The Burn Season

For those of you looking for more information on the local people and the effects of drought, the article below from All Africa News is a great article. Most of the people living near us, actually including us, have small farms. We are waiting for the first rains to come before planting our big corn crop.

Climate Change Threatens Smallholder Farmershttp://allafrica.com/stories/201108171621.html

Arlinda Cunah, 34, listens to her solar powered radio.
As a disaster management volunteer it is her duty to pay
attention to flood and cyclone
warnings and to alert her community

I publish this article because water has become such a big cause of concern for us. I know I have taken water for granted for way too long. During the last few weeks we have had a few scares when the pressure drops and a town about 18 km west of us, Inchope, has no water. How can a town have no water?

We are trying to find information on drilling a new well. There doesn't seem to be a company near by, so our search is expanding. We may have to look into Zimbabwe or South Africa.

Our work continues here as usual. Some projects are nearing completion such as the bathrooms, pig house and our residence. I'll have pictures up soon. Unfortunately, after purchasing our first four pigs from the Franciscans in Chimoio, two of the pigs died even before being transported. Actually, we aren't sure if they were our pigs that died or just two in the litter and they delayed the transport until they find the cause.

Finally, our wonderful Land Cruiser that I'm sure was used in that TV show back in 70's "Wild Kingdom" (I think that was the name) has broken down twice in the last few weeks leaving us stranded on the side of the road. Being stranded on the side of EN6 highway in the middle of nowhere Mozambique is a wonderful experience, by the way, that everyone should have once in your life. It's even better during the burn season. Oh yea, the "burn season". This is the time of the year when all the people use semi-controlled burns to cut the grass and old corn fields. A lovely smell and the smoke is everywhere.