Mozambique is hot in January.  My backpack was pushing me slowly into the broken pavement as I trekked in Maputo. It’s a little dicey. Gas stations are equipped with sun-glassed guards toting pump-action shotguns, while malaria-crazed people wander the streets. But still, you get a sense that things are better than they were. This dusty capitol of a country racked by thirty years of war is trying to shake off its past and reach forward to an unsure future. And everyone is thinking about America’s new President, Barak Obama. I was amazed at what our new President meant to people in the distant regions of southern Africa. A few of the many conversations as I traveled in Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa:

Border crossing into Swaziland. My friend and I spoke to the father of a young family. When he found out that we were from the United States, he asked, surprisingly, “why is the eagle the symbol of the United States?” My friend replied, “it’s a symbol of freedom.” The man responded, “no, it’s a predator, but that will change with Barack Obama.” He was smiling broadly as we left, glad to have met Americans and to have shared his hope.