Inhambane gastronomia postcard

The coconut trees fill the landscape of Inhambane and Tofo Beach, lending the horizon a ragged look. In them lies the livelihood of many residents in that area, and every part is useful. For example, one of the region's specialities is sura (palm sap, consumed in the form of buns, toasts or biscuits. When fermented, it makes for a traditional drink sold throughout the region and beyond.
Sura is the drink that comes out of a gash in a coconut tree branch. It has a strong, sweet taste, and it is naturally carbonated, with few resemblances to coconut water.
Filipe Agosto climbs the coconut tree like it was nothing, placing his feet in the right place, arms pulling the body up. Up there, he undoes the knot holding a plastic bottle to the branch, removes the of paper covering the orifice of the bottle and changes it for an empty one.
He makes this climb in the morning, and in the afternoon to take the sura coming out of the branches of the thirteen palm trees he has set up for the collection of the sap.
A branch takes at least three months to start realising sap.

Filipe Agosto already knows how to pick them.
He has been doing this job for three years, taught by his father.
At first, he even fell. But today he is no longer afraid to go up, and does it like he is walking on solid ground.

This is not Filipe's only job, but it is the one that gives him money everyday, since his wage comes only at the end of the month.
So, in the morning, Filipe sells be his sweet sura to the mamanas ( an informal term for an older family woman, a mother) baking buns. And in the afternoon, he sells the already fermented version to men who pass by his house, looking to relax after work.
INDICO, IN-FLIGHT MAGAZINE

Ministry of Public Works discusses solutions for water shortage in Maputo

At the meeting, proposals for short-, medium- and long-term solutions were analyzed

A week after the President of the Republic stated that the main cause of the water crisis in Maputo was the lack of planning, the Ministry of Public Works, Water Resources and Housing invited former ministers and presidents of the municipalities of Maputo, Matola and Boane to the most viable solutions to the problem.
The National Director of Water Resources, Messias Macie, says that the ministry has always been attentive to the evolution of water needs in the Maputo region, but complains that the lack of money has delayed several projects.
Contrary to the meeting led by the Head of State, in the Ministry of Public Works, Minister Carlos Bonete decided to close the doors to the press.

Five primary schools closed last year due to political-military tension have reopened

Reopening decision was motivated by the truce in force

The information was advanced by Arlindo Ngozo, Director of the District Service of Education, Youth and Technology of Gondola, in Manica, in the margins of a meeting that took place with cadres of the education sector in that district.
In that context, the Gondola administrator asked the teachers to convey to students the message of peace restoration that has been threatened in recent years due to military clashes.
Due to the political-military tension, 68 schools in the districts of Bárue, Mossurize, Gondola, Macossa, Manica and Tambara were forced to close their doors during the past year.

Mozambique to start using tobacco tax stamps

Measure arise in compliance with the protocol of the World Health Organization

As of March 17, the Tax Authority will now prohibit the circulation of unsealed cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos. Two months later, the mandatory use of stamps will be imposed on alcoholic beverages. The measures are part of the framework convention on tobacco control that Mozambique ratified last year.

To ensure the efficiency of the process, the Tax Authority and the Mozambican Association of Public Health were gathered today to discuss implementation strategies.

Mozambique is a signatory to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control established in 2004.

Cyclone Dineo over

Calamity left seven dead


Cyclone DINEO, which has hit the south of the country, mainly Inhambane province, where seven people died and another 130,000 were affected, is no longer in the country.
According to the National Meteorological Institute (INAM), bad weather is currently directed at neighboring countries, particularly South Africa and Swaziland.

Although the cyclone is no longer in the country, its effects will be felt throughout the national territory through moderate rains and strong winds, according to Jaqueline Sendela, from INAM.

After Dineo the meteorology department predicts a rainy weekend in all the national territory. The cyclone has rocked the country since Wednesday, leaving a trail of destruction at several points.
Beginning on Sunday, the Prime Minister, Carlos Agostinho do Rosário, scaled the province of Inhambane to monitor the situation.

Lynching in Beira

Residents of the Manga district distance themselves from the act

A body was abandoned on one of the streets of the Manga neighborhood, in the city of Beira, and with signs of lynching.
Residents of the neighborhood are distancing themselves from any involvement and say the case may have occurred at another location over the course of the night.
The cases of lynching in the city of Beira are frequent.

Cyclone Dineo causes destruction in Inhambane

about 120 children are homeless
[image_ Tropical cyclone dineo is already affecting the Mozambique channel and causing great destruction in the province of Inhambane. In the SOS village , an institution that welcomes orphaned children, the high winds have laid down the water system supply, depriving children of the liquid.The cyclone destroyed still the ceiling of 16 classrooms and administrative block endangering destruction the material and wallets.
Eleven houses were without ceiling, leaving about 120 children homeless. In the area of Tofo Beach, several trees were toppled, houses and schools were without ceilings. Some ways were discontinued and there was electricity cut off

Mozambique and the United States strengthen ties

Mozambique and the United States of America seek mechanisms to strengthen the environment conducive to the expansion of trade in goods and services, as well as the promotion of US investments in the country.

The Deputy United States Trade Representative for Africa, Florizelle Liser, is in
the country to strengthen cooperation ties in the fields of trade and investment.

posted from Bloggeroid

Mozambique and Brazil Sign memorandum of intentions

Mozambique and Brazil signed memorandum of intentions to intensify cooperation in the area of ​​technical and vocational education.

To this end, a Brazilian multisectoral delegation is in the country to identify the areas of intervention with the counterparts of Mozambican institutions
.

posted from Bloggeroid

Unknown individuals assault a pregnant woman

Unknown persons robbed diverse assets, physically attacked and then raped a woman who is in the third month of pregnancy, in the district of Montepuez, province of Cabo Delgado.

Interned at the Rural Hospital of Montepuez, the victim is still awaiting results of medical tests that will determine the repercussions of that macabre act on the fetus.

posted from Bloggeroid

Nine million people benefited from water and sanitation programs in rural areas

PRONASAR 2010 - 2016


The rural water supply and sanitation program, PRONASAR benefited about nine million people, since its launch, 2010.

The same resulted in the improvement of sanitation and hygiene in rural communities, announced yesterday, the Minister of public works, housing and water resources .

Carlos Bonete said that, during the six years, were built more than 11 thousand sources to 30 water systems in the country, a job that had the involvement of communities in both the identification of appropriate solutions as in the maintenance of infrastructure erected.

"We are the following the correct approaches ,though we need some updates and eventually some corrections off", stressed the Minister, speaking at the opening of the seminar on the National program for rural water supply and sanitation (PRONASAR) 2017-2030.

However, Carlos Bonete noted that Mozambique has not fulfilled in its entirety the goal for water supply and rural sanitation of the objectives of the Millennium development program, it needs accelerated effort and coordination, especially with the support of cooperation partners.

In fact, ambassador of Japan in Mozambique recognized that, despite the improvements, there is still more room for enlargement, over the next decade, access to water and sanitation, especially in rural areas.

The goal of the government is to achieve the goal of sustainable development objectives 2015-2030 (ODS) of establishing 100 percent coverage in access to water and sanitation .

In the area of water and sanitation, Japan implemented through the Japanese agency of international cooperation (JICA), seven cooperation projects to 17 community projects as a way to improve the conditions of life in communities.

posted from Bloggeroid

Over 1,300 leprosy cases diagnosed last year

Over 1,300 leprosy cases diagnosed last year

Although leprosy was declared as no longer constituting a public health problem in Mozambique in 2008, pockets of the disease continue to occur, and last year 1,364 new cases were diagnosed.

Speaking at a meeting in Maputo on 27 January to mark World Leprosy Day, the National Director of Public Health, Francisco Mbofana, said that 415 of the new cases were among children.

 In 585 cases the victims were already suffering from deformities caused by the disease.

Mbofana expressed concern that the number of cases of leprosy among children meant that the disease remained active in communities but undiagnosed and untreated.

In 2008, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared leprosy defeated in Mozambique. This did not mean that every last case had been eliminated, but that the disease was no longer a public health concern.

However pockets of the disease still exist, and may even be on the rise. Between 2015 and 2016 the number of districts recording more than one case per 10,000 inhabitants rose from 23 to 34, particularly in the central and northern provinces.

Nonetheless, there have been significant advances. Up until 2000, Mozambique was one of the six countries in the world most affected by leprosy (the others were Brazil, India, Madagascar, Tanzania and Nepal). These six countries accounted for 90 per cent of leprosy cases.

But, by 2008 the fight against the disease had succeeded in bringing the prevalence of the disease down to less than one in 10,000 inhabitants, the level at which the WHO considers the disease no longer a public health problem.
Diagnosis is simple, and anyone with a clear, painless patch on his or her skin should go to the nearest health unit where an examination will check whether it is leprosy. 

Treatment is free of charge and takes between six and 12 months on an out-patient basis. Patients will only require hospitalisation if they have left diagnosis late and are suffering from complications such as mutilations to fingers and toes.
SOURCE: AIM 

Bad weather plagues Inhambane

Torrential rains accompanied by strong winds
Overturned power poles, bumpy roads and damaged infrastructure. This is the situation in the province of Inhambane, as a consequence of intense rains accompanied by strong winds.
Even without official data on the weather, it is predicted that the damage will be enormous.
On roads, besides craters, it is possible to see chopped coconut trees making it difficult for pedestrians to pass in some places.