My name is Michael Tudeen and I graduated from the University of Florida in May 2009 and then served with the Peace Corps in Nauela (Alto Molócuè district in the Zambezia province), Mozambique from December 2009 to June 2011. Upon my return home, I started attending medical school at the University of Florida in Fall 2011.I really like playing sports, reading, cooking, chess, and playing the guitar to pass the time. In Nauela, I regularly attended the União Baptista church, but back at home I frequent Trinity UMC in Gainesville, Florida.
Now that I’m back in the States, the best way to contact me is email address listed below:
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Some Background Info on Mozambique
courtesy of WikipediaBasics:
“Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest.
The area was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and colonized by Portugal in 1505. Mozambique became independent in 1975, and became the People's Republic of Mozambique shortly thereafter. It was the scene of an intense civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992. The country was named Moçambique by the Portuguese after the Island of Mozambique, derived from Musa Al Big or Mossa Al Bique or Mussa Ben Mbiki, an Arab trader who first visited the island and later lived there.
Mozambique's life expectancy and infant mortality rates are both among the worst ranked in the world due to the excessive malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Its Human Development Index is one of the lowest on earth.
History
Early migrations:
Between the first and fifth centuries AD, waves of Bantu-speaking people migrated from the west and north through the Zambezi River valley and then gradually into the plateau and coastal areas. They established agricultural communities or societies based on herding cattle. They brought with them the technology for iron making, a metal which they used to make weapons for the conquest of their neighbors. Cities in Mozambique during the Middle Ages (5th to the 16th century) were not sturdily built, so there is little left of many medieval cities such as the trading port Sofala. Nevertheless several Swahili trade ports dotted the coast of the country before the arrival of Arabs and the Portuguese[13] which had been trading with Madagascar and the Far East.
Swahili, Arab and Portuguese rule:
When Portuguese explorers reached East Africa in 1498, Swahili and Arab[13] commercial settlements had existed along the coast and outlying islands for several centuries. From about 1500, Portuguese trading posts and forts displaced the Arabic commercial and military hegemony becaming regular ports of call on the new European sea route to the east.
Although Portuguese influence gradually expanded, its power was limited and exercised through individual settlers and officials who were granted extensive autonomy. The Portuguese were able to wrest much of the coastal trade from Arabs between 1500 and 1700, but, with the Arab seizure of Portugal's key foothold at Fort Jesus on Mombasa Island (now in Kenya) in 1698, the pendulum began to swing in the other direction.
By the early 20th century the Portuguese had shifted the administration of much of Mozambique to large private companies, like the Mozambique Company, the Zambezia Company and the Niassa Company, controlled and financed mostly by the British, which established railroad lines to neighbouring countries.
Independence movement:
As communist and anti-colonial ideologies spread out across Africa, many clandestine political movements were established in support of Mozambican independence. As a response to the guerrilla movement, the Portuguese government from the 1960s and principally the early 1970s, initiated gradual changes with new socioeconomic developments and equalitarian policies for all.
The Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), initiated a guerrilla campaign against Portuguese rule in September 1964. This conflict, along with the two others already initiated in the other Portuguese colonies of Angola and Portuguese Guinea, became part of the so-called Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974). From a military standpoint, the Portuguese regular army maintained control of the population centers while the guerrilla forces sought to undermine their influence in rural and tribal areas in the north and west. As part of their response to FRELIMO the Portuguese government began to pay more attention to creating favourable conditions for social development and economic growth.
After 10 years of sporadic warfare and Portugal's return to democracy through a leftist military coup in Lisbon which replaced Portugal's Estado Novo regime for a military junta (the Carnation Revolution of April 1974), FRELIMO took control of the territory. Within a year, most of the 250,000 Portuguese in Mozambique had left – some expelled by the government of the nearly independent territory, some fleeing in fear – and Mozambique became independent from Portugal on June 25, 1975. Within a few years, almost the entire ethnic Portuguese population which had remained at independence had also departed.
Conflict and civil war:
The Mozambican Civil War began in 1977, two years after the end of the war of independence. The ruling party, Front for Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), was violently opposed from 1977 by the Rhodesian- and (later) South African-funded Mozambique Resistance Movement (RENAMO). Over 900,000 died in fighting and from starvation, five million civilians were displaced, many were made amputees by landmines, a legacy from the war that continues to plague Mozambique. Fighting ended in 1992 and the country's first multi-party elections were held in 1994.
Current Politics/Government
Mozambique is a multi-party democracy under the 1990 constitution. The executive branch comprises a president, prime minister, and Council of Ministers. There is a National Assembly and municipal assemblies. The judiciary comprises a Supreme Court and provincial, district, and municipal courts. Suffrage is universal at eighteen.
In May 2009, the government approved a new general elections law that contained innovations based on the experience of the 2003 municipal elections. Presidential and National Assembly elections took place on December 1–2, 2004. FRELIMO candidate Armando Guebuza won with 64% of the popular vote. His opponent, Afonso Dhlakama of RENAMO, received 32% of the popular vote. FRELIMO won 160 seats in Parliament. A coalition of RENAMO and several small parties won the 90 remaining seats. Armando Guebuza was inaugurated as the President of Mozambique on February 2, 2005. RENAMO and some other opposition parties made claims of election fraud and denounced the result. These claims were supported by international observers (among others by the European Union Election Observation Mission to Mozambique and the Carter Centre) to the elections who criticised the fact that the National Electoral Commission (CNE) did not conduct fair and transparent elections. They listed a whole range of shortcomings by the electoral authorities that benefited the ruling party FRELIMO. However, according to EU observers, the elections shortcomings have probably not affected the final result in the presidential election. On the other hand, the observers have declared that the outcome of the parliamentary election and thus the distribution of seats in the National Assembly does not reflect the will of the Mozambican people and is clearly to the disadvantage of RENAMO.
Language
Portuguese is the official and most widely spoken language of the nation, but only 40% of the population speak it — 33.5%, mostly Bantus, as their second language and only 6.5%, mostly white Mozambicans and mestiços, as their first language.[citation needed] Bantus speak several different languages, the most widely used being Swahili, Makhuwa, Sena, Ndau, and Shangaan. Bantu languages as spoken in Mozambique have many words of Portuguese origin. Arabs, Chinese, and Indians speak their own languages (Indians from Portuguese India speak any of the Portuguese Creoles of their origin) aside from Portuguese as their second language. Some educated Mozambicans can also speak English, as their second or third language.[citation needed]
Religion
The 1997 census found that Christians made up about half of Mozambique's population, and Muslims more than one-fourth. The Roman Catholic community made up 32.8 percent of the population of Mozambique. Muslims comprised 27.8 percent of the population, and Protestants comprised 17.5% of the population. 16.8% of the people held other beliefs, mainly animism, and 5.1% had no religious beliefs.[5]
Health
The fertility rate is at about 5.5 births per woman.[10] Public expenditure on health was at 2.7 % of the GDP in 2004, whereas private expenditure on health was at 1.3 % in the same year.[10] Health expenditure per capita was 42 US$ (PPP) in 2004.[10] In the early 2000s there were 3 physicians per 100,000 people in the country.[10] Infant mortality was at 100 per 1,000 births in 2005.[10] HIV prevalence among 15 to 49 year olds exceeds 10 %.[10]
Education
Since independence from Portugal in 1975, school construction and teacher training enrollments have not kept up with population increases. Especially after the Mozambican Civil War (1977–1992), with post-war enrollments reaching all-time highs due to stability and youth population growth, the quality of education suffered. All Mozambicans are required by law to attend school through the primary level; however, a lot of children in Mozambique do not go to primary school because they have to work for their families' subsistence farms for a living. In 2007, one million children still did not go to school, most of them from poor rural families, and almost half of all teachers in Mozambique were still unqualified. Girls’ enrollment increased from 3 million in 2002 to 4.1 million in 2006 while the completion rate increased from 31,000 to 90,000, which testified a very poor completion rate.
After grade 7, students must take standardised national exams to enter secondary school, which runs from 8th to 10th grade.[citation needed] Space in Mozambican universities is extremely limited; thus most students who complete pre-university school do not immediately proceed on to university studies. Many go to work as teachers or are unemployed. There are also institutes which give more vocational training, specialising in agricultural, technical, or pedagogical studies, which students may attend after grade 10 in lieu of a pre-university school.
After independence from Portugal in 1975, a number of Mozambican students continued to be admitted every year at Portuguese high schools, polytechnical institutes, and universities, through bilateral agreements between the Portuguese government and the Mozambican government.” - Wikipedia
