26/12/09

Headed up to Tofo beach with Natalia (one of the Spanish volunteers here at the mission) to meet up with some of my colleagues today. We ended up catching four different boléias to get there and did a fair amount of walking in between rides, but got all the way there (~100k) for free! I got stuck sitting in the cab of a truck between the two truck drivers for one of our boléias. One of the guys asked me if I was married and I said no. He asked if I wanted a Mozambican boyfriend, I said no. He said why I didn’t want to have any friends if I was going to be here for two years. I said I do have friends but he said no, friends for kissing. I said no I was only here to work. He then asked if it was because I didn’t like kissing black men, and if I only wanted to kiss white men. I was pretty glad when that ride was over.
Our last boléia was with a man, his son, and nephew up from Maputo for the holidays. He had spent some time studying abroad in D.C. and London and now works as an accountant in Maputo. His son was 15 and already going to start 12th grade and his nephew had just graduated from Eduardo Mulane university in Maputo, the top university in Mozambique (out of three), with a degree in electrical engineering. These were Mozambicans who had essentially “made it out.” Though he still lives in Mozambique, he doesn’t live in the same Mozambique that most of the population lives in and drives an air-conditioned 4-wheel drive up to Tofo beach for the day. It was interesting to talk to them because they were bewildered as to why two women with college degrees would leave their developed countries and all their opportunities (especially career opportunities) to come to Mozambique.