So I wrote this post probably 2 weeks ago, but I am just posting it. I am going to try to update the last 2 weeks by the weekend!
There have certainly been a lot of crazy things that have
happened in Mozambique in the past few weeks.
Not just within the Moz20 group and training, but throughout the entire
country. As for training and learning
Portuguese, we are all getting there – slowly, but making progress. I am getting to the point where I can
actually understand my mae the first time she asks me something. And I have just about gotten over Spanish to
the point where I am thinking in Portuguese before speaking rather than
thinking and Spanish and then translating it to Portuguese before I open my
mouth. So that seems like it is a good
thing. I’m not going to lie though,
sitting through the technical training sessions – those that cover health and
education in Mozambique – has been pretty rough. It’s usually for 2-3 hours each day and I
feel like there is only so much we can/want to absorb before it becomes too
much. Otherwise, like I mentioned
before, this group is amazing. We are
all getting along so well and we almost go out of our way to hang out with one
another.
We spent Friday and Saturday of this week
perma-gardening. Basically we learned
how to make a garden that can be reused over and over. My group’s garden was about 5 meters by 5
meters and had two beds that were about 2 meters wide each. The first thing we had to do was make a
compost pile that included green and brown materials and manure. This pile will be used after the first
harvest of the garden takes place in order to replace the nutrients and soil
used by the first set of crops. Then we
dug our garden and made the beds which took way more effort than any of us
would have anticipated. The soil was
absurdly compacted and hard (but I guess you’re asking for that when its 75
degrees every day and it hasn’t rained in 2 months…). We came back on Saturday and planted corn as
our main crop along with onions, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, and sweet
potatoes. All in all the whole process
took close to 8 hours, but it was a ton of fun and now I know how to make my
own garden and care for it! (I think).
Last Saturday we went to Maputo for a few reasons: first,
those people who didn’t have phones yet had to buy themselves some phones, and
also just to get out of Namaacha for a day.
Even though I brought a phone from home, I wasn’t able to get on the
internet at all so I had to get that resolved while in Maputo. After more than an hour at the Vodacom
(service provider) store, I finally got my phone working correctly and it was a
huge relief. We were supposed to spend
the day with our language professors seeing different sights and using the
Portuguese we had learned in the first two weeks to manage our way around the
city. Unfortunately, the Ministry of
Health was on strike (which in and of itself is not so awesome for us considering
we are health volunteers) and had a march in Maputo the same day. So we were confined by Peace Corps to a small
section of the city and we weren’t able to do much outside the phone store and
lunch. But it was still great to do
something different for a day.
I doubt if any of the significant events that have taken
place in Mozambique have been covered in the US – or anywhere outside of
Southern Africa for that matter. A brief
history may be necessary: Mozambique
gained independence in 1975 from Portugal.
After the first elections there were tensions between the ruling party
(FRELIMO) and its main opposition party (RENAMO). By the end of the 1970s there were isolated instances
of violence that became more frequent and Mozambique ultimately fell into a
civil war that lasted until the early 1990s.
(Some accounts end it as early as 1990 while others take it all the way
until 1994). FRELIMO maintained power
and has become even more of an overwhelming power in the past 20 years. Anywho, last week there was an attack on a
military base in northern Mozambique (like 800 miles from me) for which FRELIMO
blamed RENAMO. RENAMO in retaliation
decided it was going to use its own military to block a 100km stretch of the
EN1 (the main highway in Mozambique which runs from the southern border with
South Africa north to Tanzania). Nothing
happened for two days, but on Thursday a bus was pulled over and RENAMO’s
military opened fire on the bus killing two people. Since then tensions have been extremely high,
but Peace Corps’ director Carl still maintains that nothing is going to come
out of it.
There were dozens of marches all over Mozambique on Saturday
pretty much to declare that no one wants another war and that RENAMO and
FRELIMO need to get over themselves and do what is best for the people of
Mozambique. There was even a march in
Maputo composed entirely of children who chanted “Nossa criancas queremos paz”
(We children want peace). Pretty amazing
if you ask me. However, I also
experienced the other extreme in Namaacha where people pretty much went on
living their lives as if nothing had happened.
Walking around town the last two days you would have no idea that
tensions were rising in other parts of the country. The only mention of the events of the last
week has been on the national news (which is controlled by FRELIMO). Anyway, that is what has been happening the
last week, but be assured that we are completely safe down south in Namaacha
(and most other Peace Corps Volunteers are as well as there are no volunteers
placed around the city of Beira, RENAMOs headquarters).
But not to leave anyone worried about me or Mozambique,
things are good! Like I said, I can kind
of speak Portuguese, the weather is beautiful, and the people in Mozambique
have been nothing short of welcoming. I
will also try to post some pictures soon, but first I have to start taking
some!
PS. If you have WhatsApp or want to keep in touch more
easily then download WhatsApp and add my number. +258848279093. It’s free.
So do it. I’d love to hear from
people!
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