CHICUMBANE

We spent most of Week 6 on site visits. When we started training, Week 6 seemed so far away, but it has already come and gone. We have just three weeks of training left. Wow. For my site visit, I went to Chicumbane in Gaza Province to stay with Vivienne Chao, a second-year volunteer who is leaving in October. She has already started a 100-day countdown to when she is done with Peace Corps. Considering I am a mere 40ish days into training, we are in two very different places. However, it was really interesting to experience a few days in her shoes.

We left Namaacha at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning in a mini bus just for Peace Corps trainees and a few language facilitators so they could help us get on the right chapas in Maputo. We arrived at the chapa station in Maputo and were shuffled to a chapa headed to Gaza Province. We then waited an hour and a half for our chapa to fill up before it could leave. While we waited, several vendors came up to the open door and windows trying to sell everything from pao (bread), CDs, alcohol, toothbrushes, you name it. When the chapa was at capacity—that being four rows of four and a row of three, we were off. With my backpack crammed on my lap and absolutely no room left on the seat, we knew it would be a long couple of hours. About three hours later, one of the women in the back row told the driver that she had to “chi-chi” (go to the bathroom) and so the chapa pulled over on the side of the road and she along with about five other passengers all found a place to go. When nature calls, no better place to go then in nature along the side of the road, right?  Then everyone filed back in and we continued on.

Around 10:30 a.m. we made it to Chicumbane. Vivienne met Alexus and I at the stop and we walked to her house. After devouring her peanut butter and bread (it was the first time I had mantega de amendoim in Moz) , we went to Xai-Xai, which is a district capital just a 10-minute chapa ride away from her. Again, the chapa was packed to capacity. In the supermarket, we were able to buy her more mantega de amendoim and even get CHEESE. It was so exciting because cheese definitely doesn’t exist in Namaacha and the only dairy product I have had here in Moz has been ice cream from the barraca once. We were a little overwhelmed by the supermarket to say the least. We then went to the outdoor market and I got my first capalana and then we went to her fruit lady to stock up on tangerinos for the next few days. It was another chapa ride back to Chicumbane. That night we went to a pig roast festa at one of her friend’s house. The party was supposed to start at 12 pm, we didn’t get there until 5 pm and they still hadn’t eaten. Mozambican parties are known for being a long wait to eat. Before we ate, one of the family members gave introductions. Then just before we ate, they brought out a sheet cake. I had never seen a cake like that in Mozambiue. After they sang “Happy Birthday”, they did a Mozambican tradition where five people serve cake to the person whose birthday it is at the same time. It is kind of like what Americans do at weddings, just add 3 more people into the mix. Then we ate a lot of arroz, frango and pork. After dinner, it was time to give gifts. With every gift that was presented, the person presenting the gift would usually do a little dance with it. I look forward to attending more Mozambican parties, but know now to at least eat beforehand because it could be hours between the time they say the party starts and when the food is served.

On Sunday, we spent the morning hanging out on Vivienne’s porch with her puppies. She has three dogs and one of them had eight puppies, but by the time we got there only four were left. I was ready to take one home with me so that I could have it at site, but then realized how difficult it would be to hide for the next few weeks and it would make for an interesting chapa ride home. However, my parents back home in the states, recently got a puppy named Mozi.

Around noon, we headed to Xai-Xai beach, which was gorgeous. Apparently Mozambicans don’t really go to the beach in the winter so it was as if we had a private beach to ourselves. The water was crystal clear and perfect for swimming. It was such a relaxing day compared to the hustle and bustle of training. After the beach, we went to an Indian Italian restaurant. Considering I haven’t really had much Indian food in the states, I thought my first time shouldn’t be in Africa. I went for the pizza instead. Covered in cheese and vegetables, it was delicious. When we got back to Vivienne’s house that night, she taught us all the cool crafts she makes with capalanas. She taught us how to make earrings using a capalana square and bottle caps and headbands with just a strip of capalana and a hair elastic. I definitely know what I will be making a lot of in the next two years.

On Monday morning, I went for a run just down the main road in Chicumbane. On my way back, I stopped at her bread guy in the market to pick up some pao for breakfast and I thought to myself, “I could get used to this.” After breakfast, we went to the Chicumbane hospital, one of Vivienne’s organizations. She currently works with three and then has two secondary projects so she definitely has a pretty busy schedule. At the hospital we sat with her counterpart who works in community prevention as he wrote a report to the Ministry of Health. We met her other counterpart who works with GAAC, a program that shares the responsibility of picking up ARVs between a group of HIV-positive individuals. Instead of all five people going every month to pick up their medicines, only one goes each month to pick up the medicine for the group. And then the nurse director of the hospital gave us a tour. We quickly saw the statistics we had been learning about in class. In Mozambique, there are only about 1,000 doctors in the entire country. That means that there was one doctor at this hospital, a few nurses and the rest are medical technicians. There were people waiting everywhere to be seen. But, that didn’t seem to stop our tour guide from bringing us into just about every room and introducing us to the staff and then asking if we had any questions. There was no sense of urgency to see the patient who was patiently waiting in the room as well. Also, no sense of privacy. And absolutely no HIPAA. I started to feel very uncomfortable and surprisingly was running out of questions. I just wanted all the patients who were waiting to be seen instead of just sitting there watching the three Americans on parade through the rooms where they were seeking care. Our tour guide proceeded until finally we told her we were getting hungry and it was time for lunch.

After lunch, we went to CACHES, Criancas Artistas Contra HIV e SIDA, Vivienne’s second organization. CACHES is an after school program for kids in Chicumbane. Before we arrived, Vivienne had asked if we had any new games to play with the kids. I told her I knew a lot and would be happy to give it a shot, but may need some help translating it into Portuguese. She said the jovens (teenagers) would be happy to help. She works with the jovens doing a Juntos group, one of her secondary projects. That afternoon we played Produce Masters (shout out to FYSOP), Jedi mind tricks and draw/write telephone. We played Produce Masters first and it was a great way to practice all of my Portuguese fruits and vegetables. It took the kids a little while to get the idea that they all needed different fruits and vegetables, but eventually they got the hang of it. They then played Jedi mindtricks for about an hour. One of the jovens that night asked if I could write out the games so they could have to use in the future. That night I wrote out two sheets of paper front and back with games for them to have—in English. One day I will be able to do that in Portuguese, I hope… The next day at CACHES, we taught them Red Light, Green Light, Limbo and Pictionary. During Red Light, Green Light, I was in charge of making sure all the kids were lined up behind the line we drew in the sand and then I had to tell whoever moved that they were out. I started by saying, “saia” when I wanted someone to leave the game. It was not until a little girl started mimicking me “saia”, “saia”, “saia”, that I realized I was saying the wrong verb form. “Sai” is what I should have been saying. Thanks menina (little girl). I am sure that is just the first time of many that I will be corrected by a little crianca.

On Tuesday we went to Xai-Xai again to do some errands with Vivienne because she is the financial director of REDES, a countrywide Peace Corps secondary project working with secondary school girls. She was getting ready for their big conference. Amidst printing certificates, sending emails at the Internet café and picking up manuals, we stopped at KFC, yes, what used to be Kentucky Fried Chicken, because they have soft-serve. I haven’t seen any McDonald’s yet in Mozambique, but I have seen a couple KFCs. Mozambicans do love their chicken. I got a small chocolate sundae and it was such a treat. Vivienne said she treats herself to something special like KFC soft-serve, at least once a week. I might have to start that rule when I get to site. 

We left our site visit very early Wednesday morning. We took another chapa ride down to Maputo. We then took two chapa rides across town to the Peace Corps office to help Vivienne sort shirts for the conference. Then we met up with some other trainees to go to Café Sol, a restaurant just off campus from Edward Mondlane University and just a 15-minute walk from the Peace Corps office. We had heard they had really good bagels and burritos. Hands down, it was my favorite meal in Mozambique. It was definitely the most expensive meal I have had, but totally worth it. As we were finishing up, the Peace Corps Country Director was coming in for lunch so it is definitely a popular spot among Peace Corps.

After a relaxing and inspiring five days on site visit, we headed back to Namaacha for our last four weeks of training. It was so nice to have a taste of the independence and freedom that awaits us at site.

And then yesterday we FINALLY got our site announcements! And….drumroll please…CHICUMBANE!! So really the site visit was a glimpse into what my life will be like for the next two years. Woot! Woot!