Mozambique Diary
October 25, 2011
Flying from Copenhagen over London and Nairobi to Maputo. I was picked up by Sonia from AJUDE and driven to my new home in Julia's house. She has two children Melby and Junior.
October 28, 2011
Sonia picked me up and we took the bus down to the center of town. It took one hour in an overcrowded bus. I bought a new cell phone with a local SIM card. We had a photocopy of my passport and visa made and having the copy notarized. I met Augusto also from AJUDE and the three of us had lunch at a restaurant. I should have been introduced to Benjamin, the boss of the AJUDE office, but he was too busy.
October 31, 2011
Sonia picked me up and we went to the project, where I have to work. It is only 10 minutes by bus from where I live in Malhazine. It is an asylum for handicapped children. I was introduced to two of their leaders, and we discussed the work I have to do. We agreed on 5 hours work daily.
November 1, 2011
The first real work day. When I arrived the place was very busy feeding the small children and serving food to the bigger children. When we have finished this, the bigger children were sent to the toilet and the staff including me was eating breakfast.
The next meal is lunch, and the routine is much the same. After having eaten my lunch I am free for the rest of the day.
November 3, 2011
I meet at work at 8 o'clock. At this time the smallest and most handicapped are given food. The older sits at a table and their food are served. The small are given gruel, and the bigger children eat the same food as the staff. In between meals I try to stimulate the children. I drive wheelchairs in the park belonging to the institution. Around noon the eating procedure is repeated, and when we have eaten around two pm. I am free.
November 4, 2011
The staff consists of paid helpers (women) and voluntaries (men). The other volunteers are young students. They call themselves seminaristas, and this means that they study in a seminary to become Catholic priests. They live here and they get all their meals here. Presumably they work all week including weekends.
Week-end November 5-6, 2011
I am using my spare time to discover Maputo. Today I found a free hotspot in a downtown café.
November 8, 2011
I paid a visit to AJUDE's office to deliver my passport. They will help me with renewal of my visa when the time come (30 days)
November 16, 2011
I was ill Sunday night and had to call for help. Augusto from AJUDE had me transported downtown to a clinic. I had the symptoms of a flue. I was examined very carefully and I received some pills to take on a regular basis. I stayed at home Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but I am still not well. The flu symptoms however has disappeared. I had 38.4 degrees at the clinic, but the fever has gone now.
November 18, 2011
I went back to work today, still tired but otherwise OK.
November 25, 2011
Went on my first trip to Namaacha to get new stamps in my passport which gives me another 30 days in Mozambique.
December 7, 2011
I visited Mosaic travel today. They arrange tours for tourists here in Mozambique and neighboring countries. They promised to keep me informed of available trips, and they promised to pick me up at Malhazine when I am going on a trip.
December 10, 2011
Julia's eldest daughter Selma has arrived at the house. She is on Christmas holiday from the University where she studies. She is very interested in modern electronic devices. She has her own laptop computer, and she wanted to buy my Danish cell phone. I will not sell it because I have all my Danish telephone numbers placed here.
December 22, 2011
Visited Namaacha again in order to get new stamps in my passport.
December 24, 2011
It was raining all night and all day. I went downtown to send my Christmas e-mails. In Maputo the sewers were flooded.
In the evening I gave everybody a small gift. Julia received a book with photographs from Copenhagen bought in Denmark. They were all surprised. They do not give Christmas presents here.
December 25, 2011
In the morning the whole family went off on a Christmas visit elsewhere. They left me with food for both lunch and dinner. That was great. I went out and bought a bottle of good south-African wine to drink with my meals.
The best thing was that Mosaic sent me an SMS. Tomorrow there will be a trip to the Maputo Elephant Reserve.
December 26, 2011
The Maputo Elephant Reserve is a small National Park situated south of the city close to the coast. I left my home shortly before five in the morning and was picked up by our driver and guide. There were two finnish ladies in the group.
We took the ferryboat to Catembe and from there we drove south. The road was very bad. We had both breakfast and lunch in the car. After two hours drive we reached the park entrance.
National Parks in Mozambique is a sad story. During the civil war the soldiers went hunting in the parks when they were hungry. As a result the population of wild animals is reduced and all animals are very scared of humans.
At the entrance of the park we saw a small group of monkeys. Later on when we reached the plains we saw a group of elephants in the horizon. Later we saw a huge male elephant at the same distance. We saw reed bucks at a distance of one kilometer. They could be identified by the naked eye.
The lunch was served on the shore of a lake with the view of a large group of hippopotamus 800m away. We saw storks and other waterfowl but no crocodiles. Our guide told us that they are here.
December 31, 2011
We sat all evening waiting for the clock to turn twelve. At that time we went outside burning our firecrackers and rockets. We wished each other happy new year. Then everybody started dancing. The other continued while I went to bed at one o'clock still sober.
January 5, 2012
My small camera and my Danish cell phone has been stolen from my backpack. It is either done at my work or in Julia's house at a time where my backpack has not been under surveillance. At my work I usually placed my rucksack in the central place where we all eat. Now I place it in the office of Padre José. He is the manager, and he always locks the door when he leaves his office.
January 8, 2012
I left half past five to take a bus downtown to the Vodacom ferryboat. This ferry sails to the Inhaca island at the entrance of the Maputo bay. It takes two hours to get there. The island is a nature reserve. We arrived at eleven o'clock and we had to leave at three pm. One of my sandals broke down and therefore I could not move around. I found a beautiful beach and stayed there until I had to leave again.
January 10, 2012
800 $ has been stolen from my baggage in my room. I have told Julia and Selma and explained to them that I do not believe it is them. I have tried to contact AJUDE but there is no response when I call them by phone or SMS.
January 16, 2012
I have tried to get hold of Augusto and Sonia now in 6 days and I am pretty desperate now. Things are stolen from my room and I am not in contact with AJUDE. I went down to their office and this time I got hold of Benjamin, the leader of the office. Then something happened. Lots of excuses and lots of red ears.
January 17, 2012
Augusto visited me and Julia, and he told them that I will move to another place, where security are better.
January 18, 2012
In the evening Augusto arrived in a Taxi and I moved to a family in Shopal south of Benfica. Here I have a big and bright room, and in addition there is free laundry. This was the end of a very trying week.
January 19, 2012
I now live in Maria's house. Maria is an elderly woman living with her two grandchildren Patricia (nine years) and Tamira (3 years old). A young German girl named Hanna is also resident here. She is a voluntary like me.
January 20, 2012
Last trip to Namaacha to get new stamps. This time I had problems. I was told that this was the last time, and it means that I have to cancel a planned tourist trip to Swaziland. I cannot leave Mozambique till I leave for good.
January 24, 2012
Today I discovered that some of my cables and a battery charger are also stolen. This gives a whole new picture. The missing battery charger and the cable is the one used with my stolen camera and the other missing cable is the charging cable to my stolen cell phone. All this is stolen from my room in Julia's house and only Selma could have done this. Only she could select the proper cables.
January 29, 2012
Benjamin visited me today here at Maria's house. He wanted to see how I have settled down in my new home. He is re-convalescent from an attack of Malaria, and I find it touching that he uses all Sunday morning visiting me. The conditions here are perfect. I have free laundry where I had to pay extra in Julia's house.
February 1, 2012
It was Patricia's 10 year birthday today. Both her mother and father was there at her birthday party. Hanna and I was also invited. We had both chicken and duck served and a very big birthday cake.
February 9, 2012
I was robbed today on the street. I had visited Club Naval and was on my way back to town when two young men took my backpack. I lost my glasses and my last Mobil phone. I had my money and my passport on my body, and they were not taken. There were many security guards in the neighbourhood and I was screaming loud, but it was not heard. I went to the police station to make a report. A group of police officers went with me in a car to the place but we did not find anybody or anything.
February 16, 2012
My last working day at Obra Dom Orione. I said goodbye to all the children but they did not understand the consequence that I will not be back again. After lunch I said goodbye to the staff and to the boss Padre Jose.
February 17, 2012
I was packing all day alone in my room.
February 18, 2012
I was picked up by Benjamin in his private car and driven to the airport. In Johannesburg I was picked up and driven to Drifters Lodge where I stayed for the night. The Drifters are the operators of the tour I have planned.
February 19, 2012
It took all day to reach our first camp in Kruger National park. We had lunch in Pilgrims Rest., and later we visited first Burke’s Luck Potholes and later a viewpoint over Blyde River Canyon. We arrived late at Drifters own camp, where we were to stay.
February 20, 2012
During the morning we had three hours walk in the park. We saw a bird spider which our guide managed to get out of its hole. We also saw giraffes, zebras and plenty of impala’s.
We had a tour in an open safari car in the afternoon where we saw elephants and more zebras.
February 21, 2012
Early in the morning we left this camp and drove to the next called Pretoriuskop. We started outside the park till we reached the Phabeni Gate. From there we went to Skukuza where we had lunch overlooking the Sabie river.
In the afternoon we saw more elephants and giraffes. During the late afternoon I went on an optional (paid) tour in an open safari car. Here we saw hippopotamus and a rhino. Some in the group saw lions on a hilltop far away, but I was sitting on the wrong side of the car. After sunset there were lots of small owls sitting on the road. They flew up when we came close but settled down in nearby trees.
February 22, 2012
We were up very early in order to drive to Drifters own camp near Hazyview. Right after we left Pretoriuskop we met a group of white rhino's. One of them was actually sleeping on the road.
We had a long walk along the Sabie river late in the afternoon.
February 23, 2012
Driving all day long back to Drifters Lodge in Johannesburg.
February 24, 2012
Travel home.