Although we’ve been at site for 6 months now, we still feel like there are lots of areas around town that we don’t know. So this Sunday, after bidding farewell to our fellow Tete volunteer, Adrienne, who came for a visit, we set off on an afternoon walk down a path we hadn’t explored yet. Thinking it would be a simple stroll in the countryside, we were excited to find that our path led us a surprising place. After passing through a neighborhood full of our students, we passed into beautiful countryside. We ran into two of our students returning from their family’s field with bicycle loads of sugar cane, which they offered us. Then we forged a small spring and followed the path up a little incline. We noticed a tree-lined avenue with old cobblestones. Upon reaching the top of the path, we gazed upon a large which compound of buildings with arched windows. The roof was completely gone and the structures we overgrown inside with trees and bushes. The sweeping staircase lead up to the main doorway, above which was written C.F.P.P. de Zobue. We crawled through an opening and began exploring the inside, where we found scratched out images of Mao Tse Dong, Lenin and Mozambique’s socialist leader, Samora Machel. After a break for sugar cane in the old bathroom window, looking out over the fields, we headed home. Upon further investigation, we determined the site was an abandoned Catholic seminary, built by the Portuguese in the 40’s. After Mozambique’s independence, they were forced to move out and the structures became a center for primary teacher training. We never expected to find a secret garden to explore just outside our town. Who knows what we’ll find on our next walk!
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