I think it’s finally hit me that I am living in Africa. It was hard for me to realize that concept last month, while being in South Africa, because it was just as civilized as America. If I wouldn’t have been living in a tent, it would have felt exactly like home…even down to the gas station down the street where we would hang out. But, being in Mozambique gives me a whole new perspective on Africa. It’s more like the typical “Africa” I imagined it would be.
Like I said before in a previous blog, we arrived in a draught, which was beginning to cause crops to fail for families around the town. Then, drinking water became so scarce that we had to skip showers and save the water only for drinking and cooking. Thank God the draught officially has ended! However, it ended due to a cyclone in southern Mozambique, which caused it to rain heavily for 5 days non-stop. This caused a leak in my tent (since it’s not made for cyclone weather) so for the past two days, I have been sleeping upstairs in the tree house. I also have not been able to wash my clothes for those 5 days because there is nowhere for them to dry. Today is the first day that it has stopped raining for an hour so we’ll see if my clothes will dry today.
There is also another issue that arose due to the cyclone (which John informed us that there were two different cyclones) that made me really begin to accept and realize that I am actually living in Africa. This morning, John informed us that there is no internet anymore due to the damage the cyclone caused to the lines. This didn’t come to a surprise for me until he said that there is no internet in the ENTIRE country! Now, I know Mozambique is a tiny county but still…there is NO INTERNET in the ENTIRE country…it’s hard to wrap my head around.
The power lines weren’t the only thing that was damaged throughout the past couple days. John also informed us that all the roads leading to, Maputo, the capital, are either completely washed out or simply too ruined to drive on. Therefore, if it does not get any better in the next week, we could either be stuck in Mozambique or we would have to fly to Swaziland. John also mentioned, nonchalantly that we could always drive up to Zimbabwe, around Mozambique and down to Swaziland…yea like travel days already aren’t long enough.
So, until the internet begins working again, all we know is that the cyclone could be over, due to the clear sky we’ve had, there is no way to get to Swaziland at least for the next few days, unless you fly, and there is more than enough water to take showers! I took my first running water shower in two weeks yesterday and felt like a new woman! We still can’t drink the water though because it is a grayish, brown color. Maybe tomorrow we will be able to drink fresh water. But, until we get Internet, the only thing we can do is wait.
