Restoring Hope in Mozambique

While talk of war is on the lips of journalists all over the world these days, there was once - and not too long ago at that - a war no one talked about. In fact, the world heard little or nothing about the war that raged for years in the fertile and lush countryside of Mozambique.

For more than 500 years, Mozambique had been a colony of Portugal, until it received its independence in 1975. The Portuguese, who had controlled the economy, left almost overnight, and Mozambique instantly fell into social and economic ruin.

Soon after, a 17-year civil war erupted between the FRELIMO Nationalist Guerrillas (Frente de Libertacao de Mozambique) and the RENAMO (Mozambique National Resistance.) Their battles raged largely in the rural areas, effectively destroying the local communities.

As a result, more than a million people died, either from famine or warfare; one million more fled the country; and hundreds of thousands were displaced from their homes. The war destroyed the infrastructure and prevented educational development. Nearly all the livestock were either lost or killed. It's no wonder that by the late 1980s, Mozambique was one of the poorest countries of the world.

It wasn't until the two warring factions signed a peace treaty in 1992 that the people of Mozambique began to deal with the trauma and destruction of those years. Stripped of their dignity, their self-worth and their worldly possessions, it was now time for farmers in the rural areas to fight their own battles - of survival.

"In colonial time, I had a beautiful life," said Velosa Malave, an elderly man from the Zambezia Province. "I was a good farmer and a strong man. I had everything I ever needed for my family and myself. I had land and animals, and my crops flourished. This was all lost when the war came - even our power and strength. We had to fight every day just to survive."

Before the war, Velosa and his neighbors had lived peacefully in a land of fertile soils, abundant forests and grass-producing savannas. After it was over, they returned to dusty plots of land where their homes once stood.

In 1995, Heifer International and Winrock International's Institute for International Development received almost $800,000 from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement a goat project to help Mozambicans pull themselves out of poverty. In the original distribution, members of 60 farming groups received more than 2,500 goats. By l999, 1,663 offspring from these goats had been passed on to another 375 families and group members.

Now, for the first time in many years, inflation has fallen to five percent and the country is in an economic upswing. Rural areas are finally producing enough food to feed the population; animals graze once again in the fields.

"Children born after the war did not even know what an animal looked like," said Heifer recipient Arthur Pedro. "They'd never seen one in their lives. But Heifer brought the first goats to our homes, and now the children are experienced in Heifer training to care for them."

And villagers like Alves Mangagao can now speak of the future. "When the war was over and Heifer International arrived in our country, I could not believe they came to help us," he said. "And when we received our four goats and learned about the passing of the gift, I could not imagine it was I who would help end the suffering of another."

Darcy Kiefel is a photojournalist living in Boulder, Colorado.