The temperature in Tete is changing; winter is coming. Well,
what they call winter. When my friends here see me shivering in a sweater and
scarf at 25 C, I have a hard time convincing them that winters in Canada are
like stepping into the freezer. A few weeks ago, before the temperature started
dipping at night, my colleagues and I were sitting outside the little house
where we stay when we are working in the field. The still, quiet dark was beautiful
in a way only possible when you live off the grid in the middle of nowhere. I
was lying on my back on a straw mat, drinking in the stars, when it hit me. I
am actually here.
I am actually here. Here, doing agriculture work, building friendships,
learning and growing, under the stars of Mozambique. What used to be a dream is
now more real than I ever could have imagined. What I wrote off as impossible
has become my career path.
That night, my colleagues and I stayed up late (9 o’clock!)
discussing our work, the latest Brazilian soap operas, evolution, the Bible. We
were up by 6 the next morning, getting ready to go about our work in the
communities. The extensionists are all responsible for 2-3 communities where we
have built sand dams. I take turns going out with different extensionists to
see how things are going, meet with the community members, and give some
suggestions. Now, in the cool season, the vegetable gardens are underway and
the areas around the dams have transformed. Grass and brush has been cleared,
fences put up to keep out the livestock, seedbeds are full of young plants, and
transplanting has already begun.
I had the pleasure this week to show my host brother around
some of the communities. The first time I told my host family I wanted to spend
the night with the other extensionists in the field, they raised their eyebrows
with a look that said, “really?” Now
they’ve gotten used to the idea, and my brother has been asking to come out with
me. He got quite the experience seeing three different dams, transplanting
cabbage, spraying for grasshoppers, eating sugarcane and baobab fruit a boy
brought us, and chasing goats away from our cook fire, all in two days. His
real initiation to field work came when he went with one of the guys to bathe
at the water pump and their motorcycle broke down. It took them a good hour to
push it up the long hills back home!
But why talk when I can let the pictures speak for
themselves? Here’s a snapshot of last week. I just want to add that it is an
honour and a privilege to have such a close relationship with this project, with
my co-workers, and with the communities where we work. This really is only a
snap shot. It does nothing to capture that wonderful feeling when people call
me by name, greet me in their local dialect, and then ask where I’ve been the
past 2 weeks.
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| My colleague Romão teaching the women of Capinga to plant tomato seeds. These have long germinated and some have already been transplanted. |
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| Each generation, from the youngest to the oldest, is helping out in Nhamunyu! |
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| There is always time for a little fun in the evenings. I taught the extensionists how to eat with chopsticks like I did last year in Cambodia. They caught on a lot quicker than I did! |
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| Handing out papaya seedlings to community members in Maule Maule. |
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| Posing with the community of Capinga during a visit by the MCC Mozambique representative. |
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| Transplanting kale in Ngalo. This area is an association of 15 or so farmers who work together to grow vegetables and cassava. |
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| Host bro Inacio doing the same. |
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| Hanging out under the shade after a long morning of work. This was right before we dug into the sugar cane! |
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| My favourite photo of them all. There is nothing like the smile of one who sees birds up close through binoculars for the first time! |
