Mozambique

Back in the States

2008-05-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

We made it back and had a great time. I have posted pictures of the trip at the following address: http://picasaweb.google.com/clskinn/MozambiqueInternship

May 21, 2008

2008-05-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

We finished teaching our business principles class today. Three of the students have attended all of the classes and worked with us in the field for the past week, I think they have potential to fit in nicely in the future. We have enjoyed our time here in Mozambique and enjoyed the working with great people. We feel we were able to develop a good business plan and start some of the implementation, we hope that the managers here will be able to carry it out and make it successful. Not only, is there a market for the product, but we feel this business will benefit the entrepreneurs and the gardeners on multiple levels.

I’ll have to admit that it took about two weeks to overcome the initial culture shock of Mozambique, but Dave and I have grown quite fond of some of the things. The crowded streets are great and the Vodacom cell phone ads make us laugh – the slang “bazza bazza”. One of the Vodacom ads has a picture of a Mr. T looking guy saying “bazza bazza” – we think we have the phrase figured out, but I prefer to just say it in a deep voice and let it mean whatever I want it to.

May 20, 2008

2008-05-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

Today we held a meeting with the staff and reviewed some of the things in our business plan and talked about steps to implementing it. We have really enjoyed working with the staff here and hope that they are successful in the future as it will benefit the lives of many people in Mozambique.
After our meeting we went to the Care For Life facility to finish up the pump there with some of our potential entrepreneurs. It has been fun watching them develop and learn more. The ride home was particularly fun. We had to cram seven sweaty bodies into the car after a day of work. we piled into the car, which happened to be parked next to a chicken coup. The smell any one of those things was more than one could handle, but to have both the smelly bodies and the chicken smell was just too much. So Dave in all his brilliance and in an effort to not offend anyone decided to discretly do something about it... apply coconut scented, spray-on sunscreen. So we are not only packed INSIDE a car, but the sun was setting and there was Dave spraying on sunscreen. Needless to say, Dave got a few strange looks, but the smell in the car improved.

May 19, 2008

2008-05-19T16:18:00.000-07:00

We taught our class this morning and that went well. This afternoon we had meeting with Ascend defining duties and roles for everyone here. It was a good meeting and I think will help get everyone on the same page here. Dave and I stayed up late tonight finishing our business plan and planning a meeting tomorrow with everyone to finalize everything and do some implementation. Tonight Jack whipped up a little shrimp bisque for dinner.

2008-05-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

Each Sunday I have been impressed with the church here. The meetings have been quality meetings and the attendance is pretty higher, often better than I remember it in Brazil. We went to the chapel downtown, which is really nice, with AC, padded benches, a decent sound system, and a large cultural hall with a stage. It seemed nicer than many of the chapels I have seen in Brazil or Mexico. There was a miniature racecar race on the street in front of the chapel though so we could hear occasional cheers and loud music, but overall the meeting was very good and reverent. Sorry the pictures are so small, it takes a while to upload them with our slow, shared Internet connection.

May 17, 2008

2008-05-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Gorongosa National Park (www.gorongosa.net). In the 1950’s and 1960’s Gorongosa was one of the biggest nature reserves around and was known for its big game; however, during the civil war a lot of the fighting occurred in the area and many of the animals were killed for food or for money to buy arms (the elephants and their ivory tusks especially). The park is now being restored.

We left at 5:30 this morning and arrived at about 8:30. We knew that would be a little late in the day and we didn’t see any lions or elephants like we were hoping to, but we wanted to make it a day trip. We had a fun time though and saw monkeys, baboons, gazelle, bushpigs, warthogs, and rhino. It was kind of like a do-it-yourself safari since we used our own 4X wheel drive vehicle in the park and we basically just cruised around the park looking for stuff. At the entrance I felt like we were entering Jurassic Park

You kind of need a telephoto lens to take any sort of picture that will do justice to the animals and the surroundings, but I promise one of these photos shows the... backside of an animal -- I'll let you figure out which one of the pictures that is ;-)

May 16, 2008

2008-05-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

So I think there is a dead mouse somewhere in our kitchen. Efigenia put rat poison all over the kitchen and pantry and for the past few days we have noticed an interesting smell coming from the kitchen, however, today it is almost unbearable. Eric moved the fridge to look behind it and something went crazy with the wiring and the extension cord lit on fire. He replaced the extension cord and five minutes later the new one lit on fire again. The good news is that the smell of dead rat went away as it was replaced by the smell of burned electrical cords.

May 15, 2008

2008-05-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

Today we stayed home to work on our business plan and put together a last minute funding request for Ascend. Jack took 4 potential entrepreneurs with him to install a pump at the Care For Life facility.

Here is a picture of the entrepreneurs receiving training from Jack at the Ascend facility and a picture of them in the classroom.

May 14, 2008

2008-05-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Care For Life facility to survey their farm for a pump. We were there at sundown and it was really quite pretty. As we were driving home looking across the green rice fields and tall coconut trees I thought to myself that Mozambique is kind of growing on me. I mentioned that to Dave and he said he had had that same thought earlier today as we were walking around downtown before teaching our class. There is a certain mystique that kind of grows on you and I guess that it just takes exactly 14 days to incubate. Earlier today we had fun teaching a class on marketing to potential pump entrepreneurs and the rest of the day was spent with them preparing a pump to install and evaluating the pump location at care For Life.

May 13, 2008

2008-05-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

Today we had some of our potential employees come by the office for some hands-on training. The three who came stayed almost all day and seemed excited about the work. We are continuing with the classroom training tomorrow. As we were talking ot them in the morning Felipe was translating for Jack and Felipe said he wanted to tell them something. He wanted to tell them that one of the negative things about working here is that we don’t have “shima” for lunch and we usually have sandwiches. Shima is the main staple here and is kind of like a big ball of cream of wheat (without the sugar I usually put on it). He said it jokingly, but you could also tell he was kind of serious about it.

We went out to dinner tonight and received our food in record time… 55 minutes – they must have already had a chicken running around in the backyard to use.

May 12, 2008

2008-05-12T14:06:00.001-07:00

Today, Dave and I led a training session on basic business principles with seven potential employees. We also invited them to join us tomorrow for some hands-on training actually building water pumps. Since the skillset required to be successful in this job is rather unique we plan to incorporate a mixture of hands-on training as well as classroom instruction in the employment selection/training process. Well, as you can tell I have been writing a business plan for the rest of the day and might of just slipped into b-plan writing mode there.

Other than that the only other interesting thing is that Eric has been busy pulling “matakenya” out of his feet. For those of you who are not familiar with “matakenya” you should stay that way -- they are little bugs that burrow into your skin to lay their eggs. No worries though Dave and I are matakenya free.

May 11, 2008

2008-05-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

We went to church this morning. I’m impressed with the church here. The work seems to be going forward. We met another senior missionary couple, other than the couple we met last week, I really admire these couples for serving here. They said the language is a challenge and I know the conditions are not great.

After church we went to an orphanage by the beach and took some pictures by the beach. We drove by the LDS chapel in town and it is really nice. The ride in the “chapa” (the mini van) over there was interesting. We had 22 people piled in the van at one point, that includes the bodies that were mostly hanging outside the van though.

This fine little establishment on the side of the road has a sign outside that says “We repair and unlock cell phones here.” So if anyone wants their iPhone unlocked this is the place to do it.

May 10, 2008

2008-05-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

Today was relatively laid back we stayed around the house since Felipe and Efigenia were off today. We ended up having materials delivered and worked around the house.
So here is my response to Dave’s posting about our visit to Shoprite last night. He considerately skipped a few of the details and jumped to “what eventually happened was…”. However, before our ingenious move that forced the girl to essentially choose between the two of us, which she obviously had a hard time doing and delayed just long enough for both of us to get away, the girl did kind of violate my personal space and got a little touchy feely. I was trying to forget the experience and Dave was thoughtful enough to leave that part out, but it’s is a piece of the story that needs to be told and I have decided to face that.

May 9, 2008

2008-05-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken of Dave and me outside one of the stores where we buy supplies. The best part about this picture is the security guard coming out the door to stop us from taking pictures. He was very upset that we didn’t ask permission beforehand. The guard doesn’t have much to do and I heard one of the store owners call him “Oi Senhor Seguranca”, (Hey, Mr Security), But to make sure we weren’t upsetting anyone too much we talked to the owner and he laughed about us wanting to remember him in the U.S.

Before going to buy materials we went to visit some of the other pumps that have been installed and did a little quality control. We fixed a few things on some of them and made sure they all looked good. As far as marketing goes, we have found that word spreads like wildfire about these pumps and have received a number of requests at each pump that has been installed.

May 8, 2008

2008-05-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

Today we went with the director of Care For Life (another NGO in the area) and Efigenia to visit some of the previously installed pumps. It is good to see how some of the people have really caught the vision of what they can do with this simple technology. Here are a few pictures. The first one is at Sergio’s garden and the second one is me in front of a chicken house at the Care For Life facility. I know people say a picture is worth a thousand words, but if you could only smell half the smell of the chicken house you would be in tears.

May 7, 2008

2008-05-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

Today we were back at the orphanage installing the pump the there, which has taken us longer than expected due to some new issues in the installation process. However, we have overcome those issues and were able to take two potential technicians with us for a training/evaluation process. The people at the orphanage are becoming quite accustomed to us being there every day. The women who runs it, Maria Felicidade, calls me over all the time to tell me things about the orphanage or what she’s making the kids for lunch, etc. She calls me “brutha Charlie” and she can’t seem to remember Dave’s name even though it appears a biblical name like David would be easy, but we that seems to be a pattern so we thought about introducing Dave by some other easier name like Joao da Beira da Felicidade da Paz.

Here is a picture of the group.

May 6, 2008

2008-05-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Today, Dave and I worked on our business plan and met with Efigenia and the accountant to help them set up a general ledger that can be shared on the Internet with the Ascend headquarters in Salt Lake. Helping them tediously punch in a stack of receipts confirmed my lack of desire to be an accountant, but it was worth it to help them start organizing their finances. The accountant’s name is Gimo and he happens to be a member of the Church. He was the first member to be baptized in Mozambique. He and his brother were sent to Communist countries to study and his brother joined the Church in East Germany. Gimo studied in Cuba and when he returned his brother taught him the gospel and developed a following of believers even though there were no official missionaries in the country. Eventually, missionaries were sent from the South Africa mission and the Church officially began in Mozambique.

Tonight we dropped off Ben, the Ethiopian intern, at the airport. He told us that he was not looking forward to spending a few days with two MBA interns because he thought we would be boring so weleft him a little surprise in his carry on – we figured he could use it if he doesn’t find his bags in Maputo.

After going to the airport we stopped to eat at little restaurant and had a great conversation with Efigenia and the pump operation. The past two times we have gone to restaurants like this we see the waitress leave after we order and come back about five minutes later with a box – we’re pretty sure that the box contains a live chicken, a few potatoes, and a few cans of Coke (exactly what we ordered).

March 5, 2008

2008-05-05T14:58:00.000-07:00

Stephanie wanted to know what a typical day is like here so here is a run down of what things have been like the past few days. We get up early and get to work about 8:00 a.m. and usually get back around 6:00 p.m. So far we have spent the days out in the field digging wells, observing the logistical details of running the organization, and interviewing all of those involved in the organization. In the coming days we plan to spend a little more time in the office writing up some of our ideas and meeting with people. Tomorrow, we have a meeting with the accountant and the regional manager, Dave and I may split up to try and divide and conquer a little more.

Jack has been doing all of the cooking and does a great job at it. He seems happy to have someone to cook for as he has been living here alone since February. After dinner we have been spending the evening discussing the operation, strategizing, taking turns using the Internet, and teasing Ben about wearing a bed sheet around (Ben is the Intern visiting Moz on his way to Ethiopia – both of his bags were lost and he has been washing his clothes every night and leaving them in front of the fan to dry). Ben leaves tomorrow night though and I received my bag today so we feel we’re losing our entertainment. We watched a movie Saturday night using the Ascend projector, but for the most part have been busy until 11:00 or 12:00.

The first picture shows Eric and Felipe bottom right to left) helping Ben (on top) tie down the wheel barrow for the one and a half to two hour drive to the orphanage in Tica. The second picture shows Ben in his moo moo dress.

2008-05-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

So this is Dave in our room. The light blue lacey things hanging from the ceiling are mosquito nets. Someone commented the other night that they felt like a princess with the lacey netting draped around them at night, then Ben the intern going to Ethiopia, arrived and said the bed made him feel like Elton John and started singing Elton John songs – I think part of it might have been the 36 hour flight speaking.
If you are wondering where the beds are we are currently sleeping on mattresses on the floor because the bunk beds that were here were so wobbly that we were afraid they would fall apart in the middle of the night. Efigenia and Felipe arranged for a man to come and fix the beds so they disassembled them and have been “fixing them” for the past three days – I’m trying to think of a logical reason why it is taking them three days, but there isn’t one. We should have done it ourselves.

I mentioned yesterday that we went to the orphanage in Tica and were greeted with a grand welcoming ceremony. Felipe went around and introduced each of us and the head of the orphanage named Maria Felicidade related each of us to a scripture or something. Felipe introduced Dave and me as experts in management and administration and Maria Felicidade responded, “well, you are welcome here, so go ahead and administer away”. By the time Felipe got to the end of the line to introduce Ben, who had just arrived the night before and Felipe was at a loss for words and said, “This is Ben… he…is… uh… he… is … a master pump builder!” We tried not to laugh because even though Ben has never dug a well or ever built a pump in his life Felipe was totally serious.

May 3, 2008 (cont.)

2008-05-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

We received quite the welcome when we arrived in the town and plenty of people stopped by to watch. We allowed them to help so that we didn't ahve to do the digging. They were quite excited about the pump and the women who runs the orphanage started to quote scriptures of Jesus and the well in Samaria and related it to us, which was kind of sweet until she went over board saying what chacters we each were in the Bible -- Jack was Jesus and luckily she stopped before she said who the Samaritan women was. We had to dig the well pretty deep so I was wondering if she should have quoted Moses making water come from the rock.

May 3, 2008

2008-05-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Tica to install a well at an orphanage. The women who runs the well found out about us because her husband purchased two wells and those are being put in by Adolpho (mentioned yesterday). On our way home we purchased two kilos of giant prawns from a vendor on the side of the road and Jack made Shrimp curry that was awesome. These prawns were the biggest I’ve ever seen and tasted really good.
Last night we picked up another intern from the airport (Ben). He is on his way to Ethiopia and will be working with us for a few days to learn about the wells and pumps before he goes to Ethiopia. We have been making fun of him tonight because he is wearing a bed sheet around while his clothes dry (both of his bags got lost). Of course, I can’t laugh too much because I have had clothes strung all over today that I am trying to dry since one of my bags was lost too; however, I am not wearing a lava lava or a moo moo around. Anyway, he’s fun to have around and is a good sport about our teasing.

In the Field

2008-05-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

First let me introduce the crew here. Dave is a fellow MBA student. Efigenia is the regional manager and Felipe is her assistant. They live here in Beira and have been working with Ascend for about a year. Felipe speaks English pretty well and helps translate for Efigenia.
Aldalpho is the first entrepreneur who we will be working with to get his business going. He is a member of the Church and seems to be very sharp. He is pretty motivated and works hard.
Jack is a retired man who has been here for four months working with Ascend. He is an engineer and knows a lot about the pumps and what Ascend is trying to do here. He has lived all over the world volunteering with Ascend.
Eric is an undergraduate student doing a year-long internship here. He is also working with an NGO called Care for Life and will be working with agribusinesses to improve their gardens.
Efigenia, the regional manager spent the morning at the bank while the rest of us went to Lingao with Felipe, Adalpho, Jack, and Eric. We saw a pump that Adalpho installed yesterday and helped him get another one started. These are the first two pumps that he has sold and is being paid to install. He has been in training with Ascend for the past few months and is ready to get started making money. We are tasked developing a business plan for him that can be replicated for several other water technicians like him.
The drive to Lingao was about an hour on terrible dirt roads and made me grateful for a government that develops the infrastructure of the country. Although the drive was long the countryside was rather pretty and green – the rainy season just ended here.
In addition to visiting Adalpho’s work site we visited a previous site where Ascend installed a pump at a women’s house (her name is Maria). In talking to the town officials of Lingao to get permission to work there Ascend asked who would benefit from one of the pumps and the officials gave Ascend Maria’s name. Maria is a widow with children, who had land (I think the land was given to her in a homesteading type manner), but she did not have a house or any means to develop the land. Ascend installed a pump and within a few days she had land cleared for planting and her neighbors helped build a house for her on the land. She takes good care of her garden and it seems as though she sees the real potential in having water to take care of the land. She has planted several things and is anxiously waiting to have produce to sell so she can plant more and expand her garden.
We spent the afternoon running errands and trying to collect all the materials needed to install a pump tomorrow in a town called Tica (70 Km from Beira). We realized quickly the logistics issues in gathering all of the materials and getting technicians to work sites with all the proper tools and materials. I know that sounds easy, but in a developing country that is not as easy as it sounds. So far this appears to be one of the bottlenecks in allowing the technicians to sell and install a high volume of pumps. We are working on some solutions to this as well as some of the other issue in creating this business.

Hello

2008-05-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

The blog is yet to come so hold on.