Cohesion

It's tough serving in Peace Corps. Amongst the myriad of challenges this blog will have already acquainted regular readers with is the persistent difficulty of dealing with isolation. As a married couple we have a built-in support network; many of the solo volunteers serving in remote areas have it much more rough. Helping cope productively with this ever-present tribulation inspired our annual Cohesion event, basically a get together to keep spirits high, held in the pleasant hub-city of Chimoio. The central region of Mozambique, which includes Tete, Manica, and Sofala provinces, is the most sparsely populated by Peace Corps. A staff member commented on how ‘cohesive’ our little group is, and the proud central volunteers have adopted the word like a badge of honor ever since. Last year with classes every day and youth groups on the weekend we weren’t able to get out of site much. We were one of the few to miss the event, but this year with our dream schedule (nothing we can’t skip on Mondays or Fridays) we have more travel flexibility, which is a good thing considering the generally unreliable nature of transport here. We almost missed the event again this year after we had to give-up on our first day’s attempt to get to Chimoio after waiting on the edge of Tete city, begging for any kind of ride for nearly three hours and suffering a massive soaking thanks to an unexpected tropical downpour. Luckily the ordeal was not in vain. One of our Zimbabwean expat buddies with a car who was planning on traveling through Chimoio the next day on his way to perform a Valentine’s Day gig in Beira with his rock band, saw us in our pitiful state by the side of the road. He invited us to spend the night at his place and ride in the back of his pickup with the guitars and amps the next morning. The generous offer, a nice evening stroll around Tete City, and a delicious chicken dinner in the market near the river mostly made up for the harrowing afternoon, although I don’t know if we’ll try to hitch that stretch of road again in the near future no matter how inconvenient the 4am bus tends to make our getaways. When we finally did make it to our get-together one day late after a scenic rain-free ride, it was great. Everyone was there, except one volunteer stuck in site due to flooding, so we got to meet all of the new teachers and health workers who arrived during December while we were in America on vacation telling everyone about the difficulties of life in Africa. We were in charge of the expedition up Cabeça do velho, a cluster of large rocks resembling the face of a reclining old man just outside the city limits, making for a moderately strenuous afternoon of hiking. On top we stumbled upon a colorful church group performing exorcisms (we’re still trying to load the video to YouTube). Otherwise, we ate plenty of pizza, drank moderately, got to bond over a photo scavenger hunt, gave plenty of advice to the newbies, and just enjoyed the company of fellow Americans. No one was really upset or surprised when the Cohesion t-shirts we designed and ordered from a local silk screener failed to materialize, especially those of us starting our second years here in Moz.