Part two of our personal project is the obvious second coming to hygiene; nutrition.
The reason that each and everyone of us works hard for. Sure, some that have enough invest in a house and a nice car that goes way beyond practical but the main thing that we all have in common is the need for feeding our body. That could be big and festive dinners or the mere necessity, at the end of the day, we all need to eat. And as we explained in "masks for everyone" the affects and effects of COVID-19 are quite immense here in Mozambique, specifically our tourism generated area of Inhambane and Tofo Beach.
We have set up 2 days, where we go to the local villages and provide the food. Just to not overwhelm the ladies that would be preparing all the food, we have made the decision of meals for more or less 30 in one day, from which more than half are kids. So we talked to the women and have set up days and an estimate amount of good that need to be bought. We from Mozambique Experience will be upfront and close, not only to document it all on paper and on film for Donaters but also to showcase the real effort behind a local meal. It starts from getting the coconuts from the tree, cutting it, grating and juicing it all the way to picking up the Mandioka plant leaves to crush and cook.
After gathering the needed ingredients for a local dish called 'Matapa', we are ready to get cooking! Ingredients include the leaves of Mandioka plants, coconut cream, onion, garlic and peanuts. Sometimes prawns or crabs are also added. Here the women are mashing the leaves into a paste.
Cooking away... It takes a lot of time to prepare this seemingly easy dish, however it is all the steps that are required, that is quite time consuming but the end result is amazing and worth the wait! Big thank you to Dona Julia, Dona Joana and her daughter, Maria!
End result of the delicious dish that can get served with rice or in our case here; Xima (pronounced “nshima”). A sort of thick starch porridge to go with the stew.
We will introduce the real people behind a project like this, so you know exactly who you are feeding on that day. So you get to know the real people that are so thankful for your effort and help.
Together we can make a change, little by little. It is the effort that counts and I am sure you'd do the same if you were in the middle of all. That is when we come in handy, because we carry out (y)our mission to the people. This way, you are right upfront and transparent on what is going on, who and where your hard earned coin goes to. You can look the people that you're helping in the eyes and sigh a small relief.
If you want to help, please contact us for more information or share this blog post with your friends and family - everything counts.
Thank you!