MEMBA, MOZAMBIQUE: International City of Peace
We welcome Trienke Lodewijk and her colleagues who have established Memba, Mozambique as an International City of Peace. Trienke was instrumental in developing the Nuarro community, which has built schools, educated citizens on the environment and health issues, and much more. The town of Memba is in the Memba District of Nampula Province in north-eastern Mozambique.
The City of Peace initiative was mentored by Nikki de Pina, Outreach Coordinator, Peace Tourism.
Note: Introduction page with information primarily at the time of joining International Cities of Peace. For updates, please contact the liaison.
ABOUT ANAN
The people of Nanatha already set up Anan (Assoção dos Naturais e Amigos de Nanatha) because the community felt they were facing major problems, suffering from poverty and diseases without having the ability to fight against it. They have joined together to empower their strengths. They were (financially) supported and encouraged by Divers Eco-operation (DEO).
DEO is an ecologically aware and socially responsible tourism project and strives for poverty alleviation and overall development of the local community of Nanatha. DEO is linked to the nearby Nuarro lodge.
Please read more about the Nuarro lodge here, www.nuarro.com.
With the existence of the lodge and the ‘Memorandum of Understanding’, the agreement between the lodge and the community, the control on this project is assured. In this MOU is agreed on the rights and obligations of both parties.Nuarro sponsors the community with a fixed amount per month, this creates a certain cash flow for the community projects.
In cooperation with Anan Clinica Foundation, DEO set up a couple of programs to help the community on their main concerns:
Community Centre
Building a community centre with 2 school buildings and the Anan Clinica building.
Education
Nuarro Lodge has built 2 school buildings in Nanatha.
Water Project
Clean water is provided for schoolchildren
Agriculture
Vegetable gardens are created to provide for the community more variety of food.
Market
A market is build to increase the economic activity in the village. The market enhances the turnover rate of the money that is put in the community by employing over 150 workers from the village.
GOALS
Setting up an education program on health subjects
The first objective is to provide the community of Nanatha with an education program on health subjects to improve knowledge about health, hygiene, and common diseases. A Village Health Committee (VHC) consisting of 15-20 people, also known as the activistas, helped to set up the programme. They are volunteers and are trained on subjects as malnutrition, diarrhea, hygiene, malaria, Sexual Transmitted Diseases, HIV/AIDS and family planning. These problems cause the highest mortality and morbidity and are relatively easy to prevent. The activistas are responsible for passing this knowledge over to community the community.
Setting up a program for education, agriculture and water management
After several years working on health subjects, we have extended the program with education, agriculture projects and water
management. 3 School-buildings have been realized, besides better housing for the school-teachers. In total there are 5 classrooms for primary pupils and 2 classrooms for infants. There are 2 vegetable gardens, maintained by the local people. Clean water is supplied at the school, for the children. This system will be extended, so clean water will be available for all people.
Cooperation with other non-governmental organisations
The goal is to collaborate more with NGOs that are active in the area on the problems of Nanatha and their need for structural help.
We pursue to be a well-established base for different non-governmental organizations and public health campaigns and to implement programmes that concentrate on preventing diseases and promoting health clean water and better knowledge of agricultural in general.
ABOUT THE NUARRO LODGE
Nuarro Lodge is an eco-lodge located in the remote area of Nanatha, in northern Mozambique on an 800 Ha concession bringing responsible tourism in its true form. The lodge is located on the tip of Memba bay that fringes the edge of the continental shelf offering world class diving and snorkeling. In this remote location there are very few opportunities for the people to support their livelihoods. No schools or medical assistance were available in Nanatha prior to the lodge opening and people were depleting the area of fish and using the bush and land unsustainable to support their livelihoods.
The project has managed to create under a Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) with the community a ‘co-ownership’ of 133Ha of the concession land for the community to live on, a marine protected area of 100Ha in Nanatha bay, a 500 Ha conservation area with sustainable use of bush and land, employment of 90 local people (peak of 250 during construction) supporting close to 1000 family members and via Anan Clinica, a non-religious charity set up by the owners of Nuarro Lodge, several community projects successfully like a clinic, a school, a community center and health education projects as part of the MoU.
During construction several training programs were given to teach the local community languages, hospitality skills, construction skills and social skills.
The lodge’s main activity is diving / snorkeling. Fishing is not offered as activity (even though this would be a great revenue generator) due to the MoU in place that the community would not fish in the protected zone (Nuarro Bay).
The lodge was built and designed with the natural environment in mind. A local building style was adopted using local materials and almost everything was made on site by the local community. A dry sanitation and a gravity feed water system was implemented to reduce water use, energy use and impact on the environment. The design of the chalets gives ample insulation and airflow to avoid the use of air condition systems. A water purification plant was added later to clean the borehole water to ensure safe drinking water for guest, staff and community workers, use of bottled water is discouraged at Nuarro. Warm water is made with decentralized solar heather geysers to reduce electricity use.
An extensive investment has been made into an Off-grid ‘hybrid power station’; a solar, wind, and battery system with a backup generator, which provides electricity to the entire lodge including the dive center’s air compressor, the water treatment plant and the restaurant/ bar/kitchen freezers and fridges.
Letter of Intent
ABOUT THE LIAISON
Trienke Lodewijk moved twenty years ago to Africa from The Netherlands. In 2006 in consultation with the government of Mozambique, she started the process of.
Trienke was instrumental in starting the building project in 2007, which resulted in the lodge and the Community Centre. In the peak time of building, the group employed 250 people from the Nanatha village in Memba district. Today, Nuarro employs around seventy-five people form the community.
In the Community Centre is a school with four teachers and 450 kids attending. There is a small clinic and agriculture project. Trienke and her colleagues are employing a community worker as well as medical volunteers from The Netherlands.
CONTACT INFORMATION
www.nuarro.com
NOTE: Photos of Memba area used with permission by Trienke Lodewijk.
ABOUT MEMBA, MOZAMBIQUE (from Wikipedia)
Memba District is a district of Nampula Province in north-eastern Mozambique. The principal town is Memba.
Mozambique is a country located in Southern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini (Swaziland) and South Africa to the southwest. The sovereign state is separated from the Comoros, Mayotte and Madagascar by the Mozambique Channel to the east. The capital and largest city of Mozambique is Maputo (formerly known as “Lourenço Marques” from 1876 to 1976).
Nampula is a province of northern Mozambique. It has an area of 79,010 km² and a population of 5,758,920, making it the most populous province in Mozambique (2017 census).[2] Nampula is the capital of the province.
Lighthouse at Memba Bay built in 1923.
School Buildings at Naurro.
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