The Baptismo

On my very first night at Criancas Artistas Contra HIV e SIDA (CACHES) six weeks ago, one of the first questions I received was “When is your birthday?” Luckily, Vivienne had warned me not to answer because they like to give people “a baptismo” on their birthday meaning they just like to dump a lot of water on you. I remember just saying it was “sometime” so they tried to guess for a while before giving up. I thought they would never find out. I thought wrong.

Yesterday, September 21, 2012 was my 25^th birthday here in Mozambique, but it was quite the international celebration. For starters, Vivienne made French toast for us with fresh bread from the market. We didn’t have energy the night before or that morning so one of our activistas, Calvino, came by with two neighbors to fix the electricity. We watched them as they climbed on top of our roof and fixed the electrical wiring to our house. We took out the hammock Vivienne had given me as an early birthday present and just watched as they configured and reconfigured the wiring. We hung the hammock between two mango trees using rope and locks as if they were caribeaners. We spent the better part of the morning just hanging out there. Once the energy was fixed Calvino came and joined us as well. Vivienne told me later, Calvino said he knew it was my birthday.

 We went into Xai-Xai to do some errands. For lunch, we met up with another PCV, Michelle, and went to a restaurant to get meio frango, a half of chicken. That’s a half of chicken per person. It is a pretty amazing concept here in Mozambique. For just under $7 US you get literally a half of chicken, salad, rice and French fries. Continuing the birthday festivities, we went to KFC to get some soft-serve ice cream where we met up with a few more PCVs in Xai-Xai for the day. KFC is one of the only American food chains in the big cities of Mozambique. I have yet to seen a McDonald’s, but KFC has made it. Mozambicans do really love their chicken. We then strolled around the market for a while. It was then time for us to head back to Chicumbane to head to work at CACHES.

I was actually the first one at CACHES before any of the activistas or the kids. Nelio arrived just after me, but there were only a handful of kids so they didn’t really run activities. Nelio, Joao and I just sat and chatted while the kids swept the outdoor area and ran around a bit before having to head home when it got dark.

Every night after the kids leave, the activistas, also a part of Grupo Amizade, their theater group, practice for the Peace Corps sponsored English Theatre Competition coming up next Saturday. A couple members of the group were late so we were all just sitting around waiting for them. There was a weird anticipation hanging in the air. How did they find out!? I am still trying to figure that out. I decided to just hang out inside CACHES—I would be safe there. They all seemed to be running inside and out scheming something. Then out of nowhere, they surrounded me, grabbed me and started to drag me outside while Vivienne was pulling and screaming on the other side. I was prepared for the worst. But, when they dragged me outside nothing happened. Literally. I thought maybe I was in the clear. I decided to distract them with the banana crumble I had made. I gathered everyone inside and cut them all a piece of the banana crumble. It was pretty burnt because I am still trying to figure out the pan-inside-a-pan-with-sand- over-the-gas-stove baking. But they seemed to enjoy it.

They then they said they were going to start rehearsing. They started to set up the stage like they usually do. That’s when I noticed that their costumes were all different. For example, Nelio who usually plays the son in their English Theatre skit, was wearing a skirt and a headband. Joao who plays the daughter was wearing a blazer with a camera bag slung over his shoulder. And Calvino who usually plays the mom had a whole new costume on. He was wearing a long skirt, had a bag slung over his shoulder and was carrying a water bottle. They then set up stools and took a seat. It wasn’t even a minute before I realized they were not rehearsing their skit tonight. Instead, they had a new skit. They were reenacting my time so far at CACHES starring Calvino as me; Nelio as Vivienne; Joao as Sam, CACHES’ Director; and Fermino and Beto as themselves. They continued to reenact word-for-word my first night at CACHES. They went through Sam introducing me to the activistas, showing me the space and meeting the kids. Calvino mimicked all my expressions and my limited Portuguese vocabulary those first few days at site. He threw in a couple, “Que disse?” (What did you say), “Pode repetir?” (Could you repeat that), and “Sim, sim, sim”, which are all expressions I apparently use far too often. I wish I could say he had it all wrong, but it was scary how spot-on his imitation was. To say I was laughing is an understatement. I was dying. I was laughing so hard tears were running down my cheeks, my stomach hurt and cheeks ached. Throughout the skit, they had me lean over to Vivienne as a crutch asking what was going on and then they would just speak gibberish really fast to imitate how fast we speak English to each other. They then imitated a couple of my other first few days at site including one morning I sat waiting for Sam and some activistas to meet me at my house, but really I was supposed to meet them at CACHES. Oops. And then they reenacted that day—the whole conversation Nelio, Joao and I had and then me cutting and passing out the banana crumble. Throughout the skit, every couple of minutes Calvino would take a sip from his water bottle. Yup, I do that A LOT. They also mimicked my high-fives. They had Vivienne’s character just giving everyone huge hugs and then there was me offering my hand, “high-five.” Spot-on again. Toward the end, they broke into the dance move I taught them a couple weeks ago at our troca and finished with “Parabens a voce” (Happy Birthday).

Wow. I was totally blown away. Never before had I watched a live reenactment of my own life on my birthday. I thanked them so much and told them how I was totally shocked. I then explained to them that they were lucky that I could laugh at myself. I didn’t know the word for sense of humor, but it is on my list to look up. I don’t think they would have gone through all that trouble if they didn’t think I would laugh.  As Nelio walked us home that night, he said he hoped I didn’t take offense to any of it. I tried to reiterate how I can laugh myself and then I tried to explain to them my mom’s famous line, “Crack yourself up, you get the best laugh” in Portuguese. Love you Mom. I did tell him though that it was fun for tonight, but this cannot continue every day. Chega. Enough. He said it wouldn’t happen again until my next birthday. He also said that I hadn’t escaped the baptism. It would still be coming at some point. “No futuro.”  (In the future.) That’s another expression I apparently use a lot that they used several times throughout the skit. Eek. But, it’s true, some things like speaking Changana, helping on the machamba (garden), giving more of my opinion at meetings, etc. I am not able to do right now, but will be doing someday. I just have to keep track of all the things I say I will do in the future.

And to top it all off. Just a few minutes after I got home from CACHES, the two new German volunteers in Chicumbane were at my door with a balloon and hand-picked flowers singing “Happy Birthday” first in English and then in German. What a day.

And A HUGE thank you to all the love and best wishes I received in texts, phone calls and emails from across the globe. Even without a baptismo, my first birthday celebrated on another continent was definitely one for the books.