"If we cultivate small fields on the extremely fertile lowlands near the Limpopo, we risk losing our whole crop to frequent floods. If we cultivate the infertile land on higher ground, we face losing our crops to drought," said Maria Antonio Namburete, a 52-year-old widow and mother of five.
In recent years, climate change has wreaked havoc on this village of 500 people near the town of Chicualacuala, some 500 kilometers (312 miles), or a 10-hour drive, north of the capital Maputo.
Periods of extreme drought followed by heavy rains have ravaged the area, bringing poverty and forcing many men to migrate to South Africa and elsewhere in search of work.
Migration has been on the rise particularly since the region's devastating floods in 2000, when weeks of heavy rains, severe flooding and mudslides killed more than 700 people, drove half a million from their homes and destroyed farmland.
More than half of the population of Mapai-Ngale are now women, distributed in 130 families.
"Due to the effects of climate change, as women we hope for the best and plan for the worst," said Namburete, shielding her eyes from the fierce glare of the midday sun.
Women now head households and are in charge of farming and other traditionally male activities, on top of their duties at home and with children.
"We have now become de facto household heads, taking on menÂ?s roles," she said.
'NOWHERE TO RUN'
Over the past two years, drought has ravaged the area, drying up the river and turning grazing lands to dust.
The smell of rotting carcasses hangs in the air. Dozens of dead cows lie scattered underneath trees.
"The dry season is getting longer. The weather has become more unpredictable," said Namburete, pointing to the sun-bleached bones of cattle littering the ground. Irregular and unpredictable rainfall patterns, stronger and more persistent droughts, and strong winds that cause soil erosion and evaporation all are contributing to the community's problems, she said.
Lacking much else to eat, local women mix the dried skins of the dead animals with the roots of a wild plant - called xicutsi in the local Shangaan language - to make a porridge-like food.
The animals that are still alive are too skinny to be slaughtered for their meat.
"God has forsaken us. This is killing us. After floods, diseases such as cholera, malaria, and diarrhoea confront us. The drought comes with malnutrition and as women we have nowhere to run," Namburete said.
Women with babies on their back walk three kilometers down a dirt road near the Limpopo River to fetch water for their families. Barefoot and dressed in rags, they carry 20 litre-buckets on their heads.
Namburete's late husband migrated to South Africa in 2001 to find work but was murdered in 2008 during xenophobic attacks on foreigners, which left 62 people - mostly immigrants - dead.
Most men who migrate disappear or return home with HIV/AIDS-related illnesses or other diseases, adding to women's burdens at home. Some, like Namburete's husband, are killed.
Research suggests climate change will place additional stress on households living with HIV/AIDS, as families struggle to get the nutritious food that is key to helping those infected fight the virus.
High rates of HIV/AIDS infection in Mozambique will reduce the capacity of many women-headed households to adapt to climate change, researchers warn.
ERRATIC WEATHER PATTERNS
Mozambique experienced dramatic flooding in 1950 and 1977, but the 2000 floods were the worst, Namburete said.
According to research by Care International in 2006, Mozambique's temperature has risen by 0.6 degrees Celsius since the 1960s.
The rainy season now starts later than normal and rain falls in extreme downpours. This means that more water runs off into rivers rather than moistening the soil. Instead of predictable rain patterns, there are now gaps in the rainy season, the research said.
"In the past, we knew that with the winds from the south came the rain but now the winds are stronger, destroy our houses and bring no rain," Namburete said.
To make up for the lack of crops, women in Mapai-Ngale have diversified into producing an illegal liquor but the men who remain behind often drink it to excess and abuse the women, Namburete said.
As the situation in Mapai-Ngale makes clear, men and women are differently impacted by climate change as a result of their differentiated roles in the community, according to a study by the Heinrich Boll Foundation.
The study, "Gender and Climate Change: Mozambique Case Study", was conducted in two Mozambique villages and published this year.
Researchers investigated the impacts of climate change on gender and found that women generally have access to, but not control over, natural resources and other property rights.
"Women do most of the agriculture productive work. Droughts, strong winds and environmental degradation have caused them to spend more time working in agricultural projects to gain the same or lower yields than in previous years," the study said.
Women are left with less access to income or credit and have no voice in decision-making, making it difficult for them to find other sources of income or influence action on climate change, the research added.
Namburete said that in her village decisions are made not by women but by male relatives of their late husbands and sons.
"The customary law in rural Mozambique is that land, cattle and other assets can only be inherited by men because women may leave the community when they get married," the study said.
Saquina Mucavele, the coordinator of Mozambique's Women, Gender and Development Association, a gender advocacy group, believes the views of women must be taken into account if climate change is to be dealt with effectively.
"Here, when the climate change debate is brought to the fore, women are left out. Yet they are the same people who are facing the brunt of the effects of climate change," she said.
Fidelis Zvomuya, based in Pretoria, South Africa, is a writer specializing in environmental reporting.
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