The approach to Christmas and the holiday season seems an appropriate time to reflect on our adventures in Mozambique so far.
We have been in Mozambique for nine months. Nine pretty unusual months, but that would have been the case had we stayed in the UK, of course. Most of the time here has gone well and I am glad we came. When I ask Sam and the children the same question, they agree it has been worth it. But there have been some more difficult aspects, mostly for Sam and the girls. School has been difficult for the children; joining a new school is always difficult, but joining online makes it much harder. And in addition to that, they have needed to adapt to a very different style of education to what they are used to in the UK. The International Baccalaureate is more analytical and reflective than the British education system and the children are expected to be able to apply knowledge to a wide range of subjects, including issues such as child poverty, poor governance, etc. And finally, not all of their teachers speak (good) English, so the online lessons involve discussions in Portuguese, translated by their classmates. They are both much happier with school now they are allowed to attend physically, albeit at the moment only two days a week.
At school, the children fully socially distance, are temperature checked daily and wear masks the whole time. It seems curious that the precautions in schools are much more stringent in Mozambique where there is relatively little prevalence of Covid, than in the UK where the infection rate – even allowing for better testing coverage – is much higher (although admittedly, the state schools here don’t have the luxury of space but the other precautions apply to all schools). Online photos from the girls’ UK school of crowds of unmasked students and teachers would be completely unacceptable here.
One aspect of living in Mozambique has worked out brilliantly for the girls; for the first time they have lots of other children as neighbours. They (and we) have been good friends with the Camerons, a South African family in Mozambique for the last six years, since we arrived. They live 50 metres away – an amazing luxury that gives all four girls (Sammy and Molly being the Camerons’ children) some great friends on tap. More recently, the house next door to us has also been moved into by a great Canadian family who have two slightly younger children who are also frequent visitors coming to play and swim. Imogen’s birthday party was a great example of a relatively Covid friendly event (at least it was fully outdoors) that still enabled lots of children to play and have fun.
Leaving friends behind in the UK has been difficult for both children, but it’s great to see the girls staying in touch with and chatting to their British friends still – WhatsApp is marvellous!
I think Sam’s challenges in Mozambique have been very different. Work has gone very well and he is growing his business better than ever. But Sam has clearly missed not being able to see his family – more a Covid impact than an aspect of moving to Mozambique, although in the UK some contact would have been possible, even with the restrictions. The other aspect Sam has found hard is city living. Maputo is not a huge city, but equally, it is not Leconfield with a smallholding and endless local farmland to walk the dog around. I think Sam’s ideal situation would be to live mostly in the city for the shops and social aspects with regular country escapes. We’re lucky that we have exactly that option – the estate at work is beautiful and rural with nice mountain biking, great birdlife and relatively local secluded beaches and sand dunes. It’s also pretty good for me if I can walk to work in the mill occasionally!
The only problem is that the kids don’t want to go. They particularly dislike visiting the estate for slightly unknown reasons.
In terms of me, I love it here, except for when I’m worrying about Sam and the girls. The weather makes a big difference; it has rarely felt too hot and being able to guarantee you can eat outside, swim, go to beaches and not have to worry about freezing is pretty luxurious. It storms here, but even then, the storms are quite spectacular and it stays warm. I also enjoy work and the somewhat unusual (in a British context!) challenges that brings.
I like the fact that the girls are getting such a different experience and learning a language and even the approach of their school here is something to appreciate. Having good friends living so close also helps a lot. Work can be frustrating at times – I’m not the most patient person in the world and things just don’t always (ever?) happen as fast as I would like. But it’s worth it.
Mic & Annabel will arrive on Tuesday night (we hope – so long as the worsening situation in the UK doesn’t prevent that) and my parents in late January. It will be fantastic to finally see our family and share some of our new lifestyle with them. The process of getting Mic & Annabel here has been a typical illustration of some of the harder aspects of being here – endless documentation requirements, changing rules, they can come, they can’t come….another test in patience and, to be honest, it has been quite stressful. But I’m confident we are all sorted now and it will have been worth it.
Recent Comments