Arrived!

It has only been 3 days ... Maputo is like any major bustling city in the world: noisy, eventful, and challenging sidewalks. Although it is walkable, which is great for us to explore and get to know the place.

Early morning view out of our apartment over looking
Av. 24 de Julho.

Our travels were long, also 3 days, but was fairly smooth. We were met by Katia, a member of the VSO Mozambique office staff who was great in helping us get oriented, even though we were quite disoriented ourselves. The guest house is nicely situated: it's about 6 blocks from the VSO office and conveniently for me, next door to the Ministry of Education! Next week we'll start our in-country training and get as much stuff sorted out, primarily our living and work arrangements. But as the city goes, its ok. The sidew

Other volunteers had heard of our arrival, but did not know the details. Although we happened to meet one of the volunteers when we stopped by "Livro abierto" (open book), an NGO working to improve literacy amongst primary school children. As it turns out there was a get together of volunteers in Maputo to celebrate a birthday and the departure. There are about 15 or so volunteers in Maputo out of 35 in Mozambique. All working in rural livelihoods, education, or health. A new volunteer from the UK arrived a day after us, will be stationed in Manica working on assessing micro-dams for generating electricity.

Saturday we went walking around the south end of our corner of Maputo, stopping by the Casa do Ferro (Iron House). Yes, it's a house made out of iron plates, designed by the guy who did the Tour d'Eiffel, Gustav Eiffel. And yes, it is quite inhabitable without a crazy amount of air conditioning in this part of the planet. From there we made our way to handicraft market and stopping by the Brazilian Embassy that was hosting a "Portuguese Day" event, got treated to quite a bit of poetry and music. We then made our way home to then head out to the volunteer's party, which was a great party and included a lively bunch of drummers, thanks so much!

Hmmmm ... foood!

Hello :) Drummming!

I've recorded a bit of the Portuguese Day event, the capoeira, and the drum circle, and compiled it into a podcast. For sure, there's lots of room for improvement so any suggestions are welcome :)

Help make it happen!

Cuso International is a non-profit, international development agency that works through volunteers. Each year, they place hundreds of volunteers who collaborate on development projects in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. As a strategic alliance partner of VSO, a worldwide network of Voluntary Service Overseas organizations, they make up the world’s largest non-governmental, international development organization that works through volunteers.

The organization places educators and health professionals overseas, but also sends volunteers from many fields of expertise, ranging from agriculture to human rights, from community economic development to AIDS prevention, from eco-tourism to technology. Volunteers work collaboratively with local people to equip them with the skills they need to ensure they can exercise their basic human rights. These include the right to a livelihood, an education, basic healthcare, a safe environment, a say in the future, and equal access to opportunity.  

As a charity they ask all volunteers to undertake a target of fundraising to help sustain our work in this vital area. In this case there’s an agreement between Cuso International and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) with regards to leveraging funds: CIDA will contribute $9 for every $1 Cuso International volunteers raise. This ensures that Cuso International can continue to send volunteers overseas.

I encourage you to make a donation and help me reach my fundraising goal of CAD $2,000. Of course, you’ll receive a donation tax receipt if you’re in North America. If you are in the U.S.A., there are US 501-C3 tax receipts if you give through this link, please mention my name and it will be credited to this effort. If you can’t donate, please do pass on the word to colleagues, friends, and family.

Many thanks :D