A bit about names...

Mozambique is a diverse place!  Indians have been here forever, and now with the Chinese pouring into invest all over Africa, there has been a huge influx of Chinese into the country.  Not to mention, there are many Europeans, mostly Portuguese, who have hung on since independence, and others who work for aid organizations, donors, embassies, etc.  That said, Mozambicans have been exposed to new cultures more in the last 20 years than every before. 

This has created some very funny misunderstandings regarding names from all those different cultures... names that Mozambicans aren't used to.  For example, there is a little Chinese boy at Elio's school.  When I asked teacher Ana, who speaks English very well, what this boy's name is, she said, "Oh, his name is Someone."  "Someone?" I questioned.  "Yes, that is what his parents say he name is."  Teacher Ana didn't seem to think this was out of the ordinary.  Then, when I arrived at the school a couple of days later to drop Elio off, Ana explained that she had been mistaken about Someone's name.  Apparently Someone's parents had gotten upset when they heard the Mozambican staff at the school calling him Someone.  After all, his name is Sam Wong.  But the parents' accents must be pretty thick and I am sure the Mozambican staff are wholly unaccostumed to names like this, so Sam Wong's parents had to write his name down for all the teachers so they could see the difference bewteen Someone and Sam Wong.  But in Portuguese, words don't end in g and words that end in m make an ng sound, so this was quite a stretch for many of the teachers.  From what I can see, they continue to call him Someone when his parents aren't there. 

The foreign names that Mozambicans choose put together also provide some fuel for a good laugh.  I have a colleague at Save the Children named Aguinaldo, which is a pretty good name inself, Aguinaldo Santana.  17 years ago, Aguinaldo and his wife Jamila had a son they decided to name Filkadafi.  Say it out loud.  Aguinaldo loves Phil Collins.  He loves Elton John too, but not as much as Phil.  Everytime I have to drive somewhere with him, he blares "Another Day in Paradise."  Aguinaldo also thinks that Moammar Kadafi is one of the most intelligent and exemplary leaders in the history of Africa and in the modern world.  So he named his child Filkadafi, but he doesn't go by Fil or Kadafi, it's Filkadafi.  And let's not forget that his last name is Santana, so it's Filkadafi Santana.
Anyway, since some people have asked me to post some photos about our life and friends, here are a few...


Nalia and her friends from school: Clara, Olivia and Irati.  Clara is half Brazilian and half Belgian.  Olivia is Danish, adopted from Ethiopia, and Irati is half Tanzanian and half Spanish (Basque).



At the pool!



Elio calls these his swimming glasses.

Oh man, yesterday was a hard Mozambique day, and I felt like I shouldn’t be complaining because the car finally started… it did’t move, but it started.  Right now, if you actually want it to move, you usually have to push it to get it going.  Luckily there is no shortage of able bodied (i.e. not much to do) Mozambican men who can help with this.  So we have graduated from: 

Two weeks ago: Car being pushed home 4 blocks at 2am

One week ago:  Fire in the starter (flames coming out… Matias told the guard and me to run and get sand to dump on the engine to put out the fire)

Today:  Car starts on its own (sometimes).  Needs a push to start (most of the time).

So I guess I should be happy.  But it was 39 C in Maputo yesterday… 39 C is about 102 F, and since the very unreliable Nissan was still not running, I walked to work again.  It takes me about 30 minutes each way, and some parts are very pleasant—the wide sidewalks with the shade from the acacia trees.  The jacarandas are blooming with their purple princess colored flowers and circular black seed pods that look like big coins.  But the walk has to be very strategic and I am still finding the best routes… strategic to avoid:  1) foul smelling steaming trash heaps, 2) trees that too many men have relieved themselves on 3) excrement from who knows what, and 4) blasts of diesel fumes from the minbuses.

But some parts of living in Mozambique are so much easier… for example, it is so much easier to make people happy here than in the U.S.

I asked Eusebio, our guard, to cut our grass.  He did this all by hand because mowers, like tow trucks, don’t really exist here.  I paid him 100 meticais, about $3.00, and he was so happy he about fell over.  He told me that he’s going to bring me lettuce from his farm because Matias and I help him so much.

You can also make people here very happy here just by saying good morning- ‘Bom dia.’  That’s all it takes.  If you say this to complete strangers in the U.S., they will look at you like you must be crazy or on something and then mumble something incomprehensible back if you’re lucky, but here saying “Bom Dia”  anything can make a tremendous difference in your life.  People at the office will be more helpful.  The guards at the other houses on our street will look out for us.  The waiter at the restaurant will (try) to be efficient and expeditious.  The gentleman who works at the grocery store will carry your basket for you.  So, as my mom always says, there are always two sides to every story…

Anyway, seven days after the shipment arrived, the camera cord was recovered in the rubble, so here are some photos.



Nalia and some friends in a bairro outside Maputo

 

Matias and the cow leg referred to in the first post.



Nalia and her friend Tililly at the Maputo Elephant Reserve.

 

Elio and his best friend Santiago sharing a secret at the Maputo Elephant Reserve.

 

View of Maputo from Catembe Penninsula



Beach at Maputo Elephant Reserve



Nalia in our shipment rubble.

Horsewoman Nalia!



U.S. Embassy Halloween party last week- Elio is Nemo and Nalia is a 50s girl!