I have just finished presenting a course in Maputo, Mozambique, entitles Accounting and Finance Principles for the Oil and Gas Industry. The evaluations from the delegates were good with many 10 of 10, 9 out of 10 and 8 out of 10. Of v ourselves, there was one delegate who was not satisfied but she was just one of 18.
I saw a little bit of the city on the way back to the airport as I had to find A a Western Union branch so that I could send some money home. I did it! It started with the driver having a long confab with a hotel porter as to where I wanted to go. I thought, he doesn't speak English and he's never heard of WU.
We set off and could not find the WU shown on the map. The driver's English was excellent now and he was very helpful.
I saw an exchange place, we stopped, I got out, dashed over there and found there was WU in IBM bank. We found a branch and I went in. The receptionist said our conversation would be difficult because of her poor English but she was being modest. She came with me to talk to the driver and explain where the IBM bank branch was which did have WU inside and we found it.
It seemed like a lifetime of filling in and signing papers, all for about 60 quid. WU took 20% by way of a fee. Thieves. Still, I needed them in this mini emergency.
When I left the building, no mini bus, no driver. I thought, what the hell do I do now? I moved around a bit and found the van parked behind another van that had stopped at the lights ... I had forgotten that traffic lights are called robots in this part of Africa.
That was it, now we carried on to the airport. Interesting to see the city. All low lying buildings all the way to the airport. Many cars. Pavements. Kerbs.
Maputo do be! A good few days. I chatted to a young Peace Corps volunteer who had just finished his stint in irrigation up country. Good luck to him.
