2013...some notes on the year...

Disclaimer: I started this blog post a month ago hoping to post it for the new year. But, surprisingly, the rainy season has been busier than I expected and here we are, a month in, just finally making a post.

When I first sat down to write a blog post about 2013, I first thought of doing a top ten list, or highs and lows, or maybe even the best and worst memories of the year. But, what I wanted to say about the past year just didn´t seem to fit into a neatly organized list. It has been exhilarating, yet exhausting, thought-provoking and enlightening, adventurous and at times heart-breaking, frustrating and yet optimistic. So many experiences and revelations can only be summed up in the stream of consciousness I have composed including some of the highs and lows, the bests and worsts, the lessons learned and everything in between. So 2013 it´s been real.

• One of my favorite memories of 2013 is definitely "Den-Den's once-in-a-lifetime African adventure", the vacation I had with my dad and sister Bridget. From hiking down at Cape of Good Hope to sunset cruise at Victoria Falls, zip-lining across the falls to experiencing all the wildlife in Kruger. It was quite the trip. 
•  This year, I can say I have more of a grasp on grant/project management. After submitting four various proposals, the one my counterpart and I submitted to do an agriculture/nutrition project was approved and the grant money was awarded. I have learned the responsibilities and frustrations that accompany such work. I am grateful for this experience, but know that while this may be a first for me,  i know it is something I expect to see experience more of in my future professional life.
• There is nothing quite like the African scenery, the African plains. Vast. Grand. Peaceful. Beautiful. Whether I am traveling down the country's only highway, wind blowing in my face, or just stopped at my favorite lookout point in Chicumbane, I am always taken aback.
• Somehow I have learned to handle the other inhabitants of my house. Finding lizard eggs tucked into my neatly folded clothes, a frog just under my refrigerator and the snail in my shower area. And not to mention the rats. But, I don't think I will ever be comfortable with the rats. 
• I have been showered with kindness in this country. There was the time my neighbor showed up with an entire bag of tangerines. Or when Junior brought me five pineapples. Or when my neighbor just gave me a 2 kg bag of OMO detergent (mind you, that is not cheap.) I have realized that I really need to be better about receiving a gift, whatever it may be. There was the day I made Junior cry because he gave me a mango and I immediately passed it off to another child. Ep pa! That was probably the worst thing I could have done. He was so proud to be able to give me something and I just threw it away essentially in front of him as if it didn't mean anything to me. Heartless. So note to self: appreciate what is given to you. And know that it really means a lot to the person when they are able to give you something, whatever it may be.
• I don't want to jinx myself, but somehow I have managed to still have the same phone since I have been here in Mozambique. I don't know how I have done it. But, trust me, that is an accomplishment.
• There are a few things I will never take for granted after living here in Moz. Ice cold water, a breeze on a hot day and the shade of a mango tree.
• In America, I was always the one to arrive on time. Or early even. As I have mentioned before the "Mozambican schedule" has started to catch up with me. And yes, I will admit that knowing that 15h could mean anytime between 15:00 and 15:59, sometimes I may not always be there right on the dot. But, I always appreciate it when the person I am meeting with arrives on time or even beats me there. It makes me have faith that things can start on time, even in Mozambique. 
• When I came back from America, I brought back pictures I had printed off for my friends, neighbors and counterparts here. It was amazing just how excited everyone got upon receiving a photograph of themselves. The photos made their days. But, their reactions made mine.
• I know I have written about it before, but one tradition here that I wish we did more in America is just going to visit friends and neighbors unannounced. Here, just stopping by someone's house is always welcomed with open arms and usually a plate of food. And you better be ready to eat it.
• "Hello Sister." "Hello my friend, how are you?" It goes without saying that once people realize you speak English, they either want you to teach them more or just practice what they know. I have received countless requests to teach English, so starting next month I will be starting to give classes to the hospital staff two days a week. Wish me luck! In exchange, I hope to be getting more practice on my Changana.
• The harsh reality of not accomplishing my new years resolutions. Oops. I really have no excuse for not reading a book a month and learning how to do a yoga headstand. But, so it goes. Better luck in 2014.
• I don't know if I will ever be totally cool with it, but I have definitely gotten more used to it: the constant questions and probing into my personal life. "Do you have a boyfriend?""Why not?" "I'll be your boyfriend." "You could marry my husband and then we'll share him." "It is not healthy to not have a boyfriend." It never ends... 
• I have redefined what it means to have a long day on the road...between the minibuses, one lane road, unpaved roads, rain. I hope I never again complain about traveling in America, where I will be most likely in a private air-conditioned vehicle, traveling on paved, multiple-lane highways with the conveniences of restrooms and refreshments within every couple of miles.
• Technology and I in this country have not exactly had the best luck together. My computer has been back to the states for the repairs three times now. And I just had to remove viruses from just about every USB flash drive I own. 
• Birthday parties in Mozambique are one of my favorite celebrations. Whomever's birthday it is has to cut the cake with someone special and then feeds them a piece of it (kind of like weddings in America). And then from there, they continue to feed a piece to everyone at the celebration. I have had the honor of being a part of many birthday celebrations. I was truly touched at one of the last celebrations where one of the volunteers I work with at CACHES picked me to be the first one to be fed a piece and gave a speech explaining why, in which he started to cry. I was truly touched. 
• Estou a pedir..."I am asking for.." I will not miss this phrase whatsoever. And "BEEPS." A beep is when someone calls you, but just long enough for it to ring and then hangs up. That way, you have to call them back using YOUR credit to call. Yup, won't miss that. 
• One of the hardest things about living in Mozambique is the amount of litter and trash just everywhere. But, what is even harder about that, is people's disregard for the earth and environment. I am no real tree hugger, but it is disheartening when people just throw things on the ground, out of a minibus or out the door. Especially, when so much of their life is dependent on the land. When I see people litter, I have started asking them, "Who is going to clean that up?" which is almost always returned by just a look of complete confusion. 
• Before I joined Peace Corps I was told the relationships I made would really make my service. Truth. But, what has surprised me is how this applies to the relationships I have with people I just see once in a while like the people at the market and the post office. "Ola Amiga." They are always so warm, welcoming and wanting to know how I am. But, not only that, but we have built a trusting relationship. Not only do they know my name, where I live and what's going on in my life but it's now okay if I don't have enough money to pay for the green peppers, because I can come back the next day and pay. No questions asked. 
• And while languages have never been my strong point, I am realizing I am now understanding some of the Changana spoken around me. By no means am I proficient or even able to use the right pronunciation to say even a fraction of the words, but I am able to string the words I do know and understand what people are saying around me...sometimes, that is. 

The year 2013 was the bulk of my Peace Corps service in Mozambique. And this list more captures just a few of the realizations I have come to over the year. As January 2014 comes to a close, it means that there are just six months, give or take, left in my service. Crazy. So here's to making the best of it! 

The pictures below are from a mural in Guija I just worked on with my counterparts Sam and Calvino last weekend. The mural was to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the floods in Guija. My colleague Elisabetta organized the event and we arrived to help with the design and painting of the mural. We worked with some of the hospital staff and other Peace Corps Volunteers to complete the mural over the course of a long weekend.

Mural at the entrance to the Centro de Saude de Guija. I worked with my colleagues and counterparts to create this mural one year after the floods devastated Guija. 

"Our health is in our hands" written in Changana



"Always looking ahead. Be strong Guija."



"Prevention starts with hygiene."

• 

  Manuel. One of the usual suspects found around my yard...

Madlela Ma Nene a Ka Chicumbane

Our project garden at CACHES just after planting corn.

That´s Changana for.... Good Nutrition in Chicumbane. 

That´s the name of the agriculture and nutrition project CACHES and I started in September through a Peace Corps Small Projects Assistance grant. The project was the brainchild of Nelio, one of the volunteers I work with at CACHES, and now he and I are the project coordinators working together to make the project a reality...

Our goals for the project are: Teach conservative agriculture to the community of Chicumbane, promote the planting of more nutritious plants and promote good nutrition in the community. 

We have been working on the project for the past eight months, but it has just recently gotten underway...

April: I brought Nelio to PDM, a three-day Peace Corps sponsored conference on project design and management. At the conference we worked through the process of designing a project from start to finish.

May-June: Upon returning home from the conference, Nelio and I sat down and designed a project. We spent countless hours working our way through the project design process: developing goals and objectives, creating a timeline, planning out monitoring and evaluation and drawing up a budget. We took what we had learned at the conference and used it to create our own project focused on agriculture and nutrition. 

July: Nelio and I submitted the grant to Peace Corps. 

August: APPROVED. We heard back from Peace Corps that our grant was approved. 

September: We opened a bank account for the grant funds. We met with local community-based organizations, Tsembeka and Chikuha, about their involvement in our project. We sat down with the community leaders to inform them about the project. Things started coming together...

October: CACHES, Tsembeka and Chikuha all prepared their land to plant a garden.

Nelio demonstrating how to make a tip-tap, hand washing station.

November: However, it was not until November that we first received our grant money. Believe it or not, the government shutdown had something to do with the delay in receiving our funds... Despite the delay, we jumped into gear buying necessary equipment and material and hosting agricultural trainings weekly at CACHES for the 15 volunteers who signed on to work with our project. Every Friday we hosted a training covering permagardening; conservative agriculture; compost piles and making a tip-tap, a hand washing station. 

One of our Friday morning agriculture trainings at CACHES.

The volunteers learning to make a compost pile.

December: We continued to host trainings for the first two weeks in December. On Friday, Dec. 13th, we planted corn in our garden. And in addition, we planted some more nutritious plants, including chaya, moringa and katuk. We received all of these plants from my friend Evan´s organization Mozaic in Manjacaze. They hosted the nutrition training I attended in November. Moringa is known as the miracle plant here being very easy to grow and containing lots of vitamins, minerals and protein. Chaya and katuk also contain more vitamins and minerals than other green leaf plants commonly eaten here. One of our goals throughout this project is to introduce more people to the nutritional value of these plants.

The project is now on holiday break until January 10th. As I learned last year, Mozambique takes ferias (holidays) very seriously. Not much in terms of work gets done from mid-December until mid-January. So instead of battling the holidays, we just accepted them and decided to take holidays ourselves. So starting in January we will continue our project. At that point, we will work with our volunteers who attended our agricultural trainings in November and December to go out into the community to teach families in the community how to do conservative agriculture within their own homes. After that point, we will then start nutrition trainings for our volunteers again. And once we complete our nutrition trainings, we hope to have health fairs for our community at CACHES. (More details to come once they are up and running.)

Distributing plants including chaya, moringa and katuk, to our volunteers.

So far, the project seems to be going pretty well. It has definitely been a learning process for Nelio and myself, but for the most part it is going well. Even though every training is set to start at 8 a.m., usually everyone shows up by 9 a.m. and we are able to get started. And as opposed to having five volunteers from each organization each week as we had hoped, we usually average about three volunteers from each organization. We opened our trainings up to members of the community so we have a consistent two members who participated in our trainings.But, I have learned these are minor aspects in the grand scheme of the project.  What´s more important is that we are distributing the information to those who there and that we are meeting our objectives.  My role has been very minor in actually facilitating with the trainings, which I am very happy about. Both Nelio, and another volunteer from CACHES, Paulo, have attended trainings with me on agriculture and nutrition, so they are primarily the facilitators. They like to remind me that my job is to handle snack. I can do that. No, but seriously, I work with them to plan beforehand, and then during the training, they take the lead. It is much more sustainable. 

Faustino, one of our community volunteers planting his garden.

So as we close out the year, I am content with how the project has gone so far, but I know it is just the beginning. There are definitely areas that need improvement and the bulk of the project is yet to come. So as they say in Changana, Catsonga (probably spelt wrong). . . .pouco a pouco. . .  little by little. One step at a time. 

Murals...Murals...Murals

I have never been extremely artistic. But, since I have been in Moz, I have surrounded myself with people who are quite talented. So I have had to step up my game. But, that is still not saying much.  However, over the past two weeks, I have participated in three mural projects. However, I only let myself paint big spaces. No detailing allowed. And mostly, I just sit in awe of the talent of those I am working with. It has been a busy two weeks, but it has been such a wonderful experience. 

Two weekends ago, my supervisor Sam and I went down to Namaacha to help the newest group of volunteers, Moz 21, do a mural at the Peace Corps office in Namaacha (See pictures below). And last weekend, we hosted three JUNTOS groups, a Peace Corps secondary project focused on expressing health messages through creative art forms, to do a mural in Chicumbane. Then, on Dec. 1st, World AIDS Day, we worked with the kids at CACHES to do a mural. So considering my lack of artistic talent, we have been pretty busy the past few weeks. And the results haven't been half that bad.  But, don't take my word for it....see for yourself. 

JUNTOS Mural in Chicumbane completed November 30, 2013.

Some JUNTOS members working on the mural.

The whole group in front of the mural. We had about 40 participants in total, including members from Macia, Chibuto, Xai-Xai and Chicumbane.

Tania and I at the completion of Day 2 on the Namaacha mural.
Please note: I was only responsible for painting large spaces. No detailed areas.  

My supervisor, Sam, working on some of the finishing touches of the mural. 

TA DAH!!!!!!

December 1: World AIDS Day at CACHES.

Some of the older kids at CACHES worked on a mural at CACHES on World AIDS Day. As part of World AIDS Day, we talked about HIV/AIDS, played some games, danced and enjoyed a snack from the Canadian organization, Right to Play.

Working on the mural.

All of the kids, about 85 in total, lining up to play Limbo.

Alface!!! That's the Mozambican word for Cheese.
The whole group in front of the mural the kids did on World AIDS Day. 

To America and back...

The latest blog post ever...seriously. I started this blogpost over a month ago. And then I was on the road...Tofo, Manjacaze, Namaacha, Maputo, Macia, Bilene. And then, I foolishly dropped my computer and broke my screen. So let's just say, I've been a little out of touch. But, thanks to my dear PCV friends Mike and Marisa, I am at their house using their computer and Internet bringing this blog post to you. So very belated, but here are some pictures from my trip home and a nutrition training I went to in Manjacaze last month. The trip home was a whirlwind of family, food and friends. I can't put all the pictures here so I'll just share the work-related ones. I was also able to share my experiences with three different groups: the 4th and 5th grade at my middle school, my grandmother's senior center and my cousin's 7th grade class on Long Island. I loved hearing their questions and their expressions as I shared some of the realities of my daily life. While now it is tough to think about how just over a month ago I was back home spoiled in the land of milk and honey, I am so glad I took the time to go home and visit. But, there is no doubt, that it is great to be back in Moz. So it goes...

As part of Peace Corps Goal # 3 to improve the understanding of host country nationals on behalf of Americans, I have been participating in the World Wise Schools Program. When I was home, I presented to the 4th grade class at the Old Saybrook Middle School. 

One of the students trying on a capalana.

Some of the students watching videos the kids from CACHES made for them to watch. The kids from CACHES also sent a soccer ball made out of plastic bags to show the kids how they make soccer balls. 

Nutrition Training at Association Mozaic in Manjacaze, Gaza.

Evan, one of my fellow PCVs, who led the training, using some volunteers to explain the benefits of using compost in your garden.

My counterpart Paulo and I at the nutrition training. 

During one of the cooking demonstrations, Evan demonstrated how to use chaya, a more nutritious plant, to make traditional Mozambican dishes. 

All hands in. During the training, we worked together to make peanut butter.

We also made banana jam. Olivia, one of my PCV friends and some of the female counterparts working to mash the bananas for banana jam. 

English Theatre Network

English Theatre is a Peace Corps Secondary Project in which groups of high school students write and perform a skit in English. Each year, there is a theme that groups must incorporate into their skits. This year, the theme was "The Choice is Mine, the Future is Ours." I took 10 members of my group, Grupo Amizade, to compete in the competition in Guija, Gaza last Saturday, September 28th, 2013. 

Grupo Amizade

The day started with a traditional dance group from just outside of Guija.  

The judges table. Pharren, Elisabetta and Marieka.

Giving out certificates of participation.
Chalia played the mother in our skit. Alden, on the left, was the national coordinator of English Theatre Network this year. And Americo, to his right, was the coordinator for Gaza. 

Our skit won "2nd Place" and "Most Creative".
Our skit was about a mother who remarried a man, Armando, for his money, but ended up contracting HIV/AIDS. She got very sick and had to be hospitalized. While she was hospitalized, Armando raped the mother's daughter, Mirella. The mother ends up dying in the hospital. But, Mirella confides in a classmate, Mutukuzi, who was also sexually abused, and together they go to report the stepfather and get her examined by a doctor at the violence against women and children sector of the hospital. Mirella finds out that she too is HIV positive and is now pregnant. Even though the mother made a choice that ruined her and her daughter's lives, Mirella made the choice to report Armando and the choice to get tested. She is now responsible for the future of her unborn child.
"The choice is mine, the future is ours."

Paulo Mendes, one of my students who played one of the lead roles, Mutukuzi, took home "Best English Speaker."
He said it was because of his teacher. :)

Grupo Amizade with Calvino, who used to be in our group, and his dance group from just outside Guija.
It was a great day all around!

Just a fun photo...
the kids showed up at my door pretending to be puppies themselves. Check out their tails.

Calor. Church. Cacana.

Yes, it is that time of year again. That time of year when everyone is talking about it. CALOR. THE HEAT. It’s back. Seriously. Most conservations go as follows:

“Boa tarde, tudo bem?”

“Sim, tudo bem, mas calor.”

“Ep pah. Calor.”

Yep. All is well, but the heat is back.

I don’t know if it is because of the heat or what, something has been going on. I have two stories to share that I just could not not blog about. The first is from about two weeks ago. And the other is just from this past Wednesday.

When I first got to site over a year ago now, I went to the Catholic Church. I just wanted to check it out. I think it might have been my second weekend at site, and I didn’t really know anyone so I got away with just sitting in the back trying to blend in. Key word: trying. I still got all the stares and strange comments, but that’s normal. In working at the hospital, I got to know one of the nurses who is also a nun, Irma Flomena. She invited me to go back to church with her. So I did. But, this time instead of trying to blend in, I was called up to sit next to her in the front with the group that sings and then had to do a formal introduction at the end of mass. Since then I have only gone back twice.  

But, my neighbors are always very concerned about where I pray. I tell them, how I was raised Catholic, but since I have been here I do a lot of praying on my own. And usually I either have visitors or I am traveling so it is sometimes hard to make it to church on Sundays. They continue to invite me to attend their church; the Presbyterian, Seventh Day Adventist, or this one church, the name escapes me, but they go on Saturday around 9 p.m. and stay til sunrise the next morning. A few weeks ago, I finally agreed to accept my neighbor’s invitation to go to the Presbyterian Church. She had been so persistent. And I had run out of excuses.  

So Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Lalina, her granddaughter, came and got me and we walked to the Presbyterian Church. When Lalina and I arrived, the mass was already in session, so we tried to sneak in and find Dona Rachel, her grandmother. Given the circumstances, there actually wasn’t much sneaking at all. But, we tried. Anyway, we found Dona Rachel. She happened to be sitting next to my Portuguese/Changana tutor, Professora Teresa, and just behind my neighbor Avo Salvador. As I sat there through the mass which was all in Changana, I spent most of the time looking around the church realizing just how many people I knew there: coworkers from the hospital, kids from CACHES and of course, my neighbors. Inside the church, benches line both sides facing each other with one main aisle in the middle, so it was a perfect set-up for my people watching. The front of the church had a very simple altar with a few wooden chairs.

Toward the end of the mass, there was a collection. And quite contrary to how collections are done in the states, where a basket is passed through the pews quite solemnly, this collection included the parishioners being called out by each section of the church and then dancing and singing down the main aisle to put their donation in the basket at the front. It was then that Professora Teresa explained to me that the church was divided into sections based on neighborhoods and there was a friendly competition between sections. When one of the sections was called out, Avo Salvador tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Vamos (Let’s go)”, but Dona Rachel piped up and said that I was with her. Even though they live just blocks apart, they are apparently in different sections. So we sat and watched the other sections bring up their contributions. When Dona Rachel and Professora Teresa’s section was called, Professora Teresa grabbed my hand and we started to dance down the aisle. We hadn’t made it very far before one of my neighbors, Vovo Maria grabbed my arm and said, “Oh no, she’s with us.” It then turned into a tug-of-war, if you will, and I was the rope. Vovo Maria vs. Professora Teresa. Mind you, this was all over the two meticais coin I was going to put in the basket. I tried to explain how I could put something in both baskets, but it was a fierce competition. Eventually, Vovo Maria won breaking free of Professora Teresa’s grasp and she proceeded to drag me to the front of the church and then out the door to put my two meticais coin in the basket of the section I apparently belong to, which they had already started counting outside. Every little bit counts right? I tried to figure out why the church is divided into sections anyway? Doesn’t it all go to the same cause? The best I could come up with is that it is in the spirit of a friendly competition.  Who knows?

After said collection chaos, Professora Teresa dragged me up in front of the entire congregation to introduce me. She spoke all in Changana and then asked me to just say my name. As I did, the whole congregation started laughing. Still not quite sure why, but so it goes…it definitely wasn’t the first time that’s happened to me and it won’t be the last. The pastor then spoke saying how pleased they were to have me visit and how I am welcome back anytime as now I am part of the family. To be perfectly honest I am a little scared to go back considering how the last time ended in a proper human tug-of-war. But, I know my neighbors are keeping tabs. They have asked every Sunday since if I will go back. Even complete strangers ask why I haven’t been back. I try to explain that I just went to “conhecer” get to know their church. But that doesn’t seem to be good enough. They even came over last Wednesday when they usually have a neighborhood bible study to ask if they could have it at my house next week. Unfortunately, I had to decline, but only because that is usually when I work at CACHES, but I said we will figure out some week to do it. I am sure they will not let me forget that I agreed to do that.

In other news, my neighbor, Filomena, approached me months ago saying she wanted to run with me to lose weight. I explained to her that the key to losing weight here would be portion control. I said how Mozambicans already have a very labor-intensive lifestyle—carting water, walking everywhere and working on their farms. They just also have a tendency to eat a heaping bowl of xima or rice, lots of carbohydrates, which doesn’t help one’s figure.

We started running. But, pretty inconsistently and it was more a run/walk.  But, it was winter, so it was cold and dark in the mornings. And I was traveling a lot. So inconsistent it was. But, now as it is getting brighter earlier and warmer, we have been keeping it up every morning Monday through Friday for the past month. We found that my seamstress, Dona Sidalia, also works out at the school every morning. So we decided to join forces.

Now our routine is as follows: 5 a.m. alarm, call Filomena to wake her up and confirm we are going, run to Filomena’s house, together we run to the secondary school and then I continue to lead about four women in exercises for about 30 minutes and then we run home. I love it. They complain. They gossip. They roll their eyes at me when they think the exercise is too hard. They tell me it hurts. They criticize one another for doing it wrong or not how I demonstrate. But, at the end of the day, they work hard.

But, just like any other all-women workout class, there is always something to talk about.  Last Wednesday the women were abuzz. Dona Sidalia shared how her maid had called her at 2 a.m. telling her that she had to go outside and collect cacana, a green viney plant, and tie it around her ankles and the ankles of her children because a sickness was coming. Excuse me, what?! They all gawked at how strange the call was, but said how it must be true for her to call at 2 a.m. We ended our exercises and proceeded to do some investigation into this cacana matter.

We went to one of Dona Sidalia’s neighbors, and low and behold, she too had heard that she needed to tie cacana around her ankles. When I asked why, she didn’t know, but she said you have to do it. I tried to play devil’s advocate and pulled out the famous line, “Well, if everyone is going to jump off a bridge, are you going to do it too?” I don’t think it translated the same way. Filomena insisted that we find her son on his way to school so that she could tie cacana around his ankle and know that he would be protected. In our search, we encountered other kids that had been wrapped in cacana as well. Nobody seemed to know why, they just knew they had to do it.

When I arrived at the hospital, the first thing my co-workers asked me was if I had heard about the cacana. They at least said it was because there had been a program on the radio that said a pangolin had come out of the river and the cacana would protect you from a sickness it carried. When I saw Luis, my supervisor at the hospital, he pulled cacana out of his pocket and tied it around my wrist. When in Mozambique, do as the Mozambicans do, right? It was not until I was working with one of my other counterparts later that day, that she yanked the cacana from my wrist saying, “This is a myth. In Africa, there are a lot of myths.” True. There are.

But, what I was amazed at was how this myth had spread like wildfire. Can you imagine if we got the truth to spread like that? At that speed with such credibility? Imagine if the Ministry of Health could send out health messages and have them spread like that? What if everyone really believed they had to use a condom to avoid HIV/AIDS? Or if everyone used a mosquito net to prevent malaria? But this cacana thing was a one-day phenomenon. People wore necklaces of cacana the size of Hawaiian leis. And some people even contemplated income-generating projects selling cacana. My colleague later informed me that she heard it was a television program that said there was a wind coming in that carried yellow fever. Good thing, I got that vaccination. Well, whatever it was, it got people talking and acting. Fast.

And just like that, the next day it was all over. Apparently the wind had passed. Or the pangolin retreated back into the river. But the hype over the protective powers of cacana was over.

My Government-Issued Friends

Moz 18. In Peace Corps Mozambique world, my colleagues and I who arrived in country June 1, 2012 are known as Moz 18. While we like to joke that we are really only government-issued friends, these government-issued friends have become my Peace Corps family. We started out as 31 coming from all different states, backgrounds and walks of life. Unfortunately three went home in the first week of training. So then 28 of us made it through training together. We learned Portuguese together. We endured the countless hours of training together. And we survived all the up’s and down’s of living with a host family. We swore in as volunteers together. 

Moz 18 at the end of training: July 2012

Then we parted ways going off to our individual sites, knowing we wouldn’t see some volunteers until our Reconnect conference three months later. We stayed in touch supporting each other and helping one another throughout this adventure that is Peace Corps.  And of course, getting together with volunteers close by as often as our schedules would permit. Within the first few months at site, another four had to go home for various reasons.

Since training when we were together all the time, there are only a handful of scheduled times, Peace Corps sponsored events, to have Moz 18 altogether. Last week was our one-year mid-service conference in Maputo. We are now just 24. But, 24 going strong. The main objective of mid-service is to see the doctor and dentist for a one-year check-up. Since this requires all volunteers getting together in the capital city, Peace Corps uses this opportunity to host a variety of sessions allowing time and space for volunteers to share and collaborate on ideas, projects and experiences. Aside from the conference, we spent the week hitting up our favorite watering holes, the Chinese restaurant, the Indian restaurant, the karaoke bar and we even treated ourselves to a ridiculously expensive drink at Hotel Cardoso, the 5-star hotel overlooking the city.

It was great to have the whole government-issued family together. Just like those annoying all-too-popular family Christmas letters, here is a little update on the fam. Two of my colleagues, Alden and Olivia can be heard on the radio in Chibuto broadcasting malaria awareness spots. Mike recently signed up over 50 GAAC groups, which are groups of six HIV+ individuals who then rotate to going to the hospital each month to pick up the groups’ medication, and is now working toward 100. His wife, Marisa recently received a grant from Peace Corps to start a jam-making project to open three preschools in Macia. Queshia was recently announced the JUNTOS National Chair. JUNTOS is a Peace Corps secondary project that works with teenagers through art, music, dance, theatre and journalism to promote healthy messages of HIV prevention.  Dan recently hosted his whole family here in Mozambique. Linda is starting to make peanut butter with a group in Manjacaze to start an income-generating project. Her sitemate, Evan, is speaking the local language Changana and will soon be helping me share his love for agriculture with an agriculture/nutrition project we are doing here in Chicumbane. (More details on the project to come in future blog posts.) Taylor just hosted a Peace Corps booth overseeing volunteers talk about secondary projects, moringa and malaria at the Sovala Timbili Festival in her town this past weekend. Adela is anxiously awaiting the response of a U.S. Embassy grant to do a moringa project with a local organization. Emily is busy training for a marathon at the end of September in Capetown. Lisa is starting up a REDES group with girls in her new site, Maxixe. REDES is a Peace Corps secondary project that works with teenage girls promoting health and education. Redeana just had a slew of visitors and is excited that things are finally getting going with her organizations at site. Lauren is working with a group of teenagers to compete in the English Theatre competition, another Peace Corps secondary project, next month. Wendy was recently announced the new REDES National Coordinator. Jess is busily working to submit a grant proposal to start an agriculture project at her site. Sabrina is in the process of opening a soy-based bakery with women in her community. Alexis just got back from a week in Vilanculos riding horses, a week at Victoria Falls and is currently in Kruger National Park. Anna just wrote an entire lab technician curriculum. Mary-Kate recently helped legalize the community-based organization she works with. David has been working hard to devise a new performance-based incentive system to be used with volunteers at his health center. Colin has been working with co-op savings groups and going around his community starting permagardens. And Lee just submitted a proposal to start a soccer program that includes malaria trainings for the kids in her neighborhood. That’s just a snapshot of the broad spectrum of what Moz 18 is up to these days.

A day doesn’t go by that I don’t talk to at least one of my government-issued friends. As with all families, there is definitely a fair share of bickering and snickering, fofocaring (gossiping) and bashing, but at the end of the day, we are always there for each other no matter what the situation is.  It is always one of these government-issued friends I call when I want to rejoice, curse, laugh or lament. Or just to get a reality check. There is an underlying understanding, almost like an unwritten code that speaks to the comradery of knowing what its like to be a PCV here in Mozambique: to lose all personal space in a 20+ person-packed chapa, become all too comfortable with using a xi-xi bucket, be completely humiliated in front of an entire village and be totally played just because you are the token foreigner around. Experiences run the gamete here from the heart-wrenching, to the sweat-dripping, the anxiety-ridden, to the adrenaline-rushing, the eye-brow raising, to the stomach-churning kind of incidences that only another PCV has experienced.  And of course, I have  friends in other groups, Moz  15, 16, 17, 19 and 20. And Moz 21 is set to arrive in September. But, there is something special about your own group, in my case, Moz 18. 

The next time we will all be together is May 2014 at our Closure of Service conference. Crazy. Only by coincidence were we all given the same country, same assignment, same timeline, the criteria for our government-issued friendship. But, through this experience we have become a family: Moz 18. 

Moz 18 at Midservice: August 2013

And by popular request, here are some photos of the most recent addition to my family. TEN PUPPIES!! That makes for 17 dogs I have cared for Mozambique...