Mabote

I stayed in Makwakwa (such a fun name, right?!) for most of the day, hanging out with the kids of the school, talking to Mandy, and getting a feel for how things are run there. I went out to the road to catch a ride back 14km to Julie's site, and we waited about an hour or so (surprisingly short amount of time). I may or may not have ridden a motorcycle, and if I had (which I'm not saying I did) it would've been my first in Mozambique. Once with Julie in Mabote we wandered about, went out to eat where we were able to charge our phones and computers (she has no electricity), and talk about PC.


In the morning I went for a run through the bush: it was awesome. It was a dirt path leading to nowhere, with thick forest on either side of me, super misty and cool, and I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere, all alone.

After my run, I met her counterpart Castilo, who she works with on FUEMO (Future business leaders of Mozambique) and her English class. He is about my age, a 12th grade grad, working to open a shop but coming up shorthanded. He speaks great English but wants to continue studying, and he's currently writing a business proposal to turn in to FUEMO to try and receive money to open his shop. I spoke to him alone for awhile and he raved about how much help Julie has been. Working with someone with a different point of view as well as a strong drive to make things happen has really opened doors for him, as well as opened up his way of thinking. It has been so great to meet people changed by PCVs!

My trip out of town was about as easy as my trip in- not easy at all. I waited for almost 3 hours with ZERO cars going by, but finally got in a truck. Which broke down 4 times. Thankfully people passed us on the road to help jump-start the car, and everything worked out perfectly fine, but that was not somewhere I wanted to be stranded.