Thing 202 Learn About A New Country

When I was down in Wexford at (the most amazing and spectacular Opera House in the whole world - honestly, I'll never get sick of plugging it, it's THAT good), someone gave me a suggestion for The Project. Since this is, ostensibly, a Project about learning and developing myself, then here's my chance to get some education. Pick a country that I know nothing about, and start learning. Seems easy. Straightforward new Thing, but thoroughly enlightening. Let me tell you a little bit about Mozambique..

It wasn't independent until 1975, until then, it was a Portuguese colony, and run by the little nation that could, which is situated next to Spain (for information, Ireland is, the little nation that couldn't). It's one of the fastest growing economies in the world with an annual growth rate of between 8 and 14%. They had a cyclone and some serious ass flooding back in 2002, and their economy still grew by 2.1%. That's faster than most European economies during boom time.

It wasn't rosey all the time, it rarely is for newly liberated colonies. They had civil war from 1977 to 1992. That's a pretty long war. Seriously. But things are looking up now. It's a mostly Christian country, in that Christians make up around half the population, Muslims accounting for just over a quarter. The rest is a bit of a mix.

The Zambezi River splits the country neatly in two, and the Zambezi Valley is a fertile zone. Tourism is improving, but not at the rate it should be for the South Eastern African country.

The fun part about this particular Thing, is that I'll rock like socks at any Mozambique related Table Quiz questions. Seriously though, it was a good suggestion for a Project Thing, in theory. Learn about a new place. Educate myself. Problem is that it's very specific and now that I know alot about the country (it relies most heavily on foreign direct investment, and through bilateral agreements with Portugal, children from Mozambique are accepted into Portuguese educational institutions, with Portugal remaining an important trading and international relations partner), it's just one subject. I know alot about a little, and very little about a lot.

Still, it was different. For an hour on a regular Monday night, I sat down and learned about something I knew nothing about. Felt like Leaving Cert study... shudder.