Homegrown in Maputo

End of my second week in Maputo- a busy productive week at work! Interviews with CARE, Vanderbilt University, JHPIEGO, and other partners working with the Ministry of Health to improve public sector health care delivery. Unlike in the U.S., in Mozambique the majority of people receive their health care in government facilities. It would be like if we in the U.S. went to a public health department to receive all our primary or specialized medical care. In fact, most of the people in the world receive their medical care from their governments! I spent the greater part of Thursday putting a budget together on what it would cost to train all the health workers in new reporting/ordering systems for medicines- about $2 million USD. Seems like a small change given that we're all used to hearing about $700 billion bailout plans, etc. If the training plan is approved by the Ministry, the US gov't, the Mozambique gov't, and the UN (via UNFPA) would contribute funds toward that $2 M. It's a lot work and probably will not be completed until mid-2010- if we're lucky!

After a long day at work (that did include a very nice lunch with Marilyn and Parfait at Zambis- right by the water- how wonderful to have 80 degree weather in January!), we got ready to go to a party at Mauricio and Claudia's. It was their son Nathan's 5th birthday, but the kids' party was followed by the adults' party and a special appearance by "Homegrown in Maputo", Marilyn & Ali's band that they've started here. It's a fun mix of Americans and Mozambicans who sing covers, Wheels on the Bus (they're all parents of young children), and interesting plays on songs when they don't know all the lyrics (courtesy of Bob on percussion). Caipirinhas were the drink of the evening (cachaca liquor, sugar, and lime) and midway through the show we were treated to some traditional Brazilian food (Mauricio, the host, is Brazilian).

Feijoada, a black bean and meat stew rooted in the ingenuity of African slaves working in the plantations of colonial Brazil, sauteed collard greens (couve), and farofa (a dish of toasted manioc flour with small amounts of flavoring ingredients such as pork, onions, hard boiled eggs or different vegetables). Farofa looks like cous cous from afar but it's kind of like wheat germ- and you put in on top of your stewy feijoada and it absorbs a lot of the liquid goodness.

Many of the kids were running around the whole night- after their parents doused them in my Deep Woods Off! The most fun part of the evening was a reminder of how small the field of development work is! I ran into a woman, Celeste Kinsey, who works for CIDA (Canadian Intl Dev AID)- we couldn't place each other, but then it came to us- we both went on a Spice Tour together in Zanzibar, Tanzania, about 4 years ago!! So crazy to have run into each other in Maputo!?! But it was great catching up with her, her husband Jeff, and their two boys Miles (6) and Caleb (4). Caleb, who will for sure be the flirt of the family, convinced me that his birthday was next friday (when it's actually in November!) and that everyone was going to bring him two presents each. Such a charmer!

The whole evening was such a treat- seeing this mix of young families from all over the world. Speaking in French, Portuguese, and English. Children who didn't speak the same language as one another just running around laughing and playing. Couples who all work in some type of international development relaxing at the end of a long week's work trying to support their fellow world citizens in Mozambique.

We'll see what the rest of the weekend has in store! Check out the new pics on the picasa link (to the right at the top of this webpage). Ate logo!