Part III of John’s epic 6-part wrapup of our Mozambique trip. To be continued tomorrow!
Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in the world, but in my humble opinion, only in an economic sense. We absolutely fell in love with the people, food, terrain, fauna, and all around beauty. It is hard not to project my American values onto Inharrime and call it a place of destitute poverty without any creature comforts and whose people have little chance to better their lives. But this is their home, and they love it. The people we met were joyful, happy, and engaged in living vibrant lives.
The only real local economy is subsistence farming and trading at the local market. Some families have a member living outside of the area sending money home to help the family, but jobs are extremely scarce even in cities, so people do what they need to do to get by. There was a terrible civil war in the 90’s where the entire infrastructure of government changed. They are on the way back, slowly but surely – businesses are growing and the civil infrastructure is improving.
There are no white people in Inharrime except the new Peace Corps volunteer, and the central part of town is crowded, bustling, and full of energy. Being the only white peeps and foreigners, we may have felt intimidated moving through the central part of town, but after Steph and Terry assured us we were safe (and welcome!), we dove right in. There is much less crime in Moz than in SA and we all felt quite safe navigating the tight back alleys to see the sights, shop for food, grab lunch, and try some local ‘cider’. People everywhere greeted us with a smile and were happy to share what they had with all. We ate lunch one day at Steph’s favorite local place – a tiny hut in the middle of the market. Lunch was a bowl of beans, rice, and veggies with the hottest peri-peri I’ve ever had, and an ice-cold, bottled Coke. 11 of us ate and drank for around 340 Meticaish, or R75, or $12.
Steph’s group of kid friends in town were the highlight of the trip. Wilson is a former student, 21 years old, who lives at home with his family. Lizzy and I had met him before when he came (by bus) to Durban to visit Steph and Terry. One of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, he spent pretty much every night with us. He was a great translator (they speak Portuguese in Moz), mechanic, chef, teacher, and friend. He taught me how to make the best curry I’ve ever had – chicken and fresh coconut with peanuts.
Busha is 17 and in his final year of high school – an amazingly mature guy who wants to be a pilot and is also a great chef. The rest of the kids: Olimpio, Custodia, Esio, Humberto, Cushina, Mae, and a few others whose names I cant remember range in age from 4 to 15 and made several trips in the back of the truck to the farm to play soccer, swim, eat, and hang out. They were amazing kids, so polite, thankful, fun, inquisitive, and happy. Gildu and Horacio are the caretakers on the farm – again, super nice people who took amazingly good care of us.
We basically spent our week hanging out with the kids on the farm, spending time in the village, lounging, playing games, eating great food, drinking great beer, and being with great people. How can you go wrong, right?!…
$1 of delicious
Loving life on the farm
The king of the world
The slideshow is the same as yesterday’s – just added it here in case you missed it.
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Well said John. A beautiful country full of wonderful people.
The people definitely took our trip from fantastic to amazing.
The food took our bellies from flat (ahem!) and content to bulging and delighted.