moZAMbique

Hi hi hi!

It’s been a busy few weeks here in Zambezia province for me! Last week found me on the road participating in the first round of site visits and development for the incoming health group (this will be Moz group 24) in May. We had to change our schedule almost on a daily basis because of the massive flooding and road destruction throughout the province. Overall it was a great week, I really enjoyed getting out of the city, seeing some beautiful parts of this province, and meeting new people in the district sites. In the evenings I was hosted by the local volunteer in the town, and being able to walk around small towns, have a beer or two at the local barraca, and chat with people in the market made me feel like I was 'back in mozambique'. . . my life in the city is totally different from life in the districts/communities. 

what some of the roads look like in Zambezia province

our traveling office for the week

the view above beautiful alto malocue

the market in morrumbala

the bridge that connects the district of ile to namarrori - the volunteers we have there have not yet been able to return to site

the bridge collapsed as the truck was driving over it

The main focus of these visits was to introduce Peace Corps to the directors of health, directors of the hospital, and any district coordinators from INGO’s that work in the district. Some locations filled out a form, asking for a volunteer, and others didn't, but we visited anyway. One of the most positive things that could happen for a Peace Corps program happened to us in December. The health program is now officially linked with the ministry of health through a memorandum of understanding. This means that hospitals can directly request a volunteer, and that we will not need to be reliant on an INGO’s presence and the work that they provide for us.

            -The education program has had a memorandum with the ministry of education since we opened peace corps Mozambique in 1998 . . . the health program started here in 2004, and in 2014 we finally signed a memorandum. This is a BIG thing.

The districts that I had the opportunity to visit were; Morrumbala, Mopeia, Namacurra, Mocuba, Alto Malocue, and Ile. We were on the road Mon-Friday, and I returned to Quelimane in the afternoon on Friday. Hosted some volunteers here this past weekend and we had a lovely time. I will continue to say, that Quelimane is so much better when I have someone to pal around with.

Things are getting better for me. . .work is keeping me busy – various things going on in the numerous roles that I play. With ICAP we have created a template for peace corps volunteers to report what they are doing on a monthly basis- these are turned in on the 25^th of each month, and are submitted to our supervisors and the Maputo office for review and feedback. I think this is going to be an eye-opener for the teams about how underused the volunteers are, and where we want to be more involved/how we can participate.

With my role as PCVL, I’m leaving again this weekend for Nampula to help facilitate Moz 22’s project design management conference. That should be a nice time, and useful. I remember my PDM conference – it gave me the basic information and structure to design a project with my counterparts at ACOMUZA. I hope this group feels the same.

With the DPS I am still trying to make headway – they are excellent about staying in touch and communicating with me, but actual things happening are a bit harder.

The Nucleo Provincial do combate ao HIV/Aids has been busy creating a yearly program and budget for the HIV programs around the province. I was helpful in this process, showing my counterpart there how to use Microsoft excel to create an easier to understand/use budget. I’m excited to go there tomorrow to see how things have been going.

And to top it all off- I have scheduled myself some much needed R&R time after this PDM conference in Nampula . . Taking the location opportunity to travel over to Ilha de Mozambique. Which, in my opinion is one of the most beautiful places in this entire country. I’ve also bought my tickets to the Bushfire music festival in Swaziland at the end of May, so that is a fun adventure to look forward to as well.

Adventures, trying to stay busy, and the start of a new month…. 5 more to go!