On the road again

Well, on the road for just two days but it was the first time we had visited the communities with chickens since we returned. We were reminded of how hard Mozambicans work and some of the challenges they face. One of these was the fact that the feed company only delivered feed that was for older chickens. So, the groups took that, put it in their big mortars and ground it finer. They already do that with the corn they eat and it’s hard work. Those pestles are heavy, I tried one once!

There is no substitute for face to face communication. Phone calls here are expensive and most people don’t say much on a call. E-mail doesn’t exist for most Mozambicans, so that leaves personal visits. It was so good to connect again after four months. We brought some gifts to our special friends in Chokwe and you should have seen their faces.


One of the guys we work with and that is one of our trainers, Alcides, (above in the middle) gave us a rare treat. He said he doesn’t know where he’d be if we hadn’t come to Chokwe. But now he is a “business professor” and has work with the chicken businesses. He’d probably be working in S Africa if it wasn’t for that, but he’s thankful he can be with his family in Chokwe. It felt like pay day!

While we were in Chokwe I visited the Child Development crew. One of the women asked Sybil, the director, if I colored my hair. Sybil said, “no they have adult children. They could be grandparents.” I overheard the conversation and said, “This hair color is all natural, after all I’m 50 today!” Well, that brought a round of singing and laughing and they even gave me some candy! That night we celebrated with a nice dinner on Maputo Bay, complete with candlelight and live music. Sunday we will have an open house for friends. We invited a co-worker to the party and he wanted to know details. We said we would have cake and punch. “That’s not a party in Africa,” he said. “That’s a tea!” I guess for a party there has to be lots more food. Someone told us the most important part of a party is the meat and the cake. Now we know.

In Chokwe we also visited one of our friends and walked through the village to his house. Lots of kids giggled and pointed to the “mulungus” and went running off. Not many whites walk through there. We saw a larger group of mostly women sitting at a house and asked our friend what it was about. He said it was a funeral of a man who died in S Africa. He left many years ago and had not communicated with the family for a very long time. He was actually married to another woman in SA. The family in Moz asked that he be buried here and his other wife agreed and came to the burial. Sometimes the second family does not agree to that and the burial takes place in SA.

We stayed with Dr. Pieter in Chokwe and he regaled us with stories of the wildlife here. He was in the village of Mucatine which we have visited. He was looking in the river and saw a large snake. The next day he went back to look for it and there it was stretched out on the hillside, catching a few rays. It was a python, 15 feet long and as big around as a man’s thigh. Pieter also saw an African spitting cobra, so I think I’ll watch my step a bit more, especially walking through the tall grass.

The people in the village killed some monkeys that were getting into their field crops and then discovered a baby monkey. By the time they showed him to Pieter he was very dehydrated and almost dead. So Pieter gave him some milk and sugar and he perked right up. He loved Pieter’s hairy arms and got quite attached. But Pieter didn’t know what he’d do with him when he travels so he gave him away.

Today, November 10, we’re enjoying Maputo Day. Each city has a holiday just for their city. We didn’t know it was a holiday so we scheduled a meeting with the groups in Matola, the next town over. They are needing encouragement and some instruction to get their businesses going well again.

Ate a proxima!

S&R