Everything I had heard about Mozambique, apart from the Bob Dylan song, was negative. A war-torn country, devastated infrastructure, rampant HIV/AIDS, a crime rate rivalling South Africa - not exactly an attractive proposition. Yet when the phone call came asking me if I was interested in this project, I hardly hesitated. I'd already decided to leave my previous job, and the totally unexpected offer seemed like Karma. So far I have no reason to regret my decision.

So after coping with a failing third-world transport system which would disgrace any country, I arrived exhausted and dishevelled at Heathrow, and flew to Maputo via Johannesburg. Initially I had been booked to stay in a safe tourist village in a residential area, but fortuitously there were some problems securing the accommodation for four months, so I and my fellow consultant moved into a two-room apartment in a hotel downtown. Fortuitously, because we feel much more in the centre of real Maputo, although I hesitate to call a very luxurious serviced apartment 'real'. 

I am constantly being reminded by people that Maputo is not Mozambique, so over the next few months I hope to report on the real Mozambique, both in and outside Maputo. 

Sid Verber

20th February 2004