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Can anybody explain me why in a country where the majority of the people live below the poverty line, I still have to pay two euro for an hour on the internet whereas in my home-country Netherlands, people have limitless broadband internet access for 15 euro a month? It makes these countries stay behind more than necessary. Imagine what it could do education, trade etc. if everybody would have access to the internet here. That evening, I had a beer with the manager of the French cultural centre in Maputo at the opening of an arts exhibition… ‘A litle bit bit of Kadinski,a glaas of wine?’, a friend texted me ironically from Kenya. But there wasn’t. Talking about arts in Mozambique, the word isolation came across: ‘There is a lot of potential here, but they keep running around in circles.

It’s easy to catch the atmosphere of positive growth, reconstruction in Maputo. Walking through the lush streets, you find people talking, chatting with each other. It seems that everybody is sick of the war, of insecurity and they want to show everybody. Compared to last year, roads and buildings have been reconstructed and shopping malls are being created. Buildings got a fresh paint. The atmosphere of growth is in the air. Although the country is still very corrupt according to the locals I was talking to. It can never be as corrupt as Kenya, I always think, when people anywhere in Africa start talking about corruption. But the last days, some things made me change my mind. I will come back to that later. And also: the Chinese are coming. China was one of the first countries to be visited

On my seven hour bus ride back, through the beautifull landscape of green hills, that seem to change colour with the hour, I realised that in my mother country Netherlands we can’t enjoy the luxury of wondering through nature for days. Ok, wondering for hours is possible on my favorite Dutch spots: Schier and Terschelling. Netherlands might be among one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but in terms of space you could call us a development country. Arrived at the Parkstation in Johannesburg, I wondered what I should think about the white couple, early twenties, that I met in the Johannesburg Bus station. I had met them the day I left. The guy came to me with a very long story that ended with the request if I could give him money because they had to leave that

Slowly moving to this Weblog… My other one is: http:www.afrikareporter.n/blogarjenwestra.html