Malaria Awareness Month

Random Run-in

Last weekend, after a dance party on a roof in downtown Maputo and then a dramatic downpour of rain, we (myself and several other PCVs) got a ride home from a friend of Ali’s. His passenger in the front turns around and looks at me, says “You’re Anna, from Namaacha right?” “Yes…..”
I respond, slightly taken aback. “I did your dreadlocks two years ago.” How random! It definitely took me by surprise. We talked about how long I had my dreads, why I no longer do, and the fact that we were on TV together last year. Strange end to an interesting and eventful evening.

Mini English Lesson

On my way home from work yesterday I ran into a young girl who approached me and asked if I could help her with her English homework. I explained to her that I would help her by explaining what she didn’t understand, not by writing her composition for her. She said she understood and still wanted to come by for help. It was so wonderful to sit and talk with her, someone who was motivated to learn and learn correct information. That sentiment seems to be lost on most people. Usually I don’t like to be singled out, but it was SO refreshing to be sought out by someone who genuinely wanted to learn, and someone I was able to help.

Frustration

I was so beyond upset yesterday after 2 things happened: 1) I came home and there were two children in our yard climbing a guava tree. I yelled at them to get down, but before I could unlock the gate and get to them, they jumped the fence and took off running. NONE of my neighbors helped me locate these kids and their parents, even thought EVERY single neighbor I have saw what was happening. 2) Two little boys were yelling and throwing rocks at Amenduim from my neighbor’s house and their mother was just sitting watching them, laughing, even after I told them to stop.

One thing I still can't come to grips with here is the apparent lack of parental guidance. Culturally, child rearing here is VERY different than I'm used to, and I recognize that, but still the fact that parents (let's be honest, mothers, because fathers are virtually non-existent here) don't seem to play much of a role in disciplining their children is difficult for me to get. After speaking to all of the women who live around our house, they all understand that we don’t appreciate their kids throwing rocks at our house and jumping into our yard when we’re not home. For the record, when it comes to school, many parents don’t see the importance of school so they do not monitor their child’s schooling- if s/he does their homework, passes each grade level, or even goes to school.) For me, it seems like a small thing to set boundaries, ie “go to school”, or “don’t throw rocks at the neighbor’s house/dog”. Instead the mothers act like they don’t see it. The 11pm screaming games they play just outside our house, the constant “Mulungo! Mulungo!” after I say “my name is not Mulungo, it’s Tia Ana”, turning off our water. They act like it’s not their job to control their kids, but isn’t it? At least to an extent? Then again, I don’t have kids…

Again, I understand that things are different here, and I’m sure the mothers care deeply for their kids, but I still can’t seem to get how often they turn the other way and act ignorant when I know they’re not. Is it because we’re the foreigners? Do they get away with all this with other people in the community?

Our water situation...

This is our bath bucket. This is the water that comes out of the hose in our yard, the water we’re using to bathe, cook, drink, clean, etc. A little ridiculous, is it not? Do I really feel cleaner AFTER taking a bath?

SHENZI!!!

Our new puppy, who was named after a hyena in The Lion King. We think he’s about 5 weeks? And absolutely adorable.


This is little Shenzi trying to eat the leftover pasta out of the pot. He got stuck on the wooden spoon a few times

St Patties!!!

A group of about 20 PCVs came to the beach in Xai Xai for a weekend of celebration. No, I’m not Irish but I can still enjoy St Patrick’s day! We wave surfed, threw the WaBoBa (WaterBouncyBall is our understanding. Scooter gave herself an enormous knot in her back from her 4hours of continuous play), soaked up some sun, ate green food, drank green beverages, and caught up with volunteers from all over the south. A great, festive weekend, and believe it or not, I even got some work done :)

Lemon and guava and mango OH MY!

I'm not used to having to many fruit trees in my yard! Guava, mango, papaya, lemon - It's wonderful- at any time of the day I can walk outside and grab a snack, or fresh juice to use in tea. I've been on a lemon kick lately- lemon juice goes in EVERYTHING!

Several of the neighbor kids come by just about every day to ask to pick from our "peara" tree (a guava tree from what I'm told). They know the drill- I come out, grab hold of Amenduim, open the gate, and the kids get one minute to gather as much fruit as possible. The second or third time they came to the house, I heard one little boy tell a girl "we only get one minute! move fast!" They fill their pockets, turn their shirts into bags, and hit up as many trees as posible. Yesterday there were three kids in a tree at once, grabbing at fruit, shaking branches. They're pretty amusing to watch.

Scooter and her Piri Piri

The other night, Scooter and I had a visitor, another PCV named Jonathon, so we decided to head to a bar and grab a beer and socialize a little. We all have a weakness for samussas (ESPECIALLY from this particular bar) so we were pretty excited when we saw they had them.

Scooter (to me in English): Oh look! They have samussas! we should get some.
Scooter (to the vendor in Portuguese): We'd like 3 beers. Do you have Piri Piri?
Two vendors look at each other but nobody says a word. You can see the wheels turning in the man's head- She wants hot sauce for her beers? Who is this crazy white lady? I'm not going to give it to her- that's just too weird.
He takes a few steps backwards, and continues to look at us, a look of disgust forming on his face, trying very hard not to answer our question.
At the same moment, Scooter and I realize she hadn't mentioned samussas to them, just to me, and we burst out laughing.
We clear up the confusion, asking for a plate full of samussas to accompany the piri piri, and both vendors let go of the breaths they'd been holding.
Female vendor: So you're not going to put piri piri in your beer? Ok, then yes, I think we have some.

We just keep seem to adding to the stereotype of "those crazy white people," trying to ruin our perfectly fine beers with hot sauce.

Fun times in 3 days

Favorite moments between Tues 7am until Thurs 6pm...
- visited 3 different PCVs, had two official meetings and visited 6 different towns.
- rode in 24 different vehicles
- saw a semi-truck with the windshield FULL of beanie babies
- a man's polo shirt with a dragon embroidered on the front
- was startled awake while sitting on the toilet, reaching for the TP, when a gecko who was sleeping inside the TP roll leapt onto my arm
- a MAN gave up his seat on a bus for a WOMAN with a baby. Unheard of
- 7th car (of 24)- whenever he hit the brakes, the music would stop
- 11th car (of 24)- as we talked about the horrible traffic I said, "It must be because it's lunch time, everyone is going somewhere." The driver, "oh no, lunch is at 12. It's only 11" While saying this, he points to the clock on the dash which reads 11:58.
- Made it to and from my bed in the time I had originally planned :)

Meetings

I was invited to a meeting with the Ministry of Science and Technology, along with representatives from all districts in Gaza and several professors. Important meeting. Very different from a meeting in the states.

1. We started an hour and a half late, because the boss-man was late;
2. People were STILL walking in late;
3. Boss-man (Minister of S and T) would answer his phone in mid sentence of talking to us;
4. The presenter was clueless to what he was presenting, like he hadn't practiced at all;
5. Boss-man in turn ripped the presenter apart, telling him "that's wrong" "change that" "research this". I'm sure he was right but the presenter never got more than 5 words in without being interrupted;
6. Invitees were asked to present (without being informed ahead of time). Turns out the invitee was yours truly- not sure it was the best presentation of my life, but I got through..
7. When wrapping up the meeting, each person (whether they want to or not) individually, must talk about the meeting- what they liked, learned, any feedback, questions, etc (note: this went on for an hour).

Several things-
-If the person before you, who has given feedback for +5 minutes, has mentioned everything you want to say, is it imperative that you repeat everything again? Almost word for word?
-Also, if you're going to make an annual calendar and plan events for January and February, it might be helpful to have the planning meeting BEFORE March. Just a thought.

Hokwe!!

Yesterday I went to visit my old site for the afternoon. It was amazing!!! I will admit, when I left back in November, I didn't have the best feelings about coming back to visit. Well, I was pleasantly surprised by what a great time I had. I got into town and went straight to the new house of my empregada, Cristina (the one with the two MOST ADORABLE kids on the planet). Eloite and Rafito were SOOOO excited to see me, they came running out of the bushes with their arms outstretched and lept onto me. For a few hours I talked with Cristina about how she's been doing, how Rafito has started school and LOVES doing homework, and trying to arrange a way for her to come visit me. And to eat with our tea, she bought me bread and bagias because she knows I love them so much :)

Next I went to visit my old house, where another teacher is now living, and all my old neighbor kids. They had about the same reaction- running towards me with outstretched arms. They followed me to the school where I was able to see so many of my old students, a few different teachers, and my director. So many of my students came up and gave me hugs- I'm assuming that means they have good memories of me rather than me yelling at them or giving them too much work ;)

I stopped by the store a used to visit on a daily basis to talk to Rafael- he was beside himself that I actually came back to say hi. Then I visited the parents of one of my REDES girls, to talk and eat and catch up on how they spent their holidays.

It was a wonderful trip- very rushed (I was only there about 4 hours) but for my first time back I think it was great. Next time I want to sit down with all my REDES girls and see how they're doing, help Cristina with her machamba, study with Rafito, and of course visit my adopted Moz family.

Also, a new record- in 4 hours I had tea 3 times, lunch twice, and got well over 100 hugs. Big morning!

Maputo

It's been a kinda crazy week- meetings in the city, traveling up to Gaza, finally getting some progress on work. Last night was a nice break from everything- we found a hole in the wall restaurant which was amazing! We had to walk through a courtyard and then through a random restuarant and ended up in what looked like a run down fair, with bumper cars and a ferris wheel. Where we ate was an authentic Korean place, where we cooked our our food at the table. It was amazing!! Me and Michelle, another PCV, were the only non-Asian diners at the place.
After dinner we went out and convinced the bumpercar attendent guy that it wasn't too late and he should let us drive around for awhile. It was a very awesome 3 minutes.

Now I'm headed back home, to finalize some work, spend some time with Amenduim, and try to keep our house from flooding. We've had 3 (or is it 4?) cyclones his Mozambique so far in the last few months- another is expected to hit tomorrow. I'm guessing for me that means no power, inability to leave my house due to the yard flooding, and bi-hourly water removel from my room and the kitchen. Should be a good time...

Rat-killing dog who's affraid of Frogs

Leaping in Moz

Scooter Eric and Anna

Good day

Yesterday I received three phone calls from three different REDES girls!!! All three of them had been my students as well as members of my REDES group in Hokwe. It was so good to hear thier voices! They just wanted to call to say hi, to hear my voice, and let me know they were thinking of me. I miss them so much sometimes.

I traveled up to Gaza province to do some work and passes by Macia, somewhere I always used to either visit or pass through- I haven't been up here in months! A lot of feelings came rushing back. I thought about going back to Hokwe to visit my students, REDES girls, and my family, but turns out I didn't really have the time this trip. I'm hoping next week.

Another AWESOME highlight from today was running into one of my former students! Nando was one of the first people I met when I first got to Hokwe- he helped me carry in my bags, showed me the market and the school (even though both were pretty obvious), and would come sit and talk with me on my porch. Well, I was sitting outside at a restaurant in Xai Xai and he happened to be walking by. I hear "nao e! Nao e!!! Mana Ana I thought you left! What are you dong here? I haven't seen you in so long!" He ran up to me with a hug, and we caught up for a few minutes. He left my town after he graduated 12th grade and got a job working in Xai Xai, a decent sized city on the EN1. His son and wife, both of whom I loved spending time with, weren't around, but I'm hoping to see them next time I pass through.

A great day overall

Pets

Although our only original pet is Amenduim, our loveable yet so annoyingly-starved-for-attention dog, we've accuired a few other pets. Hector is our electronic butterfly who lives in a jar (thank you Will!) and Helen is his real life friend who visits. KD (short for Komodo Dragon) is our GIANT lizard. He hides behind different posters on the wall during the day and comes out in the evenings. The other day he pumped into our full length mirror propped against the wall- almost knocked it over. He's enormous. He has two friends that are also giant but they don't have names yet... And then there's Sheldon and Amy, our two frogs. They typically sleep/hang out in my room in the day and jump around the house at night. Best part- Amenduim is scared on them! Whenever he sees them he'll try to avoid looking right at them, pretending they're not there. Their favorite place to hang out- Amenduim's water dish.

Snake in the bathroom

Really, I think it's one of the last places I'd like to run into a snake. Thankfully it wasn't me who discovered him, but Scooter. We had a few fellow PCVs come stay with us in Namaacha this weekend- which was fantastic!- and yesterday evening, as we're all getting ready for bed, we heard Scooter screeching from outside "COBRA! COBRA! CORBA!" I grabbed the dog, who thankfully hadn't noticed the snake yet, and one of the boys grabbed the broom. The snake wasn't very big- a couple feet long and a nickle/quarter in width-ish- but it was bright yellow with black stripes which threw us off. Poisonous, maybe? Anyways, Scooter stayed as far from it as possible, and rather than kill it, the boys decided to play with it and piss it off, so it was hissing. When it started crawling up the wall toward it's freedom I grabbed the broom and whacked it a few times. Maybe a few too many- but I wasn't taking chances it would slither away.

Typical Morning

So nowadays, the typical morning for Ms. Tremaine goes something like this- wake up, go for a run, do a workout video, carte water, do dishes, make breakfast, watch an episode of community or how i met your mother, take a shower (aka bucket bath), play with Amenduim, walk 15 mins to work, sit here and wait for something to happen. Mind you, this all happens before 9am.

Not too much is happening on the work front as of yet- still settling into what I should be doing, trying to get a few projects working. Scooter has been gone in Senegal for the last two weeks and I really need her to get back here and motivate me. After my eventful morning, I get home around noon and sit around until I go to bed at 8pm. I've read a lot of books though- I guess that's a highlight :)

I´m BACK!!!!

After spending just over 6 weeks at home, I´m back in Mozambique. My time home was AMAZING!!! Alaska was cold, the snow was beautiful, it was fantastic to see all my family and friends, eat Mexican food, drink good beer, drive a car, have hot showers, not be chased by goats or children, shop in a supermarket, sleep in, watch trashy TV... I could go on. Anyways, after a fantastic time home (Alaska, Hawaii, Seattle and Atlanta), I´m back. I spent my first two nights in the capital with my Moz family- oh how I´d missed them. Then to Namaacha. I´m pretty sure Scooter was happy to have me back- two weeks by herself and the dog with not a whole lot to do can get pretty boring. The weather here has been pretty nitense the last few weeks- from over 100degrees to hurricane winds and rains. I got the rain part. Just after getting home, my room flooded. Thankfully I hadnt unpacked too much yet. The power was also out, and had been for a few days, so no phones or easily made hot water. I jumped right back into life as I remember it- mosquitos, hot muggy weather, no power, bucket baths in the cold, and waking up at 4am with the chickens. Dont get my wrong, I´m happy to be here, but it´s going to take a few more days to get into the swing of things.

Thanksgiving

Went up to Mapinhane, Inhambane for thanksgiving this year- it was fantastic. Totally worth the 12hour trip.
I spent tuesday with a few of my favorite volunteers as they got ready to go back to AmericaLand. I'm so happy for everyone going home but it can be so tough also. I'm going to miss them all so so much.
Wednesday i set out for Mapinhane- it's a smally town on the EN1 in northern Inhambane. The ride up was actually pretty great- I made some new friends, watched a group of men devour a goat head, eyes and all, got caught in a thunderstorm, and yet still made it to alice and aj's house before dark.
Thanksgiving was great- thursday morning was just 6 of us, we woke up early (do we ever not wake up early?!) and got to cooking. Alice made about 30 batches of cornbread for cornbread stuffing (which was sensational), while the rest of us drew posters explaining how to use the bathroom. Around 3 more people started to arrive. We bought a turkey and proceeded to get it drunk. I'm not talking a couple sips of wine, the boys poured several shots of gin the turkey's throat. Poor thing just passed out! (for the record, you're suppose to get a turkey drunk before you kill it- not exactly sure why but you're suppose to).
By 6, everyone was there- we were 28 people with representation from America (or course), South Africa, Mozambique, and Italy. Carl, our PC country director also came, which was awesome. The director of the school where we were cooking and sleeping said a few words thanking us for inviting her, and then we began. Simultaneously, the termites came out in full force. Thousands of termites were swarming the lights above us and landing in our food. You literally could not take a bite without brushing 2 or 3 away. We ended up moving outside to eat, among the mosquitos. We went around the group and said what we were thankful for- it was fun to listen to people in English, Portuguese and Italian. Some were serious, about how we're thankful for each other and the last two years together, and some were more light hearted, like how we're thankful our boss bought us two cases of beer for the occasion. Then, the puppy that a pcv had brought with her, got bit by something- spider, scorpion, centipede we're unsure- and was yelping and crying and shaking. We didn't think he'd live through the night- swollen tongue and difficulties breathing- but he did.
The power went out at 10pm so we were almost all asleep by 1030. Up at 5 to clean and eat some delicious leftovers that the termites hadn't gotten to. Pecan pie in the morning = heaven!!
By 6 people were on their way back home, and it was so sad to say goodbye. AJ started playing his guitar and singing and to be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to make it out of there without crying hysterically.
I can't believe it's all coming to an end! Yeah, i'm staying a third year, but everyone who I arrived with are leaving. My Peace Corps family is breaking apart. I'm definitely looking forward to next year with my new job and my fantastic roomie Scooter, but it's still tough to watch my other besties go.

Namaacha

I moved! At the end of last week, I finished up teaching, said goodbye to my students and fellow teachers, had a fabulous party with my REDES girls, and moved to a new town.

The end of teaching was completely bittersweet. It felt great to be done teaching, finished lesson planning and grading, but I'll really miss a lot of my students. They were difficult a lot of the time, but to see them learning was so rewarding. And funny story- my last day with them, one of my favortie students gave me an apple. An apple. Yes, that may seem normal for the states, but it's definitely not normal here. Apples are so expensive, and can't be bought in my town, and to give presents to teachers (not trying to solicit grades) is unheard of. I felt so special- she was such a great student and I really hope that she gained at least something from my classes.

My REDES girls helped throw a going-away party for me which was so much fun! We made t-shirts from the money they made selling jewelry, cooked delicious food all afternoon to make a wonderful feast (I had no idea 20 tiny little girls could consume that much food!!!), and sang and danced the whole day. I loved watching them let loose and have fun- so many of my girls have pretty structured and difficult lives at home so I enjoy giving them some freedom. And, corny I know, seeing theirs smiles. I will miss them so much.

Wednesday, I finished packing and then gave all my extra little things to my neighbor kids. They had a box of toys they would play with everyday - jump ropes, my-little-ponies, tennis balls, frisbees - so each kid got at least one thing to take home. After all my things were packed up and loaded into the Peace Corps car, I said goodbye to all the kids and my empregada Christina, and left Hokwe behind.

Namaacha is amazing! It's been forever since I've been here but it was a great homecoming. The area is so beautiful- lush and green and hilly. My new house is wonderful, and I have a great new roommate, Abby (3rd year PCV on her way back to the sates). I haven't really started my new job yet- it's a pretty busy time for Peace Corps with training new volunteers and sending my group home- but I can't wait to get things rolling and get into working.

This is definitely a huge change for me - new town, new house, new job, new roomy, new everything. I won't be working so much on a community level, I'll be working more with PCVs and PC staff, developing sustainable youth development projects, but I'm sure I'll have more crazy stories and adventures to share in the coming months.

and the training continues

I like to run- it takes my mind off things. And it's become a necessary part of my life here in Moz. I always find at least one interesting thing on my run- new crazy looking creatures, watch a bull fight, get chased by a herd of children... today for example was a man wondering along the national highway singing and playing the guitar at 630 in the morning. All this running is about to pay off... For the last few years I've been wanting to run a marathon but either never made the time or kept getting injured (i'm accident prone, it happens). Since being in Peace Corps i've accomplished a lot of things I've always really wanted to do (have dreds, go bungy jumping, learn another language, travel to cape town...) and on Sept 25th I will run a marathon. It's not an organized marathon but several or us PCVs are getting together and making it happen (we've been inviting Mozambicans to run but it's not really their thing. No takers as of yet). Not only am I running the marathon, I'm celebrating my 26th birthday by running 26 miles. I figure now is a better time than ever! Send me endurance vibes on the 25th!! (or the night of the 24th for most of you ;)

REDES Conference

End of day 5 of the conference- what a week it has been!!! It had been SUCH a wonderful conference- we started out with 62 girls (age 11 to 19) and 24 Moz Facilitators. Including PCVs we had just about 100 participants. The first morning, The Honorable Leslie V. Rowe, Ambassador to the United States kicked off the conference by sharing her experiences and the importance of women's education and empowerment. The girls were so inspired! Throughout the conference we've had several other guest speakers and have had sessions ranging from HIV transmission, women's rights, domestic violence, and pregnancy to test taking skills, effective communication, and public speaking. All in all, the conference has gone very smoothly- the normal problems arose (people have left due to illness or troubles at home) but the Lodge we're staying at, Barra Lodge in Barra, Inhambane, has been ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!! The people here at so friendly, so helpful, and have accommodated all the crazy things that have come up over the last few days.

So much has happened, it's hard to put the conference into a few words. Because I was running the conference and behind the scenes for pretty much everything except opening and closing ceremonies, I'm really looking forward to getting back to site and seeing how my girls have changed. I brought 2 girls to the conference, one who's very closed off and another who was already pretty outspoken, and I'm really hoping to see them speak up even more. Tomorrow on the 10 hour bus ride home I'm going to try and get a few things out of them.

Because I'm horrible with taking and posting photos, check out theredesproject.wordpress.com, search REDES on flickr or Facebook, or check out Scooter's blog scooterinmozambique.blogspot.com.

AMAZING WEEK!!!! ...looking forward to some sleep...

3rd Year

It's official, I'm staying a third year. So exciting! I've been looking into different options for my future for almost a year now- several of the options included staying in Moz, and I was about to get a job (still as a Peace Corps Volunteer) working on secondary projects, aka I wont be teaching. I'll be working on youth projects like REDES, JOMA (a club for girls and boys), English theatre, Science fair, and several others. I'll be working towards sustainability of the projects and setting solid long term goals. This means I'll no longer be national coordinator of REDES (or any group for that matter) but I'll have my hand in all the projects. Plus I get to move to a new site, make new friends, see new places, and live with one of my best friends, Scooter. It's going to be an interesting and eventful year :)
I am coming back to the states for just over a month for the holidays- also exciting!! I'm looking forward to mirco-brew beer, sushi, mexican food, sleeping long hours in a mosquito net-less, comfortable bed, and of course lots and lots of face time with friends.