O’D and I have been growing indigenous trees for about eleven years now and have a project in mind of reforesting the Nhamacoa.
We recently formed a conservation association and one of our aims is to pay the local people to GROW indigenous trees instead of chopping them down and turning them into charcoal for money.
One of the people interested in growing indigenous trees (for money, of course) is Mr. Alberto, the local Frelimo Secretary and we spent a pleasant few hours visiting his home. It was winter at the time and as the trees aren’t evergreen, the scenery was dry and rather bleak.
Some years back, Mr. Alberto had a rather scary experience with a woman called Nora Swete. You’ll see her in our film about the local people. She’s supposed to be possessed by a demon and has burnt down seven churches, as well as attacking our Gaz lorry with an enxada (hoe) and making a big hole in the windscreen.
Well, anyway, apart from scaring the hell out of Sabao, our driver, Nora Swete also got hold of Mr. Alberto and, forcing him to kneel down in front of her, covered him from head to toe with salt in order to ‘purify’ him. He ended up looking just like Lot’s wife, the one who turned into a pillar of salt in the Bible!
Now back to forests. In Mozambique, rural people only use firewood to cook their food. They make charcoal to sell to people living in the towns and to supplement their incomes. As there are very few trees left here in Manica Province, disaster appears to loom just around the corner.
Although Mozambique has the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam on the Zambezi River, the majority of people do not and never will have electricity to cook their food or light up their homes at night.
Obviously, some other form of energy is urgently needed. Unfortunately, our scientists are too busy writing books about why they think God doesn’t exist instead of trying to find a solution to what is going to be a very serious problem.
Val.
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