[To the tune of Fergie’s Fergalicious]

Listen up ya'll, 'cause this is it
The beat that I'm bangin' is delicious

Brancalicious definition make them boys maluco
They see my pasty skin and gettin’ rich is their pensamento
You can see me, you can't squeeze me.
I ain't easy, I ain't sleazy.
I’m not even out there teasin’
But boys keep askin without reason.

Brancalicious (so delicious)
But I ain't promiscuous.
And if you was suspicious,
All those films are fictitious.
I wear glasses (hotttt)
That ought to put them boys off
But they be lining down the block just to watch what I got

So delicious (it's hot, hot)
So delicious (smellin good, I am not . . .)
So delicious (they wanna taste of what I got)
I'm Brancalicious (p-p-p-p-p-pasty, pasty)

Brancalicious def-,
Brancalicious def-,
Brancalicious def- ["def" is echoing]
Brancalicious definition make them boys maluco.
They always claim they know me,
Comin' to me call me Sista (Hey, Sista),
I'm the M to the Z, U, N, the G, the U,
Any other white girl’s in the same darn zoo.

I'm Brancalicious (so delicious)
My temper’s getting vicious
I be up too darn mad to be working on my fitness
She's my witness (oooh, wee)
I put them pounds on non-stop
But they be lining down the block just to watch what I got

So delicious (it's hot, hot)
So delicious (smellin good, I am not . . .)
So delicious (they wanna taste of what I got)
Brancalicious (hold, hold, hold, hold, hold up, check it out)

Baby, baby, baby,
If you really want me,
Honey get some patience.
Don’t pedir meu numero
In the first 2 minutos
I’m not hasty, hasty
Just cuz my skin is pasty.
I’m not tasty, tasty,
So why are you so crazy?

P to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're pasty, P to the A to the S T E Y - girl, you're pasty
D to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the D, to the E, to the, to the, to the, hit it Holly

All the time I turn around brada's gather round
always looking at me up and down looking at my . . .
I just wanna say it now - I ain't trying to round up drama,
little mama I don't wanna take your man.
And I know I'm coming off just a little bit conceited
and I keep on repeating how the boys wanna eat it.
But I'm tryin' to tell, that I can't be treated like clientele
'Cause they say she...

Delicious (so delicious)
But I ain't promiscuous
And if you was suspicious
All those films are fictitious
I wear glasses (hotttt)
That ought to put them boys off
But they be lining down the block just to watch what I got (got, got, got)

My temper’s gettin vicious,
I be too darn mad to be workin on my fitness,
She's my witness (oooh, wee).
I put put them pounds on non-stop,
But they be lining down the block just to watch what I got

So delicious (óla sista . . .)
So delicious (como está?)
So delicious (óla sista . . . )
I'm Brancalicious, p-p-p-p-p pasty, pasty
It's so delicious (óla sista . . .)
So delicious (como está?)
So delicious (óla sista . . . )
I'm Brancalicious, p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p (como está)

P to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're pasty. P to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're pasty
P to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're pasty. P to the A, to the, to the
D to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the D, to the, E to the, L I C I O U S, to the
D to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the D, to the E, to the, to the, to the (four, tres, two, uno)

P to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're pasty. P to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're pasty
P to the A, to the S T E Y - girl, you're pasty. P to the A, to the
D to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the D, to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the
D to the E, to the L I C I O U S, to the D, to the E, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the.....

I was looking back through previous posts the other day and noticed that I haven’t written much about the dams recently. Back in January, February, and March, we went through a slow period of work when it was raining frequently and thus we couldn’t get much done in the way of construction. But now that the rains are done we are making great strides.

We finally got the Dzunga dam finished in March and people have been slowly but surely starting to take advantage of the new area marked out for fields on the banks of the river. I was initially discouraged because though the community members had fenced off the overall area under the Food For Work program, weeks passed and only two or three families had taken the initiative to even fence off their own particular parcel. But my impatience proved hasty. There are now at least six or seven fields where people are starting to grow vegetables with the seeds provided by our project! Yesterday I saw sprouts of cabbage, onions, lettuce, and tomatoes. If these first farmers do well with their gardens, others should begin to take advantage of this great resource as time goes on.

The completed dam, with kids taking advantage of the water on a hot day

Field ready to be used, with goat deterrent fencing

A newly planted garden (note the baby banana trees on the left side!)

In March we started construction of the second dam, in the village of Cuchamano, 4 km to the west of Dzunga (this is actually the border town with Zimbabwe). By the beginning of April, excavation was done and they were ready to place cement. While I was on vacation, I left the work in the capable hands of my colleagues Pastor Chovane and Sr. Rui. Upon returning 2 weeks later, the dam was almost done! Although this dam is considerably smaller, the surrounding land still has good potential for agriculture. Now we are just waiting for people to take the initiative on their fields. It may be a while, but hopefully they’ll get it . . .

The last day of construction. These proud workers are placing leftover rocks downstream for erosion protection.

Complete!

Now the third community, Chonguoere, is hard at work getting ready to build their dam. While our staff were occupied with the second dam, they worked ahead to start the fencing.

Digging the trench . . .

So that’s an update on work. I haven’t been out in the field much since December, but I am looking forward to getting out more in the coming months. Now that we know what we’re doing more or less, my presence on site isn’t really necessary, but I think I’ll still go because I get bored here in the office. It’s exciting that the project is finally taking off.

Yesterday evening the top story on our news was the attempted sabotage of Cahora Bassa, Mozambique’s huge hydroelectric dam, located about 120 km from Tete where I live. Four foreigners were caught with 1000 lbs of a corrosive substance. See BBC for more details. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8034327.stm)

Cahora Bassa was a project started by the Portuguese. When the time of independence came, FRELIMO and Portugal had agreements to not harm the dam as it was still under construction. After independence, Portugal retained possession of the dam but agreed to hand it over after a specified amount of time. About 18 months ago, the dam was finally handed over to Mozambique’s possession, and Mozambicans rejoiced. I see t-shirts all the time that say “Cahora Bassa é nossa!” (Cahora Bassa is ours!). In addition to supplying all of Mozambique’s electricity, CB also helps to supply Zimbabwe and South Africa. It also helps with flood control on the Zambezi river and forms a reservoir that is a source of revenue from tourism and fishing.

The wall of CB is about 60% of the size of Hoover dam in the US, but the volume of water it holds back is over 150 times as much, so you can imagine how devastating an effect the dam failure could have. I don’t know for sure, but I would guess that the entire city of Tete could have been underwater. Thank God they were caught!

Although no harm was done, it was a shock for me to think that someone would try to destroy one of Mozambique’s biggest assets, especially when Mozambique is a country so low on the scale of development. Though terrorism is never condonable, it is easy for me to see why people would want to do things to the US (we are big, powerful, and rich). But to hurt Mozambique? I just can’t even understand why. My host father thought that perhaps the attack was the result of anger against Mozambique for taking possession of the dam from Portugal.

I guess I will probably never understand the motivation of terrorists. All I can do is say a big prayer of thanks that we were spared the flood.