Mexican in Mozambique

the whole gang @ our director's house for dinner About two weeks ago I attended Mid-Service conference in Maputo with the rest of my training group (MOZ 18). Our time was spent in between sessions, medical appointments, and eating out/ passear 'ing around town. Aside from being reunited with my group, having access to hot showers, and eating lots of delicious food, I think the most exciting part about Mid-Service was knowing that we are officially in our second year of service!  @  hotel Cardosso for a round of cocktails

This is a beautiful place. The place is hard as hell.  I have been doing a good job. I can continue doing a good job. I have deep respect for anyone who even attempted PC. That’s a beautiful smile.  I live in a mud hut.  I only eat rice.  Damn its hot outside. Slowly, Slowly things will get done. Relax. Take a breath. Everything is going to be alright (to the tune of Bob Marley). - Justin Wellins, The Gambia  "I only eat rice," LMAO! We talked about some frustrations with the Peace Corps and also our goals for during and after.  I acknowledged that many of the questions I came in with about how to best solve sustainable development problems have not yet been fully answered.  But I also realized that I now much more deeply understand the complexities of these problems, which I believe will help me continue working to solve them in the future. - Lila Holzman, Panama

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 muc...

As time passes here, despedidas (good byes) are becoming a bigger and bigger part of this experience. It’s a very transitory time- both as volunteers or as ex-pats and we come into a lot of this work with a set timeframe. About two weeks ago I despedir ’ed (eng + port slang for- said goodbye to) my site mate Shane. Chimoio is definitely a much different place without him and I remember him daily. Shane was the other health volunteer here in Chimoio and he was here upon my arrival. At first, he and I clashed a lot. We are two different people with very different political and ideological views. Actually, when I first found out I was coming to Chimoio, another volunteer kind of laughed as if he had some secret he was holding back from me… “what?!” I asked him. He said, “your sitemate is Shane Meckler … the republican of Peace Corps.” LOL. This was the first thing everyone told me about Shane and I admit- it made me nervous. I was apprehensive and I expected that perhaps this ...

 Last weekend, I participated in yet another REDES conference. This time, I helped Mike (my fellow PCV and REDES colleague) run the conference for the REDES groups in Sofala Province. We stayed at a cute little place right outside of Beira and hosted about 25 girls, 8 facilitators, and 5 volunteers, mais o menos ( more or less ) . Similarly to the Manica conference, we covered a range of topics ranging from HIV/AIDS to Women's Health and Income generation. This time, I lead the discussion on Violence against women, which was a bit nerve wrecking... but successful, nonetheless. Here are some group pictures: Things with my REDES group are still a little shaky. My girls showed up today but one of them wasn't here until 40 minutes past our starting time. I had to explain our activity multiple times as people kept trickling in. On the bright side, I did recruit two new girls from Shane's old JUNTOS group (that I will now be working with as well). Here is a pic...

As time passes, I find myself less and less motivated to keep up with this blog. Many volunteers start a blog to document their experiences abroad but most lose interest and/or resolve to really keep up with it. I feel myself falling into this, but a small part of me wants to make a real effort at not giving up on this. So, here it is! Work Update: I am still tutoring the kids at Lemusica but I have also started working with the HIV/AIDS education/prevention department of the organization. After the Malaria activity I carried out with the kids at Lemusica, Virginia  (the HIV/AIDS staff member) asked me to work with her to create some visual materials for the palestras (talks) and community presentations she carries out. I have also been helping her with the training of the youth activists she works with.  Virginia carrying out a community training... my drawings in the background A school health fair that Virginia & Lemusica presented at ...

Mozambique: From Marxism to market