Dec
1st was my 6 months mark in Moz! The past 6 months have a lot of highs and lows.
Life here definitely has not been easy and I still get those moments here and
there where "why are you putting yourself through this" crosses my
mind. Nonetheless, joining Peace Corps and being here is one of the best decisions I've ever made! I've already gained a lot of personal growth- discovering and
surprising myself with what I'm capable of doing and tolerating, trying new things, and
staying outside of my comfort zone. I'm excited to see the person I'll become
at the end of my 2 years service at this rate! Living here and seeing and
experiencing firsthand the poverty that exists in 3rd world country has forever
changed my life perspectives. Children as young as 6-7 years old spend their
days selling things in the market, helping out in the machamba, cooking and
caring for their younger siblings, and carrying things on their head (like
bucket of water, woods to cook with, etc). Parents leave their house for a few
days or weeks at a time to work in another town to make money for their family.
Teenagers dropping out of school to take care of their babies. People getting
sick because of lack of hygiene sanitation and clean water, from malaria, HIV, etc. The
list goes on and on.. but with all the poverty problems that they faced, people
still share and give even when they don't have much. A bread or mandaze will be
split between however many people are there even if each person only get a tiny
piece (I've seen this with my coworkers and neighbors and it always warm my
heart!) I have less than 21 months now to try to make a difference here
and give back as much as I've learned and gained here if not more. "Peace
Corps: the toughest job you'll ever love" True story :)
I've been getting lazier and lazier about blogging and also busier with work (sorry to those who actually reads my blog! haha) but I will try to do a monthly post from now on. Also, I'm not much of a writer so I will often let pictures do most of the talking! :) So since the last post...
Realização duma assembleia comunitária que sera asistida pela visita e apresentação de actividades culturais 10/30/13:
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Bicicleta ambulância. There’s only 1 bicycle ambulance in
this village to bring people to the hospital (about an hour bike ride one way)
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| theater group doing a play about HIV |
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| Explaining different ways to treat water before drinking it |
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| Line for HIV testing |
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| Family planning |
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| Nutrition |
Reconnect IST (in service training) 11/4 - 11/8:
"The
purpose of this Reconnect training is to provide you with a space to reflect on
your first three months at site, learn new resiliency strategies, and
learn/review a variety of technical skills to enhance your effectiveness as a
Volunteer, receive more necessary vaccinations, and revisit key policies and
procedures that are designed to make your service safe, healthy, and effective."
It felt good to be reunited with the rest of my Moz 20 groups! A week of speaking English, taking showers, eating out, shopping, etc. After being at site for 3 months, Maputo was a bit overwhelming! I felt like a country girl going into the big city for the first time hahah I was able to buy a lot of things that I wouldn't find at site.
It felt good to be reunited with the rest of my Moz 20 groups! A week of speaking English, taking showers, eating out, shopping, etc. After being at site for 3 months, Maputo was a bit overwhelming! I felt like a country girl going into the big city for the first time hahah I was able to buy a lot of things that I wouldn't find at site.
Encontro de reflexão sobre febre malaria na aldeia Nacololo com tema: toma de medicamentos 11/12:
Capacitação de parteira tradicional 11/28-29:
Worlds AIDS Day 12/1:
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| Family planning |
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| Blood donation |
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| Mesuring blood pressure |
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| Malaria rapid test |
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| Distributing condoms |
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| My coworkers and I |
I stayed in Chiúre for a 4 days training on graphics and multimedia with the Chiúre team. The first 2 days were boring and torturing for me because we learned how to use Microsoft Publisher to make business cards and invitation cards and Adobe Pagemaker to make a newspaper. The last 2 days, we went out to a community in Metoro to interview, take pictures, and do voice recording to make a video about the hygiene sanitation project. We learned how to use Photo Story, Adobe Audition, and Sony Vegas.
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| Demonstrating the correct way to use a condom |
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| HIV testing |
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| Exchanging experiences about hygiene sanitation projects with Pronanac |
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| Going house to house to survey and observe the current hygiene sanitation in the neighborhood |
Home improvement:
My house feels like home now! I made a curtain for my window to get a little bit more of privacy since I always have kids peeking in whenever I open the window for air. I decorated the wall more with paintings I bought from Maputo, pictures, and fabric scraps. I received a mosquito net from work so I put it in my guest room for Belinda. (She's my landlord's daughter and my best friend here. I let her live in my guest room and in return, she washes my clothes, get water, and sweep my quintal for me.) I also added a net to my backdoor gate so I can keep it open for air without having too many bugs fly in.
Other highlights/events:
-I
started doing insanity workouts and Belinda joins in with me sometime. I
haven't been keeping up with it though. It's so hot inside my house even at
night too. It is summer here now and it is miserably HOT. I want to sit inside
my fridge/I am living in an oven/I don't want to leave the air conditioned
office at work/I am melting and drowning in my own sweats kind of hot :(
-I booked my flight to Zambia in April!! After 4 years, I can finally meet my sponsored child! So excited!
-Received my 1st care package!! Everything I needed/wanted to make life easier here and more! :)
-Locked myself out of my house.. again. I never seem to learn my lesson :( I left my keys on my bedroom doors and closed my backdoor when I went back to work. I was able to open the front door with my landlord's key since we have the same lock but not the 2 padlocks on my front gate. I tried using a bamboo stick to get the keys but it wasn't long enough to reach. This already caused some attention. Belinda found a reallly long bamboo stick where she has to stand at the other end to help me hold it up. This drew a lotttt of attention and soon after, I had 20-30 people at my door watching me trying to get my keys. One of the guy managed to break off the key ring with the backdoor key so I got back inside my house! After this incident, I hid my bedroom spare key behind one of the painting in my living room and gave my backdoor spare key to my landlord.. hopefully this will be the last time I get locked out of my own house! hahah
-Rainy season started. There's so much more bugs in and around my house now! My quintal is going to flood one of these days. On the bright side, I don't have to worry about water shortage now!
-I just found out I have a guava tree in my backyard. Leaves are growing on it and hopefully I'll get some guavas soon. My pumpkin seeds are growing too!
-I found a fresh egg in my storage room one weekend.. the next day I realized how it got there haha I should keep the door open for my neighbor's galinhas to come in more often.
-Mango season started! SO. MUCH. MANGOES! I love it! I've been deprived of fruits here.
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