Bufo

Bufo, in Mozambique, is a word used to describe the big cheif, the boss, a person with power. And as Isabel (at six years of age)said, bufos have big bellies. The above photo, I have always believed, is the perfect example of a Mozambican bufo. This bufo, a cheif of Gwenji (a district where the Anglican church has been working for several years now) passed out at a party we had to celebrate the end of the year for the preschool that sort of happened in 2006.

Gwenji is a community located on the main national highway that runs from the southern tip to the northern tip of the country. On the highway there is a small store run by a man who came to start a lumbering business. Padre Isaiah from Beira started an Anglican church there several years ago and one of the catequists would ride his bike there (45 km) from his community to lead services and teach the children. The church is also on the main road, but the people live spread out, often up to 3 or 4 miles between houses. The closest market is 65 km away. The closest health post is 45 km away. The closest school was 30 km away. The community's culture does not include farming, rather they hunt wild game (gazelles, rabbits, impala, large field rats) and drink palm wine made from the palms in the picture below. Apparently, once it ferments it very easily makes you forget that you were ever hungry.

This is the palm wine that finally overpowered the stomach and head of the above mentioned bufo. He refused the maheu (a traditional drink made out of cornflour and sugar) made for the preschool students, saying that a man needed a real drink. The hilarity of his picture above turns to horrifying in the picture below.

Since there is little food production and game meat will not serve to fill everyone's bellies all the time, children are also given the palm wine to drink. And it if it is strong enough to make a grown man pass out by 2 p.m., imagine what it does to children. This young child, and several others, had a hard time staying awake for the whole party. They had likely been given palm wine, and only palm wine for breakfast that morning.

MCC has a policy against something they call poverty pornography, meaning they don't like to use pictures that exploit people living in extreme poverty. (like pictures of malnourished children with flies crawling all over them). And this picture almost seems like that to me. So below, is a more hopeful picture.

These pictures were taken in 2006. This year, there is for the first time, a state-paid teacher giving classes to the children of Gwenji. Because of lack of church leadership in the past year and a half, our programs there have not been well monitored, and in fact, I've not been there for a year. However, MCC is very interested in working with this community, trying to find creative ways to help them to live with dignity. There is part of me, that wonders to what point we need to force lifestyle choices upon people, and certainly we need to be sensitive to people's cultures. However, the violence that the palm wine provokes in people is reason enough for me to try to work for some changes. Not to mention the fact that lack of clean water and poor nutrition (though people survive) lower the quality of life.

Here is Capassura (who always good-naturedly accepts the teasing that he is the namesake of this palm wine, sura) with a cup of sura and the leg of an impala. A perfect Gwenjian meal.