Work starts early here in Mozambique, and all six members of our household have to be at our respective offices by 8am. Keep in mind that there is only one bathroom for everyone to share, so in order to shower and make it out the door on time the day has to start even earlier. For those of you that know me well, you can imagine how thrilled I am every day when my alarm clock goes off at 7am and I don’t have the luxury of hitting snooze for an hour and a half. Thank God the fights for the bathroom take place at an hour when nobody is really awake yet. I shudder to think about the yelling and cussing that would take place if any of us actually had the energy to do anything but grab a cup of coffee and silently glower at whoever just took 40 minutes in the bathroom.
Actually, sharing a house with five other people in the middle of nowhere makes you develop the patience of a saint. Not only do you have to manage the interpersonal conflicts that inevitably crop up, there is a whole host of external problems to deal with that, if not handled properly, will make you lose your mind in a week flat. Almost unconsciously you develop a new set of values and limits for what is and is not acceptable. No water in the cistern? No problem. “Banho de hoje só amanhã!” After all, we’re in África. A shower can wait a day or so. No electricity? That’s okay. You don’t *really* need to iron your linen pants and dress shirt. It’s Chimoio, for Christ’s sake. At least three other people at your meeting will be wearing shorts and wrinkled shirts. After a while you learn to laugh at the very things that drove you nuts back home. It’s the only possible way to make it through a situation like this without becoming resentful and totally stressed out.
Needless to say mornings are a blur in our house. I’ve perfected my routine so that I take 20 minutes flat to wake up, take a shower, get dressed, eat something, and pack up my laptop and assorted power cords in time to catch a ride to work. Well, okay, I don’t always make it in time to catch a ride, but I have cut the time it takes me to get ready in the mornings in half. Pretty impressive by any standards, especially for a girl! And on the days I miss my ride I am forced to walk to work, providing not only a little bit of exercise but a chance to learn my way around the city.
For the past week I have been volunteering at a nonprofit called ACDI/VOCA (Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers Overseas Cooperative Assistance). Basically, ACDI/VOCA works with small-scale growers providing technical assistance, improving production methods, and creating market links to the private sector. I’ve been helping them develop a proposal to assist small-scale growers form agricultural production associations, obtain access to micro-financing and improve quality of life indicators. I think I’ve learned more about irrigation, cash crops, outgrower schemes, and micro-financing in 10 days than I have in my entire life prior to Mozambique.
Most of the farmers here produce paprika, sesame, baby corn, soy, beans, cabbage, tomatoes, sunflowers, and tropical fruits including mangoes and litchis. There is sufficient market demand for these crops, but the farmers don’t have the tools or infrastructure to efficiently work their fields. Mechanized equipment is practically unheard of, and only a lucky few growers have livestock or irrigation to produce a constant yield. The biggest hurdle is lack of access to credit, a problem made even more difficult by the fact that the farmers don’t have assets to offer as collateral even if they could obtain financing. It’s such a straightforward problem, but one that is unbelievably difficult to solve given the way things work around here.
Next week I’ll be starting full time as a Fundraiser at Manica Agrolink, the company founded by a group of my friends. There are currently five shareholders in Agrolink – two Brazilians (my housemates), an Italian, a Mozambican, and a guy from Portugal. Each brings to the table a unique background, ranging from agronomy to investment banking. Agrolink works in many of the same areas as ACDI/VOCA, however the company is more focused on business and commercialization opportunities in the agricultural sector. Current projects include a tea plantation near the Zimbabwe border, a market study on agricultural inputs, a huge banana producer, and a proposal to provide business training to growers’ associations. It’s all still very new to me, but hopefully I’ll be able to raise some money for Agrolink sooner rather than later and get this show on the road.
1 comment:
20min- SUPER!
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