Paradise Work Trip to the North

Both in Nampula and Isle de Mozambique.

As you can see the past week away from family was extremely challenging. Yes, we had a Regional Directors Conference at one of our tourist project sites and to a village where one of our Maize Mills is operating with a women entrepreneur. A crew of about 40 came in from all over West and Southern Africa and I was blown away by the caliber of co-workers and the vision of my new organization. And as you can see, the background settings weren't too bad either.

TIA or WAWA…

Even before our arrival we were warned about adapting to our new surroundings. Simply put…This Is Africa and West Africa Wins Again.

This about sums up our adjustments for the first month. We have become keenly aware that the only way to keep your sanity is to take a deep breath and accept the fact that things will always eventually work out. Here is our list:

- Air Freight: the point of our paying a ridiculously high fee was to get mostly Adi’s toys and our necessary effects quickly. Well between no follow-up and confusion between my company and the processors it took 1 month to receive our 2 boxes. They could not even locate it for about 5 days and we were told for at least 6 it would arrive that day. Would not have been as big a deal if its importance wasn’t reflected in Adi’s eyes when he woke up from his nap to find ‘Christmas’ unfold in front of him

- Housing: due to the influx of extractives related workers the real estate and housing situation is very pricy and competitive. So we decided to stay in our present accommodations for the first phase of our stay in Maputo. But the initial 2 bedroom they put us in was just too tight to really enjoy ourselves. We were on a list to get the 3 bedroom and was told we could move 2 Saturdays ago. Then they told us we couldn’t. Then they said nothing would be free till December. So we grudgingly accepted the reality we would be crammed. Then 2 days later the oldest house in the complex opened up and we got our present large and nice home. Aside for the sewage smell that waifs our way from outside every couple of days and the rather old set-up compared to our much newer last place, we are elated to have a dedicated playroom for Adi and more living space for the rest of us. Oh, and CNN decides to disappear every 3 days requiring 1-2 day wait to fix it.

- Internet: it is very slow, very expensive and very limited where we live. The new house wasn’t being reached by the wi-fi so they had to rewire a new unit. This only took 2 weeks and daily calls to get them to fix it. As for our phone, it still does not make outside calls within the city.

- Washing Machine: so, our new house does not have a washing machine and since the ‘hotel’ we are managed by charges $4 a shirt, our only option was to buy a machine. Luckily my office paid for this and after having negotiated the purchase of one in Portuguese it took 1 week for them to deliver it (was promised the next day) and for the hotel to actually install it requiring a notice from my work of how long we would stay there. This process took the assistance of 4 of my office stay, 3 follow-up visits to the store we bought it from and no less than 30 phone calls.

- Nanny: that actually speaks any English has been a challenge. We finally posted an add and had a nice women vouch for her current nanny, join us for the interview and help her through the English. But we find she is just a very good actress and knows very little but it a nice lady and really tries with Adi. She will help out half day as he starts daycare for the other half. After 1 month Pranvera will finally have a break from dealing with our little stinker.

Logistics aside, we love this place. The people, the scenery, the weather all fit into exactly what we all were looking for with this transition.

Our Arrival in Maputo

Although it has been less than 2 weeks since our departure, it feels like 2 months. Sorry for the delayed update to all our friends and family but the internet in Mozambique is quite expensive and you pay for a combination of time and data usage at very expensive rates and no such thing as an unlimited package. So we’ll do the best we can in keeping them coming but as we learned on our first day, TIA (This is Africa). Nuff said.

So typical to the old Dirthead style (luckily my wife will never succumb voluntarily to my craziness), our departure was anything but relaxing. Many of you already know but despite the fact that our stint in Maputo may only be 4-6 months having us then return to DC with a new great position with the same NGO as Deputy Director for a 5 year 65Million program with my old Agency, USAID. If the organization does not win the bid, then we can stay in Africa indefinitely. And from what we have experienced in the last 10 days, this would be a blessing (more to come later). As if having 1 month to pack up our belongings and shut down our lives stateside wasn’t enough, we decided to sell our Condo on top of this. This was always in the plan and my 7 years with it have been incredible and the first home for the Kirkbride family. But less than 800 sq ft, no storage and 3 stories up we had had it with the climb, congestion and even the hustle and bustle of the neighborhood. So once it hit the market we had incredible volume of showing but he unit across the hall also went on the market at the same time and sold for list immediately at a price that forced us to drop our prices twice to be closer to his price per sq. foot. So after 3 weeks of showing and us having to clean up every plate and toy before we ever went out and constant people dropping in, we finally got an offer and negotiated a price equal to what I paid for it 7 years ago. So with one week left for us to pack out, this was truly a blessing not to mention that we didn’t have one thing to fix on the pass from the inspection.

So the only thing left for us to do was to arrange movers to pack everything into storage for us. Easy enough right? Wrong. First off I had originally planned to move everything out of our place into storage the day that our flight left (6pm) to not shock Adi more than we had to with a hotel first and then the flight. Luckily I listened to my family and decided to have movers come 2 days to ensure we could complete it. So they came to pack up everything on 2 days before and I was told they would make 1 trip to storage with the items. Well they didn’t bring an empty truck so all they could do was box everything and save the lion share for the next day. Ok, well fine. So day 2 with us up at 6am my dad and I disassembled the beds and crib so all they had to do was load it and take to storage. Luckily this all worked out with plenty time to kill until they handed me their bill and had literally doubled the rate from the quote saying none of the boxes were included (I can verbally confirmed twice that they were). So after hard core negotiations instead of the $900 they demanded I gave them $590 (good training for arriving in Africa).

So now we had plenty of time to spend with my dad who was in town helping us out and they driving our car back to St Louis with him to watch over till we know if we’ll return. So after a great Mediterranean lunch he drove us to the airport with 3 hours to spare. By far the earliest I had arrived for a flight but we had scientifically packed our 6 allotted 50lb. bags to carry all our belongings with us to Africa (plus I negotiated a 250lb air freight for Adi’s car seat, toys, diapers, Cheerios and books that we couldn’t get out here.) And we were blessed with no one else at the counter but at least 6 agents to assist. Well, Adi and I checked in 5 minutes but with Pranvera’s Kosovo passport there were problems. Even though we had the required Visa’s and purchased tickets and were only transferring via S. Africa, they could not find Kosovo in their computer system and therefore could not print her boarding pass. So 2 hours 45 minutes later we were still at the desk and they were about to say we cannot ticket you (with a kid, not home left to go to and the proper visa’s and pre-paid ticket). The Director with a stroke of luck keyed in Serbia and UNMIK together (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) and it printed!! So 2 agents ran us through the entire airport security and out to the plane for us to depart on time. To say the least one of the most anxious 3 hours we have had. Only to followed with the 18 hour flight and layover for another hour and a 6 hour time change. Adi was as great as could be expected and of course at our final destination and new home, all but 1 bag arrived, the one with all of Adi’s clothes and diapers. It took 3 more days to this bag showed up so we had already gone local with a couple outfits and local diapers (ahem).

So we are here. And couldn’t be happier!!!

Aside from dealing with jet lag for a week, not getting the 3 bedroom house we were promised so are in a much smaller 2 bedroom, not speaking the language (well) yet and having everything else in our routine absolutely new, we feel here. So let me describe our living situation. Due to potential temporary nature of our stint, we are essentially a hotel that has individual villa’s for long-term fully furnished rent with kitchens, bedrooms, outdoor patios etc. The photos describe how blessed we are. They wash the dishes, change the sheets and clean our home daily. And the carless walkways are perfect for Adi pushing his new scooter and we don’t hear a sound. Nothing. The quietest place we have ever been. And the place comes with access to 2 pools, a full gym and spa and several indoor and outdoor play centers for free. The excellent tennis courts are discounted to $10/hour and 3 minutes away. The ‘winter’ weather we landed at the beginning of is perfect. Sunny every day, high mid 80’s with a breeze and very light jacket evenings. We can almost see the ocean from our place. And our exact location is on top of a gradual hill so slightly cooler than many other areas of the city and with much less mosquitoes. To the point that we have seen almost none and considering this is Malaria country, we are very happy about this. So as you can see we could do much much worse. Oh, the company picks up the tab…

The city itself is also great as far as African cities gone. Right on the water so easy to spot seaside views. It doesn’t have the insane traffic and pollution of most other cities out here and the people don’t stop smiling. There are tons of people walking around selling anything they can carry but after pestering you twice they stop and just smile at you again. We feel very safe and to say the least there is a huge diplomatic community here as well as foreign businessmen. Of course everyone speaks Portuguese so we need to learn it fast. Fortunately my first overseas experience 20 years ago was in Brazil and I became fluent in the language at that point so really just need to refresh myself and add the business vocabulary. The food here is incredible and fresh from the salads to the seafood. A night out is expensive for here but cheaper than a lesser quality experience out in DC (both food and sights). As we are learning the grocery stores are very expensive (more than US) and don’t have many of the products we are used to. Many of the Expats here travel to S. Africa once/month and stock up (2 hour drive). The challenge for us is that until we know whether we stay or go we will use taxi’s and my organization vehicles and drives (they drive on the wrong side). But we’ll manage.

So having been here less that 2 weeks were are already well connected to the USAID community and meeting other internationals at any restaurant we hit. We went to an Easter Egg hunt and met most the USAID staff I will be working with off and on while out here. We ran into a couple I knew in DC and haven’t been in touch with in 5 years. Already had a couple play dates with their 2 girls just older and younger than Adi. Was also introduced to other strangers through friends who we have met with and just love. There are a ton of young families out here so we feel great about really having a closer circle of friends to play and travel with. As much as we loved DC and our friends, we did not hang with too many families so this will be more fun and easier for us all.

So I have only had 1 week of work but arrived at the perfect time for attending a 2 day staff retreat where people from our other 3 officers around the countryside came in and I was able to meet everyone, see and hear about their work and socialize. But 90% was in Portuguese so I understood about half. More than I ever thought I would be still less than ideal. Since we still don’t know my exact role and I still need to learn the operational side of our work, mostly it will be around linking new buyers to our farmers that are improving production of their crops. But this said there is enormous potential for partnerships, I love the organization and my boss and will learn an absolute ton!! The staff is very talented as well and I feel blessed to finally have joined an organization (TechnoServe) with such a great reputation as well as opportunity for my growth. For the past 10 years I have been working on time limited contracts but now that I have been hired as full-time staff I can plan on sticking around for the long-term to build up my career with a great team and opportunities overseas as well as in DC.

So while I am at work from 8 till 7 Pranvera is settling in taking care of everything else. We have found a daycare that is half day we hope to start him in soon. It is walking distance which will help and we are looking for a nannie to help in the afternoons. She can help with wash and Adi and apparently the high end rate for this is $200/month. Luckily he loves our new home, some of our new friends have donated several playtoys and trains, books and videos, he is swimming in the pool everyday meeting new kids staying here and the indoor play center at the gym has a nannie to watch Adi while she works out. In order to keep some of her sanity Pranvera will continue to consult with the World Bank remotely a couple days a week and as we learn more about the work going on in Maputo, we could get her connected for some great local work.

So, enough for now. We miss and love you all. Please drop us a line anytime and enjoy the photos.