Mozambique

I'm updating my blog, this must mean I'm in Africa.

I arrived in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique Sunday night. I'm staying at a beachfront hotel, overlooking the Indian Ocean. It's really pretty, and my hotel room door opens right onto the beach.

My main objective on this trip is to visit two groups that provide services to orphans and vulnerable children. (I don't know how this happened, but ever since I started working for the government, I find it incredibly difficult to write about my job without sounding like a bureaucratic directives manual. Forgive me. I mean, I work in the Office of HIV/AIDS -- sex and drugs, you'd think it would be a little more exciting. Instead it's all "provide support" "leverage funds" identify community buy-in," etc.. etc..)

Yesterday, my first day on-site, we visited Habitat for Humanity homes in Mahane, a small village 45 minutes outside of Maputo. Habitat, interesteingly, starting building cement and zinc homes in communities 8 years ago. After a year or two, they swtiched designs, now using 70 - 90% local materials to design homes in the traditional village style. Families in the cement homes had sometimes been ostracized by their neighbors, and not given additional support because of the "advantage" of the fancy home. In the more traditional style, houses survive tornados better, families exist in better harmony in their community, and more can be created because of the much lower prices. Sounds like a best practice to me.

Today, I met three women who are the recipients of micro-loans. Each of the women used the loan to support an existing business (One operates a refreshment stand and two sell fruits and vegetables in an open-air market.) I was present at a loan assessment meeting, where the loan officer for the NGO we partner with assessed whether the woman was capable of repaying the loan by taking stock of her current business practices, capital, and assets. I couldn't help but wonder whether our own credit system in America wouldn't benefit from much the same sort of oversight. When I told my colleague Americans received automatically approved credit cards in the mail, with no home visit to assess pay-back ability, he seemed a little shocked.

Tomorrow I'm traveling to an inner-province, on the border with Zimbabwe, visiting more habitat homes and a food distribution program. I'm really intrigued by Mozambique, it's a beautiful country with a distinctive vibe, and everyone has been wonderfully kind and receptive to my visit. I feel incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the communities where we have programs and see first-hand how implementation is going.