I feel a thrill facing an African road at 5.30 in the morning as the sun takes hold; the road, a red ribbon of laterite, stretches far away into the distance and the sky is an immense bowl.

Already there are dozens, hundreds, thousands of people walking. This for me is the real Mozambique- the real Africa. It is not the listless, hopeless, motionless groups of young men visible in urban situations. It is the countryside – a giant heap of activity wherever your eye sweeps.

Many, many barefooted women are walking to the fields with their only implement, the hoe, over their shoulder or balanced on their head. Few men do this work which they feel demeaning to their masculinity. The figure on a bike in the distance though, is certain to be a man.

At this time of day, the most striking image is that of the children going to school. Small primary school children are trotting along, and you know, as they wave, that they have another hour or more to walk. The school is a long way back.

Because primary schools have usually three shifts each day to cater for the numbers, the first shift starts at 6.30am. In urban areas these same schools will then be used once more for night classes.

In such a poor country the challenge of providing education to a population where 50% are under the age of 18 is enormous. In the poor rural north and centre the schools are often just reed or palm huts, doorless, windowless, chairless and bookless.

In the summer children will often sit under a nearby tree with the teacher in front and a blackboard hanging from a branch.

This morning I see dozens of children dragging and carrying palm branches, some already partly woven, on their way to school. As this part of the country has huge palm tree plantations and I know how homes and schools are built I understand what the children are doing but I stop.

 “It’s to build”, they say in a tone of wonder at how silly a passing white man can be. “Build what?” “But a new classroom of course”, they reply, shaking their heads in bemusement at my naivety.