September Project: Week 2
Monday morning began the hard way: clearing an area for a vegetable garden. All vegetables grown are to be given to the local community. All 4 girls worked quickly (initial enthusiasm!) and in no time had an area ready for digging and raking. After a well-deserved lunch, Emmanceau (translator and volunteer helper) fetched the children (from the local area) and the crèche was born. Playing games, making bracelets, having fun.
Tuesday they had to build a fence. The volunteers learnt how to plait coconut leaves (initially fun, after the 50th leaf plaited relaxing, but a little less novel!!!) and started erecting a fence around the newly cleared patch to keep out dogs, goats, chickens and anything else that might fancy wandering across newly dug earth.
From day to day the crèche is growing and growing, with more and more children arriving, providing us for ideas for improvements. We have now organised a small piece of land, where next week’s project is to begin clearance, then build an informal structure to provide shade (eventually to be converted into a brick classroom), a jungle gym (one day, we wish!!), a vegetable garden (to provide a feeding scheme for the children) and any other ideas that come to mind at a later date (we have BIG ideas…Agh our bank balance!)
The rest of the week carried on in much the same way, and the local dive-school’s Labrador popping 2 volley balls and leaving the crèche’s ball supplies severely depleted!
In other news for the week, Bali Dog had his first surf lesson, and in no time will be riding waves with Scott: Mozambique’s first surf-dog!
Thursday, 1 October 2009
September project: week 1
After a quick sleep and hurriedly unpacking the Landy, we were back at the wheel and rushing up to Inhambane, to fetch our volunteers. Scott had a quick snooze in the landy whilst we waited for the plane to arrive.
After a few wobbles, a jet landed out of nowhere and we grabbed the ‘mozvolunteers’ sign and waited patiently for 4 girls to appear from the plane/customs. To our surprise… just 3 arrived. Oops, we’d lost one. We took the three volunteers for a quick post-international flight culture shock- Inhambane market, to change money into mets and buy extra groceries, then headed to Tofo beach to wait next to the sea for the second plane of the day, in case number four had got on the wrong fight.
Second plane. Still no number 4. Home time, we’ll sort this out in the morning.
We reached Zavora. Again. After checking to see that the prawns that we had bought for dinner (and tied to the roof to keep them cool) were still there, we hurriedly prepared a ‘welcome to mozvolunteers’ supper of paella and sat down to chat with a welcome glass of wine (or 4).
After sleeping all morning, the next day we showed the girls around and spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach. Still no number 4. The rest of the week followed, with snorkelling trips to the offshore reef, beach bonfire, a fish braai and a trip to the local town of Inhambane where we made friends with a small boy and taught him to count to ‘five-y’!
Finally on Saturday, we found number 4. Stuck in Joberg, and arranged to fetch her the following day. We ended the week with our group of volunteers complete, and waiting in anticipation for work to begin the next morning.
After a quick sleep and hurriedly unpacking the Landy, we were back at the wheel and rushing up to Inhambane, to fetch our volunteers. Scott had a quick snooze in the landy whilst we waited for the plane to arrive.
After a few wobbles, a jet landed out of nowhere and we grabbed the ‘mozvolunteers’ sign and waited patiently for 4 girls to appear from the plane/customs. To our surprise… just 3 arrived. Oops, we’d lost one. We took the three volunteers for a quick post-international flight culture shock- Inhambane market, to change money into mets and buy extra groceries, then headed to Tofo beach to wait next to the sea for the second plane of the day, in case number four had got on the wrong fight.
Second plane. Still no number 4. Home time, we’ll sort this out in the morning.
We reached Zavora. Again. After checking to see that the prawns that we had bought for dinner (and tied to the roof to keep them cool) were still there, we hurriedly prepared a ‘welcome to mozvolunteers’ supper of paella and sat down to chat with a welcome glass of wine (or 4).
After sleeping all morning, the next day we showed the girls around and spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach. Still no number 4. The rest of the week followed, with snorkelling trips to the offshore reef, beach bonfire, a fish braai and a trip to the local town of Inhambane where we made friends with a small boy and taught him to count to ‘five-y’!
Finally on Saturday, we found number 4. Stuck in Joberg, and arranged to fetch her the following day. We ended the week with our group of volunteers complete, and waiting in anticipation for work to begin the next morning.
Journey
The mechanics just finished fixing the last bits on the landy. We picked it up, raced home and packed it to above the roof with groceries, surf boards, and various other bits of necessary paraphernalia. We fuelled up, and left in a roaring hurry (50km/hour!) to try and make the Kosi Bay border in time (before 5 pm), hoping all the way that we won’t break down.
We eventually reach Kosi Bay… At ten minutes past five. Turn round, hunt for accommodation. We stayed the night at a tented camp sans electricity, all ready to get to Kosi Bay border at opening time (8am).
All went well, we got through the border and started the long journey across sand roads, where we had no idea of direction other than following the following words of instruction: “keep sight of the power lines”. After a couple of wrong turns, we bumped into a local vehicle stacked three stories high, complete with bicycles swaying on the top, and followed it, staying well back in fear of falling items.
About half way through, we finally hit a gravel road, nice…. Until eventually it became so badly corrugated we had to travel the last 60 kms at 20km per hour!!! Finally reached Catembe, and the ferry crossing to Maputo. After a brief interlude of a R300 traffic fine, we were allocated a tiny (about VW Beetle-sized) space to reverse the landy (huge and no power steering) into, on a crowded, swaying, rusted boat. We finally made it, and climbed out much to our relief, onto the top deck to watch the crossing.
15 minutes later, CRASH. Maputo. From Maputo, 390 Kms to Zavora, 80 Kms of supreme potholes, huge lorries without brakes tearing behind us and shoving us off the road, finally, at midnight, we reached Zavora, still all alive, Landy still in one piece, Bali Dog most excited out of all of us.
The mechanics just finished fixing the last bits on the landy. We picked it up, raced home and packed it to above the roof with groceries, surf boards, and various other bits of necessary paraphernalia. We fuelled up, and left in a roaring hurry (50km/hour!) to try and make the Kosi Bay border in time (before 5 pm), hoping all the way that we won’t break down.
We eventually reach Kosi Bay… At ten minutes past five. Turn round, hunt for accommodation. We stayed the night at a tented camp sans electricity, all ready to get to Kosi Bay border at opening time (8am).
All went well, we got through the border and started the long journey across sand roads, where we had no idea of direction other than following the following words of instruction: “keep sight of the power lines”. After a couple of wrong turns, we bumped into a local vehicle stacked three stories high, complete with bicycles swaying on the top, and followed it, staying well back in fear of falling items.
About half way through, we finally hit a gravel road, nice…. Until eventually it became so badly corrugated we had to travel the last 60 kms at 20km per hour!!! Finally reached Catembe, and the ferry crossing to Maputo. After a brief interlude of a R300 traffic fine, we were allocated a tiny (about VW Beetle-sized) space to reverse the landy (huge and no power steering) into, on a crowded, swaying, rusted boat. We finally made it, and climbed out much to our relief, onto the top deck to watch the crossing.
15 minutes later, CRASH. Maputo. From Maputo, 390 Kms to Zavora, 80 Kms of supreme potholes, huge lorries without brakes tearing behind us and shoving us off the road, finally, at midnight, we reached Zavora, still all alive, Landy still in one piece, Bali Dog most excited out of all of us.
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