Written June 30, 2012, hopefully posted today.

Good afternoon all!

Sorry it’s been a bit since my last post, I have been a busy individual here in Namaacha. This week was full of many classes, lots of time with the family, and some great experiences with my fellow Volunteers.

Monday was Independence day for Mozambique, it was not exactly what I expected, in comparison to the 4^th back in the states. No matter where you are in the USA, the 4^th is a huge party, usually filled with barbeque, beer, family and friends. Here in Moz, it was a bit different. Yes it was a day off from school, but many businesses and things were still open, people still went about their daily lives, and there wasn’t much of a party. What about fireworks you ask? Nope none that I knew of.

I took the day to spend time with the family here at home, as well as some time with fellow volunteers. We hit up a few local places, danced a bit, and just generally had a wonderful time. It was the 1 year anniversary of the married couple we have in our group, so we all celebrated with them that evening. It was a great time filled with lots of laughter, and memories not soon to be forgotten.

Tuesday was back to the grindstone, language classes, meeting this week’s visiting volunteer (every week we meet someone new) having an intro into HIV/AIDS like the biology and what current programs are here in Moz etc. it was interesting, if not a bit daunting. HIV while it is only a virus, is a very serious one, that many are ill-educated about. It is possible to live a fully, happy and healthy life being HIV positive. Many here in Moz feel that if their test comes back positive, it is the end of the world, that it’s a death sentence. One of the main goals of programs here is to show people otherwise, encourage the taking of medicine, seeking treatment, eating the correct foods, etc. The healthcare system here is free to all, its just the lack of convenience and accessibility to health care centers, lack of doctors, and general lack of education to those in rural areas that deter people from seeking medical support. Like I said, its kinda a daunting task set before us.

Wednesday was filled with another language class, an intro into Tuberculosis (which was presented in Portuguese, so unfortunately I missed a lot of what was said) and a meet/greet with PLWHA, people living with HIV/AIDS. We had three women come to speak with us, all HIV positive, and all accounting their life stories, the stigma’s attached to the disease, their personal struggles and how they overcame them. It was an overwhelming time, but concurrently gave hope and excitement. Every day here is a rollercoaster of emotions. I can’t really stress that enough. I have my high and low moments, as I am sure most here do.

Thursday started out with language class again, but this time was followed by another round of vaccines (I should be vaccine free for a year now! Yay!!) then a chat about harassment (generally sexual) and unwanted attention, how to handle any issues that may arise, and what Peace Corps does to try and prevent and or help in situations. The motto that we came away with for that session was “Peace Corps has your back”. No matter what the situation, they are always our advocate. After that heavy hitting session, we had another one that was equally as tough to swallow. It was a session about grief and loss, what many of us may experience here in Moz (people in our communities dying/people at home etc) and how to handle things, different ways people deal with said issues, and how Peace Corps supports individuals. We also had a crazy session about Malaria, prevention, causes, infection, treatment etc. all in all, Thursday was kind of an intense one to handle.

I’m sure you all can guess what Friday started out with . . . wait for it. . . .language! yayy! You were right! I was truly frustrated with the language, and did not have a good morning. Some days its much easier than others, and I keep having to remind myself that it is only week 4 of speaking a totally different language, and that it’s going to take time, practice, and lots of hard work for it to finally sink in. either way, I was pissed yesterday morning. It sucked, and I was a bit sulky until after lunch. We had another session about Malaria, a subject which I find truly fascinating. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not, but I am much more interested in Malaria than HIV/AIDS. Don’t get me wrong, I am very excited to work with people concerning HIV and AIDS, but something about Malaria just seems much more appealing to me. Perhaps it’s because it has a known cure, it is totally preventable, and with the right amount of support, discussion, physical implementation of things like bed nets, taking prophylaxis’s it could one day be totally eradicated.  Ok. . . I know. Truly lofty goal. A bit out of proportion as well. But as someone said during the malaria talk ‘close your eyes, imagine you are in your bed about to fall asleep, and you hear the shrill drone of a mosquito, you swat at it frantically, but never make contact. Its just one tiny mosquito, but think about the damage it could do’ . . .its a bit of a metaphor for how one person, though tiny in the grand scheme of everything has the ability to do something drastic (hopefully in a good way, not in a bad way like, say, Malaria) haha.

If anyone is interested Peace Corps has started a brand new initiative called “Stomping out Malaria in Africa” – it focuses on reducing malaria in areas where we work, contributing to the reduction of malaria in the entire country, and helps to build an online community of malaria prevention professionals. With the advances in technology and file sharing, Peace Corps is starting to share, country to country, different programs, information etc. It is comprised of 20+ different countries across Africa, through google docs, malaria team facebook page, conference calls, emails etc we have begun communicating with others about this disease, and how we can prevent, and eventually stomp it out. Check it out – www.stompoutmalaria.org its kind of fascinating. Im really excited to get involved with things like this. This is why I’m here, why I wanted to come to Africa, why I wanted to join Peace Corps.

Its days like yesterday, that started out so crappy, but ended on such a good note, which remind me that, in all aspects, I am exactly where I want to be in my life.

With that said, I encourage you all to check out that website, send me some response e-mails, and by all means, have a phenomenal weekend.

Missing you all!

t