Bamboo, The Wonder Grass

Romão just came over to ask for a hammer.  He dropped the bucket down the well and now wants to nail together two long bamboos to fetch it out.  People here use bamboo so much.  Rooves are usually made of long bamboo beems, and small construction projects, like shower rooms, can be made entirely of bamboo covered in grass.  In more tropical parts of Mozambique we have volunteers that live in homes with walls made from slender bamboo reeds tied together in thick bundels.  Furniture, like tables and chairs, can be made of bamboo; we have several examples serving usefully in our home.  At school it's not uncommon to assign students to bring bamboos to build fences or other school projects, so at most times there is usually a large pile somewhere around campus.  Almost all fences are made of bamboo, including what's left of our own.  Unfortunately bamboo makes a great firestarter, so on occasion we've had small portions of our fence disappear just before dinner time under the cover of darkness.  Bamboo can be used to protect young trees or gardens from animals.  Bamboo is essential for all kinds of kids' entertainment. They use it to make little cars or toys, or use it just to fight with.  Bamboo can enhance almost every aspect of life.  Getting fruit out of tall trees is a lot easier with a long bamboo, especially papaya trees which are so hard to climb.  Our grass mats for relaxing in the shade during hot summer days are made from split bamboo.  People use bamboo for fishing poles. Bamboo can be used to build extended luggage racks on the backs of bicycles for transporting bulky items like bags of charcoal, mangoes or goats.  Also popular are portable bamboo chicken coops, known here as capoeiras (the Brazilian martial art inspired by cock fighting got its name from these bamboo cages).  The best thing about bamboo is that it grows so abundantly here.  Plus every year new shoots will replenish previously harvested material, making it a renewable resource, unlike our old growth trees which are rapidly disappearing and take hundreds of years to return after harvesting.