(view from the front porch of the flooded school yard, the water pump is right in front of that bush on the right....and those buckets well they do their job! hehe)
So much explaining to do I’m sorry I haven’t written in forever.
First, I moved houses about two and a half weeks ago. My old house was fantastic but it only had one bedroom (and my school director was paying rent every month) so once the school year ended and some renovations were made, I moved to a new house right next to school. Although I loved some things about my old house (mainly the indoor shower and my privacy) this move has been beyond great for my integration. My new house is situated right at school, my neighbors are colleagues and one (of two) public water pumps is located about 50 feet from my house. This means there is heavy foot traffic (and plenty of children) around all the time. The students who live next door to me visit everyday, and sometimes come to take Amendoim for a walk. When I leave for an overnight trip they also take extra precautions to watch my house. My colleagues who live next door are staying in Vanduzi for the holidays, and the secretaries/administration at school continue to work through the break so this means people are always around and I am never lonely. My new house also has a HUGE front porch where I can sit and read all day, but I haven’t gotten much reading done because so many students and friends have been stopping by to chat and bring me mangos now that they know I am on holiday.
My new house
What it looks like to live without running water.
My chicy kitchen/hangout area. Yes I have a gas stove and fridge, I'm spoiled but I saved up for those guys....
Because I really do miss you all :)
MOSQUITO NETS ARE FANTASTIC. they keep out cockroaches and scorpions and camel spiders, oh and they help prevent malaria too.
Second, and related to the first, I now have a Peace Corps roommate. I was nervous to start living with someone again after spending an entire year alone but so far its been great. I’m sure being in close quarters with someone constantly will have some challenges but overall I think it’s going to be so much better. Going to community events, doing work at school, and just passearing to buy things at the market are so much for fun when you can do them with someone else. My roommate, Thelma, is going to teach biology at school this year, so I’m happy to have her help running science fair at school and planning the provincial event next fall. Already we’ve brainstormed some big ideas for projects to do in the community and its just going to be so much better having her enthusiasm, ideas and help.
(Insert picture of Thelma, Amendoim and I hanging out on the front porch because that is ALL we do.)
Also, now that I live at school I can plant in the school garden. The school director is thrilled that there are now two volunteers at his school and he has been so helpful and accommodating with everything since I moved houses. He found out we wanted to make our own little machamba and told us we can plant right at school and gave us a huge area to use. We’re going to start planning after the holidays. Aside from finally having things like zucchini, eggplant, KALE and basil in my backyard I’m excited to share some of my favorite foods with people here who are constantly sharing from their garden with me.
Third, moving to the new house also forced me to finally hire an empragado (maid). But, this was a huge internal struggle for me and I waited for Thelma to arrive and we together decided to hire a student to help at our house BUT they’re just going to get us our water. The water pump is located RIGHT in front of our house so getting water is actually really easy BUT every time we go to get water, the women there take our buckets and fill them up for us. Its really nice and they do it out of respect because we’re teachers but I don’t like having people work for me and I also feel guilty every time I go to the pump because I know someone else will have to do my work. Aside from this, NONE of the teachers get their own water and whenever I go to get mine they ask why I didn’t ask them for help. So to avoid all of this awkwardness, Thelma and I hired one of my students (the same student who takes care of my dog) to come get us water everyday and guess what, he was so happy he skipped all the way home to tell his parents about his new job. Seeing how excited Tatenda was about making just a little money this year made all my stress about this empragado business disappear and instead I felt great for hiring him. We’re going to pay him 200 mets (about $6) a month to cart our water every day or so, and we actually paid his first month in advance so he could afford to travel to Chimoio for a big church conference last weekend. Have I mentioned how happy he is to have a little pocket money now.
(Before I go home I will get a picture with Tatenda where he is smiling!)
ASIDE FROM HOUSING…
Having Thelma move here has really helped me to realize how far I’ve come in Vanduzi. That sounds silly and I don’t mean it to brag because I still have so much work to do here BUT it has been great showing her around and introducing her to friends. I realized how many connections I’ve made here and it makes me really optimistic that the school year next year will really be productive. Peace Corps warns us that the first year is hard and its tough to get projects started, especially if you start somewhere new, but I never really realized it until now and I think this next year will just be so much better.
POLITICAL UPDATE—because its important.
So elections came and went on November 20th. Luckily there wasn’t much violence (and the violence that did occur was not RENAMO related) but the elections did make me realize how much I really take for granted living in America, a true democracy. Mozambique is classified as a democracy, and there are multiple political parties that ran in the election and the main opposition party, MDM, received a significant amount of votes, which makes me optimistic that presidential elections could actually see some real change in the country. Yet, the elections were also marked by huge voter intimidation (MDM supporters were prevented from counting votes and warned against celebrating), voter fraud (ballot boxes went missing, votes were inflated and had to be recounted…etc) and in more than one city/district the opposition party was announced as the winner, only for FRELIMO (the government party) to respond with a re-count and then announce themselves the victor. Reading all of this made me so mad; I hate to draw this comparison and its probably NOT correct but I’m going to do it anyway. The way the elections were held here reminded me of (what I’ve read) of politics and elections in so many autocratic states in the Middle East. Yes, the opposition party, MDM, did win some districts and people were able to vote for them, but they were intimidated throughout the process and at the end of the day many people believe the numbers were changed in favor of FRELIMO. It’s really frustrating to watch because if people are unhappy here and they vote to try and make a difference (and the international community recognizes Moz as a democracy) then the elections should be free and fair. But like I said, at least they were mostly peaceful, I can only hope that the fishiness surrounding these elections will encourage the international community to be more involved in next years presidential elections. Mozambique’s last presidential elections were not recognized as free/fair by the rest of the world so hopefully these ones will be under more scrutiny by organizations like the UN and SADC.
Aside from elections there is still political unrest in Sofala province. Unfortunately people (in Moz and in the international community) aren’t really talking about it anymore but attacks are still happening everyday/every few days and the road is not safe. And the government peace talks are still at a stand still. I don’t think the country is going to resort to civil war but the violence is terribly depressing and it continues to make me worry how much longer it will go unnoticed/without outside intervention, at least from bordering countries. Here’s a link if any of you are interested in a summary of what has happened until now:
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2013/dec/16/mozambique-risk-civil-war-pressure
The article claims that dozens of people have died from this violence but people here think the number is much higher. The economist printed last month that over a hundred people had died and the number continues to increase.
POLITICS ASIDE its almost Christmas and I am so excited. I am planning to travel to Tete with a few other volunteers to meet up with a friend/fellow PCV whose parents are visiting! We’re going to do a Christmas Eve celebration and then on Christmas day I will travel to another volunteers site to celebrate some more. After returning to Vanduzi I will then travel to Chimoio to celebrate a “Mozambican” Christmas (complete with slaughtered chickens and a goat and lots of traditional Mozambican food, dancing and Manicas). One of my good friends here, Silvino, is a BOMB cook and he wants to throw a Christmas party so he is inviting his friends and the other PCVs in Manica province, and we’re all going to have a jolly good time. I absolutely love Christmas so I am really grateful that this year I’ll get to celebrate it three times! I’ll try to take some pictures to post on here after the holidays.
(Helen helped me cook for Thanksgiving and she brought these cookies as a surprise, we listend to christmas music and cooked for HOURS...needless to say i think she will be great to spend Christmas with!)
(All the food we ate on Thanksgiving, I'm excited to see what we make for Christmas!)
To everyone back home, I hope you guys are surviving the cold weather and getting ready for the holidays. I can’t believe that next year at this time I’ll be home too, baking cookies, watching Christmas movies and complaining about the snow and my unemployment haha Happy holidays everyone, stay safe and stay warm!
