Positive Post Scriptum
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Anna
08 Juli 2013 | Mozambique, Marracuene
This is another new record: Never before I posted a new blog did follow its predecessor so soon.
But Erik read my blog yesterday, and furthermore I got some reactions, which all had the bottom-line: “How terrible! What a nightmare!”
While indeed, the events of the last time have not been too positive, I did not want my blog to sound that negative and pessimistic as it apparently does.
Maybe I should have made it even longer, telling more about the fantastic time we had in Kruger Park, or that we really made good friends in Maputo, like Pat and Felipe from Brazil - who taught me how to play Poker. Or Thomas and Marleen from the Netherlands who gave our life here a touch of Luxury: They were housekeeping for a diplomat on vacation and every now and then we spent a night there in nice company, comfortable bed, washing machine (at the hostel one load to wash costs about 25 Euro, laundries in the city are even more expensive!).
And we are actually not that pessimistic about staying a few months more. We decided that we take it as given to stay and started buying some things for the new house. We did not want to spend too much money on a big oven/stove for cooking and along the street we found someone selling: Ndzilo. The word is Shangana and means ‘fire’. It has been developed to replace charcoal and works on ethanol that can be sustainably produced from sugar cane instead of burning the few trees left directly for cooking or to make charcoal out of them. It doesn’t yet seem to be a bestseller, but as development workers we thought we might state an example. We use it for two days now and are very happy with it. But many people here are just so used to the charcoal. It seems a bit like when we are used to cook on gas and suddenly we have to change to use an electric stove. We rather want to stick to what we are used to. I remember when we lived up north in Nampula and had bought a gas stove. Isabel looked at the stove, then turned to Erik: “I am not going to use this thing. I’ll stick to the charcoal.” It is just what she knows best.
Actually this morning our kitchen in the guesthouse was “occupied” by a group of the women’s association. They give classes in sewing and cooking once a week at the premises here. We had placed our Ndzilo on an old none functional oven/stove and the women were all admiring it.
However, they have their own gas stove at the kitchen. Today they learned how to “enrich” rice with some vegetables. We were invited to taste. You can see the “amount” of vegetable in the rice. Not a lot for us, but an awful lot for people here who usually have rice or corn porridge with beans only, not vegetables at all. Compared to that it is an improvement. And it was tasty!
Well I hope these are stories to show that we are not merely suffering but that there is a lot to see, to learn and to do (I saw how the women just threw the trash into the bushes. I asked them and apparently there is no garbage pit anymore. So we will have to have one dug again and I already have ideas of garbage collection at the Seminary level . Let’s see if I find open ears and minds for it).
Big hugs for all of you from a happy Anna
But Erik read my blog yesterday, and furthermore I got some reactions, which all had the bottom-line: “How terrible! What a nightmare!”
While indeed, the events of the last time have not been too positive, I did not want my blog to sound that negative and pessimistic as it apparently does.
Maybe I should have made it even longer, telling more about the fantastic time we had in Kruger Park, or that we really made good friends in Maputo, like Pat and Felipe from Brazil - who taught me how to play Poker. Or Thomas and Marleen from the Netherlands who gave our life here a touch of Luxury: They were housekeeping for a diplomat on vacation and every now and then we spent a night there in nice company, comfortable bed, washing machine (at the hostel one load to wash costs about 25 Euro, laundries in the city are even more expensive!).
And we are actually not that pessimistic about staying a few months more. We decided that we take it as given to stay and started buying some things for the new house. We did not want to spend too much money on a big oven/stove for cooking and along the street we found someone selling: Ndzilo. The word is Shangana and means ‘fire’. It has been developed to replace charcoal and works on ethanol that can be sustainably produced from sugar cane instead of burning the few trees left directly for cooking or to make charcoal out of them. It doesn’t yet seem to be a bestseller, but as development workers we thought we might state an example. We use it for two days now and are very happy with it. But many people here are just so used to the charcoal. It seems a bit like when we are used to cook on gas and suddenly we have to change to use an electric stove. We rather want to stick to what we are used to. I remember when we lived up north in Nampula and had bought a gas stove. Isabel looked at the stove, then turned to Erik: “I am not going to use this thing. I’ll stick to the charcoal.” It is just what she knows best.
Actually this morning our kitchen in the guesthouse was “occupied” by a group of the women’s association. They give classes in sewing and cooking once a week at the premises here. We had placed our Ndzilo on an old none functional oven/stove and the women were all admiring it.
However, they have their own gas stove at the kitchen. Today they learned how to “enrich” rice with some vegetables. We were invited to taste. You can see the “amount” of vegetable in the rice. Not a lot for us, but an awful lot for people here who usually have rice or corn porridge with beans only, not vegetables at all. Compared to that it is an improvement. And it was tasty!
Well I hope these are stories to show that we are not merely suffering but that there is a lot to see, to learn and to do (I saw how the women just threw the trash into the bushes. I asked them and apparently there is no garbage pit anymore. So we will have to have one dug again and I already have ideas of garbage collection at the Seminary level . Let’s see if I find open ears and minds for it).
Big hugs for all of you from a happy Anna
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10 Juli 2013 - 19:54
Ineke Sturm:
Hoi Anna en Erik, Wat een verhaal en wat een ervaring in Zuid-Afrika. Wat hebben wij dan een saai leven. Maar eerlijk gezegd zou ik niet graag zoiets meemaken. Kon je moeder het allemaal een beetje verwerken? maar je schrijft inderdaad dat jullie er echt een paar dagen van bij moesten komen. Je hebt weer prachtige foto's gemaakt en met je beschrijving van jullie reis kun je echt wel een beetje ervaren hoe het allemaal geweest is. Jullie hebben in ieder geval heel veel mooie dingen gezien en van alles en nog wat meegemaakt. We zijn zeer benieuwd hoe lang jullie nog blijven en of Erik zijn uitzending van 2 jaar volmaakt. Een tijdje gelegen kwam het bericht van een blog van Erik maar dat konden we niet openmaken. Zowel Marko als ik (Ineke) mailden toen naar KIA waarom we de blog niet konden openmaken en kregen een berichtje dat er wat onduidelijkheden waren en dat ze contact zouden opnemen met Erik en dat de blog later zou komen! Nu ik weer jouw blog heb gelezen met weer die toestanden rondom de visa is het wel duidelijk! Het moet toch wel zeer frusterend zijn voor jullie. Geweldig dat jullie er zo de moed inhouden. Het is ook zeker dat hier in Europa de banen niet voor het opscheppen liggen dus wat dat betreft! Wij hebben met zijn viertjes een heerlijke vakantie gehad in Toscane. Genoten van de schitterende gebouwen, het mooie weer, de heerlijke wijn en elkaars gezelschap. De laatste week hebben we hier in Boxmeer ook lekker weer en genieten we van onze tuin. A.s. zaterdag gaan we met z'n viertjes een dagje naar Zeeland om mijn verjaardag te vieren. Heel veel sterkte voor jullie tweeën en nog een goede tijd gewenst en groetjes van Phil en Ineke -
23 Juli 2013 - 15:38
Bianca Van Der Kroon:
Hey Anna, ik kwam toevallig je blog tegen. Leuk dat jullie Ndzilo gebruiken en dat het bevalt! In de studie die ik doe kijken we naar de mogelijkheden voor Ndzilo in de nabije toekomst, de tijd zal het leren of mensen over durven te stappen.
Groetjes,
Bianca
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