Then another guy comes and also looks at the flat tire. Then they disappear for a while, eventually returning with a tool to unscrew the tire (by hand of course). One guy tried to turn it but couldn’t. Another guy tried to turn it but couldn’t. Then the two of them tried together and couldn’t. Then a third guy tried jumping on it, but still couldn’t turn it. Then the three of them stand there for a long time staring at the tire. Then two more guys join them in staring at the tire. Then they start arguing. Then one brilliant guy decided to go get a long pie to have more leverage and amazingly, they succeed in slowing unscrewing the flat tire. An hour later, we were finally on our way.

This trip was a bit shorter, only 14 hours. Much of the trip was the same, including the unappetizing lunch. The highlight was passing over the Guebuza bridge, which runs of a large river that divides the country and previously forced people to drive all the way to the next province to get around it. Apparently the bridge was being built for about 20 years, but was finally completed a few years back. A little ways after the bridge we started on a dirt road, which lasted until very close to Nampula (the capital of Nampula province).

On arriving in Nampula we were picked up by Daudo’s aunt, who we were to stay with for a couple nights. The next day we went to the Fair where they sell just about everything you could think of. Lilian and I bought some earrings made of the black wood and some shells and also bought a stick of the white wood that the local women make a paste from to spread on their faces and supposedly make their skin soft. It was very crowded in the fair so we were encouraged to be quick. But the prices were much, much lower than in Maputo. The earrings were 10 or 15 mets each (less than 50 cents). After the fair, we went to pick up Daudo’s great grandmother who is 99 years old and probably the oldest person in Mozambique. She doesn’t speak Portuguese, only the local language.

The next day we met up with Daudo (who had arrived in Nampula a few days before us) and we went to the ethnography museum. It is in quite a large and modern building, so my expectations were high, but many of the rooms inside were empty. They did have a few interesting things, like a collection of instruments and examples of ceremonial costumes.

In the afternoon we were off to Ilha de Mocambique (Mozambique Island), which was our final destination. Maputo is incredibly flat, but just outside of Nampula there were some very interesting little mountains. It was not so much a mountain range as a bunch of random peaks sticking out from the earth. It made the scenery much more interesting to look at. We were travelling with Daudo’s uncle, who was travelling towards the island anyways. The island itself is connected to the mainland by a 4 km bridge. The bridge, however, is only wide enough for one car, and so at intervals there is a wider area for cars to pull over and wait for the ones in the other direction to pass. They also put some large oil drums alternating at each end of the bridge, creating almost an obstacle course for the cars having to swerve around them.

The mountains around Nampula:


As you are probably exhausted by now of reading, I’ll put my account of the island itself in a separate post. Take a break, leave a comment, and then continue the adventure!