Mariana, my new FGH counterpart, and I spent most of the morning meeting with the Muretchele leaders trying to hash out some new goals/objectives for the group because of last week’s fiasco. Quick flash back: Renato, the new FGH district coordinator, came to Nauela and asked Muretchele’s president what the group’s main purpose was and, nearly 4 months after Rocha, my old FGH counterpart, formed the group, the president was unable to even string together a few coherent thoughts about the group’s purpose. GAH! Needless to say, the meeting today was a bear, with us all looking the part… staring at one another exasperated and wondering what the heck we’d gotten ourselves into. That said, the cake probably goes to Mariana when, after a painfully slow and only marginally productive meeting, she discovered that no active member of the PLWHA group was actually living with HIV/AIDS… Oooooh Rocha, the legacy you leave me behind with… I definitely gotta get away for a bit… Road trip anyone?!
Tuesday September 21st, 2010
After 9 months at site with at least a few minutes spent every day staring that huge hunk of rock in the distance, I decided last night that today would finally be THE DAY! Indeed, I resolved to do the impossible: climb the legendary, the perilous, the spirit-filled Mount Nepo. Okay… So maybe it’s NOT the impossible… maybe it’s actually something that some area farmers actually do on weekly, if not daily basis… but still! It’s something that my Mozambican neighbors were surprised I could do… and for that I’m feeling pretty froggy!
Here are some pictures and comments from the epic bike/hike….
The sun rising over the valley well into my journey... I had to leave really early to avoid the midday sun
Morning fog still hovering over Nauela before the rising sun comes and burns it off.
My trusty Hero bike in the foreground with Mount Nepo in the background...
On my way to climb the mountain, an area farmer well in to his morning's work of harvesting beans
I was drawn to a stop by these two roosters facing off over mating territory
Mount Nepo near the base in Vehiua
Mid way up the mountain, looking back at Nauela, the Catholic mission, Mehecane, and Eleve
My first glimpse EVER of the view on the North side of the mountain! YAY!
A lone dead tree seemingly floating in the clouds with the even-more-distant mountain of the Nampula province haunting the background...
A quick first glance across the top of Mount Nepo
All smiles once the hard work is done and a snack is in the belly, right?!
Even though we're technically entering spring/summer over here, many of the trees have been changing colors as if it were mid fall :-)
A pano of the top of Mount Nepo facing the unknown North... Always more to explore here :-)
Wednesday September 22nd - Sunday September 27th, 2010
My Dad is scheduled to have open heart surgery today and that’s reason enough for me to get out of Nauela to go somewhere with better cell phone service (not to mention the stressful meetings with the local associations!). So with that in mind I organize things with Amanda and we meet up in Quelimane to rest, relax, and do some shopping during the long weekend, but most importantly, just be there for one another.
After a long, taxing day of traveling to Quelimane, I get a call from the States in the late evening and my stomach turns. My sister is on the other end… What if? What if?! No… my sister calms my nerves telling me that the surgery went as expected and my dad will be moved into intensive care in the next few hours. If everything goes as planned, he’ll be out of the hospital and back at home in a few days then mostly homebound for 4-6 weeks. I say “home”, but really Dad is going to stay at Uncle Mike’s house for most of the time to try and enjoy the peacefulness of not being around the loud mouth - Mr. You Know Who! Stepping up to the plate as usual, I find out that Mom has volunteered to move back into Dad’s house to help take care of Billy :-) I love my family!
The time in Quelimane is a blur of running around meeting up with other PCVs, going to the beach, and shopping our brains out. Sure there was a little bit of clothes shopping, but most of it was stocking up on food that you can’t get anywhere but the big cities (i.e. apples, honey, peanut butter, oats). One special stop this time was Amanda and I buying paint: Me, for my house back in Nauela, and Amanda, to redecorate the Save The Children guest house in Quelimane.
I’m so excited to have some colors in my life in Nauela… white walls get old QUICK… I’ll let you know how those personal projects go!
*As of October 1st I’ve officially spent 1 year in Mozambique!!!*
Friday October 1st – Sunday October 3rd, 2010
Sadly, sometimes when it rains, it pours…
I’m traveling up to Nampula for a Peace Corps-sponsored English Theater competition on Saturday (Amanda has a group that is competing) when I get a text telling me how Dad’s house was just broken into last night. Billy’s digital camcorder and Wii/games are missing. Also stolen are two laptop computers (including my Mom’s, which was only there because she is staying at my Dad’s helping out with Billy while my Dad recovers from his open-heart surgery) along with DVDs and other small electronics… It’s really depressing that people would do things like this… and at such inopportune times nonetheless! Please be praying for and supporting my family, especially my dad, as they are having to deal with all these obstacles… At times like these I feel like I’m definitely too far away from home :-(
At any rate, the competition and the weekend in general are HUGE successes! I was really impressed by the groups’ performances as a whole. It’s crazy when you sit back and remind yourself that these young kids are effectively communicating all their thoughts and feelings while acting out this play in a foreign language! Although Amanda’s group didn’t place in the top 3, one of Amanda’s students (a 10 year old nonetheless) won the award for best female actress.
Unfortunately, the trip was marred by the kids’ Saturday late night antics when, after the competition, many students from various groups snuck away to go joy riding in one of our privately-rented chapas. (Cursed, sketchy chapa driver who let them come along!) Besides the absolute youngest of the groups, almost everyone had a hand in the matter, sadly all the way up the ladder to the Mozambican counterparts/chaperones. After participating in a competition titled “Be the Change!”, how ironic that rumors of drinking and sexual promiscuity circulated about the groups in the end.
Maybe we, the PCVs, are the ones to blame though. For either being too naïve to be playing with the younger kids while the older kids are plotting ways to escape, or for setting a bad example for the group by sitting around and drinking casually ourselves. I couldn’t help but scoff inwardly as PCVs reprimanded some of the older kids (some upwards of 18-21, BTW drinking age is 18 in Mozambique) for running off and getting cheaper booze when the PCVs weren’t setting a good example to begin with.
After a long night of worry and fret, I found myself lying restless on my bed, staring up at the ceiling and couldn’t help but reflect back on the climatic end of Amanda’s group’s play: “The change starts with YOU!”… And as it so turns out, with US too!
Monday October 4th, 2010
I wake up and, “Surprise!”, today is another Mozambican holiday… Technically, the “Day of Peace” commemorates the day Mozambique’s civil war ended, but I choose to make my own interpretation of the holiday as a national recognition of our work here with the PEACE corps ;-)
Trying to think about how I could best reward myself for a job well done I choose to celebrate by painting the inside of my house. The long day of painting finally ends around sunset not because the house is done, but sadly rather because I was a little too conservative in my estimates and need to get more paint…. But it looks great so far!
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Rogerio and I painting the accent wall in my bathroom
One view of my orange/green living room and hallway
Another shot of the living room/hallway
Like my Orange and Blue Gator Bedroom?! Not quite Gator colors, but close enough, right?! Also, like the SWEET African bedspread?
My ever improving bathroom... not pictured is the new solar shower (hot running water... sort of...) courtesy of Amanda's godmother. Thank you!
Wednesday October 6th, 2010 - Burn baby! Burn!
The dry season is coming to an end and people are revvin’ their engines while getting ready for the start of planting season. In order to facilitate manually digging the field’s rows, they prepare the area by burning any left over organic refuse from last season’s crop. The upside is that it only requires a match and some wind to clear a whole field (people are always looking for the easy way out), but it is obviously a slippery slope because the fires oftentimes get out of control and burn other fields, homes, stores and/or churches. Also, while burning the remains of last season’s crops leaves behind some of the plant’s nutrients to benefit the soil, it robs the soil of other nutrients by throwing away most of the carbon element.
Sadly, this whole month Nauela’s visibility has been way down… I mean, to the point where you can hardly make out even the closest mountains in the distance! I’m told this is partly due to the change of seasons (it’s getting hotter and thus creating some fog/smoke), but mostly the result of the sky being filled with smoke and ash from the ever present, surrounding fires. Although the night time rings of fire on neighboring mountains and the burnt brown glow of the moon are incredible sights, the smell of smoke is always in the air and I’d trade those sights in a second for a crisp, clean breath every once in a while!
Regardless, I resolved to brave the smoke-filled air this morning and make the trek all the way out to Mehecane to meet with Pastor Vicente in order to check up on their carpentry project. Upon setting my eyes upon him, I knew that something was wrong. As soon as we sat down, everything that had happened since my last visit came pouring out of his mouth. Turns out the church treasurer and leaders had finally run the numbers themselves on the project and realized for themselves what I’d been telling them all along: that they are currently losing money on their slapstick business attempt to help OVCs in the area. Although I had informed them of this long ago while analyzing each piece they made, they weren’t able to clearly understand it until their initial lumber supply ran out and the carpenters were demanding their 2 month’s pay… At that point the numbers were easy to figure and the losses were staring them right back in their faces. Those losses were so demoralizing and jolting that they immediately halted the project, sent the carpenters packing, and even considered abandoning the project altogether.
Upon my arrival, Pastor Vicente, ready to cut the church’s losses, had already started pondering other possible projects. I listened to his story and new ideas biting my lip not to jump in too quickly. Biding my time and letting him get it all of his chest must have been therapeutic in some way because he soon calmed down and grew silent. It wasn’t until that point that I started in and reasoned that the project IS sustainable, just that they need to improve their business practices. I further encouraged them insisting that it probably was for the best that they sent the carpenters home because now we can try and find the best deal on bulk lumber without having to worry about keeping the carpenters busy.
Towards the end of our meeting, a planned a meeting for this Saturday morning with both the church treasurer, to demonstrate to him how he too can calculate the profit on the project piece by piece, and the head carpenter, to show him that we’ll only be able to hire them back paying a salary based on the amount of wood pieces they produce, rather than on how many days they work.
As the conversation finally wound down, business turned into small chat and we ended up talking at length about the water system the previous missionary had set up in Mehecane and how the church has worked hard to maintain it. Which sent my mind wandering… as the dry season is reaching its end, certain water pumps across Zambezia are drying up while still others are breaking down, making certain areas very stretched for water. Thankfully, the well I use is very deep and well maintained (Wiado, my next door neighbor, is the area well mechanic) thus it’s still pouring out clean drinking water.
Unfortunately, I can’t say the same, however, for Amanda’s neighborhood in Morrumbala. The story we’ve been getting is that one of the main pumps for the city has broken down and due to various reasons, the government has been unable to fix it and likely won’t be able to in the near future. In the meantime, people most go to the neighboring communities and wait in overcrowded lines only then to have to carry hundreds of pounds of water back home. Needless to say, everyone is feeling pretty stressed because they are quite strapped for water and time. Be praying for the people in Morrumbala!
Thursday October 7th, 2010
This week is all about getting ready for natural medicine training next week with Muretchele. Every day it seems someone is at my house talking about the logistics of it or helping prepare the lessons by writing out notes on flip chart paper. As a general rule, I won’t tell them exactly what they need to include and I definitely won’t do the writing myself. In fact, they will have to present the material alone with me sporadically popping in just making sure they don’t convey any misinformation. We’ll see how it goes!
As mentioned before, my new FGH counterpart has already told me how disappointed she is with the “PLWHA” group because it doesn’t have almost any people who are actually living with HIV/AIDS… The fact that the group is also relatively weak in attendance and participation during meetings doesn’t help either… but such is the life in rural locals… most locals have very little education and have to work their butts off doing physical labor starting at 3 or 4am just to feed their families. With all due respect, I honestly feel that expecting well-educated, outspoken individuals to show up in masses for unpaid, philanthropic work in a rural Mozambique is just setting oneself up for disappointment.
Saturday October 9th, 2010
Three times in the past month and a half I’ve met with a group of church women in Mehecane to do Art Therapy with a local group of OVCs to encourage fun, creativity, and conversation. One of the essential parts of the Art Therapy is that all of the materials used are found locally. The cornerstone of the art project uses locally found clay (that women typically make cooking pots out of) and other leaves/twigs/rocks/flowers/whatever else we can scrounge up. Although the art sessions aren’t giving the kids food to eat, funds to pay for their educational supplies, or a skill that most could help support themselves with down the road (albeit maybe some of the kids will start being able to make clay pots to sell later on), I believe that the sessions are teaching them to be creative, have fun, support one another and, best of all, bringing the OVCs into an active church program that is equipped and interested to continuing to help them long after the Art Therapy sessions end.
Below are some select pictures from two of the Art Therapy sessions:
Two of the church mother's who are leading the group washing their hands before the session starts.
We make everyone a name tag, then go around and shake everyone's hand greeting everyone by name to make everyone feel special and recognized
Even the little one's love shaking hands!
First activity: Make "your ball" *Note the next several photos are of the kids participating in this activity...*
One kid showing off what he's made *Note the next several photos are of the kids showing what they've made today...*
P.S.- On the way back from Mehecane I came across a bunch of students doing the front end work of making bricks (i.e. before you burn them). Below are the pics... And also, some people emailed me asking how Wiado's house is coming along. Well, FYI, his family has gotten the cement and sand to build, but are still waiting on neighbors to come and help repair the house...
First you need to dig a big hole in the mud and pour water to get it to be the right consistency.
Then you need to pack into into a form.
Then you need to take the form to a dry place where you can lay them out in lines so they are easy to count/keep track of.
Then you need to set them out in the sun to dry for 3 or 4 days, rotating them 90 degrees everyday....
ONLY THEN do you get to stack them up and burn them as Wiado and his family was doing in the last blog post.
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