MozamWeek

I mentioned in a recent post (click here ) that I was involved in a group looking at the Primary school in Mufa-Caconde. I was supposed to visit this school today, but the trip was canceled. I'm still looking forward to the visit and I' ll keep you updated. In the meantime, I was invited to visit the new primary school in the re-settlement of Cateme. Now, I've always thought of re-settlements as a result of refugees in times of war or something like that. This re-settlement is the result of economic "development" in Tete province. It is hard to describe the impact of the recent invasion of foreign companies in our neck of the Zambezi Valley. We have huge Brazillian, Australian, Portuguese, and International companies coming to town to explore the hidden riches beneath the blazing African sun. One company has a 30+ year contract to extract top-quality coal in Moatize 20 km from Tete. In order to do this, they have to remove the local population... to where? Cateme....

Querino came to work this morning with a gift from home: ntswaya-- termites, flying ants! Mikael took one and nibbled half of it. They are little black and brown wingless crunchies. I’ve heard that they taste like bacon… BUT, on an empty stomach, before my coffee… sorry, I just don’t eat bugs before breakfast. “Give me one after my breakfast… or in the afternoon,” I replied. Well, the “Tete shrimps” where gone by the time I got home at 3pm. So, I still haven’t eaten ntswaya. Pretty good, huh? Over 10 years in Mozambique, and this is the first time I’ve been offered this delicacy. I suppose it is just too good to waste on people who won’t really appreciate it; I say the same thing about good chocolate, real butter, and cheese. My African friends aren’t very impressed with these things we nibble in small quantities to make them last. I won’t be offended if they keep their best things to themselves, if they don’t ask me to part with my chocolate. Maybe we are more alike than it seems…

I have been invited to attend a seminar at the Provincial Dept of Education. The theme is something about creating a project to improve local schools. Very important. Much improvement needed, but ruts are deep and this might give them a push to help them out. I'm invited as an "Educational Partner"... the other 20 participants are school directors, district supervisors, inspectors, etc. I've been placed in a group to study the reality of a village school about 50km from Tete: The complete primary school of Mufa-Caconde. I was interested in this school because it is one of 6 schools in the province that have bilingual education in Nyungwe. Kids are learning to read and write in Nyungwe and then transition to Portuguese by the 4th grade. I wanted to know what really happens in these Bilingual programs. I'm learning a lot about Mozambican schools! We have been analyzing the current "reality" of the school. Filling in questionnaires about the physical condit...

Usually the sky is blue... today it is gray, but inside my new Tete house everything is BLUE! We moved to a house in town... I've mentioned the challenges of living on the "wrong" side of the Zambezi River during the bridge renovations... we looked for a house for over a year and finally have found something to move into! There are problems: for $500/mo in Tete, you don't get much. In Chimoio, you get a palace for the same price! But here in "boomtown" things are different. We have a downstairs 3 bedroom 'duplex". We have quiet neighbors upstairs who have a pretty tropical garden, but we have a sandy, patchy grass, flooding when it rains... sewer-smelling garden. We've had the plumbing worked on, but there is more to do. The upstairs very effectively blocks the hot sun from baking our roof! So we are quite comfortable without air-conditioning... as long as a fan is blowing! For now, we are enjoying living and working on the same side of the brid...

We recently spent about 20 hours in Zimbabwe. We traveled the road from Beitbridge to Mutare. It was good to be back in a country we have grown quite fond of in the past 14 years or so. We announced our engagement at a conference in Harare in 1996. Katie was born there in 2000. We used to vacation in the cool mountains on the Mozambican border, enjoying wonderful hospitality and good food only a half-day's drive away. In 2003, we used the "shortcut" through Zim from RSA to Tete for the last time. Times were tough, fuel was scarce. The borders were complicated. Shelves were empty and money was so devalued it was hard to buy anything. I took a bag of apples to the checkout, and the price had changed alread from what was marked! Things got worse after that... But, 2010 is different. They have taken the US dollar as their currency. Steps have been taken to stabilize the economy. Suddenly, the shelves are full! It is funny not to have to convert all the prices to dollars in my...

Back. Hot. Of course! 4 days on the road to South Africa... 2000 km Tete-Johannesburg 33 days in the "Republic" as it is known at the border post. RSA. Republic of South Africa. The next best thing to America right here in Africa! McDonalds... kids had their first Big Macs when they discovered that Happy Meal isn't filling enough. 6 Pizzas. 2 Zoos. 2 Passport Renewals. Car tune-up, 2 new big expensive 4wheel drive tires. One spare wheel in the RIGHT size this time. Extra filters and timing belt to be installed later. "Ice-cream only ONCE a day"... we had to make a rule because we liked it so much and it was cheap. Barbeque ribs!!! Cookouts with friends. Real, good hamburgers (not to be confused with the Big Macs). Swimming pools. New guitar. Fresh clothes without holes or smudge marks from dirty water. 3 Dentist appointments. 2 doctor appointments. 1 eye appointment. HAIL... rain... cool nights and sunny days. Baking cookies without baking ourselves! Grapes, Ne...

Mikael, Jeni, Jakob (7), John (5), & Katie (9) Having a green Christmas in South Africa. Enjoying comfortable housing, restaurants and good home-cooking without having to improvise on ingredients! Everything is easier here... We are thankful that God looks out for us by providing everything we need. Even a vacation from the heat and dust of Tete in December! God bless you with joy and peace in this season. Always remember His care for you... even if you have everything you want, you need His peace in your heart to have the JOY you long for. God gave us Jesus to bring us peace. He loves you. Don't forget it; He won't!