Big parties all over Maputo. Fashion, music, dancing the whole weekend. Just attended the speech of the president on the square in front of city hall. Did some sound recordings, will try to put them online. Finishing stories for my customers now. Preparing a trip to Swaziland for reports. I bumped into a scientist who did research, tested a whole townhip om HIV-Aids. I couldn’t believe my ears: 80 (yes, eighty) percent of the people was infected. Imagine this in your own town, village, block of houses, classroom… and imagine

‘You know, Arjen, my friend’, says Costa, international known local painter over a Laurentina (a local beer). The full moon being reflected in the ocean. Hardly any clouds. Dance beats being pumped in our ears. ‘You can make different stories here. What I can say: Trust is an important thing.The people who come here to do business and the locals should trust each other.’ I am nodding. We talk while we watch back packers dancing in a beach bar on Western music. The staff are the only locals wondering around.

Doing research on tourism. The price of wood to construct a house doubled in two year since a lot of building activity is going on. Same happened with the price of rice, staple food here. Explored a stretch of beach yesterday. Felt like Vasco da Gama, who called this land Terra de Boa Gente, The land of the Friendly People. Walking on unspoiled land, palmtrees, bleu see, nobody. Suddenly between the palmtrees: a grass hut, a few pairs of eyes looking at me, people smiling, waving. Within years the whole

Still in the main tourist area. The coast is unspoiled, sand dunes, long beaches as far as the eye reaches. Somebody told me that during civil war all the plots I could see were bought by South Africans for almost nothing. Since four years, they have started developing the place. Prices of the land are going up, local people can’t buy their own land, and the unspoiled coast will change into a place with lodges, hotels and Scuba diving schools. The unpaved roads will be crowded with four wheel drives

Doing stories about tourism in Mozambique. According to some people tourism has been growing 100 percent per year over the last four to five years. Most of the investment in Mozambique is from South African origin acoording to someone I spoke to, let’s say 90 percent of the investment in the Inhambane regio (where I am now). Thirty years ago, on 25 june, Mozambique got its independence, but sometimes you could think that a new dependence is taking over: the dependence on South African investors.

I am not allowed to complain. I have the money to browse the web, although it takes hours to send some emails if you are outside the capital Maputo. Most Mozambiquans cannot even afford to go on the internet. One hour browsing is more than a daily income here.

Still in Maoputo. Had an interesting conversation with somebody who has been working in developmenet aid for years. She noticed the difference between Asia (Vietnam) and Africa. She said: ‘If we made a proposal in Asia, Vietnamese people were asking questions: why did we choose this solution and not this. In Africa, in my case, everything the (often white) consultant adviced, was accepted without questions.’ Does Africa really ask enough questions (why did this happen, how can we make things better, how can we avoid this… etc. ) At least

This morning, I spent some time exploring this beautifull city. I would describe Maputo’s atmosphere as a mixture of Mediterean and European. Fading colours are being restored. You feel that people want to restore her old glory. I have never been to Cuba, but some people call it Cuban. For me she is a city I had to get used to. It is my fourth time now to be here and this time I start to see how laid back and exotic she really is with long Avendida’s bordered with

Ok, something positive. In some African countries it takes a 2-daytour through all the ministries to arrange a accreditation, in Mozambique it is quite easy: only one Ministry (of Information) and a very friendly guy who issued my accreditation within less than half an hour. For free. Life can be easy and comfortable and the word service has a meaning. When I told the civil servant I was thankfull, he said (just as if it was the most normal thing in the world) ‘Ok sir, I am doing nothing more

Sometimes I get reactions. Why are you so negative about Africa if you say you love this continent? Ok, if you just take the observations in this (very young) Blog, you would agree: this guy is very frustrated and negative. Unfortunately people who think this, are wrong. The things I am writing here, are daily life events. By telling these stories, I hope people wherever in the world, would get a better understanding of how life is in other places in the world. What people have to deal with. The