The group of Moz 14 health volunteers started pouring into Nampula early Friday afternoon for the reconnect conference. Still hours away, I began receiving texts like “On my way to the hotel, where are you?” or “I can’t believe you’re not here yet”. Indeed, with or without me, the recently placed Moz 14 PCVs were picking back up friendships formed during PST as if we hadn’t been separated for more than a long weekend (in reality most of us hadn’t seen each other since leaving Namaacha in early December).
While the majority of PCVs had already arrived, I was stuck on the road inching my way closer and closer to Nampula on an open back chapa. Surrounded by 10 other Mozambican travelers, everyone remained relatively quiet and introverted due to the deafening wind that drowned out all other sounds. Not used to this solitude (the mountain roads around Nauela don’t usually permit cars to go that fast and thus talking over the wind isn’t an issue), I made an attempt to befriend my closest neighbor on the chapa, Daniel. As it turns out, Daniel lives and works in Macuba, selling snacks and drinks at the chapa stop. After a few minutes of going back and forth, he said that he might even recognized me from a few months back (apparently seeing a tall, lanky white guy riding local transportation doesn’t happen every day).
Sporadically throughout the 3 hour car ride to Nampula from Moloque, we chatted about where we were going, what we’re doing, etc. But as soon as the chapa stopped to let us all off, I quickly forgot all about my new friend. Jumping down off the chapa, I was overwhelmed by the number of taxi drivers offering to take me to my final destination. Not knowing Nampula that well, I didn’t want to get lost. At the same time, however, I also didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for the last leg of my journey! Looking around confused, Daniel innocently approached me and offered to accompany to my hotel and assured me that it was on the way to his place. I quickly took him up on his offer and before I knew it we were on an inner-city chapa charging through downtown Nampula toward the hotel. Even though Daniel still had a ways to go before he got to his house, he got off the chapa with me to accompany me all the way to the hotel entrance and in return I gladly paid his 5 met chapa fare. After a crazy afternoon that seemed to go on forever, Daniel and I finally parted ways in front Hotel Lurio firmly shaking hands with me promising to say “Hi!” and buy a snack from him the next time I pass through Macuba (I don’t care what other people say… so many Mozambicans are SO nice!).
Turning away from Daniel, I was brought back to reality by the hotel lobby that stood before me overflowing with the familiar faces of fellow PCVs. Together at last! As a reward for sticking it out thus far I feel, PC hosted the conference in the relatively new, three-star Hotel Lurio located in downtown Nampula. Arriving from the United States, I’m sure you wouldn’t be particularly impressed with the hotel’s little amenities. After having lived for the past 6 months in Mozambique (especially the 3 most recent being in a rural town), however, I was almost awestruck by its luxuries (i.e. - A/C in the rooms, hot running water, meat at every meal, and best of all… unlimited wireless internet access)! What a great place to get have some meetings and hang out with some friends :-)
The first day of the conference, Monday, we listened to each other share our successes and challenges (ie failures!) thus far at our sites during formal sessions and informally over meals. Some people complained of too much structure in their job with their assigned NGO and others (like myself) reeled off stories about a complete lack of structure and almost absence of NGO support. It was productive to hear other PCV’s project ideas, but it was also a venting session long overdue for most!
In Service Training, or IST, was not simply a time to vent and share, it was also a time to review and expand on some of the trainings that we briefly covered in PST now that we’ve integrated into our communities and have seen what it’s really like at site. One of the main themes of the conference was monitoring and evaluation, or M&E. In fact, we spent almost a full day in a half talking about the importance of M&E, different ways of how to do M&E, how to incorporate M&E in to your work as a PCV, and how to report your data back to Peace Corps (sounds fun, right?!). We also spent a good amount of time talking about Organizational Development, or OD, and covered a bunch of other housekeeping issues, such as safety and security, PCV health, the future of PC Mozambique, etc.
Participating in all these meetings at the conference, however, didn’t mean we were about to miss the opportunity to go out and enjoy each other’s company. As a matter of fact, after the first long day of meetings, a group of 15 or so of went out to a nightclub about a block away from the hotel. We should have known it wasn’t the best situation when we arrived and there was a crazy line waiting for us outside. The group had made up its mind though and Greg, a PCV built like a diesel engine (but with one of the kindest hearts you’ll ever meet), helped force us through the crowd and inside. Once we were in, I was surprised by how it wasn’t too packed and there was actually some space to move around and dance. We quickly formed our own little bubble and had fun dancing it out while managing to keep the sketchy Mozambican guys from harassing our fellow female PCVs.
Amanda and I having fun at the night club in Nampula
We had arrived at the club a little after midnight and before we knew it, my watch was showing it was already 2am. Realizing that we had to get up early for the next day of meetings, we started rounding up people to go home. When we had finally gotten the majority of the group together, we left the club and found our way back to the hotel relatively uneventfully. Upon arriving, however, we were greeted by some distraught PCV friends of ours who were part of a smaller group who had left just moments before us and had gotten robbed on the short walk from the club to the hotel. As it turns out, the thieves threatened them with a brick and a broken glass bottle but only managed to take some money and a cell phone before being chased off by a good Samaritan who was driving by in a car. Although there was some material possessions lost, we were all very thankful that no one got hurt!
The night finally wrapped up around 4am, having everyone safely back at the hotel and in their rooms ready for bed. Waking up 2 hours later was tough, but staying awake for the next day of the conference was the worst part. Needless to say, there weren’t anymore late night adventures for me during the rest of IST. (In fact, a few of us didn’t even set foot out of the hotel again until we were leaving Nampula to head back to our sites… I mean, who needs to when you’ve got great food and company inside!)
Wednesday March 24th, 2010
Let me just step back to the last post and clarify that waking up at 6am is never fun, but it’s even worse when you have to say goodbye to people that you likely won’t see again until MSC next January and maybe never again after that. That said, while eating breakfast and saying my goodbyes, my emotions were mixed because I knew that Amanda was coming back with me to make her first visit to Nauela (actually my first visit from any PCV) and I couldn’t wait to show off my site to her!
After throwing back a small breakfast, Amanda, Josh, Julia and I jumped in a PC car that was headed to Quelimane and would be able to drop Amanda and I off in Alto Moloque on the way. The boleia left around 8am, meaning we should’ve gotten to Moloque with plenty of time to spare in order to catch a ride back to Nauela before sunset.
After an hour and a half of driving, however, the PC car got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere and we quickly pulled off the road, coming to a stop under the shade of a small tree (thank God for whoever planted that tree 10 years ago!) “Not the worst situation”, I thought, “Now we get to jump out of the car and stretch our legs for a bit and be back on the road in no time…” True, but that all changed when the driver went to switch out the tire and discovered that the spare was popped too (Gah! Can nothing be easy here?! ). Looking around at each other for a while, we eventually agreed that the driver could hitch a ride to the nearest town to patch the tire while we all stayed behind and looked after the car.
Having left Nampula at 8am in a private vehicle, we should have easily arrived in Alto Moloque before 11am. Due to our little tire mishap, however, we pulled up to the city chapa stop shortly after 3pm, luckily just as a chapa was pulling away for Nauela. (Thinking back on it, I’m not sure whether or not, if we had missed that chapa, we would have had to sleep in Moloque till next morning or not. Either way, fortunately we didn’t have to worry about it!)
We got to Nauela in a little over an hour after an uneventful chapa ride and from the moment we arrived, jumping down from the chapa, we were welcomed by neighbors excited to see the newcomer. After all the hoopla, we didn’t even make it into the house before Florentino showed up on his way back into Moloque inviting Amanda and I to come with him to Mitxaiane tomorrow around 9am. Even though Amanda was really hoping to enjoy some R&R while in Nauela, she could tell that I was excited to show her around and thus gave me a nod, letting me know that she’d be up for the trip.
Thursday March 25th, 2010
Amanda and I woke up early this morning in order to eat and be ready by 9am to go to Mitxaiane with IBIS. Much like the last time I went with Florentino though, Amanda and I enjoyed the predictable Mozambican tardiness and had a lazy morning sipping on tea and coffee.
When the IBIS car finally showed up around 11am, it was already packed with people who I had yet to meet. Squeezing Amanda and I in the back seat, I introduced myself to the uniformly-clad strangers and quickly discovered that they were all members of a theater group in Moloque, called AJUDE, which has a partnership with IBIS.
The day was fun, filled with a good mix of meetings, food, and play time. Although there was a lot going on, the purpose of the day’s work was to meet with the leaders of the school advisory council to help define their role when working with the school.
One of the local school council members giving a presentation on his understanding of the discussion.
While most of the teachers (there are only 4 at the primary school in Mitxaiane) and school council members were in meetings, the kids were entertained playing games with the theater group members and Amanda. The kids, girls especially, absolutely flocked to her! It made me so happy to see how they welcomed her and how she accepted and matched their enthusiasm, playing alongside them.
Amanda being surrounded by all the elementary school girls as she walks up to the playground
Amanda being pushed by all her newfound friends!
Me pushing the doubled up girls on their new swing set. Notice that they made the main structure (minus the rope) from local materials…
During designated breaks in the meetings, the AJUDE group performed two different pieces, one about caring for the environment and another about the importance of getting tested for HIV (Most of the plays were in Lomwe, so granted that my understanding of the plays was limited to common gestures and random Portuguese words thrown in here and there).
Getting all the kids organized to watch the first play.
Florentino introducing the theater group to the students
An actor pretending to be working in the field during the first play about taking care of the environment
A captivated audience
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They think it’s funny!
On the ride home to Nauela, I got Magdalena’s number (one of the leaders of the theater group) and promised to contact her about the possibility of bringing some members of their group to Nauela for a troca (de experiencia). She seemed pretty excited about the possibility of teaching others theater techniques and I know that it’d be beneficial for the Nauela group. I’ll talk with FGH about providing some transport for them to and from Nauela one day and we’ll see what ends up happening...
Getting home at the end of a long day, Amanda and I rested, cooked up some dinner, and went for a short walk before calling it a night. The next day, however, she finally got her wish: a morning spent chilling, hanging around the house, followed up by an afternoon bike ride through town to the market with the dual purpose of buying some small necessities and chatting with people in the community.
Hanging out around the house playing the guitar with the owner of my house’s grandson looking on.
Picture of sunset from the road on the way to the market
Saturday March 27th,2010
The only bad thing about having someone come visit your site is eventually having to say goodbye. After a few days of hanging out and enjoying each other’s company, the time finally arrived when Amanda and I had to part ways. The good news was that at the last minute Amanda found a friend of hers from Morrumbala, Bern, who was coming through Moloque from Nampula on the exact day she needed to leave. The bad news, however, was that we were having a hell of a time finding a chapa into town in order for her to meet up with him on time.
For all of you who have talked to me here in Nauela, this one’s for you! A picture finally capturing me in my Mango tree courtesy of Amanda! This is me trying to contact Bern to let him know about our chapa problems.
When the chapa FINALLY came barreling down the road, I decided to jump onboard with Amanda to accompany her into Moloque to make sure she didn’t have any (more) trouble meeting up with Bern and selfishly wanting to milk a few more hours out of her visit,
The open-back chapa to Moloque was packed with people and cargo that made the relatively short and smooth ride a little uncomfortable. After 10 minutes on the road, the driver took pity on us by offering up the 1 remaining spot in the front cab to us. I insisted that Amanda take it and she hesitantly obliged. When we stopped to pick up the next passenger a few minutes later, however, Amanda flung open the cab’s passenger-side door and came flying back to the empty spot she had left next to me just moments earlier in order to spend the last moments of her visit with me.
At the time it was quite a moving gesture (it actually made my day!). But when crossing the airfield on our way into Moloque, her selflessness was taken to another level when the rolling-in storm clouds finally let loose. As it turned out, she had not only given up a comfy seat, but also one that would have kept her high and dry through all of this (a definite plus for someone who is about to travel all day!). Amanda was quick to react to the incoming rain though, pulling out her camping towel to cover us. When the drizzle turned into a sudden downpour, however, any effort to shield ourselves from the rain was futile.
Weeks later, while revising this entry, I can still vividly remember the look on Amanda’s face as we huddled under the small towel hysterically laughing at the ridiculousness of it all while the soaked, ill-humored Mozambicans simply stared… these are the moments you LIVE for, right!? On that note, if any of you reading this have a story you’d like to share on my blog, especially related to traveling/experiencing another culture, please email me at mtudeen@gmail.com and I’ll try to include it on a new Guest Speakers page I’m starting up…
In a matter of minutes, Amanda and I had gone from baking in the sun just outside the city to completely soaked getting off the chapa in front of the district hospital. Ironically, the rain stopped almost as soon as we jumped off the chapa, but not before having done its damage. Things fell into place like timework after that. No sooner had we settled down in front of the hospital than Bern sent a text message letting us know he had just arrived in the city. The goodbye was quick and sad, but at the same time it was good because all the sadness was rooted in the fact that we both had had such a good time together (I can’t wait for my next visitor!)…
After Bern’s car disappeared around the corner with Amanda waving goodbye through the back window, I found myself suddenly alone in Alto Moloque with no definite plans. Should I just hop on another chapa and retreat back to my empty house in Nauela? Or should I take advantage of my trip to the city and visit a few people to temporary get my mind off my loneliness? Sitting at the chapa stop contemplating this, feeling pretty empty after having just said goodbye to Amanda, an AJUDE group member passed by and invited me to their meeting later that day. I took the invite as a sign and left the chapa stop to kill some time before the theater meeting.
Looking at my watch, I noted that I had almost 2 hours before the supposed start of the AJUDE meeting (I knew better than to assume the meeting would actually start on time though!), so I decided to call up Melissa, a fellow Moz 14 health PCV, and meet up with her at the district hospital with theVinhane group. After talking with Melissa for a bit and observing the meeting, I pulled the group’s president, Anna, aside to ask if her and a few members would be interested in coming out to Nauela to help us teach mom’s of malnourished childrenhow to make “papas enriquecidas” (something the Vinhane group already does at the district hospital). Anna seemed pretty interested in the idea and said she’d talk with FGH to arrange a date when they could come out.
The Vinhane meeting ended up going on for longer than expected (after discussing a number of issues they still had to sit down and analyze a local weekly radio broadcast about HIV), therefore I had to leave before early in order to make the supposed start time with the theater group. As it turned out, the meeting for AJUDE was actually a rehearsal for Monday’s performance at the district hospital (FGH had asked them to present a piece on Tuberculosis prevention) and it was very inspiring to see how serious they took it and how much they got into it. Before and after the rehearsal, I talked with the group leader, Gato Preto (Black Cat is his artistic name), about arranging a date for them to come out to Nauela to train the local JOMA theater group. Gato Preto liked the idea and sounded optimistic about being able to find a date in the near future for them to come out if we could arrange the transport and food. We’ll see…
By the end of the AJUDE meeting the sun was already hidden behind the distant mountains and it was quickly getting dark. I knew that I’d be stuck in Moloque for the night, the only question was where I’d end up sleeping. Luckily, Kate (a Moz 13 education PCV) was at her house by herself (her roommate Gina was traveling for the weekend) and was quick to accept my company. On the flip side, I also welcomed her company (not only because she was kind enough to open up her house to me) having just said goodbye to Amanda and not wanting to go home to a suddenly empty house. The evening actually turned out great because, since Gina was gone, I didn’t even have to sleep on the floor!
Sunday March 28th, 2010
The open-back chapa to Coming back to Nauela from Moloque on the first chapa of the day, I had plenty of room to spread out. That said, the morning dew had made the truck’s bed slick and muddy and thus I opted to perch myself on the truck’s rim. I’d been in this position many times before, holding on tight for dear life as the truck rocked back and forth… not fun! We had just crossed over the Malapa River and were going down the home stretch towards Nauela, however, when something abnormal happened.
What exactly took place next is a blur. Reflecting back on it, I can still remember looking across the truck bed at the passing scenery, listening to my MP3 player, and thinking about how peaceful the chapa ride was going. I must have unknowingly loosened my grip from the railing for a split second exactly when we hit a small pothole in the dirt road. The jolt sent me up into the air and my body reacted by pulling me back toward the railing. I over shot my target and sent all my body weight flying towards the ground below. Luckily, my reflexes were faster than my thoughts, allowing me to catch myself by pinning my doubled up body against the in and outside of the truck without even comprehending what had just happened.
In an instant, hands from fellow passengers came from all directions, grabbing hold of my arms and shirt. I heard the cobrador in the distance scream for the driver to stop, but by the time he got the urgency of the message and slowed to a halt, my fellow passengers were able to pull me back to “safety” inside the chapa. I sank down to the dirty truck bed floor in embarrassment, but had the decency to remember to thank everyone around me profusely for their help.
Monday March 29th, 2010
Although my counterpart from FGH has only shown up in Nauela once in the past month and a half (don’t get me started!), the one good thing about being partnered with FGH is the car the mobile hospital staff brings with them on Mondays that is free to shuttle me around if I have any work that needs to be done. Today I was hoping to make it out again to the Padres and Irmas in Milevane to talk about a few project ideas and Joakim, the FGH driver, was quick to oblige. Although the majority of the Padres weren’t there, or were busy, I ended up meeting at length with Irmas over a small lunch. When I had first arrived in Nauela 3 months ago, I had tried to introduce myself to the Irmas, but none of them were home. Well as it turns out, there are 5 of them (3 from spain, 1 from Portugal, and 1 from Mozambique) living together in a large cottage and they collectively run an agricultural school down the road in the rural town. All of them were very nice and welcoming to me, offering up lots of stories about the previous PCV, Laura, who they had all grown very close to (especially near the end of her service).
When I got back into Nauela in the mid-afternoon, I called Chauchane from the Lurdes Mutola Foundation in order to get stuff ready for upcoming Lurdes Mutola meeting on April 1st. But when I finally got a hold of him, he insisted that the he and the Chefe do Posto had agreed on an April 10th meeting date. Having not been there for their meeting and the Chefe do Posto being out of town, I had no choice but to take his word for it and make our plans for the 10th.
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