As the economic downstream is continuing and not giving signals of recovering, countries like Mozambique are trying to find better and alternative solutions for some of the most important economic areas. One of them is the transport sector. Before the world financial crisis, Mozambique was facing serious problems in this sector, mainly for the public transport.
Private operator of public transport in the main mozambicans cities such as Maputo, the capital, are experimenting hard days and some of them are giving up to this business, as Government is also calling for deep transformations in all public transport system, by introducing different and more comfortable buses, which are, in general more expensive for local owners of the small buses.
From the Capital of Zambezia, a Province in Central Mozambique, to the District of Morrumbala in the same Province, is about 200 km. In this distance, only 100 km of road are in good conditions. The remaining 100 km, are dirt, with enough holes to blow any kind of car. Land of honest people, Quelimane is considered the capital of bicycles and coconut trees.
At this point of the country, the bike is not only for transporting people and goods, but is also used as taxi (chapa) as well as ambulance. Local authorities say it’s an optimal solution to the crisis of transport that, from the recent years until now, is affecting all provinces of Mozambique. In Zambezia, the bikes "outweigh the number of local people," as says, in slang, a friend of mine living in Quelimane.
Bikes have a very strong meaning for the local population. It’s a sign of wealth. In Mozambique, each province has its own sign of wealth. In Zambezia, like the planting of coconut trees, possession of bikes is a sign that life goes well. In Gaza, another province in the south of Mozambique, the signal is cattle.
On the road, the bicycle always has priority. And if a car driver ran over a bicycle, the sanction to apply will be more forceful. Populations come over him and a new bike will be bought. They are always right, even if are not. It’s about the life. They know very well the meaning of having a bicycle in times of economic crisis.
A few days ago, I was in Morrumbala in my mission to find out stories. From Quelimane until that district, which lies in the Zambezi Valley, I realized the dimension of struggles that many women are facing for survival slowing. I also noticed that was not any kind of women, but those women who lost their husbands victims of AIDS. They are heads of families.
In adverse situations, I had the opportunity to know Mrs. Maria Chiúndo, a 51-year-old woman, whose husband died last year, suffered from a disease which, she claims, "made him skinny and with no forces at all."
In Morrumbala, nothing is known about HIV/AIDS. The level of awareness is low. Organizations that are fighting against AIDS can not reach that point, as the access roads are not helping as well as necessary. Maria has a bike, an old Humber, with thin tires, seems from a different brand. This is the key for her life. It’s all! With this old Humber, Maria does a lot of things that serves to support her life and also working as an example of fight for other women like her.
Every day, early in morning, around 5 o’clock, Maria carries three big sacs of coal to the city of Quelimane, where she is selling each sac by 50 Mt, about 15 Rands, meaning that for the three sacs , she only receive 150 Mt, something like 45 Rands. Exactly That! She travels around the 200 km of cycling to yield 45 Rands. But there are times that not all sacs are bought. Therefore, she sometimes goes back to Morrumbala with another sac. And when nothing is bought, she must overnight somewhere in the street, near the local market. This is the life of a patient woman who day after day, tries to escape from poverty.
The day I met Maria, she was stopped in the middle of the street, held to a tree. Around, it was a bush without farms, or anything. Only forest! She was just alone in the middle. I was in a rented car driving to Quelimane. The bike was also held in the tree. When we arrived near there, we suddenly saw a “lost woman”, without any idea. We stopped! The front tire of the bicycle, with three 50 kg sacs in the back side, was flat. Maria had no spare and no money to purchase another tire in the city. It was the end of everything...
We asked if she preferred to go back to Morrumbala or to continue to Quelimane. She choose the second alternative, as if returning, “she would stop forever”. We took her in our car and once in Quelimane we dropped her in the local market. Her rotten face was the face of suffering. She was hungry.
I searched all my pockets and I found some 200 Mt with which we supposed she could buy some breads or other thing to eat. She received the amount and in a soft voice she said: “I will buy a new tire and contract some local boys to mount it”. And we left, without knowing if she would have sold the coal or not or at least had been able to eat anything that day.
Nevertheless, we feel a great admiration for her, for her courage to face the pain to win the life before the life beat her.
Many women like Maria do the same work in Zambezia. If they do not carry the coal, use a bicycle as a taxi, taking passengers to the various points of the Province. They also use it as ambulance, carrying patients from Morrumbala to the Zambezia Provincial Hospital which is situated in Quelimane, running in the "route of the stars”.
This is an example of women that, in the midst of so much suffering, do everything to overcome the adversities that life imposes.
Private operator of public transport in the main mozambicans cities such as Maputo, the capital, are experimenting hard days and some of them are giving up to this business, as Government is also calling for deep transformations in all public transport system, by introducing different and more comfortable buses, which are, in general more expensive for local owners of the small buses.
From the Capital of Zambezia, a Province in Central Mozambique, to the District of Morrumbala in the same Province, is about 200 km. In this distance, only 100 km of road are in good conditions. The remaining 100 km, are dirt, with enough holes to blow any kind of car. Land of honest people, Quelimane is considered the capital of bicycles and coconut trees.
At this point of the country, the bike is not only for transporting people and goods, but is also used as taxi (chapa) as well as ambulance. Local authorities say it’s an optimal solution to the crisis of transport that, from the recent years until now, is affecting all provinces of Mozambique. In Zambezia, the bikes "outweigh the number of local people," as says, in slang, a friend of mine living in Quelimane.
Bikes have a very strong meaning for the local population. It’s a sign of wealth. In Mozambique, each province has its own sign of wealth. In Zambezia, like the planting of coconut trees, possession of bikes is a sign that life goes well. In Gaza, another province in the south of Mozambique, the signal is cattle.
On the road, the bicycle always has priority. And if a car driver ran over a bicycle, the sanction to apply will be more forceful. Populations come over him and a new bike will be bought. They are always right, even if are not. It’s about the life. They know very well the meaning of having a bicycle in times of economic crisis.
A few days ago, I was in Morrumbala in my mission to find out stories. From Quelimane until that district, which lies in the Zambezi Valley, I realized the dimension of struggles that many women are facing for survival slowing. I also noticed that was not any kind of women, but those women who lost their husbands victims of AIDS. They are heads of families.
In adverse situations, I had the opportunity to know Mrs. Maria Chiúndo, a 51-year-old woman, whose husband died last year, suffered from a disease which, she claims, "made him skinny and with no forces at all."
In Morrumbala, nothing is known about HIV/AIDS. The level of awareness is low. Organizations that are fighting against AIDS can not reach that point, as the access roads are not helping as well as necessary. Maria has a bike, an old Humber, with thin tires, seems from a different brand. This is the key for her life. It’s all! With this old Humber, Maria does a lot of things that serves to support her life and also working as an example of fight for other women like her.
Every day, early in morning, around 5 o’clock, Maria carries three big sacs of coal to the city of Quelimane, where she is selling each sac by 50 Mt, about 15 Rands, meaning that for the three sacs , she only receive 150 Mt, something like 45 Rands. Exactly That! She travels around the 200 km of cycling to yield 45 Rands. But there are times that not all sacs are bought. Therefore, she sometimes goes back to Morrumbala with another sac. And when nothing is bought, she must overnight somewhere in the street, near the local market. This is the life of a patient woman who day after day, tries to escape from poverty.
The day I met Maria, she was stopped in the middle of the street, held to a tree. Around, it was a bush without farms, or anything. Only forest! She was just alone in the middle. I was in a rented car driving to Quelimane. The bike was also held in the tree. When we arrived near there, we suddenly saw a “lost woman”, without any idea. We stopped! The front tire of the bicycle, with three 50 kg sacs in the back side, was flat. Maria had no spare and no money to purchase another tire in the city. It was the end of everything...
We asked if she preferred to go back to Morrumbala or to continue to Quelimane. She choose the second alternative, as if returning, “she would stop forever”. We took her in our car and once in Quelimane we dropped her in the local market. Her rotten face was the face of suffering. She was hungry.
I searched all my pockets and I found some 200 Mt with which we supposed she could buy some breads or other thing to eat. She received the amount and in a soft voice she said: “I will buy a new tire and contract some local boys to mount it”. And we left, without knowing if she would have sold the coal or not or at least had been able to eat anything that day.
Nevertheless, we feel a great admiration for her, for her courage to face the pain to win the life before the life beat her.
Many women like Maria do the same work in Zambezia. If they do not carry the coal, use a bicycle as a taxi, taking passengers to the various points of the Province. They also use it as ambulance, carrying patients from Morrumbala to the Zambezia Provincial Hospital which is situated in Quelimane, running in the "route of the stars”.
This is an example of women that, in the midst of so much suffering, do everything to overcome the adversities that life imposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment