New Things April 19, 2009

I have noticed over the past few years that in the midst of the difficult work, which development work often is, it is the little things that a person notices that brightens life. I have been noticing things that have appeared or have improved over the last couple of years. These things make me feel like things are getting better in the country and that development is really happening to make this country a better place.

I have made a list of 25 things that I have noticed of late:

1. Man mowing the park with a lawn mower in Chimoio. (This is the first I have seen a lawn mower in use in this part of Mozambique, it is normally done by hand. The parks look nice.)
2. Improving parks, new plants.
3. Three new car/truck and/or road grader dealerships
4. Seed for butternut squash, cauliflower and radishes
5. One person mechanical seeder. (It would save so much time for farmers and can be used with no till agriculture better than a hoe.)
6. Seed corn signs appearing in people’s fields to advertise seed.
7. Two new, very high class hotels in Chimoio.
8. New tractors for use by the municipalities
9. More and more cars being parked on the street.
10. Car modeled after an Indian rickshaw
11. New schools and administration buildings going up in the countryside
12. Sparkling grape juice now available in local cafes as well as new kinds of cakes and sweats.
13. 2 brand new cell phone stores in one block down town
14. New individual cement stalls/stores being constructed for all the major markets in town
15. New conference center just finished last year, complete with functioning cordless microphone and speaker system, power point projector, wireless internet, beautiful pool and rooms, café and mini-golf course. (This may be commonplace in the states now, but it feels like luxury here.)
16. Gondola now has city water
17. New water piping going into the lake 50 kms outside of Chimoio. It will bring more water to the burgeoning populations of Chimoio and Gondola
18. Electricity has arrived to all the major towns along our route to Tete and Mandie where we have projects. (The hospital no longer needs to run on a generator.) These towns also have new mini banks complete with ATMs.)
19. Solar panels in the towns in the bush for small stores, lighting and services.
20. Railroad from the huge new coal mines in Tete to the port city of Beira almost completed. (Tete is a boomtown of foreign workers, this also means that we will be able to take a train from Beira to Tete which will be nice, quicker and safer.)
21. New bridge across the Zambezi River almost completed will speed traffic from the south to the north of the country.
22. Construction on the Tete/Chimoio road is moving at a good pace and travel next year should be easier, faster and safer.
23. The bus station in Chimoio has been filled with twice as many buses as were when we first came. Better, bigger buses are running between major towns. Large towns are starting to get luxury buses like Greyhound (believe me this is luxury for us)
24. Fields of crops planted for Bio-Diesel production in coming years.
25. Newer and better tourist investment and opportunities. Mozambique is a beautiful place. Come and visit!