First Impressions

Our baggage at Johannesburg: eleven suitcases,
two car seats and a double pushchair

So we get off the plane in elegant style: Isaac is in his pyjama bottoms as his trousers needed to be changed halfway through the final flight and we didn’t have spares, Naomi is grumpy and tired and we are all a bit disorientated after overnight flights and a day in Johannesburg that turned out to be a lot colder than we expected.  But from there on, things have improved dramatically.

 

Arrival in Beira

We had a very warm welcome at Beira Airport from Lynne and Fiona (BMS, Angola), who are helping us to settle in for the first few weeks, and we received a bunch of flowers from Pastor Moises’ wife Selina.  Everybody helped with our baggage and soon we were off to our new home.  Expecting the worst after panicked phone calls just before we left England, we were pleasantly surprised with how spacious it was.  The décor may not be to our taste but everything more or less works and we even have hot water and a decent shower. Moreover, there are only a few cockroaches and they are very small!

Our kitchen

We have spent the first week shopping, as if we didn’t shop enough before we left the UK!  Priorities include new child friendly furniture and stocking up on basic supplies. We’ve already got acquainted with the local Shoprite supermarket which really does seem to sell everything, and the gas canister supplier. Amazingly, all our baggage has arrived, although we had some fun at customs trying to work out why we had to pay three or four different types of import duty and tax at rates that seemed to randomly change depending on who we were speaking to. 

At the First Baptist Church

To make sure we’re not too overworked Lynne and Fiona have shown us good places to eat out.  It seems a bit like we’re on holiday some of the time, especially watching Isaac play in the golden sand as we eat fresh crab and huge prawns and look out over the Indian Ocean. However, the amazing volume of ironing that needs doing to avoid getting mango fly larva in our clothing will ensure the holiday feeling soon dulls, I’m sure. 

 

There is still so much to see and do at the moment. It won’t be long before we start language training, sort childcare and, as yet, we haven’t visited any local projects run by the Baptist Church around Sofala Province. We are picking up little pieces of language, although Isaac is learning Portuguese the fastest, and we’re slowly learning our way around the area. But I guess all these things will happen in time, it’s only a week ago yesterday that we arrived!

Please keep in touch and we’ll try and keep you posted as we settle into life on the Mozambican coast!