Jesse and Emily in Mozambique

Bangladesh

2010-01-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

Photos around Dhaka and Garui Village

Crocodile Park and Victoria Falls

2009-12-09T04:19:00.000-08:00

Malawi

2009-12-07T02:51:00.001-08:00

Lake Malawi, Mount Mulanje, and Shire River

Bungi Jump at Victoria Falls

2009-12-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

One of the activities to do at Victoria Falls is bungi jumping off the bridge that spans the river dividing Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Finishing up

2009-11-02T22:42:00.001-08:00

I never knew how much I liked goats until we brought one to live at our house for a few days. He feasted on our sweet potato patch.

The goat celebrated Halloween and greeted trick-or-treating students with us. Then he made a significant contribution to the farewall lunch that we organized for our friends and neighbors.
Last weekend, Veronica organized a special lunch for Lindsey and us. We're enjoying lots of time with people we love!

English Theater

2009-10-01T01:39:00.000-07:00

Nine theater groups from two provinces gathered at our school on Saturday for the English Theater Competition. One of the groups from our school one a top prize!

Timbila Fest

2009-08-31T01:12:00.000-07:00

The annual Timbila Festival keeps alive traditional music and dancing!

More Frisbee!

2009-08-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

Jesse organized for a frisbee team at a primary school in a nearby town (coached by our former student!) to visit our current students here in Xai-Xai. After our students taught some skills to the younger ones and played a game, we shared lunch and headed to the beach for more Ultimate and fun!

The next day we hiked with another PCV and a couple current students to a nearby beach that we'd never been to before. Mozambique is beautiful!

Mouth of the Limpopo

2009-07-20T01:03:00.001-07:00

Jesse and I enjoyed a great hike to where the great Limpopo River empties into the Indian Ocean. Here are a couple photos. We're with PCV Russell, Tiffany and her boyfriend, Claudio, our best student, Moises, and a former student who's teaching in the area this year, Nelson.

Lesotho

2009-07-06T05:52:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I just got back from a great vacation to the Kingdom in the Sky! We did a big circle by bus through Swaziland and South Africa to get there and back, and enjoyed great hikes and even a little pony riding! We walked on dinosaur footprints from 200 million years ago and appreciated San paintings from thousands of years ago on cave walls. It was cold in Lesotho, so we spent the week with all our layers of clothing, wrapped ourselves in lots of blankets, and enjoyed evenings in front of fireplaces. We’re feeling refreshed and ready to begin a new semester of classes tomorrow!

Dance

2009-06-04T00:28:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to the opening of a new community center for children that will offer visual art classes, as well as performing arts classes (theater, guitar and traditional instruments, dance) and education about sexual health. Peace Corps volunteers in this community helped to initiate the project and a Mozambican friend, Claudio, is the coordinator. The opening ceremony was fun because the kids had prepared performances of theater, song, and dance. The picture is of performers playing drums and timbilia.The quick video clip shows a bit of the traditional dance performance. Keep in mind that this is a special performance for this special celebration – it’s not every day (i.e. when you visit Africa, don’t expect to meet naked people with spears – note the cars in the background and guests in suits) but it is fun to watch.

Newspaper

2009-05-30T00:15:00.000-07:00

Medard’s son, Samuel, is home from the hospital. His family appreciates your prayers and support.
Jesse’s mom sent a puzzle which we set out in the English Library. The students and librarian, as well as professors who stopped in throughout the day, quickly put together their first puzzle. (The American in the picture is a former Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa who visited us.) Jesse’s JOMA journalism group published a fantastic first edition of the English newspaper, the Xai-Xai Monthly Standard. We have news from the IFP and Xai-Xai, international news (via what we understand from BBC radio), as well as culture, health, sports, fun section, and advertisements for our other extracurricular activities. If you would like a free subscription to this prestigious paper, we are open to international circulation. Just send an email. Also, if you would like to submit an article for publication, you may send it to jesse.routte@gmail.com. Below are a few sample articles from this edition:
****************************************************************************
Strangers Attack IFP
May 8, 2009
IFP, Xai-Xai
By António F. Sitoe
On the night of May 8th2009 a man was caught at the IFP gate who said that he was coming from Chibuto to face his girlfriend who is also from Chibuto. This strange man was caught by the students of IFP who were working that night. The guards were absent during this time and students were asked by the supervisor of the boarding, Professor Bernadette, to guard the gate. According to one of the students, named Antonio who was at the gate during the night a man came and asked permission to enter. When the man was asked what his name was and where he was coming from he didn’t give a name and said that he was one of the students at boarding school and was a student in a class DR. António, who is class representative of that class (DR) shamed him by asking his student number and he said that that number does not exist in that class. António asked him to confess the reality and the man saw that they had discovered him. He said that he was the boyfriend of a girl from Chibuto. António went to the gymnasium to call the boarding supervisor and she told him to take him to one of the classrooms and lock him in and the following day they should take him to the police station to be judged by the policemen.
The next day, Saturday he asked to be forgiven and the student guards liberated him and he went out. But he never told which girl was his girlfriend.
**********************************************************************************
Health Issues in Quarter 6
By David Jeremais
On Sunday our journalism team went to Quarter 6. Where we spoke with Miss Mondane. She told us about the conditions of Quarter 6 regarding health. What we learned from our interview is that some people are suffering from Malaria and diarrhea specifically the children from age 7 up to 14 years old.
The children also talked about the hygiene in quarter 6 is very important to clean and keep clean. People accepted that hygiene is not well done around the families in quarter 6. The street is covered by rubbish.
For better health people said that all have to work together to fight against the illnesses, clean the fields and yards, and take care of the street. So we will be helping each other. We will be returning soon to see what progress has been made.
IFP Sport Frisbee/Football
By Malaquias José Ganhae and Fernando Alberto Moiane
There is not relationship! The trainers of this institute, those who like sport, are extremely admired about sport in this college. But no where they can practice what they like said Amilo, the sport representative. Amiló added: “we love sport, but the school administration is not caring about sport. They don’t take care about the sport in this college. That is why the trainers are not occupied in these things, always are despising sport because no one is supporting them”.
During our interview we met with some girl players that like sports. They demonstrated interest for all kinds of sport, but the problem is in part of the school administration, because they don’t want to make some finances for the sport in this college. “We love all types of sport, and we want to practice but there is no way to do that,” says Graça, one of the women football and Frisbee players.

Winding down

2009-05-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

Our teaching is going well with just a couple weeks left in the semester. The students are doing "peer teaching" in all of our classes, getting more experience actually being in front of the class by teaching the primary school lessons to their classmates (acting as 1o year olds). It's fun to see them improve, becoming more creative and confident in their teaching. I've been enjoying my time in front of the classroom too. The students are very fun. Last week we studied Octopus's Garden (Beatles) and they wanted to stay after class to dance to the song they'd learned.
We started "Monday movie" nights, showing English films that have been well-attended.
Last week made our front garden sweet potato harvest into delicious soup.
Please keep your prayers the new baby and family of our good friend, Medard. The baby's name is Samuel. He's been in and out of the hospital the last couple weeks with a respiratory infection and then general weakness so we're all worried about him.

Conferences

2009-04-23T01:48:00.000-07:00

The REDES conference last week was a huge success. 52 teenage girls traveled from secondary schools across the region to the beautiful beach for an intense week of education about women’s health and HIV/AIDS, and guidance about setting and reaching personal goals. In a camp-environment, the girls learned about themselves, developed their skills and strengths, and discussed their opportunities and potential. Mozambican professors facilitated sessions and Peace Corps volunteers were cabin counselors and prepared behind the scenes. Here's a photo of the girls making bracelets that represent the positive qualities that each brings to the group.
It was a week of “firsts” for many girls. It was the first time that some girls had seen the ocean and the first time for most to giggle in a swimming pool. It was the first time for many to ask open questions about their reproductive system and get facts from a nurse. It was the first time for a few to get tested for HIV. One girl made it her goal to speak in front of the group and on the last day she did.
On the last day of the conference, Mozambican rap artist, Dama do Bling joined us! As a lawyer/musical artist/celebrity/fashion designer she’s reached many of her dreams. She listened as the girls shared their goals for the future and gave them advice and encouragement. Afterwards she signed autographs, ate lunch with us, and then returned in the evening for a short private performance.
Meanwhile, just half an hour down the beach, Jesse was coordinating the JOMA conference to teach communication skills. Youth arrived from across the region to receive instruction on journalism, art, theater, or music, and to participate in discussions about health and healthy masculinity. They’re returning to their communities prepared to spark more important discussion and thought. Here's a photo of Jesse with our students at the conference.

Song

2009-03-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

My students wanted to share this song with Ms. Nelson's music class.

Song Title: Um Dia
Sê forte
Pequeno Moçambique
Moçambicanos
Ajudem o pais a crescer
Todos juntos
Mudaremos nossa situação
E um dia
Alcançaremos nossos objectivos.

English Translation of the Song: One Day
Strong, little Mozambique. Mozambicans help the country to grow. All together we change our situation and one day we will achieve our objectives.

New Beginnings

2009-03-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

The students are here and classes began 2 weeks ago. We have almost twice as many students in the English course this year and are excited to get to know them all. Also, the school has hired a worker to be the librarian in the newly opened English library. Yay for access to resources!
Jesse’s planning logistics for the JOMA conference and I’m doing logistics and finance for the REDES conference in April. Jesse found beautiful conference sites at the beach and the managers there are excited to be supporting the development of Mozambican youth. Jesse is in his element working like a camp director, and for me it’s very motivating to know how much the girls are going love it. We’re feeling quite busy but in happy ways!

Frisbees

2009-01-29T01:56:00.000-08:00

Samantha and other Ultimate players in the Philadelphia area organized to collect Ultimate Frisbees for Mozambique! Family and friends carried them here over the holidays. Jesse distributed a Frisbee to each dedicated player from last year’s team. This year each of those students is going to teach primary school somewhere in the province… and hopefully start a team there. Some are going to teach in very remote areas - it’ll be fun to see this new Ultimate Frisbee movement grow. New students arrive to the Teacher Training College in February. I bet they’ll be some great potential Ultimate players in this new group too. Jesse’s hoping to organize tournaments!

We’re changing our post office box for this year. Now our address is C.P. 85 Xai-Xai. There will be no more C.P. 270.

Happy Holidays!!

2009-01-16T05:57:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! Best wishes to everyone!

For us, 2008 left and 2009 entered packed with memories.

Before Christmas, Phil visited! It was wonderful to spend time with him in Mozambique.

Then our whole family met in Tanzania for an amazing vacation of hiking, safaari, and beaches. One highlight was climbing Mt Meru - the hardest hike I've ever done, but worth it. We summitted as the sun was rising over Mt Kilimanjaro.

The beautiful beaches of Zanzibar stretched way into the ocean during low tide.

After Tanzania, Paul came to see Mozambique. We took a lovely, relaxing side trip into Swaziland too.

It was wonderful to be together and share these beautiful places and experiences. Now I'm ready to get home to Xai-Xai and soon meet my new students! Classes will probably begin in February.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-29T09:43:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Even without classes, Jesse and I stayed busy this November, both in and out of school. Some highlights:

Jesse visited Russell, another Peace Corps volunteer who lives in a very rural site. They went on great hikes and saw this googly-eyed lizard!

I got to spend a week in Namaacha where I met the talented new group of Peace Corps volunteers. I felt competent to be participating as a “teacher” because just a year ago Jesse and I were in the same place for our initial 10-week training. Our host family is doing well and says hi. They know that their photos are floating around America!

We got together with Peace Corps friends to celebrate Thanksgiving, with approximations of all the standards, including stuffed chickens!

Trick-or-Treat!

2008-11-03T04:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween! Classes ended on the 31st. We invited students to trick-or-treat at our house and they were great! Here are some photos of their costumes.
The other big news is that we kind of have an English Resource Room now. Here’s a photo of all the wonderful books that finally have a home.
Thank you to everyone who voted and who worked on Barack Obama’s campaign! Everyone I pass gives me a pat on the back and personal congratulations for Obama's victory. Yay Amercia!
The rest of November will be full of different school activities for us like exams, discussing grades and preparing for graduation. We’re thinking of everyone! Thank you for your love and support!

JOMA and REDES to the beach!

2008-09-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Jesse and I had a great time bringing members from our extracurricular groups to the beach. We had good discussions, the journalists interviewed the REDES girls, and then everyone had fun with beach activities!

It´s hot!

2008-09-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

After many complications, Jesse’s journalism group published their first edition of the journal for the semester. A compilation of work done so far, it’s over 20 pages long!! The photo shows a few of the students who are particularly involved journalists – the woman in the picture is the student editor.

Jesse and a few other Peace Corps volunteers organized a regional meeting for us to get together last weekend and share our ideas. Here’s a photo of us there in case you forgot what we look like.

The next picture is not Mozambique, but Jesse and I are very excited because we received a report about Bangladesh Connections. The picture shows the nutrition initiative – our school scholarship recipients now also receive breakfast! I updated our Bangladesh Connections blog. If you’re interested, the address is http://bangladeshconnections.vox.com. The Bangladesh Connections website is http://bangladeshconnections.atspace.org.

Ultimate Frisbee, Timbila Festival and More!!

2008-09-02T00:46:00.000-07:00

Jesse's Ultimate Frisbee team is good and preparing to challenge the team of another Peace Corps volunteer. We're still interested in connecting with more Ultimate Frisbees. Besides supplying the team for games and practices, we want to give team members a disc at the end of the year so that they can spread the game to through the rural areas of Mozambique where they'll be going to teach.

My REDES group interviewed the founder/coordinator of a community-based organization that works in the neighborhood of our school, Kuvumbana. They learned about the projects and services of this NGO and about how an organization works. Kuvumbana mostly works to support people living with AIDS and orphans.

My students were thrilled to recieve their penpal letters. (Thanks, Phil and Mandy!! ... Marcia is on the far right of the photo in white. Vasta is second from the left in brown.) We're thinking that the skills development of our REDES this semester can be computer literacy. We're going to learn how to type, and I'm showing the girls how to set up and use email. That will facilitate more exchanges - let me know if you'd be interested in corresponding.

We got to go to the Timbila Festival last Saturday. The timbila is an important instrument in Mozambican culture. It's made of wood over various sized balls to make the scale (hard, hollowed shells of a local fruit called massala). The music is perfect for Mozambican dancing, and it was fun to experience this celebration of music!

The festival was in the town of Quissico. There's a beautiful lagoon there, so of course we enjoyed a great hike. We were told (later) that people shouldn't go in the water because they might get eaten by crocodiles.

Second Semester

2008-08-23T00:07:00.000-07:00

The highlight of our week was entertaining Elisa and Gito, our host mother and brother who shared their home with us during our initial training in Namaacha. They traveled to Xai Xai to visit us at our house. The photo shows our great chicken dinner with them and Veronica and Noah (another special family who live here in Xai Xai). It felt good to be able to serve them after they´ve taken such good care of us!

We´ve been keeping busy with classes and extracurricular activities. This picture is of one of my classes showing off the projects they made.

Around the house, we´ve been spending time on our yard and gardens. The style is to have a freshly swept or raked yard, with nothing growing in it. You can see in the photo that the neighbor baby, Vitrovio, likes to help Jesse.

Resource Development

2008-07-18T04:49:00.000-07:00

Hello. I hope everyone is doing well. I have a favor to ask of anyone who is interested in helping us. I have found something that people back home can help me with - it is fairly easy but I am excited about the potential! I am in charge of coming up with resources for the Reading course at the Institute and I am busy pulling reading passages from wherever I can find them, mostly the internet. I thought that an added special touch that I could provide that is unique to me being from another country is having some folks from home write out some essays that my students can read in class. If you have the time, interest, and energy please think about writing one or more 1,000 to 2,000 word essays. It can be about a variety of topics. I have written out a list below of topics that I will be teaching about, but the essays can include other topics that you have a special interest in. If you think there might be an interest maybe you can get some friends involved too. I think this would also be a great thing for high school English teachers to assign for homework! Because we do not have many resources immediately provided to us, I am looking for creative ways to get our students reading material and I thought this might be a nice personal touch that the students here will actually enjoy and have a deep interest in. Students love reading things from individuals from the states and will feel special that time was taken to write something especially for them. You will of course get credit when your essay is submitted along with all of the other resources to the Ministry of Education to share with teachers across the country!
Here are the topics:
Importance of learning/teaching English
Arts and Crafts
Customs and Traditions
Human Rights
Gender Issues
Poverty Alleviation
Agriculture and Fishing
Tourism and Wildlife
Environment
Geographical Features
Holidays
Politics
Business and Commerce
Economics
Science and Technology
Literature
Language Acquisition

Also, any reflections about hometowns or life in the U.S. are more than welcome! My students read at about the 6th grade level but like to be challenged. Please email me the essays (jesse.routte@gmail.com) and as this is an ongoing project of resource development, you can continue to send new essays whenever you have the free time to write. I appreciate your help!

Vacation!

2008-07-07T02:19:00.000-07:00

Highlights of our trip ...

Racing up and down sand dunes on Tofo, spotting flipping dolphins from the top
Spying monkeys lunching on bananas and hiding in the bamboo at Dan's site

Ponta Linga Linga - Sailing and then wading through mangrove forest, then palm trees and deserted beach to reed huts and hammocks where we spent the night

Painting Greg's house with motor oil to deter the termites' rampant tunnelingPlaying Frisbee with the kids who crossed the Save River to see us
Listeing to stories about Portuguese pirates while having morning tea overlooking the beach at Vilankulo

Reading at the port in Beira, waiting for a boat while fishermen bussled about with nets and motors
The view from the boat as we arrived at Cameron and Tommy's site

Find the monkeys!

Spotting monkeys along our long and beautiful hike through palm trees, grasses, and huge bayobab trees to a rocky beach near Barada

We did all of our traveling by bus. One time the bus broke down for 5 hours. After repairs that included changing a tire and welding things, we were off again only to break down again 15 minutes later. As they fixed this problem, a man walked up and down the aisle throwing rock salt to get rid of the evil spirit. It worked because the bus only broke down one more time after that and we made it to Quelimane!

Our stop furthest north was Ilha de Mozambique.
Jesse waded out to a fort covered the island a couple kilometers off of the island we stayed on. He found the most amazing starfish I've ever seen!

Activity

2008-06-17T02:32:00.000-07:00

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Mrs. Strayer at Thomas Jefferson Middle School and my parents and everyone else who donated books. Over 400 books, cassettes, magazines, and other resources are catalogued and tagged. Things often take a long time here, and in that line we´re still working on negociating a fitting space for this marvelous collection so that we can have a grand opening. But already we´ve let students use some books. It´s awesome to see how some students devour the books. Books here are expensive, so our students haven´t had the same experience as me and Jesse who grew up surrounded by books (and we still love and devour them, especially the great ones in this collection!). Jesse and I will let you know when we find a good room for the books and then we´ll request even more when visitors come. If you´re in college, please tell your classmates to save their education methodology textbooks and other books as they´re difficult to come by here.

We have successfully completed our first semester of teaching in Mozambique! Soon we´ll have a couple weeks of winter vacation before the second semester begins at the end of July. (By the way, our winter here is in the upper 60s. It´s perfect.) I feel like we´ve done a lot this semester.

Jesse´s journalism group posted the first official edition of their newspaper last week. Students swarmed the bulletin board to read it as it was put up. Five articles addressed the critical issue of the school needing to feed the students well. Other articles educated about health issues, community events, and there was even a culture/arts section with poems and humor.

My REDES group developed a core of interested women who are enthusiatic to continue next semester. We´ve bonded with baking banana bread, a dance party, etc and talked about issues like women´s bodies and reproductive health. They´re aware of information to share with their students. It was eye-opening for me to see how important it is to educate and talk openly about potentially taboo issues because girls really don´t know things if they´ve never been told.

Jesse has begun an English Theatre group. They are developing a script on the theme of HIV/AIDS, and will prepare to compete in the Peace Corps organized competition in September.

We´ve hooked a bunch of students on Frisbee. We had a listening class activity about the rules of Ultimate Frisbee and Jesse is meeting students regularly to practice and form an Ultimate Frisbee team. Frisbee is such a great game because it just takes a little bit of practice and anyone can join in no matter what their athletic background. So it´s a good sport where girls are on the same playing field as the guys. We want to try to give frisbees to the students on the Ultimate Frisbee team at the end of the year so that they can share the game with the communities where they´ll be teachers next year.

In other news, we got a second kitten who we named Mhaka which means Trouble in the local language. He´s cute when he´s not clawing up my leg and stealing food.
We´re continuing to enjoy cooking for ourselves and others. One day a man selling crabs walked through our backyard so Jesse got to buy some for an impromptu dinner party. But first the cats and the puppy we were pet-sitting tried to make friends with them.

Several weekends we´ve gotten to visit other Peace Corps volunteers at their sites. It´s inspiring to see what their doing and also to share experiences. For example, I´m not the only one frustrated with one particular administrator. Here is a photo with our friend Paul at his rural site.
Though classes are over, the school director is holding the students on campus to work in the gardens and clean. Yesterday we learned how to play a strategy game similar to Mancala from some of our students who had dug little holes in the sand and were taking a little break from their labor. (You can notice the piles of burning trash that they´re working on in the background of the photo.)
Jesse and I will hopefully have the opportunity to use the break to see a lot of the country by traveling North up the coast. So our next blog entry will probably be about the beauty and diversity of this big country. Thank you again for your interest and support and prayers. We´re thinking of you!

Happiness

2008-05-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

My parents visited for the past couple weeks. They brought books to initiate an English resource library, gave guest speaker presentations to our classes, and got to meet our friends and see exactly where we are and what our days are like.
Then right before they left, we went for an amazing safari for a couple of days in Swaziland. Here´s the elephant - 3 feet from the Land Rover, just sniffing us. And here´s the rhino - who we approached by foot to admire and click photos from 6 feet away. We were practically the only guests at the camp and felt privileged to be there to appreciate the hippos who hung out at the waterhole right outside the window of the house. The animals made a hippo/rhino parade for this photo.

And here are the amazing lions that were laying in the road because the grass was wet so the Land Rover just drove up to them and we watched the cubs play under their father´s watchful eye for an hour!It was the best vacation ever!

JOMA and REDES conferences

2008-05-07T05:35:00.000-07:00

We´ve had a full month! First, Jesse brought 2 students to the JOMA conference where they focused on communication skills through journalism. This photo shows students interviewing the community on Mozambican Women´s Day. His journalism club at school is a big and dedicated group.

Then I switched places with Jesse and brought 2 women to the REDES conference the following week. It was awesome to see the confidence of the women grow over the week together. One of my favorite memories was everyday when our large group of women sang in strong voices, dancing, sometimes with fists in the air, lyrics like "We want equality and strength!"

Homecoming

2008-03-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

This morning I got to visit our fantastic host family in Namaacha for the first time since training. Look how much baby Michael has grown!

Beyond the Institute

2008-03-22T06:01:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I got to share ideas and experiences with other volunteers at a regional Peace Corps conference last weekend. Following that, I participated in a REDES (and JOMA) "Training of Trainers" conference. Peace Corps volunteers working with REDES (which stands for "Girls in Development, Education and Health") organize an annual national conference to discuss issues of interest and importance for the lives of women in Mozambique, including facts about sexual and reproductive health, self-confidence, professional opportunities available to women in Mozambique, and the rights of Mozambican women. Mozambican teachers involved with the REDES program were invited to this conference to prepare them to facilitate the sessions for the girls at the national conference next month. Generally, someone who is originally from Mozambique can better relate to and discuss important issues with Mozambican girls and REDES wants to empower them to be leaders of the conference. More than that, the five women I met at this conference are awesome. They are assertive, animated, fun - great people and great role models. A trainer from the Brazilian NGO, ProMundo, led much of the gender training at this REDES/JOMA conference (http://www.promundo.org.br).
In addition to enjoying our professional work, Jesse and I are also appreciating this beautiful country. A few weekends ago, we got to camp with a couple friends on a beautiful, unknown, and practically deserted island just a few minutes of the beach in Maputo. This island, called Xefina, was a military base and jail during the colonial rule of the Portuguese. It was abandonned at the end of the colonial period. Big cement buildings and canons are sideways, tilted by the moving sands and some are under water. Now only ten or so families live on the island, though we think that there are immenent plans to develop it into a resort. We asked a fishing boat to take us across and enjoyed exploring. Our tent was surrounded by a herd of goats at sunrise. The water was low when we returned so we waded half the distance back to Maputo from the island. So, again, Mozambique is amazing.
In addition to being amazing, Mozambique can be a tough place to live. We recieved an email from a fellow Peace Corps volunteer in the northern region of Mozambique, Alex, who wrote about the destruction cause by Cyclone Jokwe in Angoche. She is organizing to personally purchase immediate aid for this community. She provided information about how to make monetary donations in case you're interested in supporting in this way. Email me and I can forward you the details, or check out her blog site - http://alexkruzel.blogspot.com.

Teaching

2008-03-22T05:47:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I are continuing to enjoy teaching. Here's a picture of some of my students working as a team.
The school does not have any textbooks so Jesse and I have the flexibility to develop the curriculum outlined by the Ministry of Education using whatever resources we can find by ourselves. The weekly themes of the curriculum are broad enough to allow us to integrate information about health and discuss important issues during our lessons.
Our students are eager to continue learning outside of class. Jesse and I are beginning fun activities like a weekly English movie night, lunch bunch speaking English, English discussion group, and, of course, English at the beach. Interest is high.
One evening we met with our students for an informal "English hour" where we brought to the classroom a bunch of magazines that Justin and Mike (the returned volunteers) had collected. I was struck by how enthusiastically the students devoured the magazines. The loved paging through the articles and advertisements. Many were unfamiliar with the format of a magazine because access to printed resources is so limited. We are beginning to collect resources in English - education textbooks, teacher idea books, and a variety of other books at a variety of levels. We are hoping that people who come to visit us will use some of their suitcase space to bring the books here. In this way, we're hoping to gradually collect and organize a resource library for the students here, both to enrich their study of English and to offer resources for their teaching of English. Please send us emails if you have resources or ideas or connections for this project.

First Weeks of Teaching

2008-02-27T04:09:00.000-08:00

Jesse and I began teaching classes a couple weeks ago. It´s going well and we´re enjoying it. Our students are at different levels, but they´re enthusiastic. (Last week, the theme of the lessons was elections. At one point, my whole class was chanting "Obama! Obama!") We´ve submitted a bunch of proposals for opportunities for the students to practice English outside of class. Hopefully they´ll be approved by the director of the school and we´ll be even busier soon.
The English track of the teacher training program has 3 classes of 30 students each. The students stay in one room and the teacher of each subject goes to them. Jesse is teaching Speaking Class and I am teaching Listening Class. Most of the students live on campus in a boarding house. They have a disciplined schedule of waking up at 4:30 to exercise, gathering to sing the national anthem at 6:45 before class, and filling assignments of work in the gardens after classes. Some of our students are in their late teens, many in their 20´s, and a few even older. Many have families of their own and are motivated, giving up a lot of time with their families to be here.
If anyone is interested in corresponding with one of our students, we have some motivated students who would be excited to correspond and practice their English. Send us an email to let us know if you would like to do that.
One of my favorite parts of Peace Corps so far is that I´m living in the community as a neighbor, not just a visitor. That´s why I love it when the kids stop by after school to kick the soccer ball with Jesse, when the neighbor´s baby toddles in the door to visit, or when when I can share dinner samples or cake recipes back and forth with my friend.

Chicken Dinner

2008-01-29T03:42:00.000-08:00

Jesse and I are continuing to love our neighbors. On Satuday, we shared dinner with our friend, Veronica, and her family. We spent the afternoon preparing. First, we walked together to the roadside to buy a couple live chickens, which we held by their wings to carry to the house.

Then, with one foot on the chicken´s head and the other foot holding down the wings, Jesse cut the neck. After the chickens stopped wriggling, their feathers were pulled off and the chickens were washed and cut. Almost all of a chicken can be eaten, even the intestines after they´re opened and cleaned well. The dinner was delicious - even for me, a vegetarian, who enjoyed xima and knowing that the chicken on the table wasn´t from a factory farm.

Photo below: Super cute kids at Veronica´s house.

Painting in Xai-Xai

2008-01-22T05:49:00.000-08:00

Emily left Xai Xai for a REDES meeting in Maputo this past weekend, leaving me in charge of buying paint and painting the kitchen and living room of our house. Now, I can imagine that some of you, especially those of female persuasion are cringing slightly knowing that Emily left me, an admitted man, in charge of selecting the paint scheme and color that will adorn our house for two years. To that I say, your fears are groundless – I knew what I was doing. I also brought 2 other men along with me to help me choose the paint. Our friend Dan was down for a visit and quickly enlisted into the painting project along with Rustino, one of our friends who lives nearby.
We began the project on Friday and I had high hopes that we would be putting the finishing touches on the last wall by dinner time on Friday. This conservative estimate was thrown out the window almost immediately as we did not get into town to buy the painting supplies until after lunch and did not return with the paint until around 7 Friday night.
Paint supply procurement was interesting but uneventful. It was the purchasing of the paint that turned the whole outing into an adventure. The best way to buy paint here is to buy a couple gallons of white paint and then add little bottles of “tinter” until you have approximately the color your wife told you would match the pretty curtains she bought the second day we were at site. I even had a sample of the curtains with me and was feeling pretty confident.
The goal was to have a sand colored living room and maroon colored kitchen. Luck was with us because there was a bucket of approximately the correct color for the kitchen already mixed sitting out as if waiting for us. The sand color was not as easy. It took a long time to agree on the quality of white base paint that I was willing to pay for (paint is pretty expensive here, especially good paint). I quickly learned that to the people who were selling me the paint, their concept of a nice sand color is an ugly gray that would not in any circumstance look good on a wall. This was unfortunate because my ace in the hole had been that I had made sure I knew how to say sand in Portuguese before arriving at the paint store which was really the back of a trailer.
The next hour or so was spent trying to make a couple of primary colors do what wasn’t really physically possible. At one point we were mixing red yellow black and brown together hoping that the end result would look like Emily’s curtain sample. Out of desperation I jumped all over a color that was a definite improvement over the green brown and black that was the previous attempt. I think I liked it because it was so bright. Dan and Rustino quickly agreed that this was definitely the best color possible. Their opinion probably mostly being turned by the fact that we had already spent an hour or so matching paint. I held the sample next to the curtain and grimaced but said “Yeah, close enough” and the paint mixing began.
Now, it is one thing to mix a bit of paint together on a piece of cardboard. It is a lot harder to match that color in a ten gallon bucket of paint. For the next hour and a half I watched as more and more tinter was added and the paint color departed from the color sample we had agreed on as if it were an inverse correlation. My favorite part about the paint mixing was the guy who was holding the red tinter. Without much consultation with anyone else he would from time to time dump in a bunch of red. This would elicit a reaction from the woman who was stirring that the red was too strong and we needed yellow to balance it out. I alternated from hysterical laughing to extreme panic. When I finally called an end to this study in primary colors and decided to deal with what we had, I would call the color reminiscent of a dirty traffic cone but was not extremely displeased with the outcome.
Some of the advice for application and storage of the paint was lost in translation as the woman who was selling me the paint alternated between two local languages that I have not had the opportunity to pick up in my month here. Rustino speaks both of the languages and was still a bit confused: “She says you have to mix the paint with petrol”. And we would have, but the gas station had just closed. Rustino left Dan and I that night looking forward to helping us the next day.
In the middle of dinner that night Dan and I spontaneously broke out in laughter after it finally dawned on us that we would be painting the walls of the house the color of the paint that was in the bucket in the corner of the room. We kept laughing because there was nothing we could do. The paint was already purchased, we were committed.
The next day the paint was applied generously in 4 coats. It doesn’t look bad. Seriously. The contrast between the maroon in the kitchen and the orange living room inspires description such as “funhouse without the mirrors,” but what is important is that Emily likes it, or is very good at controlling her emotions.
The next improvement Dan and I are interested in now is lime green borders and a lime green stripe running at about eye level around the room.

REDES

2008-01-21T00:28:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I was in Maputo to attend an organizational meeting for an established project of Peace Corps Mozambique called REDES. REDES stands for "Raparigas em Desenvolvimento, Educacao e Saude," or "Girls in Development, Education and Health." Volunteers organize groups of girls in secondary schools across the country for this extracurricular activity. Groups of girls come together to have a supportive place to talk freely and learn and just be girls. The group leaders facilitate education and discussion sessions about important life issues - gender roles, women´s health and STDs, self esteem, healthy relationships, women´s rights, future planning, and goal setting. Each group also does activities that interest them - whether it´s forming a girl´s soccer team or making a craft for income generation.
One highlight of the REDES program is a national conference. Sixty young women from all over the country will meet together in April for a week of education and leadership activities that they will be able to share with the women of their communities when they return. This weekend we planned the conference schedule and logistics. It´s exciting to be part of it!
Jesse is hoping to get involved in the brother organization called JOMA (Jovens para Mudanca e Accao - or - Youth for Change and Action). JOMA has a website - http://joma.pcmoz.org/

Happy Holidays

2008-01-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

Best wishes to all for a very happy new year! Jesse and I spent the holidays with our new neighbors. Everyone contributed dishes to summer-barbeque-style potluck parties in our communal backyard. We listened to music and danced until late into the night. We enjoyed incorporating some of our holiday traditions into the celebration, like making pierogies and baking Christmas cookies.
Jesse and I are continuing to enjoy cooking delicious dinners and exploring our community. We found a beautiful spot to walk and ride bikes in the Limpopo River Valley, which is very close to our house.
Many of Justin and Mike´s friends have extended their friendship to us. Our friend, Viegas Sergio, invited us to a family party celebrating the graduations of his brother and sister. The night was filled with great food and lots of music, singing, and praying with thanksgiving.
We are continuing Justin and Mike´s project called "English at the Beach." Participants meet us at the beach on Saturdays to practice English in a low stress environment. Often this includes frisbee and soccer in English. Jesse is trying - without success so far - to teach the concept of Ulimate Frisbee. Our house is a convenient stop for traveling Peace Corps volunteers so we´ve seen a lot of people. The bed frame was successfully cut and fit through the door so our guest room is fully functional and well-used now. Below is a picture of our Peace Corps friends Erika, Katie, Lindsay, and Zach helping to make New Year cakes.

When Dan and Russell visited, they worked with Jesse to sharpen their spears and go crab stabbing at the beach. They successfully speared several teeny crabs which went smelly before the next night´s dinner.

We have also visited the sites of a couple nearby volunteers. We got to spend a couple days with our friend, Russell, who lives in Macuacua, a very rural site a few hours away from the city down bumpy dirt roads. The truck that brings bread to the town only comes twice a week, so each time it swarmed with people. Here is a picture of Russell in front of his school, which is kept in great condition by a wealthy man in the province.
We worked conducting admission interviews last week at the testing site in Chokwe, which is where our Peace Corps friends, Sinead and Andrea, live. After we finished proctoring exams for each day, we were able to visit with them and get to know the town.
We corrected admission exams this week and are preparing to begin teaching at the end of January or the beginning of February. We´re getting used to being summoned by phone calls at unexpected times to go help with work at the school.
Our school, called the IFP (Instituto de Formacao de Professores), provides a one-year training program for graduates of 10th grade who plan to be future teachers of 6th and 7th grade English. Jesse will be teaching the Reading and Speaking components of the course, and I will be teaching the Listening and Writing classes.
A couple weeks ago, Jesse and I carried a new kitten home in a rice sack. After a few baths and hours of attention with tweezers, he is flea-free. The kitten´s name is Xingove, which is the word for cat in the local language of Xangana. We´re trying to encourage this tiny kitten to become a killer cat to rats, spiders, roaches, and whatever else tries to invade our house. The kitten is also very affectionate and will help us to welcome you when you come to visit.
We bought a P.O. box in town. Please note our new address and send letters to C.P. 270, Xai-Xai, Mozambique. We´d love to hear from you! Also, we´ll be having more consistent email access now that we´re settled here. Thank you for your messages!

First week in Xai-Xai

2007-12-12T05:40:00.000-08:00

We have arrived in Xai-Xai!
We were dropped off on Saturday after a long ride from Namaacha. After a handshake from the PC director responsible for delivering us to site we were on our own. The campus we will be working at is very nice and our house is great. We are living in a 1 story apartment block with other professors. Our apartment is very nice, we have running water and lots of potential. Emily and I are looking forward to decorating it and making it feel like home. We are especially excited because we have a second room that we can turn into a guest bedroom. Right now the net effect of Emily and my efforts on the spare bedroom has been a negative as all we have accomplished so far is to get a bed frame jammed into the door so that it is stuck and will not enter or exit the doorway without us removing the door! Once we get the bedframe into the room and the door put back onto the frame we will be in business though. So pack your bags and purchase your tickets! We have room for guests. As if visiting Emily and Jesse in Mozambique is not a big enough draw, there is a beautiful beach that is a 20 minute drive from where we are living.

Emily and I plan on exploring the beach this coming weekend and many other weekends to come. The volunteers we are replacing happened to be around on Saturday when we were dropped off. Justin and Mike have just finished up their two years of service at the teacher training institute. You can tell that they impacted this community in a great way just by meeting their friends and colleagues that we were introduced to on Saturday evening. We hope to continue the good work that Mike and Justin have done for the past two years. We are very lucky to have had the opportunity to talk to Justin and Mike about what to expect and develop a better idea about our job and what is required of us. Mike and Justin went out of their way to welcome us to our new home and make us feel at ease and comfortable. We are appreciative and must remember to reciprocate the hospitality in two years with the volunteers that replace us. That is a long way off though and right now we have our work cut out for us. Some how we have to furnish our house and improve drastically in Portuguese in less than one month. Our responsibilities at school start shortly after the new year and it appears that we are going to be extremely busy! It is tough to imagine the hard work ahead because our days so far in Xai Xai have been pretty relaxed. We will be ready and excited to start work in January though. So far our days have been spent exploring town and buying major things for the house. Two major purchases have been an electric stove and a standing fan. One thing about PC salary - we can't live as we may have been accustomed in the US, but it is very livable. We are able to purchase everything we need and if we budget well enough we may be able to afford some paint for the walls. The adventure in purchasing household items here in Xai-Xai is getting them home in the crowded mini-buses which are the public transport here. I wish we had a picture of Emily and I smashed into a seat with two standing fans between our legs and surrounded by people. Words canºt really describe it except that it is pretty funny. Emily and I like to cook and we have been cooking at our house every night with another volunteer named Lindsay who is working for a nearby organization and living very close to us. Lindsay also goes on the adventures into town with us. The next big project for Emily and I is getting a queen size mattress home with us. Wish us luck.

Namaacha

2007-12-07T04:26:00.000-08:00

Things I have enjoyed so far in Mozambique:
- Playing soccer with other volunteers and Namaacha children. Every Sunday we meet at 10:00 at the local soccer field and play some soccer. It started out as just a couple of Peace Corp volunteers and their host brothers and sisters but now we have enough to play full field games. It is so much fun to do something I enjoy and while doing so make a connection with so many others. I am looking forward to continuing the tradition at our site.

- Cooking with our host moms. Every once in a while our host father will request that we cook dinner. Emily and I give our host father a list of ingredients and the next day we try to prepare something on the charcoal stove. It is possible to make anything on the stove; it just takes a lot longer. Since we are working with only two burners there is high pressure to figure out a way to get everything done at the same time. And one time a baby peed on my foot while I was frying chicken. Anything can happening in this kitchen, including having to chase chickens and other livestock out of the kitchen. So far we have made chicken soup, fried chicken with mashed potatoes, fajitas with beef and re fried beans. We have also baked cookies at the local bakery and contributed deviled eggs and peanut butter cookies to our Peace Corps thanksgiving potluck. Everything has come out well so far. The fajitas were a bit of a stretch without all of the proper spices, but I was very happy with the refried beans. I assume our host family has enjoyed the meals because they keep asking us to cook more. (Photo below of Emily, Host mother Lydia, and Fina in the kitchen, proudly holding the deviled eggs)

- My site visit to Nampula. I was lucky enough to be one of the PC trainees to travel up North for site visits. All of the trainees were assigned a site to visit where current volunteers give us an idea of what life at site will be like. Emily stayed down south, but I took a plane to Nampula region which is way up north. I stayed with two volunteers in a small town called Murrapula. It was a good opportunity for me to see a different part of Mozambique. Heath and Enrique, the volunteers I visited do not have electricity in their house, but their house is very livable. They have put a lot of work into fixing up their house and are proof that whatever you end up with, you can make the most of it. The school I visited that Heath and Enrique work at was brand new and fairly large. It was a good experience for me to see an example of what I will be dealing with in terms of resources, classroom size and administration. Class sizes were forty +. I was there during national exams so I was able to help give exams and grade them. One of the challenges I will have to deal with in the classroom is the amount of cheating that occurs. After 2 days in Murrapula we took a long bus ride to the coast where we spent an amazing two nights on an island called Ilha de Mozambique. Ilha is beautiful (google it! - ilha de mozambique). It is a former capital of Mozambique when it was under Portuguese rule. The colonial buildings and architecture is amazing. The views on the beach are beautiful. It was a very surreal two days because everything was so perfect, including the weather. (Photo of Jesse on Ilha de Mozambique below)-Teaching model school. For two weeks our group had practice teaching in what PC calls "model school". Model school is basically the rounding up of students who are on their spring break and herding them into school. I was impressed with the amount of children that were eager to take part. My lessons went well. My first lesson was a fun one about animal vocab. I had drawn and colored pictures the night before in preparation. While they are very simple and funny looking, I'm still proud of them, at least the students could tell what animals they were! The students were very responsive to my lesson and it made me excited to be teaching. My second lesson I was sure I bombed because the students were not as enthusiastic and I felt my lesson was not going over well and the students were not getting the meaning of what I was teaching. After the class however during our peer review session, my fellow trainees convinced me that my lesson was actually a good one and they thought it had gone well. This made me feel a lot better and more confident. Model school so far has made me excited for teaching. It is fun coming up with ideas for lesson plans, Emily and I brainstorm a lot. It is also fun to think up creative ways to develop resources. For example: in the states I would probably just cut out pictures in magazines or find some other type of media for examples. Here I am drawing everything. My former art teachers should be proud - or embarrassed depending on what level art they had me as a student. Emily makes posters on rice sacks instead of chart paper. Overall, model school has made teaching a little less daunting. It will still probably be one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but now I know that I am up to it.

- Sharing stories with other trainees. Some days after class our group will get together, have a beer or soda and share some stories. It is really neat to listen to all of the different accounts of of things that have happened and different impressions people have. We are sharing an experience but inside this experience there are lots of differences. It is such a great feeling to be able to talk so openly about our time here and have people understand exactly what you mean or are going through. It is a great feeling of support and community. I imagine that when we are all at our sites, gatherings of volunteers (once or twice a year) will be a very much looked forward to event.

- Walking everywhere. Most days to get to language class, model school or other events, Emily and I have to walk up to the main road and then to wherever we are meeting. Usually it is approximately a half hour walk. Obviously we walk everywhere (no driving for 2 years!) so we are getting a lot of walking in everyday. Some days, since we go home for lunch and then have another session at the school in the afternoon we will make 2 round trips - a solid 2 hours of walking. Luckily, Namaacha is very pretty and fun to walk through and plus now we have almost a regular route with folks we greet every day! I am enjoying our walks more and more as the people we pass become familiar.

Random things:
- It is fun to watch kittens scamper around and get into battles with the chickens and ducks in our yard. Also fun to watch is the crazy baby goat who runs around and bumps into things at full speed - who needs TV?

- The baby twins get so dirty during the day while they are outside. It is comical. It is almost as if when they touch you you are instantly hit with a couple pounds of dirt. After their baths they are a lot of fun to hold and play with.

-There is a fellow Ole' PC volunteer in Mozambique! Jill Johnson who graduated the same year as Emily and I has been in Mozambique for 1 year. At Olaf she was a political science major. It was neat coming up with mutual acquaintances with her.
Also on my trip up North I met Carolyn Kouri who graduated from Carleton College which is the college that shares the town of Northfield with Olaf. Lauren Fox, a trainee in the same group as Emily and I is from Oley Valley PA, very close to where I grew up. Lauren knows several of my friends from high school. Her site mate will be Rachel Silverstein, who is also from Berks County and went to Exeter High school. Rachel knows a few of the people I played soccer with in high school. It is a small world.

- The weather. Some days it is hot, some days it is cool in Namaacha. It is really hit or miss planning on what to wear. I usually guess wrong and am either over dressed or cold.

- Every bump or pimple that Emily and I develop we carefully scrutinize because of all of the readings we have done recently about burrowing parasites that we can get. While it may not be healthy to continually speculate about what disease/parasite we may have, it does help to pass the time.

- Emily and I brought the goats home from pasture one day.

- A baby duck pooped on my shoe. I think it was malicious because the duck had to go out of its way to get to my shoes.
(Photo below: Jesse and Emily and a chicken on the straw mat that they made. It took hours to make.)

Swearing in

2007-12-07T04:23:00.000-08:00

"Moz"-hawks with the Peace Corps Mozambique country director and the former director of Peace Corps worldwide at our swearing-in ceremony.

Jesse and I are now officially Peace Corps volunteers! We had our "swearing-in" ceremony this morning at the US ambassador´s house. We're excited to move tomorrow to the site where we'll be living for the next two years.
Jesse and I will both be serving as professors of English at the teacher training college in the city of Xai-Xai. Xai-Xai is on the coast a few hours north of Maputo, the capital city. We'll be spending December fixing up our house and getting to know the community. We'll be living on campus along with the other professors and students. Work should begin in January.
Today is bittersweet because along with the excitement of beginning our term of service, we have to say goodbye to Namaacha and our host family. They have taken great care of us. Some memories:
* Our host family set out a snack for us to carry to class each morning, usually cookies and a juice box.
* When we stopped back at noon, lunch was always sitting on the table.

* Great dinners. One favorite is a sauce of mixed greens and coconut and peanut water over xima (pronounced "she-mah"), which is corn flour and water mixed to a consistency like thick mashed potatoes. It's comfort food ... I think it's the Mozambican equivalent of American macaroni and cheese.

* Namaacha is beautiful. We really loved hiking through the "bush." We could always look back and see the town so we could explore without worrying about getting lost.

* It was very fun to have babies and kids always around. They were always ready to play. In the photo above, Fina and Vina are pushing a toy car that Gito made out of wire and soda cans.
* The patience and encouragement of our host family was amazing. They helped so much as Jesse and I are learning Portuguese. It'll be fun to get to talk to them more when Jesse and I master more Portuguese - and hopefully eventually Changana, the local language, as well.
* Music and dancing. Dino and Mito turn up the volume of music in the house really high so that everyone in the yard dances as they work.
We hope to return to visit.
Thank you for your comments, thoughts, and support. We appreciate it! Hope that everything is going well for you too. Come visit us!

Kittens

2007-10-27T02:30:00.000-07:00

There are kittens in the kitchen!

Naamacha

2007-10-27T01:32:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much everyone for your interest and support, emails and comments! It´s awesome to feel so connected! Thanks!

Jesse and I are still happy and learning a lot.

Namaacha is a relatively large town and we´ve explored its corners now. Jesse had sprained his ankle with a basketball foul but now it´s good enough to walk on again. Last weekend we went on a beautiful hike. Here´s a photo of our first hike in Africa!

Jesse and I eat dinner and chat with our host father each evening. After dinner we like to watch TV with the family – the news in Portuguese, a Brazilian game show, or rap music videos. My host mother has taught me to crochet. It´s pretty surreal to be crocheting in Africa to SnoopDog.

We´ve been learning Portuguese as fast as we can ... which doesn´t seem that fast in the moment. The first five weeks of training are focused on Portuguese. After next week, we´ll start more technical training about how to teach. Week 7 we´ll visit a site of a current volunteer, and then we´ll practice teaching during a couple weeks of model school. Peace Corps bribes kids in the community with cookies to attend our classes during their school break so that we can practice teaching to classes of 60 or more high school students.

Our brother, Mito, had a baby last week. Our host father asked me and Jesse to make a long list of possible names. Barack Obama is up there. More ideas? Here´s a photo of the baby that I took when I visited his mom at the hospital - one day old!

Rainy season is starting, so the yard is sticky mud now. Who knew that we would get chilly in Africa! Our little sisters, Fina and Vina, love playing in the yard.

Our host mother and Deanora fixed up Jesse´s dreadlocks. The finishing touch was pouring a bottle of CocaCola over his head!
One fun cross-cultural family activity is exchanging recipes. Here´s a photo of Jesse´s language group trying to make grilled cheese and onion rings for their mothers. My group shared recipies for breakfast burritos, applesauce, brushetta, and banana pancakes. What a treat! We´re enjoying Mozambican food as well. Usually for dinner we have a dish of cooked greens served over rice or xima (corn flour with water).

Hope all of you are doing well! Thanks again for reading!

Our first week

2007-10-06T00:13:00.000-07:00

Our Peace Corps experience is starting out well! We met the other 67 Mozambique Peace Corps volunteers on Sunday the 23rd ãt an orientation in Philadelphia and were impressed with the talent and enthusiasm of everyone we met. The 17+ hour flight went smoothly and we stayed the night in a fancy hotel in Johannesburg. Then we had 4 days of pre-service training in Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique. Maputo had perfect weather while we were there and we enjoyed gathering poolside for meetings at the hotel there.
Last Sunday we took a bus to the city of Namaacha, which is on the border with Swaziland. We´re living in Namaacha for our 10 weeks of pre-service training. Our host father, Jorge, met the bus and took us to our first home away from home.
Namaacha is gorgeous. The beauty of the colorful sunset over the hills will stick in my memory. We´ve been enjoying spending so much time outside. Jesse and I hike to our Portuguese language classes early each morning. Each professor has 5 students - the groups meet outside in the yards of host families. We are immersed in Portuguese and are trying to learn as much as we can. The professors integrate lessons with "walk around" trips - to the market to practice the new phrases, to the ceremony celebrating the end of the civil war, etc.
Outside of class, we learn from and love spending time with our host family. Our dad, Jorge, makes time and effort to talk with us. We have 2 moms, Lydia and Elisa, who teach us everything we need to know around the house. The host families can´t assume that we know even the most basic things about living in a village. We´ve learned to cook on a charcoal stove, wash clothes on a rock, swaddle a baby on my back, make flour by pounding and sifting, and bathe by splashing water from a basin with our cupped hands. I´m even starting to learn how to carry water on my head, cut open a coconut with a rock, and dance with the energy and awesomeness of Mozambique. (In addition, I´ve had to prove that I already know how to sweep, slice bread, etc.)
We have 2-year old twin sisters, Fina and Vina, who love being bounced and tilted upside down. Our 9-year old sister, Fina, works hard on chores all day. 10-year old Jorge likes to quiz us on the Portuguese names of things in our room. We also have 18 and 21 year old brothers, Mito and Dino, who attend the secondary school where we´ll be presenting lessons during the last couple weeks of our pre-service training.
The family´s land has 4 small buildings - a free-standing kitchen, a building with the dining/family room and 2 bedrooms, a separate bathroom, and a 1-room building where Jesse and I sleep. Roosters, chickens and chicks, ducks and ducklings roam the yard and wake us up each morning.
Jesse and I are doing well. We´ve learned so much already and are looking forward to learning so much more! We´ve experienced so much, it´s hard to believe that we´ve been in Namaacha for less than a week!