Maputo, Mozambique

I traveled to Maputo, Mozambique this weekend to visit my friend Nandita who is working with the CDC there. It was a quick but very busy weekend. Maputo is a a fairly big coastal city, and the Indian Ocean is beautiful. We visited three different islands off the coast; Inhaca, Portugese Island, and Catempe. We took many boat rides, explored beaches, and went on a game drive in the Maputo elephant reserve. I also took a city tour and was able to see all of the historical sites there. Of course I also shopped and collected more souvenirs, mostly traditional woodwork and colorful batiks common in Mozambique. It was great to see Nandita, meet many of her coworkers, and learn about what their team is doing in HIV/AIDS care and treatment. Mozambique is much more developed than Kigali but also has had a troubled history of civil war. They are rebuilding and struggling with the economy, evidence of poverty and run down buildings is everywhere. The rate of HIV/AIDS is around 13% and even up to 20-25% in some parts (Rwanda is 3-5%). It is winter in Mozambique so it was mostly in the 60's- fairly cool at night. Most of our meals consisted of delicious seafood. Their primary language is Portuguese. The city has a much larger international community than Kigali. Many South Africans vacation in Maputo as it is so close and there is also a large presence of Brazilians and Indians in Maputo. It was great to see another African country and learn a whole new perspective on city life and history. My travel was surprisingly smooth with flights running on-time, but not surprisingly it was long and challenging to get there and back out of Rwanda. I flew through Johannesburg and Nairobi and my flight home was overnight so I've been operating on little sleep this week! I took hundreds of photos of everything I saw but have been so busy I have not had a chance to upload yet. Hopefully I can post some tomorrow.

My work here is really busy right now. I am helping with a lot of the budget planning. We have had some consultants in from Atlanta as well as Nigeria and other African countries to help with our planning. I have learned a lot from everyone, and am excited to take some new ideas home to my job at NIH in the fall. We are also busy planning a visit from the Secretary of Health and Human Services this month. We will be showcasing the HIV/AIDS programs and services in Rwanda as one stop on a brief African tour. I can't even begin to tell you how much work this entails from our relatively small CDC and embassy staff! It's very exciting though.