More African Adventures & Transition

With our Mozambique countdown now on, we have already activated our ‘bucket list.’ A bit sad to realize most of our experiences now will be for the last time. But some of these we will never mind not repeating again, such as our 3^rd house move this past week in under 2 years. For the second time our rental contract was broken by the landlord forcing us to move without compensation. No real rule of law or way to protect ourselves and since this final relocation is so close to us leaving Maputo for good, we actually had 2 moves in one. The big one included 110 boxes packed into a container truck to make its slow way to our new home in Pristina Kosovo. The second involved 4 back and forth shuttles to our small furnished apartment a couple blocks away with just clothes, food and of course the obligatory toys and baby gear. The only advantage as this huge inconvenience is our affects will now be waiting for us in Kosovo when we finally arrive and it has allowed us to purge our things and get used to much smaller quarters reflective of the small condo we will occupy once we return ‘home’. No need to go into the detail of our present landlord physically carry his stuff out of the apartment and leaving it a dirty mess while we were moving in and leaving us with many repairs to be done still. Such is Africa.

Still keeping it local, we adventured across the Maputo bay by local ferry to walk the beach and lunch on the Katembe side of the city. We had done this before and again it feels like leaving the bustle of the city behind when in fact it is just across a 5 minute waterway. The kids loved crab chasing and the nice imported beers, sunny weather and tapas lunch ticked our senses. Of course our trip back was much more eventful with the high tide limiting the beach walk to a very narrow, trash filled strip crowded with holiday and political rally goers enjoying the end of a 3 day weekend. The ferry was packed beyond belief with drunk youth and signified another a ‘never again’ for us.   

On the previous week we hosted Gabby, a long-time grad school friend of Pranvera. Of course the kids took to him right away and we shared with him some of the sites and highlights of Maputo before carting him to the Kingdom of Swaziland for a different Africa flavor. Luckily the border and drive was uneventful and despite the cold rainy weather we had some great meals at our favorite restaurants, stopped by a number of the arts and crafts studios, introduced Adi to a new place center for a couple hours, swam in the heated pool and walked the grounds of the Royal Swazi Spa where we stayed. Must say the highlight was Pranvera and my 2 hour spa experience with the kids in the capable hands of uncle Gabby.

 

But only last weekend did we take a full day pause from our pack-out and join 30 other internationals on a day cruise to the local uninhabited island on a huge pirate ship (dhow). It was with some close friends and tons of kids all running around. Adults enjoyed our beverages and both a prego (Portuguese meat) sandwiches and fresh piaya lunch. It is always interesting to see Maputo from the water where everything becomes serene and pleasant. Aside from the fact that when we were to shuttle to the island, high winds and wakes forced half of us to remain on the boat and forego as much time on the beach. But frankly it is still a bit chilly and the water was not much for swimming (except for all the jellyfish washed up on the shore). The highlight of course was the boat anyway especially for Adi so we can check this box.

 

Adi has been handling the adjustments like a champ. He even pointed to the lighted outline of a ship sailing out to sea from our restaurant the night of our move saying ‘There is the ship taking my Sponge Bob Square Pants Legos to grandma’s house’. However he has been coming back into our much smaller bed in the middle of the night all the time now as he adjusts to the new feel of the apartment. Rea rocks our world and has been trying every ounce of patience with Pranvera. We have a sleepless baby with no more than 3, ten minute naps a day and constant wake-ups through the night. Now that we just started her on some solid food we hope this will all change. But she is all smiles and sounds and loves being the center of attention. She sits in the middle of the baby play group rocking back and forth chirping ‘GAAAA’ to the other kids.

Pranvera is doing some consulting again on another corruption and transparency project. She loves re-engaging professionally and can’t wait to find work once we return home. Her huge World Bank project/report was finally published crediting her as one of the main lead authors.  Meanwhile she is full-time in getting all the logistics and preparations underway to have our place ready for our arrival.

My work is slowly drawing down. The reason for our departure is an empty pipeline for new projects. The long-anticipated USAID mega ag project is over a year/half late so even if TechnoServe wins it (with a strong PPP component) it would leave me still with a 6 month gap to fill. As I am a strategic advisory I may yet find my self returning her to assist them in the future but nothing for the short term. I am making a final push to ensure the operational structure and sustainability of a PPP and Inclusive Business facility I designed and launched with both Dutch and UK support. It has been challenging and rewording so I will hopefully able to work on this from Kosovo as well. SO, one can see I plan to re-open my consulting practice with both global and local projects. Luckily Kosovo is the regional hub for USAID activities with several large projects on the ground I will connect with in good time.

But most importantly we will spend a month in the states for Xmas and reconnection before arriving in the middle of winter in the Balkans. Aside from needing to purchase winter wear from the kids and bundle up with more than flip flops, we look forward to getting to the mountains, snow shoeing, skiing, European road trips but most of all, family (very) close by.

But not before a long vacation to Cape Town and a couple more beach week-ends away and a Kruger safari to boot. All for now from the Kirkbrides.