Bristol is twinned with Beira

Beira after cyclone Idai

Bristol is twinned with the city of Beira, Mozambique, which has just been wrecked by a cyclone.


I visited Beira with two other Bristolians in 1990 on an official mission to try to find out what they needed.


The answer was - they needed everything.


Their schools had no equipment (the first tangible result of our visit was a consignment of inflatable globes to help them learn  geography), the water company had no chlorine, the architects had no tracing paper, the clinics had no medicines (my memory is of smiling staff in immaculate starched white clothes showing me their one remaining tablet of aspirin).

We arrived as the war against Renamo insurgents was just drawing to a close. We saw ghost like, traumatised refugees who had fled their homes gathering in compounds.

There wer beggars on the streets, though not as many as in Bristol now.


Amid all this poverty and trauma, the people of Mozambique remain the most pleasant people I have ever met.

I hope that the good people of Bristol and Bristol City Council will give generously to help our twin City.

More information here