Quick recap for those not in the loop.  Warned of break in at Kedesh, break in at Kedesh, laptop stolen (amongst other things), laptop turns up in Maputo, we have to go to Maputo to recover said laptop.  Still with me?

So on Wednesday morning accompanied by another Kedesh worker, Joao Simao, I head off to Maputo to bring back our computer.  If I’m being honest there was art of me that was quite excited by the prosect of a “road trip” and in three previous visits to Mozambique I’d never made it south to Maputo, so it was with an air of adventure that I boarded the bus that would sixteen hours later deposit us in the capital city.  Our journey down was uneventful and we passed the time chatting, taking in the varied landscape and making visits to the loo.  We had paid the extra £5 and taken the Pantera Azul, a bus that would in a previous life have assed as respectable in the UK but by Mozambican standards was luxurious.  Thus we enjoyed only one person per seat, cups of water brought to us, suspension of sorts and a toilet.  We were almost giddy from the aesthetic luxuries afforded to us. 

As we reached the outskirts of Maputo I tried hard to peer through the windows to form some initial impression of the city.  It was dark and so I could make out little.  The city was clearly bigger than Beira and the centre was full of neon.  Large well lit glass forecourts passed by.  Joao Simao’s comment that Maputo was more like Johannesburg than Beira seemed to be true.

However daylight was not kind to Maputo and my favourable initial impressions were short lived.  It has to be said that Maputo resembles a bigger, uglier, faster and perhaps even smellier Beira.  Someone has taken some of the taller buildings from Johannesburg or Harare and dropped them from a height onto the centre.  Sadly however, they didn’t bother clearing up the mess and so the pavements look like a bomb’s been dropped.  Heaps of rotting rubbish decorate the crazing paving and it wasn’t long before I was looking forward to the relative rural peace and quiet of Manga. 

We set off early for the police station and were greeted happily by Lencu, the officer who had recovered the laptop.  We shook hands warmly and were ushered into his office and seated whilst he gave orders to a confused underling concerning a pile of papers on his desk.  Finally he fixed us over his glasses and with a pained expression told us of how much work had gone into the recovery of the computer.  He was soon joined by two guards who wore the same serious looks.  Yes, they agreed, it had been a complicated and difficult case involving lots of different staff.  Joao Simao began to look concerned and I recognised our first corrupt official of the day.  We had discussed bribery and corruption on the bus journey and had come to the conclusion that we would try to pre-empt the request for money with the offer of a gift in order to thank him for all his work.  Some might argue that this was effectively the same outcome.  Perhaps so, but I would want to argue that the very fact that money was not asked for, or even insisted upon for the return of our computer creates a very different dynamic.  The Bible speaks on bribery, only against the person exhorting the bribe.  We wanted to prevent this situation arising.

The laptop was brought out and I began to offer profuse thanks as I recognised the silver lid of our Acer.  I logged on, and to my horror realised that the thieves had been at work removing all our personal files.  Gone were all our music, photos and documents.  With the receipt buried somewhere in a box in the UK I had been relying on pulling up photos and accurately describing the contents to prove that the laptop was in fact ours.  However, my composure was shot through as I tried to negotiate the new format and display which had been installed.  Not for the last time that day, Joao came to the rescue and suggested I try the recycle bin.  Nervously I opened it up and discovered that my essays from last year had not been removed.  Clearly the thieves felt unable to remove these important academic tomes and had left them on there for future reference!

Earlier that day our guesthouse host had regaled us with the tale of a German guest who had encountered the same Lensu when her documents were stolen in Maputo.  She had had them returned but only after paying a bribe of 2500MT (£50, $100).  We were keen to avoid the same result but when Joao slipped out to use the loo he was accosted by a police guard.  She informed him that his boss (i.e. me) had better ay a lot as they had worked really hard on the case!  When Joao returned he carefully informed me of this in English and so for the first time that day I told my sob story!  We work for a children’s centre, we don’t have a car but have travelled by bus, don’t have a lot of money etc. (all true) but we recognise his hard work and would like to offer a small gift for his hard work.  At this Lensu looked disgruntled as if the thought of accepting money from a client offended his sense of professional ride.  As I handed over the equivalent of £9 he looked slightly disappointed but without a second thought opened a side draw and dropped in the notes.  His colleagues look on in disgust at the white man who couldn´t even afford a car!

Thinking we are all sorted I begin pack away only to be informed that we must travel to the central poice station to take Suzi away for charging, and to sign for our computer.  It will be a matter of minutes we are assured.  We get into the vehicle we’ve commandeered for the day and with three handcuffed criminals in the back head get Lensu to give us a push start.  Off we go, a cross between group 4 and DHL.  At the station we are asked to identify Suzi and are then asked to take a seat whilst a clerk begins to work his way through a gargantuan pile of papers.  We wait…

After much toing and froing, we are eventually asked to accompany the clerk upstairs where we are informed that a whole new process will need to be started and we might as well come back tomorrow.  Resisting the temptation to do something illegal, I calmly explain our situation for the second time that day and the officer rather moodily pulls out a piece of paper and begins the process then and there.  We are asked to sit outside.  We wait…

We are called back in and prove that the laptop is ours.  We are asked to sit outside.  We wait…

Finally we are handed our laptop and resisting the temptation to run, stuff it into our rucksack and walk calmly to the door. 

There are many things about Mozambique I love – the pace of life, people who talk to each other in the street, the weather (yes even in the heat), the countryside and the kids who we work with.  Were used to police being trustworthy and helpful – I guess this is just one of the new things we have to get used to about life in a new place.