So you are in a car ...

Your good friend was driving the car, you were the passenger ... he/she was driving too fast for the posted speed limit when you hit a pedestrian. Later, the lawyer is asking you to help out your friend by testifying in court that they were driving within the speed limit. Do you agree? Yes or No

I'd be interested to read your opinions and answers.

So what's with this question anyway? It's part of our training ... Dealing with other groups cultures. Learning how to be an intercultural effective person.

There are three parts of our training as we get set to travel to Mozambique. One is your own research about the country, your placement, and technical resources you'll need to fulfill your duties in your placement. The other is online training that Cuso and VSO had setup. The third is the SKWID training in Ottawa about a month prior to our departure.

Yeah ok, but get back to the question. How would you answer it. Well as you may have guessed ... It depends. It's all about context - I need more information. Such as how much in excess was my friend speeding, what time of day, what happened to the pedestrian, was the pedestrian talking on the phone when they got into the street/ got hit, etc. It would be perfectly ok to side with your friend in some parts of this planet, while others it would absolutely not be acceptable nor expected. But these are the kind of questions you'll be dealing with, all the time asking yourself what's the real story behind what I'm observing.

Now, no matter how well trained you are, or how much you've traveled I suspect you'll fall once in a while: fail to recognise the cultural context of your actions or those of others around you. For example nodding of the head while saying no. Or placing your palm of your hand in someone's face trying to tell them to stop, but in reality your cursing them!

I'm sure you've got your own stories... So by all means please share them in the comments below.

About Mozambique

You'll notice that there's an ongoing poll in the left side-bar. I'm curious about how much people know about Mozambique, so please complete the survey after all it's one question. I must admit that I did not know much about it other than where it was located geographically.

So what have I learnt so far? While its development was influenced by many local groups, heavy interaction with the Islamic Empire was part of its growth up to the arrival of the Portuguese. Similar to other parts of Africa and the Middle East, the latter interaction with the Europeans had quite an impact on its development. Please refer to this timeline[1] and economic report[2]for a better understanding of this region.

We've been talking to other volunteers currently placed there, as well as expats who have lived there - they all like and love it! Some want to live out their retirement there. Other volunteers have extended their stay through other placements. In terms of reception, it seems that foreigners are very much welcomed. As many places in this world, you'll have to be patient with the paperwork regarding permits to work and reside within the country.

It's hard to write more about Mozambique without living there ... it seems to distant to write extensively about it. All I can do is read more and prepare for our trip, which will be in the latter part of March. I plan to have regular postings once I'm in-country.

______________________________

References:
[1] http://crawfurd.dk/africa/mozambique_timeline.htm
[2] http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/mozambique/