Five of us Bainies finally arrived in Maputo not knowing what to expect. The rest of our Habitat group (save for Ross, who got stuck in the US for three extra days due to a canceled flight) was scheduled to come in at various times over the next 24 hours, so we got a chance to explore the city on our own. The Lonely Planet guidebook I bought before the trip led me to believe downtown Maputo would be an adventure of small, winding streets dotted with quaint Portuguese colonial architecture, gardens, cafes, restaurants, friendly locals, and jazz clubs. Not so much. Here is the quaint architecture:
Here are the gardens:
And here are the friendly locals:
Turns out the nicest part of town, Avenida Julius Nyerere, went right past our little hotel, so we ended up walking up and down (and up and down) that street for the rest of our time in Maputo. Which, luckily, was brief. We met the rest of the Habitat group for dinner on Saturday night, and got to know the people we'd be spending the week with over a meal of delicious (and incredibly spicy...arguably my fault since I took the liberty of dousing my half-chicken in ALL of the extra sauce on the table) piri-piri chicken. Here's the roster:
Christine (trip leader), 30s, nurse, DC
Randy, 50s, high school teacher / engineer, Michigan
Sara, 40s, OB-GYN, DC
Carol Ann, 20s, college student, Pittsburgh
Claire, 20s, photographer, San Francisco
Dimi, 20s, pharmacy student, California
Shannon, 20s, college student, Canada (yes, I am aware that Canada is a big place, I just can't recall right now exactly where she's from...Shan, if you're reading this, I'm sorry)
Team Bain (We Build for Bill): Jackie O'Brien, Caroline Watkins, Greg Olwell, Andrew Pearsons, Nick Baer, Ross Clements, Yours Truly
While all of the Bainies were first-time Habitat-ers, many of the non-Bain folks were on their third, fourth, or fifth Habitat trip. Some had even traveled together to Nepal and Malawi on previous trips. Pretty cool. All in all, a great mix of people, personalities and professions - and I learned a heck of a lot about gynecology. Fun fact from Sara: the average placenta weighs 1.2 pounds. Who knew?
We departed for Xai-Xai at 1PM on Sunday. Destination: The Honey Pot hotel. Which, as it turns out, was an absolutely adorable little place. Wood cabins, campfires, a small restaurant, and lovely signs like this in the driveway that warned us about the presence of Mosquitos ("mozzies"):
Upon arrival at The Honey Pot, we settled in, had a nice group dinner, and got to bed early to prepare for the build. I would like to point out that I read the first 200 pages of the first "Game of Thrones" book on this day. Which was excellent.
The next morning, as we pulled into the tiny village (read: 2,000 people) outside the 3 De Fevriero settlement in Gaza province where we'd be spending the week, little kids chased the car up the dirt road, and my heart was 100% won over. So adorable. Plus, it sort of made me feel like a celebrity. As we hopped off the bus, we were greeted by a village full of women singing, clapping, and dancing to welcome us. We shortly learned that all the women welcomed us to the village because there are only women that live in the village...most of the men have died from AIDS contracted while working in the mines in South Africa. Which meant that we were building homes for children and families who either had no fathers or were orphans being taken care of by their grandmothers. Which was reason enough for me to be there.
The two families selected by Habitat (after a careful screening process which involves working with local village leaders to determine those most in need, as well as enforcing a regimen of ARV drugs) were:
1) Maria, a 50-something grandmother with five of her children and grandchildren under the age of five living under her (one-room) roof, and
2) Adele, a 91-year-old grandmother who lives with and is raising her 14-year old grandson (who mixes a mean concrete) and )15-year-old granddaughter
We split the group into two teams, and my team of seven had the privilege of working with Adele and her family to build them a home. Let me tell you that granddaughter of hers carried a mean water jug. Those things are HEAVY.
The houses went up quickly with the help of all of the women in the village and a couple of professional stonemasons contracted by Habitat. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that the wall Caroline and I put up on the first day is clearly the prettiest and most structurally-sound portion of the house:
Spending a few hours a day hauling cement blocks was rewarding but exhausting, so of course we had to take frequent breaks to play with adorable children. See exhibits below.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Exhibit C:
Exhibit D:
We also made friends with some of the local women (breaking through two language barriers - Portuguese and the local tribal dialect), who loved to try to teach us how to dance like Africans and spent an entire afternoon braiding Claire and Carol Ann's hair (which apparently is very painful).
...and we ended each day with cocktail hour in our cabin, consisting of a variety of items purchased at the Duty-Free shop at the Johannesburg airport:
By the end of the week, the fourteen of us on the trip had not only built two houses, we had changed the lives of two families forever, and had made new friends both at home and in Africa. The best part of the trip was the dedication and closing ceremonies, where the women chanted our names (well, sort of....Greg = Georgie, Caroline = Carol, etc) while the Habitat representative presented us with certificates of achievement, then helped the Habitat team bless the home and did another song and dance to see us off. All of the music, dancing, and laughter served as a poignant reminder that it doesn't take much to be happy, which, in addition to helping a family thousands of miles away, is something I will take with me from this wonderful experience...
Maria and her grandchildren celebrating their new home (grandma Adele is standing in the left of the frame in a blue t-shirt...she looks damn good for ninety-plus):
Team Bain and one of the houses (the local kids LOVED being in photos and apparently ran into this one, unbeknownst to us...):
The amazing local ladies singing and dancing in the closing ceremonies:
After an afternoon on the beach in Xai-Xai to celebrate our success, it was time to head back to Maputo to start our next adventure, a week on the much-fabled beaches of Mozambique watching calving humpbacks and swimming with whale sharks (that'll be the next post). On the whole, I'd say the Habitat trip was a resounding success, and I'm thankful to my friends, my future employer, and all of the amazing, strong, passionate, beautiful, and hard-working women of the tiny village outside Xai-Xai, Mozambique, for an incredible and unforgettable experience. Thanks, Team Bain. On to the next...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad from some awesome, fabulous, amazing, dangerous international location
Location:Xai-Xai, Gaza Province, Mocambique
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