Written Monday, September 24, 2012

Good morning all – another week starting up here in Quissico, Mozambique. I hope everyone’s weekend went well. My little brother turned 20 this past Friday, I’m missing him very much here in Moz, and hope that he had a really great birthday.

So – the past week was sort of a blur. The travel to Inhambane City on Monday, Tuesday nursing the sprained ankle (it’s doing ok. . . still not back to full recovery) and the REDES meeting, then Wed, Thurs and Fri having the big meeting with ICAP/CCS about the Peer Educators in the hospital… in addition to all of that trying to help Angela plan for this past Saturday – we painted a mural with our REDES group, and another group from Xai Xai (about two hours south of Quissico).

The second group had already painted a mural, and our group here, has made earrings before – so we arranged a “troca” an exchange of experiences. The second group arrived around 7:30am, we did introductions of groups, talked about what we were going to do that day (split the girls into two groups, one to make earrings while the other paints) and then had a large brainstorming activity about what we wanted on the mural. After that, we had breakfast – bread with butter and jam and a banana and tea. The girls then did dances for one another- my group learned the Cha-Cha Slide and preformed that for the other, they did a great job and I was really proud of them.

While they were doing that, Emily, Dan and I (Moz 18 volunteers who were helping out) started mapping out the mural on the wall with a marker. We got a basic design down, something for the girls to paint in. The girls broke off into two groups (making sure there was a combination of different girls in each) and we started to paint!

I was really worried that it would be a mad dash for the paintbrushes, things would get messy and it would be just a huge crazy painting mess. . . I was happily proved wrong. The girls decided what colors they wanted to use for what, those with the smaller brushes went to work on the smaller designs, and those with the larger ones painted in things like words and the HIV ribbon. – I am going to try and put picutures up on facebook soon, and am trying to figure out how to attach them to my blog. . stay tuned.

I stayed with that first group until lunch, at lunch (which Angela and I had to arrange) we all went inside a classroom, and had a bean stew, a chicken curry and rice. Needless to say it was absolutely amazing. The girls seemed to really like it too- so things were good. After lunch, one of our friends, a doctor at the hospital, came to talk with the girls. We hope that she was an inspiration to the girls, many asked questions, and she explained how she did have to sacrifice some things in her life (like having a relationship) to get where she is, how she had to work hard, didn’t drink a lot, and withheld from having sex for a long time. She explained that this was very difficult, especially in a culture that prides women on having lots of children, and expects them to get married early. She was inspiring to me! I can only imagine what it was like for the girls. A lot of them asked questions, some personal, which the doctor was happy to answer. All in all – I think it was a really great idea to have her come speak.

After lunch we switched groups, and the mural was finished, and the other girls made earrings.

Everyone helped out with the cleaning, washing dishes, washing paintbrushes etc. . .The day went very smoothly, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. Not to mention, the mural turned out absolutely amazing. I’m really proud of the girls, proud of Angela for making this happen, and feel lucky enough to have been a part of the experience.

After everyone left, and everything was cleaned up, Emily, Angela and I went for a beer, and just relaxed after a very long day.

Sunday was a morning of movies with Emily, and then an afternoon of eating leftovers, and watching season one of Sons of Anarchy on my own haha. She had to catch a chapa back around noon to get home before dark. . . traveling at night here not only is dangerous, its also really stupid.

Today I am going to head up to the hospital for the morning, and then I think I’m going to run to Inharrime to pick up my stuff from the Modista (seamstress). . . I’m seeing an evening of dinner and Sons of Anarchy here at my little house haha.

No complaints here- miss everyone from home. I really miss the comforts of old relationships from home. . .its much easier – if that makes sense. Yes I have friends here, but its hard to forge a new friendship out of a few months. . . hard to explain. My point is – I miss you all.

Xoxo

td