Culture comes to Xai-Xai

A couple weeks ago Xai-Xai was inundated with representatives from all 10 provinces in Mozambique as the 5th Annual National Cultural Festival kicked off on July 11. During the week, there were performances by theater, music and dance groups as well as a food expo, a craft fair and even films from Mozambican directors.

One of the things I have been bitching about since I got to Xai-Xai is that there is very little attention paid to cultural affairs/events. During holidays, there are the obligatory women’s/youth groups that dance and sing and say “Oye (insert occasion or organization here)!!!!” and “Mata SIDA!!!!!” (Kill AIDS!!!). But there is rarely an occasion where you see a mass gathering of people to just celebrate Mozambican (or Shangana) culture. Maybe it’s because most people “celebrate their culture” enough on any average day of living- the work that goes into their farms and houses and families seem like cultural staples that have been around quite a while.

I was very happy to see the festival come to Xai-Xai. It not only brought a lot of people to the Southern region of Mozambique who had never seen this part of the country before, but it injected a bit of life into the population here. It also got vendors and businesses excited enough so that many did some refurbishing of their businesses. It was great to just meet people on the way to work who were from places I have never seen like Tet and Niassa. The presence of the President and Minister of Culture also lit a fire under the provincial government’s butt to make some quick fixes to the road (which are already back to being horrible) and some construction of some new buildings in the downtown area that used to look like bombed out war relics (despite the fact that the war never really reached Xai-Xai; the condition is due only to negligence.)

A couple highlights:

- I was told by an acquaintance at the kick-off party that (and I’m paraphrasing) “Mozambique is so great that I could pass out drunk in the middle of this party [which was quite big] I would wake up in the morning with my wallet and keys and phone still in my pockets… that doesn’t happen in South Africa for sure!”

Well, thank god for that! That’s why I love Mozambique too!!!

- At the film night that I went to, they showed a film about a woman who is beaten by her husband while eventually becoming pregnant with his child. Soon after she is encouraged to get a HIV test, which comes out positive. Her sister convinces her husband to support the mother (read: not beat her and protect her against discrimination) and due to regular check-ups and treatment, the baby is born and raised HIV negative (the Dad also realizes that he is HIV-positive).

The film was good in the approach it takes to female empowerment and the importance of family in the fight against HIV. The only bummer was that the film was all in Shangana, a Bantu dialect that is spoken only below the Save River. All of those participants from Tet or Sofala or Cabo Delgado or Nampula (among others) couldn’t understand what the people were saying. Subtitles were obviously needed.

Good News: There were subtitles

Bad News: The subtitles were in ENGLISH!!! (Doh!)

- I had clam stew, chicken zambeziana (coconut and spices), and matapa with shrimp at the food expo- and that was just at the Zambezia stand! They totally beat the pants off the other provinces in the cooking department. Gaza was kind of boring, but still good. Nampula had dried fish… really?! Couldn’t get some regular fish?!?! Interesting that “Maputo City” had a different booth than “Maputo Province” and yet they ahd basically the same thing.

- The craft fair was cool. It was split into provinces like most other expositions. You could see that certain provinces have been much more influenced by western culture and art than others. For example, the Manica section, with a city close to the Zimbabwean border (which up until a few years ago was an advantage for getting supplies) had crafts that used a lot of synthetic paint as well as more mechanized ways of sculpting wood and other mediums. The Niassa section has contact with, well, no one, and it shows. Their crafts mostly dealt with mats, pants and hats made of pulverized and dyed reeds. IT was really cool to see the differences between the crafts that each area had to offer. Unfortunately, they only let “official photographers” take pictures.

- The Zambezia delegation included students from a fellow PCV’s JOMA theater group. If that isn’t proof that JOMA helps kids develop their skills in areas of communication that leads to better/interesting opportunities, then I will quit (go Mocuba!!!!)

- I went and saw the National ballet company. It was pretty interesting, esp for someone who has only watched about 2 hours worth of ballet (and that was because it was in the Robert Altman movie The Company, not one of his best). I just felt bad for the guys who were int he middle of their routine and the CD player kept skipping, sometimes throwing them off the beat. Can we get a CD in this country that isn’t scratched to hell?!?!?!For the National Ballet Company, please?!?!?!

- The kick-off concert was great. I showed you one of the clips as a test of the google video application, which seems to have worked. A couple more 30 second clips are posted below. It exhibited different languages, a bunch of really good Timbila players and some ridiculous dancing. Here are a couple more videos from the concert. I know that 30 seconds are such a tease, but it gives you some idea of the fun I had.

FYI- My Mom gets here in less than a week (Wednesday the 30th to be exact).

Holy crap is this going to be fun.

Ok, tchau, ‘brigado.

 

Google Video Test- Xai-Xai Cultural Fest Video

Hi folks,

Here is a 30-second clip (the longest my camera will let me take film) from the National Cultural Festival held in Xai-XAi all last week. This little clip is from the kickoff concert on Friday the 11th. I am trying to see if this will work on my blog. If it does I will post more videos soon.

I know it’s poor quality with regards to both visuals and sound but you get the idea. It was awesome.

ok, tchau, ‘brigado!

 

when i get home…

selfish things i want to do when i get back to the states:

- Make a bacon, tomato and white cheddar grilled cheese sandwich with basil and oregano (or  4)

- See UCF in a bowl game.

- Watch ‘The Dark Knight’…5 times in a row.

- Clean up my Mom’s computer.

- Get a haircut.

- Play with one of those new-fangled Wii’s.

- Hop in a canoe and shove off for a few hours by myself.

- Hop on a bike and reacquaint myself with Sanibel.

- Go to Washington and see Obama’s inaugural parade.

- Of course, see the fam (stops in Ohio, Philly, MD and DC are a must)

I know I’ve been absent from the blog. I have a few photos from the National Cultural Festival which was held in Xai-Xai last week. I am trying to get my 30-second videos that I took up on a site so I can post them here as well. If you have any ideas on where I can do that, let me know.

Mom’s going to be here is T-minus 9 days and counting!!!! Expect some good stories from that. I am hoping to get her to post to the blog while she is here.

Latest plan for post-PC travel: Cape Town/Western South Africa. Fly to Lisbon, wander over to Paris (to see Morgan) then back Stateside. I talk big, so we’ll see how things turn out.

 

a note from the mgmt (not the band)

As some of you have already found out, this blog can be found on search engine site like Google and Yahoo. Every time someone does a search and ends up clicking on the link that takes them to this blog, WordPress registers it. I cannot see who is typing these terms to access my blog, but sometimes it is pretty entertaining to see how people arrive at my blog.

One of the most popular topics is people searching for info on Mango worms. I think that the post about the worm in my toe is my second most-viewed post on my blog.

Another is people looking for information about Mozambique. In this case, I saw yesterday that someone searched for something like “things to do and see in Xai-Xai”. I would bet money that this is my Mom, but if not, I can save you the time of an exhaustive afternoon combing through portuguese and South African sites about Mozambican property and lodges.

In Xai-Xai, you eat, drink and be merry… on a beach if the weather is good.

I encourage people who have questions about Xai-Xai or anything else to write me. I’m not exactly fully integrated, but I can give you some decent advice about traveling in Southern Mozambique if you need it.

And I apologize to the person who was looking for “remedies for sticky-tack stuck in hair”. I just don’t have the remedy for that problem on this site, though if I hear of one I will post it.

ok, tchau, ‘brigado.

 

…and with mangas, comes matakenhas (sic)

Let’s play a game:

One of these things don’t look like the other: can you guess which one? (yes, I know they are all pretty nasty… it’s what happens when you wear Chacos every day for a year)

So, remember those luscious mangoes growing near my house?

Well, I finally encountered the downside to Mango season. It’s called the Mango Worm, destroyer of feet (and feet fetishes, if that’s your bag).

I stubbed my toe one night walking back from Mike and Justin’s and opened up a nice cut right above my toenail. 4 days later, it seemingly became infected. 3 days after that (this past monday) I woke up to go down to the city to meet the guys for brunch. My toe looked like a cocktail weiner- bright pink, swollen and all around gross.

In walking outside, my empregada looked at my foot and said “Yee! You have a matakenha (mango worm)! We need to get that out, it’s already really bad.

She instinctively plucks a large thorn from the lemon tree in my yard and inches towards me like a viper closing in on wounded rat. I dash into the house, sterilize a safety pin that’s larger than my finger (thanks Marianne!!!) and rush back out, saying “maybe this will work a little better”

I should have gotten a picture as she lanced my toe, digging the white gooshy worm out of the pink sausage attached to my foot. I didn’t, but I’ll tell you what- it was like popping the biggest zit ever, only with a lot of blood afterwards. What had been a worm shot out of my foot about a foot, coming to rest on my knee. Here’s a close-up of the aftermath.

“ewwwww”

She left a crater in my toe, but it was worth it. As you can imagine, these things are active during mango season. They are in areas where there are a lot of leaves and blossoms on the ground, and you can pick them up just by walking with sandals (though in my case it was through an open wound).

Kudos to Dona Ilda for slaying the matakenha. I have a post coming on her, as well. I guess I am a bit behind on the posts. I have about 3 half-written, I just am waiting to get good pictures to accompany the stories.

Until then, here is another humorous pic of a guy who had a really fun night last Sunday during Xai Xai City Day (October 6).

Classy… right next to the “Long Live President Guebuza” banner.
Going to be out of touch (on vacation) from Oct 20-Nov 4, so Happy Halloween to everyone!

 

in and out.

I’m in the office today for about 20 minutes before I have to go to a youth training that I am helping to facilitate all of this week. SO, a whirlwind update, bullet-style.

*First and foremost, thanks to Marianna and Dick Holmes. Their package finally found its way to me from around Easter time (hooray Peeps!). This goes to show you that it sometimes just takes a really long time to get here. Someone shoves it in a corner in the customs area and it could be lost for months. Sorry to those who have sent me things that have not yet arrived (Alexia and Dave- March, Debbie- April). But there is encouraging news. My mom sent me a big padded envelope (the best and cheapest way to go) to my new Xai Xai address

David Davies-Deis, PCV

CP 85

Xai Xai, Gaza, Mozambique

and it got here in less than about 16 days! Amazing!

And if anyone has some Johnny Cash or any of those other old country skunks that they’d like to burn and send my way, ah’d sure be obliged!

*Just finished Sunday number 2 of 5 consecutive weeks where I plan on hitting local churches in my neighborhood. First impressions:

- The Assembly of God is a pretty light-hearted group! They dance, they sing, they make fun of the pastor while he is preaching. This is my empregada’s church and I plan on going back every once in a while. The only weird part was that they had me sit up with the pastor and hang out with him and the ‘elders’ the whole time (who are all men, boo). Oh, and they had about 5 different collection plate ceremonies. I plunked down a relatively generous offering the first time, but had nothing left to give the next few times… tricky folk! I may even go back this weekend to their 5 year anniversary of the founding of their local activist group. Supposedly I will see a lot of goats get slaughtered for the glory of jesus.

- Last weekend went to a church with a friend I know through Mike and Justin (he is a student of theirs). It was a little more intimate, and a lot more boring. The songs were lackluster (I think I care more about the music than anything) and the crowd was stiff as cardboard. No lively shouting or dancing or light-hearted comments, just serious jesus-time. Which is fine. Luckily it was only an hour and a half. Won’t be going back there unless they invite me to their monthly soccer game. Next up is going to the “Igreja Evangelica” (I’ll bet you can guess which one that is) with the driver for our program, Manjate. After that, I am going to the “Igreja Metodista” (again, not too hard to figure out) with my neighbor. Then, I may put in another appearance with a coworker at the Catholic church where the Xai Xai crew went for Easter. My goal is to make friends with one of the Muslims who lives near me and get to go to the mosque, but I don’t know if that is in the cards for the near future.

*Am planning my first real vacation since I got here, prob for sometime around October. This will be in-country, but I plan on going up north (meaning to Sofala, Manica and Tete- NOT Nampula Zambezia and Cabo) and visiting other PCV sites that I normally wouldn’t find see myself going to for the next year and a half. More on that in the future.

*I have now been charged with assisting in building capacity of communication and documentation within the Xai Xai Save the Children office. I guess I asked for more to do and they responded with all their might. Am excited, but already thoroughly depressed about the level of interest that people have in doing something as simple as a newsletter. It will be fun, though, and help to build my own skills in this area.

*Last but not least- I want everyone who reads this who may see my Mom in the next 6 months to keep on her about coming here! I know she will get mad at me for saying this, but I want you all to light a fire under her. We have talked a bit about it, but her getting weekly encouragement to line things up for next summer cannot hurt. I am thinking late May or June for about 3 weeks, part of it spent in Mozambique and part spent in another country close by (Kenya, anyone?)

Of course, if anyone else is passing through Africa or is just bored and wants to drop by, whether you are friends, family, or have never even met me before in your life, come on down. Just give me a couple days’ notice to clear my schedule

I know I keep saying this, but pics coming soon, as soon as I get about two hours free to upload on my computer (which is currently out of commission)

Ciao!

 

Birthday Post, Tuesday 06-03-06

A quick post before I head out for the day.

I wanted to show a few photos (really the only ones that turned out) of the birthday party that took place in my backyard in honor of tia Yvonne, the awesome lady that is becoming like a real Aunt to me. Her son, Lindo, is the same age as me so I think she understands where I am at in my life (wherever that is). She invites me to tea and other meals, looks after the house for me when I am gone and is an all around warm and caring individual. She also has a year of good luck under her belt because her b-day was on the same day as the lunar eclipse, which we watched from the party. It was absolutely beautiful, but my camera is not quite good enough to capture a good shot. Also, look for shots of my backyard (nice)

Here is Yvonne and her madrinha cutting the cake- a tradition that seems to carry throughout peoples’ lives here (I saw the same thing in Mafuiane). Her padrinho is the guy cheesin for the camera

The group picture is of Yvonne, my landlords-turned- new other family in Mozambique (they are also very supportive and helpful.) as well as sisters and other main relatives

And now my attempt at an eclipse pic. It sucks, but I did stay up and see the whole thing and it was great!

Also, of course, I would like to wish a belated feliz aniversário and parabens! to my cousin Morgan, Aunt Kim, and my Grandpa who have all celebrated birthdays recently as well as my colleague Luisa, who just turned 22 today! March madness already!

And now, just a couple parting shots of the beach. Someday, you all may get sick of seeing pics of the beach. I have not, and so I will put them up for all who care to see.

These two are my favorites. It looks as if a satellite has plunged from space into the water, or an impatient fisherman chucked a stick of dynamite at a passing school of bluegill, but it’s really just a wave hitting the rocks on Xai Xai beach. I am now going to the beach early in the mornings on weekends to see more stuff like this. Yes, I am lucky.

Ok, that’s it for now but you can see other new pics on the webshots site
www.webshots.com/user/daviddaviesdeis
I am going to Maputo for a PC conference tomorrow, and will be back to work on Monday. Hope to get some cool pics of Maputo while I am there (including my holy grail- me in front of streetsigns for all the big socialist leaders in history).
Ciao!

 

Update 26-2-07. All clear on the Gaza, MZ front!

Written on 25-2-07

Don´t worry. The cyclone was not even close to Xai Xai.

To my knowledge, all PCVs in Mozambique are safe. The PCMoz staff here has in place an Emergency Action Plan that anticipates possible safety risks such as cyclones and devises strategies for consolidation and evacuation if needed. I know that all of the PCVs of the affected areas were n no danger as Favio hit came ashore. As for my area, we didn’t get so much as a light rain. A nice breeze kicked up Wednesday afternoon, but it did nothing to lessen the awful heat that we experienced this past couple of weeks. However, this weekend we have seen a nice change of pace, getting bands of rain (possibly the residual effects of Favio, but I couldn’t tell you for sure) since Friday night. Actually, yesterday was a perfect beach day until about 1630hrs when, while sitting down to a midafternoon snack at one of the beachfront restaurants, our group encountered quite a storm. Didn’t last too long, but it effectively ended our beach excursion. The rain, though, is much needed here for crops and overall relief from this heat. In the spirit of most of my childhood, I have bought a couple fans and have them on full blast whenever I am home. Not that I even have the option of air-conditioning here, but I have always preferred an open-air household. Being the son of Holly Davies, it was necessary to always have at least 3 fans going in the house at any given time, and it worked quite well. Anything to keep cool here, including taking multiple baths a day if there is enough water.

I have lately hit a bit of a ‘plateau’ when it comes to my Portuguese retention. I don´t think of it as a peak, but with my current work and interaction with folks who speak English on a regular basis, my learning has slowed a bit in comparison to the first month here in XX. I think that I have gotten a little lax on the “Portuguese Only” mandate that I introduced to my coworkers back in December. Some of that is the urgency to get an idea across; being that some of the staff at least understands a fair amount of English, I would say that I have a relatively easier time communicating problems to my coworkers than some PCVs. I need to get back on the wagon, since I am starting to work more in the field, and my counterparts will not always be there to help me out when the kids are mumbling Portuguese through pursed lips and other obstructions.

(Remember when your parents/teachers would always tell you to take your hands away from your mouth when you talk? Well, if it isn’t a hand, it’s a big hunk of sugar cane, gum, pens/pencils, or a necklace that these young’ns are chewin’ on that interrupts the flow of information.)

I think that my biggest problem thus far has not been retaining information, but figuring out how to pronounce all of the words (especially verbs) correctly. I can imagine that really KNOWING Spanish or French would help in terms of the base of vocabulary and verb conjugation as well as general sentence structure, but even the miniscule bit of Spanish that I remember has effectively confused my brain when I attempt to speak Portuguese. I see a word, pronounce it, and usually get this perplexed look from my audience. Either I was way off base, or I missed a syllable here or there, or I am throwing in a bit too much espanol for their liking (or, sometimes I am correct and they just don’t speak Portuguese, which is a whole different problem to be addressed in future months with the aid of a Shangaan tutor). During our QDP training, a couple weeks back, I was selected by my group to present a list of situations and where they would fit in terms of the QDP process. There was the list, up on the board, and there I was with the mic, reading the list.

It was a disaster.

The good news is, I can ‘shusshh’ my S’s and ‘Ow’ my ão’s. But it was awful. The funny thing is, when you are in a training, Mozambican folks are so nice that even if you completely flub the talk/speech, they still say they understand (although I have a sneaking suspicion that a couple of them just wanted to recess for afternoon tea and couldn’t give a shit what came out of my mouth. The thing is, I’ve got a lot of work left before I can read Portuguese WELL.

Práctica, Práctica, e mais Práctica!

Though the language can be extremely frustrating, I have still made a lot of progress with my surrounding community. More and more people know my name every day, and I have learned to play a couple really interesting games with my neighbors´ kids. Mostly, Mozambican kids are all about throwing or kicking various things at each other. I am especially fond of a certain game that involves two teams. It could be considered a futebol drill, but I think it’s one of those games that kids play so they can take shots at their friends (remember kill the carrier and red rover?). Two teams face each other on their goal lines, about 10-15 yards apart (remember, these are young kids). Goals are two sticks placed about 3-4 yards apart. Each team has anywhere between 2-5 players. Team A dropkicks the ball towards Team B’s goal. Team B cannot catch the incoming shot, only deflect it. Then, Team B gets to take a shot on Team A wherever the ball has come to rest. If they score, a player from Team A (I think the person who let the ball go by or last touched it) is out. Then Team A has to dropkick again towards Team B’s goal. If Team A successfully defends, then Team B has to dropkick the ball towards Team A and the whole process is reversed.

I think the dropkick is essentially a serve, with the following shot on goal being the true test of might. Even though I am a big guy, it was still fun to play. I never did win despite my size, though my team eventually won all of the games that we played. I also took a shot to the face that left me dazed for a couple minutes (this one kid who has to be at least 15 just shot at me point-blank. It hurt.)

Why did I just describe a random Mozambican game to people who will never play this game or see it played? For one thing, this is just one of the dozens of games that kids play here. In my neighborhood, there are kids of all ages, and it is a very safe place to run around. Though in my earlier posts I have described the awful stranglehold that TV has started to have on many folks here, it is very encouraging to know that lots of kids still get home after school, shed their uniforms, and bolt for the street to play with friends outside. I have sat on the wall separating my house from the street just watching these kids run around, and I cannot help but think that for many American kids, the ability to run around until dark is practically nonexistent. How many parents Stateside let their kids run off with friends without so much as a ‘ciao!’ Not too many. I remember in high school reading To Kill a Mockingbird. While we were watching the fantabulous movie adaptation, Mrs. Pinkard, our teacher, would ask us to compare the lifestyles of the young protagonists- able to run around the neighborhood, play in other peoples’ yards, and not have a care in the world with regards to security- to our own formative years- which were considerably more restricted. I know that I had a pretty liberal childhood on Sanibel- I could ride my bike anywhere I wanted on the island throughout a lot of my childhood. I also realize that there are pockets within America- specifically more rural areas- where a kid can be gone in the summer from sunrise to sunset without any word and the parents are not worried one bit.

Here in Mozambique, these kids have free reign, and I love it. It reminds me of Scout and Jem and DIll rollicking around in TKAM and I am jealous. Wanna go down the hill and play in the cornfields? Let’s do it. Wanna go spy on the weird white people at the BP? Vamos. I think parents here are not lazy or unattentive. I just think that kids here are streetwise at a much earlier age. In the States, kids learn to swim at 3-4 so they don’t fall into the indoor swimming pools and drown. In Mozambique, kids know how to carry 15 kgs of rice back from the market or 10 liters of water back from the pump as soon as they can walk. They are tough little maninos, and so letting them go off and play down the street doesn’t seem nearly so ludicrous as it does in the States.

Also, I would also like to point out that yes, there are some little fat kids in Mozambique. However, I would not say that Mozambique has a problem with childhood obesity. I know there are parasites and food issues in certain parts, but for the most part kids here are just not little fat slugs who sit and watch Spongebob all day. If more American kids (myself included… I was a lazy little punk) had the work ethic of Mozambican children, we’d all be raising a bunch of juvenile Greek sculptures rather than miniature Peter Paul Reubens portraits (see below). Not to say that the subjects in Rubens’ stuff are not beautiful… just a bit… hefty. Ok, so that last analogy was a stretch, but you get the idea.

Hmmm…see what I mean?

*Not a gram of extra fat on these kids in Mafuiane (a farming community where kids are up at the crack of dawn doing SOMETHING)

So anyway, kids here are buff, working machines, something us western folk have gotten away from. Back quickly to the games these kids play. I also really like that there is a lot of teamwork in these games. Though you see a lot of fancy footwork and ball handling in futebol games (there are ball hogs in every culture), a lot of the games I see are about groups and teams and working in conjunction with each other. I think that this bodes well for the future, both immediate and distant. I am really hoping that it this trend holds true when we start reorganizing the youth groups in the next few months so that they can become more productive. Go team!

So, just want to give a quick but important THANK-YOU to a couple folks who have sent me goodies that I just received from the Peace Corps Office. They came a while ago, but a driver just brought them up for me this past week.

Pat and Bette- the shortbread cookies were absolute heaven, and so were the pistachios. Thank you so much (and yes, the computer is still working out great)

Alexia and Dave- I guess I was a decent RA. Thanks for all of the support and CONGRATULATIONS!!! I am so glad to hear that things are going so well, and thank you for the package. I have already killed the candy (a PCV hosted a movie night the day that I received your goods, everybody loved the Sour Patch treats and express their deepest thanks!).

And of course, MOM! I love you! thanks for all the magazines (especially the Spin!).

Take care all, will hopefully post again soon.

 

18-1-07, Things are becoming more normal

Considering the availability that I had to the internet for the weeks surrounding the holidays, it has been a while since I have been able to get on the internet. This is partly due to the fact that I am starting to work more outside of the office. Mostly, this is due to the fact that the internet has been out. Even when we do get internet in the office working again, it will be hard to procure a computer now that most everyone is back from the holidays.

Catching up on the last couple weeks: We have started to conduct surveys with the various health posts around the districts in which we have youth development programs. The goal of these surveys is to find out what each post, center or hospital has to offer in terms of services, materials, and the relationships that they have with any community groups- youth or otherwise- with regards to distributing information or facilitating activities about sexual and reproductive health. We´ve only visited three so far, but the results have been… interesting. I am not publicly criticizing the Mozambican health system, since PCVs have gotten into trouble for that sort of thing before. Instead, I will give you some numbers and observations from my visit to one center. This center had 1 supervising nurse diagnosing patients and 1 assistant distributing medicine on duty. Outside, there were about 60-70 people who needed some kind of attention. This center had two rooms total. 1 bed, 5 chairs, and 2 desks were all of the furniture they had- all looked to be older than I. This two room center provides basic medicine for illnesses like malaria and fevers. It serves a community of about 50,000 people, give or take a few thousand. The main hospital is about 30 kilometers away, in an area where about 1 in 100 people have motorized transportation. This being said, I felt pretty bad taking up an hour of the nurse´s time to conduct the survey, since there were so many people still to be seen. At the conclusion of our interview, the nurse asked us what Save could do about helping ameliorate the structure and capabilities of the health center. My counterpart explained that we were mostly involved with education and prevention, and our program did not disperse funds to repair government buildings. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I feel that as I get more entrenched in the community, I will start to see many disparaging and frustrating situations that I have little or no power to do anything about.

Switching gears, last weekend I hopped down to Maputo for an overnight to be introduced to the country director of Save the Children, a really nice old guy that vaguely reminds me of George Campbell. They put me up in a hotel and on Sunday, I had some free time to passear around Maputo. I never have really lived in a large city before, so this could hold true for many areas around the world, but in Maputo on Sunday, it´s like walking through a ghost town. Sure, there are the random beggars and a barraca or two open near residential areas, but for the most part if you are not near a church, you are walking around with no one in sight. I loved it. It gave me a chance to walk around and figure out parts of the city that usually are filled with vendors and kids begging for money. I´ll try to post a map of Maputo if I can find one online, but in looking at the street names, you will find evidence of the Socialist background upon which FRELIMO- Mozambique´s ruling party- was founded. At one point I can stand on the corner of Avenida Karl Marx and Avenida Mao Tse Tung. There are other streets named after Lenine, Ho Chi Minh, Kim Il Sung, as well as Mozambican and other African Socialist leaders- Samora Machel (the first president of Mozambique; some of you older folks may recall back in the late 80´s hearing that his plane crashed during a trip to Malawi. Some say the South Africans sabotaged the plane.) Also, Eduardo Mondlane, who was one of FRELIMO´s first leaders and was assassinated by a mail bomb. I do not have many pics of Maputo, or much of anything yet since I do not entirely feel confidant whipping out my camera in areas that I am not totally familiar with (which is almost everywhere), but I have two years and many trips to Maputo ahead of me, so there will be many sights to be seen in time.

At the hotel, I watched C-Span. It was 4 day old sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee now chaired by Joe Biden and with members including Obama, Kerry, Feingold, Dick Lugar, Barbara Boxer, John Sununu, and many others who I now forget (including the senator from Jersey who didn´t vote for the war in the first place and the guy that whipped Santorum, hahaha.) Never have I been so engrossed by C-Span except for when they show the British Parliament sessions, which make for exciting political entertainment. Anyway, there was Condi Rice, getting shredded by pretty much everyone. As Biden put it in his closing arguments- with the exception of one or two members sitting here today, all of the 21 senators sitting on this committee have negative feelings toward the president´s new policy in
Iraq. The sentiments range from somewhat skeptical to downright outraged.I was pretty impressed with the bipartisan condemnation of Bush´s announcement of increased troop numbers (22,000 is what I´m hearing), headlined by Russ Feingold´s amazing verbal thrashing of Condi. Follow that with ol´Ted Kennedy throwing down the gauntlet, and it seems that there may be a war within Washington just to gain control of foreign policy. I think Kennedy and Bush should have it out in a no-holds-barred cage match on Pay Per View, refereed by Tim Russert, with all money going to refugee relief in the Sudan (I bet Kennedy would pin him in 7 minutes, once Bush got tired of running for his life). It was nice to just be able to watch some American politics. I didn´t think that three months into being here I would crave American politics, but here it´s FRELIMO, 24/7, and that´s about it.

Ok, back to Mozambique, kind of. I had a couple beers down the street from the hotel with 4 Mozambican men and an old Portuguese guy. They were very curious about the US and politics there. One menino (young male) told me that he was “with Bin Laden” (the Portuguese guy immediately said that if you are really with Bin Laden, you can “up and f-off”, you are not welcome at this table). I asked what he knew about Bin Laden and he said that he just wanted to see the US look foolish, and that Bin Laden is good at doing that. Interesting perspective, though it is only ONE perspective and does not at all represent the views of all or even many Mozambicans. The Portuguese man responded by saying that when you live in a country with a 18 percent HIV prevalence rate and an average income that is less than that of most of the poorest Americans, it is HE that looks foolish. The young Mozambican had little to say after that.I was enthralled by some of the discussion that proceeded to take place at this table. Some included telling me what my job should be while I am here; I evidently need to work more on safeguarding cattle supplies and corn quality rather than fighting a medical nightmare that is killing thousands of people in the world each day. We also talked about the job atmosphere of
Mozambique. One gentleman said that I was taking a job away that potentially could be given to a Mozambican. I responded that I am a volunteer and that I do not make any money, but if he would like to do my job he is more than welcome to come to Gaza and assist me out in the field working with youth teaching them about sexual health. He said that his job as a chappa driver was better.I love talking to random folks, because it will always make me think that even if I may have heard 100 different ways to combat HIV or ways to make Mozambique better, there is always one more sitting next to me at a bar or in a chappa. I don´t even have to bring anything up, I just have to say “Bom Dia!” and off we go in a conversation that I have no idea where it will take me. These are the best ways to converse- I get to practice my Portuguese, learn about culture, and usually find out some random fact about something that I never would have known about had I not said hello to this exact person. Just today on the way to work I learned that in the Gaza province the fishing is better than many parts of the world. Now, I don´t know if this is even true, in fact I doubt it is true. However, you learn about the person who said this comment. They are proud of where they live, and proud of their profession (he was obviously a fisherman, and by the smell of his hat that he laid on my lap, he had just been gutting his freshest catch) and that gives me more insight into how people live day to day.

Going to go cook dinner, on my gas stove! It´s an old stove that Save had in a warehouse. My first meal was- of all things- RAMEN. I had packed it from the States for just that occasion. How college. Tonight, I´m making mango spaghetti. Never thought that adding a diced mango to fresh tomato sauce would be good, but it is. The mangoes are off one of the trees in my yard and they are great. Also in season right now are pineapples, which I can get from a coworker for 10 Mtn each. That´s about 40 cents a pineapple (Ananàs in Portugues). The small ones are 5 at the market, and they chop the skins off but leave the stems so you can eat them as you passear the market like popsicles. Also, I´ve always thought myself to be a good omelette chef, and now I get to practice. Eggs are one of the cheapest source of protein here, so it´s omelettes for breakfast throughout the week.

Oh, and I saw a pirated version of Babel and a bootlegged Children of Men at my Mozambican counterpart´s house. Freakin´ amazing movies, both of them! I just need to procurar a copy of the Departed, because I hear it is great!

One Last thing! Happy Birthday Uncle Matt!!! Hope everything is progressing well!

Love to all. Ciao!