Introduction to Nampula

Amanda has graciously invited me to share some of my experiences in Africa on her blog. She asked me weeks ago and since then I've had so many posts rattling around in my brain that I didn't know where to start. So I thought I'd start at the beginning:

I had a window seat when we flew into Nampula, Mozambique after six exhausting days of travel. Nampula is a big city - 350,000 people and 450,000 in the surrounding areas. But as we approached I didn't see any city, just a runway and a little airport in the middle of what I thought was some kind of forest. As we descended further, the realization hit me that I was indeed looking at a city, a city of mud huts with thatched roofs stretching for miles and miles in every direction. A city that was merely an endless forest of mud and thatch. Right then I knew I was an awful long way from home!

Here is a recent picture of Nampula, from the website of the missionaries I went to work with (more on them later!) It looks more developed than when I was there, although the central downtown in the middle of the picture was there in 1998; I just couldn't see it from the plane. I think most of the people of the city still live in mud huts in the surrounding areas, however.