Recollections of a life in Africa

300615SPClive GOOD TIMES: Enjoying a beer at Sea Cliff Hotel in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. PICTURE / SUPPLIED

Eighteen months in Africa have given Clive Benson a new perspective and a gallery of rare experiences.
"I was convinced by an ex-Goodyear colleague and friend to go there," says Clive, now resident in his home town of Whanganui. "He's been in Zimbabwe for 20-odd years and made money there. He was convinced Mozambique was the new frontier due to the huge oil and gas find. We went there to set up operations in the tyre business. My job was to assist his cousin in Nacala and then move on to Pemba." Circumstances changed and Nampula in the north was the place to be.
"It's the second biggest city in Mozambique and there are no real tyre outlets. I saw an opportunity for us to establish operations. Unfortunately we couldn't get credit so I was there for 12 months trying to get tyres any way I could and trying to stay legal. I had to get my passport stamped every 30 days." That was done by couriers.
"You give them your passport, they take a bus to the border where they know people. They get it stamped and you pay. It cost about $US100. It's scary: you're relinquishing your passport to someone you don't know."
In September 2014 his visa expired. "I did a 'deal' on Christmas eve on the back of a motorbike in the rain." It cost 110,000 Met, or about $3000. "That gave me another six months with multiple entry. That's how corrupt it is."
Clive was never mugged but he was told to be wary, especially when using his phone. His vehicle was parked on the street but he was friendly enough with the locals that they kept an eye on it for him. He would also give cash or beer to security guards in the employ of other residents. His place was fenced and gated with a hefty padlock.
From his two-bedroomed apartment in Nampula he would walk 50 metres each night to a little Indian "restaurant" for his chicken and chips and coleslaw. "I never got crook."
His central-city, ground floor apartment was tiled, air conditioned and furnished. "And I bought mosquito netting, because malaria was rife. I never got it but all the ex-pats I knew had had it."
Being on the ground floor of a four storey building he suffered the consequences of upper floor people disposing of everything down the toilet. The plumbing gave up and he had raw sewage running through his flat for 48 hours until it was fixed.
"My neighbour carted water for a living so I never had a shortage of water." Electricity outages were common.
"I lived six weeks without any power because of the January 2015 storms. No power means no cold beer." He drank Heineken or Laurentina Preta, the local dark beer. Good for washing down the constant dust. Street kids were everywhere. "There are so many kids that don't go to school ... and orphans." He would give them food or a can of Coke. Clive says his accent, sounding neither South African nor Portuguese, probably helped make friends.
"They'd never come across a Kiwi before."
Where he lived was a man's world but the women did the work. "The women will travel 35 kilometres on a bicycle - or walk - to get water. A lot of places have no indoor plumbing so the men have a wee outside."
Clive allowed his fenced enclosure to be used by a young street merchant to store his gear. "He worked 12 hours a day and lived in a one-room place with no power."
A cleaning boy would clean Clive's home, washing the floor and dusting everything every single day. Temperatures climb above 30°C and drop to 15°C at night. There's also a wet season with little rain outside that. The rains carve huge pot holes in the road which take months to repair. "It's all done by hand. They heat up 44 gallon drums on the side of the road over a fire then bucket the tar on to the road." When Clive took a break he would often head to South Africa. "I would go to Capetown; it's just a beautiful city with first world restaurants, lots of outdoor activities and bands playing ... easy to get around by bus pass. You can walk around safely at night."
He would also go to Tanzania, especially Zanzibar, which he compared to Arabian Nights. "It's a surreal place ... markets and sacks and sacks of brightly-coloured spices."
Clive had regular Portuguese lessons, five days a week from a university student. But when his rudimentary Portuguese failed ... "it's amazing what a smile does."
Home since August, Clive keeps an eye on what's happening in that part of the world. "It's deteriorated even in that time. Yet Tanzania has a new president and because he's weeding out corruption the place is improving."