Last Moz post - Pemba/Quirimba montage

I finally got around to throwing together some of the clips I took as I was leaving Pemba and arriving in and touring around the coconunt plantation, village and beaches of Quirimba Island for the first time. You'll have to excuse the sometimes rough, shaky video in there, often because of the bumpy roads and/or my incompetence...and unfortunately due to some software bug that I can't figure out the first minute and a half is only sound, so you can either skip ahead or sit back and listen to one of the most famous songs to come out of Mozambique. In English it's called "Nightbird" and is by an artist called Wazimbo. The first time my TechnoServe friend Tricia played it for me, it really did give me the chills, and that haunting melody stayed in my head for days after. I guess I'm not the only one who liked it--the song was also featured in a movie directed by Sean Penn, The Pledge, and even in a Microsoft commercial. Anyway, this is clearly no Sean Penn movie or Microsoft commercial, but here you go:

Joburg/Soweto

My last week in Africa was spent in Johannesburg and Pretoria to visit my client one last time. Below-left a view from the TechnoServe office of the Joburg skyline, and below-right a picture of the outside of my friend's cottage where I stayed. Very typical sight--it's really true what they say about all the streets in Joburg being lined by walls and all the security homes have to have because of the enormous crime problem they have there. The city is quite attractive, lots of hills and trees, nice neighborhoods, etc...which is why it felt so weird that you had to be so cautious all the time. i.e. I'm used to cities where crime is a big concern like say Sao Paulo or Phnom Penh...but there it seems more natural that there would be crime because things just kind of look more destitute. In Joburg you'll have these really nice housing communities close to quaint coffee shops/bars/restaurants/etc. and yet you feel the same tension as if you were in Harlem in the 80's. Crime simply isn't limited to the poor parts of town in South Africa.

My second to last day in Africa, I had a bit of time for one last touristy thing so I decided to do a tour of Soweto, the largest urban black settlement in Africa with over 3 million people. Unlike Joburg, Soweto apparently has much less violent crime because the local community have a kind of vigilante mentality...which can always be a dangerous thing, but then again if you can't rely on the police--which one report said was understaffed by 50%--I guess you gotta what you gotta do. Below-left entering Soweto through one of the nicer areas. Below-right a cluster of the quintessential "matchbox" houses built by the government for Soweto residents:

Below, a couple scenes from one particular township, Embizweni, that we got to see up close:

Below-left, Nelson Mandela's former house, which is now a museum. Below-right a sign for Vilakazi Street, the only street in the world to house two Nobel laureates (Mandela and Desmond Tutu):

Weekend in Swazi

Okay...I admit I'm back in the States now, but have a few more posts that I had meaning to put up but didn't have a connection or enough time before...so I'll just pretend like I'm still blogging from the bush....

My last weekend in Africa, a few of us decided to take a road trip from Johannesburg to Swaziland. We all had friends living in the capital, Mbabane, and it was just a 3.5 hr drive on good roads, so was a pretty easy trip to do, and glad we did because Swazi has definitely a very different feel from what I became used to in Mozambique and from what you'd typically think of Africa. Mostly the reason for this is because it's mountainous and generally a lot cooler--in fact it was downright freezing when we were there. It's a monarchy, and has some interesting customs associated with the king and royal family. It also has an astounding 40%+ HIV/AIDS infection rate...one of the highest in the world.

We only had two full days there--the first evening we went to a brai (African barbecue) and then to one of the only big music/night clubs around, House on Fire. It's a really cool place with multiple levels, sections and great live entertainment. The night we were there they had a Brazilian samba/dance band and one of the top DJs in southern Africa, DJ Fresh, so practically all the nightlife seekers in Swazi and even some from South Africa come out that night to check it out. A sidenote--every patron had to buy two packs of condoms to gain admission. Although Swaziland has a big AIDS problem, there is a pretty good effort to raise awareness and address the issue, which hasn't always been the case for other countries in the region.

The next day, we did a bit of touristy stuff--had a traditional Swazi lunch at Matenga falls...












...and checked out a cheesy but entertaining tribal song & dance routine, including a rendition of The Lion Sleeps Tonight, I kid you not:



Before we knew it, time to drive back to Joburg--the Swazi road trip crew from left to right...Tiffany (American TechnoServe Joburg-based volunteer), Sbonelo (friend living and working in Joburg; schooled in Swaziland and New Mexico through an Int'l Baccalaureate program), Me, Eneza (friend living and working in Tanzania; also schooled in IB programs w/ Sbo), Brian (American TNS Mbabane-based volunteer consultant), Tiffany again, Me again:

Meu Despedida do Maputo

...meaning 'my Maputo farewell.' Some pics of me enjoying my last days in Mozambique with some friends.

Here the crew I played soccer with on Sundays at Costa do Sol, the main beach in Maputo:

Below-left the TechnoServe Moz coconut team proudly displaying a tree seedling they had just brought back from the field. To the right Tricia (head of coconut team) joking with Sinezia our office receptionist and assistant.

And finally a few photos from my last night out. Appropriately enough we ate dinner at a middle eastern place and then headed to a Maputo mainstay, Africa Bar, which is exactly what I did on my first night out in Moz. From left to right...row 1: Tricia (Louisianian, full-time TechnoServe coconut/biofuels program director), Abe (our Somalian friend starting a business in Moz), Sam (South African TechnoServe volunteer consultant working on coconuts, Me, Anna (German TNS volcon also working on coconuts) ; row 2: Sam again, Fabio (Brazilian TNS volcon working on poultry), Magaya (local Maputo friend, who introduced me to the soccer gang and also works for his father's poultry business), Magaya again, and Arsenio (local Maputo friend currently studying at university):

As you can see, a pretty impressive mix of backgrounds--made for lots of good conversation and debate, often fueled by many Mozambican cervejas. Hope to be back in Moz soon to see some of these folks again and pick up where we left off...