Merry Christmas (or Emmanuel - God With Us)

As expected I suppose, this week has been hard for me in terms of missing home. I’m sad to be missing group meet ups, both friends and family. I’m going to miss waking up tomorrow to scrambled egg and smoked salmon with a glass of BucksFizz. I’m going to miss spending time with Mum, Dad and Louise. I’m going to miss watching Friends with Lou after M+D have fallen asleep post Christmas dinner! I will be thinking more than ever this year of people who have no choice in being away from their families.

Christmas has not been evident at all here. There hasn't really been anything to hint that Christmas is coming and it was a bit of a shock when we travelled through Blantyre last week and the supermarket was full of tinsel and funked up Christmas songs! Ellie sent me a lovely advent calendar with stained glass windows and that’s currently our token Christmas decoration! I was going to post this this morning but the electricity was off and then the internet stopped working all day so in the mean time I've been to the market and we found some decorations for sale so there is a little sign of Christmas after all - see pic (and note that the banner says Happy Birthday!) The picture of me is the paper christmas tree I made this morning with the presents mum gave me to bring out "underneath" it and a couple of pressies between Rebecca and I.

We’ve been listening to Christmas songs and carols this morning. Have you ever listened properly to the words of BandAid’s song: “There won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas”? Well, that’s true but the whole continent is not “a world of dread and fear, where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears.” I suppose we can forgive Bob Geldof for the slightly extreme lyrics given their time of writing during the 1984 famine in Ethiopa. Unfortunately things haven’t changed much and there are many problems with drought and famine particularly in East Africa this year, but if we’re going to focus on the sad state of the world at Christmas I prefer the lyrics to Delirious?’ song which instead of telling us to “thank God it’s them instead of you” they sing “Forgive us all, forgive us please, As we fight for this broken world on our knees.” It’s not a Christmas song but it speaks more to me about the true meaning of Christmas in the “freedom we have …in a man nailed to a tree”. It’s definitely easier in Lichinga to imagine the night that Jesus was born on, with everything carrying on as normal around the stable and most of the world oblivious to what was happening. It’s also a good time for me to reflect on one of the things that drives me to be here in the first place. When Jesus was on the earth he spent the majority of His time with the poor, eating with them, helping them and loving them and the bible talks about being parts of Christ’s body on earth today (1Cor12). For me, personally, my faith is not just about praying for the poor, it’s about trying to do the very small amount I can do, about it.

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
(Matthew 25: 34-40)

Anyway, back to the original sentiment of this post. I hope that you all have a blessed and restful Christmas with friends and family. Eat lots and sing lots and as one version of We Wish You a Merry Christmas goes:

“Be near or be far, wherever you are, We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”

The flood plains of Zambezia

Wow where to start? It’s been an adventurous week in the province of Zambezia.

The work (Picture: Rebecca, Florinda and Evo talk to an Equipa de Vida in Chire about HIV)
I spent most of the week listening and learning. We went to the area to talk to people who are affected by the flooding of the Shire river and its tributaries and to find out whether there was anything we could do. It’s a really sad situation. The poorest people live on the flood plains and farm there, their only access to food being what they grow. We met families who have lost their farms already this year to the water and they have no other income. For the first time I was face to face with real hunger and desperate poverty and it was hard to walk away. The government have provided new huts with facilities such as water supply and schools in the dryer part of the area to encourage people to move out of their flood prone houses. This seems to have worked although we’re still unclear on the details and whether people really can move for free. This doesn’t solve the farming problem however. It also appears that the flooding has been getting worse over the last couple of years, an interesting week then to be doing this work alongside the negotiations at Copenhagen. (For those that are interested, the work I did on vulnerability of the least developed countries to climate change is now available online as a PDF publication here.) Although a desperately poor area, people were always very kind to us and we slept each night in our tent either within a straw church or in the chief’s grounds. They were also very generous with food and we ate well. We visited the flood plains and came across a kind of canoe city where people trade food from the other side of the river, it was a fascinating place. The whole area was also very flat and so also scenically quite different from other places I’ve seen.

So what can we do about this? One of the things that people have problems with is getting seeds to grow well on drier land so Rebecca is going to organise for some of the team to do some training there in agricultural methods. It’s funny… I’d always assumed that people who have lived off the land for years couldn’t be taught by a westerner how to grow crops but it really does seem that there are better techniques out there that people just aren’t aware of to maximise their harvest. There’s a possibility that one of the communities could extend a wall which was built by the Portuguese to keep the water back. Other than that it’s a case of continuing to show support and encouragement to those who choose to move to drier lands to the government provided houses and to try to understand the cases where people haven’t moved. Is it that they can’t or that they have chosen not to? Is the choice well-informed?

The Portuguese (Picture: A building from the colonial era)
In many of the areas we were working last week there are huge ruined buildings which were built by the Portuguese who dreamt of these remote rural areas becoming big centres. It’s such a stark contrast between these and the tiny huts which surround them. The Portuguese also linked these two places. We wanted to travel from a place called Megaza to Chire and there was a road on a map we had that none of the locals we were working with knew about. We asked around and it sounded like it was passable so we set off in the landcruiser as the route seemed very direct.

Direct it might have been but it took hours. If there ever was a road there it was a very long time ago. At times we found ourselves driving through bush land dodging trees and driving over 6ft plants as we went basically just following a compass (which there happened to be one of on the lid of Rebecca’s mosquito repellent!) It was the craziest driving I’ve ever seen. We passed through so many different terrains, came across a random shop in the middle of absolutely nowhere, saw plains with trees with no branches or leaves, met children who’d never seen a car, men who were dubious about our chances of making it through to Shire and we also got stuck. The “mud” we got stuck in was more like thick clay. You could mould with it and it stuck everywhere. We were about 70cm deep in it and it took 2 hours, help from 3 locals (as well as the 6 of us in the car), many branches and leaves, and everybody getting very muddy before we got out. We were still finding hardened clay under the car days later despite a thorough wash! We did eventually make it to Shire, a huge well built bridge appeared out of nowhere just before we got there, proving that there did used to be a road, or at least a dream of one at some point!

Whilst speaking of the Portuguese, my language is coming on… I can understand a lot of what’s going on and my vocabulary isn’t bad (although involves an unusual collection of words: firewood, pump rod, crocodile… you get the idea) but I need to practice speaking more than I do because it takes me a long time to form sentences. Slowly but surely!

Some treats (Picture: the canoes used for transporting food in Megaza)
We spent a couple of nights in Blantyre, Malawi on the journey and had some amazing meals out: 2 pizzas, a Chinese and an Indian. It was such a treat for the tastebuds! We also managed to get a tour of a tea factory in Mulanje which was fascinating (health and safety would’ve never allowed it in England). We did a lot of shopping in Blantyre for people back here: medicines, books, plastic sheeting, nice peanut butter, and coloured card!

Rebecca and I also spent a great night at a trout farm on Zomba plateau (also in Malawi) and where I’d spent my last night in Africa two and a half years ago. We had a lovely 3 hour walk the next morning before heading back home.

It’s been really really hot, and there’s a real lack of rain for the time of year. People are losing crops which they planted when the rains first seemed to start. It’s hard for me to imagine the snow in England (although I did get shown my back garden via Skype this morning!) as I’m sure it’s hard for you to imagine what things are like here! I hope you are all well and it’s lovely to be hearing from you via email or Skype.

What I'm munching!

Picture to prove I'm alive and well (and vagually food related!)

This is *almost* a work free entry. I don’t really know who’s reading this and therefore what you want to know about. So here’s one about food for the chefs of my fans! If you read it you also get to find out when I’m coming home!

I have encountered lots of new fruit and veg and new combinations of known foods since I’ve arrived and I’ve really been enjoying cooking.

So, in the manner of the game…. We went shopping in Lichinga market on Saturday and we bought:

• A 10 litre paint can of onions – these all make me weep A LOT! I have no idea why they’re so much worse than onions from Sainsbury’s!
• Okra – a new vegetable for me – but I like it!
• Chillies – I’m impressed – they’re so hot that we won’t even get through one in a week. We put some on the roof this morning to see if we can dry them!
• Garlic – pre peeled – the cloves are so small that they’re a real pain to peel so most market vendors sell them pre peeled.
• Carrots, Cabbage, lettuce and tomatoes
• Strawberries – this was very exciting – we perhaps got a bit too excited and bought too many because they’re all going squishy and we’ve still got loads left! They’re very yum though. I feel like I need to be on the backs of Cambridge with Pimms!
• Green beans
• Eggplant (Aubergine!) – lots of it!
• Zucchini (Courgette – I’m living with an American!) – we didn’t actually buy this, we were given it by some friends with a farm.
• Some amazing green peppers which actually look like Sainsbury’s ones! The ones you usually get are very thin and small.
• Summer squash (we also got given this!) – it’s yellow and more like courgette than butternut squash – good though.
• We have lots of mangoes stored up from our trip to the lake
• Guava
• Papaya
• A weird fruit that is called “Coração de boi” in Portuguese. Translates as cow’s heart but we think it’s maybe a custard apple in English, though it’s nothing like an apple!!? I haven’t tried it yet!
• Bananas
• Eggs

So, lots of fruit and veg.

In terms of protein I’m eating lots of peanuts and peanut butter. Rebecca made houmous which was yummy. Otherwise tuna or beans. Today as a special treat we defrosted some cheese Rebecca bought in South Africa! I’m enjoying natural yogurt too.

We had a lovely weekend including a film night with a couple of girls working with Iris Ministries with popcorn and “peanut butter candies” made by yours truly! We had dinner out at MGK in Nomba on Sunday after church which was lovely. On Friday we’re leaving for Morumbala which Rebecca says she thinks is the poorest area of Mozambique. We’re visiting communities along the River Shire which get flooded every year. We’re not sure what the situation is yet and whether the solution will be social or technical but this week involves some prep for that and more pump stuff!

Also, I’m waiting to hear back from the airline but I will probably be back in the UK at the end of February (27th ish). We’re delaying our Christmas break and are thinking of spending a week or so in Lesotho at the beginning of Feb and then I’m going to take the opportunity to have a wander round South Africa.

:-)

ps. Erin has described our trip up the lake last week slightly more eloquently here if you're interested!

A week at the lake

Today is World Aids Day. I spent this morning at an event in Lichinga which was attended by anyone who has involvement with an HIV/AIDS program in the city. I was there with the Lichinga based Equipas deVida and we paraded through town with our bright orange tshirts which read on the front: Embaixador de Christo! or Ambassador of Christ! And on the back (in Portuguese): In Christ there is no difference between positive and negative. Equipa de Vida. Anglican church.

Peg is a British doctor who lives in Cobue, a village 4.5hours drive north of Lichinga on the lake shore. Rebecca and Peg spent the last week with people who had travelled from all over the lake shore to learn how to carry out tests for HIV and most importantly, how to council those they give results to. These are the first peple who have been allowed to carry out tests in this way: people usually have to travel to the nearest government centre which could be days away! We arrived in Cobue last Tuesday afternoon and I was pretty excited to be back somewhere I recognized, to be met by people that remembered me and to see the kids we’d played with 2 years ago, now a LOT bigger than they were!

Erin is an Australian who is working with some missionaries just out of Lichinga who run an organic self sustaining farm which they hope to use as an example of different farming methods which local people can copy. She fancied a trip to the lake and so worked and travelled with me all week. It was amazing to have somebody to think aloud to when we were working and also to chill out with in our time off. We spent the first two full days travelling in and around Cobue, with Carlos our driver determined that 2 ft wide paths were definitely fit for the car! We visited about 10 Afridev pumps which had been reported broken and with 2 Mozambicans who work for the Diocese and Carlos, would follow a similar pattern with each. We would first meet the chief of the area and if possible somebody who had been the “pump committee”. It turned out the pump committee usually consisted of one person. We would establish that no, they hadn’t had any training, and were not in possession of any spare parts (which we were told they would be) and would then work with them to assess the condition of the pump. We would then take the pump apart and replace any broken parts where we had them. We managed to completely fix 3 or 4 which was really satisfying, particularly as my team learnt very quickly and by the end I was confident that they could do 90% of the work without me. A couple of the pumps have been left broken for so long that I believe they had clogged up and would need the whole riser pipe removed which is a big job that we couldn’t do there and then. A couple had just never been dug deep enough to begin with (they were built into the rainy season when water levels were higher) and so there was no water in the wells in the driest months of the year. It was a successful couple of days overall in terms of training, scoping out what the situation is with the pumps, knowing a bit more about the most common problems and encouraging communities that we are beginning to look at this problem more. The next stage of this project may involve me in a boat travelling up the lake right up to the Tanzanian border, stopping for a day at a time along the way and training communities in basic maintenance and repair. I’m about to start writing a manual.

Eren and I spent the next 3 days travelling to and from, and working in, a village called Lumbaulo which is about half way between Cobue and the Tanzanian border. Getting there involved about 5 hours of cycling and a few hours of walking. The heat and sun intensity along the lake made the journey very difficult for me but the scenery was absolutely stunning and travelling through countless villages and seeing Mozambican countryside made it all worth it. Lumbaulo itself was amazing. We slept outside at the health post there as it was too hot to be indoors. We spent the second day at a river which we discovered in the rainy season reaches a width of 124 ft and a depth of 12ft! Currently people have to swim across and last year 6 people from the village were attacked by crocodiles, including one man who accompanied us who had lost an arm. The idea is to propose to the government that a bridge is necessary there. My job was to take lots of pictures and measurements and find out the situation from the community so that I can write a sort of proposal which can be given to the government. My initial thoughts are that it would have to be some sort of suspension bridge (particularly as we spied some pretty good rocks on the banks) but any suggestions appreciated.

The journey back was quicker as we left at 5am to get the walking done whilst it was as cool as possible but was still very hot. I have pretty burnt knuckles and wrists from cycling! Back in Cobue we made the most of Peg’s house being 10 metres from the lake and chilled out. It is mango season here at the moment and last week I was on about 6 a day! Every time we needed a break on our journey we’d just grab a few mangoes – ideal!

There are sad sides to all of this. Obviously the amazing work that Peg does is only needed because people get very sick. There were a couple of very malnourished babies in Cobue this week. Where pumps don’t work people are drinking lower quality water or walking miles to the nearest water source. I am continually learning more about the culture and life of people here as well as about myself. I am really loving the work that I’m doing and feel really comfortable here. I have been learning particularly this week about thanksgiving (coinciding nicely with thanksgiving on Thursday!) and giving thanks in all circumstances. It’s amazing even in the toughest times how much there is to be thankful for from health to suncream to mangoes to bikes and plenty more besides!

Wow, sorry for the length of this. Happy Advent to everyone and I hope you are all well. I look forward to hearing your news. I think of you all often.

Picture 1: Children in Cobue appreciate the mended pump (there is a pump in there somewhere!!)
Picture 2: A view near Lumbaulo.
Picture 3: Part of our journey from Lumbaulo to Cobue.