Monday 31 July 2012, Chiphene, Xai-Xai, Gaza, Mozambique

Morning

Last night we arrived at our lodgings, most with bags, some without – three had missed the connecting flight from Johannesburg to Maputo.  Whilst in the great scheme of things this isn’t a great tragedy – everyone has enough to share, everyone has packed their anti-malaria tablets in their hand luggage and a change of clothes – the important ‘you can’t work on site without these on’ things- are in the bags – namely steel-toe-capped boots and hard hats.  So I am busy making a note to myself (my bag didn’t make the connecting flight!) next year everyone travels in their boots!

We are staying in lodges which have been built behind a saw mill, which produces a fine range of garden furniture from the local mahogany. The Honey Pot is a stopping point along the EN1 which runs the north through Mozambique from Maputo in the south to Caia further north, where it mysteriously runs out. There is an armed guard at the gates and we are assured he is there to protect the valuable wood (rather than the guests!)

As our health and safety briefing finishes, the Habitat for Humanity truck arrives from Maputo (a mere 3 hours away) with the missing bags, which means everyone can be effective on site!  Boots, hard hats and the other protective clothing required by HfH GB are grabbed from the bags and we are ready to head off to meet our families.

 

Last night we travelled along the same road, but it was dark. This morning you can see the houses and fields dotted between the trees. There are people (mainly women and young children) out in the fields; carrying impossible loads on their heads, walking in the dust along the roads. The bus is very quiet. The students all have their sunglasses on, so it is difficult to know what they are thinking, but the reality of being here seems to be slowly dawning.

 

We turn off the main, tarmacked road by a roadside bar. Anastascio (our bus driver) scrapes the bottom of his beautifully maintained mini-bus and launches it down a sandy road, which until now looked like a track into the bush.  Slowly we make our way through the village of Chipehne. Children wave and run besides the bus.  How odd we must look.

A low hanging branch is now baring our way. Merito our interpreter is going to run off to get a saw to remove the branch.  We sit on the bus. Then Silvia, the Global Village Coordinator in Mozambique suggests we walk (we are now about 30 minutes late). So we all get off the bus and walk to our meeting point.

We hear before we see. 

The women are singing. 

There is a group of about 20 women and children stood at the entrance to a compound where one of the houses is being built, and they are singing a welcome song. They are smiling and clapping and singing.  We are welcomed into the community with joy, openness and belonging.

The students are taken aback and are quite reserved in their reactions –they are all firmly welded to their sunglasses, so eyes cannot be read. I later find out that lots of tears have been shed. Cameras and phones come out (on both sides). The singing continues for a few more moments, and then stops, as we have our formal introductions. This is something that we have not been warned about, nor have we really prepared for.  Alice, who is already living in her Habitat for Humanity home, welcomes us and prays for a good build. Maria, who is one of the women we are building with, introduces her grandchildren Felix and Alberto, who are both embarrassed and overwhelmed with the attention. Joaquim and Fernando (her son) are at school. She expresses hope for the build and the changes that it will make in her life and those she cares for.

 

Helena now speaks (we are at her compound). She has been sleeping outside because of the state of her current house. She too looks forward to a future for herself and her grandchild Pedro.   It is now our turn.  What do we do?  What do we say? There is a moment of hesitation from our whole group.  It falls to me to introduce the group – both the Lampton School group and the Barnsley College group.  I seem to remember something about working together, learning from each other, and seeing a home at the end of the 5 days. It feels a bit inadequate but it is done.  More singing.

Then one or two of the women from the group break into a dance. More women begin to dance.  Hands are taken and eyes are flashed and then we are all dancing. There is no refusing. I am anxious that my steel-toe capped feet might stamp on bare feet… but everything is ok and it all passes without incident.

The dancing stops and Silvia takes the floor. The group is split into two mixed teams (mixing Lampton and Barnsley College staff and students).  Team Pedro work with Pedro and Simon, the local builders contracted by Habitat for Humanity Mozambique to build the house for Helena and Pedro. Team Lucas will build the house for Maria and her family working with ‘King’ Lucas and James. Maria’s house is about one kilometre from Helena’s and so Team Lucas off to their site.

It is only 10 am! The work starts here.