The way things work

I used to be confused by all of the unfinished houses I see around the neighborhood, cement and brick frames with gaping holes for windows and no roof. The weeds settle in around them, making them look like ancient ruins. One day I asked,"Why are all these houses left unfinished?" My coworker responded, "The owners ran out of money."
I laugh. "They didn't plan ahead? Just started building and ran out of money for a roof?"
My coworker shrugs. "They're saving up to continue building."
Then it hits me. The owners didn't plan to finish all at once. They took their savings and started the process. Once the money ran out the construction stopped, but it'll continue again one day... hopefully.
This way of doing things seems strange to me. To start something and not finish it. Who's to say it will ever be finished? That my house wouldn't just sit there and rot while I tried to gather another substantial amount of money for construction?
All around, I see my Mozambican friends working to build their own houses. A lot of them have land, possibly passed down to them from their parents, but no house to call their own. A lot of the time, these plots of land are also very far away from where they are currently living.
My empregada has been working on her house for a while now, but she says she's still a ways to go. Another year, she estimates. In Mozambican time, I'm guessing it won't be done for at least five. My next door neighbor Orquidia picked up and left suddenly the moment her house was completed (although I think she mentioned that it still doesn't have glass in the windows). The 350 she was paying a month (~$13 USD) was too hard on her meager salary. Now her daughter Tania has to walk an hour to get to school, but hey. At least their home belongs to them.

I love my house. It's small but quaint, located in a safe and convenient neighborhood. Peace Corps pays 3,000 mts (~$100 USD) a month to rent it. Cheap, right? But not by Mozambican standards. I spoke with a friend and neighbor of mine, Chelsia, who pays 250 a month to rent a small house with a living room and one bedroom. It's fully furnished with a bed, a fridge, two sofas, and a TV. She doesn't pay for water (which she can get from the outdoors faucet) or electricity.
Which kind of means I'm getting ripped off, with my 3,000 mt rent which includes a few measly tables and none of amenities. But that's normal, when I-NGO's show up to rent local houses, suddenly the rent soars. In short, they know we can afford it.
My replacement volunteer will live in Orquidia's old house, paying 1,000 a month instead of 350.The justification falls in the work that needs to be done before it is "fit" for a PCV to live in it: Door grates, window grates, window screens, new locks. I suppose it's funny that while we live and work in the community and try to be as integrated as possible, our houses are upgraded to keep others out.

Police don't get paid very much in Mozambique. Bribes supplement income Traffic stops, especially in Gaza province, can delay a chapa for an hour or more.The police stand in the middle of the road, arbitrarily waving passing cars to stop. (Interesting fact: If you refuse to pull over when the police wave you down, they have a right to shoot at your car. Although I've also heard that the guns they carry are empty. No money to buy bullets.) When the police officer approaches the window, the driver puts a couple of bills in his registration book, hands it to the officer, who subtly takes the money (while pretending to study the registration), and hands the book back. The driver then puts more bills in the book before putting it away, to prepare for the next time.

Here in Moz, not only do people drive on the opposite side of the road that we Americans are used to, but pedestrians most definitely do NOT have the right of way. Sometimes we joke that the chapas actually accelerate when they see white people crossing the road in front of them. Cars will lay on the horn to warn people too close to the road, but won't break their speed. I've seen children and adults scramble to safety as a car whizzes by without a second glace. I've even been the one scrambling to safety.
Pretty frequently, you'll see smashed bodies of cats and dogs on the EN1- the National Highway. I can recall the chapas that I've been in that have hit a bird, a dog, a cat. But I've been lucky; I've never been in a car that has hit a human being.
The other day, on my way to Maputo, I saw the crumpled up body of a male teenager near the opposite side of the asphalt. The chapa slowed down, the driver leaned out the window to get a better look, but to my surprise, we didn't stop. Neither did the three or four other cars going the other direction, although it would've been easy to pull over to the side. This more than anything haunted me for a long time afterwards. How can people just drive by an injured human being and not feel compelled to stop and help? What kind of systems have been created in this country that deter innate human compassion?
Again and again, I've heard hear horror stories of people stopping to help the victim of a hit and a run, and getting arrested by the Mozambican police, who need someone to blame. And if you're a white person, the blame always shifts to you. You are assumed to be the owner of the car. You are assumed to be the reason for the accident.
Another volunteer in my group was in the back of a pickup truck one day when they hit a small girl. The PCV forced the car to stop – although he says they likely would not have-- and literally carried the girl to the hospital. What struck me about his story was the reaction of the driver of the car. No remorse, just... irritation. That a child was playing in the road when she shouldn't have been.
It makes me all the more glad to be from a country that protects its people and actively seeks justice, where hit and runs aren't the norm, where school zones have speed restrictions, where most people will stop to help injured people, and even animals. I recently had a conversation with a few other foreign-born pcvs (one from france and one from ireland) and we all agreed that serving in peace corps has made us feel more american. Maybe its because we have gained more perspective and realized how much we have to be appreciative of.