Vovo Rachel

Vovo Rachel....and her goat joking around..

“Mana Colleen, esta na hora.” (Miss Colleen, it’s time).

It’s 4:00 a.m. last Wednesday morning.

Vovo (Grandma) Rachel had sent her grandchildren as a wake-up call.

After months of her inviting me to her machamba (farm/fields), I was finally going.

I grabbed my hat, a capulana (fabric cloth) and a bottle of water before heading out with them into the moonlight. I met up with Vovo at her house and she and I set off walking along the main road into the Limpopo River valley that reaches out to the provincial capital, Xai-Xai. She balanced a basket on her head as we walked. We met up with a friend of hers and then joined the other women who were making the journey on foot to the fields in the valley. The air was still, the lights of Xai-Xai were along the horizon, an occasional car would pass and there was a constant mumble of Changana, the local language.  It was about a 45-minute walk down into the valley and then we turned off the main road into the fields. From there it was about another ten minutes. When we got to her plot of land, I asked her how did she know that this was her land. She seemed to think it was quite the silly question responding that of course it was her land, she had planted it. But what I meant was where was any indication or separation from one plot to the next, there was no defining line, no sign, no nothing. But, I didn’t doubt it was her land.

She dropped her basket and pulled out her capulana. She instructed me how to tie it in order to use it as a sack to collect corn we were there to harvest. First, she wrapped it around her waist with the two ends in front. Then she tied the two corners on top together, then the two bottom corners together. Then she shifted it around so the tied part was in back. She then gave me a small wooden stick and showed me how to pull off the corn from the stalk, use the stick to split the top of the corn husk and then shuck the corn. Then insert it in the capulana sack tied around my waist. We were ready. And so we started.

We worked in a line together so as not to miss any corn. We worked our way down the field, filling our capulana sacks, then emptying them into a rice sack that we then emptied into a pile hidden in the middle of the field. She had arranged a truck to come the next day to transport all the corn to her house. We started working before the sun was even up and then watched a beautiful sunrise over the fields and the river valley.

Vovo was surprised at how quickly I picked up the process. The day before she had come by my house and said how going to the fields was no joke. She said it was hard work, almost doubting that I could actually work. This is after months of her telling me that I had to go to the fields with her. Months of her telling me, “If you want to eat, you have to work.” And that is the mantra here. She and her family are dependent on this corn. They will use it to make xima, the main staple food here for months, maybe even the whole year if she stores it well. As we worked side-by-side in the field she asked me about farms in America. I told her how my family just had vegetable gardens. But I told her how most of the midwest in America is cornfields just like the one we were in. The difference is that they are owned by companies that have lots of technology and machinery to harvest. 

“If you want to eat, you have to work.” She just kept repeating it. And it is true. This was the first day of my year and a half here that I made the trip out to the fields. But, for so many women this is the daily routine, daily struggle, just to put food on the table at the end of the day.

By 9 am, Vovo said that I had worked well and that I could go home. Her friend remarked how of course I worked well, I was a woman, not a man. Eek. But after all, it is usually the women here who are responsible for the fields. I told her I wanted to stay until she was going home. But, then around 10 am the sun emerged from the clouds and was beating down full force.  I realized I didn’t have any sunscreen on or with me and my Irish roots had nothing against the strength of the Mozambican sun. It was time for this Irish lassie to head home. By 11 am, I started making the trip back, my capulana sack slung over my shoulder with just about 10 husks of corn Vovo insisted I take home to cook. At that point, we were only about halfway through the field. She ended up staying well past 3 pm.  But, the work didn’t end there. She was back the next day at 4 am, this time with the truck in order to haul all the corn to her house. From there she then had to sort it and store it properly in order to be able to last the duration of the year. And she still has to care for the land in order to plant the next harvest.  I almost felt guilty. I didn’t even make it one whole day in the fields. While for me, this was some fun cultural exchange experience, this is the reality for Vovo and so many families I live with in Chicumbane. They are dependent on the land and what they harvest. Period.

Vovo and her family have been such an important part of my experience here in Chicumbane. I remember the first time I met her when I was on site visits still during training. She called out “Amiga” as I passed by with Vivienne, the volunteer I was visiting at the time. Vovo lives on the corner of the main road coming from the market to the hospital. I use this road just about every day so you could say I see her a lot. Our relationship started out as that, she would yell out, “Amiga” as I passed by. And we would exchange the usual “Tudo bem?” “Tudo bem obrigada” greetings. Then she learned my name and we would stop and talk a little longer. Soon after, her granddaughter, Lalina, six years old, joined the brigade of children who come by my house to color. Then she started sending Lalina over with pineapples. I was then invited to a party at her house and I was able to meet more of her family. When my family arrived in town, she greeted us with a bunch of avocados. And then after months of invitations, I finally went to church with her.

Just a month later, her 15-year-old granddaughter, Katia, arrived at her house with a baby just a few days old (born September 4^th) and nowhere to go. Vovo accepted them both with open arms, and even gave the baby MY NAME.  I was more than surprised that afternoon I passed by her house and she passed me a baby telling me it was my “charra” (namesake). I told her I wanted to see how it was spelt. Turns out she is spelling it “Calita”, but I guess we won’t get too technical. Charras are very special here and people will talk about charras sharing the same names and then also being birthday charras if you have the same birthday as someone. Vovo likes to talk about my namesake and me as if we are the same person. When she sees me she’ll sometimes say, “You…you cried all night” or “Your mother didn’t feed you, you were so hungry.” I like to joke with her that my mother is very far away, she hardly knows when I eat. But, she’s referring to my 15-year-old mother. Unfortunately, however, the 15-year-old is hardly prepared to be a mother at all.

About a month ago, Vovo yelled across her yard as I passed by, “Your mother fled. She left.” Katia left the baby in the middle of the night crying, without saying anything. I, of course, had a hundred questions for Vovo. “Where did she go? Have you heard from her? Have you called any family members? Does this happen often here? What are we going to feed baby Calita?” She said she had gotten help from some neighbors in order to buy a can of formula. When I went to the hospital the next day, I started asking some of the nurses what to do. Enfermeira Suzete told me to go to Accao Social, Social Action, which is basically the social work department of the hospital. Of course, why didn’t I think of that?

The next day, Vovo arrived at the hospital to fill out a form requesting milk. She had to have the neighborhood leader sign it and bring it back to the hospital. From there, she was to wait a response. Since I work at the hospital, I told her I would check in on the status of the document once in a while. Every time I passed by, they said that there was still no response. About almost two weeks after Katia fled, she returned. Vovo threw her in jail for two nights on account of neglect. Katia never said where she was, why she went, how she went, how she came back, nothing. I refrained from drilling her with questions. And Vovo started calling her “crazy.” When she returned she had lost some weight and could no longer breastfeed the baby. So we left the papers at Accao Social, awaiting a response. About two weeks later, Vovo was at the hospital so we decided to stop in Accao Social. This time, the counselor said that we should fill out another document and take it to the city in order to make the request personally at the social action department instead of waiting for a response from the hospital. She said how it often took a long time through the hospital. So we filled out said document, waited about another week just for the doctor to sign it so we could bring it to the city. Within this week, Katia fled again in the middle of the night. She stole a cell phone, capulanas and money. I don’t think she will be coming back this time.  And finally, just last Friday Vovo was able to take the document and Calita to the city. She left with a box of formula that will hopefully last a month and then she can return to get another month’s supply.

When I went to her house later that day, I can’t tell you just how happy, appreciative and truly elated she was that her great-granddaughter now had formula. I was so happy to be able to help her out with the process, but also my heart ached. What happens to the people who have to make the same requests and don’t have a foreigner working at the hospital to help them? I didn’t know and still don’t know how many people they tell about the shortcut to fill out one more document and expedite the process by going yourself? How many requests are lost in the process because of all the formalities? I just remember how the counselor in the social action sector of the hospital, kept telling me how long the process would take if we waited for the hospital to process the request. Why is that? If one is making a request for milk it is because they have nothing else to feed their baby at the time, what are they supposed to give them in the meantime? Everything always seems to take so much longer here in Mozambique…but why is that?   Some things I don’t think I will ever understand.

Needless to say, Calita is now eating well and growing. She is lucky to have Vovo to take care of her. In fact, we both are. 

Vovo Rachel and Lalina

Meet Calita....She's my namesake, but they changed the spelling. Not too many Irish here in Moz. 

Lalina and Calita

The Pharmacy

My friends in the pharmacy.

I didn’t join the Peace Corps to file papers.

And yet, I have spent the better part of the last year filing papers. 

So it goes.

I have been working on and off in the pharmacy at the hospital since last May. I never thought I would work in that sector because it is the busiest, most stressful part of the hospital, or at least I think so. One day last May I went to the pharmacy hoping to find out how many people had faulted on their treatment over the previous month to include this information in a proposal. I was told that I could look at the FILAs, documents that are used to record each time a patient picks up their ARVs.  I was directed to a large filing cabinet. It quickly became obvious that the FILAs were quite unorganized. The drawers hardly shut, the hanging folders were ripped and said FILAs were in disarray. Quiteria, the pharmacy staff responsible for the FILAs, explained to me the multiple-step process she went through just to locate and fill out the FILAs, and how she was not always successful. I told her I was willing to help with the organization and potential re-organization. I quickly became her “amiga.” At that point, I didn’t realize I’d still be working in the pharmacy eight months later and that we’d still be “amigas”.

When I went back to the pharmacy the next day, Quiteria once again explained what was expected to happen and what was actually happening. She said how usually if they couldn’t locate the FILA they would just create a new one so now there were many duplicates. I had my work cut out for me. I spent pretty much all of May through August, working to eliminate these duplicates. I would find the duplicates, put them aside and then Quiteria recorded the information from both FILAs on just one of the documents. Upon eliminating all of the duplicates, we discussed how there needed to be a better way to organize all of the FILAs. We started to brainstorm. It was time for a change.

In November, we received information from the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatrics AIDS Foundation that they would be starting a study in 2014 called SMSaude, in which they would be sending out text messages to patients in the hopes of increasing adherence to treatment. With this study, they expected all hospital paperwork to be in order, including the pharmacy FILAs. They provided a layout of exactly how the FILAs had to be organized. There needed to be two filing cabinets, one labeled “current month” and the other “following month”. The four drawers were to be marked “first week”, “second week”, “third week” and “fourth week”. Within each drawer the FILAs were to be put in alphabetical order. We now had a plan to follow. EGPAF provided the new filing cabinets, folders, labels and FILAs. Tecnico Vladimir, responsible for the pharmacy, said that it wasn’t worth it to try and find the old FILAs (the ones I had been working with from May-August) as patients arrived during the month of January, but rather to open new FILAs for all patients. I try not to think about how much time I spent/wasted organizing all those old FILAs. Eek.  

According to the Ministry of Health, the hospital calendar year starts on December 21. So starting Monday, December 23, we opened a new FILA for each patient doing treatment. Mind you, over 6,000 patients are doing treatment at my hospital.  Throughout the month of January, every day I arrived in the pharmacy collected the receipts from the day before and then used them to open new FILAs. It was a long process. Quiteria was working on it with me, but she took her vacation for most of January so I was left with Sitoe. Sitoe is a character. He works hard, but loved to inquire about our potential relationship asking if I would go to the beach with him, if he could come back to America with me and when our wedding would be. Despite the countless marriage proposals, we finished opening all the FILAs.  

Starting January 23, we were able to start the new process for filling out FILAs. It goes something like this: when the patient doing treatment arrives at the pharmacy window, he/she hands in his/her hospital identification card, then Quiteria searches through the current month filing cabinet to find the patient’s FILA. The pharmacy technician then fills out the FILA when giving the patient his/her medication. At the end of the day, all of the FILAs are to be registered in the pharmacy book and then passed to the database sector of the hospital where they are typed into the system. They are then returned to the pharmacy and filed under the first name but this time in the coming month filing cabinet. That is our goal, but so far, this exact flux is still a work in progress.

 The first couple days with the new system were rough. I was really nervous because while EGPAF was demanding the change, I was the face there in the pharmacy working to change the system. The very first day I stayed at the hospital until 17h when I usually leave at 12h. The pharmacy technicians were not entirely thrilled by the new process, even though they admitted to the benefits. The wait time is already ridiculously long at the pharmacy and now we were adding an extra step to the process. The noise of patients waiting outside definitely has become more audible. But, I am always amazed by how calm and collected Tecnico Vladimir stays. I can’t say the same for the other pharmacy technician…but that’s beside the point. Tecnico Vladimir never lets the line, the noise, the number of patients get to him.

Now, three weeks into the new system, I am trying to phase out my role. I am working more directly with Quiteria to make sure that she keeps up with locating FILAs when patients arrive and that the filing cabinets stay organized. I am working to make sure the flux is in place so that the FILAs once updated are passed to the pharmacy book, the database and then filed back in the filing cabinet for next month. On February 20, we will unroll the last part of the process because this date marks the end of the month. At the end of the month, the FILAs that are left in the folders of the current month faulted/missed their treatment and need to be located. I am going to go through this process with Quiteria for the next few months to make sure the patients who have missed treatment are identified and contacted. The primary reason I first stepped foot in the pharmacy eight months ago.

Wow. Thanks for staying with me. 

I didn’t know I could write so much just about filing papers.

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.