Mom's Holiday Visit to Africa and Pranvera's Naturalization Ceremony

It has been an unbelievably busy past 2 months and summer is only half way over! First Dad arrived end of May for a 2 week visit of both Mozambique and South Africa (photos posted next blog). Then after I had a 1 week trip back to DC for work but also squeezing in some great visits with close friends I returned the day before Mom arrived for another two weeks. Then before that visit ended Pranvera took off to the Sates to finally receive her US Citizenship (last photos). Sadly Adi and I could not join but my dad and sister did along with many of our close friends in DC. An unbelievably long journey (5 years) to only be finally realized in a 4 minute ceremony. This now means that our family can not only enter South Africa to explore a more developed part of Africa but we can travel worldwide without the cost of visas and hassles of border crossing.

Visits with both parents were wonderful and offered quality time with their grandson. Great to see the reconnection and bonding as if no time has passed. I believe the uniqueness of Maputo and life in Africa intrigued them both and we certainly showed them the nicer side with great food, wonderful parties with friends and local adventures of sites seeing. But of course the big adventure was our visit to Kruger (did a 4 night stay with  both mom and dad but at different lodges). Since this was before her receiving a US passport Pranvera was unable to join. As you can see from the images below, the Rock Camp with mom was certainly over the top located on its own 4000 ha. reserve and rock-like huts camouflaged in the hill-side lodge overlooking Kruger and the world beyond. Our adventure was full of game drives, hikes, lounging at the camp, visiting an elephant sanctuary and eating 5 star meals in a beautifully designed Eco-lodge.

And we had the pleasure of celebrating my mom's birthday with home-made lasagne and wonderful wine.

Happy Fathers to all us dad’s out there. Funny where living in a country with so many different nationalities among our friends that some celebrate while others don’t. Happy to say my lovely wife found a couple other Brits who thought it would be nice to take us dads and kids to our city beach for any afternoon picnic of good drinks, food and friends.

Sorry again for the long delay in entry. A combination of a crazy busy schedule and our still crazy expensive internet to get pictures uploaded. We are coming off a couple week visit from my dad who visited Africa for his first time and we think loved it. Of course it was a pretty sugar coated trip with the great winter weather of Maputo (warm 80s during day and pleasant 70s at night) and highlights of the sights and sounds of an emerging ‘modern’ African city with a great international community and western comforts such as mostly paved roads, electricity, restaurants and overall pleasantness to foreigners (except the street venders who followed him for blocks insisting he purchase a belt, sunglasses or even a carpet).

Although the weather is great it is actually too cold for ocean swimming so we spent the weekend he landed doing a daytrip up to our island getaway for fantastic views, playing in the sand and a fresh fish lunch feast. The tour includes a rather sketchy looking 5 minute ferry ride and a safari truck pick-up to get through the sand dones to the lodge. The other weekend the boys (since Pranvera cannot still get into S Africa) went to a fantastic private lodge right outside Kruger Park for 3 nights. The best thing about the location was that we were staying across Crocodile River which is still part of the park and were able to view the herds of elephants, hippos and alligators in the water from the comfort of the lodge grounds while having our morning coffee or afternoon cocktails. The weather was perfect and we took 3 different game drives into the park to see all the big 5 plus a leopard. Also our guide allowed us to bend the rules and take Adi in the open safari truck into the park which they normally reserve for 6y/o and up.

In between all the excitement we had good meals in the city and visited with friends to expose dad to the great and diverse international community we associate with. He had quality time with his grandson and the guestroom has transitioned from Aunt Stacey’s to grandpa. We miss his support and presence but are eagerly awaiting my mom’s visit now in early July to do a similar tour of Mozambique and SA.

On the more routine homefront we continue to settle into our grove. The most recent big transition is Pranvera began her fulltime job with the UK’s development Agency DFID as a Senior Anti-corruption Specialist who will be advising the G19 donors on key corruption issues and potential solutions to accompany their budgetary support programs directly to the government of Mozambique which presently accounts for over 35% of all their expenses. Her office is conveniently located in a building next to mine so not only is she able to ‘play adult’ again but we are all able to commute Adi to daycare and drive into the office, meet for lunch and return in the evening to see our little one playing with the nanny and a revolving collection of friends to come over for playdates.

My work continues to be good with new partnership opportunities we continue to explore with entering multinationals, local organizations and donors wanting to invest in PPP models around agriculture. As a result of some work in did in Ghana over a year ago building a CSR dialog platform for the oil and gas industry I have been asked to speak and present on this model to the government and donors as well as businesses and civil society on a number of occasions. It seems like it is catching on now and actually might be designed and implemented with the support of the French, Canadian and American governments. So this has added a bit of excitement. I will also return to DC next week for a crazy busy week of attending our Senior Management Conference while trying to fit in some key doctor appointments and visits with friends.

As a parting update on our happenings, we are pleased to finally announce that as of July 15^th we hope to welcome yet another worthy addition to the American family as Pranvera will take her naturalization oath in DC. It has been an incredibly long and painful 5 year road full of every type of delay, challenge, denials, resubmissions that one can imagine. The biggest challenge for us has been moving overseas to work for an NGO doing American government work but proving our case that we still consider the US our base (not to mention both her husband and son are America). In the end the government is either so incompetent or backlogged with the immigration process that they refused to let us know the status of her final application for 5 weeks past their own deadline potentially jeopardizing even her status as a green card holder since we were already at the 6 month mark where she would have to have returned to the US just to keep her resident status valid. So in the end it only took a close personal connection with an ex-Congressman to link us to his close Senator friend whose office inquired and pressured a response on our behalf. Her invitation to present final document and take the oath came within 24 hours. How is this for justice and equality for all?

 A Day Gone Fishing

14 hours motoring around, 10 guys, 2 catches, 3/4 day seasick and $175. I think I'll buy fish from the market next time;-)

And one for the Road, Literally

As I noted in our blog from earlier today, Africa can very easily bring us Westerners to our knees. It is how you deal with it that lets you keep on going. You either cry…or laugh…or write about it which lets you do a bit of both.

So with my family safely tucked into their beds sleeping away, I add one last entry to the Challenges list which is really only a fraction of what we have been through over the past year. We just spent the last 6 hours in the car on a very botched attempt to cross the border into Swaziland where we had planned to spend a nice 3 day holiday weekend at a bed and breakfast nestled in the hills of central Swazi with some great meals, hikes and rendezvous with friends nearby. So having packed up the truck with all the gear (those with kids know this is no small task) and having driven several hours to the border, we were pleasantly stopped by the customs authority who said that I could not leave the country on the new work visa I had just paid $250 to get 2 days before. Apparently this type of visa is only a single entry arrangement unlike the tourist visa which we have had the last which forces us to leave the country every 30 days to ‘renew’ it. Which was actually the reason behind the trip in the first place since Pranvera and Adi both needed to do their exit and re-entry. As we pressed the matter (in Portuguese) we found that they were willing to let me leave thus cancelling my work visa and then return on my tourist visa. Which then would have required another trip to South Africa (1 day) and $250. Which was not an option. Now this could be chalked up as an honest mistake and one that we have known better but my office colleague mentioned this potential situation to me at work which I brought up directly to our Administrative Director. Who assured me under no uncertain terms that this would not be a problem…

So I sat on the border as my wife and son walked past the armed soldiers into Swaziland to enter their border house receiving her entry stamp there on one side, exiting, walking around to the other side to emerge with her exit stamp to come back into Mozambique with her re-entry. This is such a common practice with countless number of ‘repeat tourists’ that luckily as of yet it is ironically an accepted practice.

So we all climbed back in the car kissing our hotel deposits goodbye and drove all the way back to Maputo in Friday rush hour traffic. Which of course hit grid-lock and some-kind of mining truckers protest where they used their huge trucks to whittle 10 lanes of traffic only down to 1 to enter into the city after passing through a toll stations whose increased rates we think they were protesting. The only saving grace to this unnecessary adventure was that we made it back in time to catch our happy hour Caiparinha’s with close friends at the Shack. Before returning home exhausted to unpack, unwind and drift off to sleep.

TIA…

A Year in Reflection                      

 We celebrated our one year arrival to Mozambique last night with a perfectly prepared eggplant lasagna by Pranvera and our nanny, a glass of freshly carbonated water from the SodaStream machine I purchased earlier that day on my (12 hour day) trip to Nelspruit South Africa to finally pick-up my work visa, and then an evening of celebration playing with all the new toys daddy brought back for Adi including an electric race car track and a collection of new books, bell for his balance bike which he pushes seamlessly around the neighborhood and chalk to color on the blank white walls surrounding our back yard ‘compound’.  So I guess even this statement highlights some of the vast changes we have undergone this past year of living in Maputo, Mozambique. We all agree that it has overall been the right thing to do and a wonderful life experience for us all. But in no way does this mean that it has been easy. It has certainly gotten easier as we have ‘settled in’ but the logistics and process to start a new life have been at times overwhelming. Fortunately through assistance from my office, friends, time, patience and luck we have weathered all of these and can all say we a quite happy with the life we now have and plan to continue to build here in southern Africa.

Work continues to be interesting and challenging for me.I am building public private partnerships between my organization mostly working in agriculture and businesses and government donors who are also trying to help improve livelihoods for the 86% rural poor population here. Many challenges to overcome with poor infrastructure, local capacity, limited capital and poor yields. I have a talented staff and meet a ton of interesting people wanting to make a difference. Pranvera continues here part-time work with the World Bank on a global survey and report she is producing with OPIC on anti-corruption . She has just received another contract offer with the Bank for a desk study on 'at risk' groups in Kosovo and is in the final round for a position with the British Aid Agency in Maputo for a 6-12 consulting position to develop an anti-corruption program for the international donors group working with the local government. So great thinks happening for her pulling back into the professional world and happily away from being a housewife;-)

Our Blessings   

I think safe to say overall our health still remains strong and we have not had any of the major illnesses you hear about so much from those living in Africa. Yes we have our bugs, mosquitoes, animals but we have learned how to guard against many and effectively kill those that penetrate our defenses (Pranvera’s favorite sport was using our Chinese electric tennis racket to zap any flying objects in our house or mosquito net ‘the castle’ before bed). We have all had colds and fevers and stomach issues at some time or another but we consider ourselves lucky. Of course the biggest difference with Adi is if he starts to show certain symptoms, we need to take him in for a malaria test. More about a piece of mind for us than the chance he has it but when we travel over the weekend to different villages and beaches and safaris, it is very possible that something might have happened there instead of in Maputo.

We have also settled into a nice routine in Maputo. A pretty city but not much to do or see, once you have been here. So a lot depends on the friends you meet and the activities you organize. Take our Friday afternoon standing happy hour sitting outside on the India Ocean next to the ‘Shack’ which serves the best, cheapest and strongest Caiparinha’s in the city. We know the staff all too well, see many of the same patrons also enjoying the early cut-out time from work (1pm Friday’s) and are accompanied usually by friends and their kids who we have also gotten hooked on this wonderful way to kick-off a week. Unfortunately the more social evenings have lead to at least 2 drinks which then means that everyone in the Kirkbride household is asleep no later than 9.

Or take the local water park. A huge western styled amusement area right outside the city, 10 minutes drive from our house.  About $10/person (steep for local prices) but well worth an entire day of playing in different water pools (some with big whale and frog slides). Other with the lazy river family floats or the tower slides that Adi runs for as soon as they open (advantage of Africa is lack of enforcement of height or age rules). So he sits in my lap and we zoom down the 3 story curlie cue ride or the super fast bumpie slide. As we are usually joined by multiple families the kids get kid time, the adults’ social time and all of us sun and fun.

We have found a great overpriced sushi place at the 5 star Polano Hotel with unparalleled views of the ocean high from atop the Maputo city ridge. We have enjoyed a descent Yoga class every Wed night. Both have memberships to the gym next to our house at the hotel we lived at. I play tennis every Friday at 2pm before the happy hour drinks start. Adi really likes his daycare and now that he is kind of potty trained he can stay till 3 3-days a week for Judo, Arts & Crafts and Music which keeps him out of the house longer so Pranvera can work on her consulting assignments from home. I now ride Adi to daycare on my bike and then have a 10 minute ride on the Indian Ocean to get to my office on the newest street in the city (just paved almost the entire way last week). A cleaning lady and nanny assist us with keeping this old house clean and helping with Adi when he is tearing around the house. We recognize how blessed we are with these ‘norms’ out here which make life exponentially easier not to mention really helping out support a number of families whose only livelihood are from what  they make working with us. Now that most of the water issues (flooding from the water tank on the roof upon our arrival) and other repairs needed to our house have been settled, we really like it and with our shipment finally having arrived a couple months ago, it feels like home in every sense. I have even bought a grill in South Africa so we are having guests over on the weekend to enjoy an outside BBQ and kids playing around in the small (but well groomed) yard we have. Finally, as of last week Pranvera will finally be able to shuttle around the city with our new old car. Ironic that to come out here we sold our new Honda CRV only to end up purchasing the same exact color and car, just 14 years older.  But once again we have our ‘Greenie’. Another story is to note that I got into a fender bender driving it around the city on the first day :-p

Since we have to do a visa stamp run every 30 days to stay in Moz. on the tourist visa, we have been forced to explore some beautiful areas in Swaziland and South Africa, both within 90 minutes of Maputo. We tend to make a weekend of it instead of stepping out and stepping back in. We only secured a visa for Pranvera for 3 months to SA due to her Kosovo passport which mostly involved shopping trips and a family Safari in Kruger over Thanksgiving with both my sister and cousin. So the majority of our time has been to Swazi to appreciate their great tribal culture, wonderful food, higher end lodging and great customer service.

So in between all this we have still found time to do local weekends away beachside. Which there are plenty of! Just requiring a minimum of 2 hours drive all the way up to 7 for the better and cleaner sands and water. Most of these adventures have already been catalogued on the blog but the highlight has to have been my work conference where I brought Adi and Pranvera to Inhambane where we had an extra weekend plus my 3 days on the best, biggest and emptied beach we have seen. Wonderful water and fresh seafood. The lodging was a very basic local designed hut with bare accommodations but a great pool to balance out the ocean time. And my work colleague even organized a snorkel trip for all of us during a lunch break from our meetings. And came across a school of dolphins to boot!

Our Challenges

Or also know as TIA (This is Africa) This list is almost too long to record but actually combines a bit of comedy with pain and subtle insights into living in Africa. The random stream of conscious sheds some light on the day in the life (on top of actually having a job):

• Bought the car but have not been able to secure the title since the registrar is claiming the original import signature doesn’t match the seller. And it actually doesn’t have to according to law but we have had to hire a fixer to go in and actually get the title back to the car so we can own what we bought.
•  A plumber has to come back to fix a leaking toilet. The exact same leak has been ‘fixed’ 6 times since we moved in.
• We have waited almost 1 year to get my work permit approved by the Minister of Education who needed me to submit my original college and grad school diploma. With this approval I now needed a work visa which was arranged for yesterday. But Monday morning I was told by my office I needed a Criminal Record report which takes 6 weeks to process by mail with local law offices. So with advice from an America business here I was able to get this done by an online website, had it officially translated and certified and then notarized by appointment only at the American Embassy. Somehow pulled this all off and are submitting the work visa now for the final approval of a residence permit. With this I can apply for Pranvera and Adi and THEN, she can get a visa to enter South Africa again.
•  Every time we purchase any products in Swazi or SA to bring back to Maputo (still can’t get many products here) we need to rip every label off and dispose of every box and then make them all look used or old so the customs officials on the Moz side don’t insist on paying a bribe in order to let us cross.
• Our cable provider switches it’s full programming so all the stations change channels and then you lose some. So you have to inventory this each time and call them to return and try to fix what wasn’t broken.
• We went 4 months (nice) without any TV set in our house since we were not going to pay 3 times market price to purchase in Maputo. So finally getting into South Africa for one of our shopping trips we were able to go to store to buy. But there you must have a SA TV license first. And the government offices to sell this are closed weekends. So finally needed to find a sales clerk willing to sell on ‘his license’. Then we had to wait another week for our diplomat friends to visit same city and pick up our TV set from friends to bring across the border without being charged 37% duty fee.
• Our security alarm was accidently triggered by our maid and sounded for a half hour while we were out of town till it reset. No assistance ever arrived. Found out then that it had not been connected to the company that we were paying the service for. It now has…
• Our shipment arrived in the port before my residence permit has been obtained and the transporter insisted (incorrectly) we must have this to get items thru customs which could have taken 3-4 more months. So after many calls and arguments and securing another company to process they agreed and finally delivered the container to our house.

Here’s looking at another year of adventures, trials, tribulations that will hopefully bring more smiles than tears. We miss you all dearly and extend an open invitation to anyone wanting to explore Mozambique.