Chuinga

Five days of fieldwork start today. I have a long trip to Niassa in the north starting in around a week, so if I don’t make a short trip to our second project site of Chimanimani, I will start to feel a distance and that I am not adequately supporting.

Travelling with a couple of colleagues from a partner organisation, Enosse was amusing on the journey. He was lending support to a friend who is suffering from woman trouble. This involved copious non-stop advice over the phone. It was like something from a sketch show when we landed at our destination and Enosse was left sitting on the plane after everyone disembarked, still wildly dishing out opinions. I surmised that Enosse had scaled numerous mountains in his love life, and wanted to pass on his wisdom.

We were met by the Chimanimani Reserve driver, Promise (from Zimbabwe), and headed into the provincial capital of Chimoio to complete the usual pre-field trip errands. One stop involved this government office (the provincial department of the ministry of land and environment), and I’ve rarely seen such a neat building in such a context. The colours and the grape vines brightened my day.

I’m focusing on understanding if and how the rangers at Chimanimani collect data, and what they do with it. This will eventually help us to demonstrate conservation impact at the site. Enosse is concentrating on assessments of the Reserve’s infrastructure, which was seriously damaged in flash flooding caused by Cyclone Idai. Enosse has a Chinese counterpart, working as an engineer in Mozambique. He was introduced and referred to as ‘the Chinese’ so to afford the man some dignity, I established that his chosen non-Chinese name is Pablo. Pablo announced he wouldn’t be showering for the duration of his time in the field (6 days) as cleanliness brings more chance of contracting malaria. I re-questioned my earlier thought around dignity, and also concluded that his theory is definitely not scientifically proven.

During dinner in camp we watched Mozambican state news coverage of the aftermath of Cyclone Kenneth. The Head of DFID in Mozambique was interviewed, talking about the British government’s help in relief efforts. Another colleague travelling with us, who fluctuates between helpful and immature, turned to me and said, ‘British people all have terrible accents when they speak Portuguese. You included.’ He has stated earlier that he enjoys these field trips for the ‘unstoppable’ banter. I feel the quality of it is going to have to improve from this low bar. On this note I felt the evening chill (a desperately cold 15 degrees) and cosied up for the night in my tent.

The word used for chewing gum in Mozambique is chuinga. Someone must have heard the English term, mispronounced it, and it stuck. No pun intended.