I take advantage of being in Quelimane for computer purposes to make a weekend trip over to Morrumbala for an early St. Patties Day celebration with Amanda, Mica (her site mate), and some other PCVs. Highlight: definitely preparing and chowing down on some all-green-sushi rolls. [BTW, a special shout out for Patrizia: Happy Birthday! :-)]
Amanda in front of our impromptu St. Patties Day sign sporting her ice cold, green water :-)
Yohko, Choi, Mica, and I taking a break from the sushi rolling to smile for the camera
Choi, Amanda, and Yohko stoked because the sushi is SOO good!
Amanda making her very own personal cucumber and avocado roll
The site mates, Mica and Amanda, goofing off :-)
Monday March 14th – Wednesday March 16th, 2011
Surprise! This week the remaining Peace Corps-FGH Volunteers – Josh, Melissa, Katie, and I – find ourselves uprooted, dropped off, and leading an impromptu, FGH-inspired Permaculture training in Maganja da Costa (the home of fellow PCV Josh) with Ovilela, the local PLWHA association… but, knock on wood, things are actually going shockingly well!
Josh and I are heading up the training, me being more of the information guy and him more of the community relations guy, and although things are a little fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants… it’s going smoothly. The flow of the training is pretty seamless, and there’s a good mix between theory and practice. My Permaculture test runs in Nauela are definitely paying their dividends! I feel like I am really connecting with the audience… joking with them, asking questions, involving them. It’s great!
Some association members dancing to kick off the morning hands on sessions
Everyone all smiles after the singing and dancing
Me instructing the group on double digging techniques
Let's start the REAL work...
More double digging... BTW, the Mozambican participants are a lot more impressive when using a hoe than PCVs :-)
Some association members taking a rest as we tag team it up.
Us standing over our completed permaculture garden! YAY!
In the end though, is it really making a long-term impact? Will these people go home and start implementing at least some of these agriculture techniques? Far away in Nauela/America, I probably won’t ever know the answer and, since I don’t believe there is a monitoring and evaluation plan, I’m not sure if anyone will. I mean, it doesn’t seem to be anyone’s priority is to go check and see if the participants are actually putting the knowledge to work.
Honestly though, from people’s initial reaction and enthusiasm, there are some of the bigger principles that I really hammered home that I naively hope will stick… 1) not burning crop refuse, instead putting it back into the earth and 2) water control. The rest – planting pattern, plant spacing, double digging, composting, seedling transplanting – can go to the wayside without me feeling like the training was a failure.
Sunday March 20th, 2011
I just discovered the other day that with my new cell phone I can get internet at my site through mcel whenever I go to the spots that have cell phone service (Amanda had tried this in the past with her internet phone and it didn’t work for some reason…). Using this new revelation to the fullest, I have avidly followed the Gator’s run thus far in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament… Sweet Sixteen here we come baby! Go Gators!
***
On a side note, during my last trip to Quelimane I got a ride from a young Mozambican man who was playing a mix CD of some of the country's up-and-coming musicians... including a guy named Duas Karas who covered Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind, but did it up Mozambican style. Check it out:
[BTW my vote for the song's LEAST flattering line about Maputo is: "todas fazem teste de HIV, mais nunca pasa-la" (Translation: "Everyone takes HIV tests, but never passes them")... Gah!]
Monday March 21st, 2011
All excited and energized because of last week’s successful training, I call up Gaspar, my FGH provincial supervisor, today to ask if we can start planning the week-long Permaculture training-of-trainers that we discussed at the end of our time in Maganja da Costa - 3 days learning the method and 2 days to practice teaching a local association. He’s not sure though (i.e. – probably not!) because planting season is almost over and many of the FGH ground workers who would be trained are going to be spending 15 days in Quelimane next month in a training on “community activism”.
SERIOUSLY!?! Sounds about 14 days too long! How typical… at least a lot of money will be spent and it’ll produce some high numbers though… GAH!
Regardless of what Gaspar ends up deciding, it makes me not want to have a Permaculture training with those guys anyways because A) the people would only be coming because they’re being told to by their boss and royally compensated for it B) the next latest and greatest training would surely be soon to follow and whatever plans I’ve made with the workers will quickly just be a distant memory (exactly like the December nutrition training is now!) and C) these “highly-trained” workers need to actually spend some time in the field at some point and I don’t want to keep them locked up in just another training for one more day.
***
End of Summer/Autumn Harvest: It’s the most wonderful tiiiiime of the year! (cue background music…)
1) There’s food: Chilling outside Wiado’s house as the sun sets behind the distant mountains, Sara and Olympio roll in on their bikes, fresh off a long day in the fields, with a large sack full of fresh corn and oranges. The image in my head still gives me goosebumps: everyone in the family, even the stoic Olympio, is happy, smiling and laughing, playing around, snatching from the tall mound of fresh oranges to snack on. There is lustful discussion of preparing the corn for breakfast tomorrow. The family is huddled around in a circle with full bellies… and hope!… because they all know that this is just the beginning. Indeed, there’s plenty more to come!
2) There’s money: I walk out of my house this morning to find my absentee next-door neighbor finally cleaning up his overgrown yard. Apparently, he’s about to restart the construction on his halfway constructed house now that his fields of feijão manteiga are ready to be harvested and sold. He currently lives far outside of town, but has been making slow progress on this house since my arrival in December ‘09. Last year he put a tin roof on the house. This year he’s going to level the floor, put in windows and doors, and maybe cement around the outside of the house to protect against harsh weather. According to the owner, if things in the fields go as planned, he’ll have enough money to finish up and move in this year.
Friday March 25th, 2011
Lately I’ve been working a lot on storytelling project that I’ll eventually be posting on the Working Hard in Mozambique page on my site. Soon to come: traditional healers, carvão makers, and me with an axe! Stay tuned for updates and make sure to check it out periodically because I don’t think it shows up on the email feed :-)
Saturday March 26th, 2011
Families: We all have ‘em. We all want ‘em. Now what are we going to do with ‘em?! (Anyone get the Jimmy Buffet reference? – play on quote from “Fruitcakes”)
Although family dynamics are quite different here in Mozambique than they are in a “typical” American home, there is one thing that is a staple around the world: family drama! And with the average nuclear family size here surpassing 10 people… things can get crazy and out of hand pretty often! Take, for example, the latest Nauela family fallout:
Arriving back from Amanda and I’s trip to the States in late February I discovered that the gang at Wiado house was one member less than what it used to be. At first I didn’t think anything of it, assuming they had just slept over at another family member’s house or at the lean-to near the family machamba, but after a week or so of having not seen them I blurted out the obvious question, Where is Angel?!
The mom sighed and looked down at her own bandaged arm and recalled the story…
Turns out, during my absence, Angel, the oldest daughter, secretly stole and gave away the dress of Sara, the younger daughter, to a close friend. When Sara discovered what had occurred, she immediately ran crying to their mom in appeal. The mom jumped into action, grabbing Angel’s arm and demanding she go retrieve the dress at once. But Angel, upset and in panic mode, yelled out and bit down hard on her mom’s arm (until she bled, mind you!).
When Wiado arrived home in the afternoon, he immediately got an earful from all accounts about what had transpired earlier in the day. After hearing the story out, he didn’t strike his daughter (as many other parents might have), but simply informed Angel than she now had do all of her mom’s chores (a mother’s list of daily tasks in Mozambique alone is practically endless!), in addition to her own, until her mom got better. Relieved to escape a worse physical punishment, she quickly accepted without thinking about the deal’s ramifications. The first few days were beyond exhausting and by the end of the first week Angel had already made up her mind: she was going to run away from home. The next day, she left home heading South carrying with her only the clothes on her back… and they hadn’t heard from her since.
It’s been over a month now.
***
That was the story we all knew up until today when Fernando Jamal and I biked out to Niharipa (Mozambicans would say that’s “La!” => 2-3 hour bike ride each way) to see some area youth soccer coaches who I’ve been working with through the Lurdes Mutola Foundation.
A harmless snake we came upon hanging out on the side of the road
Despite repeatedly asking directions, we got lost during the journey there and ended up in Mitxaiane - the place Amanda and I had visited with IBIS almost a year ago. On a good note, all the improvements there are pretty much the same as they were a year ago... except now they have this nifty sign :-)
After a final grueling uphill stretch (pushing my bike the whole way), I arrived in Niharipa drenched in sweat and promptly made myself comfortable sprawling out on a local family’s esteira, drinking dirty well-water, and snacking on apple-bananas (they are bananas… but taste like apples! How crazy is that?! Do we have these in the States? If so, why hadn’t I tried ‘em before!?!). The family sends their son to go seek out the area soccer coaches who are working in their machambas and I am content just chilling for awhile. Things were pretty calm and normal laying there on the esteira when all of a sudden a familiar voice calls out “Mi-kel! Mi-kel!”
Angel!
Beaming as if she’d never been so happy to see a familiar face in all her life, Angel ran up and settled down alongside me. We catch up for a bit, her shocking me with the news of her *recent marriage* and newly-acquired *husband* (turns out while Amanda, Yohko, and I were climbing Tatu the day before my birthday we were very likely looking out into the distance at Niharipa totally unaware of Angel’s-spur-of-the-moment wedding that was taking place), but then heads off to prepare some lunch for me when the coaches finally arrive.
Fernando Jamal and one of the coaches' moms with her family's raised granary in the back.
Our host insisting on making a special treat for the occasion
A heaping scope of milled corn for the xima preparation
Mixin' up some xima for our lunch
Some recently stored corn inside the granary
The disappearing act herself: Angel!
Partly my own fault due to the exhausting trip, our meeting is rather uneventful and anticlimactic. Sure we talked about some problems (the school apparently won’t let them play on their soccer field during the week because its proximity to the open-air classrooms is distracting to the students), made a game plan for the next few days/weeks and watched a little of their practice, but the real success of the day was definitely the adventure of just getting there and interacting with some new community members.
Salvador and Arsenio, the two area coaches laughing off some of their recent problems
Fernando Jamal looking over his record keeping
Salvador and Ansenio's soccer team
A local soccer stud showing off his ball handling skills
After meeting with the soccer coaches, I went back towards the local primary school and sat down for lunch with Angel and her new husband. He’s nice and all… but the whole time we’re sitting there I can’t help but think about how weird and different this feels. It hasn’t even been a month since she’s left and, although she didn’t say this, I can tell how much she misses her family. Longingly staring at a young neighborhood child approaching me to shake my hand, she sighs and explains how much the child reminds her of Salimo, her youngest brother - I definitely know the feeling of missing one’s family and not being able to be with them. I eventually leave, but before I go she instructs me to send her best to the family back in Nauela and to tell them that she’ll try to come home and visit this upcoming weekend.
The return trip back to Nauela doesn’t take as long –still 2 ½ hours though - since I know my way and I don’t take any pictures. As soon as I pull up to my house, I take a quick bucket bath and then immediately head over to tell Wiado about what transpired during my trip. I find him in the back portion of his yard building a latrine, and insists we talk while he finishes up for the day. As I relate the news concerning Angel he still refuses to stop, pretending to be uninterested and indifferent, but you can tell he’s hurt.
He didn’t even know she was married yet.
From his come words like “Good for her”, but anyone can tell he doesn’t mean that. In fact, just as soon as he’s done with that thought out comes accusations that the new husband is a thief for not having come and asked for the right to marry his daughter. Sizing up Angel’s promised visit, he doubts she’ll actually come around anytime soon because he believes she’s too scared to return home after having left on such bad conditions.
Oh drama… :-(
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