Exerpts from Moz

So this blog is just a random assortment of 5 different thoughts and experiences here in Quissico. They range from work experience, to personal thoughts. Enjoy.


1) Sitting in my meeting. We are discussing one of our clients who is HIV+  he has a wife and 5 children already. His wife is no longer able to have children, but he still wants more. So he's gone out and found a girlfriend. But the new woman is not +   We are discussing how this man could possibly have more children without infecting his girlfriend. OMG!!! I have lost all faith and respect in men in this country. You have 5 children already. You have a wife. You are HIV + and infected your wife and children. Your kids are not in school, you have no $ or food to provide for them. Fucking keep it in your pants.

2) So in lieu of not having a computer or iPod, I have been listening to the local radio channel with my solar powered radio. Needless to say my world has been rocked with Celine Dion, James Blunt, some smooth jazz, and Disney theme-song classics.  Dear goodness, help me keep my sanity.

3) I have a rat problem in my house and have been trying everything from poison and rat traps to no avail. So I am sucking it up and trying to find a cat/kitten. Problem is, whenever you need one they are never around. Those pesky buggers. Finally I heard through the coconut wireless that a local shop owners cat had kittens. So I hauled my white girl self over there as fast as my Teva's could take me. About an hour of trying to find the right woman to ask about kittens passed. Finally getting in touch with her she says 'you can have as many as you like, as long as u can catch them'. Cut to me running around the back of a shop, box in hand trying to snare a little bugger. . . You can imagine how much the locals liked to see that.

4) A Thursday, Friday and Saturday have passed; work was cancelled each day. I stayed at site because of these work plans that had been made, only to have some of the most uneventful days ever. Highlight of each day was leaving my house to go to the market. My town is small, and without work there isn't much for me to do here, socially wise. So for the past three days I have read, cleaned and cooked. I'm bored out of my mind. Feeling restless and a bit depressed. I miss having friends close by, I miss having a computer to watch movies/media on said days, or even to just have some music. Yes I have many friends in town- but even with all of my integration, I will always be the white girl. The outsider. Rough few days emotionally and mentally wise.

5) I wonder what peace corps service was like before the available technology of today. In such a hyper-connected world, even here in my tiny reed hut in a small village in Mozambique, I have the ability to have  instantaneous updates about life at home and news from around the world.  Would my service be easier if I didn't? Not having constant reminders about what's going on at home to make me miss it? Would I be even more integrated?  Or would I be even more lonely, not being able to communicate with my loved ones. In the reverse, I think having this blog helps share my experiences, I can send emails and pictures to people to explain my life here. In-country it offers me the ability to stay in touch with my 'government issue' friends, who have become my family. The issue can be debated on both sides, and often is in my mind during my many hours of down time.