6 chapters of a neverending story

I think I broke my own record not writing for 3 months. And if I was to cover all that happened in that time, you would be reading for the next couple of hours. So I will try to summarize and reflect the events.
1. Stop – Ethiopia
Even though this year I have been more critical on the work there and maybe on the country in general, I still love country and people a lot and I am sure I will be back there. There is still plenty of work to do and much to learn for me. I have been thinking a lot since I left, and my conclusion is, that my own state of mind is one of the reasons I had so little positive influence this time. I was busy with some private issues and that prevented me from being more open towards and better understand the way things are and the reasons for it. And so I was much less able to adapt to the context at the hospital and find ways to achieve improvements for patients and staff as well. But anyway I had some good weeks in Mota after the vacation. And at the end I spent one week in Addis. After some more discussions and trouble, I got a visa for Mozambique. I met some friends that live in Addis now and lots of other interesting people. For example: in my hostel I met an Australian doctor who was send to Ethiopia by the donors of our project in order to evaluate its effectiveness. What a coincidence and an interesting chance to talk, give information but also get some more background info myself.

2. Stop – Mozambique
Even having a visa I had to argue with the people at the transfer desk at the airport in Dar-Es-Salam: I did not have a return ticket and so they did not want to let me on the flight to Nampula. I promised them that Mozambique was definitely no country where I wanted to stay and that they could be sure I would leave it again soon – which wasn’t a lie.
So I arrived in Nampula, where my cell phone was stolen right at the airport.
Note: That was phone number 3: one was stolen in Nampula shortly before we left for Christmas leave, another one was stolen at the bus station in Mota. And there would be more stolen phones...
Luckily I had already agreed with a friend to pick me up at the airport. And so we had a nice evening catching up with each other’s news. And the next morning I took a flight to Maputo and Erik. We only spent one week there, because Mom was coming to South Africa. Neither Erik nor me had been too positive about Mozambique lately and with the visa trouble still pending it seemed better to travel trough South Africa than Mozambique. And after all, there is so much more to see and to do there.
3. Stop – South Africa
Vacation again! I did not really feel that I deserved it, but being in the area and having visitors are two good excuses to travel a bit more. We saw a lot of things, cities, waterfalls, the big five in Kruger Park, Braai (South African Barbecue - Yummy!), and unfortunately also the dark side of South Africa: One night we spontaneously decided rent a little chalet on a camping near a waterfall we wanted to see the next day. It was a nice place: calm, spacious, lovely views... . But that night our peace was disturbed by 4 guys with guns and sticks. They tied us all up and robbed virtually everything we had – there went phone number 4, Mom had just brought it from Germany because it was much cheaper there.
At least they left us the rental car. During the time they went through our stuff, they discovered that we were no South Africans. They said sorry, they hated all “low-velders” - that is the area we were at that time and which is dominated by ‘Afrikaners’, white South Africans descendents from Dutch and Germans, people that initiated the Apartheid and of which many are still inclined to the old ideas. (Interestingly we mentioned this to 3 or 4 different police men that later came to take our statements, and none of them put it into their report). Anyway, when we explained that we where missionaries working in Mozambique they said sorry, and of course they were not leaving our things, but if we would remain calm, they would leave our car and take some other peoples car. Friendly, aren’t they?! ;-)
They locked us up in the house and went for the next chalet. It didn’t take too long to loosen ties and then we had a glass of cheap wine the robbers had left (they had taken the whiskey and the Cointreau that Mom had brought) and decided we would wait and then see if we could get out of the house. After a while we heard someone calling for help. We figured a way out of the house, by removing some glasses of a window (we had not seen before that there were some windows without burglar bars), which later turned out to be the way those intruders had come in. We climbed through the window and went to the main house (I had to take Erik’s sandals as shoes as they had taken all my shoes, we must have looked like a funny bunch of people wearing whatever we could find first in the mess the robbers had left behind). The rest of the night we spend with the police and at the bar with some English guys that also where attacked. We did not want to go back and sleep in the house. Erik and Mom went back towards the morning and took two beds out of the house. When I came to wake them up because the forensics where coming to take fingerprints they had put the beds under a tree and were sleeping. It was so peaceful again: the morning light, birds singing, the autumn colours of the leaves. I wanted to take a picture of this beautiful scene ... no camera. It still happens, 2 months later, that I realize something is missing, an item they stole, or a photo or document that was on my computer.
But we are very grateful that they did not harm us. Because from what we heard later that is not evident. And they left our credit cards, driver’s licenses and passports. So we could basically continue our journey. It took us a few days to recover and not get up with every little noise at night and we were much more careful with the places we chose for the nights. What is much more frustrating is the little help one gets. The police write their papers and even though they say they know there those guys are, they never really went after them. I know they are understaffed, but still... . The embassy says it’s our own fault and rather gave us a lecture on our stupidity, they said they cannot do anything, and after all, nobody got injured or killed and they can only collect information on the cases and eventually give a report to the South African state department. It seems that first someone has to be badly injured or killed before they get into action, and then everybody will ask the question why nothing has been done before.
Even the owners of the place: They were friendly, made coffee for us etc. But later I started wondering: when we arrived at the main house, the Englishmen were already there, and nobody of the owners had bothered to have a look if we were alright. We could have been hurt or still tied up in that chalet there... .
These are the things that did affect me more than the fact of being assaulted. A bit like: You have been stupid enough to get yourself assaulted, so deal with it alone!

But to be fair, in the next days, being a bit paranoid and with our travel budget severely we got a lot help from locals. For example, one evening, when we were driving around to find a cheap to stay, I passed a stop sign and the police came after us. We explained our problem. Instead of charging the fine they took us to a hotel. It was the only hotel in town and it was not very cheap. We explained our “financial restrictions” and asked if they knew a cheaper place somewhere near. Instead, they would give us two perfect rooms for almost backpacker prices. Those people earn their living with tourism, and of course they want tourists to be happy and feel save. They would very much like to see less crime.
We talked a lot to people. Opinions differ. Many white South Africans blame the politics of the past few years. It is a weird mixture of blaming the black South African politicians for taking the wrong decisions, making clear that they are no racists (but very often between the lines expressing some kind of anti-black sentiments) knowing that the history and the segregation didn’t give the black part of the population a chance to learn how to run a country... There are so many ideas and opinions and it is such a complex subject. It would make up for a blog on its own.

Bottom line is, we continued travelling and still had a lot of fun. We really saw so many animals in Kruger Park. I was reluctant at first: going with a normal car confines one to the better (tar) roads, one cannot leave the car... what kind of nature experience is that? And would we be able to see any interesting animals from the road? So we also booked some morning- and evening walks and drives.
At the end we saw so many animals and birds from our car, there were some spots where we were allowed to leave the car (On our own risk, as the signs said. The South Africans seem to be obsessed with this. At any hotel you have to sign that staying there is at your own risk, any restaurant or shop states at the entries “right of admission reserved”...) and the guided tours gave us a lot of extra information.

We also went to the coast, canyons, museums about the diverse history of the country... . So many things. And it was just a fraction of what South Africa has to offer.

4. Stop – Mozambique

Every vacation comes to an end, and real live was expecting us back in Mozambique. Easier said than done: At the consulate they did not want to give Erik a new visa. But at the end they agreed to give him 14 days, so he could pack his bags and leave Mozambique for good. Funny enough, I wasn’t very keen to come back to Mozambique again (grumpy people, high prices, daily attempts of corruption...), but when it seemed we would have to go back to Europe, suddenly even Mozambique seemed a good option to me. Anyway, in these 14 days, his supervisor from the Netherlands was to come and we could discuss how to proceed. The project is not running very well, and I don’t want to say that we could not have done some things better than we did, but it is not our fault that after one and a half year in the country we still have don’t have a proper visa. We have been asked to stay and at least fulfil the 8 remaining months of the contract. I am fairly sure that the reason rather is to please the donating churches in the Netherlands rather than a real confidence that the original goals will be achieved. The idea was to create a sustainable chain of demand for water points, a supply chain with skilled people to make boreholes and build pumps and contacts with funding agencies and trained preachers, conscious of the problem that bring their communities in touch with all the above mentioned. Furthermore, about 30 water points should be built. To achieve this in 2 years was only possible partially by giving continuation to a former project. Those partners have mostly stepped out of the project for different reasons. Which means that we have 8 months left to start almost from scratch. A lot of water points still have to be built and now it appears that this is the most important for the donation churches, because that was how they got interested in the project. In my personal opinion the people in those churches would be perfectly able to understand that only digging some holes and put pumps on it is no long term solution for the water problems and that therefore it is not only the count of water points that matters if we really want to help improve live for the people here on a longer term than a couple of years (until the pump brakes down and no skilled people are there to repair it, because they have not been trained). These ideas of sustainable projects are not new in the world of development aid. And even though it might be easier to get people to donate by simple promoting water points, I think people deserve to know how things really are. If we are capable of explaining them well, what this is all about, this would create a far better understanding of the situation here and I don’t think donations would be less. But somehow Erik’s sending organisation made a different choice in that matter.

So we will continue here. But the visa issue comes first. The presence of Erik’s supervisor at least got the theological seminary so far as to sign the contracts and commit (if real or on paper is something we will still see) to the project. We got a letter with which we could apply for a new visa, which in turn should entitle us to ask for a residency permit for one year. So off we went to South Africa again.

5. Stop – Durban, ZA

We went to Durban, because someone we know, knows someone who works there. We got the visa quite easily. Only it stated: Business visa – no residence permit. We asked 3 times if they were sure we could apply for residency with this visa. The answer: Yes, of course.
At least we had some days in Durban, a really interesting, lively city. On our way back, the border officials were suspecting again. Luckily we can honestly say that we come and go so often for business with the theological seminary, which saved us once more.

6. Stop – Mozambique again

Back home in Mozambique (at the backpacker’s hostel where we stay most of the time they already give us hugs when we come back. Erik has been living there for more than 6 months in total. Not a good sign...) it turned out that – of course ;-) – the visa we had would not entitle us to get a residency permit. In the mean time, Erik’s criminal record (needed to get a residency permit) has expired and by the time we have to leave the country the new one most probably won’t yet be here. (Erik’s sending organisation just requested a copy of the old one form the beginning of the year. Would they have properly submitted a new request, the valid criminal record would have been here in time.)
At least, we hope to get a little house at the seminary, now that we are “officially” working here (Erik’s ever positive sending organisation form the Netherlands was sure it would be finished by the end of June. Well, we are already in July and work did not yet start). And at a certain point there should be a car available for Erik’s work. So there is some light at the end of the tunnel. And once things are settled more or less, life here can be very agreeable: The little village/seminary Ricatla is a quiet and nice place, we can get started with some work and Maputo is near, so we can meet friends or get a dose of cultural activities or shopping when needed.

And over two weeks we will add a new chapter titled “South Africa” to this story. Once more we are not sure if we should hope to get a new visa to get back into Mozambique, or if we should rather hope not to get one, so this never ending story would come to an end titled “Back to Europe”. 