So I have a couple quick stories about the second leg of my trip that I took to the Central Region. After I took off from Amatongas, I headed to see Jill and Lisa (and Freda from nearby Barrada), a couple of PCVs happily stuck in the styx in the vila of Buzi. I don’t have a lot of great pics from the trip but I’ll show a few here. The rest you can see on my picasa page in the (only) photo album that is up right now.
I stayed in Buzi for a few nights, observing the day-to-day of “the girls” as well as meeting and talking with many of their friends and students. I came during the national exam period, so all of the students that had to take tests were cramming before their exams. At one point, I was stopped by a few of their alunos.
(This was in Portuguese) “Hi. Who are you?”
“I’m teacher Jill and teacher Lisa’s friend, visiting from Xai Xai. Who are you?”
“We’re some of their best students. [i later confirmed with Jill that they actually were] Do you know about history?”
I must say, I was caught off guard by the nature of the question.
[Small smile spreads across my face] “Why yes, yes I do. I actually studied a bit of history. [read: I have a degree, though I didn't tell them this] What are you guys studying?”
“We need help. Do you know about the Great Depression in the United States?”
I must say that at this point I was A) Surprised that any Mozambicans in high school were bothering to learn about the Great Depression and B) Amazed that they already knew some basic facts about the event. For example, they knew who Roosevelt was and that it began in 1929 and that the New Deal helped reshape the American Economy.
After asking about what they already knew, I launched into a basic chronology of the causes, effects, and events that took place during the Great Depression. I say that it was basic because I didn’t really have the wherewithal to properly convey my thoughts ont he Depression in Portuguese, and I discovered that I actually had forgotten quite a lot about the Depression since my “American History 1929-1960″ class.
But it worked, and on a dirt road in Buzi I held an impromptu lesson on the National Recovery Act, Roosevelt’s court-packing schemes, and the Tennessee Valley Authority as well as WWII’s impact on the end of the Depression. The kids were furiously scribbling notes in their books as I talked. I’m pretty sure that if one of them whipped out even a fifth of what I related to them during that 20 minutes, the professor would have marked it wrong and accused the kid of either cheating or making things up. But I thought they deserved a good talk, even if 90% of the shit I said prob never was even mentioned in any book they had ever read.
So, one of the coolest things that I have seen in Mozambique is the radio show that is run by some students of Jill and Lisa’s. I was lucky enough to not only sit in on two episodes of “English for Buzi”, but I was able to “spin the tunes” as well as get interviewed by the co-host, Domingos. Each show is about a half hour and is comprised of English lessons. The PCVs help supervise the show but the students plan lessons to be presented on that night’s program. When there are guests in Buzi they like to conduct interviews in an exercise of culture exchange as well as a chance to hear English spoken by a native. Below is a shot of me getting put on the hot seat by Jill and Domingos. I got roasted.
I must say that I was quite an awful guest. My responses were lackluster (save for my response to the question “are you in a relationship?” to which I replied that I was single but looking, specifically for any beautiful and smart Buzi-anas.) It was quite awkward being asked questions like “where do you come from?” and having to limit your response to “Sanibel, an island in Florida” rather than going off on a diatribe about some of the best beaches in Florida and how we have sea turtles and manatees and a wildlife refuge and Cheeburger-Cheeburger. The point of the program is for the listeners to learn English words by listening to the response and then the translation by Domingos. However, for the program to function properly, the student has to understand the response. I will say that Domingos is quite adept (read: amazing) when it comes to English, but things like “Cheeburger-Cheeburger” just don’t translate well.
By the way, my two favorite questions were the following:
Radio Buzi:“What is the most interesting animal you have seen in Mozambique?”
DDD:“I have not seen many animals since I have come to Mozambique, so I think I will have to go with the Dung Beetle”
RB:[Look of confusion] “What?”
DDD:“Yes, the Dung Beetle. I find it very interesting.”
RB: [Still extremely confused] “Ok… how do you say that in Portuguese?”
[muttering between me, Jill, Lisa, and others in room]
Jill: “We will look it up and have an answer for you after the first break”
Haha. I forget what the word is now, but it took a while to find out. Here’s the other question:
RB: “So, David, how many siblings do you have?”
DDD: “Uh, none. I am an only child”
RB: [Once, more, look of confusion and disbelief] “Uh, really?! Wow!”
I have gotten so many of those looks of surprise when I say that I am an only child. It is virtually unheard of here, and even among Peace Corps Volunteers the incidence of only children is rare, though there were three in our language group. Neat!
So, my favorite part of the program was when I got to play and introduce my own music. When I originally made my plan to come to Buzi, Jill told me that I could play music on the radio. Just bring a few songs on a CD that I would like to play.
Naturally, I went a bit overboard.
First I tried to get music that had clear english lyrics (So long Kings of Leon, Bad Brains, Radiohead, At the Drive-In, Fugazi, Iron Maiden and almost all of my hip-hop) Then I tried to select fun somewhat upbeat music (Ciao Eels, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Plaid, Of Montreal, Depeche Mode) and then tried to pick a wide array of music… some rock, some soul, some hip hop… a veritable cornucopia of sweet tunes on one CD.
How psyched was I that I got to make a mix CD in Mozambique?!?!?!?!
So, after many obsessive hours that could’ve been better spent “saving the children” (not really, I just stayed REALLY late at work a few nights before i left for the trip) I came up with a playlist to throw on my flash. Here are a few highlights:
Jimmy Cliff- The Harder They Come
The Killers- All These Things That I Have Done
Belle and Sebastian- The Blues Are Still Blue
Arrested Development- Tennessee
The Commitments- In the Midnight Hour
Velvet Underground- Sweet Jane
Those last few that have mysterious links are ones that I actually chose to played. I know. You are sitting there looking at that list and saying to yourself “Of all the songs to expose Mozambicans to, why THOSE THREE? “
Well, I don’t quite know why. But that’s what we jammed to. At least that’s what I jammed to and everyone else politely nodded their head to while thinking “let’s hope this guy never brings music to Buzi again.” I dedicated “Tennessee” to the kids that I conversed with about the TVA, I explained that “In the Midnight Hour” is from one of my favorite movies of all time, The Commitments.
And then came my chance to play some Velvet Underground.
I had promised Jill when I was planning my trip that I would bring the VU to Buzi. Over the phone I heard her roll her eyes with disbelief (mostly from my intense excitement about playing a song on radio rather than the actual choice of song). So the moment came to play some Lou, and Domingos asks me “So, what does that song mean?”
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, what?
“So, what does the song mean?”
Well, you know I wanted to present a dissertation on the imagery of Jane in place of New York (imagery that follows almost every Reed/Underground song) and his love/hate relationship with the subject of the song/NY, NY. In fact, I gave a valiant effort in presenting just that concept for the folks of Buzi… in about two sentences. In the end I think that for some reason it didn’t quite resonate. It’s probably for the better that I didn’t launch into how Lou Reed has defined almost every current band I listen to- and then name them all as well as describe how. For fun, here’s the triumvirate of cool with Lou on the right along with Bowie and Iggy. I should’ve just played them all night and called it “You Wish You Were in New York (and Detroit, i guess) in 1970″
So, here are a few more pics of my failed attempt to bring New York art-rock to Buzi, as well as the mystified souls in the room at the time of the interview.
So, the Buzi river is known for having hippos and crocs. In fact, I just got a text from Jill a couple weeks ago that said something like “I am sitting on the dock at the river and just watched a mom and baby hippo swim by- then saw a croc swim by them- all together in harmony. Who needs parks?!”
Yeah, well, my boat trip on the Rio Buzi got rained out. No river fauna for me! However, I did get to watch Game 1 of the World Series at a lodging. Man, those Rockies got hosed.
My final story is from an encounter that Jill set up between me and the local group of Scouts. Yes, there are scouts in Mozambique. For proof, here is a picture.
For most of the time, we just sat and talked about what they do in Buzi. They have 1… count ‘em ONE scout book from Portugal. They have no adult leadership and yet they have managed to organize themselves and work events like dignitary visits and school ceremonies. It was pretty surreal visiting with these kids (boys and girls). They were very into the process, and are in the process of getting registered as a part of the National Scouting Organization. One other thing I really like about the Scouts here is that they are all-inclusive. No overt banning of “the three G’s” here (Gays, Girls and the godless, catergories of people explicitly prohibited from being full member of Boy Scouts of America, boo!) There are women involved in the planning and leadership of the group and though religion is a contributing factor in Scout organizations throughout the world, it is not necessarily a requirement. I know that I am an Eagle Scout, but I have been very disappointed in the stances that BSA has taken in recent years. See “Boy Scouts of America vs. Dale”. So kudos to Scouts of Mozambique for not being a bunch of exclusionist jerks.
Anyway, here, a couple more pics from the scout encounter.
At the end of the encounter they decided to close with a song and dance. I got a little bit of it on my camera but it’s too big to upload onto the blog. By this time, Jill and Lisa had come from their professorly duties and were observing the fun. They got in a circle as one of the youth leaders walked around in the center starting a call and response chant. Every time someone felt inspired to start in on a song they would jump in and break up the existing song to start the group off on another one. It was cool. It lasted for about 20 minutes and was mostly full of “we love the Scouts” and “do right in your community” kind of songs.
Then, a kid busted into the circle. One of the older kids in fact. He busted out with the following verse, which is apparently a bit form a song by an artist based in Beira. As he would chant, the group would respond (responses are in parentheses)
Minha mulher (eh!), minha mulher (que?!)
Minha mulher (eh!), minha mulher (que?!)
Eu pedi (sim!)
Ela negou (wha!)
Posso bater? (Bate!) Posso bater? (Bate!)
Posso bater? (Bate!) Posso bater? (Bate!)
So, for those who can’t figure it out, the guy is saying
“my woman, my woman, my woman, my woman
“I asked [for sex], she declined!
“Can I beat her? [with the response being "BEAT HER!"]“
Pretty crazy, huh? Jill and I just looked at eash other as soon as we figured out what they were saying, and we were both pretty dumbfounded. Here was a group that talked about equality and honor and friendliness… and they’re talking about beating women… AND THE GIRLS ARE PARTICIPATING IN THE CHANT TOO!!! Now, of course you can say it’s kids just being kids, reciting a song that is popular on the radio at the time (this is the mostl probable reason). It happens all the time in the states. But at the same time you wonder why of all places to present that song, they whip it out at the scout meeting. yeesh.
The beat was pretty awesome, though.
All in all, I immensely enjoyed my jaunt to Buzi. It’s another example of what I was talking about in Amatongas with Jenny. The girls in Buzi are really down with the Mozambicans. They have local hangouts and great relationships with students as well as community leadership, even though the leadership may not always be great. Here are a few more pics from that leg of my journey, including Jill’s 1st-place English Theater Group and some wicked amazing pizza, courtesy of a pizza kit sent by my Cousin Lea and family. Thanks to Todd, Lainey, Truman, and Morgan for the sweet food! We enjoyed it immensely!
I’m heading off on a trip to Northern Mozambique starting on December 18th. I will be back to Xai-Xai around January 18th, after our Peace Corps Mid-Service Conference in Maputo. So, if I do not write again…
Boas festes e boas entradas para todos!
Ciao!
PS- If you want to buy a phone card and discuss Lou Reed with me, I will be more than willing to oblige at any time of night In fact, can we just get one more really cool shot of Lou, just for shits n’ giggles?
sweet.
