Building a Future for Mozambique

Case Study

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On a cool spring day, a builder works hard to meet a deadline on a large home on the upper reaches of the Yarra River at Warrandyte, near Melbourne. The drizzle, lush vegetation and bellbird calls contrast with the sites where he was working two years earlier. He already has a plane ticket to return to those places in ten days' time - in Mozambique - and is looking forward to visiting friends and seeing his buildings in use.

Jim Rebbechi had never been out of Victoria, or in an aeroplane, before becoming an Australian Volunteer Abroad (AVA). His older sister had worked in Papua New Guinea, and her stories of the pleasure in helping people improve their lives had always appealed to him. Jim applied to Australian Volunteers International and was soon on his way.

Mozambique is located on southern Africa's largest coastal plain, cut by the Zambesi River. Approximately 93 per cent of Mozambicans live largely traditional lifestyles in small villages spread across the country. The villages follow the traditional model of houses surrounding a central meeting area or cattle kraal. Crops, mainly manioc and corn, are grown outside the village. The river divides the country in terms of agricultural methods and certain cultural beliefs. To the north, most cultural groups have a history of shifting cultivation; to the south, most Mozambicans tend to settle in the one place. Growing crops and raising livestock have always been the main daily activities. Many cultural groups also have long histories of rivalry and warfare with neighbouring cultural groups.

Mozambique also has a long history of control by peoples from outside the country, especially Arabs, Persians and Portuguese. Before arriving in Mozambique, Jim was first sent to Lisbon, in Portugal, to learn Portuguese, one of the main languages spoken in Mozambique. Mozambique was a Portuguese colony for nearly 500 years and, particularly in the early period, contributed greatly to Portugal's wealth, through gold, spices, dried fish, wine and salt, and through the trade of hundreds of thousands of slaves, for work in Portugal and Europe. Portugal continued to rule Mozambique until 1975. When it left, Mozambique was in poor condition, yet before a new government could properly establish itself, internal rivalries developed into civil war.

After 16 years of fighting, the country was near exhaustion. Many buildings, including schools and hospitals, had been needlessly destroyed. Roads and railways had been wrecked. Water wells had been filled in. The country was heavily-landmined. Crops had been destroyed or could not be planted. Hardly any doctors, teachers, administrators or tradespeople capable of restoring the country remained. Children were lucky to be educated to the age of eight. Disease and malnutrition were widespread. In Lichinga, the capital of Niassa province where Jim first worked, there were only three doctors for 600,000 people.

Jim worked as a construction engineer with the Ministry of Construction and Water in Niassa, and later with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Tete Province. In both locations, his role was to train and coordinate local people in constructing new buildings, especially schools. Cement bricks were to be made on site. Desks and chairs were also to be built. At the peak of activity after the war, Jim had a team of sixty local people working on several schools.

In Niassa, there was no electricity. Everything was done by hand, in daylight. Also, not far from Lichinga, guerrilla activity continued until late 1992. Gunfire could be heard at night, and Lichinga came under mortar attack. Because of the fighting, it was impossible to reach people in rural areas, so all building sites were within walking distance or a short motorbike ride. Longer travel was in armoured vehicles in military convoy. This included transport of building materials and equipment. Many items never reached their destinations.

Tete Province provided different challenges. It was much hotter than Niassa, with high humidity and temperatures often reaching 44°. The building program also took in a larger area. Jim had a UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) vehicle to transport him between projects which could be a day's uncomfortable travel apart.

One of Jim's first observations was the difficult lifestyle of many Mozambique women and girls. Daily, they perform most of the work, making up 60 per cent of Mozambique's farmers. Tilling soil, sowing seeds, weeding, caring for crops and harvesting them, they also pound, dry or process the food and cook it. They store, sell or trade the surplus, raise their children almost single-handed and perform all domestic duties, such as walking long distances to collect water from wells or fuelwood from scrub.

Children were extremely resourceful. With few books and no television, they were perfectly capable of entertaining themselves. Some boys made soccer balls out of paper or plastic wrapped tightly, sometimes in a banana leaf, with string. Girls played a type of brandy where the girl in the middle, aside from dodging a ball, had to fill a bottle with scoops of sand. If the bottle was filled before the girl was hit, she was safe. Girls also enjoyed hopscotch and skipping, but most of all, they played with dolls, more than Jim had ever seen in Australia. The dolls were always white, except when a doll-maker, associated with a Victorian Australian Voluteers club, decided to make and send black dolls to some of the children. The black dolls have been extremely popular.

Jim's contract had been for two years, but he extended it to five. This was because of the immense satisfaction in working with local people and watching their joy as their country began to re-develop. He marvelled at the workers' pride and care in building things, and how discussions about the progress of buildings became important community conversation. He was amazed by the overall resilience of the people and how they could put their country's troubled past behind them and often laugh so freely.

Although there is much to be done, Mozambique shows signs of economic recovery. Responsible government and low inflation rates have been major factors. In and around Maputo, new apartments have been built, and lively cafes and open air markets, piled with vegetables and crafts, bring people together with confidence and new optimism.

Back at Warrandyte, Jim lays another tile on the roof, contemplates these positive images of Mozambique, and wonders how many dolls he will take on his trip.

The Australian Voluteers program enables builders like Jim as well as qualified workers in health, agriculture, education and environment and community development to work in partnership with people in developing countries. It receives funding assistance from the Australian Government through AusAID, and is managed by Australian Volunteers International.