Shore

This morning, a bank embarrassment/drama in Lichinga. The queues for the ATM remained about twenty people deep so I lined up along with the other customers, who were all black. I’d only shuffled a few places along when the security guard beckoned me to jump forward and go directly into the ATM ‘atrium’. This was only on the basis of my skin colour as I hadn’t interacted with the guard before this. Two Mozambican men shared my indignation and it took me a while to convince the guard to leave me alone to wait alongside everyone else. He was an older man and for obvious reasons there can often be a greater subservience to white foreigners from people who were directly conditioned by the colonial period, which ended here in 1975. Unfortunately it is a reminder of how people have been punished or criticised in the past for not catering to the impatient whims of their white power-holding rulers. Shortly after, a younger man in an army jumper came over, flashed a badge and informed me he could use his power to help me skip the queue, in return for dez meticais (around 15 cents) to buy bread. The payment for the favour wouldn’t be obligatory, he added, yet he was essentially begging in return for acting within a power structure he could influence. I wish I could have found him after I’d finished at the bank, to discreetly help him buy bread.

Life is tough in the social hierarchy of Mozambique. It is a country of natural riches but too few resources are in circulation and being shared between Mozambicans.

I have a few days before going back to Maputo so I’ve decided to visit Lake Niassa, known as Lake Malawi on the other side. I’ve been to the Malawian shoreline before in 2007, and the Mozambican stretch holds more interest as it’s emptier and more remote. The road to the lake is potholed and slow but it’s relaxing on arrival and I imagine this shoreline is one of Mozambique’s quietest and most peaceful spots.

I’m liking this early night, early rising routine. By 9pm I struggled to keep my eyes open so I drifted off with the waves on Lake Niassa shore rolling in the background. It’s identical to being at the ocean despite being more than one thousand kilometres away.