Kariba to Ottawa, and thank you!

View of Lake Kariba, Africa's largest man-made lake, which displaced tens of thousands of Tonga people in southern Zambia when the Kariba Dam was built in the 1950-60s. The picture was taken from the plane from Lusaka to Johannesburg three weeks ago. After Johannesburg, I continued to Dakar, Washington DC and finally Ottawa, pictured below prior to landing.

For the last three weeks, I've been couch surfing in Montreal and Toronto, fundraising and organizing events for Canadian Landmine Action Week (February 23-March 1). After March 1, my work with Mines Action Canada, the Zambian Campaign to Landmines, and mine action in general, will have concluded, at least for now. I'll be back on the job market – until September, when I plan to take refuge from the "financial crisis" by going back to school.

For those who enjoyed reading this blog, thank you! I enjoyed writing it. I won't be continuing it, except to use it as a convenient URL for other purposes – like the exciting quilt raffle my mother and I have organized for Mines Action Canada!

Instead, I will be writing a regular blog at Governance Village (GV), a Canadian forum for ideas on governance and development. GV is an outgrowth of the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a Jim Balsillie Blackberry-money think tank based in Waterloo. I was hired by the GV editor, who lived in Lusaka last year with the Mines Action Canada intern before me. My blog, "Minor Truths: Politics of disarmament, refugees and aid in sub-Saharan Africa" (www.igloo.org/minortruths) discusses current events in sub-Saharan Africa from the perspective of my experiences over the last few years. I will pay special attention to disarmament, refugees and aid, the areas I've been most engaged with in my work and study.

I'll post a better summary of my new blog in the next few days, formalizing the "hand-off" from here to there.

Quilt raffle

As part of Canadian Landmine Action Week, Mines Action Canada will be raffling the above quilt. Produced by prominent Canadian artist Barbara Todd, the quilt is made up of textiles from Zambia, DR Congo and Mozambique. I (Louis Century) collected the textiles during my recent work in the region.

The draw will take place on March 1st. Tickets cost $5 each. They can be purchased online through the Mines Action Canada website: www.minesactioncanada.org. The minimum online donation is $10 for two tickets.

Here is the direct link to the donation page, from where you must click the "one time donation" button. From here, click on the "Fund Designation" drop-down menu and select "Quilt Raffle." Your number of tickets will be your donation amount divided by five. For example, a $20 donation pays for four tickets. You will receive an email confirmation for your purchase. Please allow two days to receive this email.

Thanks for your support!

P.S. If you're in the Toronto area, you may view the quilt at Linuxcaffe, 326 Harbord Street, corner of Grace Street.

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Mozambique take ten

The first minibus I took in Mozambique, leaving from the Malawi border. You can see the afternoon light against the windows. I recall that on this minibus, and not only on this one, passengers in the last couple rows climbed in and out of the sliding window – instead of going out the door, which would require half a dozen others to also get out. This minibus was my first encounter with Portuguese. I was struck by how widespread the language was, even so far north of Maputo.

The story of post-colonial Mozambique in one photograph. FRELIMO (Liberation Front of Mozambique), the party that liberated Mozambique from the Portuguese, fought a decades-long civil war with RENAMO (Mozambican National Resistance), an armed group supported first by Rhodesia and later by apartheid South Africa. Although FRELIMO remains in power today, RENAMO has come to form a legitimate opposition party – despite their origins as a proxy army of white racist regimes.

Sunrise in Maxixe, across the bay from Inhambane. I'm glad I photographed this, because at the time I was delirious from 28 hours of travel – starting at 3:00am the previous morning – on various buses and minibuses. A friendly young Mozambican named Moses (Mosse) was returning to Inhambane for the holidays, so we kept each other company – in what broken Portuguese and English each of us could muster.

A great impromptu performance, a marimba with drums and shakers, on Tofo beach. This provided a nice reprieve from the herds of South African tourists who dominated the hostels and beaches during the holidays – my entire time there. Moses is the tall man with sunglasses in the top right.

Sleepy, old Inhambane, where my friend Nathan has been living and working for five months. The town is incredibly charming, and I enjoyed two full afternoons exploring it on foot. Quiet, friendly and full of Portuguese architecture – blocks on blocks of residential streets, complete with tree-lined sidewalks, ornate front gates and quaint, little homes. Most of Inhambane's residents live in "informal housing" outside the city centre, which may partially explain the quietness of the streets.

Central Maputo, from underneath the gate to the botanical gardans – you can see the back of the statue of Samora Machel, the country's first president.

The old Portuguese railway station in Maputo, the city's strongest visual symbol of Portuguese legacy.

The junction between Mao Tse Tung and Kim Il Sung, one of many comical Marxist-Communist street signs that pervade Maputo.

Vodocom seems to have hit the jackpot with its slogan, "Tudo bom," which also serves the all-purpose "it's all good"/"I'm fine" in Portuguese. Catering to the innumerable new cellphone users throughout Mozambique, the Vodocom ads are everywhere.

Typical high-rise apartment in downtown Maputo.

Construction near the airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. I took this photo as I waited overnight due to the bankruptcy of Zambian Airways, waiting for my South African Airlines flight to depart the next day. Sights like this one – cranes in active use – were everywhere in Johannesburg, frantically preparing to host the 2010 World Cup next summer.