Global Poverty Monitor

[Arriving in Mozambique]

When we got off the plane the first thing I saw was the huge writing on the side of the airport which said Aeroporto Internacional De Maputo, which of course in English means ‘Airport International of Maputo’.

I took a photo of it, and then turned around to take one of the plane when a man who had been on the same flight ran up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘No photos’. I had read in a few different books and on the internet that you must be very careful when taking photos in Mozambique, and never to take photos of anything to do with the government or the military. I guess I just forgot in the excitement of finally landing in Mozambique. We went through customs easily, sped up by the fact that there were people from the Maputo World Vision office there to meet us on the other side. Our passports were taken from us in order for us to get our visas, which made me really nervous. I’m very aware that without my passport I’m not going home, or at least not in 11 days.

The drive through Mozambique to the Holiday Inn Maputo was mind blowing. It was just like something you would see in a movie. I ended up taking a few minutes of video footage just because I knew I would not be able to properly explain to anyone back home what it was like. Its very humid here, around 38 degrees when we got off the plane. The roads are normal bitumen roads, but the sides of the roads are red and dusty. There were kids literally everywhere, walking or running along the road, playing games in the hot sand. I saw a few women amongst the kids, and a lot of men walking alone or in groups with other men. There were a lot of small stalls set up, constructed out of a tarpaulin and four poles, or a few sheets of tin. All kinds of things were being sold – clothes, drinks, ornaments. A bus pulled out in front of us, and our driver noted with a laugh that in Australia something like that wouldn’t even be allowed on the roads. He was right – it was in such poor condition that you would only think to find it in the back of someone’s yard, no longer being used. But this was the public transport being relied upon to take people where they need to go.