Severe Flooding in Gaza

On Tuesday, I got a text that some of my colleagues in Chokwe and Guija had evacuated  to Macia because of potential flooding from the rain water. 

Wednesday afternoon, I sat with my landlady as she recounted stories of the floods of 2000. She assured me that the rains this year were not that bad as in the year 2000. That night, I got a text from Peace Corps to be on "standfast" in the event that they needed to evacuate all Peace Corps Volunteers in the area.

Thursday morning, I went to the hospital and continued to work, but started to ask other colleagues about the stories of 2000 and the probability of it happening this year. Around 11 a.m., I heard that Chokwe, a district capital along the Limpopo River about 110 km away from Chicumbane, was flooded. I received the call that Peace Corps cars had left from Maputo to pick up Peace Corps Volunteers throughout Gaza Province and evacuate us to Maputo. I couldn't understand why I had to leave because, while Chicumbane is located near the Limpopo River, it is on higher ground elevated above the river valley and there didn't seem to be a posing threat. One of the hospital nurses, Vovo Minda, told me that I had to go because I was not Mozambican and I wouldn't know how to handle the situation, but that they would be okay, they have been through this before. While they may have experienced this before, one can still never be ready to experience a humanitarian crisis such as this. We have been compiling up-to-date information on the situation on my friends' blog. 

Now, four days later, we have heard the water has filled the river valley area that connects Chicumbane and Xai-Xai. Chicumbane is dependent on Xai-Xai for access to food, banking and other amenities. The river waters have destroyed the two bridges along the national highway in the valley. And in Xai-Xai, the water level has risen into the city forcing thousands to evacuate. 

Chicumbane is lucky in its geographic location to avoid water entering the village, but there are several communities in Gaza that have experienced devastating flooding. And this flooding came without much warning and time to prepare. A hundred thousand people were displaced from Chokwe and Guija. Many were forced to seek refuge on the roofs of buildings and in the tops of trees stranded without food and water.

We are in the middle of the rainy season here in Mozambique. While it has rained for much of January, the rains in South Africa and Zimbabwe contributed to the flooding. South Africa was forced to open several dams in rivers that converge into the Limpopo releasing even more water causing the rivers to overflow. Already this time of year is known as "tempo de fome" (time of hunger) in Mozambique, but the recent flooding will further exacerbate this situation. I have already heard from my neighbor that a sack of flour, which is normally 240 meticais is up to 320 meticais. But this is just the beginning of what is predicted to get a lot worse. 

Since Thursday, I have been in Maputo with my fellow evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers. We have been trying to stay on top of the news and in touch with our friends, neighbors and colleagues back in our communities.  While the water is moving from Chokwe to Xai-Xai and eventually down the river out to the Indian Ocean, the effects of this humanitarian crisis are far from over. It is reported that aid  is being delivered to the port of Beira, located 800 kilometers away, and expected to be brought to the Xai-Xai area.

All of the evacuated Peace Corps Volunteers are expected to have a meeting tomorrow to learn more about the current situation. While we are all anxious and restless to help in any way that we can, we know that we need to wait and see where the greatest needs lie in our communities and how we can channel our energy to address them. 

Puppies!!!

Mel and the sinking latrine...

 Since I was about 10 years old, I have wanted a puppy. I wrote a persuasive letter to my parents in 3rd grade asking my parents for a dog. My teacher said if I didn’t get a dog she would be really surprised. When I gave the letter to my parents, they set several conditions: the dog had to be at least two years old, had to be house trained and it had to be relatively inexpensive. The first and second condition eliminated all dreams of having a puppy. But, there was an ad two weeks later in my dad’s work newsletter for a free two-year-old obedience school trained black Labrador. That’s when Fletch entered the family. There has been a dog in my parent’s house ever since. When Fletch passed away, we got Gus. Gus is a shitzu-terrier, which my little sister absolutely adores, but other family members have come to call a bedroom slipper. When I left for Mozambique, my family decided to finally get a puppy. They said it would be my substitute and they named it Mozi. I am not making this up. Right when I left, they finally got a puppy. Don’t ask me how they convinced my mom to give in to that. Anyway, it is only appropriate that I too now have puppies.

My dog, Mel, had puppies yesterday. It kind of came as a surprise. She has been pregnant since November, I think, and I was expecting the puppies to come next month. But, yesterday morning when I was looking for Mel, I found her giving birth in my latrine. My latrine, by the way, which is literally sinking as a result of all the rain we have had in the last week. Don’t worry, I have stopped using the latrine (Falling in a pit latrine is probably one of my biggest fears here in Moz). I found Mel huddled in the corner no more than a foot from where the sand was eroding and falling in. There were two puppies huddled underneath her and it looked like the third was on the way. Ahh. What to do? That morning I was supposed to go to a funeral. I was not expecting puppies. I immediately called one of my friends and asked her to look up some information about newborn puppies. Could I move her? Could I touch them this early on? I had no idea. I had never had a puppy before. I decided to grab my camera to at least document the event. The activista I was supposed to go to the funeral with then showed up. I took her back to the latrine and before I could even say I didn’t think I would be able to make it, she insisted that I stay with Mel. She said I had to make sure no puppies fell in. Ahh. My friend then called me back saying that yes, I could touch them, but it is best to move them before the mother really comes to after giving birth and realizes what is going on. I quickly ran to my landlady’s house to see if her grandson Antonio was there to help me move them and set them up in the empty kitchen that sits between Nelio and my house. My landlady has a dog, Xima, who just had puppies. Antonio and I then returned to my house, cleaned out the kitchen and grabbed a box to load the puppies up and move them in. The puppies were successfully relocated. Mel followed us right into the kitchen and set up a little space for her and her babies. The kitchen was not in the best condition, but Nelio and I spent the afternoon fixing it up. We took out all the trash, built a new reed wall and leveled out the floor with new sand. I set up a bed for Mel and the pups with a straw mat, a little rug and a few capalanas. This will be their home for the next eight weeks.

So far the pups have been really busy eating and sleeping. Mel has been a trooper eating and sleeping along with them. She is also on high alert. Usually there are anywhere from three to six dogs in my yard at any time, but since she has had the puppies, she has not allowed any other dogs to be anywhere near the yard. She runs out from the kitchen, attacks them and then literally chases them out. She then quickly resumes her spot on the bed. Considering this is her third litter, she is a pro at this by now. My family back home was really worried about how was I going to know what to do with puppies in Mozambique. The truth of the matter is, dogs here are way more self-sufficient. I never want to leave the house because that means I’ll have to leave them and I go rushing in every time I hear them cry. Even though I feel like a worried parent all the time, I know there is only so much I can do. Being a pet owner in Moz is worlds different from being a pet owner back in the states. That became extremely clear as I quickly researched newborn puppies on the Internet on my phone. Nothing really seemed to apply. For one thing, it talked a lot about having to have a heat source in order to keep the puppies at about 85 to 90 degrees F all the time. Not applicable here. The fact that it is summer in Moz makes it automatically at least 90 degrees. Even though my neighbor said they look like rats, they are pretty cute. See for yourself!

BIRTH!

Mel and the puppies after they had been relocated to the kitchen.

Mel and her puppies

All set up!

Boas Entradas

Our maiden voyage out to Ihla dos Porcos.

Happy New Year.Or as they say here in Mozambique, “Boas Entradas”.I spent the holidays in Inhambane at the beach with some of my Peace Corps colleagues. It was not exactly a white Christmas, but we spent it on the (almost) white sand beach of Tofo. I wasn’t able to bring my camera, but my friends Mike and Marisa did an awesome job documenting the week so I encourage you to check out their blog to see pictures from the week. It wasn’t until the holidays were all said and done and I am now alone back at site that it hit me… I missed the holidays at home. I hope that you all had the merriest of holidays and truly enjoyed the holiday season with family and friends. Know that I am definitely thinking about you all covered in snow as the temperature here continues to climb. The other day it was 35 deg. C, which is about 95 deg. F. Tem Calor. It is also now the rainy season. It has rained for the past four days with no sign of stopping. The rain at least cools things off a bit, but it comes with incredible force flooding my yard and the roads. As I write now, the rain pounds on my tin roof and I am surrounded by several buckets to collect the rain water that leaks in through my roof. My first introduction to the rainy season in Africa.

The view from my door the past few days...

The new year brings new plans for both of my organizations. Mozambicans may not take New Years Resolutions to the same extremes as Americans do, but with the beginning of a new year, they still make new goals and plans for the new year.Last Wednesday, I was supposed to do a nutrition palestra (informational talk) in the Children at Risk department of the hospital, meet with my EGPAF supervisor and have a 2013 planning meeting at CACHES. The palestra was cancelled, the supervisor meeting was cancelled and everyone showed up 30 minutes late to CACHES. So it goes.Take a step back. Relax.

Even though everything did not go as planned last Wednesday. I met with my supervisor for over an hour on Thursday. CACHES met for about two hours on Thursday and another hour on Friday to begin the planning process for this year. And my nutritional talk and papas demonstratio was rescheduled for next Wednesday. And if the rain holds off it will hopefully take place. I started doing the papas demonstrations back in October with VovoMinda, the head nurse in the Children at Risk department of the hospital. Papas are basically like porridge, which we give to malnourished babies to help them gain weight and grow. So every Wednesday, we set up a mini cooking station outside and get mothers to help prepare the papas. By having them involved in the process they can then make it at home for their children. I started by just really observing the demonstration with VovoMinda, and then I started helping some of activistas who come to work at the hospital and now I take more active role in the demonstrations. One time when I was doing the demonstrations with a group of nursing students, they all did not know how to make papas so they looked to me for each step. I guided them through the process with my limited experience from just making it a couple times prior to that. I thought it turned out pretty well, but when we were serving the papas, Tininha, one of the assistants at the hospital, had a taste and told me that next time we need to crush the peanuts more. Oh well. The next week we made it, I made sure to give her taste and she said it tasted lot better. Since I have been helping out with the papaspalestra, I decided to write up the papas recipe on a poster to provide a visual for the mothers each week. Before I went on vacation for the holidays, I drew out the process on a poster.

Step 1. Pick out the bad peanuts

Step 2. Boil water

Step 3. Put the peanuts in a pan on the stove

Step 4. Take off the peanut shells

Step 5. Crush the peanuts

Some of the maes crushing peanuts for PAPAS

Step 6. Continue to crush the peanuts until it forms a peanut butter

Step 7. Put farinha (flour) in the boiling water

Step 8. Occasionally stir the farinha for the next ten minutes

Step 9. Put sugar and the peanut butter in the pot with the farinha

Step 10. Let boil more, stirring occasionally

Step 11. Serve and enjoy!

Candice, one of the nursing students, helping make PAPAS.

After I drew out the steps, I decided to ask my language tutor, Professora Teresa, to help me write out the step below each picture in Changana. She was thrilled to help, but said she was not entirely sure on the spelling of things in Changana. She brought me to her friend’s house in order to get the correct spelling. She was extremely helpful and together we wrote out all of the steps in Changana. When the poster was done, I brought it into the hospital to give to VovoMinda. She was overjoyed and decided we would go on a little show-and-tell walk around the hospital showing off the poster. At first, I was really embarrassed because the poster wasn’t really that great. I am not the best artist and so I was very critical of my drawings and was scared that the Changana was wrong. But that wasn’t important. VovoMinda was just so excited to have the poster to use. So I decided to let it go and continue to accompany her on our parade around the hospital.

When the following Wednesday came around, the poster was extremely helpful because it was just an activista from the organization Chukwaand I doing the palestra. The poster acted as a guide for us to follow. And this particular Wednesday, a father was there with his 5-month-old very malnourished baby. It is very unusual to see a dad bring his child to the hospital. Usually it is just the mothers and children. And this particular baby was seriously just skin and bones. Whatever pictures you have seen of malnourished children in Africa, that is what this baby looked like. While the father sat outside the hospital, I watched as several hospital staff asked him about the well-being of the baby. This baby’s condition was alarming to them as well.  The dad explained how the mother was very sick. He was very interested in learning how to make the papas. He got involved with the process as he wore the baby wrapped in a capalana on his back, just like all the mothers present. We gave his baby extra servings and then I copied down the recipe from the poster so he could bring it home with him and prepare for the baby. When the papas were done, we served all of the babies of those who helped prepare it. And then we served it to all of the children who are staying in the pediatric wing of the hospital with malnourishment. Professora Teresa, my tutor who helped make my poster, told me that she now also prepares papas at her house for her 9-month-old baby, KaKa.

The plan this year is to continue to do papas palestras on Wednesdays, but also maybe another day like Monday or Friday. Vovo Minda also asked me to continue to do more nutritional talks with each palestra. Last time, I spoke about the importance of including the various food groups in each meal. The plan for this past Wednesday was to talk about the importance of exclusively breastfeeding until six months and then slowly introducing new foods to the baby. So while it may not have happened this week, it doesn’t mean we won’t plan to do it next week.