My project in Chomoio: and when it rains, it pours

Well, it’s been about 55 hours in Chomoio so far, and it’s been really good - even though it’s been bucketing down at night (some 130 mm in 2 days! Along with accompanying friendly frogs). I’ve been working on my project for two and a half days now, and it is going really well –the South Africans I’m working with have really taken to the McKinsey issue tree (and haven’t we all!)! And we are all getting excited about the possibilities for the future … even though our ‘office’ is located in a seed and farming chemicals warehouse … (there it is, just behind the white bags of fertilizer!)



I have met plenty of interesting people here. I’ve visited farmers and plantation managers with literally thousands of hectares of crops and trees, spoken to a number of local seed sellers, had breakfast and dinner with aid workers and tobacco sellers (this is where Australian cigarettes are grown!), heard a Zimbabwean farmer’s story about how he had to run with his family and vehicles after being attacked by “freedom fighters”.

As for Chomoio itself, the one thing that has struck me is how many people there are on the streets, particularly at night. The paved roads (and many of the dirt ones) are like Pitt Street at nights – hundreds and thousands of people walking, listening to music, playing games

However, things don’t always go to plan in Chomoio …

… though trucks and vans are typically stacked with people, not just agriculture!



God bless,
John

ps on a brief aside: here’s our 16-seater plane from Maputo to Chomoio … for a scary moment before take off I thought I was claustrophobic!