This is the first day the drought was so obvious that it could not be ignored.
The wind was whipping up today pretty fiercely, blowing dried leaves in every direction including into my house. I didn't think twice about it until I realized that we were in the middle of summer, in the tropics. I don't know if leaves fall here, but they definitely don't do it in January.
When I went to the market, the wind was whipping up a veritable dust storm. This is a town that was the epicenter of the 2000 floods, located in a pretty major flood plain. Ironically, we are as much at risk of having people starve from drought as losing their homes from floods. The last floods were exacerbated by the release of a dam on the Limpopo by another country. If Mozambique starts to get rain, the parched ground might not be able to hold it, and other countries that need to release water might trigger the same problem.
Essentially, inconsistent rain is a bad thing.
There are two 1/2-acre size plots of corn next to my house. Both are almost completely decimated, the major damage coming in the past week. And these are plots that have access to running water.
If the corn crop is significantly damaged, two major problems happen. First, the small-time farmers like my neighbors who count on their corn to supplement, or provide, income may be unable to buy adequate amounts of food, imported from wetter areas and costing more.
Secondly, without the large farms being able to export any surplus, they will have to jack up prices just to break even, or risk exporting and starving their people.
The obvious problem is the simple void of food - but the alternatives are costly, and for a poor country like Mozambique, unaffordable in terms of humanity.
What's worse, and compounding this problem, is the effect of AIDS, which affects more women than men here, at a ratio of about 3:2. Women are the farmers and food providers.
Additionally, if this area of Africa is unable to produce food for the rest of the continent, effects will be felt from here to Cairo.
So I'm hoping for rain, and to see foreign aid trucks coming through. The biggest irony in all this is that I can't do anything about the problem personally, but I could if I were in the States. Maybe I can help unload trucks, if and when they come through, but that seems pretty silly.
So this is my plea to you, if when you read this the drought is still affecting the region, and you have the financial means, to donate money to organizations like US Aid. I usually, almost never, make appeals like this, but this is the way I can help and I did make that promise a while ago.
And when Sally Struthers inevitably pops up and convinces you that for the cost of a cup of coffee, someone can eat for a day, she's right. I went shopping and got more than enough for one day with $1.50 I eat a lot.
All right, that's all my time on the soapbox.
It's funny how segues find me. I meant to comment on Dinho, my neighbor who's 14 years old and in one of my classes now.
Well, he came over today and thoroughly enraged me. Past the point of tolerance, and I can take a lot. Combined with a fever, I threw him out because I couldn't take him. I had promised him dinner yesterday, for tonight, but told him I would make it tomorrow.
Apparently, he already told his sister that he was eating here, so there was no dinner for him. Well, I'm not about to deprive the kid of food, so I let him in and let him cook my leftovers that I was saving for lunch.
The reason I'm being so strict is because he's not being respectful, not by my standards, not by African standards. Every time I draw a line after he's crossed it, he respects it once or twice, then tests it again by subtly violating it. So I keep having to redraw the lines, which is tiring, but seems to be slowly working. I try hard to separate the part of me that's an asshole for consistency, from the guy who's here to help. Today, however, that was very difficult. I don't enjoy being an ass (and I have routinely been an ass when it comes to my expectations of others), but it just comes out when I feel like someone else has control over me. Once again, the whole control thing - I can't seem to get away from my need here in Mozambique to be in control of a situation. Not necessarily in charge, but at least in charge of me.
And when it's a 14 year old, it grates on me even more. But walking the line between assistance and sustainability is tough. I promised him dinner, which is fine, but if his family had no food for him, am I just creating more problems?
Today was also a homesick day. I really wanted to go biking, grab a fresh, 2 pound salad, save it for a second dinner, then go to Que Tal and get horchatas with Eric. It felt real, and realizing how long it's be before I had that chance was hard.
So I keep reminding myself of the words Dennis uses as solace. "This is still cooler than anything my friends are doing." And cooler than anything I'd be doing back home, that's for sure.
I have language to look forward to, as I am gaining fluency in Portuguese, I am to start Changana classes soon, and I have been promised French lessons down the line. Language, among other things, is exciting. And these 21 or so months will pass quicker than I can imagine. So I'm trying my hardest to push aside the homesickness!
Peace,
John
