Our New Home

Most of our first week at site has been spent fixing up our somewhat derelict house. We had to add mosquito netting to our windows, fill some holes in the walls with cement, have a carpinter build us a bed for two and fix our broken sofa, and we had to paint some of the walls. We also spent a lot of time sorting through all the stuff left to us by previous generations of volunteers, much of which is very useful (like a small fridge, an electric stove, an oven, various water buckets, lots of books and a bookshelf), while some of which is more in the junk category (like old science projects, a hair dryer, various AC electrical adapters for appliance we don´t have, etc). Janet is especially exited to have the toaster oven, we have already made very successful banana bread and buttermilk biscuits. Our house is made of bricks and cement and has a corrugated tin roof, which gets very hot and when it rains it sounds like we live inside of a drum, but it keeps us mostly dry, except for just a few leaks. We have a porch, where we interact with neighborhood kids, an outdoor kitchen for our coal barbeque, a squat latine, and a shower room, which is just a room with a drain. We provide the shower with a bucket of water and a cup (which Luc calls The Splasher). We also have an indoor kitchen, when we have electricity and spare bedroom, for when you all some and visit us. Some of our doors are a little low (watch out tall people!). We also have a huge mango tree, which attracts lots of people with long sticks and tree climbers since we are in full mango season right now. There are plenty of delicious mangos for everyone. Overall, we are content with our new home and hope you will all come and stay with us!

Our New Community

Our town is medium-small border community right next to Malawi. We can walk across town in 20 minutes, unless we get lost, which happens frequenly as most of the footpaths wind crookedly around the abnormally shaped living compounds. There is a small stream through town with several precarious tree trunk foot bridges. We are surrounded by several large granite monuments (think mini-Half Domes!) that jut up in an otherwise rolling-hill countryside. There are lots of small farm plots in the outlying areas, which grow mostly corn, with some beans, manioca and lots of fruit trees, especially mangos. Our town has one medium-sized market and another selling area under a large acacia tree along the highway. We can get most of what we need for daily eating here: beans, rice, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, garlic, bananas, greens, oil, eggs, salt, margerine, pasta, flour, tea, lettuce somtimes and more occasional items. We have delicious fresh bread every day, which is especially good when Janet transforms it into garlic toast in our small electric toaster oven. We live less than three minutes from our school, which is made up of two buildings with three classrooms each, plus a computer lab, courtesy of previous volunteers and the US government. Our school director took us around town to introduce us to the local officials, such as the administrator, police chief, immigration, head of the politial party, Frelimo, and the director of the health clinic. The school is on summer vacation right now and the school year will resume January 15.

Even though it is the rainy season, the weather has been dry and hot this first week. While the countryside is still very green, people are getting worried about their mashambas (farm fields). The predominant ethnic group here is the Chewa, as in many parts of Malawi. Within the Chewa culture there exists a secret society, like a brotherhood, called the Nyau. Men are introduced into the group in their youth and they serve as spirit forces in the community, donning elaborate masks and costumes like animals. When you see a Nyau, you are expected to run away in fear and hide, as they are scary animals, usually brandishing machetes. They have been out and about lately to scare away the crazy people who are making the rains stay away. Last night on our evening run/walk in the fields we had to hide from two marauding Nyau, out to help the rains come. And today... we have rain! Way to go Nyau. Our neighbors are very happy because they will have a good corn crop this season, if we continue to get rain. We are happy because the rain has cooled things off. On the negative side, the power is usually out when it rains, meaning cooking is more of a challenge. Last night we were about to light our coal barbeque to cook our dinner, when we heard cheers in the distance and music, a sure sign that electricity has been restored. We had a much easier time making our spaghetti using our electric stove than stoking the flames of our little barbeque!

Site Delivery

Our site is far away from the rest of Peace Corps, so we were delivered by one of the Peace Corps vehicles. On the day of site delivery, we got up early and ate a big breakfast at our luxury hotel´s sumptuous buffet. We had a long day in front of us and probably wouldn´t eat again until supper, so we stocked up on bread, peanuts and bananas for the car, our favorite travel snacks in Africa. Our Peace Corps Project Director, our school Director, and the Peace Corps driver all accompanied us in the Peace Corps Land Cruiser, full of all of our Peace Corps stuff, mostly books. We were very glad we didn´t have to haul all this stuff on buses! We left around 8:30am and basically spent the whole day in the car, with some delays due to bridge repairs. The landscapes from the windows were varied and striking, beginning with the green hills of Chimoio, with huge rock mountains (iselbergs, if you´re interested in the technical term), and continuing to the flat, dry plains of Tete province, spotted with massive baobab trees (this is probably the type of African semi-wooded savanah landscape you would imagine from National Geographic). We had to wait a long time in Tete city because the suspension bridge across the Zambeze is only open in one direction at a time. We got very lucky because they closed traffic in our direction three cars after we passed. Once we crossed the bridge it was less than two hours to site. The last stretch started in the hot, coal-mining region of Moatize, and got more and more green and fresh as we climbed in elevation to our site, near the Malawi border. Our Land Cruiser tried to drive us all the way to our house on a narrow footpath, but after smashing several corn plants in our neighbor´s yard, we realized it was not feasible. Luckily there was a large contingent of youth waiting to carry our stuff the final distance to our home. We said our goodbyes to our Peace Corps staff and there we were, in our site finally! Fortunately the school has arranged a nice lunch/dinner for us at a local restaurant overlooking the valley and mountains. The views are astonishingly beautiful and we felt very fortunate to have two years in this beautiful place.

Journey to Site

We have been getting ready to move to our site for over a week now. We packed up all our stuff into boxes, including all the many manuals and books the Peace Corps has provided us with. Every time we brought out another box, our host mom would tell us how sad she was that we were leaving. It was a bittersweet farewell after ten happy weeks with our host family. Our mom had been hoping we would have a site near enough to visit her on weekends, but unfortunately we're almost as far as possible! Mozambique is a very large country and it takes a long time to get anywhere. Basically, if our training town were San Diego, our site in Tete would be up in Oregon somewhere, but there's no Highway 5 in Mozambique - or highway of any kind. So we flew to Chimoio, the captial of Manica province, on a very small plane. In fact, the plane was so small that half of our central region colleagues were left in Maputo, along with most of our stuff! But we are Peace Corps Volunteers, so we are flexible, and we all made it eventually to our supervisor's conference where we met the directors of the secondary schools where we will be teaching. We also got to stay in a very luxurious hotel, which has wi-fi - hence all the photos and blogging! (Click on the link in the right column under our picture to see our photos). We still haven't arrived at our site yet- we still have another 500 km to travel tomorrow. But due to the difficult travel conditions, we will be driven there in a Peace Corps vehicle, with all of our stuff. We didn't come to Africa with that much stuff, but Peace Corps has bestowed upon many resources, including water filters, mosquito net, bedding, a library of materials, a huge medical kit, etc. So basically we are traveling with 4 boxes and 4 suitcases of junk! So tomorrow we will arrive in our new little house, unpack, meet the neighbors, and begin the process of getting to know our new community.

Swearing In as Volunteers

So we are officially Peace Corps Volunteers now! Parabens a nos! (Congratulations to us!) Mozambique doesn't have an ambassador right now, so the Charge d'Affaires, the acting head of the US mission in Mozambique, performed our swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday, December 8th at his luxurious residence in Maputo overlooking the Indian Ocean. For any of you unfamiliar with this type of event, just think back to President Obama's swearing-in, but on a bit of a smaller scale. All members of the US government must take a very similar oath to protect the US Constitution.

We almost didn't make it to the ceremony; our chapa (Mozambican minibus) overheated three times in transit and our driver got lost (we had to resort to asking random people on the street where the ambassador lived). That's why we always schedule extra time when we take local transport. We all had to wear something involving capulanas (local cloth). The men decided to have matching ties made (which unfortunately did not iron well, i.e. Janet burned a hole in Luc's tie!), and most women had dresses or skirts tailored. Janet was a little intimidated to wear the full three-piece outfit she had made (it was a little too different), so she just wore the skirt with a white blouse. :) It was a very hot day, we were wearing lots of fancy clothes, and there was a beautiful pool there, but unfortunately swimming wasn't on the agenda!

All of our Portuguese teachers and technical trainers, Peace Corps staff, as well as many dignitaries and guests, including one of Luc's friends from Peace Corps Honduras who now works at the Embassy, came to watch us swear-in. Luc was chosen to give a speech in Portuguese, which he did beautifully. Then the ambassador and the Peace Corps Director said some words. We then all raised our right hands and recited the oath. All of the Mozambican press was there, consisting of 2 TV stations, 2 newspapers and the radio. Luc did interviews with them and made it on the evening news and into the paper!

Photos finally!

Hi everyone! We are in Chimoio, the capital of Manica province, on our way to our site. We will write a proper update tomorrow but just a quick note that we posted some photos going back quite a ways on the blog so go back through the posts if you want to see them! :) Hopefully we'll get a large facebook album up tomorrow. We are doing great and will write more soon.

Homestay Celebration

Our ten weeks of training have passed quickly and this is already our last week before we swear in on Tuesday and depart for our destinations of service across this large nation. Since this also means the end of our stays with our host families here in our training site, we held a large celebration to say thank you and good-bye. The families slaughtered a cow for the occasion and consumed an entire Land Cruiser-load of firewood in wood preparation. Also, as a surprise, all the host families presented us with African type clothes tailored from colorful local cloth. It wasn´t that much of a surprise for Luc since our host mom had sent him to the tailor to be measured! But it was a very nice gift and it was fun all wearing matching prints. Like all Mozambican events we began with formalities, including speeches, thank yous and certificates, and ended with eating, music, dancing and cake. Many of the volunteers are eager to get started in their sites. Living so fully immersed with a family in a foreign culture is difficult for some of our colleagues, especially with communication difficulties, tummy trouble, changing weather, leaky roofs and a general lack of control over our physical conditions and daily scheduling. But most people have learned a lot from the experience and enjoyed it. We have really enjoyed our time here and are sad to leave our family, the delicious food and overall hospitality. We hope to return and visit when possible, although we know it will be difficult given the great distance that will separate us once we depart to site.

Hiking in Mozambique

We enjoy getting out and exploring our surroundings during our infrequent unscheduled hours, usually Saturday afternoon or Sunday after cleaning our clothes and room. There is a nearby waterfall we have visited several times. The walk descends through a beautiful valley with lots of trees and even a family of wild monkeys; it really makes you feel like you are in Africa! The first time we visited the falls were completely dry, with just a few stagnant pools, but now with all the rains it is a splendid sight full of crashing water. We have also hiked to the top of a nearby mountain where the borders of South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique all meet and views extend in all directions.

We also like to walk out to the very end of our neighborhood where the town transitions into farmland and the river forms several large pools behind the various irrigation dams, where children swim and fish and women wash clothes. Fortunately/unfortunately there are no crocodiles or hippos. Walking here is very safe and peaceful and we are always surprised by how many people we thought were strangers greet us by name! We are looking forward to some great hike exploring at our new site, although it might be difficult going into monsoon season!

International AIDS Day

December 1st we commemorated International AIDS Day here in Mozambique. Given the extremely high HIV prevalence rates in the country (over 15% nationally within the adult population and close to 25% here in our border district) the days activities are somber and recognized by all the authorities and activists in the community. We began the day with a march down main street to the local AIDS memorial where the distract official laid a wreath in remembrance of all who have perished in the epidemic, as we sang the national anthem, which we have now memorized since we sing it every morning we teach classes. The cold wet weather did not discourage those present from singing or dancing or passing out condoms. We continued to celebrate with speeches, skits and songs while people volunteered to be tested and learn their HIV status. We concluded with a small lunch and Mozambique´s favorite soft drinks, Coca Cola and orange Fanta. It is sometimes hard to believe that HIV/AIDS is so prevalent here, people don´t look sick and no one talks about it, but reminders are everywhere: the omnipresent red ribbons painted on public spaces, announcements on TV, radio and billboards, and most poignantly, all the recently-filled graves in the cemetery with youths born in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. We have been working hard to incorporate HIV/AIDS messages into our school lessons and strategizing on how best to contribute in reducing this scourge which has so deeply decimated the southern region in Africa.