From the UK to Africa, an article by Annie Bullen

Published: February 19th, 2009

It seems like a long time since I left the city of Reading, England.  As part of the first ever 24-7 Boiler Room, I frequently talked and prayed about justice, the oppressed and how to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who had less than us.  Now those prayers and discussions have led my husband and I here, to a different continent where we live with and love the people around us.  Here is just a day in our life here as we live out our prayers...

The day began at 7.00 when we arrived at the agreed meeting point.  There were well over the 30 people we had expected to be there, but some had brought spouses and children, the former to wave them off, the latter to go with them.  It was quite an achievement to fit the travellers, their belongings, the necessary equipment and food for the first phase into a smallish lorry and a pickup, but after some to-ing and fro-ing, we set off.

"This is what Africa is all about", I thought as I sat precariously balanced in one of the back corners of the pickup.   "This is going to be a great day", I said to myself. The warm wind was blowing through my hair as we set off down the road, and I was grateful that it had rained the night before and was uncharacteristically cloudy and cool.  Well, cooler than normal.  (A sidenote: without suntan lotion you still end up looking like a lobster under these conditions as I discovered later.)  The other 8 or so women started to sing, and I attempted, fairly unsuccessfully, to join in.   We received a fair amount of attention as we drove along the relatively smooth track.  Most on-lookers, and probably participants, were amused at the sight of a 50+ year old fair white woman squeezed in with the ladies of different complexion.

However, for all my romanticising of the situation, as I began to think about the purpose of the journey I was brought back to reality with a bump that was not caused by Julian, my husband’s driving. 

These representatives of 30 families from the Koti people group of Northern Mozambique, were on their way to take part in the initial trial phase of a “Machamba”.  A machamba is a farm or large allotment and generally recognised here as a vital asset and means for survival in a frequently hostile and volatile climate.  The Koti – who number about 60 – 80,000, are a coastal people, based on the edge of the mainland and on small islands just off it in the Indian Ocean.  The “soil” here is mainly sand and consequently not very good when it comes to agriculture.  The majority have no employment, although some have the means to pursue fishing as a livelihood.  
The poverty here is acute and totally in your face, every minute of every day.  Most of these smiling, singing ladies face issues and challenges that we in the west couldn’t imagine, let alone have to deal with.  I guess most of us often skip a meal for one reason or another.  These mothers regularly face not only skipping their own meals, but not having sufficient to give their children anything either.

So the hope with the Machamba is that through a long term rental of some fertile land roughly 50 km’s inland, these families may have a chance of creating and maintaining some sort of self-sufficiency.  Maybe even produce enough to sell and pass on to others.  Some 30 houses/huts have been made near the site, and as I write, about 10 days after the trip described above, part of the land has been cleared and maize, beans, and peanuts are being planted.  Cuttings from the cassava plant which is the key carbohydrate in this part of Africa are being obtained and will be planted very soon.  There has been some rain and we hope and pray for more!   (Now you know we’re not in the UK.)

Of course there are no guarantees here.  Formulas do not work very often in Africa.  She is not that kind or predictable.  You put in all you can on one side of the equation – good soil, good seed, hard work, but you may not necessarily get the required result – in this case a good crop – at the end.  We are told this type of project is “counter-cultural” and such community based schemes are unusual.  Maybe when conditions are so hard it’s a case of every man or woman for themselves.  Having only lived out here for 2 months we don’t know the people very well, but from the few we are getting to know, we have high hopes that if anyone can make it work, they can.  

After a long, hot day, we return back to our house in Angoche.  You probably don’t want to know too much detail but we are dirty, smelly and “glowing!”  Although the water is off as it is most afternoons, we are able to shower using the water stored in the tank at the back of the house, then have a meal.  We go to bed under the mosquito net with the fan whirring away which brings the temperature down sufficiently to make sleep possible.  However, much in our thoughts are the 30 or so ladies and small children, also trying to sleep in a strange place, with no running water or electricity and probably just a rush mat for a bed.  We hope and pray that the Machamba project will change their lives and prove to be something that can be repeated in other places for more people.

If you want to know more details or get involved with this project, please visit our blog and hit the “Machamba” tab.
 

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