“Sweden is so out there. Everything just works!”

Sweden is so out there. Really? That’s what a South African guy told us, in a tone of something that could have been frustration, when we talked to him about our project and where we came from. We have met quite a few people who think that European countries in general and Scandinavian countries in particular are, how can I put it, maybe too easy. Everything is so well developed and has been so for so long people forget to appreciate it. We have talked about holes in the pavement (they are veeeery frequent in Mozambique) and how they teach people not to fall into them. Have you done it once you’ll watch out for them the next time so to speak and that’s the end of that. If this would happen in Sweden you would find someone responsible for the hole and expect them to take this responsibility and be ashamed that their road is not working as a road should.

What I think these people want to get to is that people in countries like Sweden forget from time to time that EVERYTHING WORKS. So when a small detail is failing their whole world is destroyed; Like if the bus is 10 minutes late on your way to work you’ll let your anger out on your fellow workers about it for the rest of the day. In a world where there are no timetables or arrival times, this thinking quickly gets ridiculous.  Because we do worry about a lot of silly things, or why would it be fun to make jokes about the “Dagens I-landsproblem” (the Developed country problem of the day – my free translation)?

What I also think is that for me it normally takes about two days to get back to expecting everything to work when I get back to Sweden. I try so hard to stay in the feeling where a power cut for 5 hours is not the end of the world, and still the reaction would be completely different if it happened me back home. It is not what you expect. And, yes, don’t take me wrong, I absolutely don’t want power cuts and cold showers to happen all the time. All I want is some understanding that the world WORKS with these things too. Mozambique works. In my opinions everything has worked even so much better than I expected. Mozambique works based on their current conditions.

If you haven’t understood it yet I am back home now. I’m sitting in my apartment listening to the tram passing by outside. We are lucky Sweden did its best to milder the shock of returning by giving us summer sun and lovely weather when we arrived. It is almost as warm as in Mozambique today and this is what my breakfast view looked like. Not too bad, huh?

The last night in Maputo was wonderful with speech and dance and face painting and tacos and friends and all you could have asked for. Thank you everyone for a fabulous night!

And the journey back home was boring and eventless as it should. All that remains is to remember that everything works here in Sweden and small malfunctions and trouble is not going to be the end of the world. And that a fantastic report is to be written.

(If you wonder where all the sentimentality of leaving is; I still haven't understood I'm back. I just think I'm here on vacation, expecting to go back to Maputo in a week or so...)

How to celebrate your birthday in Mozambique – Part II

Ok, you all know about the birthday present. After finishing our work in Manica Province we went to Inhambane and Tofo and the time for part two of the present – Diving and whale shark spotting! Second day in Tofo we went out geared with snorkels to look for whale sharks and manta rays. Unfortunately we didn’t see any of them but we got to see bottle nosed and humpback dolphins! At one point everyone got very excited and it showed to be a hammer shark circling in the water. The other people on the boat were volunteers in Tofo working with research on the marine life and they didn’t hesitate a moment to jump into the water to say hello to the shark but I didn’t really feel like it was my first priority. I mean, cuddling with a shark is not my favourite way of spending the day.

What people talk about most in Tofo is diving. The place is famous for its nice waters and is a good place for trying this out. It was Saturday morning and we had decided to meet at the diving centre. We went there and started filling out papers. All of a sudden the instructor looks a bit stressed. “Ehm, is it OK if we take the dive tomorrow? It seems like we have some lost divers at sea at the moment and we need the boat to go look for them.” Oh, OK. Well not much to say about that. We rebooked our class to the day after and went back to where we were staying. I can’t say that this made me less nervous about the dive than I was before. Cause I was a bit nervous. Thinking about it I wouldn’t say water is my favourite element, I’m more of a wind person. And the thought of going under water for 30 minutes is scary. I mean, there is no air nearby down there. And then above all you can apparently get lost at sea. Oh my. 

Luckily we got told the next morning that the six divers were found again. After three hours in the water a boat had spotted them and picked them up. Apparently the current had led them far away from the place where they went down so when they surfaced the boat couldn’t find them at first. But it all ended well, so back to our diving session.

The instructors taking care of us were really nice. We got our wetsuits and then we were ready to go! 

We started out in a pool first, learning some basic things and then went out to the ocean, 12 meters down. It is a strange feeling this with breathing under water that takes some time getting used to for me, but I managed to forget about it for a while and got lost in the world of amazingly beautiful fish down there. We saw a scorpion fish looking almost like a coral and small fishies in green and blue. And Kajsa. She was almost like a fish herself floating around flapping her arms like a big manta in the clear water. The 30 minutes down there just flew away!

All in all I am very happy with my presents so far. Only problem is that there is still some money left. And only one day left in Maputo. So if anyone has an idea on how to spend them, here or back home, you are welcome to help :)

Il n’y a pas de problème sans solution

So, now we are getting closer to the end of this trip. One full day in Maputo is left before we go back to good old Sweden. People we met all ask the same things. They start with “When are you going home?” and then they follow up with “And when are you coming back?” with a big smile on their faces. The answer? I don’t know when but I would like to come back. 

I would like to see what happens with the hydro power stations they build now. I would like to see if Mr Zana, one of the most inspiring men we have interviewed, is teaching as he said he would. If Nando, a guy who teaches traditional African dancing, is learning Lindyhop. If Carlos, who fell in love with one of us after meeting us two times (unclear who, he declared his love in a text and we share the same number), found a wife.  And I would like to know what happened to all the other people we’ve met.

 

Tomorrow is goodbye dinner and time for me to send those postcards that took me two months just to find. Mozambique isn’t really a tourist country, huh? Tomorrow is also the time to give you some update on how my birthday was celebrated, part II.

A few photos from the past week:

Tofinho

Tofo beach

traditional African dance team

On the way from the ferry to Inhaca

The sweetest girl we met on Inhaca borrowed my camera for a while

She did a pretty good job taking photos of us as well

 

Tangerines

This week has been our second week of vacation. We left Manica Province to go to Inhambane Province in the south east. This province is famous for its beaches, palm trees and tangerines. The tangerine season has just started which means that old ladies, children, boys, pretty much anyone sits in every corner and sell tangerines for 1 Meticals each (4 Meticals is ~ 0.4 Euro). And here I come to think of a Regina Spector song where she sings: “Do you remember the time when I ate nothing but boxes of tangerines?” I’m pretty sure she would have hung out in Inhambane if she knew what it was like here.

We’ve spent the last few days in Tofo, a small paradise. There are some restaurants, some hotels, a couple of diving centers and a sunny, sunny beach. All you can wish for to slow down the pace. The only downside, which doesn’t have to be a downside, is that it is low season so it is pretty empty here. So, we do our best to entertain ourselves.

Vamos para a cascata

One of the good things with doing a Master’s thesis on small scale hydro power is that you get an adventure for free every time you go visit a power station

Our first field trip was to Makate, an area about 45 minutes from Chimoio. In Makate they don’t have access to electricity yet, but an NGO in the area has come up with the suggestion that they should build a hydro power plant. I and Kajsa joined a team of members from FUNAE and GIZ to see when they did measurements on the potential site. To get to the site we had to walk about 4-5 km through a winding path watching out for grass and branches to poke out your eyes. With us were some students from the local university who did the measurements followed by discussions in Portuguese about head and flow and where to go next to see where the power house could be built. We started walking in one direction, following the river and stopped after maybe 3 minutes walking. A new discussion starts. We hear nervous laughter followed by the word crocodile and some pointing up streams. Somewhere up there is their neighborhood. As we don’t really feel like hanging out with the crocs today we turn and go down streams instead.

Our next field trip was thought to be holiday. We went down to a place called Ndzou Camp where you can go out in the forest to find elephants. To get there we took a chapa to Sussendenga and there we were told to take first available transport further south. After about two hours and a long conversation in Portuguese with a kind man we found ourselves on the back of a truck. We thought we had routine on the Mozambican transports by now, but we forgot that the space at the far back of the truck is left empty because it is where you get the most dirt from the road whirling up at you and find its way to all the parts of your body that is exposed (I mean, my God my EARS). This is how lovely you look afterwards.

And yes, the holiday trip that became a field trip. The guide who would take us elephant spotting didn’t turn up so instead we were lucky enough that there was a hydro power station nearby so we got brought by George at the camp to the station. Passing by the locals who would get the electricity someone yelled after us: “Are you taking the girls up to the waterfall? Good luck my friend!” followed by a hearty chuckle.

Getting back from the very same waterfall George seemed noticeably proud of us. Mission accomplished.

After this we’ve seen one station in Rotanda and one in Ndirire and said hello to Senhor Farinha (Mr Flour) who is the operator of the Ndirire station. He told us about how he dreamed about building a water turbine and built one himself. Ambitious young man.