Arrival in Pemba, Customs

2:20 PM (Friday, May 25)

Our flight lands in Pemba. As in South Africa, our plane is met on the runway by a lone plane manager who directs the plane to a stop some 100 yards away from the terminal where we stop and depart for the short walk to customs.

Customs is much different here than the airports that we are accustomed to in our larger destinations. Even in our larger international cities, most everyone speaks English, but that is not the case as our host speak the native Portuguese. The Portuguese settled this several centuries ago and often enslaved the people that they encountered. This often led to hostilities and the eventual freedom for those that were left behind. The language stayed and many of the tribal languages are left to distant tribes. However most all speak the national language of Portuguese.

Our first major in obstacle was just ahead of us as we, were told the necessity of obtaining a visa could now be managed at the airport with a letter from a local emissary giving us permission conduct our business in the country, developing a sustainable food source in the form of an aquaponics garden in the backyard of our IMB host (NAME) and their beautiful family.

Our Host

(Name) is a former college soccer player from Pittsburgh, PA. This Southwestern Baptist Theological graduate has a passion for the locals is indescribable. He seemingly is one continuous sentence of stores, names, people and as mentioned-passion. His wife, (Name) is a former school teacher. She literally was the breadwinner for the family as he completed his degree before heading to the mission field. The pictures that are on their wall in their house do not hide the love that these two missionaries have for one another and their family.

He and She met on a short-term mission trip which sparked the interest in the work of Lottie Moon. Their mutual interest in sharing the gospel with the nations is obvious. There is even a picture hung prominently above the dining room table with all the foreign countries that they have travelled together. Their partnership in sharing the gospel is unmistakable.

Customs in Pemba Airport

Our first roadblock is encountered when we reach customs. All four passports are gathered and carried to a different room. Our attempts to communicate our purpose is met with blank states, Although Portuguese is a member of the "love" languages (Romantic), the Spanish some on our team speak, all similarities seem to be non-existent at this point on our trip. Our alarm dissolves as our host comes around the corner to handle the conversations from here bringing a sense of relief to the team.

There are two hurdles that we must jump before leaving the airport. We must secure our visa and then pass through customs with our crates of tools and aquaponics equipment. Each of these items would be subject to a yet undetermined tax. If these were the only good in the crate, then all should go smoothly; if they inquire about a mysterious set of fishing equipment and their actual cost, this could prove to be very expensive and would ensure a hefty tax. This gift from Ron King of fishing equipment is taxable is probably much more than the aquaponics equipment.

Our first problem is encountered was that the letter that our host brought with him that is needed to secure our visa seems to contain only one name and not each name on the team. Thankfully, our host was able to supply the authorities with the information that all four names were actually inside the document. This was nearly 30 minutes of negotiating to pass through the double doors to the customs screening of our bags. Three of our checked bags were actually plastic tool rates that had been secured together by screws secured with our DeWalt drill. More negotiations to come.

The screws are apparently tagged with a card that has an invitation to open. The tools, still in their cartons as they were bought, provide an enticement to tax. . As is true in most countries, the negotiation is a game to some but a fear for others. Thankfully, this is not a game that the English speakers would have any fighting chance or really any hope of winning.

Waiting Outside the Airport in Pemba

As the team waited outside for the negotiations to finish, a group of national Mozambique children surround our Toyota Land Rover in attempt to sale us SIM cars for our phones and trinkets for our pockets. The water is enticing but with unsealed lids, it is obvious that this is a temptation that should easily be passed up. These children are looking for chocolate or money-either is fine with them which is sure to draw a much larger crowder -read: Andrew do not hand money to the kids 😊. This is common in most third world countries.

Sitting in the hot Pemba sun, we begin to get thirsty waiting for our host to return. His prolonged negotiations bring a worry to the team because our host has been working with the officials for well over an hour. A couple of us decide to go back in and find our host who has just finished up and is exchanging money. He gives Adam a handful of bills to go and purchase a few bottles of water for the team.

The small convenience store inside the airport has the bottles of water that we are looking for. The attendant punches the calculator several times and shows the final tally to Adam, who makes an attempt to count our currency for the correct number of bills but evidently coming up short based upon the face of the attendant. In Spanish (and Portuguese), Adam tells him no more. The attendant sighs and takes all of the bills out of Adam’s hand leaving us to wonder if we had just been had” in another one of the endless bartering games centered around every purchase. The “400” bills, according to our host, was probably a good deal. We leave the airport heading out to our next destination. It is not the Pemba Magic “Resort” that we had anticipated but is instead to our final destination of our IMB host, a “mere” 5.5 hours across the National Highway toward Northern Mozambique.