A Rapid Fire Catch Up

***

Sometimes, things just happen in Mozambique that make blogging HARD. Internet access goes out, the digital camera dies, power becomes nonexistent in your town, and things just seem to get busy all of a sudden… then, before you know it, a few months have flown by!

In a perfect storm of logistical and technological shortcomings, I realize that I’ve now fallen over 2 months behind in my updates. It’s to the point where I go back to tidy up a story and I’ve already started to forget the details as I play my game of catch up… Staring down the long list of events that still need to be elaborated on, it’d a daunting task to take on even with all the time and resources in the world (both of those lacking here in my life in Mozambique).

So, instead of killing myself trying to fight it, I’ve decided to just NOT elaborate on the past 2 months and instead give you a bullet list of what’s been going on during that period. I figure that by wiping the slate clean I’ll be able to focus, with a fresh memory, on my blog entries and keep you all up-to-date on the new things going on in my life.

And what’s to say this won’t become a regularly occurring event? Well, thankfully, many things have taken some positive turns lately and things are looking up: 1) I just got hand delivered a sweet, new camera from America (thanks to all you back at home who donated and my mom who delivered it while visiting), 2) I’m finally biting the bullet and installing a solar panel at my house (which theoretically guarantees energy for my computer), and 3) looking ahead at the next few months I am foreseeing a possible a slowdown in my busy schedule (we’ll see about that though! Who knows…).

All that said, there are some really cool things that have happened over the past 2 months and I’ll periodically try to reach back and develop those stories as I move on and share them with you.

As for now, sit back and brace yourself because here comes my past 2 months… rapid fire!

One Love,
Michael

P.S.- I’d like to take a moment to say a very sincere thank you to all you back in America who reached out and supported me financially with my camera fund. At this moment I’d specifically like to recognize: Eban and Dani Bean, Pidge Boyles, Jean and David Evans, Jeannette and Bruce MacFadden, Hiroshi Ogawa, Andrew Resnick, and Rosa Lee and Ed Tomberlin

If you are still interested in helping support my camera fund and haven’t had the chance to do so yet, please mail a check made out to Michael Tudeen to my father’s address who will then deposit the money into my bank account:

Jeffery Tudeen
1210 NW 36th Rd.
Gainesville, FL 3260

****


Thursday May 20th - Monday May 24th, 2010
The day after “The Day,” all of Nauela, including myself, start the process of cleaning up after Guebuza’s brief visit that flooded Nauela with so many people. The streets are peppered with wrappers, fruit peels, and plastic bags, but surprisingly nothing is smashed and there’s no evidence of any vandalism. Inside my house is also particularly messy because all the members of the Moloque’s AJUDE theater group that came to perform for the President cooked several meals and stored their belongings at my house. On top of general cleaning, it’s been a long time since my last laundry load and, even though my new rapaz is about to start, I definitely need to get that done today. Luckily, though, I can optimistically think that it very well might be my last load of laundry that I EVER, unwillingly, do by hand again!

Keeping me at home all morning doing these chores around the house has one benefit though: I am available to any of the motivated community members who want to drop in my house and seek me out. And that’s just what happens today! Armando and Raphael, two of the area’s Catholic youth group leaders, show up in the late morning and invite me out to the Catholic mission this Saturday to participate/watch the area youth group meeting. Excited about the possibility of making inroads with a group of adolescents, I quickly agree :-)

The following day I make my way to Moloque early in the morning in order to meet with my FGH counterpart, Rocha, at 10am for an agreed upon meeting. I show up at the district hospital around 9am with the idea that I’ll be able to surf the internet for a while, but find out upon my arrival that for some reason there’s still unfortunately no internet in our district (a lingering aftereffect of the fiber optic cable being cut a few weeks back) :-(!!! Waiting around at the hospital just twiddling my thumbs till 10:30am, I start sending texts and calling Rocha to no avail. Frustrated and bored, I can’t take it any longer and start asking around if anyone knows my counterpart’s whereabouts.

Turns out that one of the FGH drivers at the hospital has known all along where Rocha is (the driver knew that I was looking for Rocha and didn’t say anything this whole time… why?!) and offers to accompany me to where I can find him. - Okay! What are we waiting for?! Let’s go already! - Just a short walk from the hospital, I find Rocha and Rui, the Communications Coordinator for FGH, behind a neighborhood market in the middle of a meeting with a local women’s group. Rocha later tries to justify his tardiness by saying that he had scheduled a meeting with Rui for earlier that morning and it went longer than they had anticipated, but I’m not buying it! Ultimately, I believe that I was simply outranked by Rui and, because of my lower priority I suffered! I gotta hand it to my counterpart actually… he sure isn’t dumb. He’ll do whatever it takes to impress the people calling the shots in order to keep his job safe… but not much more!

Once Rocha and I bid Rui goodbye, we go back to the hospital and Rocha, after 6 months of me working in the district, FINALLY formally presents me to the FGH clinical team in Alto Moloque. He explains to me what FGH’s role is in the hospital (to aid the national health care system in treating and preventing HIV infections) and more or less how they try to accomplish that task. The theoretic clinical scheme is as follows: FGH first offering HIV tests to the general population, if they are HIV positive next they take a blood sample to get the patient’s CD4 count, then if the count is 250 or lower the patients starts ARV therapy, if not, the patient keeps coming back every few months to check their CD4 levels.

Sounds like an okay system, right? I mean, we’d like to give the treatment to all HIV positive individuals, but with limited resources I guess we have to have some way to decide who gets access to the services. Well… if only it was only that easy! There are a number of things that complicate the matter, but first and foremost is the fact that FGH is frequently running short of HIV tests, especially in their remote sites like Nauela, and thus must decide who they most want to get tested. In order to try to limit Parent-to-Children transmission and in order to have data for national health statistics, FGH gives top HIV testing priority to expecting mothers (there’s some formula that international health workers have devised to estimate the general population’s HIV rate based on the numbers from the test results in the country’s maternity wards). Whatever is left over from the maternity ward of the month’s supply of HIV tests is then typically only available to the sickest general patients that health workers suspect might already be experiencing the effects of AIDS.

All this makes it very hard as a HIV-prevention health worker to encourage people to “know their status” and seek treatment if they are still outwardly appearing healthy. They would almost surely be turned away at the health center if they show up and most people are well aware of this (just one more barrier to keep an already hesitant population from taking an HIV test! Gah!). To make matters worse, even people who get tested and put on ARV therapy oftentimes struggle to stay adherent to the treatment. The medicine can cause some significant side effects and for someone who has started the treatment, improved, and not very knowledgeable about HIV (i.e.- that the virus hasn’t actually left their body) might stop seeking treatment, build up resistance to the drugs, and then take a quick turn for the worse. Not to mention the fact that once individuals build up that drug resistance, if they pass on HIV to another partner, that partner will also contract the drug resistant strain and their body would be unlikely to later respond to the first-line HIV treatment available here in Mozambique.

In the end, I hope that introducing ARV therapy to populations in Mozambique/Africa that do not understand the virus, are not ready to commit to the lifelong therapy, and continue to knowingly spread the virus after being diagnosed and undergoing therapy doesn’t turn around and bite everyone in the butt when it turns out that most HIV strains become resistant to so many of our drugs… We’ll see!

***

In other, possibly more uplifting news, Rogerio, my new rapaz, started working at my house today. We talked a lot about general work expectations and even a little about scholastic expectations since I’m paying him in terms of school supplies. He’s in 10th grade this year so next year, if he passes this year, he’ll have to go to Alto Moloque or Gurue in order to continue studying. He seems like a really great kid and pretty intelligent. I’m thinking that maybe I can even help him out little financially if everything goes well, he passes 10th grade, and he wants to continue to study.

***

Saturday Went to the Catholic mission today and met up with the youth group. They want to define the group better. Suggested they have more regular meetings that don’t need to much communication beforehand (i.e. – they decided to have a meeting ever second Saturday of the month unless otherwise decided). Got AWESOME Lomwe book. Getting copies made for over PCVs next week when I go to Quelimane for another FGH meeting. Then went to Mehecane to visit with Pastor Vicente (prayed during the Presidential visit)

***

So it just so happens that Dulce, the owner of my house’s daughter, had her first period on Thursday. “How the heck do I know that?!,” you might ask. Well in the northern Zambezia region there is a tradition of having a big party/rite of passage for young women called Mwali. The ritual lasts for 3-4 days and invites women who are friends of the family from all around the area to come and teach the young woman “everything there is to know” about being a woman. Janeiro built a big enclosed shelter where all the older women would come by everyday to sing and dance, and drop in little words of wisdom here in there to help instruct her how to behave now that she is a woman. To say the least, if you think about it, the whole ordeal is rather impressive. The group of women remains relatively constant for the entire celebration, with the group splitting between cooking and singing and dancing. At first glance, you figure that everyone would be all about the singing and dancing, but literally it’s the same chant for HOURS on end… As I’m typing this it’s now it’s 10 pm and they show no sign of slowing down. Sometimes I look up from my computer and think… this is a beautiful gesture and all, but honestly, why won’t they shut up already?! ;-)




Janeiro's oldest daughter with her kids (noticed how the youngest is "capalana-ed" to her side. Very common way of carrying young kids...


Some of the community women preparing xima.


Look at how much xima they've produced for the feast!



Velosa, Dulce's mom, presenting Dulce with a new capalana pattern that can be worn as a dress.


Dulce, Angel, and a helper sitting with all Dulce's gifts. Notice how sad Dulce looks... It's very common for Mozambicans not to show their happiness at special ocasions.


Angel, her mom, and Ditosa enjoying the Mwali celebration


Everyone asking for food!


The kid's "table" :-)



Tuesday May 25th, 2010
Helping the Lurdes Mutola driver arrange things for the training on Thursday-Saturday. I’m going to miss the training that I’ve worked so hard to plan. Bummed out! Meeting a guy who might be my local counterpart when trying to work with the Lurdes Mutola foundation. Getting an FGH ride to Alto Moloque in order to be ready for a trip to Quelimane tomorrow for the FGH meeting with Peace Corps and FGH higher ups coming in from Maputo.

Must have been kicking and screaming loud enough that we are finally drawing some attention. Hopefully this will manifest itself in some positive results. I’ve already sort of given up on these meetings directly benefiting us. I’m resigned to simply hoping our input has a positive effect for the future of the organization and Peace Corps Volunteers assigned to the organization.


Wednesday May 26th – Sunday May 30th, 2010
Sleeping over at Melissa’s house. Driving to Mugalama and picking up ethan then having to turn around and drive back to Moloque because of a miscommunication between the FGH drivers… so typical! FGH Meeting…. Ruth and Kristie there. Basically same meeting we had two weeks ago. Getting old, hard to keep attention during all of it. Them having to leave after lunch and the provincial supervisors saying afterwards “well lets get real now that they’re gone…”

Amanda coming into town for STC meeting. Going shopping… Going to the beach with Rui and his girlfriend Naíca on Friday night and Saturday day. He rented a beach house (about 300 yards from the water, there’s actually no beach front development) with two bed rooms and wanted some other people to come hang out and split the price. Naica just got to Quelimane. She’s from Maputo, recently came up to Quelimane to start a new job and be closer to Rui.



Amanda getting a free piggyback ride on the beach



Look at the treelined beach behind me. Not a condo in sight! Crazy!



Amanda posing with Rui's two dogs, Spot and Tukalu

Rui, Naica, and I cooking on the grill


Amanda, Naica, and Rui striking a pose outside the beach house.


Look at how cute we are!


Beautiful smile under the beach house's veranda.


Amanda and Rui preparing the lobster


Amanda making sure the lobster down dry out



The beach house was awesome. Very simple, nicely decorated, and well maintained. We had a lot of coffee, grilled up some lobsters. Rui brought his two dogs Tukalu and Spot. Very playful and rascally. We walked along the beach at night. I went skinny dipping. Had a nice day at the beach the next day. Played beach tennis with Amanda, hung out and talked while taking in some sun (with sunscreen on!). Went back to the house and grilled up some lobster before cleaning up and heading out. We’ll have to do it again!

Got back to the house and, after taking quick showers, we went out with Rui, Naíca, and Ethan at Quelimane’s new Lebanese restaurant, Beruit. Very good food and atmosphere with indoor big screen tv and outdoor seating. One downfall is that their hummus’ texture is too smooth and leaves much to be desired.

Bought a ticket before dinner for a bus that was leaving early the next morning at 5am. Amanda woke me up at 5am and after taking a breath I gathered my thoughts and remembered that Greg was leaving around the same time with his NGO, PSI, and so I gave him a call and ended up being saved by getting a ride with him. We were flying down the road and actually passed the bus I was going to take even though it left almost 45 minutes before our car.


Monday May 31st, 2010
Cleaning house with my Rapaz, Rogerio. Teaching him how to do things how I like it little by little. Teaching him English and praying together over meals. Lurdes Mutola Foundation had a training for the area coaches here in Nauela last week. But I missed it because of the FGH meeting. Talking to a few people about how it went. Raining all day. Rocha, my FGH counterpart, came today but didn’t see him most of the day because he never came by (supposedly due to the rain) until 3pm on his way back to Alto Moloque. He is going to vacation starting tomorrow and left me with some instructions while working with the local HIV group for the next several weeks.

No energy tonight! First time since…. January! Wow! Hope this isn’t a trend though. Last time we didn’t have energy it last for the entire following month.


Tuesday June 1st, 2010 – International Children’s Day
Today started out as anyday might. I woke up as Rogerio rustled opened my door at 5am, starting with the creaking of the grates and ending with the loud thud of the wood door giving way to the inside. My door remained closed during all this because I still was fighting off the nagging call to wake up and instead stay safely tucked under my sheets in my bed. Eventually my conscious won over though as I heard him going through the house, washing my clothes, plates, and sweeping the floor.

Waking up I headed to my usual routine of yoga, poetry/bible reading, prayer, and meditation.

Talked with Pastor Vicente a week or so ago and asked him to send me a letter with his plan for the upcoming month. Didn’t get the letter, but faiguely remembered him talking about the possibility of some activities benefiting orphaned children happening in Mehecane on June 1st to celebrate Children’s Day. Around 10am I had made up my mind, I was going to go visit Mehecane and see what was up even though I had no idea what to expect.

Arrived in Mehecane. No Pastor Vicente. Went to Moloque for the holiday. Asked the people if I could stick around for a while. They assured me that of course I could. Met up with the local soccer coach who had just been trained by the Lurdes Mutola Foundation and talked about the training. A few minutes later the community members, young and old, gathered at the primary school to start the day’s festivities. All the community leaders spoke. Then they planted trees to symbolize children being the future. Then the children presented songs, dances, and a theater piece. During the dance there was a portion of the time where the participants would go out into the crowd and pick audience members to dance in front of the whole crowd. Near the end of the program a brave young girl selected me to dance and I laughed it off and danced to the thorough enjoyment of everyone watching.

Then watched the kids play soccer. Ate lunch with the leaders and then left. Tried to plan a day trip to one of the area’s most notable mountains, but the community leaders insisted I get the permission of the Chefe do Posto first, in writing, to bring to the community leaders there. Apparently the government has warned people against using the mountain for whatever reason and people aren’t very kind to let random people go up it.



The community planting trees symbolizing the youth of today.


Community and school leaders starting the day's activities.


The crowd of school children and parents gathered and waiting.


The opening speech given by a select child.


Dance! Move your feet!



Yep, that's a 8 year-old thrusting. Their dancing is a little... sexual... to say the least


The moms of the community thinking that the sexual dance moves are so funny!


A theater play about children's rights



Thrusting dances aren't limited to mixed sexes...


The grandmother who I ended up choosing to dance after I was forced to dance.



Not all of the kids were entertained by the dancing and theater... (Spongebob in the background!)


The head coach playing alongside while teaching...


GOOOOOOOAL! (I love this picture BTW!)


Friday June 4th, 2010
Trip the other day to Guilherme and Malapa to meet with the Lurdes Mutola coach supervisors. Went really well! Got a hand from a guy named Fernando and he invited me over for lunch. He carried my bike across the river. We ate couve and xima. Very impressed with the thoughts of the elected area leaders.



The guy carrying my bike across the river :-) So nice!


Beautiful views from Malapa


Fernando Jamal, the leader of the area Lurdes Mutola coaches, and I


More beautiful views...


That's Mount Nepo to the right that looks like a conical volcano... I wanna climb it!



Trip to Mehecane to see if furniture was ready. Coming back home without furniture, but not empty handed. They gave me grass and some flowers to transplant in my lawn. Rogerio and I worked on the yard Thursday and Friday. Looking pretty good… hopefully it’ll be looking good for Amanda’s arrival next week.


Me digging up sweet potatoes!


Me with my first batch of sweet potatoes!

My front yard after a little landscaping...


Hanging around the house, it felt cool because several few community members came by throughout the time seeking me out. Definitely feeling pretty integrated in my community.

Sunday June 6th, 2010
Went to Mehecane for the church service in the morning. Pastor Vicente wasn’t there, he went to a church in Mugema for the day, but Pastor Samuel was there and he accompanied me around for most of the day. I ate lunch with Pastor Samuel and a pastor from the nearby community of Rocha and he invited me over for a visit the following Saturday to speak with the community leader and the youth soccer coaches in the community who had been recently trained by the Lurdes Mutola Foundation. In the afternoon I watched some of the youth from Mehecane practice and play against eachother in soccer.




One side of the field is filled with eukalyptus trees/stumps because there is nowhere else that is that is big and flat.


Corner kick! With the coach, Eugidio, pictured in the front

Trying to juke the defenders


Then headed home. Didn’t want to be too confident, but I had a feeling that Amanda was on her way from Morrumbala to Nauela. When I got home I saw her notebook (outlining the adventure that she had in getting to Nauela) outside with directions to read it before entering. Indeed, her trip must have been quite exhausting (more so than usual even) and to prove it she was in my living room passed out on my sofa.

Monday June 7th – Friday June 11th, 2010
Amanda and I hiked Mount Nauela together. She showed me a demonstration from the local materials art training she just completed.

On late Tuesday afternoon/evening (we missed the last chapa, but luckily got a boleia from some people coming back from Nampula) we went to Gurue for my meeting with the Lurdes Mutola people on Wednesday morning. After the meeting on Wednesday morning, Julia, Amanda, and I hiked up into the surrounding mountains, through the tea fields to a waterfall.

Coming back to Nauela on Thursday. Waking up on Friday and feeling VERY sick. Asking Amanda to stay an extra day and take care of me.


Saturday June 12th, 2010
Waking up feeling A LOT better. Amanda leaving. Me deciding to go test out my strength. Go to catholic mission to see if the youth group is there. No. Going to Mehecane to see if the Ophans group is there. No! Waiting around though and them showing up late. Them asking me to say a few words. I would like to incorporate some of the local-material art stuff into this group. Then going over to Rocha for the meeting with the community leader and the Lurdes Mutola coaches. Having a really good meeting with them.


Monday June 14th – Wednesday June 16th, 2010
FGH comes to Nauela. Forgot documents for Muretchele. I met with Muretchele and agreed to go to Molocue to get the documents thinking that I could use the travel opportunity to get on the internet. Decided to make Hummus and Tortillas for lunch, takes a while. The FGH car came by just as we were finishing up cooking lunch. I told them to go ahead without me. I had to catch a chapa to Molocue. Go there late in the evening and immediately went to the hospital to use the internet. FGH people had already left for the day and locked the office, but left the wireless router on so I was able to get internet sitting outside the office as long as my battery lasted. I noticed a bunch of people gathered outside the hospital. More than is normal for that hour. Turns out the hospital was showing the world cup on the tv they have set up for the people waiting outside and during these days they show the world cup. SO basically the hospital has become quite the hangout! World Cup games on tv, wireless internet, and emergency health care only a shout away :-)
Without so much as a piece of bread for lunch, I camp out at the hospital for the entire next day using the internet to fill out this year’s AMCAS application in order to reapply for medical school next year.

I show up early and ask to see Dique, the person entrusted with the documents for Muretchele, but he stepped out of the office for a bit. When he finally shows up at nearly 11am, I’m engrossed in the application, but pull myself away to ask him about the documents’ whereabouts. He gives me a confused look and then starts rummaging through his cluttered desk. It’s actually like a movie, a desk with stacks of papers piled a foot high. Almost 30 minutes later he comes back to me with the inevitable answer that he has somehow lost the documents for Muretchele. Luckily, I brought a format for the form and was able to do it myself (Gah! I know that us Peace Corps Volunteers are supposed to always be working alongside people… but why must it be so much easier just to do it alone!) in about 10 minutes time… and then back to the application.

Sure I also spend a lot of the day updating my facebook (maybe you all noticed my updated relationship status :-)), but literally almost the entire day, 9 to 5, is spent finishing that application. Luckily, just as the day comes to an end and the people start leaving the office, I finish and submit my application. I rush out of the office just before the last person is set to leave and walk off feeling satisfied with my accomplishments for the day. It isn’t till I reach Gina and Kate’s house that I realize I left my travelbag in the hospital office… so much for leaving early tomorrow morning.


Thursday June 17th – Saturday June 19th, 2010
After a long stretch of cool dry weather that has sucked all the moisture out of the dirt road. Creating a whirlwind of dust infront of my house as cars pass by. The start of the cold, rainy weather. Almost feels like I’m back in Chile with the Pacific Ocean-induced long, cold days with ever-present hovering fog. I just want to stay and chill in inside. And that’s what I do for much of Friday and Saturday. I justify it by saying that remembering back on my time in Namaacha and thinking how everyone ridiculed me for leaving the house to go to the day’s training sessions.
Meeting with Lurdes Mutola people in Guilherme on Thursday. Friday meeting up with
So one thing you may not think about back in the States or even in other places in Mozambique is that when the local government decides not to turn on the town’s generator and it’s cloudy all day… there’s no energy! Not even for those select few who have solar panels!

I’m not entirely sure why we don’t have energy. I actually showed up in Nauela and the same chapa that was carrying 200 liters of gas for our town’s generator… and yet nothing! I ask around town and people say that we must be saving up for June 25th, Mozambique’s Independence Day.

Well I’ve been in Nauela for over 6 months now and this hasn’t been a problem until now… Forgetting to bring my phone’s charger to Molocue, my phone’s battery is completely dead just a few days removed from my trip to town and even my friends with solar panels can’t help me even though they want to!
Luckily, tonight we get a Saturday night surprise and the energy comes on unexpectedly. I immediately run to charge my phone. Rogerio, my rapaz, and I spend the even watching Wall-E and a little gator football.

Talking to local secondary school history teacher the other day and him telling me that Mozambique’s political leadership is and party system is bound to improve once the military leaders of Mozambique’s independence fight die off because now all the higher ups are military leaders and not intellectuals. Also he said that a big problem that Mozambique is facing now is that during the civil war, Mozambique’s leading political force, FRELIMO, had to borrow tons of money to buy arms and supplies from China while the opposing side, RENAMO, was largely financed by the United States because of FRELIMO’s socialist ideals during the Cold War. Well Mozambique is still paying back China for those debts accrued during the Cold War and China basically pillages Mozambique’s natural resources (lumber, agriculture, etc) as a way of making the money back up since actual money is very scarce in the current administration. Hurts Mozambique ability to drive a hard bargain. China takes all these natural resources, refines them in China into a finish product, and then sells them back to Africa for a profit. Sounds like colonialism all over!
Radio commentor the other day talking about this on the BBC world news (that I pick up with my Short Wave Radio-thank you family!) pondered how long it would be before high end Cars are made in China with the nuts and bolts with imprints saying “made in Africa”….


Thursday June 24th- Wednesday 30th, 2010
Visiting Amanda – met Masie (LINK TO HER WEBSITE) an American photographer who is doing a multimedia piece for Save the Children UK, Visited Kaiya on Mozambican Independence day with Amanda, Lena, and Brian, Went to the Cuacua Lodge, crossed the Zambezia river, learned to do art therapy, bought some new clothes, got some shorts made out of some capulana material, went to church without Jim and Eileen (they were in South Africa).


Friday July 2nd, 2010
Arriving home to energy, but then the next day the generator stopping working! No fun!
Meeting Joe from World Vision who has sought me out – wants me to get involved with a cashew-enriched flour project


Saturday July 3rd, 2010
Lurdes Mutola trainers meeting. Sitting at home at 8:50am wondering if anyone would show up at all for the scheduled 10am meeting. Right on time the two leaders show up an hour early for last minute meeting planning. We walk over to the primary school as the clock strikes 10 and find 15 or so head coaches waiting for us to start. A good start! People continue to straggle in as the meeting goes on. The two leaders lead the meeting, goes really well, but is too long and the last part of planning a championship left a lot of people confused. A lot of people thinking they should have A LOT of team. Not just 1 and train it well. A lot of pressure from community to get as many people as possible using the balls. Quanitity over quality. Not just battling with the trainer. Also a battle with the community leaders. Many balls are already ruined with holes due to overuse, improper care, adults using the kids balls.


Sunday July 4th, 2010 – Happy Independence Day!
Visited Mehecane for church, Eleve for the afternoon to visit a female head coach for the Lurdes Mutola Foundation and her teams, picked up a chicken on the way home (hanging off my bike handlebars feeling so Mozambican. Killed the chicken for dinner, had to pluck and clean it, then cook it up. So much work… no wonder I’m practically a vegetarian at my site!


Monday July 5th, 2010
Went and found woman who had clay to make pots. Brought the clay to my house and showed me how to prepare it for the next day.


Tuesday July 6th, 2010
Played with kids for 2 hours making various art pieces with clay and local materials.


Wednesday July 7th- Friday July 9th, 2010
Went to Alto Moloque to meet up with Joe B. A recent MBA recipient out of Vanderbilt who is partnered up with World Vision and a Mozambican company to try and produce a nutrient dense flour to eventually sell commercially here in Mozambique. Melissa and I met up with Joe and his World Vision crew and we tried our best to prepare the flour by toasting the corn, soy beans, and cashews and then milling them together.


Saturday July 10th, 2010
Met with Muretchele at the hospital to decide who would be attending next month’s training about natural medicine with me in a neighboring district and divide up tasks about who would be building the group’s temporary meeting shelter located to one side of the hospital.


Sunday July 11th – Tuesday July 13th, 2010
Amanda stops by my site early before we fly to Tanzania together, via Nampula, to meet up with my visiting mom.


Wednesday July 14th - Friday 16th, 2010
Amanda and I catch a flight from Nampula to Dar es Salaam and spend a day and a half exploring the city before my mom arrives from the church’s mission trip in Nigeria. Make our home base at the Jambo Inn. We continue exploring the city with my mom, souvenir shopping (begin our Swahili lessons), feel the pains of taking local transit, collapse into our bed as we get ready for our upcoming safari


Saturday July 17th – Friday July 23rd, 2010
Take a bus from Dar es Salaam to Arusha (no matter what lies they tell you, the ride DOES take all day!), meet up with our safari company and pay our remaining balance, enjoy our last night in a hotel before several nights of no showers while camping on our safari. Start off Sunday with a drive out of Arusha into the countryside and eventually entering Tarangire National Park. Very impressive! Tons of several-hundred-year-old baobob trees. Plenty of zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, elephant, impala, dik dik, water buck, warthogs, ostriches, baboons… saw a lion and some buffalo from a distance… Next day we’re off to the Serengeti, passing along the rim of the Ngorongoro crater. Takes most of the day’s drive to get there and don’t see too much wildlife, but pretty scenery. Once in the heart of the Serengeti we’re almost immediately greeted by a pack of lioness and their cubs that pass within feet (inches even!) of our vehicle. So STRONG! Next day we become very familiar with our friend the infamous Thompson Gazelle (you can’t get away from them! They are everywhere! Except when there is a pack of lioness hunting… then suddenly they are nowhere to be found!), Grant Gazelle, Buffalo, Hippo, and Leopard… but still no Rhino, male Lion, or Cheetah…. Final day in the Serengeti and we see 2 cheetahs, a very cute baby elephant, and some younger male lions as we are backtracking to the Ngorongoro crater. Arrive at the campsite as night is falling. Bitter cold wind whipping all night long. The next morning isn’t much better. We enter the crater and add flamingos to our list. Look and look… see plenty of wildebeest, but nothing remarkable. Finally, thanks to the aid of all the parked safari cars, we spot a distant rhino. Then just before we leave and throw in the towel, we see 2 HUGE male lions, with the dark mains and all, but they are laying down in the grass with their bellies up (ruining a possible picture)… must have just eaten the driver says. Drive back to Arusha and buy a bus ticket back to Dar for the next morning (again… takes all day, no matter what they say!)


Saturday July 24th – Wednesday July 28th, 2010
Leave Dar es Salaam for Zanizbar via ferry, calm seas and beautiful views. Come into Stone Town and drop our bags at the hotel then go out perusing the cramped back alleys for street food and souvenirs. The next day we take a taxi to the remote beach town of Jambiani on the less visited east coast of Zanzibar. Enjoy 3 days and 2 nights at Jambiani. The water is crystal clear, but during low tide goes away from the shore almost a quarter mile… We find a awesome locally owned covered hut on the beach that is our all purpose meal stop, we go out on a snorkeling excursion (lots of pretty fish, coral, etc) and just do some relaxing in the sun. Taxi back to Stone town and then back to Dar on the ferry for our flights home. My mom leaves us at 3 in the morning in order to get to the airport for her 5am flight to Kenya en route to America. Amanda and I get one more morning to explore Dar es Salaam’s streets before heading back to Nampula, Mozambique and the Project Development and Management (PDM) workshop waiting for us there.


Thursday July 29th – Sunday Aug 1st, 2010
Amanda and I join our counterparts for the PDM conference in Nampula. I invited a pastor of a local church who meets me in Nampula for the conference. The church is trying to start a carpentry project for area orphans by raising money and teaching the kids. The conference goes well, it’s a lot of basic planning and design things, but is new and interesting for my counterpart.


Monday Aug 2nd – Saturday Aug 7th, 2010
Back at site. Readjusting to being alone again for the first time in a while. Reconnecting with community groups. Planning and then putting on a meeting with the area soccer coaches. Meeting with the church’s leaders in Mehecane.


Sunday Aug 8th – Thursday Aug 12th, 2010
Peer Support Network (PSN) conference in Maputo. I am one of 12 volunteer from Peace Corps Moz 14 who has been chosen to be an official supporter of other volunteers in country. Although I’d like to say that I’d support my friends regardless, there are a few more official roles I will be doing through this group and I will be going through a training too!