A Gator in Mozambique: June 2010

**Please read the following message**
Dear Readers,

Thank you so much for your continued support while following my blog. As of now, I can see that there are 100+ people regularly receiving email updates about my blog and/or following me via google blogger. Regardless of your interaction with me, I trust that you have enjoyed my blog's stories and pictures. Many have even taken time away from their busy schedules to email me just to let me know when a particular story or photo touched them. I really appreciate it! It definitely helps keep me motivated and going strong even while there is no power in Nauela and internet access is few and far between...

I am taking the time to write this side note to inform you that my Canon 20D digital camera has recently stopped working and thus there will be a lull in my upcoming photos. Just like many, I absolutely love the photos of Nauela/Mozambique/Africa and want them to continue. Thus, after much debate, I have asked my family back in the US to take money out of my bank account to purchase a refurbished Canon 40D with 2 new lens (two of my lenses have stopped working too) and send them over to me as soon as possible. That said, with me being a volunteer and these funds coming out of my personal bank account, I am really struggling financially and would really appreciate any help that you all could offer me.

If any of you would like to contribute, even just a few bucks, please email me at mtudeen@gmail.com or contact my brother at btudeen@gmail.com and we will let you know how you can donate and help support me and this blog.

Thank you in advance for your support.

One Love,
Michael Tudeen
***

Sunday April 25th, 2010 – Wednesday April 27th, 2010
The morning following Amanda’s party, we wake up early (8am, which is early considering the late night dancing) and catch a ride with Jamie, an area World Vision supervisor, just outside of town to attend the American missionary’s church service at Calibu lumber. Only a few minutes into it, I can tell it has a good vibe. The young adults are jumping up and down dancing, singing, and clapping for the whole opening set of praise songs. People are actually excited to be here! The small church building overflows with energy and a sense of spirituality even though there are lots of empty seats scattered throughout. (As an interesting coincidence, turns out that April 25th is not only Amanda’s birthday, but is also the city of Morrumbala’s birthday too, i.e.- the day it was pronounced a city. Thus, many people have gone to the festivities near the city center rather than making it out to Calibu today.)

Calibu’s service, especially the message, is unique. Not because of the topic or delivery, though it was a little more conservative and impassioned than I’m used to back at home (think Southern Baptist and then take it back a few steps). No. Rather, the service is special because of the fact that it’s delivered in ENGLISH by Pastor Jim and then translated into the local dialect by some members of the congregation. Thinking back on my time in the Peace Corps, I can safely say that it’s the first church service I’ve been to in Mozambique where I can finally understand everything that’s being said by the preacher. The feeling of coming away from a church service without feeling my head throbbing after trying to understand a pastor’s Lomwe ramblings is… well… priceless!

On Tuesday night I’m still in Morrumbala and Amanda and I join Pastor Jim and Eileen at their house for their weekly prayer night. They start things off nice and fancy with an AWESOME pork chop dinner and then we step into the living room to get down to business. Eileen starts us off by inviting each one of us to raise up our prayers to the group (tonight composed of Jim, Eileen, Lena (a Zimbabwean merchant working here in Morrumbala), Amanda, and I) and then everyone takes turns going around the circle praying on each issue. I’m a little nervous. “Michael! You knew we were coming to prayer night tonight. Why didn’t you think of some GOOD prayer requests beforehand!” I scold myself. In the end, I take a glance at my future and ask the others to pray to God to simply show me His/Her purpose in my work in Nauela and to give me a better sense of direction with it all (looking back at this journal entry weeks later, I laugh thinking how quickly and thoroughly God answered that prayer!).

Taking a step back from prayer night and focusing in on Jim and Eileen Kirk of Calibu Lumber for a bit, their story is quite impressive. Turns out the missionaries arrived in Morrumbala over 10 years ago with Jim having some background in the lumber biz from his roots in the Midwest. There was no electricity in Morrumbala back when they arrived. No house for them to stay even. In fact, they had to live for more than half a year in a pitched tent before determinedly moving into their half-finished house. Even still, they quickly made their way in the wood exporting business from Northern Mozambique inorder to provide them with the finances to fund their ministry.

Although they cut down all sorts of hard wood, their specialty export is the treasured African Blackwood. Coming from America, you hear a lot about the conservation efforts (i.e. – tourists not buying Blackwood) to keep African Blackwood trees and ones like it from going extinct. Jim assured me, however, that Calibu Lumber was not like many of the other (mostly Chinese) lumber companies that clear cut entire forests of Blackwoods in a day’s time, far exceeded their allotted amount, and then sending the trunks oversees without being processed in country. No. Calibu Lumber’s operation is markedly different. Although the business needs to make a profit to keep their ministry alive and well, the profit margin is not the bottom line. The exporting scale is much smaller and all the labor happens right here in Morrumbala, giving local workers jobs, not only harvesting the trees, but also the huge effort of converting the trunks into exportable products.

Check out some old and new photos from the Calibu Lumber yard below...

The first load of logs coming into Calibu

The first cut by the wood mizer

The rough cut lumber as a result of some long hours slicing away

Eileen showcasing her African hardwood pens that she sells.

A current Calibu worker marking defects in the refined black exportable products

Carving out the bad spots...

The warehouse of all the African Blackwood ready to ship out to the US.

Alongside all the lumber business, Jim and Eileen find time to frequent other seedling churches they support and host an intensive bible school for area ministers every other month for a month at a time. The hope is to enrich the knowledge of the area congregations through the increased knowledge of their ministers. Recognizing the book famine here in Mozambique and how hard the transfer of knowledge is between generations and communities, continuing education is always a big plus and a necessity.

Monday April 26th – Saturday May 1st, 2010
WARNING! We’ve got a man down! We need help… NOW! Sadly, I wake up today to find that Mcel’s service is not working. Thinking it was just a Morrumbala problem, Amanda and I don’t worry too much. Considering that most of our phone time is spent talking back and forth with each other it doesn’t immediately affect us too much anyways. A few days later, when it still hasn’t come back though, we discover that the problem is actually a long-term, general communication outage which reaches across all of Northern Mozambique and even into party of Tanzania. Now realizing that this affects all communications (banks, internet, etc), we quickly start worrying!

Although it’s still unclear, the latest news report suggests that a ship’s dragging anchor may have cut the main fiberoptic telecommunications cable that runs up the East coast of Africa and, at places, is submerged deep in the ocean’s depths. Hearing all this you start to wonder “Is this communication system that we so heavily rely on really this fragile?” In Africa, at least, the answer is resounding YES! I guess that, despite all the wireless innovations we have, our world wide web is actually still made up of very real, vulnerable wires running everywhere :-)

Amanda and I leave her site together on Thursday heading for Quelimane to get together with some other PCVS to help celebrate Luke and Ethan’s birthday parties this weekend. To kill some downtime while in Quelimane, we make a morning visit to one of the local clothing open-air markets and practically pick out a whole new wardrobe for me. I think I’m looking pretty good now… if I do say so myself! Despite the fact that we bought the clothes from a bunch of straw huts in the slums of Quelimane, the stuff is pretty good quality! I mean… it’s literally is a bunch of designer brands, each item costing less than 5 dollars, no matter what you are get! Don’t hate the player… hate the game ;-)

The trip to Quelimane isn’t all pleasure though. I justify my extended stay away from site by arranging a meeting with FGH higher ups Maria dos Angels and Rui about some problems I’ve been experiencing when working (or trying to work) with the organization. In the end, they listen to all my complaints, smile, and inform me that there will be a meeting on May 12th “where we can further discuss all these misunderstandings” … Okay :-/ Even though they had originally told me the meeting was set for the end of May and my Peace Corps supervisor planned her entire month’s schedule around THAT meeting…. at least the fact that we are having this meeting is some progress… right?!

Below are some pictures from Ethan and Luke’s party this weekend in Quelimane:

Yohko enjoying some coconut on the Zalala beach day trip

Everyone posing at the combined birthday party later that night at Dina’s (Luke’s girlfriend) family’s place.

Luke and Ethan lookin’ pretty chique in their matching party capulana print shirts.

Tuesday May 4th, 2010
So there’s still no Mcel service and Vodacom doesn’t reach Nauela (even at the VERY top of my Mango tree!). But needing to contact people for work purposes (just wanting to hear Amanda’s voice), I resolve to bike an hour and a half away and then climb to the top of a mountain with just the CHANCE of being able to call and send messages. At the base of the mountain, although it’s significantly closer to the nearest cell tower than Nauela, I get no reception. “Not a good sign!” I think. About half way up the mountain, though, perched on top of a rock out-pouching in the middle of a corn field, the trip pays off with full bars! Thank you Vodacom!

Having to retreat back to Nauela as the sun crouches low behind the distant mountains, I take one last look at my surroundings and know the trip would have been worth it just for the adventure and the 180 degree view of the rolling, sunset-painted hills nestled up against the distant mountain ranges. That said, I’m really glad I got to hear Amanda’s voice :-)

Arriving back at my house, crawling into bed, and curling up under the covers, I feel so isolated and lonely without my security blanket of knowing that I COULD call someone right now, if I really wanted to… Then again, my mango tree climbing is significantly less appealing and less likely with the cold winter air encompassing the sleeping town.

On a side note, ever since arriving back at site on Sunday afternoon, biking has become quite a large part of my day. And my infamous hero bike has stayed true to form… losing another foot pedal, the seat coming undone (for those of you who knew me with my old, seat-less green mountain bike, I bet you’re smiling right now! What is it with me and bike seats?!), and just generally giving me a whole set of headaches. Besides my excursions to seek cell phone service, I’ve also been biking out to neighboring communities in order to collect suggestions of area coaches who’d be a good fit for the upcoming youth soccer coach training in Nauela put on by the Lurdes Mutola Foundation

Wednesday May 5th- Thursday May 6th, 2010
Only 4 days after getting back to site from my extended stay at Amanda’s, here I am leaving again, albeit for work this time. Today’s chapa adventure marks my third trip to Gurue since arriving to site back in December, but I feel like with my partnership with the Lurdes Mutola Foundation, based out of Gurue, the visits will start to become more frequent.

After spending the night curled up on an esteira on Camille and Aditi’s living room floor, I wake up and take a quick shower before rushing out of the house to meet with people of the Lurdes Mutola Foundation’s office. I walk in their office cynically thinking that the impromptu meeting could last all of 15 minutes, but 2 hours later I walk out with a smile on my face and having discussed a lot more than I thought we would have. Chauchane, the Gurue LMF program director, and I focus our discussion on our goals and expectations for the foundation’s work in Nauela. He patiently listens to my broken, flustered Portuguese and we end up parting ways agreeing that I need to indentify a counterpart back in the Administrative post who will work alongside me in monitoring and evaluating the program after the upcoming training. I can’t wait for the meeting with coaches on May 15th!

Saturday May 8th- Thursday May 13th, 2010
So wait, what did I write a few days ago? That the FGH meeting was scheduled for when? Oh yeah… May 12th. That’s right. Giving me a perfect amount of time to make it back to Nauela afterwards and prepare for that May 15th meeting with the potential youth soccer coaches. Well, feeling a little lonely/down in the dumps because Mcel is still not working, I decide to treat myself by making a SUPRISE visit to Amanda’s site a few days before my meeting in Quelimane with FGH. This is all going to work out perfectly, right?!

WRONG! I am in Macuba, about half way to Morrumbala, when I receive a text (Mcel has already started working again in some of the bigger cities of the Northern Mozambique via other means – i.e. satellites, other fibers, etc) from Chire, my current FGH boss, nonchalantly letting me know that the meeting has been moved to Friday May 14th. “GAH! This ruins everything!” I dramatize in my head. Now I’m going to be gone from site for way longer than I should be and I’m going to miss the Lurdes Mutola meeting on Saturday…. Why must everything that FGH plans/touches turn against me!

Sitting at the chapa stop in Macuba with the sun beating down on my hunched-over back, I take a deep breath and mull it all over… “Should I be that responsible PCV, turn around, and just go back to site or just stick it to FGH and continue on to Morrumbala?…” Now I don’t want to make it seem all that dramatic, because honestly the decision wasn’t that hard at the time: I was continuing on to Morrumbala! and FGH would be lucky if I didn’t just skip their meeting all together in favor of the Lurdes Mutola meeting back in Nauela on Saturday morning!

I arrive late in Morrumbala, flag down a boleia from a random local NGO worker, and get to Amanda’s house which is looking pretty empty. Regardless, I knock on the door optimistically, but her neighbor comes over and informs me that Amanda is out at her bosses’ daughter’s birthday party. :/ After trying to wait it out for a while, wanting to surprise Amanda with me just being at her house unannounced when she got back, the dipping temperatures and slicing wind swiftly defeat my determination. I pick up my phone and quickly dial Amanda’s number to let her know about my almost-complete surprise visit before my stubbornness has time to convince me to do otherwise.

Moments later, Amanda and Baslucas, her boss at Save the Children, come to pick me up in his company car to take me to his daughter’s party. By this time, the 3 year old is long gone, asleep in her bed and the party has transformed itself into an interesting outdoor dance and drinking fest. Drunk, middle-age Mozambican men dancing all up on each other… cultural experiences, right?!

This trip to Amanda’s site flies by. Over the next few days we visit the missionaries out at Calibu lumber again for their church service and prayer night, play disk golf/hang out with Bern (a RPCV who is working for a cotton factory in Morrumbala), paint Amanda’s art room, go clothes shopping at the local market, and throw a cooking party for Lena, Amanda’s empregada, and Lena’s 2 year-old niece, Tina.

Although it was all fun and good times, the last one was especially so because (and I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here when saying this) there’s not much in Morrumbala that Amanda likes more than playing with a giggling Tina.