Home at Last (edited)

Challenges of writing a blog

Forever we are required to entertain - don't lose the readers attention! said my 8th grade English teacher. That's the dilemma I face. There is so much to write about in my day to day affairs. But when I sit down to type, not only do I forget those special or quirky moments, but I lack inspiration to write. Ok, well here's my best attempt. It may just turn out to be a journal. When it's 29 degrees and you have no a/c, thinking, breathing, and even typing is a little tough. And to think many people work for $30/mth outdoors in this difficult land. 'they're used to it' many 'strangero' (foreigners) say, 'that's their life, it's ok for them'. Well if you consider inadequate sanitation, meals consisting primarily of carbs (pao as they call it - fresh bread/buns) and xima/ugali - (maize flour mixed with water to form a solid porridge), irregular access to water and electricity, then yes, it's just fine for them. Perhaps our vision for a better life for the poor is not so necessary after all.

On Saturday, we took an off-road journey to Murrebue (www.murrebue.com/Pages/home-page.html), an amazing beach 30 minutes away. It was a scary journey which was beyond my comfort level - but upon saying 'yes, I'd like to join - do you have space for me?' I had past the point of no return. I'll avoid the details since I'm now at an age where I give family access to my blog!

Sunday, you guessed it...I went to the beach (near Nautilus) with a local friend. I visited this young Mozambicans home for brunch before the 5 meticais bus journey to the beach. His home was basically a little concrete dwelling in behind the landowners home. His rent, at $24/mth (800mts) was 'expensive'. It was basically a double bed, with just enough room to walk around it. There was space for a tv and fridge, and his clothes were visible in a makeshift armoire. We had fried fish (90mts/kg - about 4 little fishies), a fried tomato/onion mix (very common), and xima (ugali). It was a nice day, other than the 1 hour he left me waiting alone while he tried to reload his phone with credit.

So I committed to a home at last. Not sure it will be permanent, but will do for now. I know my roommate is charging me way too much, but worth it for the piece of mind and for the stability. Better than bouncing around from motel to shady motel. The houseboy makes it really awkward for me. The owner thinks he treats his 'servante' very well - but he sleeps on the floor - at night he has a straw mat though, for that added touch of luxury. He sleeps in the corner like a dog. I don't think he has access to a shower so the scent is a little overwhelming. My boss has advised me not to get involved - it's none of my business, as long as I treat him well.

The housing challenge:

Not only do people not mark places for rent, but even if they did, it’s impossible to find the owner. In one case, a colleague from M&E, moving back to Dominican, showed me a 2 bdr place on the beach for $800. The owner was based in Maputo, and the guard was only found after a repeat visit, in which case said (Portuguese speaking) colleague was not with me. It was nighttime, and there was no power in the house, so his Nokia light (most cells here have flashlight and radio!) was all we had. Now, oil companies are scooping up beach properties.

The solution:

Learn Gujarati, Portuguese, and Hindi/Urdu as fast as possible. Network like mad. Talk to airline agents, NGO workers, AKDN staff and interns, even randoms on the street.

The result:

Success! Tuesday Sept 28^th I moved, after 3 weeks in limbo.

Business Development, access to microfinance, and the credit crisis.

The whales pass daily, but sadly I have yet to see one. I befriended a young unemployed man, fluent in English, who had a monocular he was looking to pawn off to give him capital so he could start vending soft drinks. He wanted 2000, then said 1000, which I still thought was too high. I thought I'd see him again, but his cell battery caught fire, and its 150 Mts for a new one ($5), which he doesn't have. So perhaps this weekend I've got an adventure to look forward to - I will find him in Cariaco, a fairly large area. But I want to offer him 400 - $12. A fair price for me (seeing a whale actually would be priceless), and enough for him to buy 2 crates of fanta. What is his business plan? Simple. He has a little house he built in a good part of Cariaco, and will sell them from there. He also has a little cooler. If it doesn't work , his friend has a vegetable stall from which he'll sell them. The financial projections are simple:
7.5 Mts x 24 per case x 2 cases = 360. 40 to give him a meal or two and some change to work with. Sell at the going rate of 12.5, leading to total revenue of 600. He thinks he could do that in a day but I told him to assume he'll take a week. His gross profit would be 40%.

Sadly, microloans are hard to come by in this region, as the industry reigns itself in as repayment rates have been poor. So guys like this have to pawn off their possessions, borrow from friends, or find a low paying job and try to stash away their excess pennies.

In the west, banks have tightened their purse strings and cut back lending to small businesses, to the Central banks chagrin. This is having an effect on expansion and improvement of businesses. In the developing world, the financial crisis of 2008, along with poor repayment rates, can have a serious impact on livelihood.

In my last week in Dar, I came across a formerly homeless young man.

Perhaps Enterprise Development would be a better field for me. I love giving able individuals simple ideas to get their lives back on track and get the cash flow flowing again.

Beautiful Pemba

Though only an hour's flight away, Pemba is a world apart from Dar. AKF has a brilliant campus overlooking the Bay of Pemba. It's almost surreal, and I attempt to visit the veranda daily to breath in the fresh air.

There is no life in Pemba. But it's a beautiful place with lots of opportunity. It gets dark after 5:30 as they're an hour behind Dar. And it seems like by 7 or 8, everyone is getting ready to sleep. Except for a few m-Cell boys trying to make some coin into the wee hours of the night. I'm not a fan of going to a party at 1am, as was the case in Dar, but this is completely the other extreme! People have limited funds here (Cabo del Gado residents considered to have half the average income of Mocambique), and being at the end of the road, supply is limited and costly. But the Goans and other Indians (especially with home bases in Maputo) seem to be changing this with their many wholesale shops, bringing goods from Maputo and South Africa. The whales pass daily, but sadly I have yet to see one.

Homeless in Africa

I won't try to explain money to you since Bart did a good job when he was in a similar placement last year (the currency situation has changed since - more of the money is gross, and the Met has dropped 35% since early in the year, leading to some of the food insecurity uprisings in maputo. Funny that some hotels still use a posted rate of 25, when it's actually 36):

'Any denomination of mets 200+ (200, 500, 1000), are all nice new crisp bills. The twenties, however, look like they've been in a long distance runner's sock (or worse) during a marathon. I'm afraid to touch them – not only because they are absolutely foul, but because they are so delicate from so much use that I imagine them disintegrating into a fine mist if I handle them – like some ancient papyrus scroll.'

The recent film on Thursday movie night was 'Burn After Reading'. Since then I've moved a few times, with mixed results. Sadly, it hasn't gone well. Can't get power. Can't get internet. Can't get water. Can't get clean!! Most people would say relax, TIA. And the reality is that this is TIA, but there are 'western' expectations of me - the results are all anyone will pay attention to in the end. All the challenges are real, and are faced by billions, who have come to accept these things as part of their everyday lives.

From 9/9/10 F/X $1 = 35 Mts

Would you believe that 'bread' is 'pao' in portuguese! Pronounced just as us guju's would! And another one is 'pagar' which more or less means cash.

I've been on two motorcycle journey's, getting to know about small enterprises and how the bank can serve them better. Some are experiencing very poor sales due to ramadan - and since in such countries, food production/sales is a very typical microbusiness,

If any of you have good portuguese websites, please let me know as this place is COMPLETELY void of English.

Beautiful beaches for sure. Check us out on a map and you'll see how well we are positioned for a future tourism industry!

EXTREMELY expensive for packaged goods; more than Dar, with much less availability. Everything is from South Africa. I guess we're at the end of the road, so it makes sense. Parmalat has a local juice brand, where you can get 1L for 70 Meticais (Mts) ($2) - good to see it's 'local', but sad that in a tropical country, juice is so pricey. Similar to Dar, - rarely is it 'pure' juice. Milk here @ the supermarket I just checked out was 90 Mts! Over $2! How would the average person afford such things? Many low end jobs (houseworkers etc) get 1200 Mts/mth (though min wage is 2500). A 'Yop' like bottle of yogurt is $1. Cereal in Dar often goes for $7-8, and I think here it was not far off that. <1L of cream goes for 220 Mts - $6!!!! Perhaps this is why we are seeing riots in Maputo.

Went to 'Osman' - It's the closest semblance to a supermarket, but they didn't have dates or figs - I was looking for fibre since everything is protein (read: grilled chicken) and carbs here (read: white bread and ugali aka xima). So I bought corn/maize on the street, as I often did in Dar (but without the chili/lime salt sprinkling).

Very excited to go to the expat movie night. A show called 'The Prophet'. It's Chandraat tonight too, but I'm skipping out as I'd like to get to know some of the other NGO's etc working here.

Ok, I'm off to see a guy from Karachi who's lived here a while regarding a place to live! FMB is paying about $50/nite for me right now, totally not worth it since I can't be independent way out there on Wimbe Beach. On another note, a Vancouver TKN volunteer for HR just arrived today for 2mths.

My new life in Southern Africa

I arrived Monday evening to a hectic flurry of activity in Pemba airport.  Was not a welcome entry to say the least!  The passengers going on to Nampula and Maputo were given the priority. However, I'm here now, and it's been a great few days.  Yesterday (Tuesday) was a holiday so got to hang out with a fellow fellow, Janice, and through her have met a few other AKF Guesthouse residents and expats.

My hotel is right on Wembe beach, but slightly isolated from town.  Am looking for accomodation.  Went to JK both nights so far and it's quite interesting that some of the younger kids only speak portuguese! Nandi is in the same so it's really weird. All farmans in Hindi/Gujarati since few English speakers.

Went to visit about 10 of our banks clients today...got to see all the little shops and wide range of businesses, and ask some questions about whether the loan has improved their prospects in life. Had a translator with very weak english - he was the loan officer responsible for staying in touch with those clients.

Whether a little milder (in theory) here esp due to ocean breeze.  Certainly less mosquitos. Lots of cool baobab trees. Can't wait to visit Maputo and South Africa at some point, probably March, as I'm starting to hear great stories from some Portuguese expats who work out here.

Should you need to reach me:

+258 822 855 923

Another Day in Dar passes....

Every morning I awaken to the sounds of screaming children. As I peak out the window behind my bed, I see Olympid and Shaban Robert schools. The playfulness is often accompanied by loud drums, followed by students yelling into the mic, perhaps for practicing their English. I always told myself I'd wake early to listen in, or at least to go for a run along the beach, but that never happened. Often I'll walk into work; now used to the thermometer hitting 28 by the 9am.  I'll watch people frying mohogo, vitumbua, etc in the street.  Cabbies are eager to take me to work, often strategically waiting on my street for me to walk out. After the niceties I sit down at my desk, promising not to touch email or fb until real work is done - I usually fail though. Around 2pm I'll crave a treat from City Supermarket, so I'll grab an Omega ice cream bar from Azam's -Bakhresa foods, 110ml of deliciousness for Tsh 900 - $0.60.  

Today is my last day...I'll miss hearing the same tunes over and over all day everyday! Mind you it gets louder as it gets closer to 6; I think they're trying (in vain) to get us out of here!  Here is a sampling...

And I miss you

smooth operator

time after time

madonna american pie

sting desert rose

I've definitely got used to my life here, living local, getting around, eating cooked bananas (matoke), ugali, maharage, etc.  Pemba will be a completely different experience, and I have a feeling it'll get pretty boring after a while. So I just picked up some DVD's - 'Salt', 'The Expendables', and Snoop Dogg videos.

This weekend is hectic, am meeting up with Venus (a fellow from Z-Bar with Rahaleo Project), lunch with Moez (my nanima's nephew, who is visually impaired, and great company), meeting with my 2nd cuz Nafeez and his new wife, etc.

Will have to tell you about last weekend...had a nice trip to Kigamboni...but not so good stories getting on the ferry on the way back!