“The hospitality in Mozambique is simply amazing”
Reiner Van Hove
Andrea Moreira (Master of Cultures and Development Studies) from Portugal went to Mozambique on a travel grant and participated in a project with street boys in Maputo.
“My initial programme, psychology, was rather focused on the Western individual. I felt a need to broaden my horizons and change my focus to anthropology and the study of other cultures. So when I came to Belgium – a love story: my husband is from Antwerp – I decided to register for the Master’s programme of Cultures and Development Studies (CADES) in Leuven. During one of my courses, I heard about the possibility of getting a grant for a research stay in the South. I realized immediately: I have to seize this opportunity.”
“There were two countries on my short list, both connected to my family history: my mother was born in Angola and my father fought in the Mozambican war of independence. The choice was made quite naturally when a professor from Mozambique came to give a lecture for CADES and when the Belgian NGO Mobile Schools put me into contact with the NGO Centro de Encontro (meeting centre) in Maputo.”
“The NGO has a project that wants to provide street boys with informal forms of education to ensure they don’t fall behind once they go to school. Some of the boys are orphans, others come from poor families and work for the merchants in Maputo. I participated in the activities of the project, took pictures and conducted interviews to evaluate the services the NGO provides.”
“My thesis is entitled ‘What about those shoes?’. At a certain point, one of the boys noticed my running shoes – cheap old things – and they all started complaining about their own worn-out flip-flops. The same issue repeatedly came up in the interviews. To me, that example is symptomatic of a fundamental problem: although the NGOs have the best intentions they often can’t provide the most basic needs. Funding is one of the main problems: because donations depend on the whim of the year, the organizations can’t develop a vision in the long term. It’s frustrating that I can’t change that situation, but I didn’t feel useless working with the NGO: just seeing those boys have a good time meant a lot.”
“The hospitality in Mozambique is simply amazing. I also admire the people’s joie de vivre; everything is done with a smile. They don’t worry about problems too much: ‘we’ll fix it somehow’, that’s the attitude. It took me some time to adjust to their perspective on time, though. Just when I was finally used to Belgian punctuality, I had to adapt to the Mozambicans, who are always late for appointments. (laughs)”
“I would definitely recommend a stay in the South to all students who are flexible and open to new experiences. For me, it was more than just a learning experience; I had loads of fun and made a lot of friends. It’s also an advantage to have field work in Africa on my CV, since I’m pursuing a career in that area. As an intern for the Portuguese Permanent Representation to the European Union, I’m currently active in work groups responsible for the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. So I have good hopes of finding a job related to Africa.”
More information
Travel grants for European students travelling to the South: http://www.kuleuven.be/international/
development_cooperation/travelgrants.html
Master of Cultures and Development Studies:
http://www.cades.be
