O calor ja volto...

Typical to Mozambican conversations, I will start this entry by talking about the weather- o calor ja volto, the heat is back. It’s been warming up recently and the days are hitting a high of 80 degrees. The heat that once made 70 degrees feel chilly in comparison is on its way back and I am bracing myself for it ….  I was walking home yesterday and sweating in a way that I haven’t felt since last December, possibly, and I though, “this is only the beginning!” Like I’ve said before, I don’t know why but 80 degrees in Mozambique feels HOTTER than 80 degrees in any other place I’ve ever been. After all, as a long time resident of Southern Cali I am no stranger to heat. There’s something about this heat though… the African sun is strong and unrelenting. In retrospect, I won’t complain too much… as a volunteer in the central province of Manica, I live in one of the coolest and more temperate locations in Mozambique. Although it does get hot, the northerners and southerners endure much harsher heat waves.

Moving on! Since I last wrote I’ve been settling in to my new house (yup, I moved!), exploring/passear’ing through more of this province with my local network of expat friends, despedir’ing more people, trying to get this little health project up and going, I welcomed the new Moz 20ers to Central, and I hit my one year at site (yesterday, Aug. 12)!

New house:

After Shane’s departure from Chimoio, I immediately moved into his old house. There were many factors in this change but the main one was due to a clash between my landlord and I. This clash came as a surprise, since until then, he had been pretty friendly (almost too friendly- actually… bordering on intrusive) and relatively easy going. Anyway, I won’t go into details but I moved. I am now in a different bairro and despite the 30 minute walk (previously 7 min) to my org, I think this worked out for the better. My new house has a big open veranda (porch), a kitchen, living room, bedroom and indoor bathroom. The most annoying thing about this house is that every room stands separately and feeds directly into the veranda (which has its pros and cons). On the bright side, I now have RUNNING water and am only a 12 minute walk from town (instead of 30)! I have a sink in both the kitchen and restroom with running water, a flushing toilet, and cold running water in the shower. Pretty spectacular. I no longer have to keep big plastic bins of water and I definitely don’t have to cart ALL of my water back and forth. It’s pretty great and I bet it’s going to feel even better when I’m sick and realize that I don’t have to go to the spout or well to replenish all the water I’m using. Another great thing about this new house is that my bedroom window is not longer next to someone’s outdoor cooking station- meaning, I don’t have to wake up to the clash of dishes being washed at 5am anymore!! Definite upgrade!

mihna nova casa!

kitchen

pretty proud of my little kitchen set up

living room is pretty bare at the moment except for this little corner

bedroom

Passear’ing:

Typical to the cycle of a volunteer’s service, I have seen my circle of friends change in dynamic as time passes, people leave and others arrive. Right before Shane left, a few of us befriended a group of Brittish ‘lads’ (as they say) that live and work here in Chimoio. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with them, as well as with Zach & Carolyn (the Moz 5ers/ Peace Corps “patriarch” and matriarch, as the Brits refer to them). A few weeks ago, I went hiking with them up Mt. Zembe, a mountain that lies south of Chimoio towards Sussundenga. The hike was quite difficult, but also incredibly breathtaking (Els also uploaded some pictures on her blog of the hike, check it out!). At one point, I felt like I was in The Lion King (*cue, Lion Kingintro song*)! It is pretty incredible how many sights Mozambique has to offer- from pristine turquoise beaches to lush mountainous landscapes and open dry savannas.

Mt. Zembe

sick views, right?!

the gang

@ the top of Mt. Zembe

Work:

Aside from tutoring kids and helping train youth activist in HIV/AIDS prevention at Lemusica, I am also compiling an activity/coloring book for kids that will teach and engage them in basic hygiene and health lessons. I am compiling different resources, images, and hopefully, it will turn out as cool as it sounds in head.  The idea is to present some health information to primary aged children in an accessible and fun way- hence the coloring and activities. Although much of this information is routinely presented, I hope that the activity book will be another tool that facilitates this learning process and perhaps helps ingrain hygiene, sanitation, and malaria prevention (to name a few) in their consciousness.

Moz 20:

Last week, I welcomed 3 newcomers to Central. Two of the volunteers will be located a few hours north while the third will remain here in Chimoio as my new site mate! The craziest thing about welcoming this new group of health volunteers is that this makes my group the senior group of health PCVs in country! In three months when the 17ers start to COS (close their service and head back home), this will make my group the veteran Moz PCvs and will cue us up as the next to go! I can’t really decide whether this is more exciting or nerve-wrecking at the moment, eeeep.

Things to look forward to:

On Sunday, I am flying down to Maputo for our Mid-Service Conference and I will be reunited with my entire training group (a few of which I haven’t seen since last Novemeber)! Also looking forward to burritos and chocolate milkshakes at Café Sol, Mmmm!

I'll leave you with some beautiful So. East African sunsets: