My Matu life in Macuacua

This morning I was walking back to school from the community, trying to balance a bucket of water on my head.  Water was spilling all over me and I clearly wasn't going to make it all the way back.  One of my students was watching the whole thing and was nice enough not to laugh.  She gave me a funny look, and then like it was nothing, took the bucket off my head and carried it for me.  I was bummed I couldn't make it all the way by myself, but thankful she came to my rescue!  It amazes me every day how strong Mozambican women are!  They can balance huge buckets of water on their heads with no hands, while carrying a baby on their back and make it look effortless.    

When I first arrived at site we had plenty of water at my school that the generator pumped for us, and I could just walk outside of my door 5 feet, put my bucket under the faucet and WALA I had water.  This changed about 3 months ago, when… our generator broke.  Thankfully our school has a couple of small back -up generators that we hooked up to the water pump, so we had water to use for everything expect drinking.  Our drinking water now has to come from the main town of Mabote about 15 km away that we can get if we send our buckets on a car that’s going that way.  Last week, just when we thought the problem was solved when a new generator finally arrived, the water pump, you guessed it…broke.  So now all of the students and teachers have been walking about 15 minutes to the pump in the community to get our water to bathe, cook, clean, etc.  When I need to do laundry I put my dirty clothes in my backpack, grab my bucket, and walk to the pump where I wash my clothes in the shade under a tree. 

This isn't anything out of the ordinary for most people here, it’s just life.  Having to get water is part of your daily routine and conserving water isn't even a question, you just do it.  I’m learning how to conserve water (you learn pretty quickly when you know what’s involved in getting more) and I don’t think I’ll ever take water for granted again.  I live in a part of Mozambique that doesn't get much rain, but when it does rain, everyone, including myself, rushes outside with buckets and basins to collect every drop of water they can!  Well at least it’s more fun than having to pay a water bill, right? 

I’m learning a lot here in Mozambique and really love where I am, challenges with water and all.  My students are wonderful and I can always count on them to make me laugh.  It’s always really fun trying to translate slang they hear in American rap music into Portuguese!  I’m teaching geography and English and also helping manage the student dormitories.  I've started a girls soccer team and am working on trying to get a girls leadership/empowerment group going.  I have a great counterpart who is the only other female teacher at my school.  She is really creative and has lots of ideas about how to make our school better.  My conversations with her are always meaningful and I have learned a lot from working with her. 

My favorite moments in Peace Corps are when something really little happens but puts the biggest smile on your face.  I found a quote that seems to describe these moments really well, “awareness is when we become happy and realize it, if only for an instant” –Anonymous.  My peace corps experience is very different here than it was last year in Cape Verde, but what hasn't changed are these small moments of awareness that remind me of why I’m grateful to be here.  

New country, new experience...still Peace Corps.

Ok I know I’ve been MIA for a while, but I’m back and hope to share more about my experience here in Africa!  I said goodbye to my Peace Corps life in Cape Verde in mid- September and arrived in Mozambique ready to start my second year of service along with 11 other Cape Verde transfers and about 55 peace corps newbies.  Even though the 12 of us transfers had already done training in Cape Verde we had to complete training round 2 here in Mozambique.  It was a ten week long training located in a beautiful town on the border of Swaziland, and I was fortunate to have a really wonderful host family who made having to do training for the second time a little more bearable.  Thankfully all of us made it through training, and for some of us, swore in as Peace Corps volunteers for the second time.  We are now all spread out over this gigantic country in towns within all 10 provinces. 

My new site is in the province of Inhambane about four hours inland from the coast, in the town of Mabote.  When I was driven to my site for the first time we turned off the main highway onto a dirt road passing fields, more fields, trees, more trees, a few scattered houses, some cattle, and then more fields.  After about 2 hours of this we reached the small town of Mabote which has some stores, a market, a clinic, and… that’s about it.  Then we turned left onto another dirt road and after 15 km my school popped up pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  I was surprised by how new of a school it was and the style of it reminded me of a ranch out in Arizona somewhere.  It’s a professional school for students who opt out of finishing regular high school to study things like carpentry, agriculture, or construction/engineering.  It’s a beautiful school and has plenty of space!  I’ll be living on the school grounds along with the other teachers and all of the students as well.  It will be very different from my experience last year because my school will be my community.  I found out after arriving that things are also going to be different because I may end up teaching P.E. instead of English!  The school year hasn’t started yet so I have until the beginning of February to figure out how I’m gonna do that!   

I’m super excited about being here, and have already met some wonderful people.  I still get surprised by the generosity of others, and am thankful for those who have helped me get used to living out in the bush, or matu as they call it here.  I’m happy to be in Mozambique and even though it was hard leaving my site in Cape Verde I feel like this is exactly where I’m supposed to be right now.  This is truly a unique experience in Peace Corps to serve in two countries in two years, so I am going to take advantage of this opportunity and hope to learn as much, if not more the second time around. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and cheers to a happy new year!  Love you all and can’t wait to share more with you soon.    

Vida

My student and her newborn baby

Vida meaning life in Kriol has changed a lot for me since I last posted 6 moths ago.  I am now living on the island of Fogo in a town where just about everyone is family, where time doesn't seem to exist and just by going with the flow things tend to work out, and where I sometimes feel like I'm living in Brockton, Massachusetts instead of Cape Verde.  As I am asked a few times a day by people in my community Vida e sabi? or life is good?  my response is always yes my life is good!  My favorite part about my life here as a volunteer is teaching and forming relationships with my students inside and outside of the classroom.  I never imagined that I would enjoy teaching, but now it's something that puts a huge smile on my face.  The other day in class I asked my 11th graders to work in pairs and write as many sentences in English as they could using the connector so.  When they were finished and they read some of their sentences to me, an overwhelming feeling of joy rushed through me and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I told them all how proud I was.  It's these small moments that make my time here invaluable.  It's a wonderful feeling being able to be a part of my student's lives not only at school but in the community as well.  Yesterday I took some students to the beach and as we were leaving they were already planning the next activity they wanted to do together.  I am learning a lot here in Cape Verde and will take what I've learned on the next step of my journey.  Unfortunately Cape Verde is closing as a Peace Corps post in September and I will be transferring to Mozambique.  It will be a difficult transition leaving this country that I have come to love so much, but I know that there will be more students to help and many more unique and wonderful experiences to be had as I continue my service as a volunteer.  I have 7 more months in Cape Verde and I am not going to take a single moment for granted, because I've learned that it's the small moments in life that really count.

Life after month number one!

I've been in Cape Verde for a month now!  Sometimes it feels like I've been here for an eternity and other times I feel like the time has flown by.  I'm starting to feel comfortable in my temporary home, and have been trying to adapt to my host family's lifestyle.  Every morning I get up around 6:15, heat water up for my bucket bath, eat a large breakfast that my host mom prepares for me, and then head off to school.  Learning 2 languages at one time is quite the challenge, but I'm trying!  Kriolu is the language spoken by the people here, but the official language is Portuguese.  Since I am an education volunteer I am required to study both, because Portuguese is used in the schools.  I found out that I will be placed on the island of Fogo for the next two years starting at the end of September!  It's one of the southern islands and is the only island with an active volcano on it!  If you come visit we will definitely be climbing to the top!  Knowing where I will be for the next couple years has definitely been a great motivator!  I'm looking forward to getting to site and starting my new life as an English teacher at the high school, crazy I know!  

In Cape Verde!

Hi everyone!  I've been in Cape Verde, or how they say it here Cabo Verde, for a week now and its been wonderful!  People here are very kind and extremely generous.  I couldn't have asked for a better host family, they are patient with me when I don't understand something (which is the majority of the time) and help me with everything.  I am learning Kriolu and hope to know more than just simple phrases soon!  The town I'm living in is a fairly small community but very beautiful.  Everyone says in a couple weeks everything will be turning green, because the rainy season has started.  Life here is simple, and people don't waste what they have.  I'm learning to take a bucket bath with as little water as possible!  Loving my experience so far but miss all of you back home.  I will try to post about once or twice a week.  Txau!    

Boston!

Hi everyone! I'm in Boston for staging and I'm loving it so far.  Just met my roomate at the hotel and she actually went to school at Wash U in STL.  It's comforting to have something in common with one of the volunteers already!  Tonight I will be meeting the other volunteers, or as Rachel likes to say, my family for the next two years.  I'm extremely excited for what's ahead of me and can't wait to take off for Cape Verde tomorrow night!  Thank you Mom and dad for helping me prepare for this trip and thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful goodbye wishes!