De Moçambique

The humble and neglected feijão—Phaseolus Vulgaris

2007-02-12T05:17:00.000-08:00

We have all heard the expression ‘it isn’t worth a hill of beans’ or perhaps ‘that’s just a load of beans’- these all used to describe the common bean, white pea bean, or navy bean. But while they may be cheap, beans can be of enormous value to smallholder farmers and in my opinion, also deserve to be lifted from their humble place in western culinary culture and their limited association with marines who have nothing better to eat at the bottom of the ocean.

The much neglected bean is a staple food for much of the world’s population and an excellent source of protein for those populations that are unable to afford meat on a regular basis. There should really be nothing vulgar about phaseolus vulgaris, which is the latin name for our common bean. Yes of course beans also supply a considerable amount of roughage, which is why they also earn the title of musical fruit, but while their fiber may lead to some interesting noises sometimes, it really ought to be considered as part of what makes them the most nutritionally complete staple food in the world.

A single serving of common beans in one cup provides approximately half of the United States Department of Agriculture’s recommended daily allowance of folic acid. This is a B vitamin that is especially important for pregnant women to consume. What is more, beans provide 25 percent of the daily dose of magnesium and copper as well as 15 percent of potassium and zinc intake.

Some of the important varieties of beans that are found in Mozambique include:

Feijão nhemba (which is the most common somewhat darker navy bean found in Mozambique)
Feijão manteiga (a cousin of the lima bean that the Portuguese landed in Madagascar)
Feijão boer (a specific variety of cowpeas associated with the Boers who cultivated them)

Prior to its domestication in the Andes region and central America approximately 7000 years ago, common beans were known to grow practically as weeds in fields of cassava and sweet potatoes, and through their domestication gained in complexity and their drought resistance. Beans came with the Portuguese traders to Sub-saharan Africa, but since then have become the single largest source of dietary protein for more than 70 million individuals today living in the region.

So next time you are counting beans in your corner office, or wherever you happen to be, remember that if you had a cup of beans at lunch, you might just have more energy to take you through the afternoon and then you can think of the Nicaraguans who consume upwards of 22 kilograms of beans per year, or the Rawandans who are coming on strong, with a third of their total calories coming from beans!

Gecko in the fridge

2007-01-29T23:24:00.000-08:00

Next to the manteiga on the top shelf
a frightened baby lizard crawls

Good morning lizard - have you been here all night?

And I let him drop onto the container
moving it
ever so slowly
over to the chair

He drops like a leaf
splat
onto the chair

A surge of warmth in the cold blooded body
"Well this is a different zone," he must think.
32 degrees and climing

he hits the ground running

Sheep in Wolf’s clothing

2006-11-26T06:26:00.000-08:00

Traverse the crowded sidewalk
The florescence of trees
A gentle smile en route to Eduardo Mondlane
Sometimes a fond hello in passing
i give a word away
And hope to hear ‘Boa tarde’ in return

But i am a sheep in wolf’s clothing
i cannot always smile
That beatific smile and say
You know, i know there’s something
A place where you and i don’t look away
You know, i know there’s something
Deeper than a memory
And we can choose to smile and not pretend.

i give two loaves of bread away,
It’s much to small, it’s not enough
i gave it to the guy who tends the garden
i don’t know how much the Dona pays him
My bread, a meagre tokenism
Society says i shouldn’t shake his hand.

Because i am a sheep in wolf’s clothing
i cannot always smile
That beatific smile and say
You know, i know there’s something
A place where you and i don’t look away
You know, i know there’s something
Deeper than a memory
And we can choose to smile and not pretend.

Patron…i hear it every day
i know it means respect to me
i buy that i don’t buy it
i won’t deny i can deny it
but i can’t fight it everywhere
i promise that i will not look away.

Because i am a sheep in wolf’s clothing
i cannot always smile
That beatific smile and say
You know, i know there’s something
A place where you and i don’t look away
You know, i know there’s something
Deeper than a memory
And we can choose to smile and not pretend.

Colourblind

2006-11-26T05:52:00.000-08:00

Forgive me when i do not see the world in colour
But in shades of grey,
For this greyscale brooks disaster for our race
The measure of a man or woman
Is the measure of their dream coming true.
We have one heart, one race that is human.
All else is history.

Tints and shades
A netherworld, diluted by time
That doesn’t mean anything anymore.

There is nothing but the global mosaic. There is one blood that flows through our veins.

October 31st in Maputo

2006-10-31T05:44:00.000-08:00

World of many souls
On a charcoal night
World of many souls here below
World of many souls
I remember the light
Opening across the windy bay

Kettle’s boiling over
Take it off the fire
Before beans and water burn their worth away
Smiling coal smudges on a canvas of dust
The ends of cloth on my wrist are frayed

World of many souls
On a charcoal night
World of many souls here below
World of many souls
I remember the light
Stretching across the windy bay

Boatman on your duty
Do you see the shore?
Last boat to traverse Catembe side
Red coals in the dusk of a cooking fire
Drink Laurentina dark to end the day

World of many souls
On a charcoal night
World of many souls here below
World of many souls
Think I see the light
Opening across the windy bay

Tire as a life vest on a sea of smoke
Billows as the undulating streets
Sailing down the boulevard
The stone smote berth
Helps a charcoal seller on her way

World of many souls
And its all souls night
World of many souls here below
World of many souls
Think I saw the light
Opening across the windy bay

2006-10-31T05:31:00.000-08:00

And here is the kitchen. As you can see it is quite comfortable, but the house is not brand new.

Above is a picture of my garden that looks more like a Monet watercolour than a photo. I have a rather small camera and so this means that uploads will be easier for me.

At long last here are some house pictures that might be nice for you all to see. Here is my dining room.

Percepçoes do meu trabalho

2006-10-31T05:18:00.000-08:00

I guess I should write something for those of you who do not know what I’m up to during the day, so that you can tell what I am doing. I haven’t had a lot of time to blog, which is a good thing because that means I’ve been busy at work… and productive, but now it’s time to talk shop for a while.

I’ve been working on three different proposals and gap filling for a fruit drying a canning action plan, another for livestock, and yet another for honey production. These are all accompanied by a matrix or what is called a logical framework analysis in order to separate the project goals, objectives and with a view to the projects completion, what structures will be in place to ensure that the stakeholders or people served by the project continue to participate in gainful income activities at the end of the project (in short sustainability).

So I’ve been thinking often since concept notes and draft proposals seem to be the name of the game for my 7 months here that, wow – the proposal writing workshop and evaluation course that I took this past winter was really well worth it! I’ve been really grateful for my education in this area, because for the proposal process in the real world, there isn’t time to debate the intricacies of quantitative methods for analyzing the welfare of the people that a given project helps. I just LOVE the practicality of working in an area where you have to think of all the tools of analysis for a business to succeed, political threats, opportunities, and characteristics that will either make a project a success or failure.

Plus, I really enjoy Tatiana’s spirit and dynamic. She is really a person that I feel has a positive attitude that energizes me from day to day. The whole office in fact is a great atmosphere. Thelma deals with the accounts and has taken on a role as a secondary Portuguese instructor for me, she is very careful about correcting where I use phrases that are idiomatically incorrect that I have learned in Spanish and applying to Portuguese. There are but a few, although a huge part of the vocabulary is transferable. As second languages go, everyone says that it must be harder for Anglophones to separate the differences in vocabulary than for someone whose native language is a romance language, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian for example. But I hope to defy all of those preconceptions about foreigners as I continue to speak my own variety of Portuñol (Portuguese and Español).

I am really quite impressed with the internet connection too. Of course it varies from day to day, and when submitting the online proposal formats for the Kellogg foundation this week I had several problems, I am not sure we can blame that on the internet connection here with TVCabo as our service provider (although they have cut out a few times). Instead I am inclined to blame the Kellogg Foundation web-site.

So in the event that I sound rather glad-happy about my work, perhaps that is because it is the part of my life that right now seems to be most rewarding. In fact I truly am quite content with my experience so far. Of course the little things that I’ve mentioned as part of the cultural adaptation process are just that. I have days when I complain about the drivers here. That is well warranted. Of all of the countries that I’ve been to, Mozambique’s minibus-taxis (chapas) are the worst for obeying road rules! But I exaggerate. Life is a blast here and I’m certainly enjoying being away from North America for a while.

For more on the History of Moçambique

2006-10-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Oxfam has a good coverage of the history of Moçambique. Check it out:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/kidsweb/world/mozambique/mozhist.htm

I posted this earlier, but somehow the link wasn't working.

Igreja da Reformação

2006-10-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

I did not mention in my last writing that I accompanied Tatiana Mata, my project director, to a prayer meeting on Thursday evening and then to church on Sunday. Sunday morning was a very nice intimate gathering in the house of Joch, who is also the pastor. Joch is a man of South African heritage who has lived in Mozambique for sixteen years. They have the church and have also established a School in the city of Maputo. I enjoyed the worship experience, particularly because Joch seems very much to be a man of God, who does not believe in exalting the material of worship above the substance. He sees the church as a people that bear witness together, which seems very much akin to my own faith in the Mennonite Church. The church is somewhat charismatic I would say and I find it pushes me beyond my experience in the Mennonite church in the way that speaking in tongues is encouraged. It does seem though, somehow very appropriate in Maputo that a church should be reaching out to people by a demonstration of God’s spiritual presence and the love that comes from Christian fellowship, so I think I will continue worshipping there.

Of Power relations and SUVs

2006-10-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

Car is King. Without one, sometimes the life of a pedestrian in Maputo is somewhat complicated. Of the mild annoyances of living in Maputo is the number of truck drivers who will, without a signal, turn in front of you while you are crossing the street. It is up to the pedestrian to stay heads up. Some vehicles even accelerate.

While this leaves me wishing I had a car, I also see life from a different perspective. While driving to Matatuine for the closing ceremony of the MMF programme here in Mozambique, I felt some empathy for the pedestrians who had to scurry out of the way of our SUV (I was in the passenger seat). In Ghana too I had exposure to community visits in an SUV when we accompanied a World Bank convoy on one of their visits to a community without water (for some Social Accountability initiative where they were filming communities to show what is really happening on the ground for World Bank staff – presumably because WB staffers do not have enough contact with life on the ground from the Hotel Golden Tulip in Accra).

In any case, I remain unable to reconcile feeling a sort of embarrassment of riches when arriving in such a fashion. I find myself pondering life on the other side.

The field interaction in Ghana still in my mind:
A convoy arrives expecting to be entertained. The community reaches out to bring them alongside their daily sphere of activities, there are festivities, a mode of celebration. Then as the afternoon wears on the children’s game of football draws them away from the village central where drumming and dancing with the convoy is captured on film. By late afternoon the convoy is already gone, and peace descends over the village again. There is still no pipe borne water, but somehow the sphere of activities is closed again and the air of familiarity is resumed. The stars come out and the cattle herds are driven on to the pastures at the edge of the football field.

In my own field work, I remember my own trips out to the field by van (Trotro in Ghanaspeak and Chapa in Moçambique). I would leave at 5:00 in the morning from the house and walk 30 minutes from Ada Foah to the main road, where in the early light, the sound of many birds waking up led me on the dark path through the palm trees.

I won’t usually have to take a Chapa on field visits here in Moçambique. I think this is good for security reasons anyway, but it leaves me wondering about the type of interactions that I will have in the field. There is a level of power relations inherent in vehicle choices, the power of the driver’s seat (or the passenger’s seat in my case). But perhaps it is best to just continue questioning, living with the discomfort generated by unequal power relations so that it may be a motivation for my daily work and thinking.

Taka Taka Frango

2006-09-18T02:11:00.000-07:00

The first few days have passed here and things are all good. My first experience of take-out here was at Taka Taka Frango. I was somewhat surprised by a lack of street vendors of hot food in my area, and I was equally surprised by the small number of taxis that I have seen about town. These are a few immediate reactions when I compare my arrival in Mozambique to my last African experience many thousands of miles away in Accra, Ghana.

So it is two days now that I have made the trek up to Taka Taka Frango. I enjoy the food, although it’s a bit of a junk food binge: Chicken (Frango) and French Fries with cabbage salad. I always request the Piri Piri hot sauce as well. I thought it would be even hotter, so that makes me either daring or silly (as I am still getting used to the local variety of micro-organisms). Thank goodness for Dukoral vaccines!

Yesterday after two days of work and getting settled with some basic appliances (coffee grinder, bodum and pots and pans) I was able to have a look around for some fresh produce. Carrots, onions, and beans are readily accessible, and I did a bit of shopping yesterday morning. I delight in the small things, getting my bearings, being able to ask for anything that I need in the vicinity. My Portuguese is slowly improving and I am glad that I have no trouble getting by.

I have to admit, I was not fully prepared for the early closure of all stores on Saturday at 13:00h. I realized in hindsight that I should have taken advantage of the morning to get some basic necessities such as pillowcases and blankets for the house (yes it is cold enough for blankets at night yet – but not for long). In the meantime, my landlady (Dona da Casa) has agreed to lend me some extra blankets. The Dona da Casa is Sarah Sousa. She has a very friendly, if not mildly condescending manner and when I fumbled with the lock she said “Filho! Veija acqui…” and proceeded to show me how to negotiate the locks on my house.

This brings me to the other aspect of living here… security. I feel safe enough to be able to walk about during the day without hazard. Yet, I do have to keep the locks on the door tight, especially at night. There is an outer gate with a padlock so that it cannot be opened by someone catching me unawares. This gate opens into a small garden area, which has flowers that I have identified as peace lilies. There are also hanging baskets of some sort which are watered regularly by the neighbour employed also by the Dona da Casa. The second gate then opens onto the front terrace which is caged in also by welded iron and has a second padlock which must be unlocked. Finally the house door has two locks, which must be simultaneously turned with two different keys in order to open the house door. All of the windows have wrought iron bars to provide a further measure of security. In all respects, I think it is best that I take security rather seriously. I’m sure, at any rate, Maputo cannot be worse for crime than Johannesburg!

Well that’s all for now. I’m experiencing my first thunderstorm here now, and glad to be warm in the house.