Last weekend, we took a short trip to the Moçambique capital city,
Maputo. Moç is a former Portuguese "colony" so the people have distinct
way about them. They are more informal and social. And the Portuguese
music was really fantastic, beautiful language.
Maputo is right by the ocean so its famous for its seafood, especially
Moz prawn. We went to the crafts market on Saturday and walked along the
water. Found a small cheap local seafood place right on the boardwalk
and had an awesome dinner. I had braaied zebra ribs, Alex had grouper,
and Abhi had a cheeseburger. Yeah, I know. The zebra ribs had a very
very distinct sweet flavor to it. It was a cool to try zebra, but to be
honest, I didn't like the taste of it much.
To sum it all up, I would say it is like an African Miami.
Just yesterday we had the final informational conference of this summer.
Present were representatives from several government divisions. We have
discovered that there is a lot of interest in moringa as animal fodder.
Animal fodder, we are told has shot up more 200% in just 3-4 months.
This is directly linked to the global food prices crisis. Some of our
partners that grow chickens and cows will be investigating using moringa
for their animals. We expect to see some good results in the next year
or two.
In Southern Africa, and especially the very traditional Swaziland,
cattle is a big deal. It has been the traditional sign of wealth and
status. While things are somewhat different in the cities, in marriage,
there is still the payment of cows to the bride's family. Generally, a
woman is worth about 12 cows ;) just kidding. But that is about the
usual settlement.
Before this info conference, we have been running all around the the
country doing site surveys for our partners. We helped them select a
good sites to grow moringa for their specific needs (high density plots
for leaf production or spread out for tall trees for seed production).
We have pictures of each of the sites but we won't be able to put them
all here.
Abhi and I also took a day to head down to Matata to meet with a women's
sewing group that was organized by one of friends in the PeaceCorps.
They make beautiful handbags to generate some money for themselves. This
source of income helps them take care of their family when sometimes the
husband can be very irresponsible. Traditionally, the women don't earn
an income so there is a dependency of the husband. By helping women earn
cash, it helps promote better gender equality. Abhi is going to see if
we are able to help them connect to US markets.
One of the kombi owners let Alex sit in the driver seat and mess around
a little Manzini bus rank.
