Last time I post this message BTW... I promise!
Dear Readers,
Thank you so much for your continued support while following my blog. As of now, I can see that there are 100+ people regularly receiving email updates about my blog and/or following me via google blogger. Regardless of your interaction with me, I trust that you have enjoyed my blog's stories and pictures. Many have even taken time away from their busy schedules to email me just to let me know when a particular story or photo touched them. I really appreciate it! It definitely helps keep me motivated and going strong even while there is no power in Nauela and internet access is few and far between...
I am taking the time to write this side note to inform you that my Canon 20D digital camera has recently stopped working and thus there will be a lull in my upcoming photos. Just like many, I absolutely love the photos of Nauela/Mozambique/Africa and want them to continue. Thus, after much debate, I have asked my family back in the US to take money out of my bank account to purchase a refurbished Canon 40D with 2 new lens (two of my lenses have stopped working too) and send them over to me as soon as possible. That said, with me being a volunteer and these funds coming out of my personal bank account, I am really struggling financially and would really appreciate any help that you all could offer me.
If any of you would like to contribute, even just a few bucks, please email me at mtudeen@gmail.com or contact my brother at btudeen@gmail.com and we will let you know how you can donate and help support me and this blog.
Thank you in advance for your support.
One Love,
Michael Tudeen
***
Friday May 14th, 2010
So here I am back in Quelimane, along with the other 5 PCVs partnered with FGH in Mozambique, for a scheduled meeting with the organization’s entire community development sector to address the frequently reported problems going on at the community level. Before the meeting starts, we all prepare a short presentation about the successes and problems (a lot more about the problems!) at our specific sites. We’re all brave and honest writing down things on paper, but once the time finally arrives to get up and drop the bomb that our coordination efforts with our FGH counterparts have largely been colossal failures there’s a looong, awkward pause trying to decide with our eyes who will go first. “Any volunteers?” Maria dos Anjos knowingly asks.
I take a breath, push out my chair, and make my way to the front of the conference room. I’d like to say that I was well-spoken, presented clearly, respectfully and concisely, and that I didn’t hold anything back. I’d like to say that… but I probably only half-accomplish all of that. At least I can walk away from the experience saying that I definitely spoke my mind and set a good stage for those who were to follow. As the day meeting comes to a close, however, I have to disagree with the general group consensus that this meeting has been a success. Indeed, we laid on the table the large majority of the issues that we needed to, but how we take those words and put them into action over the next month or so will be my judge of how well this meeting went.
Leaving the conference room, Maria dos Anjos starts “Almost forgot… Your supervisor from the Peace Corps wants to have a meeting with all of us, so we have another meeting scheduled here for May 27th. I expect to see you all there!” I roll my eyes and head out the door wondering out loud to my fellow volunteers “Seriously?! What a great start for our better communication and coordination efforts…”
Saturday May 15th, 2010
After a long meeting, what better way to recover before heading back to site than by going to the beach with Amanda for a quick daytrip. Although I always hate on my friends back home who go to the Florida beaches and just sit/lay on their towels all day and sunbathe, I find myself doing a whole lot of just that today. Amanda and I swim a little, walk along the ocean’s edge collecting a ton of seashells, and even wrestle some in the ocean. But largely we just sit, enjoying the sun, and reading. For me the favor of the week is “Eat, Pray, Love”… Good read :-)
Tuesday May 18th - Wednesday May 19th, 2010
Today, the whole town is getting ready for the President’s visit tomorrow. Yeah, that’s right! The President of Mozambique is coming to visit Nauela tomorrow! Needless to say, everyone is going crazy. I just hope that I’ll be able to get some pictures.
Walking around the town, the scene is unreal. Everyone who is normally just walking around, chatting, and chilling is scurrying back and forth doing ridiculously productive things like finishing up constructing the secondary school, repainting all the town’s official buildings, putting up decorative flags everywhere, not to mention clearing out a huge space for the President’s plane or helicopter to land.
The administration building with it's new coat of paint
The police station looking pretty sexy too!
As the day winds down, a soccer game is held between two adult male teams from Nauela and Alto Moloque that EVERYONE comes out to. When I say everyone, I mean everyone in the town, plus the countryside, PLUS the city of Alto Moloque because the government has been bussing in thousands of people all day long from the city free of charge for the President’s visit tomorrow. The game is Moloque dominated, but somehow ends in a 0-0 tie. Looking at the whole end scene, you’d never know it though… the entire Nauela partial crowd erupts and charges onto the field as the final whistle blows excited just to have been competitive…
***
“So today’s the special day, huh?” I think as I pull myself out of bed. Stumbling through my normal morning routine, I am not worried about the 8am rumored arrival time for the President. I mean, even if the arrival time IS 8am, surely that means he won’t show up until at least 9 or 10am, right?… At any rate, I start by opening up the front doors, taking a shower, and making breakfast… not all at once of course, but you know what I mean… Then, all of a sudden, my lazy breakfast is interrupted by an unfamiliar sound from overhead.
A helicopter!
I make a quick dash out to the gathering crowd at Nauela’s impromptu landing strip and arrive just in time for the touching down. Immediately I see that, as it turns out, it’s not just 1 helicopter for Guebuza… No no… There is definitely a posy of 6 helicopters descending on the previously ridiculously-huge-seeming landing strip.
Luckily, I had the peace of mind to grab my camera while running out of my house’s front door and after reaching the crowd, I quickly start TRYING to take pictures of community leaders all dressed up. Not getting a good view from the back and not being able to squeeze through crowd, I reason to sneak around side. I am greeted at the end of the line of people, however, by an armed guard turning everyone and their mother (literally) away. For whatever reason (the fact that I had a big camera, that I was dressed decently, or that I was simply white), the guard lets me through the blockade and I end up getting pretty dang close to Guebuza as he is greeting all the community leaders. In the end, I actually get a little TOO close in the Mozambican Secret Service’s mind and am politely, but firmly, asked to back off because in their armed-opinion I don’t have any credentials whatsoever (as a strange twist later, the Chefe do Posto actually lectures me saying that I should have asked for credentials beforehand because he would have gladly given them to me just so I could take all the pictures).
The kids stuck back in the corn field while the guard lets me by to take pictures...
The community leaders all lined up ready to shake hands with the President
Guebuza's 6 helicopters all lined up... where the heck is that pilot from anyways?!
The community leaders pictured against the backdrop of Nauela's signature mountain "Nepo"....
Janeiro, the owner of my house, riling up the crowd
Guebuza shaking hands with the community leaders... this is right before I got asked back off!
From the landing strip, Guebuza is carried to the town’s public forum via someone’s personal vehicle while standing up through the sunroof waving (pretty high school homecoming-esk, right?!). I can’t help but think that someone must have prompted everyone about this because the general population is all quickly lined up on the side of the road waving back, with cultural groups performing, and everyone gawking a little at the absurdity of the whole scene of the President visiting such a rural site as Nauela.
A boy playing his heart out for the President
Guebuza waving to the crowd...
The thousands of people who flood Nauela's streets en route to the public forum
Watching the presentation that the public forum, I couldn’t help but start wondering why all the aforementioned city improvements didn’t happen way before the knowledge of Guebuza’s visit. Well, if there was any doubt, we all find out the truth when Guebuza asks 10 people from the crowd to come up and voice their concerns about the district. Turns out, the workers who have been building the school and such have been working on a credit system and in the past 2 months alone have created a tab of nearly $3000 (86,000 metacais which is a lot of money for this country and this area in particular) and the local government has been making it seem like the money won’t be coming to them any time soon.
A local women's group singing and dancing as they open up the forum
The Moloque theater group AJUDE performing for the masses
The community, district, provincial, and national leaders sitting on stage
The public forum scene from a distance
 |  |  |
From left to right, the Chefe do Posto of Nauela, the Administrator of the Province of Zambezia, and finally the President of Mozmabique!
A loaded up chapa ready to head out
Everyone pouring out of Nauela back to Moloque
In the days surrounding the visit, everyone (i.e.- a few of my PCV friends) keeps asking me, “Why Nauela?!” Well, I’m not really sure, but the fact that Guebuza often refers to how many districts he visits and the fact that he likes to visit relatively rural sites to connect better with a variety of Mozambican populations might be the answer… Who really knows…
On a side note, before Guebuza finally gets his chance to speak, he asks representatives from the Catholic church, the Uniao Baptista church, and the local mosque to bless the ceremony. Staring at the stage, familiar faces start coming up to the front to pray… my neighbor and good friend Wiado, the bread maker, prays for the area Islamic community, meanwhile Pastor Vincente from Mehecane prays for protestants. I didn’t know the catholic representative, but I think 2 out of 3 is pretty good!
Wiado dressed to the nines giving his prayer
