Written Thursday, November 1, 2012

HAPPY NOVEMBER!

Wow… November already. Tara’s birthday, Thanksgiving, the kick-off of the “holiday season”. . . . and its summertime here haha. So I hear we have been having crazy weather at home? Is everyone ok? Staying safe and dry I hope. It’s been really rainy and stormy here too this past week, so I feel your pain. Maybe not as much, but living in a reed house, with a tin roof during an insane storm with wind, rain and loud noises isn’t a picnic, let me tell you.

So! Its been a while since my last post- sorry about that. Sunday turned out to be a really great day for me. I went to the Methodist church right next to my house, and ended up getting invited back to a friends house to celebrate a birthday. My friend is an ex-Technician from the hospital, and he was throwing a party for his namesake – who just turned 93. I will repeat again – 93 years old.

That is UNHEARD of here. The typical lifespan is low 40’s. . . people are thrilled to get to 38 here. Could you imagine? So here we are, at the neat little house way out in the bush, celebrating a 93 year old’s birthday. This man was totally with it mentally, physically he moved a bit slow, but still held his own, ate and drank normally. I had a pleasant conversation with him – he told me he remembered when the first group of PC volunteers came through Moz, and how we have been helping this country, as well as all the other international-aid organizations here. I wanted to talk to him more about his life, but it was hard to get a word in edge wise with everyone else wanting to talk. I’m just happy I had that kind of experience.

I would also like to point out- whoever made up the statement “finish your dinner, there are starving people in Africa” has clearly never been to a birthday party in Mozambique. I was so full after I left there, that the only thing I could do Sunday evening, was lay in my bed. Sheesh!

Monday came and went- business as usual. Went to the hospital, finished organizing the paperwork for the people who have abandoned their ARV treatment (anti-retroviral treatment) and discussed how we can start doing “buscas” or searches for these people out in the field. I’ve also toyed with the idea of trying to start a GAAC group (I think that’s the right acronym) – the basis of these groups is to send one person every 3 or 6 months to the hospital or pharmacy to get all the ARV meds for their community. So say there are 12 people who are on the medication, one person will go to get everyone’s meds, and the next time, someone else will go. This helps to cut down the cost of transportation, helps to save time for people, helps to reduce the social problems (there is still a great deal of sigma related to HIV/AIDS) etc. I’m going to talk about this idea next week at my conference in Maptuo. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some more information, and see where this can take me.

Tuesday, went to the hospital again – and again did some paperwork dealing with the “abandono’s” (people who have abandoned treatment). That afternoon, I hung out with the neighbors, and was asked if the girls could braid my hair. I said yes, and again, have a head of cornrows haha! They get such a kick out of playing with my hair, and it feels nice to be included in such a normal activity for them, that I say go for it. The braids only stay in about a day or 2. I need to wash my hair much more often than my neighbors – but I like having the braids, it keeps my hair off my neck, and out of my face. A great thing when its hot outside.

Yesterday was super cold and chilly, I went to ACOMUZA in the morning for our weekly meeting – we had a visitor this week from IRD (and international development organization I think from Ireland). So most of my morning was just sitting there listening to the meeting. After they left, we touched on the topics from our past weekly meeting – the SWOT analysis about our home visits – and how we are working on changing some of our problems related to that. Overall it went well, and everyone wished me a great trip this coming weekend so that was nice. Yesterday afternoon was rainy, and chilly. I spent my afternoon in bed with the puppy, watching a movie and drinking hot chocolate. Sometimes you just need an afternoon/evening like that.

I made some really great food dishes this past week – 2 really good veggie curries with rice, and last night I made this stuff called Kusherie its lentils, rice, with a tomato/veggie sauce, topped with sautéed onions and garlic. Yum yum yum. That’s how my evenings have been lately. I cook starting around 5ish, once my stuff is done, I make the puppy food, and then we eat together, most times I watch a movie and have a glass of wine. Not a bad lifestyle if you ask me. Aside from the dog, it sounds like my life at home when I wasn’t working dinner shift at the restaurant haha.

So yes- that has been my week in a nutshell. I’m heading down to my other CBO today – Despertai, we are going to talk about this months plan, and I may go out into the field to do some home visits. Tomorrow I’m headed to the hospital for a bit, but have to make a trip up to Inharrime as well – the modista has some of my clothes that I want for Reconnect conference. Then its doing laundry and packing for me – Saturday I’m headed to a Halloween party – sadly I don’t have a costume. Didn’t really have the time or energy to make one. Oh well, there are bigger problems I think.

Then Sunday I’m headed into Maputo for the week! Running water, hot showers, and hopefully an internet café to skype with some people!

Life continues to be good here, there are some times when I’m sitting on my front porch at night- looking at the stars (and milky way galaxy) that I think “damn, I’m a lucky girl to be living here in Moz”.

Hugs and kisses - td