Tag Archives: mozambique

First two weeks in Maputo, learning and exploring

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by Justus and Thijs

We arrived in Maputo on Monday the 22nd of September. The coming two and a half months we will do research on the sewers of Maputo. In the first weeks we had to get used to the life here. Learning Portuguese is hard, but we are improving with the help of our Brazilian roommates. We stay in the same apartment as the students before did. It is a nice location and the view from the roof and our balcony is stunning. Continue reading →

Update

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by André

This blog has not been updated in a while and here’s a list of our activities in the last few months.

  • Odila, Stefan and Irene have returned to the Netherlands, delivered their final reports and we are now in the process of finalizing and sending them to our partners. They did a great work, thank you guys!
  • Last week was the official kick-off of the program Urbanising Deltas of the World (UDW) of NWO-WOTRO which funds ours and seven other projects; we had a meeting in Den Haag with all groups and it was great meeting everyone else. All the groups have a very different background and I am sure that we can learn a lot from everyone. NWO has also launched a new call for proposals, UDW-II.
  • Also last week André, Nelson (UEM) and Sandra (UEM) attended the Deltas in Time of Climate Change in Rottterdam (The Netherlands) and André gave a presentation based on the work of Odilia, Stefan and Irene entitled “Centralized and de-centralized wastewater treatment in Maputo”. Nelson participated in a discussion session entitled “Science and Practice meet and feed each other in developing new delta management approaches”
  • We have pre-selected some Mozambican students for the PhD vacancies but we still hiring.
  • Two TU Delft students have now arrived in Maputo, Justus and Thijs. Next week Lena, from BOKU (Austria) will join them; and later this month, Timóteo (Unesco-IHE) will complete the group. Justus and Thijs will gather as much information as possible about the existing wastewater and drainage network. Lena will focus of the flows of faecal sludge matter in the peri-urban areas of Maputo. Finally, Timóteo will study the applicability of algae ponds in Maputo. You can expect plenty of updates from them.
  • Justus, Thijs and Lena will obtain useful data for André’s project: mass balance to the water and sanitation sector in Maputo. André will be in Maputo from mid-October until mid-November.

André

Fourth week already!

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“Bom dia! Tudo bem?” is a common phrase when you walk on the streets. People start to recognize you and want to have a conversation with you. It is good to practise your Portuguese and it is amazing to see how friendly the people behave. For public transportation we often take a “chapa” – a minibus – which is not very comfortable, but it is handy to travel longer distances.
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Third week

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Olá!

Laying underneath my mosquito net I write you this post. It has only been two and a half weeks since we arrived in Maputo, but in this time my life has changed completely. Mozambican’s are very friendly; they are always willing to practise Portuguese with us. We have started to get used to our apartment on the twelfth floor without elevator, windows without glass and cold showers. But most important of all, the project is progressing very fast! Continue reading →