Throughout my Peace Corps service, whether it be when talking to people in the community, colleagues at work or just random people who gave me rides when I hitch-hiked, I was constantly asked..."You spend two years away from home, don't you miss your family?" And although my answer was always yes, that I do indeed miss my friends and family back home every single day, that I have also been so fortunate to make great friends here. My neighbors and colleagues constantly remind me that I am never actually alone and that I now have two families, one in America and one here in Mozambique. So I wanted to take the time to introduce you all to the people who have taken care of me, and made my time in Mozambique so enjoyable. Here is my Mozambican and Peace Corps family:
My host family who I lived with during Pre-Service Training. My host mom, Graca, is an incredibly strong, independent and also warm and welcoming woman. Although my Portuguese was terrible and she probably thought I was such a weirdo for not eating meat, she loved me all the same and took such great care of me my first 3 months of training. And, although I don't keep in touch with her much, whenever I am planning to travel to the southern part of the country, I always include a visit to see her and her children and she ALWAYS welcomes me with open arms...and a fresh plate of matapa :)
Elisabetta! So, Elisabetta was my sitemate in Guija but we really only shared a town for a week before the floods happened, and aside from spending a month in Maputo together while awaiting new site placements, we spent the next 2 years hundreds of kilometres apart but Elisabetta became my big sister and best friend here, she inspired me to try my absolute best to create sustainable projects in my community and to integrate and make friends in Vanduzi. Even though she's a west-coaster I know we will continue to stay great friends once we are both back in the states together.
Bea and Sofia. When I first arrived in Vanduzi these two were sitting at my house waiting to greet me, I'm sure my director asked them to be there to welcome me because they both speak English and were to become my neighbors but after that first day at site they became my constant family in Vanduzi. My first year at site I ate meals with them at least once a week and if I went more than two days without stopping by to visit them and chat they came to my house to make sure I wasn't sick or missing home. These women were easily the nicest, most hard-working, and hospitable people I met and I am so grateful for their friendship.
I also was able to visit both of them at their actual homes (where their families live) as opposed to the school houses they rent during the school year and that was a really special treat. On the left is Bea (with her daughter Eva) in Manica, and on the right is Sofia with her husband Belimo and their daughter Shanasia, at their home outside Beira.
Wendel and Shane! Although these two have both finished their service and returned to the states they were such good friends to me my first year. When I moved to Vanduzi I was pretty sad. I was 3 months behind on work, my Portuguese was terrible and I was also just frustrated and jaded by my whole experience with the flooding but these two showed me how to have a good time and how to jump back into my Peace Corps service. We spent countless weekends out in Chimoio, traveled together (Wendel our friendship clearly started in that openback to Maputo lol) and celebrated a COESAO victory at beer olympics. May the Boggle drinking game live on...
Causha (on the left) and Laete (on the right) are both very good friends and colleagues of mine. Causha is our neighbor and basically big brother...he has our spare key and calls us when we forgot to leave a light on a night, he helped us start our JUNTOS club at school and also let us come watch world cup games at midnight at his house. Laete was my counterpart for Science fair and the two of us used to get beers and discuss politics and mozambican culture and argue over everything. It was fun. In this picture Thelma and I had spent the day hanging out and chatting and teaching them how to play beer pong :)
Mindy and her adorable little son Sebastian! I stayed with Mindy in Maputo for a few weeks while Peace Corps looked for a new site for me after the Gaza floods, and her, Elisabetta and I became good friends. Every time after that, when I needed to come to Maputo she opened her house to me and really made me feel at home. Having a place like this to escape to, and a good friend to hangout with when I'm in the capital is so nice, and makes trips to a "big city" much less overwhelming. In the above picture Mindy and her son are helping to paint the mural Elisabetta organized in Guija last January.
This is Labson. I met him one day in the market selling fish and he greeted me in broken English and told me he wanted to be my friend. I was impressed by his love of science and English and his desire to work in order to save up money for college and support his family. A few months later I saw Labson nervously following a teacher around at school, and being shown how to work the little cantina (snack bar/shop) in front of our house. Well Labson started working at the shop and basically become Thelma and my little brother. He is constantly asking to borrow things and for us to boil him water..etc and this would be annoying if he wasn't one of the nicest people I've met here. We often eat meals together or swap a little of what we cooked and sit together on our front porch chatting and sharing food. He also likes to cook and eat with Amendoim aka Amendoim sits very alert in front of him watching him and he randomly says "servido" and throws him some xima. He is a very good friend and I will miss him a lot when I am back in America. His dream is to be a Biology teacher and he's been studying Thelma's books all year so hopefully he will pass the entrance exam for university in December!
Dorca and Paulo. So Paulo is just really nice and he greets me everyday in the market and is very sweet but Dorca is like my Mozambican mother. I spent countless afternoons sitting with her in the market, helping her wrap vegetables and chatting away in Portuguese. She spoils me with way too much free produce and whenever I see her in the market she always greets me by yelling "Haleigh como esta amiga!!" and then she proceeds to ask me how Amendoim is too.
Derreck and Simao, my English teacher colleagues/best friends. These two are different than anyone else I've met here in that they want to study abroad and see the world and will actually do the work to get there. Simao told me he will sit in a chair with a bucket of cold water under his feet while he studies that way if he falls asleep the water will wake him up and he can continue reading. I'm pretty sure Derreck does the same thing. I don't think either of them sleep much and they use all their free time to study and read books and they are both incredibly intelligent but also social and friendly. Simao is currently studying in Europe and Derreck is hoping to go to America next year. These two kept me motivated to do my job well even on the days when I truly hated teaching and Derreck was such a champ working with me on a number of projects, he will take over the English library next year.
Ari, my best buddy from Moz 19. We sat next to each other on the plane from NY to Johanassburg and because neither of us could sleep very much we shared wine and told stories instead. He came to visit me in Vanuduzi and instead of having everyone ask if he was my husband (which happens when any other male visits), they asked if he was my brother...even my village knew we were friend and although our villages were really far apart we kept and touch and traveled together on the breaks, exploring Malawi and relaxing on Tofo beach with some of our other friends. Ari and I also studied somiliar things in college so it was always refreshing to see him, catch up and then discuss development theories and our work, or politics and corruption here in Moz. Basically Ari is awesome and I know we'll continue to stay friends in America when we both get great jobs in DC!
Thelma! My rooommate, my good friend and basically my little sister here. I was nervous to get a roommate after living alone for a year but living with Thelma and having her to travel with and go to community events with has been so fun. We also have joked many times that we're grateful we like the same food and spend almost every evening in Vanduzi eating dinner together on our porch, swapping stories about our crazy students and talking about college, our families and our hopes for life after PC. She's a great volunteer to be around and she's going to continue to do great work in Vanduzi her second year!
My number one man in Mozambique. Yes it's silly to love your dog so much and my community definitely thinks I am crazy but you know what I don't care and by the end of my service I am pretty sure Amendoim has made more friends and is more integrated than I am. We moved to Guija and spent a lonely two months together, we escaped the floods together and we moved to Vanduzi together. That dog has been my constant companion and buddy when times are rough or I was lonely and he also kept me safe at site when many of my neighbors houses were broken into. I only hope that when I get to America, I find a decent enough job that I can actually start saving money to have Thelma send him to America at the end of her service but if he stays in Vanduzi I also know that my neighbors will keep him fat and happy because they've learned to love him just as much as I do.
