My house, my toliet, and getting lost in Mangunde.

January 19^th 2012

                It has been a slightly comical point in my life lately how much I change between subsequent blog posts.   I only post once every two or three weeks and since these last few months have been such a roller coaster, every time I  finally sit down and write something I feel like a new person.     I think over the next few weeks however things are going to quite down. 

                To catch you all up on my life for the past few weeks I left Maputo on January 8th or 9^th to head back home to Mangunde.  Upon arrival I felt a great since of relief.  For the three weeks before I finally returned I home I had been traveling all over for the holidays, and for Lena and Alden’s services.  There has been a lot of movement and a lot of being around large groups of people, so to finally be in my own house felt great.   Once I got here I did a bunch of cleaning and for the following few days just hung around and tried to chat with as many people as I could around my village.  A few days later my roommate Ian came home from his trip to America (Ian is a Peace corps volunteer who started in December of last year)  and then after another day or two my empregada  (maid) came back with her almost 2 year old and the house was complete.  We have all now been living together for about a week now and I feel as though everything is going splendidly.

                Now to update everyone on my school life, at the time I am writing this blog post I have just completed my second full day of teaching and although I have a long way to go, I feel as though my presence here in Mangunde will be a positive one.   When I had originally received my invitation to come to Mozambique as a Peace Corps Volunteer they told me I would be teaching Math.  Upon arrival I found out that there was a good chance I could end up teaching physics.  This got me really excited to see where I would be placed.  In the end however (Although I was given ample warning that this could happen) my school has me teaching English, Computers, and at this point one class of Physical Education (I’m a PE teacher!!!).  At this point I am going to diverge for a second to describe the meeting in which I was assigned the following disciplines to teach.   The meeting I went to involved having a majority of the teachers meet outside of my pedagogical directors ( kind of like an Asst. Principal) office 3 days before classes were supposed to start  and then having the director name a discipline and all those who have the ability to teach it (or who needed to obtain a certain number of hours a week) put their name in to be picked (This is a much longer process then it should be ).  The first discipline they called of interest to me was Physics and I proceeded to tell them I would love to teach physics.  This is where I learned that all of the Mozambican teachers had to have 24 hours of class time a piece and that only after all of those hours were filled would they tell me what I was going to get.  This more or less meant that I was going to get English, and Leftovers.   And as it turns out leftovers means Computer class and Phys. Ed.   At first I was a little disappointed given that I spent my entire undergraduate degree studying physics and math, and that I’m far more comfortable teaching those two classes even if it is in Portuguese.  However after letting myself think about the situation for a bit (and some pep talks from my roommate) I’ve come to accept the fact I’m teaching something not necessarily in my field of interest, but incredibly valuable to the students here.  On the subject of English, the majority of the surrounding countries of Mozambique have large populations of English speakers, add that to the fact that English is used as the go to language for the rest of the world makes teaching English a very important part of a Mozambican education.  As for computers, most of the students in my class have had little to no experience with computers in their lives.  I recently gave my first lesson to a bunch of 12^th graders (whose ages range from 17- 40) and only one or two of them could do anything at all on a computer without direct help.  However everyone has an extreme interest in computers here and they pick up the little things quickly.  Keeping all this in mind, being the person to expose my students to computers, is going to be a very rewarding experience.  Little side note:  I have never in my life thought myself an expert on computers.  Most of the time I would consider myself a novice with the occasional spurt into the intermediate level, however here in Mozambique I am considered an all knowing force about computers, and anti-viruses. 

                So moving on to some of the more day to day idiosyncrasies of my life I first want to talk about my house and specifically my toilet.  When I moved into my house a little over a month ago my first thoughts were this is nice and spacious, my room is a decent size, but there is some serious untapped potential here.  There was this table sitting in the corner of my living/dining room area that was taking up about a third of the space, and under it were years of random stuff that had piled up,  the kitchen was a bit dirty and didn’t have a lot of free counter space (though still more counter space than my apartment had back in America!), and the bathroom…well we will get to that later.    Now Ian and I with a united front to change the face of our Mangunde house for the better have made some serious improvements.  We trashed the ugly cluttered table in the corner, revamped the kitchen, cleaned all of the cob webs, and dust, which has a way of taking over everything, and even moved our bookshelf (which has a boast-able collection of fantastic books) to be the highlight of dining/living room.  Now I can honestly say that I have a kick-ass African house.  (And now there is talk about buying a couch, and a floor lamp for our reading area!).  Then there is the bathroom…our dirty indoor toilet that clogs and takes about 3 gallons of water (if you have the patience to poor that much water into it) to flush down a poo. Just a reminder there are very few places with running water in Mozambique, so pouring water from a bucket into the toilet to flush it is the norm.    I’m not lying when I say that I would give anything to have a hole in the ground in the back yard (i.e. a latrine) instead of this toilet!  Pheww, it felt good to get that one off of my chest!

                Another fun little side adventure I would like to share was about a run I took about a week ago.  I went out on my morning run like I usually do around 5:30 in the morning and I decided to be adventurous and take a new path.  Instead of going straight down the main road leading into Mangunde, I took a left about a mile up the road from my house heading down this small dirt road towards the district capital of Chibabava, Chibabava.  The run was going well and I was feeling great, it was a nice temperature and Mangunde is a beautiful place to get lost in nature.  And as it turns out that’s exactly what happened.   When I turned around to run back to my house, at some point I crossed over the main road and found myself in a completely unfamiliar place, after about 20 more minutes of running I was certain I had taken a wrong path somewhere and tried my hand asking some villagers for directions.  The national language of Mozambique is Portuguese, but only about 50% of the population actually speaks the language, the native language where I live is Shindau.  So needless to say asking for directions back to Mangunde was not the easiest thing to do.   After asking a few people which direction Mangunde was I only felt like I was getting more and more lost because they all kept pointing in the same direction of which I was starting to get convinced wasn’t the right way.  Finally I came upon a small settlement of villagers, one of which spoke Portuguese and will be my student this year, and I asked how I could get back to Mangunde.  Than the man said (his name was Mateus)  ‘you are in Mangunde’.  At this point the lightbulb went off over my head as I realized that Mangunde was a broad term used for the entire area in which I live and that to ask someone ‘How to get to mangunde’ they are going to send you to this little village I stumbled upon where the village elder/Chief (a wonderful man named Aaron who speaks decent English and has invited me to his church this Sunday) lives.  Mateus laughed when he figured out my plight and put on the right path back to the Mission of Mangunde (keyword mission!).    Mateus spoke to a woman who was heading to the mission of Mangunde to sell some wood that she had cut up and was carrying on her head, who only spoke Shindau, and she ended up being my guide back to town.   On top of the bundle of sticks on her head she also had a large bag of mangoes that she was planning to sell at the market; after asking her a few times she finally let me help her carry them.  So for the hour walk back to Mangunde I carried a bag of mangoes on my head.  I have to say even though I went out for an hour long run and it ended up being 3 hours of being lost and maybe a little worried, while walking back to my house with a bag of mangoes on my head next to a very friendly woman who didn’t speak any language I was familiar with I was completely content that I was in Africa!  And to top it off she gave me four mangoes, 3 of which didn’t make it more than a few steps (I was a little hungry after 3 hours of running/hiking) and the last one I gave to a little kid who beat me on a race back to my house.    All in an average Monday morning before 9am here in Mozambique, I guess.

Lena and Alden you will be missed.

 On December 22^nd I was informed that two volunteers from my training group Lena Jenison and Alden Landis were killed tragically in a car accident here in Mozambique.  Along with their deaths, three other volunteers were injured but are doing well.  The accident occurred in the Gaza province in the southern part of Mozambique, and not many details about the direct accident have been given.   For the past 10 weeks I had been getting to know these girls all throughout training and when we left to go to our sites I was certain that I would have the next two years to get to know them better.   Lena and Alden were both amazing people, full of the enthusiasm, energy and life.

  My favorite memory of Lena was when I took a bus ride back from Maputo with her on our way to Namaacha and the only thing we did the whole time was joke around and laugh about a whole slew of random jokes that we were making, we were laughing and poking fun at each other the whole hour and a half ride.  I will miss the funny faces she always used to make, and the way she used to make sarcastic remarks about everything to get a few laughs from the people around her.  We always used to talk about going to Peru together after our service, because she had already been and loved it and it has been a place I have always wanted to visit.  When I finally get to Peru some day, I will have fond memories of the times I had with her.

Alden was a beautiful woman who was quick to laugh and smile at any joke.  My favorite memory of her was when I surprised tickled her one day while we were all at the bar for a few drinks and she promptly jumped out of her chair, shrieked and then promptly turned around and ran into a pole. We were both laughed at that for a good 15 minutes.   Alden and I shared a love of running.  I always enjoyed the times that her and I spent chatting about the Marathons we’ve run or the random exercises we used to do.  The world was a better place with her in it, and I am sad that her time came so early.

Overall, the holiday season has passed well for the rest of the volunteers and I, we gave each other presents, shared a whole bunch of meals together, had quite a few laughs and rang in the New Year.  However through we all have kept a positive attitude over the past few weeks there has been a distinctive shadow that has been hanging over our heads.   These two girls were very special, and my heart goes out to their families and friends who are having such a rough time with this loss.  

Lena and Alden you will be missed.

A little catch up

It has been almost a month since I have been able to blog about my time here in Peace Corps.   The last few weeks have been a flurry of traveling, seeing other volunteers, meeting new people at site, and dealing with the events of the past few weeks.

To start from the time I wrote my last post on December 16^th (though it didn’t get posted today Jan. 3^rd) to December 22^nd my time at site was going very well.  I found myself spending my days doing little chores around the house, talking with people in my village, and starting to look at little things that I could start doing for my community.   As luck would have it, I met a man in my village named Alberto who was really interested in organizing a training around HIV/AIDS  for a group that he is in and starting in the next coming weeks I may be helping out.  (There is more to come on this when it becomes more of a reality!)

December 16th 2011

On Monday December 12 I arrived at Mangunde, Mozambique where I will be living for the next 2 years.  Mangunde is a very rural area that is located in the heart of Sofala.  It is flat, warm, and very green.  At this time of year mango trees are going nuts and you can buy huge mangos for just 1 metical a piece (This is roughly 4 cents).  The town is very quite given that exams have just ended and the school is practically vacant. Mangunde is located right next to the Buzi river, which is supposed to be filled with crocodiles and even an occasional hippo (Don’t worry I will be avoiding all dangerous and otherwise harmful animals).

 I live on a Catholic mission where the mission runs a primary and secondary school along with hospital and a small agriculture school.  The people here have been very friendly and I get a good feeling every time I walk around and talk to people.   I’m going to be having a roommate his name is Ian and he has been a volunteer here in Mozambique for just over a year now, and I am sure that when he comes back from his visit to the states that we are going to get to know each other quite well (given that we are the only two native English speakers in the entire village).   

Another interesting thing to note about my living situation is that I am basically inheriting an entire Mozambique family.   Gracinda and her son Jacinto (about a year and a half old) live in a hut right next to Ian and I’s house and we all share the kitchen that is attached to our house.   Gracinda is Ian and I’s empregada, that is we pay her by the month to do things like cook dinner, do the laundry and dishes, and to fetch water.  In the states this would probably seem fairly weird, however here having an empregada is quite normal and it is a way of giving someone who would otherwise have trouble finding a job (not that Gracinda would, she is a very capable woman) a way of supporting themselves.    Anyways,  Gracinda, Jacinto, and Gracinda’s niece Anita all live with me more or less and they are all very friendly and in Jacinto’s case absolutely adorable.  Jacinto enjoys running around and finding items that he thinks would be fun to hide on me (I just recently found my sandal that he hid on me the first day I got here).  I think we are going to make a nice little familyJ.

                December 16^th 2011:   So today started out more or less normal (given that I just moved to Sofala and have only been here for 4 days) I got up drank some tea and sat outside on my porch waiting for an open back chapa (a pickup truck more or less) to come so that I could catch a ride to a town called Muxungue which is where I was going to buy propane for my gas stove, tomatoes, onions, and a few other things, that you can’t seem to find in Mangunde.  

Well I woke up around 5am like I usually do thinking that the Chapa was going to come around 6am (I later learned that it normally comes between 7:30am and 8am) So I spent my morning waiting and reading and keeping my eye on the weather which was starting to rain a bit.  After waiting for a few hours and thinking that I should probably just hold off my trip until the next day, Gracinda called out to me that the chapa was here. I quickly grabbed my propane tank threw on my poncho and ran to catch the chapa.  

I got on and settled in to what I thought was just going to be an hour or so journey given that Muxungue is only about 45km away from Mangunde.   However fate had other plans, first it started to rain lightly and then it got a little harder….then it began to down pour.  Mind you at this point I’m in an OPEN BACK Chapa, that is I’m in the back of a pickup truck with 15 other people a few sacks of rice, corn, and other things along with my propane tank and it is storming.  Now if that is not an adventure enough when it rains this heavily the road (only one) from the town of Mangunde to the main road becomes very muddy (did I mention it’s a 25km dirt road).  The tuck that I was riding in back of was having trouble getting through some of the mud patches so a bunch of people and I had to get out and help push it along, all in rainy weather conditions.   Now after the truck got moving and everyone got settled in to their respective positions (I was seated on top of a bag of rice, close to the edge of the side of the pickup truck…a side that seemed to be loosely attached…) I settled into a 3 hour ride in the rain where for about 2/3 of it I had to pee (They had a little pit stop before we hit the main road that I took advantage of).  So after 3 hours sitting in the back of a pickup truck in the pouring rain we finally arrive in Muxungue where I find out from the driver that the chapa (the only one to return to Mangunde that day) was going to return right away because of the rain (O shit… )  After making that journey I was bound and determined to get some propane so that I didn’t have to spend an hour lighting coal to have my morning tea.  As luck would have it the propane filling station was right next to the chapa stop, so all I had to do was pick up my propane tank and cross the street (it’s still pouring) just to find out that they don’t have any gas… I this point I’m severely amused at my situation and ask the man if I can store my propane tank there while I try to run and pick up a few things he says that’s fine and I head off down the road for a bit. 

Let’s just recap a bit (This just happened to me so I’m still trying to rationalize the string of events that just occurred)   I waited for 3 hours to catch a 1 hour chapa ride to Muxungue that ended up being 3 hours all of which I spent in the pouring rain just to arrive in Muxungue to find that the only reason I would put myself through this (to buy propane) was not going to be achieved.  So while I’m laughing at myself at this point I reach down to grab my phone to call a friend so that I can share my tale of woe, just to find out that when I dropped my phone on the chapa earlier it got wet and now was not functioning.  So now I have zero ways of communicating with the outside world…. (That was the biggest o shit moment I have had in Africa).  So finally after buying some bread and water I rapidly return to the chapa stop to find that the store that I was going to have my gas tank filled was closed and my gas can I left with them was nowhere in sight (the optimist in me hopes that the guy will remember the next time I come, and won’t charge me for another tank, just the gas.)  

Recap: I’m in Muxungue, Mozambique, Africa a city I know nothing about, it’s raining, I’m soaked, I have no form of communication, I’ve lost my propane tank(the only reason I went to Muxungue was to get that thing filled), and my only ride back home for the day just left. 

Then my luck turned around and I ran into 2 of my neighbors here in Mangunde who remembered me and helped me out (I didn’t remember their names and still don’t given that I have serious trouble pronouncing them) They told me that a mission car was coming buy and that I could catch a ride. When the car got there I talked with the driver and he said he would come back for me in a few minutes.   He did in fact come back for me and served as my ride back to Mangunde (this time in the front seat of a car…I never thought I would be so happy that vehicles have closed tops).

Things I learned today:  Never travel out of Mangunde (This is where I will be living for the next two years by the way) on days when it is raining.   Have a hard copy of your cell phone numbers saved somewhere and carry a hard copy of them with you (ya know in case your cell phone dies due to ridding on the back of a chapa in the pouring rain).  Don’t drink tea before you get on a chapa, during this whole event I had I had to pee, this added a whole new realm of uncomfortable to the experience. Always bring your poncho, that thing saved my life today.  And lastly as long as you keep a cool head, and keep looking for a solution things will work out.   I feel as though I kept very high spirits throughout this whole event given that at times I was quite stressed.   I also learned today that, without a doubt, I live in the middle of nowhere Africa and it is not easy to get here.  As crazy as today was, I definitely would not want to be anywhere else at the moment.