Mission to Mozambique

摘要

Last November I was sent by RedR (Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief) Australia to work for the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) in the north of Mozambique. The brief was to upgrade the water supply system for a new refugee camp near Nampula. The departure was a whirlwind and was a fitting premonition for the intensity of the three months that followed. Intensely busy, yet also intensely challenging and rewarding. These words are a bit overused, but 1 need them to describe a very different set of demands than those I faced working as an engineer in Sydney. The country, culture, language and work hierarchy were new to me, as was the unprecedented autonomy and the sense of immediacy in the work.