The Maputan Ex-pat community often complains about not going out to enough “real” Mozambican establishments. I don’t have this problem as most of my friends are local Mozambicans who take me to the most Mozambican of Mozambican spots. At this point my favorite bar in Maputo is called the Casa da Cultura (the house of culture). The curious thing about this bar is that it is actually government owned and I’m convinced that they subsidize the cost of beer. A 2M at the Casa da Cultura costs 2MT less then I have found it at other bar. Check out the views and the décor, what’s not to love about this place?

Casa da Cultura

Beutiful View!

]]> http://www.mosamba.com/2009/08/24/my-favorite-maputan-bar/feed/ 0 http://www.mosamba.com/2009/08/20/amomif-and-the-traveling-salesman/ http://www.mosamba.com/2009/08/20/amomif-and-the-traveling-salesman/#comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:22:51 +0000 morrisctm http://www.mosamba.com/?p=399 Over the past couple weeks I’ve started to devote more of my time to Kiva MFI (microfinance institute) recruitment. Essentially I’m selling Kiva. This involves meeting with any number of people in hotels, cafes and government buildings, giving them a Kiva education and trying to bring them online as Kiva partners. While there is a certain Glengarry Glen Ross aspect to this work the winners aren’t drinking coffee, they’re just trying to efficiently get capital to people that need it. It has been a great experience meeting with people with decades of microfinance experience and  fancy three letter suffixes following their names.

AMOMIF

Today I visited the AMOMIF offices (Association of Mozambican Microfinace Operators) to meet with my new friend Marielle, a German national that works with GTZ (a German development agency). She was tons of fun! She has driven from Germany to South Africa and has lived in Mozambique for a total of around 6 years. We’re working together to get  Kiva information on the AMOMIF website, lobby the central bank to get rid of some of their red tape regulations that effect Kiva partners, and to reach out to and develop relationships with more of the AMOMIF member organizations.

Outside the AMOMIF office

Ish Yowe – Cool, awesome, hyphy, let’s  do this!

Mati Ya Tchane – Breakfast

Mati – Water

Dzixile – Good Morning

Na Ku Zanzda- I love you

Too Much Banapple Gas?

This has nothing to do with Kiva, microfinance or Mozamique and is mainly geared towards the middle aged reader. What the hell is bannaple gas? It’s the title of a Cat Stevens song and the lyrics are the following:

Banapple gas, oh Banapple gas
Everybody’s sniffing it Banapple gas
O-o alas!
All the world is stuck on it Banapple gas.

Does it do you good, make you better
Set you healthy when you’re bed-tied?
Well I don’t know if it makes you well…
But it must be healthy
‘Cause it don’t smell.

This seems somewhere in between  the Grateful Dead and Rafi. Please, someone that lived through the 70s tell us what this means? Is bannaple gas a good thing? Sounds good!

Jardim dos Namorados

And then spent several more hours eating, drinking, chatting in this garden with my friend Cecilia from Peru.

Jardim dos Professores

Not bad, right?

Congolese perceptions of slave traders

“The whites were thought to turn their captives’ flesh into salt meat, their brains into cheese, and their blood into the red wine that Europeans drank”

The Congo River

“So great is the drop and the volume of water that these 220 miles have as much hydroelectric potential as all the lakes and rivers of the United States combined”

Interesting position on British expedition.

“another expedition member was simply listed as Volunteer and Observant Gentleman.”

What’s wrong with the brits?

“At a rare calm stretch (of the Congo River) Tuckey observed, rather provincially that “the scenery was beautiful and not inferior to any on the banks of the Thames.”

Solar Panel

Today I met with people from GTZ (Dutch-German Partnership Energising Development)  about a solar product that they are attempting to launch both here in Boane and in Matutuine in districts that are off the energy grid. There are two products 1) a solar lamp with built in radio ($40) 2) a larger battery unit that you can plug lights, cellphone chargers, radios, etc. into. ($100). While that price may seem cheap to you, it seems a bit expensive to me.  Let me tell you why.

GTZ wants to microfinance the purchase of these products with a loan term of 6 months. $40 is around MT 1200, so over 6 months you would be paying back principal of MT 200/month plus interest. A typical monthly energy bill for a Mozambican family is around MT 300-400. So in financing your solar lamp you’re almost paying the equivalent of an entire months energy bill while only getting one lamp. Won’t these people feel cheated, or do you think the marginal benefit of one unit of lighting is so great that it is worth making a payment almost equal to a monthly energy bill. Obviously after 6 months you don’t have to make any more payments, but the lamp is also only guaranteed for 6 months. And keep in mind that these people don’t otherwise have energy. So maybe I’m wrong?

If a solar panel can be produced for $2/watt and LED lamps can be run with 1 or 2 watts of energy shouldn’t a solar lamp products cost less than $10? Scientists?

Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe, right? Well, yes and no. Although that text is lifted directly from the about us section of Kiva’s website it doesn’t tell the complete story. If your zeal for Kiva has lead you to spend late nights combing through Kiva loans you may have also noticed loans for housing, education, and personal use. Alas, how is building a home, going to school or buying a refrigerator an entrepreneurial activity. None of these activities are inherently entrepreneurial, but they are all deeply connected to Kiva’s umbrelic mission to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Let me tell you a few things you may not know about the housing market…

Read the rest of the post and watch the video here