Skillz of a PCV

With the group of education volunteers before me getting ready to leave in November, I have been thinking a lot about what exactly have I learned in Peace Corps? My roommate has been filling out an application to teach in Korea, and we have been laughing at our skill set since living in Mozambique. I must say, I am never going to be able to have a normal interview again.
Interviewer "Well Mr. Davis, what can you bring to our Company?"
Nick "To be honest, I can poop in a hole and make xima."
For some reason, I do not see that helping me get a job. Although some of my skills as a Peace Corps Volunteer do not translate well into the working world of the United States, I must say... I am proud of my new way of life.

Skills that Kills
1) I can poop in a hole (who hasnt ever wished that?)
2) I am fluent in Portuguese
3) I can carry a trashcan size bucket of water on my head
4) I am phenomenal at ignoring people calling me Mulungu,Muzungu, or Makunha
5) I can live for 7 months off of beans, rice, and veggies
6) I can cook a delicious dish using every single part of the pumpkin plant
7) I can tolerate gross instant coffee
8) I can tolerate the largest of cultural differences in mass quantities
9) I can eat fried bugs, boiled giant snail, monkey, gazelle, and who knows what other types of food...
10) I can sleep without a mattress for months at a time
11) I can get completely clean using only a bucket of cold water and soap
12) I can wash any article of clothing with my hands
13) I can shave my face without a mirror
14) I can patiently wait for people to show up 20-30 minutes late... consistently
15) I can walk 8km from a farm with a sack of corn on my head and enjoy all the people staring at me and speaking in their local dialects as I do so.
16) I can teach chemistry, physics, biology, and art classes to high school students... in Portuguese
17) I can get an entire market crowded with people to look at me just by saying a phrase or 2 in their local language.
18) I kill, clean, and cook a chicken, duck, and goat. (Dont do this often)
19) I can travel a 3rd world country in ways that I never thought I would ever have to (packed beds of trucks with 25+ people, hitchhiking, and bicycle)
20) I can weigh 300 babies in a single day
21) I can surprise people by saying that I am not Brazilian, Chinese, or Portuguese.
22) I can read book, after book, after book without getting bored
23) I can live 8 months on only 12 cents per day...
24) I can integrate into different cultures without feeling stressed or feeling overwhelmed
25) I can say that I helped a witch doctor cut off a chicken's head that was used for a ritual...
26) I can make entire meals from food that I had grown in my own backyard
27) I can make children cry just by being a white person
28) I understand what homesickness actually is
29) I know what true corruption can look like and function
30) I know what its liked to be asked for sex multiple times per day on a fairly regular basis
31) I can kill black mambas with shovels and hoes.

I have given you a list of 31 things that I can and am able to do because of the Peace Corps. I am hoping that they can translate, somehow, into my life... but for some reason, I think a few will be "talents" that are only there for the story

If You Can't Beat em, Change the Rules so they Lose

Students taking the Math final

The last week of the 2^nd trimester. It’s been a busy week, but overall a good one. Let me tell you, proctoring exams here in Mozambique has become a game of catch the cheaters for me. I will explain. My daily routine this week is wake up at 6:00, have some coffee, take a bath, listen to some of the lion king soundtrack, and then make the 3 minute walk to school. I greet my colleagues, grab the tests for my assigned class, and enter the classroom. Students greet me with the usual “Bom dia senhor professor, como esta hoje?” We continue, and I explain that if I catch them cheating, then I will tear up their test and cheating material, allow them to get a new piece of paper, and begin again. The reason I do not kick them out or give them zeroes is because of this countries culture on cheating. If I gave every student that cheated a zero, then only 10% would actually get to take the exam. The other 90% would just shake off their zero, laugh, and know that they will probably pass anyways. This is because the school system is under an extreme pressure from the district. This pressure is to show successful test scores. The only problem is that the curriculum assigned by this country is way above the kids’ heads, and often times the tests are poorly written. The kids, first of all, are given an improbable task. Second off, the schools do not fail children like they should. If they fail the correct number of students, then the district will get upset and say the school is not doing it’s rightful job. In reality, children are being passed through school without having to actually learn anything. I have hundreds of students in 8^th grade who are illiterate. How did these kids pass their tests and work in Primary School if they do not know how to read and write in Portuguese? Here lies the problem. From the top, the district is forcing the schools to lie, cheat, and forge. The students see this, and assume that this is the way that things are done in life. They begin to avoid actually doing better work, and formulating ways to cheat and “just getting by”. It is an extremely sad situation, and it kills my heart to see these kids thrown in this position. I have been using this week to create an environment where the students literally cannot cheat. I tear up cheaters’ tests, cheating material, and give them a chance to retake the test with the remaining time. Afterwards I give them a brief lecture on the importance of preparing for life situations. They can easily prevent their bad grades if they would open their notebooks, and put forth the effort of memorizing and studying. Many students resent me as I tear up their tests and cheating materials, but I can tell that some agree with me… They just have not been taught how to go about an honest and hard-working manner to learn. I want the students to know that I am not angry at them for cheating. They think that they are stuck in a culture of cheating. They are too caught in their culture to realize that an individual can live outside of the norm. I want them to realize they can succeed. I want them to realize that I am doing this to give them a chance. A chance that other students in this country are not getting. A chance to learn the importance of pushing yourself through good ole work ethic. They are amazed to hear that I have learned Portuguese in under a year, that I have 2 college degrees, and that I read in my spare time for fun. They are confused and baffled by me, but I have a feeling that some respect it and will hopefully strive to improve their scholarly ways. I want them to break from the chains of this impossibly run school system, and I want them to make an impression on their country. There are many bright, and intelligent young students in this country, they just need to find a way to use their intelligence for the benefit of themselves, their families, and this country that is trying to find it’s way out of poverty and monetary corruption.

Dinner is Served



Pumpkin, bean, and banana trees in our yard

Buffalo wings, Deep Dish Pizza, Hungry Howie’s Large peperoni Pizza, Domino’s 5*5*5 Pizzas, Big Juicy Burgers, Waffles, Blueberries, Blackberry Cobbler, Milkshakes, Tacos, Black-bean Chili, Gyros, Pitchers of Miller Lite/High Life, Dunkin Donut and a Dunkaccino, Breakfast Burritos from Sonic, McDonald’s French Fries, Taco Bell(It’s a fault of mine)… oh my goshhhhhh foooooooooooood!!! If you haven’t noticed, I have lost a little bit of weight since moving here to Mozambique. I would say at my skinniest, I had lost close to 25lbs. Where I used to live, Imala, there was not a lot to choose from. During the hunger time (Tempo de Fome), there was really only rice, xima, caracata, dried beans, bugs, snails, and sometimes old onions. This was at the end of the dry season when all the machambas were dead, and no one had any fresh food in site. December and January were a rough 2 months, and even rougher for the people of the community who did not have money to buy anything. They lived off of the stashed, dried food that they hoped would not go bad through the months of dry season. Depression is at an all-time high during these months, and people sit around all afternoon, saving their energy and reducing their calorie intake. It is a very sad time of year. They only fresh food in season during tempo de fome is mango. Trees are filled with delicious mangos. Children and adults can be seen throughout the town hurling rocks at trees, and collecting the fallen mangos for their families. Once the rain starts, the food situation changes drastically. People’s plates are full with fresh vegetables, beans, and fruits. Food is on a strict seasonally basis. Pumpkin, bean, cassava, corn, cucumber, melon, okra, peanut, potato, sweet potato, peas, millet, wild basil, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, onion, carrot, tomato, papaya, orange, tangerine, banana… it is phenomenal the amount of food that can be produced from the land when a family puts effort into a machamba. Although 

Food from my yard.

these foods are plentiful, they only last a certain time frame, because once out of season they will be gone until the following year. A prime example is pumpkin. In our yard, we produced 21 pumpkins this year. For 2 months, we ate pumpkin twice a day, every day for the entirety of that time. Pumpkin curry, boiled pumpkin, pumpkin skins, pumpkin soup, cold pumpkin soup, pumpkin butter, pumpkin bread, and even delicious, leafy dishes made from the pumpkin leaves. The leaves of pumpkin, cassava, and bean plants are surprisingly healthy, rich, and delicious in mashed forms called matapa, and in soups. My favorite meal was a delicious pumpkin curry that I had perfected. It was boiled pumpkin mashed up with finely chopped pumpkin leaves. Add garlic, tomato, crushed peanut, curry powder, and piri piri peppers. Served with a freshly formed ball of xima, and perfeito!!! It is such a deliciously filling meal that can last 2 days. We frequented cucumber salads with onion and lemon. Bean soups using the leaves from the bean plants as well. Man do I loveeeeee some of the food here. The only problem is, I miss good ole American cuisine. On the rare occasions of eating chicken here, it is delicious! It still does not compare to a nice plate of buffalo chicken wings, however. It is definitely a very healthy lifestyle here. I have not felt this physically healthy in a long time. I go for runs, do daily pushups and situps, along with walking long distances every day or 2. I carry water on my head and in my arms. That being said, when I return to the United States of America, you will be able to find me a the nearest sports bar with a 3lbs plate of wings, a giant plate of fries, and a beautifully cold pitcher of Miller watching whatever sport is being featured on the many, large screen televisores. I must go, because this post is killllling me just thinking about the food that has slipped away from my fingers for a 27 month period. Ate a proxima.

High TIde and Low Tide

The Peace Corps, in my opinion, is a roller coaster of emotion and mental tribulation. It is the only time in my life when I could feel on top of the world at noon and be ready to write off the entire human population by dinner. It is very difficult, yet rewarding living in another culture. It is not a glamorous lifestyle in the least bit, and the immediate results of our work essentially do not exist on most days. Very often I reflect on my days wondering what exactly I am here for. It is in those moments that something happens to bring me back to my reality that I am here for my service… not to make myself feel better. Any help I give is worth my time being here, and that’s one thing that a volunteer can never forget. Just being here, at times, is opening up people’s minds to outsiders and new ideas. I am, in the very least, here as a cross cultural experience. There is no elaborate way to “save” the world. All we can do is live one day at a time. I remember in a wonderful organization I worked with in college, we did highs and lows after every day of service. We would go around the circle and everyone would give their highs and lows of the day. Well I have been doing that in my journal every day for a while during my service. I am going to share some of these highs and lows, just to give my friends and family an idea of the mental side of my service. Just keep in mind, these have been highs and lows throughout the past 10 months. There is some varying degree day to day.

Goodbye Picnic in Imala with some students... bittersweet

Lows:

People have been making fun of me all day for the way I am speaking Portuguese that I began to learn just months ago. I am trying to learn Macua, but no one helps, they just laugh at me. I told a friend that I would help on his machamba and he laughed at me, saying that white people cannot wake up at 4am and 5km is too far for me to walk. My girlfriend of over a year broke up with me today over a whatsapp message and refused to call me to talk about it. My ankle is swollen like a softball from this stupid infection. I was yelled at by a doctor saying that us Americans are too controlling and should not be here helping their country… we should mind our own business. Today, I was told that I am too selfish and that I need to give more money to my community. I was held at knife point by an 8 year old in my own yard. I saw a 12 year old being dragged across the sand, half naked, while 50+ people yelled and screamed that he was a thief. Today I got bit on the butt by a dog haha. I have to leave Imala today, as I am being transferred to Lichinga. The district forgot to send a car to pick up my science fair kids and I, and when we finally got there they yelled at me for being late. I got punched in the face and my Iphone stolen today, good story huh? One of my students left school and is being forced into marriage. Keith got engaged and I probably will not be able to go to his wedding. I had to give 44 zeroes to students for cheating on their tests today.

Highs:

I got to skype my mom today! My student Benson asked me for extra help after class with a circuit problem. I got to travel to Monopo with my girl’s empowerment group and give them that experience to travel outside of Imala. My students won 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place in this district science fair for 8^th-10^th grade! I was complimented on my Portuguese by a Portuguese volunteer that I met. Ari and I finished out education mural on the school today. Peixonete and Iro, 2 little boys, told me that I was a good cook. I spent the day exploring Ilha de Mozambique. My dad is buying his tickets to visit me in December, this week. My new pedagogical director thanked me for my time here to help them at the school. I made a photo album with pictures of friends and family. I got to go camping on Lake Niassa this weekend. I met the director of the Hospital here in Lichinga. My students asked me for an extra class because they wanted to continue learning about chemical reactions. My students told me that I speak better Portuguese than most white people they know. I played soccer with some kids. I got to hike up a mountain in Montepuez and enjoy the beautiful country. I cooked lunch on firewood for 200 people with Sonia today. I have the opportunity to help organize and set up a chemistry lab in one of the Lichinga high schools.

I wish I could exactly explain how many emotions are felt on a daily basis here, but I have giving into the cold, hard fact that I will not be able to accurately express it. Through the tough and easy, all we can keep doing is enjoying every moment we have.

Travelling on the Heart of Gold

Atop a mountain in Montepuez we can see a wild Jeanette in here natural habitat. Sun bathing in a low hanging tree as she waits to return home for a nice bowl of peanut and banana porridge. It is clear she chooses a location close near the edge, as Jeanettes like the view of the houses at the base of the mountain. Let’s just hope the wind direction keeps us downwind. If this wild beast catches our scent, our expedition could prove fatal.

 

 

I left Imala at 4:30 am on the first chapa for Muecate. After a 2 hour ride over a distance of 50km south, I hoped off the chapa and grabbed a bundle of bananas. I hoped on the next passing open bed truck and shared the bananas with the other passengers. We sat in silence for the next 30 minutes until we reached the EN8. The place is called Nacavala, and it is the crossroad where you can leave the main road and head almost 70km north to the small post of Imala. I decided to walk down the road away from all the vendors, and start flagging down a car to hop in. I was heading east about an hour to Namialo. A nice man in his 30’s pulled over in a black SUV and let me hop in with him. We talked about education in this country, and how corruption is ruining the chance for children to properly learn. We picked up 4 more people on the way, and when we reached Namialo the man charged us all 20 meticais. As I got out of the car he proudly gave back my money, and told me to have a safe trip. He said he appreciated our work here for his country. This left a mark in my heart, because it is an extremely rare occasion that people show any sort of appreciation for the Volunteers in this country. It is those moments that we as Volunteers live for. It is those moments that keep us here in this country. I thanked him, gave him the Mozçambican handshake with a snapping of our thumbs, and I walked away from the black SUV. As I began to walk north up the road I started flagging down cars for my next 2 hour leg to Nacaroa, where I would spend a few days with Justin. Another volunteer, whom has become one of my best friends. We nerd out to a level that I can only explain with equations and integrals, so I will leave that out of this blog to save a shred of my integrity. I hoped in an old beat down van with a group of people, and no one said a word for 2 hours… It is the classic silence of this country. You become quite used to it. Next thing I knew, I was hopping out of the car, thanking the driver, and walking 2km down a dirt road to find Justin’s house. It is typically easy. You just find a passing stranger and ask where the white teacher lives. They typically give crappy directions, but good enough to find the general area. I made it to Justin’s, and we spent the next 2 days cooking pumpkin curry with a pumpkin that I had brought from my machamba. I forgot to mention, it is quite common to travel with bags of food and carrying large vegetables on your head. We had a great couple days together. He took me around Nacaroa, we practiced some tae-kwon-doe, and cooked some phenomenal food. On the third day I walked out to the main road and spent 3 hours on the side of the road trying to flag down a car heading north into Cabo Delgado. I was making my way to Montepuez. I was to visit my friend Jeanette and her roommate. After a long wait, a car finally slowed down and let me in. They began speaking in a language that was not native of here. I asked what it was, and they said they were from Somalia. They were extremely nice. We had a great hour ride to the boarder of Cabo Delgado, where we were stopped by transit officers. They immediately began trying to bribe the Somolians and threatening to take them to prison. While this was happening, another officer came and began to question me. Where are you going? Why are you in this country? Who are you? What’s in your bag? Finally I gave them the copy of my passport, because it is known for transit officers to take a real passport until you pay them money to get it back. I explained that I was a volunteer teacher. The officer then began asking if I had any weed that I could sell him. I told him at least 20 times that I had no drugs on me and that he was being extremely unprofessional. He raised his voice, and walked away. After about 20 minutes we were finally allowed to pass. Let me just follow this with the word corruption. It is a hugeeee problem in this country. It is keeping this country in a constant state of mistrust. The next 3 hours were fun as the Somolians and I talked about Somolia and the US. As we reached Metoro, we exchanged numbers. They went east towards Pemba, and I hoped on a chapa west, towards Montepuez. Here is where I talked with some people about the area and bought some chick-peas on the side of the road. It was a 2 hour ride, but we finally made it to Montepuez. It was gorgeous and pretty developed. I immediately fell in love. I made it to Jeanette’s house, and we spent the evening cooking with her roommate. I made some hummus, and we chowed down on some delicious food. The next morning I took another 3 hour chapa to Namuno to visit Salome, one of my best friends here in Peace Corps. She lives in a mato site, a lot like Imala. We took a great hike through the machambas and had dinner with her sitemate Senior Pope, a health volunteer. We made macaroni and cheese from a care package her mom sent!!! It was phenomenal! We had the usual chats about our life here as volunteers and shared our experiences. The next morning we took a chapa back to Montepuez. 3 hours later we reached Jeanettes house again. We spent the next couple days hiking the mountain, exploring the city, and meeting people along the way. While buying tickets for the bus back to Nampula City, we ran into an old man with an infected leg. It was literally rotting off, and it looked like a hug animal had bitten him. He said it was a crocodile bite, and it was apparent. He smelled of whiskey, and I knew that infection was going to kill him. I gave him 10 meticais for the hospital and treatment. I have a feeling he just used it to buy more whiskey, but I seriously hope he actually went to the hospital. We boarded the bus after a few days, and took the 7 hour ride to Nampula City for our reconnect conference. I will say, travelling in the country always brings good stories and memories. So many details that I wish I could share. Only through time will I be able to explain everything that we experience. I am hoping this was at least a good taste.

Lists of 10

As I laid in my bed last night, I had a thought. Ughhhh, I really don’t want to get up to turn off the light. That was the first time I have had that thought in almost 11 months. Living in Imala, without electricity, I never had to worry about that. Once it got dark, it was dark. There was no light pollution, and no lights to turn off before heading to bed. Here in Lichinga, life is different. Let me continue this by saying there are a lot of things that I have not done or said since getting into the Peace Corps. It is the culture difference that makes Peace Corps a NEW experience, but it is the subtleties of the Peace Corps that make service such a crazy different experience. Around 10 months in Mozambique so I will share a few lists of 10.

10 Things I have not done in 10 months

1)    Driven a Car

2)  Stepped on carpet

3)  Taken a hot shower before school

4)   Used water from plumbing

5)   Used an oven (I frequented making a dutch oven over coal)

6)   Gone to a movie theater

7)   Drank a Miller High Life/Lite

8)   Eaten a hamburger (exist here, just have never eaten one)

9)   Seen a Microwave

10)                      USED A DOOR KNOB

10 Things I have missed for 10 months

1)    My record player and albums

2)  My Wok (so easy and awesome to cook on)

3)  Paved roads

4)   Reading the news

5)   Carpet

6)   Mattress (which thankfully I just got last week)

7)   Running water

8)   Reliable and Affordable internet

9)   Pizza

10)                      MY FAMILY

10 New habits I have gained in 10 months

1)    Boiling drinking water

2)  Bathing out of a bucket

3)  Washing clothes by hand

4)   Greeting every single person that you pass, every single day

5)   Drinking gross, nestle instant coffee

6)   Cooking on coal

7)   Working out daily

8)   Eating a diet of 90% vegetables and essentially 0% meat

9)   Not having any expectations

10)                      SPEAKING PORTUGUESE

Leaving Imala... Hard Times

I’m back, and living with energy. Get ready to have frequent blog posts. I would like to have one every day, but we will see how that goes. It will most likely happen every other or third day. First of all, let me explain what has been going on in my life. I was living in Imala for 7 months. This was an administrative post out in the bush of Nampula Province. I lived with a volunteer that had arrived last year. His name is Ari, and he teaches English at Imala Secondary School. Our entire town did not have electricity, except at our school. The school was wired to a solar system that was not properly taken care of. The result was weak system that could, kind of, charge cell phones. This has been the reason for my disappearance, and why my blogging life had lacked. Due to administrative problems at our school, and a lack of student participation, our supervisors decided it was better to move to a school that really wanted to utilize some outside help. My roommate Ari closes his service in November, so he is to remain in Imala until then. I, however, was transferred out of the bush of Nampula, and to a neighborhood just outside of Lichinga. It is the capital of Niassa Province. Niassa is the largest province in Mozambique, but it is also is the least populous. My life has drastically changed over the past week, and I am still getting used to electrical appliances and easy access to water. My life in Imala was as such… I taught art to 8^th graders, and Physics to 10^th graders. We carried water a quarter mile or so. This was water for cooking, drinking, and bathing. We lived in a mud house with a light layer of sand/concrete mix. Our roof was made of zinc, and got extremely hot. The yard had a mango tree and cashew tree. We had transplanted 3 orange trees, an ata tree, and 3 banana trees. There were also 3 papaya trees beginning to grow. I turned most of the yard into a garden, and had grown pumpkin, beans, manioc, lettuce, and tomato. The house was on the property of an elementary school, and was never quiet. We had people at our house from sunup to sundown. I learned Portuguese extremely quickly, and became very integrated into the community. We had a group to teach youth about health and sex, Ari had a literacy group, and we had opened a library at the secondary school in one of the empty rooms. I ran a science fair group, and painted a mural on the side of the school with Ari. It was to reinforce education to the community and students, because motivation completely lacked. At times we would visit our friend’s farms and help them collect products, or weed the area. For the most part, everyone focused only on their farms, and took education as a joke. I loved the town, but it was difficult to work at the school when we frequented days with 0 teachers, no director, and around 25 students for the entire school. It is a very sad situation, but I truly believe the town needs time to adjust before they can take education seriously. My last few weeks in Imala were difficult. Ari and I discussed, constantly, the effects of us in the community. How we were helping. If our presence even meant anything. If me transferring to help another community and school was worth it. It was so difficult to look at my life in that aspect. It seemed very egotistical, and I felt like I was letting my friends and students down. I still do not know the right answer, but what I tell myself is that Peace Corps has limited resources and a limited number of volunteers to fill in communities. Why not utilize our temporary 2 years at a school where we can make the most impact, and hopefully help people help themselves. It may be a very selfish way to look at it, but it has already proven to be a much more productive was of service here in Lichinga, after only a week! I am not 100% sure if our decision to leave Imala was extremely credible or honorable, but it is done and I have around 16 months to make Lichinga my new home. I am grateful for this opportunity.