Bryan's visit to Mozambique:
4/4/15- 4/18/15 [in Bryan's own words]
I have been
planning this trip to Mozambique with Tammie for over a year. Being the furthest and longest trip I have
personally taken, I did not realize there was so much to prepare. Preparation included applying for a visa, getting
the required and recommended immunizations, and all the little things to do
before travel. As the date came closer
to my trip the realization that I was going to Africa was slowly hitting
me. Being in constant contact with
Tammie helped me prepare as well, including what kind of lifestyle to expect
once over there. Bucket baths,
electricity black outs, squatting toilets, mosquito bites, cooking over
charcoal, boleias and chapas amongst many other things were things I had
expected to experience during my 2 week stay.
During my
30 hour trip to get to Mozambique through London and Johannesburg, I
experienced jetlag for a good 2 to 3 days despite using melatonin. Pemba was where I stayed the first couple
days and stayed at a hotel with A/C and running water, which was definitely a
luxury I knew to take advantage of. So,
my first impression of Pemba, TRAFFIC!!! Yup, drivers are crazy drivers there.
I also experienced the hot Mozambican sun beating down on me. It was exhausting
during the afternoon but what saved me were the frozen yogurts the street
vendors sell.
When I made
it to Tammie’s site in Ancuabe I saw what I imagined what Africa would be like,
mud huts and no electricity. However,
Tammie’s house had electricity thankfully and had really welcoming neighbors. Oh, it was also my birthday that day so we
were all busy preparing a dinner for me.
It was by far the best birthday I had so far. Highlight of that day was
killing a chicken. Yup, I killed a
chicken for dinner and I have to admit, it was more work than I expected.
During my
first week I got to shadow Tammie while she worked. I was introduced to her co-workers. One thing I wish I had prepared was to learn
more Portuguese since that is the language spoken there. It was also quite the experience to be one of
the only “white” people in town. People would stare, mostly the kids. Just imagine 1000 eyes staring at you. I dealt with that by pretending I was a
celebrity haha. But it was fun interacting
with the locals. Tammie has this girl
empowerment group called REDES where they learn about health topics and do an
activity. She also does Children Time
with the kids in her neighborhood where over 20 kids would sit on the porch to
color.
We got an
opportunity to go off site to a touristy place called Ilha de Mocambique. It was an island that is known to be one of
the first Portuguese colonies so its architecture definitely has a lot of
influence from that. Unfortunately, that
is where I experienced my first electricity blackout, but eating dinner by
candle light was pretty romantic. The
next day we got to sail to a nearby secluded beach called Chocas, which had
white sand beaches and clear waters, a destination worth the journey to get
there.
The
following week I got shadow Tammie again, but was also able to view other PCV
sites as we stopped by them. Some sites
included Monapo, Chiure, and Pemba. I
was able to meet volunteers in their communities and saw how integrated they
were with the locals. I also got to
compare site houses ranging from mato, or very rural, to city-like. I have gained a lot of respect for these PCVs
learning that a lot of them are fresh out of college, meaning that they are
around 23 or 24 years old and have very high ambitions after they finish
service. Living the life of a PCV for
the past 2 weeks has not been an easy one, but has been a very rewarding
experience. I am now appreciating the
simple things in life such as cold drinking water. And now upon leaving Mozambique after just
getting used to it, I now can say I have experienced something not many are
willing to endure and am open to the idea of doing it again.
Hora das Crianças:
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| 4/1/15 letter Q and color Mickey and friends |
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| 4/3/15 color stars |
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| 4/9/15 Letter R and color mermaid |
REDES:
4/3/15 Final dance practice!
4/7/15 The girls performed their 3 dances for the community during Mozambican Women's Day! Unfortunately there wasn't a music speaker system so I had to use my ipad and small portable speaker. Luckily it was still audible but it would have been better if it was a lot better. They danced to Shakira- Waka Waka, Gustavo Lima- Balada Boa, and Michael Telo- Ai Se Eu Te Pego. They were awesome! Video is here: https://www.facebook.com/angela.nguyen8/videos/10103078053557824/?pnref=story
4/8/15 We talked about ways to prevent malaria and played 2 malaria activities: good/bad behaviors (ie. sleeping under a net vs using the net to catch fish) relay race and hang the mosquito net on the bed
4/14/15 We watched Positivo music videos about malaria and then played a malaria board game in teams. 1st & 2nd place winners got See's Candies lollipops! :)
Work:
4/15-17/15 I had a 3 full days of meeting for work in Chiure. On the first day all the facilitators reported on their past 3 months of work in the field. On the second day, we were introduced to the new format of reporting and then got into group to simulate a report as practice. On the third day, we planned our activities for the next three months. I'm officially head of the water project! For the month of May, I will be busy with planning the logistics and executing the 6 trainings that we're going to do with health committees in 6 posts in my community.
Other updates:
-I'm down to 1 kitten! =( which I will give away to my next door neighbor soon. I gave 3 kittens away to a PCV and 1 disappeared, I think he got kidnapped =(
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| Kittens in their new home |
-Bryan and I are starting our Cape Town adventure now!! Will blog about it in the next post :)
