Written September 1, 2012

Posted later today or tomorrow.

Happy September everyone! I hope that Labor Day weekend finds everyone enjoying an extra day off, some final summer bbq’s, time with family and friends, and of course some good drinks!

This weekend is hardly anything spectacular for me, its my first weekend at site that I really have nothing to do. No festivals to plan for, no festival going on. . just me, my book, some instant coffee, and a sunrise. I may head down to the lagoon today, I may just wander through town checking out the capulana’s and clothes, I may spend the afternoon cooking (I found some really interesting looking vegetable, kind of looks like an unripe eggplant. . stay tuned). Who knows what my day has in store! I’m sure the excitement of having nothing planned will get old by 2pm, but at the same time, I’m not complaining. In comparison to my life in the states before I left, working 12 hour days on a Saturday. . .this life is OK by me haha.

So yesterday, despite my somewhat down-in-the-dumps blog I wrote in the morning turned out to be pretty cool! I met up with one of the Volunteers from my organization here at ACUMUZA, and we went down into the campu to talk with a men’s “soccer team” for lack of better words. We met on the soccer field, having brought with us a ball, and we let them play for a bit, I joined in of course, and they were so surprised that a woman could hold her own on the soccer pitch – the field of course being a huge sand pit. Apparently women here don’t play sports, or at least not in small cities/towns like this one. As the ‘men’ put it, women are too delicate to play sports. . . I took that opportunity to jump on a feminist soapbox, and point out that women here not only cook, clean, tend to the machamba (farm/garden) and cart heavy tubs of water on their heads, they do all of this with a 30lb child strapped to their back. From my experience thus far, the most men do is drink. Girl power! I know I’ve said this before, but my hat goes off to the women here, they deal with so much, and do it all with a poise and grace I will never have.

So anyway, off my soapbox, lets get back to my day. We walked probably for an hour or so to the field, met with the guys, played a bit of soccer, and then afterward we had a small information session/speech about some issues that face men/families in the country. Most of the session was about sexual health, protecting against STDs and HIV/AIDS, but other topics were discussed as well – for example, a 15 year old, having to be the head of his household because either his parents have died, or left. How does he provide food for his 3 other siblings, where do they live etc. . it was (from what I could tell) a great discussion – it was done in the local language, so I had difficulty understanding it. But there was a lot of involvement, discussion, and the volunteer I was with had great control over the situation, guiding the discussion and interjecting with positive information and feedback. At the end of everything we passed out condoms, and had them fill out papers with their names/ages to come get tested at the hospital. All in all, I thought it was a successful venture into the campu.

After our palestra (word for information session/speech) we walked 20 minutes or so to the edge of the lagoon to a machamba (garden) to get some veggies for lunch. After, we walked to the volunteers house, had lunch and tea and hung out with her family for a bit. I think this is the part of my integration experience/life here that I like the most. Spending time with my counterparts, their families, just sitting on a grass mat in the shade, talking about their life, and my life. Doing all of this of course with a baby on your lap. There is an endless supply of children here, its truly quite impressive haha.

All in all, my day went from 8am until about 4pm when I returned home. I was hot, sweaty and utterly exhausted from walking around in loose sand all day. I took a cold bucket bath, fixed myself a PB&J with some crystal light (those packets have been a lifesaver –send some more!) and had an impromptu movie night with myself. I watched RENT, an ironic choice of movie I know – here I am working as a health volunteer promoting safe sex, the battle against AIDS – and watching a movie that touches on the history of the disease in the US. Either way, it was a nice night with myself.

I got some really great emails from people at home – cant tell you enough how great it is to hear from you all. I’m going to try to put some more pictures up on facebook soon, just day to day ones from life here in Moz.

Anyway – I’ll keep you posted about how my weekend with no plans goes!

X’s and O’s to all

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