travels to the north

A few months ago, I ran in the national elections for the upcoming leadership of REDES and I was elected National Coordinator. REDES is one of our secondary projects and its something that I have been involved with during my time here.  On the 7th, I traveled up with my site mate Anna (she is the National Financial Coordinator) to Nampula for the REDES Handover. The Handover was a two day event in which we met with last year’s leadership and five Mozambican facilitators to discuss and plan the direction in which we want to take REDES in. We planned out the upcoming year and set out a timeline for the things we want to accomplish. One of the bigger goals for this upcoming year is trying to legalize REDES as a non-profit. To be honest, I was kinda overwhelmed throughout this whole process. There was a lot of information thrown at us and at one point I thought, “what did I sign myself up for?! Coming into this position was nerve wrecking from the start due to the simple fact that I will only be in this position for a few months and I will be basically learning the ropes as I go. At one point of the conference, we were planning out the calendar and seeing how much work there is to be done/how much time I have left made me have a mini panick attack on the spot. I was overcome with anxiety and my eyes began to water! I thought, “oh shit, look at everything that needs to be done… I only have 9 months to do this!” (panick mode in full force) On one hand, I am excited to be a part of this team and have this opportunity… but on the other hand, I am also pretty nervous. Luckily, I have a good team of regional coordinators and I think that we will work well together.

Chimoio to Nampula


Vendors 
the North! 

Handover 2013
Meeting with the Small Grants coordinator from the Embassy, Jennifer
New leadership + 5 Mozambican veteran leader
LIONS!! ^___^ 
Ruby's Backpackers
Day 2
my team! 
Cooking up some dinner
yummmms!
After the REDES handover, a few of us took advantage of the proximity and traveled to Ilha de Moçambique (Mozambique Island). 

Nampula to Ilha
Closer view
Hitch hiking my way to the ilha

Ilha de Moçambique

Ilha was and is an incredibly unique and fascinating place. This relatively small island sits about 3km off the mainland and is also only 3km in length and barely 500 meters in width (at its widest spot). It is a picturesque little island paved with cobbled streets and lined with crumbling colonial-era buildings. In the north of the island, Stone Town, you find the majority of the historic buildings that were built between the early 16th century and the late 19th century. In the southern part of the island you find Makuti town. This little villa is sprawling with thatched roof huts and host the majority of the island’s inhabitants. The island’s culture is an interesting blend of Muslim influences and the local Makua culture. Overall, the island displays a range of several different cultural influences (Arab, Hindu, Portuguese, African, etc) and has been identified as a UNESCO World Hertiage Site. 

While on the island, Olivia, Taylor and I marveled at the sites, enjoyed some sunset beers, local cuisine, and the company of other volunteers that were traveling through. Lucky for us, a Peace Corps volunteer, Pattrick, lives on the island and was able to show us some great spots.

Roof top bar/restaurant, whatttt?

The view !








During one of the days, Olivia, Taylor, our friend Kyla and I rented a little dhow to take us to Chocas, which is a beach across the Mossuril Bay. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it all the way to Chocas but we did end up at Carruscas, which was quite stunning in it of itself

We're on a boat!

look at this water!!!

pulling in... 

Carrusca


greetings form Moz!

white sand beaches :)

Fortaleza de  S. Sebastião


On my last day there, Olivia, Taylor and I went on a bike tour of the island. This was probably my favorite! I really missed riding a bike (saudades of my beach cruiser!) and passear'ing around the island, checking out all the lovely sites with that Indian Ocean breeze blowing through my hair- well… it was just fantastic!


Olivia and I

Makuti town



cute little girls



Jardim da Memória/ Slavery Memorial Garden 



Ilha was an incredible time. Sadly, I cut my stay a little short because I found some vounteers to travel down to Quelimane with. I left Ilha and made my way back to Nampula at first and then to Quelimane.


 Turns out, the National Science Fair (another secondary project in which PCVs are involved in) was taking place in Quelimane that Saturday so I decided to stick around and check out the fair. The Fair was quite impressive and I enjoyed the extra time spent in Quelimane. After the fair was over, I hitchhiked my way back to site on Sunday.


This trip marked my first time traveling up to the North, but I hope it won’t be the last! Mozambique has so much to offer and I intend on exploring as much of it as I can during my time here… 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3 months in!

Image
Oi,  Two days ago marked my 3 month mark at site! Whoooo! It’s definitely the first of many Peace Corps milestones. Reconnect Conference also took place last week in Maputo. Reconnect Conference happens after your first 3 months at site (our conference was a week premature) and its designed to bring your group back together, share your experiences from site, talk about the challenges you’ve experienced & brainstorm some resiliency strategies to help cope. We also had a session on Monitoring & Evaluation, which is just a fancy way of describing the process of ‘reporting’ back to Washington. I left Chimoio early Sunday (the 4th) and flew down to Maputo. It was great to see my fellow Moz18ers once again and hear about everyone’s experiences at site. We had daily sessions from 8-5 Monday through Thursday and a half day on Friday. On the first night there I got to go to a reggae show on the marginal (like the Cali PCH, but in Maputo) which was pretty great. Aft...
Read more

fidel castro.

July 11, 2012 I just got back from a short trip to the northern province of Gaza… I visited a current volunteer in a barrio called Fidel Castro, which is about a 30 minute drive from the capital of Xai-Xai. The trip was definitely a learning experience… a lot of questions ran through my head during the last few days, and although I did not fall in love with the barrio of Fidel Castro, I am glad I got to see first hand what the PCV experience is like. I think that in general, the Peace Corps experience is characterized by highs and lows. Sometimes you are happy to be here and other times you can’t seem to stop asking yourself what the hell you signed up for… These last few days have certainly followed this pattern…. My alarm went off at 2:40-ish on Saturday morning. I got dressed, gathered my things and set off to meet the rest of the volunteers by 3am. I walked over to our meeting spot with Carla and her host mom in absolute darkness. There was a power outage right as I was ...
Read more

O ano ja acabou!

Image
The year is over (well, almost!). December is here and health associations are getting ready to close down for the holiday season, meaning that work is coming to a halt d'aqui a nada . Last week was actually a really busy week of work (hey! I never get to say that!) that served to pretty much close the associations activities for the year. Here's a short re-cap of the past week: Monday, November 25th was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and my association, LEMUSICA, kicked off a series of activities: Monday Nov. 25th- International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women The association led a march and performed a dance to "One Billion Rising" in the center of town. The director gave a speech about cultural norms that perpetuate the tolerance of violence against women. She called on the crowd to defy cultural norms and recognize violence against women as a grave human rights violation. Sometimes, when bys...
Read more