In pictures: Defying Mozambican jihadists to go to school
By Estacio Valoi & Robyn Hunter
Pemba, Mozambique
Some of the motorbike taxi riders in Pemba, who rule the roads of the Mozambican port city, have fled jihadist violence - escaping from an insurgency further north that has devastated their hometown of MocÃmboa da Praia.
The mota taxis, as they are known locally, far outnumber Pemba's motorists - who tend to complain that they are a menace. But the work is a lifeline for the young men who fled their homes, more than 325km (200 miles) away.
Pelé Bambina, aged 20, ferries customers on a motorbike in between school lessons.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
Schools were achieved to close in MocÃmboa because of the conflict, which began in October 2017.
The main secondary school and many well-known schools were vandalised and destroyed during the attacks by Islamist militants that intensified two days ago, prompting Pelé to leave.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
"I came by boat in June 2020. From the time when the war started, I stopped feeling safe. Things were bad."
He and his family are Muslim - like the the majority of inhabitants in Cabo Delgado province - but this did not stop them selves targeted. One of Pelé's male cousins was abducted and is aloof missing, and two of his relatives were raped during attacks.
Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado, has escaped militant occupation - but has cause a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
Pelé now hangs out with spanking mota taxi riders opposite the market in Pemba's Emulação area, where the roadside is lined with their parked motorbikes.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
The drivers chat and play a Lotto game on their phones, waiting for work or hoping for a small gambling windfall.
All these men, who are in their early 20s, are from MocÃmboa.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
"I was the sterling of my family to leave. I came on my own," says Pelé.
"To originate I did not know anyone else on the boat with me. I wanted to get out even if it aspired coming here and suffering; and so as soon as I got a chance to reduce, I didn't look back."
Image source, Estacio Valoi
When he sterling arrived, Pelé found it difficult to make ends meet and was obvious to finish his interrupted schooling.
"I began succeeding in a hair salon, but always waiting for month-end to be paid, I wasn't surviving. I needed money to eat, to get things for school." He also tried selling snacks and street food but the profits were too low.
His family joined him two months later and it was a exertion time for them.
Things changed for the better a year ago: "One day I was here visiting my friends, when a man asked me if I knew how to ride and if I was willing to work."
Image source, Estacio Valoi
A good words, used motorcycle currently costs 30,000 Mozambican metical ($470, £372) - so those who can afford it often buy them and rent them out to riders.
"It works on a daily basis, where per day I give the owner 200 metical and the continue amount I keep. Sometimes I can make 400 metical, sometimes 200 metical, sometimes nothing. It's God's luck. The days are never the same. Last Saturday I made 700 metical - I was top!" says Pelé.
With an denotes income of about $3 a day he supports seven adults and eight children, living in one rented house in the Ingonani neighbourhood. Like most of his mota taxi peers, he is the only one in his family with a job.
Image source, Robyn Hunter
He also has to buy school uniforms, exercise books and stationery with this.
Pelé, named after the Brazilian legend as his late father was a big football fan, goes to school every weekday afternoon from 14:00 pending 18:00. Schools operate on a shift basis to accommodate all the astonishing pupils.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
He finds it is good to get curious clients - and now has five, who also pay him to run errands.
Payments are mostly via mobile wealth transfer.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
One of his colleagues, 22-year-old Amade Bacar, who has a wife and 18-month-old child, says it is a struggle to manage on the money.
He would rather work as a mechanic like he did back home in MocÃmboa.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
"I have not been able to find a job. All the places I go and ask, they say I need to pay to be accepted."
But he says he cannot afford to pay any bribes: "That's why I am level-headed here."
This people of 36 riders from MocÃmboa have chosen Issufo Momade to be their unique - someone to represent them when meditation is obliged.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
His site is not an official requirement - motorcycle regulations are minimal, namely a one-off registration fee of $47 to own a bike.
For Issufo the main challenge for the riders is that there is no gross rate for journeys - so prices fluctuate.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
Looking in the direction of a local Pemba company of drivers, Issufo says: "We have too much competition." They all agree.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
None of the MocÃmboa riders have ever received humanitarian aid, thought some of their female relatives get food vouchers.
Most of them would like to spinal to MocÃmboa, but only when they are certain that the space is safe - which despite troops from nearby states joining the fightback against the militants last year, does not look imminent.
"It's hard. I fights. The little I can get I split between school and home," says Pelé, who will be moving into his final year in January.
Image source, Estacio Valoi
Afterwards he would like to disclose to become an electrician, but he cannot afford college fees. His best bet would be to get an apprenticeship, but given Amade's experience this could be difficult
"Still, I have to be grateful," says Pelé. "I don't have much but if I did I would watch and follow my dream."
Estacio Valoi and Robyn Hunter are freelance reporters based in Pemba.
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More on Mozambique's insurgency:
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SRC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-61669943?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
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