28:24
You want to drink all of this? You're going to drink all of this today? Will you not be dead? I've been told to make sure that I hold on to my camera tight. And now people are shouting at me. Heroina, you know heroina. Heroin. You're doing heroin? Yes. When did you last take heroin? How long ago? This morning? Today? Yes. What are you doing here in the first place? Because this is a high criminal activity area. So, now we're going to this black market area where they have all kinds of electronics and things. Apparently, some of them are stolen and then they're resold for cheap prices. People have been telling me to hold on to my camera. Do you think it's dangerous for me to be walking around with this here?
What's the main meal that you eat? Can buy some crabs. When she has the money, when they don't, they just sleep without eating. Do you feel like you've been forgotten by the government in these neighborhoods? Mosamb beek, the only country in the world with a fully automatic weapon on its flag. Natural beauty, massive gas reserves, rich culture in history. A country which has recently faced insurgencies. The insurgency in Mosamb beek began in 2017. 700,000 have been displaced. This was an assault to send a message to the Mosambique government that it's far from over.
Major corruption. Sitting in court as he's handed a 12-year jail sentence. The son of Mosamb beek's former president was among 11 people found guilty in a corruption case. It involved state-owned companies illicitly borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars from international banks. But the cash disappeared and of using a $33 million bribe to buy luxury cars and a mansion in South Africa. The scam had plunged thousands of people into poverty across the country. hurricanes, one of the most powerful tropical storms ever recorded in the southern hemisphere and left a trail of destruction. Humanitarian crisis in Mozanique, forced out of their homes into flooded roads, and pounded by torrential winds and rain. Let's travel
this country, meet the people, and hear what they have to say about the current state of Mosambique. The Mozambique government wants the world to see this. We are fighting terrorist Africa Welcome to Maputo, capital city of Mosamb beek. Great to be back filming here to learn more about this mysterious country. Not many people know much about Mosamb beek. It's got some beautiful areas, untouched wilderness, but then it's also got a very dark side in the north of the country with insurgencies, terrorism, and things. It's also been hit by hurricanes recently, which has caused absolute devastation. There's
also strong corruption in this country as well. So, we're going to go around the capital city today, start the day in one of the biggest slums, and then we'll go and look at some more affluent neighborhoods later in the day, get a feel of the rich and the poor and everything in between. Okay, so we've arrived in this slum area, one of the biggest slums in the city called Mafala. And there's lots of uh people around here, you know, people of all walks of life. You know, you got uh kids in uniforms, you got people
selling things like at markets, and then there's also quite a few drug addicts around here. There's different kinds of drugs around here like people are on heroin and things. So, it's um you know, it's got this subtle feeling of calmness, but then I've been told to make sure that I hold on to my camera tight and now people are shouting at me. So, okay. So, we've met a few guys. What was your name, sir? My name is Jim. Draim. Yes. Nice to meet you. How is life? Yeah. Life is bad, but not a good life. Bad because I'm involved in drugs. You're involved in drugs? Yes. Like heroina, you know? Heroin. You're doing heroin? Yes. How did you start taking
heroin? How long ago? How long? Yeah. Maybe 3 years. Yes. The powder one. That one you mix and ganja. Oh, you mix it with weed. Yes. And you weeded and heroin? Yes. Wow. You make a cocktail. Okay. And every day? Yeah, every day. Yes. So, you collect cans and sell that? Yes. And then you buy heroin and weed. And do you see your family anymore? No. I'm scared to go to the house cuz you know now I'm bad. Yeah. Cuz long time ago I'm working shop, right? I'm technician. Fix the fridge. Shop, right? That's like an electronic shop, right? Yes. Okay. And right machine for the bakeries and daily. And what happened? Why did you stop? I'm just stop because
you know what is do every day in morning supposed to I'm going to smoke and then sometime I'm going late for the job right and just I stop. And what happens if you don't do heroin? Do you get shaky? I'm shaking. Yeah. Withdrawal. Make a problem in the stomach. Sick. Okay. When did you last take heroin? How long ago? This morning? Today? Yes. You took it today? How many hours ago? Maybe 2 hours. Do you feel it now? Yeah. Feels good. Right. You like Mosamb beek? I like Mozambique. You love it. It's not like a South Africa, right? South Africa is much more dangerous.
Yeah, cuz South Africa maybe in 1 hours and 1 hours you can see somebody is dead in the street, right? Okay. You know, people sometimes knife. Okay. Anything else that you'd like to say? You happy? I'm very happy. All right, man. Thanks for your time. Okay, so we're here with Ed Milson. And Ed Wilson's my right-hand man here in Mosamb beek. And you're going to be uh me around, right? Yeah. And showing you around. I was just filming a clip before. And when I was filming, the locals were saying, "Be careful with the camera cuz it's going to get snatched."
Yeah. You know, there's a lot of drug addicts like you've seen. It's kind of dangerous in some parts of town. Okay. Especially here, you know, in the arteries of this neighborhood. So, now we're going to this black market area where they have all kinds of electronics. Apparently, some of them are stolen and then they're resold for cheap prices. Let's see what it's like. So, we were just next to some police and you said hold on tight and I said there's some police there and you said that what they wouldn't do anything if I got like Yeah, something happens. Of course, when you see policemen you have that feeling of safety, but when something happened, usually they don't do much. Uh, someday I was walking by
the street and some lady got jumped by two guys, right? And the police were nearby and I went to ask them like for help and they say like, "What are you doing here in the first place? Because this is a high criminal activity area. You shouldn't be here in the first place. What are we supposed to do?" No, I was like, "What? You're the police, man. You should help us." So the police didn't try to get the person who stole. That's the norm. Yeah, basically you know many people got robbed and nothing happens. Nick. So we've come into the black market area. So Banglar is selling phone parts.
Phone part, laptop part, you know, repairs as well. Okay. It doesn't only sell but it repairs as well. And you were saying that anything you want you can buy it in this market. Yeah, you can buy pretty much. And how is life here in Mosmbique? when it rains, you know, this whole area is covered with water and you know, unemployment as well is one of the biggest issues here in Mozambique. As you can see, you know, a lot of young people resort to this kind of market to like make a living. Do you think that the leadership is doing a good job? manche.
People have been telling me to hold on to my camera. Do you think it's dangerous for me to be walking around with this here? He says there is a good thing that you're doing and you should go to more markets not only this to see other realities and not only here in Maputo but the other provinces as well. Yeah. So, you're selling whiskey? Selling or drinking? He says he bought this to bring. Yeah. He want to drink all of this. You're going to drink all of this today?
See, will you not be dead? He says that it hurts a lot. Is feeling some pain, but he rather be drinking and be dead. Doesn't want to go to the doctor because he doesn't want to know like what he has. So he rather just drink and drift away. Do you drink this much every day? See says is an alcoholic. How long have you been an alcoholic? He says doesn't remember like when he started drinking. What about the feeling of being drunk? Do you like what's the price for a box of whiskey like this? $12. So, we come to this nail studio here. He wants to organize everything first. I'm going to get a manicure from my man Elino. Elmin. And this is your job full-time, your business.
Okay. Yeah, this is job since 2008. Is it common for men to run nail salons in Mosmbique? Yeah, it's quite common, but it's not easy for men. Why? Um because it's like people like call it like a feminine kind of business and stuff like that. Yeah. But yeah, he started doing this like since he was eight. Oh, and what did people make fun of him or something? People used to tease him, but now they're used to him doing this seeing him doing this work and they respect him for the work that he does. Do lots of women and men come here or is it mainly women? He likes to have like women customers because they pay more. Okay. Has he ever done a foreigner before here?
No, but basically it's No, it doesn't hurt a little bit, but they're paying no gain, right? I'm actually very scared of doing this. Really? He can like pay the bills with this business. And even if he couldn't, he would fight, you know, to get something and do something for him to like live by, you know, like survive and things. What are his thoughts of the administration of the country? The people are not willing to talk about the government because of the whole oppression thing and stuff like that. So people are fearful to talk about Yeah.
Sometimes their real opinion of Yeah. Sometimes administration here sometimes especially on a camera you know off the camera I guess they can speak. What would be the consequences? No man being gunned down arrested. Seriously. Yeah. Stuff like that happened before. It's not like common, but yeah. And how do you feel talking about it? I mean, it's my right, bro. I have the right to talk about it. You know, if something happens, I mean, it happened, but you know, the reality is this. And I feel quite like safe, you know, in the environment that I live. So, yeah, I talk about it all the time and I have no problem whatsoever to talk about it in front of a camera. Right. Do you think that
you're in the minority of people who feel comfortable? Yes, definitely. Yeah. So, you say majority of people feel like oppressed and that they can't talk. Yes, of course. Ah, beautiful. What do you think? Oh, they're nice, man. Very nice. Congratulations, man. saying you don't need to take your shoes. That's all right. This is Miss Sia Francorenu. She invited us to know her house, you know, very humble as you can see. She's been living here she since she was 14 and she's now 41.
She complains water getting all over the place when it rains, you know, the raining season. So, it's quite difficult. She has a bread business. She sells bread. Do you live here alone or you have family? It's her and her son. So, is the bread business enough to support you and your son? No, it's not. How much do you earn a month if you don't mind me asking? 100 metrics. And do you have to pay rent here? This is her house. She doesn't pay rent. Okay. She spends a lot with electricity and with water. sometimes 500 metricals, but sometimes, as you can see, you know, there's no numbers there.
So, it's just some kind of hijack. So, they connect to the main cables, right? And run it off onto their smaller ones. Yeah. But if it costs 500 for water and 500 for electricity sometimes and she earns 100, how does that math work? I don't know what's the math. Right. But you know people, you know, they do whatever they can. The bed was stolen. Somebody stole her bed. They stole basically everything. And this was an offering from some people in the neighborhood like the TV and stuff. So the neighbors come together when something bad happens and help each other out. They usually do.
Yeah. They can buy some crops, you know, when she has the money, but when they don't, they just sleep without eating. Do you feel like you've been forgotten by the government in these neighborhoods? Is full of thieves and they report this kind of things all the time and nothing happens. It's not safe at all. And the thieves, they hide in the alleys. So at that time when she leaves the house, they're everywhere. And it's very scary. Miguel. Yeah. So your business is selling apples, but you're trying to become a musician, right? Mhm. He has a dream to become a professional musician and he's using this like because of the lack of jobs.
He's using this business to kind of like support his music career. Is selling apples a good business here? Sometimes it's a good business, but there's not like a lot of people to buy. This box of apples are actually here for from for 3 days now. I sold 10 today. How much does one apple sell for? 10 metacles. So 100 metacles in a day. Is that enough to survive? It's not much, but it's enough. And if people want to find your music, where's the best place? Facebook.
the color. Okay, Ed Wilson. So, we've uh driven through the town and you can see on the side of the road there's lots of nice developed shops and beautiful homes and things and even some of the apartments across the road you're saying can cost up to like $300,000 for an apartment. So obviously this is like prime real estate and the roads are laid out nice and it's a stark contrast from where we came from in the slum area right I just wanted to share with people watching it is quite an advanced country here right like you've got lots of modern infrastructure beacons are very resilient they do everything to survive like you saw that guy Bangla star on the market a lot of people you know resort to this kind of
informal business the numbers of unemployment are just huge Later in the series, we're going to go and explore different parts of the country. You were just saying that you think the government just puts all the resources into this city and then out in the middle of nowhere, there's just nothing really, no funds or injection of infrastructure. Very poor places like Delgado and Yeah. Cabo Delgado. That's the where the terrorist attacks have been taking place. This is almost like another planet, right? Yeah, it is another planet, man. It's not almost like it is unfortunately. Now we actually live in a crisis where the medics are protesting salaries and stuff like that. So you can go to the hospital and find no doctor there whatsoever.
This kind of things are bad you know and many stuff doesn't work. The state the government doesn't work. Many institutions are unbelievably corrupt. The byproduct of corruption is this you know poverty all over and people just trying to do anything to survive. you know, the big part of the cake goes to the peoples with affiliations with the party and stuff like that. So, yeah, that's quite usual. People that driving Range Rovers and other people can even afford a pair of shoes. Mosmb beek is known as a democracy, but what would you say about that? I mean, democracy here is a mirage.
The name democracy, if you call a country democratic, it doesn't mean that it actually is. A local rapper, a hip-hop star, he identified with the struggle of the people. And he talked about this kind of things in his songs. He died. He had a brain tumor. So, he had seizures. And you know a lot of people went to his funeral thanking him for the work he's done you know with the music and stuff and help bring awareness to people and tell them to not be you know scared to speak. We had this demonstration in the streets like showing our love and police were there man beating people up and stuff like that. So this kind of stuff, yeah, it happens usually, you know, it's a pretty oppressed country. Like if you live
here, you understand, right? But when you look at the surfaces only, it seems cool, but it's not. Okay, so back at the hotel. Big day after a 20our journey from Europe this morning. But yeah, as you can see, Adamson's got his head on his shoulders. Switched on guy. There's lots more to this country. Obviously, we saw, you know, the slum most of the day today and some other areas, the market and things. Um, but we're going to explore more of the city in the next video. And then later in the series, we're going to go further out to areas. We're going to go to the north where the insurgencies happened. That's where ISIS has
committed absolute atrocities and other areas like where the hurricane hit in the middle of the country. So, we're going to have a good explore around this country. Obviously, this city has incredible areas and nice beach areas as well. But obviously there's the other areas like we went to today. We'll learn more about this country. People are absolutely great. Very open people, lovely, charismatic, chatty. Great to be back filming after a break there and can't wait to show you what travels are to come. Thank you so much for watching. And in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good
