through the looking glass

Writing this blog from Naira’s house, which is my old temporary house – its funny to spend time here, knowing that I once called this home. I think back to those times when Mozambique was still so full of wonder and new things for me. I think that, although it was a struggle with language and cultural idioms, I was never so happy here than during those first few months at site. I was getting to know everyone, exploring different parts of town, discovering new recipes to cook, learning not only to take care of myself in a 3^rd world country but a dog as well…. It was a time of discovery, both personally and in my surrounding environment. Its times and memories like that which make me grateful for my experience here.

Anyway…. This blog is dedicated to this past weekend.

My adventure in Manjacaze, Gaza province:

This was not my first trip to the town of Manjacaze, located in interior Gaza province. I head south from my town, stopping at a town called Chonguene, where I can catch a ride to the town. . . I was very fortunate in my travels both ways this weekend. The very first car I flagged down once I was on the road stopped, and was traveling all the way to Maputo – so I was able to hop a ride south to Chonguene. Did I mention this car was a Lexus?! Madness. I had a seatbelt, air conditioning, and the man was generous enough to offer me a RedBull…. What??! I haven’t seen one of those in so long. And a seatbelt?! Air conditioning? Windows that go up and down at the touch of a button?! Wild.

I made it to the intersection in record time, having had a nice, educated conversation with the man. No sooner did I step out of the fancy car, did a chapa roll through, luckily they had a seat available for me!

            -side note, I am using the word ‘seat’ verrrry generously. It was more like, a space that kinda, sorta could fit the ass of a 3 year old who happened to be anorexic. I made it work.

It was not nearly as comfortable as the luxury that I had just left, but it was a quick ride into the town of Manjacaze, so who was I to complain?

Unfortunately, just as the chapa pulled into the town center, the heavens opened up in a torrential downpour, so Linda (who came to meet me in town) and I took shelter under a small overhang, to wait out the worst of it. We decided to wait for our other friend Dan who was close behind me on the road. After we all met up, we walked towards Linda’s new home.

            -another side note, this is her 3^rd house/move since becoming a volunteer. So in total, this girl has lived in 4 different homes here in Mozambique (including homestay). Each with a different story, and experience.

Where she is located now, is what we jokingly call the ‘retirement community’. It is a lovely fenced in compound with dorm-like rooms, a separate kitchen and living room, an excellent garden, and a yard. It is lovely, a bit secluded which can be nice when you really need to just ‘get away’ from life in Mozambique.

We spent the afternoon and evening cooking deconstructed taco’s/nacho’s, wandering around town, and playing an excellent card game “Cards Against Humanity” with Linda and Evan. . unfortunately it was incredibly hot and humid that evening, and Linda’s fan just happened to break (darn you Mozambique!) … so it was a sweaty, sweaty night.

(taco's!)

We woke to a very overcast sky, not abnormal because it is the rainy season, so we decided to have a lazy morning complete with a delicious breakfast. That afternoon we went wandering about town and made some purchases for cooking later that evening, and met up with Evan for a cold pop in town. Again, we became trapped in an insane downpour, and we took shelter in a neighboring shop/restaurant where we amused ourselves with a verbal/word game called “Contact”. Once the rain cleared up, we decided to head back to Linda’s house to cook some lunch.

Upon our arrival, we discovered that her room had completely flooded. Her mattress soaked, about a ¼ inch of water all over the floor, my bag and things were soaked through, blankets, yoga mat etc. (DARN you Mozambique!).

Of course the punches just kept coming. . .that night her gas tank for the stove ran out, leaving us to cook on wood in the outdoor kitchen (which is fine, just annoying). After we went to bed, the rain returned, flooding her room once more, so we took shelter in the living room/kitchen area. Who knew that some blankets on top of cement floors could be so comfortable…

            -I’m not sure if that shows just how far my standards have fallen, or if it is just all relative at this point.

Luckily we had a fan that night, so the mosquito’s and humidity were not too unbearable.

During the storm, the pigs that are also housed in the compound broke loose. So when we opened the door to the outside, we were a bit startled to see pigs frolicking about.

(PIGS!!)

I turned to Linda and said ‘I come to the interior of Mozambique, and its like Alice stepping through the looking glass’. So true. Where else would we have two insane monsoons forcing us to take shelter in another room, fans breaking, gas tanks running out, pigs on the loose, and constant energy cuts? (oh wait. . .that could happen ANYWHERE in Mozambique haha)

I still found it to be incredibly amusing. It was a nice weekend spent with friends. . . just wish it could have been within conditions that were a bit more welcoming.

Such is life here in moz. .

At the hospital again today, doing the same stuff, just on a different day.

I successfully made blackbean and potato burgers last night, and served it with a moringa and tomato salad, and mustard. Yum.

(salad, mustard, burgers)

Also, I made homemade granola, and am wondering WHY it took me this long to do so. Its delicious, and a great dessert/afternoon snack.

xoxo

t

sharing is caring

just a quick post today to share some meaningful youtube video's created by some of my friends.


the first was created by my friend Mac who lived in the central part of mozambique. it talks about how higher education changes lives, nurtures opportunity, strengthens communities and improves people's livelihoods. this is a wonderful project and fundraiser for a Mozambican school that is working to improve access to education and raise the level of educational attainment in the country. he is an inspiring person and i am glad to have known him, and shared some adventures together here in mozambique. keep fighting the good fight Mac!


a disclaimer- as mozambique is a huge country, the terrain differs from site to site as does conditions for schools and hospitals.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-alrJnruUJY



the second was created by my lifetime friend Dave, about his involvement with the Run for MS project. MS Run the US, Inc. is a non-profit organization committed to raising disease awareness and funds to further research in the fight to end multiple sclerosis (MS). i know that i have mentioned him in posts prior to this- and will continue to do so. his involvement, passion and dedication to this project are incredible. i'm so lucky to have known this wonderful man all of my life.


http://youtu.be/DApPN4etweo




all is well here in mozambique, just at the hospital doing some work. keeping myself busy




xoxo

t

frustrations, new family, and the future

Good morning from Mozambique. It is about 11:30am here, and I’m currently sitting in the CCS office at the hospital. It is torrentially down pouring outside, so there are not too many people lining the halls here. It seems that rainy season is upon us again here in Moz- which means, lack of work, my house flooding, and a constant smell of mildew. But the plants do grow, my moringa trees that I planted months ago are now taller than I am, and other flowers/foliage in the area are blooming beautifully.

I had a rather disappointing morning here at work. I arrive at 8am, and my counterpart isn’t in the office- no big deal, he may have gone to another location, so I wander down to the HIV testing center to get some blank “busca” cards. We have been rather limited on the cards, having not received a shipment from Maputo recently – so I decided to take a look in the cabinet at the testing center to see if there are any stored away there. Lo and behold….. there are cards that have been filled out (by me) that are shoved in books, under papers, etc. basically everywhere that they shouldn't be. So I start taking them out, organizing them by date filled out (some dating back to SEPTEMBER) and ask why they had been shoved in this cabinet to be forgotten. Doing a ‘busca’ is part of the Peer Educators job here with CCS – it is essential to get out into the field and find those who have stopped taking their medications, encouraging them to return to the hospital. So to find the busca cards ignored, and hidden was very frustrating.

As I continued to look/organize the cabinet, I discovered more cards that had been filled out, the busca done, and the response never brought back to the hospital/me. Again, my level of frustration skyrocketed. Without receiving these busca cards that have been completed, there is the possibility of doing another one for the same person, which is silly for the Peer Educators to waste their time and efforts on that, and it also doesn't help with our data collection and statistical analysis.

So, I spent a solid hour of my time, going through this cabinet, organizing it and extracting all of the busca cards that were filled out/completed/incomplete – finding some blank ones (which was the goal of the mission to begin with), and had some stern words with the woman who runs the testing center. This is when I really started to become annoyed, she had buttloads (an actual measurement in my mind) of excuses!!! That it wasn't her fault the Peer Educators weren’t taking the busca cards, that she had NOOO idea they were being hidden/put into the cabinet, that she cant stay on top of who is doing the busca’s and who isn’t…. I shook my head, explained that actually – that is exactly her job description. She is to stay in that room, test people for HIV when they come in, make sure the Peer Educators get the busca cards, and when they are completed, give them to me. NOT A HARD CONCEPT TO GRASP! Especially since she has been doing this job for 3 years now.

So now, here I sit in the office, going through these busca cards, some from back in September, that were left unattended. I’m not sure if Peer Educators were hiding them because they don't wish to do the busca, or if no one lives in the specific neighborhood, or why the completed ones were never turned back into me. For the completed cards that were never turned back in, I have spent the past 4 hours going through each card, attempting to find it in the book of registration. It is mundane, annoying and tedious work that could have been completely avoided.

Frustration does not even begin to describe this work day. My counterpart returned, and I explained everything to him, and he is equally as frustrated in this situation. He is very new to CCS/the Zavala area (where I live) and hasn't been all that impressed. It is just one big excuse after the other. I jokingly said “try living like this for 2 years” and he just stared at me with a horrified expression haha. It has opened up a new dialogue for the two of us, for which I am grateful – he has been a breath of fresh air here at the hospital, we started off on rocky footing for sure – but he is a driven and intelligent person who really does want to use my abilities. 

Hopefully some things will work out here at the hospital, but until people are willing to put in some effort for their work, I highly doubt it.

http://what-i-learned-in-the-pc.tumblr.com/post/72884462100/dont-join-the-peace-corps?og=1

I thought this was a hilarious blog post. Many of the things mentioned in it, have happened- and still have the potential to happen. Peace Corps has beaten me down, and lifted me up so very high. It has been a roller coaster of emotion, lately more often in the ways of frustration and depression.

Yesterday, I spent the entire day with my sitemates – we watched some tv shows in the morning, went and had lunch in town, and just enjoyed a lazy rainy day together. Couldn't ask for better people to share this beautiful town with.

I have also received new next-door neighbors. It is kind of a drastic change from the family I had become very close with- that consisted of 4 people (mom, dad, and two beautiful girls) …. I now have many more children running around, some teenagers, and one or two people that look to be in their early twenties. . in addition to the mom and dad. It is always a different group of people when I enter/exit our neighborhood, so I’m still trying to figure out the dynamic. But I do miss my family greatly. They were a big part of my experience, and I’m not really loving the idea of integrating with this new family. Of course I am keeping an open mind, hoping for the best – but I’m also being realistic; it is a big Mozambican family with lots of children, they are all terrified of my dog, have all sorts of questions for me about my life, have asked me for money already, and are basically nothing like the family I had. Womp, womp, womp.

Officially stated that Moz 18’s COS dates will be between July 14^th and August 1^st.  less than 6 months to go. Wahoo.

Still no word from graduate school admissions. So keep those fingers crossed.

alright kids, back to my work here - I'm also working on a digitized attendance sheet for the Peer Educators here at the hospital, what day they work, their phone number, etc. Hopefully that will help a bit.

my sitemate, Kevin, relaxing in the hammock- while of course a Mozambican child watches with interest. goes to show how intrusive life can be here haha.

a sideways glance at my front porch on a typical afternoon, coloring with the kiddies. 

-i'm pretty sure Lua showed up shortly after this was taken, causing all of them to scatter and start crying

Xoxox

t

Workin’ hard, or hardly workin’?

Monday was my first day back to work after the holiday break, I was looking forward to it – getting back into the groove of a routine, feeling like I’m actually serving a purpose again here in Quissico, rather than just lounging around all day with local friends and going to the lagoon (not that that was a BAD life). 6am rolls around, I get up, do my workout, have my breakfast and am getting ready to leave my home, planning to arrive at the hospital around 8am – texting my supervisor that I was on my way. “Great, we are already here”, he replied . . .mind you it is 7:40am… what they were doing at the hospital that early is beyond me.

I arrive, I greet everyone, there is about 5 minutes of chatting about how the holidays were, asking about the health and wellbeing of everyone’s family, just the basic catching up. I then sit down next to my supervisor/counterpart who is enraptured with something on his computer, so we don't actually converse for probably 30 minutes or so. . no big deal, I checked some emails, and did some things on my own computer. When he was ready, he turns to me and says “lets talk about what you are going to do here this year with CCS”…. GREAT! Finally some direction, some outline of work, some role for me to play here at the hospital – because goodness knows I have been doing this and that where I can, but I’ve never truly had a defined work goal with the organization.

            -on account that at first it was ICAP at the hospital, which was more frustrating than words can ever describe, then there was no one there, so I stopped going, then CCS came, and I’ve had 3 different counterparts with this organization, so my “role” has constantly been changing.

Nevertheless, I was open to what Joao had to say about what he saw me doing for these last few months in Mozambique. And that's when my day turned to shit. . . .he started listing off these random activities, that I am either not trained for, or that fall outside my capabilities. The one was to organize the Peer Educators every afternoon before they leave and give them a “pep talk” about forming GAAC groups, and that I would be in charge of this program from now on. . . . they have already been trained in this area, they know about groups, how to form them, how to keep them sustainable – if there are questions or issues, they come to Joao and I. I should not be “in charge” of this program, because I am leaving, I am not at the hospital every day, but mainly because it is not my responsibility that this nationwide program runs smoothly here in Quissico – that is what a trained health technician is supposed to do.

The list contained about 4 other tasks that were just ridiculous for many reasons, time, resources, my own personal abilities (I do not speak the local language fluently) etc. . . . so when he asked what I thought about what I could be doing in these next few months I attempted to steer him back to what my original job description was/what I have been doing for the past few months at the hospital.  Which is; filling out busca cards, and helping organize that program (finding people who have abandoned their HIV medication) so that it is more streamlined, continuing to build and maintain the relationship between CCS (my organization at the hospital) and ACOMUZA (my community based organization), going into the field with either organization on home based visits, doing informative health workshops, organizing the testing center in town, organizing the monthly Cha Positivo support group meetings for HIV+ people at the hospital. ETC….  after explaining all of this to him, he nodded, and said “sounds great” and then left.

…….. cool?

I guess what I’m still looking for is a schedule. When to show up at the hospital, when to leave, what exactly I should be doing on a Monday or on a Thursday . . . but I don't think I will ever really have that. I’m on the tail-end of my service here, this is when projects should be in full-swing, in the monitoring and evaluation phase, ready to be sustainable on their own. Instead, I have nothing to show for my service thus far “work wise”. It is really and truly frustrating.

I never had the notion that I would come to Mozambique and change anything in a drastic sense. . but I had hoped to have at least one successful, sustainable project. . . but, sadly, I just don't think that is going to be the case for me.

When I arrived at the hospital yesterday, again at 8am, the entire CCS team was packing their day bags. I asked what was going on and they all replied ‘oh, we are going to Inharrime today to work at that hospital’    . . . . .pause.   “oh, ok. . . bom trabalho e boa viagem”  (good work and safe travels).

-cut to me, sitting in the CCS office alone, doing busca cards, and using the free internet. Sigh . . . I didn't come to Africa to sit in an office. But whatever.

Today is Wednesday, I have the first meeting of the year with ACOMUZA, so I’m hoping for good things. I am keeping my expectations low, but still looking forward to the meeting, if for no other reason than to see some of my favorite people.

me and the lua girl, takin it easy

Xoxoxo

t

2014 already?!

Welcome to 2014! How was everyone’s new years eve? I hope you all celebrated (safely of course) in an exuberant fashion! As stated in earlier posts, I passed the time with Dona Julia and her family; we ate, danced, drank and were merry. Nothing will ever top spending time with good friends who have become like family. I am grateful everyday for her friendship and love.

Of course I couldn't show up empty handed, so I made a few different desserts to add to the already massive spread of food provided. Among the sweets that came out of my little kitchen, and dutch oven, were; apple pie, apple cake with a cinnamon sugar oat crumble top, snicker-doodles, and homemade banana jam filled crepes. Served at the feast was lots of delicious goat meat, turkey, chicken, and assorted side dishes. . . absolutely delicious. The boys joined me, as did Naira, so the four of us just had a nice time with the family. We decided not to go to the discothèque in town because of the massive line and crowds surrounding it. I really wanted to dance, and wasn't ready to end my night – but I don't really enjoy the local nightclub enough to put up with that many drunk people.  We ended the night at my house, passed out on various surfaces in the house, and I awoke to an empty house! Everyone had risen early and returned to their respective homes.

 (banana jam) (crepes) (apple pie)

So far 2014 hasn't been much different than 2013 – I’m on holiday break until today, work resumes tomorrow. Back to the “grind” haha! What a joke. My 5 hour work days. . . .but it’ll be good to have a bit of a purpose again here, rather than spending so much time with the neighbors, wandering to the lagoon or watching movies on my computer.

No big projects on the horizon just yet, but hopefully after this week I will have some sort of game plan for the next 6 months of my life here in Mozambique. Stay tuned.

Yep . . . that's it. 6 months - technically 7, but the months of June and July almost don't count. I say that because June will be so full of going away parties, including my own, and July is the month that people actually start leaving. It is pure madness thinking that this is the downward slope of my Peace Corps service – with the entrance of the new year, I though about the year that had passed, a full year of life in Mozambique, how normal life here has become, the friendships that have become family, the silly personal jokes that I have with local friends, and how great my group (the 18ers) are.

I should be hearing word from graduate school programs at the end of this month through mid-February. Hopefully that decision will provide me with a bit more personal foresight into life after Peace Corps.

Until then I have some great project ideas for work and am looking forward to getting back to my normal routine/work schedule. Tomorrow I will head to the hospital to chat with my supervisor about what our game plan is, including Acomuza in this years project through the hospital! Exciting stuff.

On a personal level, my Get Fit program is still ongoing, though it did take a small sabbatical during the holiday season – I am back to my daily workouts in the morning, when it is the coolest outside, and trying to eat right. Unfortunately these past two days I have been hit by some of the worst digestive pains/issues that I have seen in all my time here in Mozambique. This being said, I have been somewhat reluctant to leave my property for fear of being too far out of reach from my pit latrine. . .ahhh the beauty of life in Africa….. so today was spent hydrating, and watching movies from the comfort of my bed.

Next “homemaker” goal is to – hopefully by the end of the week, have a hammock constructed out of capulana fabric and some wooden poles that I can find in town. I would have liked to put it on my front veranda, but I do love having company over to sit out there so I will have to select a spot in my front yard that will suffice.

Another thing that 2014 will bring, more visitors from home! My aunt who served in Peace Corps in the 90’s in Kenya will be visiting in March, and my younger brother in May! It will be so incredible to have them here, especially now that I have a firmer grasp on life here in this crazy country – I can show them, and explain things a bit better than when my mom was here, and even from when my dad was here.

Well . . . I had no intention for this to be a blog post of “resolutions” but it seems to be something of the sort. Oh well, New Year, fresh start – new adventures and things to look forward to. 2014 will be a year of big changes for me, and I’m excited to share them with you all!

(my newest dress creation at the seamstress)

Xoxo

t