Glass

The crow was back at 5am this morning, making me wish I’d changed rooms. I am always conscious of how our African brethren view those of us who have grown up in countries such as the UK, that is to say lacking in robustness and always being anal about something. As remarkable as it sounds to those of us transfixed on tranquility and personal space, a large crow trying to break through a glass door wouldn’t perturb my colleagues here. I was chatting to Mbumba about it later on and we chuckled that it wouldn’t have been something that bothered him. To my ears, the noise was unholy and it was impossible to relax.

I like living and working away from my ‘home culture’ as it enables me to tackle notions of western comfort and privilege, which are out of step with how most of the world functions. I don’t think it’s rational to live in sterile environments or enter mollycoddling mode when an insect is in our orbit, yet in the West we’re quite conditioned to this norm. Insect-phobia definitely doesn’t feel like a practical aspect of cultural evolution given insects outshine the biomass of humans on Earth by an estimated factor of 300.

During today’s journey we stopped to arrange some coverings for our baggage, which was attracting layers of dust. This friendly kid wanted to experience sitting in the car, so I obliged. Yes, he is playing with a piece of broken glass.

Our journey took us to Lake Amaramba, the source of the River Lugenda, one of the major rivers of northern Mozambique. Various issues are of interest to us here such as tackling the conflict between farmers and hippos, and ensuring these upper river reaches remain free of unsustainably used pesticides. As we gathered around the vehicle for an introduction discussion with the local government representative, a woman turned up with a jug of utobwa, a drink made from fermented sorghum. Utobwa is a Yao word, from one of the major languages of this region.