First Impressions

I’ve been at site for 5 days now and so far I love it!

Macomia is located about 40 km from the Mozambican coast in gorgeous green mountains of Cabo Delgado! Everyone said it was hot and dry, so I wasn’t expecting it to be green, but it is.  Looking out my bedroom window past the mud huts, I see a beautiful, lush mountainside stretching as far as the eye can see.  And yet the vegetation here has me very confused, because while the mountains are full of trees and bushes of a deep green color, the majority of the houses are surrounded by sand and palm trees.  It’s “tempo de fome” while we wait for the rains, so unfortunately the green does NOT translate into availability of produce, but the nuns at the mission have been giving us a steady supply of maracuja (passion fruit), mangoes, and bananas.  Can’t complain about that!

So anyway, starting from the beginning…we left Nampula at 7:30 on Saturday morning and began the drive up to Macomia, which was supposed to be about 5-6 hours.  We drove with our school’s representative, a Colombian irma (sister, or nun) working at the mission, as well as two other volunteers and their supervisor.  Additionally, our car was piled HIGH with all of our stuff (when we stopped by a mission for our supervisor to pick some things up, the irma who greeted us said we looked like we were driving the tower of Babel!)  We dropped the first volunteer off at her place with her new roommate and all her luggage and then headed to the second volunteer’s site.  Upon arriving at his site, we found that the keys left behind by his roommate didn’t actually open the door, so we left him there with his director and all his stuff to await someone to come change the lock.  We were already behind schedule, but this began a LONG trek up through the rest of Nampula and into Cabo Delgado on dirt roads or paved roads with holes and with 1(!) gas station on the way, which fortunately we were able to stop at to use the restroom and grab a few snacks.  Our Education Program Director was our driver for the day – and what a champ he was!  He drove the whole time with just the one stop and didn’t use the bathroom once or eat anything - and didn’t even complain!

We were very sleepy when the landscape started changing and turning into the green paradise that we’re in now.  Now, don’t imagine the Amazon rain forest or anything, but compared to the dirt/sand/desert that is much of Mozambique, the vegetation here is definitely to be considered paradise.  We even saw a baboon on the way, which is the first sign of “wild”life I’ve seen in Africa!  Upon arriving, we ate a nice dinner that the other irmas had prepared (right now there are 3 – two Colombian, one Spanish – but another Colombian is on vacation and will return soon, and a new nun will also be joining them from Spain in January).

 Our site mate was not kidding about the hike one has to take from the cruzamento at the center of our town, Macomia, up the hill to the mission, which is where the school and our house are located. It’s a pretty steady uphill of about 5-6 kilometers, and despite the greenery here, it is still very hot.

We’re lucky because we live in teacher housing, which means it’s by far nicer than the mud huts around us, but at the same time we have a community of teachers here that’s living in the same conditions (so we’re living at the comfort level of a Mozambican in our profession).  We have a large, concrete house (3 bedrooms) with a decent kitchen and a big center area that serves as a dining room and living room. Our house didn't have anything in terms of amenities when we moved in (we bought the stove, all our buckets for water, dishes, tudo!), but it did have beds with mattresses, a dining room table and chairs, and a coffee table and chairs.  All in all, incredibly comfortable.  I'll post pictures when possible, but at the moment my internet connection doesn't seem to be great here.

So far our neighbors have been so wonderful and helpful.  A female professor took me to the local market and lent us silverware, brooms, salt, etc. until we were able to buy some.  She also comes by a few times a day to check on us.  Our male colleagues have been very helpful as well, helping to unload our luggage when we got here and then last night we had like 7 people in our kitchen trying to change our lock because a key had gotten stuck in it.  It’s a little unfortunate because school just finished which means that most of them are going home for the holidays.  But some will still be around, as will the irmas, and it’ll also give us some time to get settled in.

We’ve worked out a water system with the water boy, who also happens to be my new Macua teacher!  He and his friends have started coming by when they’re done with work to practice their English, and I’m using it as an opportunity to learn some of one of the two principal local languages, Macua. The other most widely spoken language is Maconde, and I plan to learn some basic conversation pieces in that, too. We sat on the patio for about 2 hours today, translating and practicing basic phrases. Here are a few things I learned:

Moshelilya. – Good morning.
Salaama – Hello (notice the Arab influence!)
Muhamo? – How are you?
Kihamo, kai kiroutu? –  I’m well, and you?
Assante – Thank you ( actually Swahili, which is spoken by many here and has influenced Macua and Maconde a lot)
Kinote hati makua. – I am learning Macua.
Kini hanya Marina. – My name is Marina.

This zone is definitely a big change from the comfortable bairos of Namaacha, where we had our training.  People here live off of the very basics. Most live in mud houses, cook on carvão, and cart water for several kilometers every day.  Malnutrition is visible everywhere.  Yesterday, we went with one of the irmas to the hospital where she was delivering milk to a mother who was so malnourished she wasn't lactating.  Her 3-month-old baby weighed only 2 kilograms (less than 5 lbs!) and I was surprised to see that it was still alive. 

Two days ago, we had our first rainfall. Some kids from across the street came over with some buckets to collect the water that was coming off my roof.  When I went out to greet them, the eldest hid around the side of the house, presumably because she thought I would get mad.  Instead, I brought out a bar of soap and helped her bathe the younger ones that had walked over with her.  It was a pretty precious moment.  We had such a hard rain yesterday that I too decided to take advantage and washed my hair in the shower-like pressure of the water coming off the roof.

Today, Eryn (my new roommate) and I got up at 4:30am to have breakfast before make the long walk down to the central market.  It was overwhelming and exhausting, but overall a good experience - we got everything we needed (and a few things we didn't), plus I got to practice my Macua! Fortunately we were also able to grab a boleia (free ride) up the hill with someone on the way back (even more fortunate because some crazy guy was dancing and following us).

Well…this entry is already too long, but the moral of the story is that I couldn’t ask for things to be going any better!  This is all SO much easier the second time around.  It seems like nothing is phasing me.  Of course, it helps that I don’t have to teach for another month so I’m free to do whatever I want :)

Missing you all and thinking of you lots during this Christmas season.  Sing an extra carol for me!

From Cape to Cape

PST 2.0 is officially over and I am a volunteer squared!  The past few weeks have been so full of extreme emotions that I almost just feel kind of numb.  Our ceremony occurred yesterday late morning in rainy Maputo at the U.S. Ambassador’s house.  It was a lovely ceremony, complete with a wonderful speech by our volunteer representative and a song that we prepared for the occasion! We sang the classic “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” but I re-wrote it in Portuguese to speak to our experience here.  It all came together really well and was fun to see everyone all dressed up and excited for the occasion!

The last few weeks of PST were a whirlwind of model school, admin sessions, prepping for the ceremony, and of course soaking up our last minutes all together as trainees and with our homestay families.  While there were definitely down-sides to going through PST again, overall it was a really painless experience. My host family was great, the other PCVs are wonderful, and the staff here is awesome!  But at the end of the day, I’m ready to be done and get back to work.  We’re currently on our way to the regional capitals (South, Central, and North) for a 2-day supervisor’s conference.  Since I’m going north, I’ll be in Nampula.  After the conference, we’ll finally go to our sites! 

I will be living in a town called Macomia in the province of Cabo Delgado (hence the new blog name – Cabo Verde to Cabo Delgado)!  It’s a sizeable town that seems to be sort of a transit intersection.  There is a market and our school is brand new.  I will be living with another volunteer from our training group named Eryn, who is a science teacher. We’ll be living on a Catholic mission and have heard only good things!  We are “opening” the site for the education program, meaning there haven’t been any Ed volunteers there before, however there is a Health volunteer living there now.  I’m sure this will present some new challenges as we assist the school in opening its partnership with the Peace Corps, but I think it’s going to be a really rewarding experience.  And as I’ve had a year of experience already, I think I’ll be in a good position to anticipate some of the challenges we might face.  Since it’s a new site, we really don’t have any more information, so I’ll have to write another update after my first few days!

We should be all moved in and ready to go just in time for Christmas. As always, spending the holiday season overseas (especially in Africa) is a little bit hard.  It’s my favorite time of the year and I really miss friends and family back home. But PCV’s are great at planning wonderful events to distract from said homesicknesses, and Christmas will be no exception!  Eryn and I will be making our way to Pemba to celebrate with the MOZ-17ers and I bought some cinnamon sticks and cloves in the Maputo grocery store so I can make some delicious apple cider and curl up with some Christmas music (in the stifling African summer heat).

I wish you all joy and peace this Christmas! As the song says, I’ll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams :)

I like to spend some time in Mozambique

We’re more than halfway through training and time is actually going by really quickly.  Training is going well.  There are definitely going to be some issues here that I did not face in Cape Verde.  For example, the role of women here is still very much that of the submissive wife.  The culture IS changing and people are working to protect the rights of women, but the fact is that most women do not work outside the home or machamba (farm), so they depend on their husbands for everything.  Which unfortunately means that husbands can take advantage of their wives.  Polygamy is common and most men have more than one woman or family.  Additionally, domestic violence is a huge issue.

Another serious problem that I didn’t face in Cape Verde is HIV/AIDS.  The rate in Mozambique is extremely high – I think it’s 14% nation-wide, but estimates for urban zones and especially zones close to the borders are upwards of 30%.  Almost 1 in 3 people!  Here in the south people claim it’s high because many men work in the mines in South Africa, where there are a lot of prostitution rings.  They get infected there and then come home to their Mozambican families on leave and spread it here.  It’s an extremely sad reality, but fortunately there are a lot of programs in place to combat the disease and the myths/misconceptions/stigmas that come along with it. I’m excited to be able to get involved in that kind of work.  I think the number one problem is female empowerment.  It’s really all linked: if a woman doesn’t work and can’t provide for herself, what power does she have over her husband? It becomes much more difficult for her to leave him if he’s cheating or even to ask him to use a condom.  Who’s going to put food on the table?  But of course it’s much more complicated than that and I’m sure the more time I spend here the better I’ll come to understand the issue.

I did get a wonderful opportunity to visit this organization called AMODEFA (Asosiação Moçambicana para o Desenvolvimento da Familia).  They provide services on reproductive health, family planning, and even do house visits for people living with HIV/AIDS.  But the COOLEST thing they do is run this group of youth activists who are so wonderfully awesome.  One of the girls spoke with us – she was 16 and had been an activist for 3 years.  She talked about how she used to be shy and had trouble talking to her peers, but after a time in the program she gained confidence and now isn’t afraid to advise her peers on issues of safe sex and healthy relationships and even to confront them is she feels it is necessary. It was so touching to see a young girl with such conviction, self-confidence, and passion!  The activists meet twice a week and share stories and debate important issues, as well as planning different assemblies and activities in the community.  I am hoping to be able to go to one of their meetings this next week because I was just so inspired by their energy and intelligence.

the road to my house

my room

my little sister, Felizmina, helping me wash clothes

the local market, held twice a week

visiting the cascatas

me and some other V's on ilha

As for the other aspects of training, I’m loving Portuguese and getting closer to my host family, as well as the other volunteers.  Some guys from my first language group and I formed a rap group – Gato Preto – that’s been performing for some of the “fun times” during our HUB days (when we all get together for sessions).  We’ve been requested to write a special rap for the Homestay Celebration during the last weekend of training. What’s that? You say you didn’t know I could rap? Well…there may be a lot you don’t know about me… ;)

I’ve been playing a lot of guitar, too.  Yesterday I sat outside under a tree and some kids came over to listen, so I taught them the one song that I can sing in Portuguese – “Eu não sou da sua rua.” Fortunately it’s really simple and they LOVED it! I guess I’ll have to learn some more. I want to get a little drum too that I can cart around and bang on while waiting for rides and whatnot.

Last week we went on site visits.  I went to one of the northern provinces, Nampula, and stayed in a little village called Carapira.  It was wonderful! The volunteer I stayed with is really chill and nice and lives close to a bunch of other wonderful volunteers.  We actually got to visit 3 sites, all of different sizes, different living situations, different school situations, etc.  The 3^rd was Ilha de Moçambique, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and supposedly a “must-see” for anyone that comes to Mozambique! It really was beautiful – just a little sleepy island with white sand beaches and crystal clear waters.  And oddly it didn’t seem too touristy at all.  Plus I got to eat some delicious shrimp curry with coconut rice.  The north itself is very different from where we are here.  It seems a bit poorer, and definitely more rural.  They also seem to speak less Portuguese.  Where I was, the local language was Macwa and many of the people who lived there spoke very little Portuguese.  I’m actually really excited for the possible challenge of having to learn some of the local language!  There is also a lot of Muslim influence up north.

Anyway, that was a nice break from training/homestay, but now I’m back and feeling refreshed and really valuing the time I have left with my host family.  I realized I’ve learned a lot from them and just in general life doesn’t seem so difficult this time around.  Before leaving for site visits, we did a “practical” exam, where we had to prove to our professors that we knew how to ralar coco (shave out the insides of the coconut), pilar e pinear amendoim (crush peanuts, and then sort out the remaining “flour”), wash clothes by hand, light charcoal, and iron our clothing using a charcoal-heated iron.  It was so bizarre and so fun, especially since the test was interrupted by one of the craziest rain/wind storms I’ve ever been in! I only started taking my camera out this last week, so I’ll put up a couple pictures, but more are soon to come! 

Well…that’s more than enough for an update on my life.  We find out our site placements on Wednesday, so I’ll try to post something then and let everyone know where I’m headed!

Até já!

Bemvindos a Mocambique!

I’ve been in Mozambique for almost a month!  Tuesday was exactly a month since I left São Nicolau, and while I haven’t been depressed or anything, it certainly hasn’t been easy.  We’re in the midst of week 4 of training (there are 10 weeks in all).  This is really the hump because it’s about to get interesting!  Next week we’ll go on “site visits” to stay with some of the second year volunteers and see what it’s really like to live and work in Mozambique.  Soon after that we’ll start model school and then we’ll swear in at the beginning of December!

So far training is going really well.  The staff is wonderful and language is coming along easily.  I’m lucky I’ve had a year living in Cape Verde cause nothing really seems like that big of a deal now.  Fried bolony for breakfast? Yum! Squat latrine?  Bring it on – my  thighs are gonna be rocks.  Cutting everything with a dull knife and no cutting board? Not a problem.  Electricity’s out? Excellent – it’s bedtime! 

The biggest challenge has been going back to living with a family.  Don’t get me wrong, they’re WONDERFUL!  But it’s hard to lose control of your schedule and have someone watching everything you do.  And having someone worry about you is both nice and annoying.  During week 2, I spent 3 full days at home going between my bed and the latrine (which GRAÇAS A DEUS in my house actually has a toilet bowl because having diarrhea and a fever would be even less pleasant if you had to squat over a hole every half hour).  Fortunately, my illness has now passed, but every time I get up at night to go to the bathroom my mãe gets really worried.  It’s also a bit frustrating to have already relearned how to do everything and now be told once again that you’re doing it wrong.  I.e. In Cape Verde I had to learn to wash clothes by hand, which was a frustrating process when someone is leaning over you telling that you’re doing it wrong the whole time.  And now of course I’m learning a NEW way to wash clothes by hand (and being told once again that I’m doing it wrong, even though it’s worked for me for the past 15 months).  On top of that, we’re sitting through the same long, boring sessions (how to clean your water and vegetables, who to contact for what, how to do needs assessment in your community, what is malaria, etc.) that we already sat through for 9 weeks in CV.  

But let’s look at some of the positives:

1. As I mentioned, my host family is wonderful.  They’re a big family – mother, father, and five kids (two girls ages 3 and 18 and three boys, ages 7, 10, and 15).  They’ve been very welcoming but also give me a lot of space.  My mãe is very intent on teaching me all the skills I need to know to get by.  I am proud to say that I have killed a chicken with my own two hands (and a dull knife) and then plucked it, cut it up, and cooked it for dinner!  I’ve also done a lot of grinding of peanuts and matapa (manioc/yucca/cassava leaves) in the giant pilão (mortar and pestle) that they use here – almost exactly the same as the ones they used in Cape Verde.  They’re pretty relaxed about me doing whatever I want as well.  Plus language isn’t an issue at all.  It’s been very easy to slide into using only Portuguese and I haven’t forgotten Creole yet which is good :)
2.  The other trainees are really cool! We are 68 – which is HUGE compared to the group of 25 of us we had during training in CV.  It’s a bit overwhelming at times, but it’s fun to get to meet new people and make new friends and they’re all really down to earth and passionate about the work we’ll be doing (which is nice for those of us who’re a bit jaded after the first year of service).
3. The food isn’t so bad.  It’s not always the variety I want and there is still a LOT of starch (rice and xima, kind of like a thicker version of grits).  And of course there’s the occasional 2 bags of pasta made with 1 tomato, 1 onion, and lots of oil, or the potato salad that consists only of potatoes and mayonnaise (and is also the only thing to eat at that meal).  But, the traditional foods are pretty tasty.  They make matapa (mandioca leaves) with ground peanuts and coconut milk and it’s very delicious and nutritious, if not a bit on the heavy side.  Additionally, I’ve had a couple of fresh salads of lettuce or cabbage with onions and tomatoes or cucumber.  A bit hit or miss, but overall not as much of a shock to the system (although…tell that to my randomly surfacing stomach pains).  I will say that I feel a lot hungrier here.  I think I’ve just had my fill of nutritionally empty starches, oil, and salt, which means I’m leaving the dinner table hungrier than I’d like to.  But, PST doesn’t last forever and soon I’ll be in control of my own diet.
4.   The town where we’re training is really pretty and the people are very chill.  From what I can tell so far, the culture is not quite as open and in-your-face welcoming as in Cape Verde.  There you would just walk into your neighbor’s house and sit or serve yourself from whatever is in the kitchen, no questions asked.  Here it’s much more formal.  You address everyone by their titles and even my family members use the formal você to talk to one another.  It’s a very hierarchical society.  My family calls me Mana Marina, “mano” being a word that means brother and is used to show respect to an older sibling/friend.  But anyway, the town is used to having trainees so we don’t get harassed much and there are a decent number of things to do.  Last weekend we went and visited this gorgeous waterfall about an hour away.  There are plenty of places to walk and a big open-air market twice a week. Plus all the trainees live pretty close to one another, so we get to hang out a lot.  Maputo, the capital, is huge and has tons of random awesome things, including beautiful parks and hotels and even some delicious Thai restaurants! Definitely chique-er than anything they had in Cape Verde.
5. Training seems much better organized this time around.  We’ve been given a schedule for the full 10 weeks and so far have barely deviated.  Plus our training director is very clear and to the point, which is particularly necessary with such a big group.  They’ve been pretty flexible with us CV transfers as well and are letting us skip some of the redundant tech sessions to work individually on language.

Other than that, well…I’m homesick.  And very Cape Verde homesick.  But all in all things are going well and I really don’t have much to complain about.  Plus, we’re almost halfway through training and between site visits and site announcements and model school, it’s going to fly by! 

I have hardly any internet access (there is one computer in all of Namaacha), but I’m hoping I can get connected once I go to site in December.  Feel free to call me (from the states its 011-258-82-058-9369).  I’m sure I’ll be dying for some care packages sooner than later, but I’ll wait and give you all an address once I get my site placement.

Hope all is well back home.  Happy Halloween and Happy Thanksgiving a bit early!

Peace and love to all of you!

Ora de bai já txga

Well the time has come to say goodbye.  I knew this day was coming but I never thought it would actually come.  I’m having sort of bipolar experience – trying to enjoy each day as it comes, but also thinking about the fact that I’m leaving my island in 12 days and the country exactly two weeks from today.  On top of that, there’s this other half of me that is super excited about what’s next – Mozambique!

I will leave this place with tears streaming down my face in sadness for all the wonderful moments that I’ve spent here, but also with a heart full of love to take with me (and probably some grogue and bolacha doce, too)!

For my last CV blog entry, I decided I would reflect on all that I’ve learned in the past year.  Some of the lessons are humorous, some were tough, but mostly they were just…life.

During my first year of Peace Corps service, I learned…

1. To wait. And wait. And wait some more.
2. To do nothing.  Amazingly, going up in the Rat Race that is America-land, we are really good at getting things done but not so good at not getting things done.  I’ve learned to sit and look at photos of people I don’t know for hours talking about something I don’t care about or not talking at all.  It also means I’ve changed my standards for what counts as a ‘productive’ day.
3. To cook a gourmet meal with whatever happens to come to market on a given day.
4. To clean anything and everything with water, soap, bleach, and a sponge.  This includes clothes, floors, walls, counters, shoes…you name it.  Mops and brooms can be helpful, but fancy cleaning solutions are a waste of money.
5. To not make plans, or at least to not be bothered by a change in plans (no matter how drastic).
6. To pack for a hike through the mountains, a party at the disco, camping, a day at the beach, and whatever else might come up, in the same school-sized backpack.
7. To speak Creole and Portuguese (and simplified English) and to switch back and forth between them depending on the context. 
8. To not be bothered when someone points out that I’ve gained weight, have a large zit on my forehead, am not as pretty or smart as my colleague, haven’t gone to the gym in 2 weeks, have worse-looking hair than I did yesterday, etc. etc. 
9. To have a 15 minute conversation about the fact that I’m taking a walk and you’re sitting on the sidewalk. 
10. To avoid the same proposition in 15 different ways, each one more creative than the last. 
11. To fillet, gut, scale, season, and cook fish. 
12. To watch a pig get slaughtered and then prepare (and eat) fresh pork (and blood sausage). 
13. To drain the infection from pretty much any wound or bug bite (on me or a friend) without cringing.
14. To cohabitate peacefully with ants, spiders, mosquitoes, and the occasional cockroach.
15. To be hot. Or cold. Or wet. Or uncomfortable. And to not really care.  Everything passes eventually.
16. To sleep anywhere.
17. To feel at home and at peace in a place that was at one time completely foreign and terrifying to me. 

I think as small as these lessons may be, they have changed me in ways I can’t even know yet.  Leaving Cape Verde will be one of the hardest things I ever have to do, but I’m glad I can take my new skills with me on the next part of the adventure! I can’t wait to see what other lessons are in store…

OBRIGADA SANINCLAU!!!

Sodade, sodade, sodade des nha terra Saninclau… 

Link to Camp Saninclau video

Here is the video of the song my student wrote:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151102890520379

Camp Saninclau

19 July 2012

Well, it has definitely been the most chaotic month of my PC service so far.  But I am proud to say that my formal responsibilities as a PCV on Saninclau are officially complete!  We finished classes weeks ago, but have had lots of little things to finish up: final exams, grade entries, grade meetings, all-professor meetings, etc.  We had our LAST faculty meeting today, so I am officially on vacation!

Apart from classes, Camp Saninclau is what has been running my life for the past month.  Starting in the last week of June, we hit the ground running to gather all the support we could in our community.  This meant turning in proposals and requests for funds in to the bigger companies and community organizations (the local youth center, the tuna factory, Shell gas station, etc.).  It also meant talking to individuals about helping out, both financially and in terms of leg-work.  We went to EVERY store or small business in Tarrafal (which is a decent sized city - about 4-6,000 people) to ask for money and food donations.  50 kids eating 3 meals (plus one snack) a day for 6 days is a lot of food!  It also meant going back to each and every store (at their conveniece) to collect the money and donations.

It was a huge undertaking, but in the end was also a huge success!  I'd estimate that we raised about 110.000$00 CV escudos (or about $1200) from local producers.  That doesn't include any of the support we received for transportation, which was ALL donated: gas, car, and drivers. It also doesn't include any of the in-kind donations we received - kilos upon kilos of fish, beans, sugar, salt, corn, etc. plus cleaning supplies, juice, oil, toilet paper...you get the idea.  We actually ended up with way more food than we needed!  It's amazing how generous the people of this poor island are and how willing the are to come together in support of activities like this.

As for the camp itself...we spent an AMAZING week with 52 students (ages 12-15) from all over the island.  We had about 10 coordinators who stayed for the whole week (and 5-6 more who came in went) along with 3 student helpers.  It was a lot of people, but everyone was such good sports!  Sleeping space was insufficient, bucket baths were short and limited to half a bucket per person, and the food wasn't always delicious or sufficient (we only had 3 cooks cooking for all of us).  But there were few (if any) complaints.  Kids curled up together 3 to a mattress, shared extra bathwater with their friends, and came back for seconds.  Most importantly, they did everything with smiles on their faces!  They were SO well-behaved and even helped with the cooking and cleaning.

The week looked like this:
Sunday - transport to Juncalinho, snack time, introductions and ice breakers, baths, dinner, bed

Monday- Planeamento de Futuro: breakfast, sessions re. future planning, lunch, relax, swim in the lagoas, bath, dinner, movie, bed

Tuesday - Dia de Saude e Desport: breakfast, sessions/activities about nutrition, fitness, drugs, and alcohol, lunch, fitness games and aerobics in the polivalente, visit to the lagoa, bath, dinner, movie, bed

Wednesday - Dia de Saude Sexual: breakfast, sessions/activities about healthy relationships, pregnancy, and safe sex, lunch, visit from a local nurse (including condom demonstrations and activities), soccer game, bath, dinner, sm'ores and music around the campfire with marshmallows sent froom America!

Thursday - Dia de Arte e Educação Ambiental: breakfast, sessions and recycled art activities, lunch, games in the polivalente, bath, dinner, festsa at the discoteca

Friday- breakfast, clean/pack, walk to lagoa, lunch, say goodbyes and go home!

Other highlights included beautiful T-shirt making, cuchi-ing corn for catchupa, and making thank-you cards for our community supporters.  We also had a near-death experience (well...sort of) when our bus broke down and caught fire on the road just outside of Tarrafal.  We got everyone out and ran far away. The flame went out right away, but it still gave everyone quite a fright.  We hiked home in the fresh air and sunlight, but had to have a meeting with parents to explain the situation a few days later.  That meeting was probably the hardest thing I've had yet to do as a PCV - trying to explain to a parent why their child's life was put in danger under our watch, especially in a language I'm still not fluent in.  But it went well and they were understanding in the end.  Fortunately no one was hurt and we now know not to use that very old bus for long trips - even if it is a donation!

The highlight of my week was listening to a beautiful song that one of my students wrote to thank us PCVs for our work on the island and at camp. She performed it along with some of the other campers for us. We have a video and as soon as it's uploaded, I'll post a link.  The verses were in Creole and the chorus in English.  The lyrics are as follows (with translation of the Creole):

Foi num dia tud começa 
Ques maltas do Corpo da Paz esga na Cabo Verde 
Es traze nôs tcheu cosa, tcheu ajuda 
E hoje nôs e grat pa tud quês trazê nos 


(One day everything began
The guys/friends from Peace Corps arrived in Cape Verde
They brought us so many things, so much help
And today we are grateful for everything they brought us)


We will never forget the day when we met you
Because nothing is more beautiful than what you did


Obrigada mais um vez
E na nôs nome, de nôs campista 
Na nome Cap Verd  
E tambêm tud quês recebe ês obra solidariedade 

(Thanks once again
In our name, the name of us campers
In Cape Verde's name
and for everyone that received this work of solidarity)

Calor, Cus cus, and Cola

The sun is heating up and life here in Tarrafal is getting a little bit hotter too!  The other day I came home at 6:30pm (when the sun was setting) and it was 90 degrees in my room.  Not too comfortable.  I recently decided to invest in a fan, which is allowing me to sleep at night despite the invasion of mosquitoes and heat.

As usual, I feel like a lot has happened, but I haven’t been very good about updating, so I’ll just talk about a few highlights.

First things first, we’re almost done with the last trimester!  The kids have been mentally on vacation for weeks now, so it’s nice to not have more important material to give them.  We’ve had our PGIs (Prova Geral Interno) these past few weeks, which is a longer, comprehensive test that the students take at the end of each ciclo (7^th and 8^th grade = 1^st ciclo, 9^th and 10^th grade = 2^nd ciclo, etc.)  PGI period means less class, but more grading and being frustrated that these kids don’t study!!  Seriously. I printed out a review sheet with exercises EXACTLY like what they’d have on the exam and offered them extra credit if they turned it in.  I think I had 3 out of 63 students do it.  And unfortunately their grades reflect the same lack of responsibility.  But…enough complaining because at the end of the day I’m really gonna miss these kids and I can’t believe my year with them is over!

In more personal news, I have finally managed to successfully make the two most standard Cape Verdean dishes: catchupa and cus cus.  Catchupa was a pretty easy feat.  Alexandra and I arranged with our neighbor and good friend Tânia to have a catchupa-making day so we could cook over the open fire they have behind their house.  The process isn’t difficult, but it takes most of the day to cook.  We started at 1 and didn’t eat dinner til almost 7!  The result was delicious, however, and I think Alexandra and I could manage to make it on our own at home if we tried.

catchupa

Cus cus has been a slightly more complicated saga.  If it weren’t for Txilite’s mom, Lina, I don’t even think I’d bother!  Cus cus is a pretty bland, cornbread-like dish that Cape Verdeans make for pretty much every occasion.  I honestly didn’t think it was that great until I tried the kind Lina makes.  It’s delicious!  I’m still not sure whether it’s delicious on its own accord, or whether my taste buds have become less judgmental after almost a year here.  Whatever the case may be, I’ve been determined to learn how to make it.  You’d think it was simple, because the taste and appearance is so simple, but it turns out to be almost impossibly complicated to get the right consistency.  If it’s too dry, it’s hard, crunchy, and really just not worth eating.  If it’s too moist, sometimes it won’t even come out of the pot.  The process goes like this:

1.  Mix flour, sugar, and water in a bowl. You can also add: yogurt for flavor, instant potato flakes for fluffiness, chocolate/raisins/oatmeal/anything for extra flavor and crunch!
2.  Put the mixture in a cucuzeira (a pot specially designed for cus cus) to cook.  Basically this is a tall pot that has a bottom half that is slightly smaller than the upper half.  A steamer plate (a piece of metal with holes in it) sits on the lip created by the bottom half being smaller.  You put water in the bottom half and lay a towel inside the top half on top of the steamer plate.  The mixture goes inside the towel.
3.  Let cook for 25 minutes.
4.  Take it out and eat with butter or in milk!

My first attempt was pretty much a disaster. I was using farinha de mandioca (manioc flour), which is the secret to Lina’s delicious version.  Unfortunately, I made 3 mistakes: 1) I didn’t use any corn flour (it should be about 1/3 or ½ corn flour and the rest manioc flour. 2) the manioc flour I used was not finely ground, so it was even drier.  3) I didn’t put enough water.  Ended up being good sprinkled in cereal, but didn’t stay together to be worth eating by itself.

cus cus - chocolate and normal

 The second time around, I used a finer flour, but it was still a little dry.  The third time around was pretty good – I made two: one normal, one with chocolate (yum!) but they were still a little dry.  Finally, Txilite decided he wanted to try his hand at it too, so we made it together one night.  That was the best so far – I hadn’t realized how much time I needed to spend mixing it to make the water get spread evenly.  Nor had I realized that I was supposed to let the water boil before putting the mixture in the pot.  Unfortunately, we ran out of sugar so it wasn’t as sweet as we would have liked.

finally: successful cus cus! thanks to Txilite

Now I have become quite the expert! My best cus cus so far was made last weekend before I went to an election-day celebration at Txilite’s grandma’s house.  It was so delicious because it was made with flour from Lina’s land. J  They grow manioc, then casca it and leave it to dry.  Later, they grind it in a pilão, basically a big wooden mortar, using a giant wooden pestle.

The best part about my cus cus making saga is that it gave me something to talk about with neighbors and friends (and strangers) and also showed that I was really trying to integrate into Cape Verdean culture.  I got many offers for help, and even ended up sending a piece of one of my failed attempts home with a neighbor so she could tell me what was wrong with it.  It was so fun to get to share my delicious creations with other Cape Verdeans and have them legitimately enjoy them!

The final big topic to share has to do with some pretty strange and awesome Cape Verdean cultural traditions.  Last weekend, we had the opportunity to spend a weekend with Tânia and her family at her mom’s house in Praia Branca.  They were celebrating an annual cultural festa: San Jon (São João).  It’s a festa they’ve been having for decades.  This year’s theme was: “Herança de nôs gente, alma de nôs terra” (Inheritance of our people, spirit/soul of our land). The women and men dress in traditional clothing and dance the cola while a big group of guys play the tambour (giant drums carried on a strap over their shoulders).  The cola consists of a line of women facing a line of men.  Each side takes a few energetic steps backward in rhythm with the tambours.  Then, even more energetically, the lines meet in the middle with each man thrusting his pelvis between the legs of the woman facing him.  No need to be explicit about what activity this is representing.  Meanwhile, musicians blow into whistles or into conch shells to make trumpet-like noises. 

As they are dancing, the men and women chant stories and rhymes.  Apparently for this particular festa, the participants of Praia Branca come up with a new chant each year.  It generally has to do with the inappropriate/vulgar behavior of someone in the community.  Tânia told us, “Be careful!  Anything you do that isn’t viewed well by the community could end up in their chant!” I won’t be too detailed about this year’s story, but more or less it had to do with a woman who was paid 15 kont to have sex with a man and, after an unfortunate incident, left the hospital with 18 stitches in a very uncomfortable place.

The first day of the festa, the dance was done to bring in the kindling for the fire.  This year, they’d chosen marcela, a weed known for being a remedio de bruxa (witch’s medicine).  Several women carried the marcela in large bunches on their heads as the cola dancers and drummers danced and played their way into the town center.  After lots of playing and dancing in the town center, they started lum’ na ar  (‘fire in the air’).  At this point, the marcela was ignited and a big fire was started in the middle of the square.  Community members (mostly young males) took turns jumping through the flames.  I don’t exactly know what jumping through the flame symbolizes.  At some point in the past, a person would jump over it with an egg.  When they were done, they would break the egg in a cup of water.  They left the egg there for a day or two and came back to see their future.  In her day, Tânia’s mom saw a ship and 3 children.  She later moved to Portugal and ended up having 3 kids!

Alexandra and I danced the cola but did not have the courage to jump through flames.  With my luck, I’d have twisted an ankle or fallen in the middle of the flames.  But the festa was one of the coolest things I’d ever had the honor to participate in.

Well…I think that’s plenty for you all to read for now.  These days we are CRAZY busy prepping for Camp Saninclau, a summer camp we’re hosting for local youth next week.  A million difficulties have come our way, but we’re working through them.  Your thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes are appreciated!  I’ll post again about camp once we get back.

Até logo and see some of you in America come August!

A Week in the Life: Monday, April 23rd

 

10am – I wake up and have some coffee with Mi-Mi.  We talk about how awful we feel and whether or not we need more sleep before heading back to the festivities.  We decide we’ll just deal and get ready to leave.  On our way up the hill, we grab a car to save some energy but as soon as we’re inside, we see that the teachers are walking down the hill.  They’re going on a passeio to visit a water source and some strawberry fields right behind Mi-Mi’s house.  We hop out and follow them right back to where we just came from.

 sumfana

 all the cooks making delicious food!

 catxupa - DELICIOUS!!

The rest of the afternoon consists of talking, attempting not to fall asleep, and eating A LOT: rice, corn, tomatoes, beets, really delicious pulled pork, sumfana (sort of like a mix between meatloaf and blood sausage but made with goat innards - surprisingly delicious!), fried fish, boiled veggies, catxupa (Cape Verde’s national dish – a sort of bean/corn soup), xerém  (ground corn mush – sort of like a mix between grits, mashed potatoes, and just plain cooked corn), fruit salad, homemade ice cream, pudding, kus-kus (a cornbread-like dish that is pretty dry and has much less flavor, but for some reason I’ve grown to really love), and best of all spit (deliciously seasoned pork “kabobs”).

 

3pm – We start the cultural part of the day with a tocatina, some poetry readings, and joke-telling (which I actually understood!)  This goes on for a few hours with everyone showing off their talents.  At the end they also convince me to sing, so I go up there and sing “Sodade” by Cesaria Evora, which is probably the most well-known morna ever written and has a particularly strong connection with São Nicolau.  Before I sing, I thank them all on behalf of Peace Corps for opening their hearts and sharing their culture with us.  People really seemed to love it.  Everyone was on their feet and clapping and singing along and one guy came up and gave me a flower in the middle of the song.  As I was finishing, they brought out the cake.  We sang “parabens” to ourselves.

6pm – The cake has been cut and I’m ready to go home.  Fortunately, so is everyone else, so we pile 37 teachers into a small bus (probably made for about 25 people) and head back to Tarrafal.

7pm – I arrive home, check in on Alexandra who’d left early because she was feeling sick, make myself a cup of tea and some hot water for a bucket bath and begin my night of recuperation (i.e. listening to music and watching TV until I fall asleep).

The best part is, normally Monday is my busiest teaching day.  I have all my turmas (5) back-to-back.  Lucky for me our holiday fell on a Monday!

All in all, a pretty fantastic week, I’d have to say :)

A Week in the Life: Sunday, April 22nd

10:30am – I wake up and run to the loja at the Shell station to pick up some eggs for breakfast.  I pick up a bag of bolaxas too because I’m starving and want something to snack on while I make breakfast.

11am – I teach Txilite how to make French toast, and we come up with quite a breakfast spread made of what’s left in my refrigerator.  I enjoy some café de terra from Santo Antão.  Txilite assures me that their cafe in Canto de Fajã is much sabe-er and promises to bring me some next time he comes to visit since it’s in-season now.  I spend the rest of the day practicing English and Portuguese with Txilite, listening to music, napping, and just recuperating before heading to the big teacher activity tonight.  This Monday is Dia de Professores, so we don’t have class and the Ministry of Education organizes a huge party for all the teachers.  Tonight will be dinner and a dance, and tomorrow will be breakfast, a tour, lunch, cultural activities, and a grill.

5:30pm – Alexandra and I head down to the town center to wait for the bus to take us to Fajã.  We’re running half an hour late, but there are only 2 or 3 other teachers there anyway.  We talk to a German sport fisherman who’s looking for an internet café.  He asks us how long we have to stay in São Nicolau, and as always I’m surprised when outsiders suggest that living here is a chore or difficulty.  Clearly they can’t see all the wonders this little island beholds!

7pm – Everyone is finally ready and the bus leaves for Fajã.  We put all our things in the sleeping rooms and go to check out the rest of the place.  The women are cooking over open flames outside and the men are already drinking grogue.  They’ve set up one classroom for eating, one as a bar, and another as the sala de bodje (dance floor).  The music is already blaring and the food smells delicious.

8pm – We eat dinner, hang out, and talk to all the teachers.  After a few hours, it becomes clear that the bodje (dance) is far from getting started, so we walk down to Mi-Mi’s house to make margaritas and rest for a little bit.

12:15am – We head back to the school to find that people are in the sala de bodje, but no one is really dancing.  We decide it’s too late for the bodje not to be starting and we start dancing.  Before you know it, everyone is inside and the party has begun!  I spend the next 4 hours dancing rebeka, mazurka, zouk, and then just your typical discoteca music.  It’s so fun to see all the professors relaxed and having a good time.  I also get to meet a lot of Vila and Fajã professors that I didn’t know yet.

4:15am – We decide we’re exhausted and too sick to stay out any later.  We debate staying and sleeping in the women’s sleeping quarters, but rumor has it people dump water on you as soon as you fall asleep! It’s like a middle school slumber party.  Not to mention a lot of the teachers brought their kids, who are already sleeping there but will likely not stay still and quiet all night.  We get a ride down to Mi-Mi’s and crash in her and Averie’s beds.

A Week in the Life: Saturday, April 21st

7:30am – I wake up, eat breakfast, tidy up my room, and prep for the rest of the day.

9:30am – I give 30 minutes of class which consists of hangman, reading comprehension, and yelling at some girls for painting their nails ("Falta de respeito!”)

10:00am – I head to a professor meeting at the Centro de Juventude.  Almost no one is there yet and it’s pretty hot, so I go to buy some fresh water at the loja next door.  I come back and it’s still pretty empty.  I sit down to jot down a to-do list and realize I’ve forgotten a pen, so I run to another loja to buy a pen.

10:40am – The directora of our school finally arrives and we start.  I try to think of it as a good chance to practice my Portuguese listening comprehension skills, but the theme (Varios subsistemas num unico sistema) just isn’t interesting, even when it’s in your native language.  People here have a strange need to define every single term in their powerpoint presentations.  In this case, the Ministry of Education guy is lecturing to a group of 30 professors and decides to give us the entire history of the CV education system, define words like “subsystem,” and explain the difference between primary and secondary education.  Buddy…I think we’ve got that all down by now.  I kind of regretted yelling at my students for painting their nails because I wanted to be doing the same thing.

 

the cultural center / youth center where we had our meeting 

and where (hopefully) I'll soon be giving adult classes! 

1pm – The meeting finally ends (half an hour later than my classes would have ended) and I talk to two of my fellow professors about going to our meeting about Camp Saninclau in Fajã.  They both go home to change, but tell me to come get them when I find a car.  I run home and get my things, find a car, and go to find them.  One is at his restaurant with some of the other professors, so while waiting for the other, we all stand around chatting and have some beers.  I appreciate being treated like “one of the guys,” but it’s also 1:30 pm and I’m hungry and anxious to get to our meeting.  Finally our other colleague shows up and we head out to find our car which is now gone.  We manage to find another pretty quickly and are on our way!

2:30pm – The meeting starts and goes really well!  Everyone is energetic and full of ideas.  6 of our 7 PCVs are there and there are 5 host country nationals there to help, too.  We cover everything we need to talk about and set dates for further meetings and for handing out donation requests, etc.

4:30pm – After a delicious lunch of dirty rice, I head to Canto de Fajã to visit Txilite’s family.  He’s coming back to Tarrafal with me, but I wanted to go visit his mom and grandmother’s house because I don’t get out there very much anymore and last time I saw them they called me an ingrata!  Personal relationships are very important here and require a lot of nurturing.  I catch a boleia from Fajã de Baixo to Canto and walk the rest of the half hour to their house, which is way out in the middle of nowhere.  People there seem to know me by now, although I still have trouble placing peoples’ faces.  When I reach the chafariz (water source), Txilite’s mom, Lina, is there with her donkey to panha agua.  I offer to help her, but of course she tells me no and sends me on my way.  I get to the house and Bia (Lina’s mother) insists that I come in and tra carga (take off my backpack).  We chat for awhile with one of her neighbors that is there.  Then, I watch a game show for a few minutes with Iverson, Txilite’s little brother.  It’s a kind of cool show where they have students from around Cape Verde go to Praia to compete in a whole range of middle school level questions.  After awhile, Lina comes back and I join Txilite for lunch.  I’m not hungry since I’ve just eaten, so Lina insists that I take some modje capote (traditional goat stew) home with me.  She sends me enough for 4 people, saying then I won’t have to cook dinner.  They also send along a giant sweet potato that’s been cooked over the open fire – soooo sabe!

 

Txilite's family's house in Canto de Fajã

6pm – It’s time to leave so we can catch a car back to Tarrafal.  We stop for a few minutes at the house of the mother of one of my teacher colleagues.  He and his family are there for the weekend.  We don’t have time to stay for dinner, so they send me on my way with a papaya.  I love going to Canto de Fajã :) It saves me days of cooking and grocery shopping.

6:30pm – We reach the road and wait for a car.  We get lucky and one of my students is on her way back from the airport with her mom, so they give us a boleia back to Tarrafal.  I can’t believe my luck – I never get this many free rides!

7pm – We have plans to go to a birthday party, but not until after 10pm, so we decide to relax and watch a movie (Transformers 3 – my selection of Portuguese-subtitled films has come from my students and is VERY limited).

Lume d'Lenha - probably the tastiest food in Tflaw, owned by our colleague; this is where the festa d'ano (birthday party) was held

9pm – I do some yoga and shower and get ready for the party.  We decide to leave around 10:30 to da volta around town before actually heading there.

11pm - There is still no one at the festa and we’re hungry and bored, so we continue walking around town.  Unfortunately, there are students at nearly every bar and we like to avoid drinking around them, so we end up back at the restaurant that’s hosting the party and wait for people to show up.

12:30am – People are finally showing up.  There is music and food and drink and good conversation.  We dance and enjoy ourselves for awhile, but by 2AM we’re pretty tired and both Txilite and Alexandra are not feeling well.  We try to say our goodbyes, but they insist that we must stay to canta parabens (sing Happy Birthday) and eat some cake.

2:30am – The cake finally comes out, so we sing and kiss the birthday girl and then sneak out before they can find another reason to make us stay.

For your listening pleasure, I present: "Chop My Money" - currently the most popular song in Cape Verde (although performed by Akon, who is Senegalese)