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.

a peru says gobble gobble

Thanksgiving was a bit out of the normal, if you can only imagine. A group of 51 American Peace Corps (at the time) Trainees gathered together with our local language professors and peace corps administration to celebrate and American holiday on mocambican terra. it was amazing. We split up into groups and tackled classic American dishes. Stuffing, turkey, green bean casserole, gravy, blah, blah. My group made mashed potatoes. We dished out 25 kilograms of garlic mashed potatoes and 15 kilograms of cheesy mashed potatoes! It was glorious. The good times flowed in Namaacha that day as we laughed and enjoyed our last couple weeks in Namaacha for training. I wish I could really truly explain the feeling I had as I looked around at the group of soon to be volunteers and wondering what kind of impact we would have on our communities over the course of 2 years. That was quickly blown away though as we opened some wine and enjoyed each others company.

Vida e boa. Nao e?

Imala, Land of Machambas

Sorry for the delay in updates blog world. I have been on an Africa high, and have been enjoying the life of learning Portuguese, struggling with Makua, and working on Machambas(vegetable gardens). Let me give you a quick run down of the past month, and I will upload a photo or 2. After 10 weeks of training in Namaacha, the group formerly known as Moz 21 trainees are now called Moz 21 volunteers! It's official. I am a Peace Corps Volunteer. During week 7 we learned of where we would be serving in the country. It was an awesome experience because the language teachers drew a giant map on the ground and included the 11 provinces. We then all lined up, opened up our site placement, and walked to our site on the map. It was really cool to see everyone who would be living near me in the small village of Imala in Nampula Province or Northern Mozambique. That weekend we decided to have a competitive futesol match. I will describe the match more in detail on another blog post. I will also talk about thanksgiving, swearing in, and my move to imala!!

vida e boa! nao e?

Nothing Like the Lion King

So I have decided that Mozambique is nothing like the Lion King. The amount of chickens I have killed in order to make dinner is crazy. Today I actually held a chicken while a "Medicine Man" killed it in sacrifice for all the volunteers to have good luck. It was pretty intense. I knelt with him in front of all the new volunteers and staff as he killed the chicken and spread its blood on the tree we were gathered around. We then cooked the chicken, made some xima and ate haha.

The other day my entire lingua group, consisting of 5 of us, cooked lunch for out maes (moms). We made stuffed peppers, and they hated them haha. It was a lot of fun though. We got to learn how to cook here in Mozambique, share a great meal, and some great times between the 2 different cultures.

My family is very very awesome. My dad smuggles liquor, my mom works at the boarder of Swaziland, and my sisters all go to school.

Last weekend a group of us hiked up the mountain where the boarders of Swaziland, Africa de Sul, and Mocambique meet. It was soooo gorgeous. It took us about 5 hours round trip, but we got to just sit and stare at our new home.

Weather here is very crazy. One day it will be about 42 and sunny then the next day it will be 25 and rainy. Despite the weather changes I have yet to get sick. Keeping my fingers crossed. Last night was particularly crazy. A bunch of volunteers decided to go to Xaviers. It is a bar here in Namaacha. We had a blast. James, the bartender, actually opened up solely for us. His cousin had died that day and he said he was going to keep the bar closed all day out of respect, but he saw us come and couldnt resist opening. He loves it when the volunteers go hang there.

As of now I am just living day by day. Learning more and more Portuguese each day.

Tchau

PS. I bought a capulana today. now i just need to find a tailor to make me a tunica out of it.

Namaacha

Sorry for the delay. My internet resources have been lacking here in Namaacha Moczmbique. The past few weeks have been extremely crazy. Starting with a day in Philly, then a busride to New York, followed by a 15+ hour flight to Africa de Sul and another hour flight to Maputo. We spent a few days in Maputo learning about our future here in Mocambique. Then we had the awkward journey to Namaacha where we met our homestay families. My family is huge!!! I live with minha mae(Mama Rosa), meu pai(Adolfo), minhas 3 irmas(Angelina, Nercia, and Adorosa), and minha prima(Suzana). We have 3 dogs and 4 puppies, 8 ducks, 5 chickens, 2 cats, and a huge machamba(vegetable garden). Along with every type of fruit tree you can imagine. Including the heavenly fruit called ata.

My life consists of learning portuguese all day everyday. No one in my family speaks english. It is rough, but I cant believe how quickly I am learning portuguese. I can hold basic conversations with people, and get better everyday. I am running out of battery juice at the moment but I will share one quick story.

Next week my language group has to cook an american dish for all of our moms. There are 5 of us. So we decided to cook stuffed peppers. The word for full in portuguese is cheia. So we said we were going to make pimentos cheia. They did not understand and frantically kept correcting us to say muito pimentos which means many peppers. It took about 10 minutes to explain that we are going to fill the peppers with other food.

Tomorrow I am hiking to the borders of Swaziland, Africa de Sul, and Mocambique. I will post again soon.

Tchau