Visit to the village of Pundanhar
We liked Pundanhar!
Some gems: the deputy village chief is a woman. And she is beautiful.
There is a disco! She explains that Pundanhar is far from the city but they try to do everything they do in the cities.
There are theater groups but there is lack of teachers, trainers and as always, of money to fund the cultural activities of the community.
There is a health center that, considering where we are, is decent. It is run by a young Mozambican doctor who asks us if we can take the monthly register of diagnoses to Palma. I cast a glance, all the births, the cases of malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition are marked there, the numbers are not high…
The health center would need some renovation, there is rain infiltration in the post-pregnancy room and the “kitchen”, 4 poles with a metal sheet on that closes the space, is really “Spartan”, but everything is clean and tidy and they have organized a wonderful initiative: the Mamãe Kit, which I will talk to you about later. It serves to help mothers take care of their babies.
The location where the community gets together and where all the cultural activities are held is under the usual mango tree.
The disco is a wardrobe leaning against a nearby tree: inside there is a big stereo from the 80s, with a cassette player connected to electricity.
The village, with a population of 5,000, is rich in freshwater, 6 wells and several lagoons. It is an inland village, not a coastal one, and so it is devoted to agriculture: millet, which is used to make a sort of polenta, on which their diet is based, cereals and caju chestnuts, which are the cashew nuts if I got it right!
