My aim is to cross the border from Feira to Zumbo, and make my way further down to Tete. Transport after Zumbo is a problem: the road to Tete is in a dire condition and partly washed away by the floods of 2001. There is rarely a car making it’s way up. The alternative is a ship named Kuza traveling on Lago Cahora Bassa to Songo every fortnight, but not too many people in Luangwa Feira are up to date about the schedule. To the latest rumour from the Mozambican kids canoeing between both towns the ship is in Zumbo and will leave the next morning. If this unfolds to be untrue, I’ll be stuck in Zumbo till the next available transport. I can stay at Jorgito’s house, at least I’ll have a place to sleep.

Staying at Jorgito’s place is living in a timewarp: Jorgito’s father was a Portuguese doctor working at the hospital in Tete, his mother a local woman from Zumbo who ran a bakery when Zumbo knew better times before the civil war. It was a large family: 23 brothers and sisters. The family compound, halfway between a Portuguese colonial mansion and a traditional African home, with Faria, Jorgito’s wife, residing over the wood fired kitchen, looks much older than it is: older stones where used to build the place. There is only a few hours a day of electricity (if the Kuza brings diesel from Songo for the generator), water is coming straight from the Zambezi in a bucket, it’s hard to imagine this was once a thriving Portuguese town. Most of the destruction dates from the civil war when Zumbo was more or less destroyed by Renamo rebels. The population fled to Zambia, Zimbabwe or Tete. When people returned after peace accords were signed, wild animals were roaming the streets.

Life at Jorgito’s is very traditional: I’m eating with the men (in most cases Jorgito and one of his brothers Tchochito) in the dining room, while Faria and the kids eat at the compound next to the kitchen fire.

Originally uploaded by gert.