Jim's most recent radio assignment took him to the interior of Mozambique,
near the (closed) border with Zimbabwe. Jim's assignment was to develop
and produce a continuing series of radio plays. The plays were directed
toward the non-literate farmers in the Radio Gesom listening area.
Radio Gesom, put on the air by UNESCO, is a 250w FM station located at
a local community center. The center has a stage, a bar, and the best pizza
in Chimoio!
Jim's translator Mr. Misterio, holds up a Freeplay
Foundation solar/crank radio. FF distributed 7000 of
the battery-less receivers in the south part of MZ
following the devastating floods of 2001.
Shots of Jim and another 'merican vol at the local
ACDI/VOCA office.
Jim had his own pickup truck for this assignment!
On a field assignment to a village's banana fields, Jim got
to see where alligator handbags came from!
They were NOT friendly!
Bananas are a staple of the MZ diet. Banana peels are
everywhere, literally. They cover the streets and roads;
countless millions of banana peels. Jim got to use a machete
this day, which was fun. But carrying a stalk of green bananas
through the valley back up to the village (all the men had to carry
some...) was hot, heavy and downright painful.
Who knew bananas could be so rough-edged?