The day
dawned bright and clear from 5am. I saw the similar pattern of southern African
weather. Day cracks early, and people wake up early to start the day. When I
was in Malawi, 7am was like the sun is up and high. So is Mozambique. Everyone
can be a much of a morning person here. Mozambique has two seasons – wet (Oct
to Mar) and dry (Apr to Sept) season – of tropical climate; I am not sure how
crazily rains in Mozambique during the rainy season. Let’s see!
It was the
first day to come to the national office. It was a small office where 50 staff
work. It was early in the morning, 8am, and I met Claudio. Some staff went to
vacation during January, and he would work closely with me for MozWASH project.
I did a rite of passage, introducing myself to people here and there. I was a
bit clumsy although the building was simple inside. Sadly, my MacBook laptop
did not connect to office wi-fi, so I had to spend a lot of time to fix it. I
barely googled the problems, and fortunately, many people have already been discussing
Apple’s new software, OS X Yosemite that it disconnects the internet every 30
seconds. Oh my first day… Why now? I temporarily solved the issue in the end,
but do now know how long it lasts.
 |
| There was a food delivery service! |
Sidonio
briefed me on what to do during this change of government of Mozambique. The
opposition party, RENAMO (the Mozambican National Resistance) has been convened
and held nationwide demonstrations against the president election result, so he
told me avoid crowded area and be aware of surroundings. Amazingly,
International SOS always emails me about the country where I am, and they sent
me Mozambique security information on Jan 4 and said, “avoid vicinity of
upcoming nationwide opposition protests.” International SOS somehow knows my
travel course. (Wow!)
<Renamo
rejects Mozambique election result, African observers endorse vote>
It was the
inattentive first day, and I concurrently released lots of energy surrounded by
new people. However, I enjoyed new things all around me because it makes me
feel alive. After work, I had to exercise. Security briefing scared me to
prepare for the worst, so I was even hesitant to go outside and jog around in
the early evening. Maputo was the hectic city that I could not easily cross the
road, and people were selling things on the street. There was no good place to
jog… I need to think about how to spend my time here in Mozambique meaningfully.
The sun comes up early in the morning again.
No comments:
Post a Comment