Site Announcement Day

Thursday, July 18 was the day we have all been waiting for since we arrived in Mozambique seven weeks ago.  It was Site Announcement Day, which is pretty much the most anticipated, feared, nerve-racking day of Peace Corps training.  It is the day that decides your fate for the next two years. 

Before I even arrived in Mozambique I had thought I wanted to be in the Northern part of the country, mostly because I wanted to live in a place that had some Swahili influence and I thought it would be really cool to live in a place that had a majority Muslim population.  And being the geography nut that I am, the days leading up to Site Announcement Day were just brutally painful for me.  I knew where I wanted to be placed, but I also knew that I had absolutely no control over where Peace Corps would place me (aside from the occasional comments I made about how cool Niassa and Cabo Delgado Provinces would be). 

Rachel, our Associate Peace Corps Director for Health (or APCD), handed everyone an envelope which had a somewhat sentimental letter about how we are nearing the end of training and it is time to start preparing for real life as a volunteer in Mozambique.  But honestly, no one really cared to read that letter because underneath it was the paper that held our fates.  Would we be placed where we thought we wanted to be?  Or would Peace Corps throw us a curveball and give us the challenge of a lifetime? 

Because I was so nervous during the 20 minutes leading up to site announcements, I decided to open my letter extremely slowly and wait for just about everyone else to open their letters before I had a chance to look at my own.  I don’t know how this actually made me feel more comfortable, but it did.  I really didn’t even read the letter.  Rather, I scanned the text looking for the name of a geographic region that I recognized.  And when I finally saw that name in the second paragraph and it said Cabo Delgado I just felt a huge grin creep across my face as I tried to keep at least a bit of a straight face – especially for those who didn’t get the greatest placements.  But to say I was excited would be an understatement.  I was stoked, ecstatic, overcome with euphoria.   

So a little bit about my placement:  I will be living in a city called Montepuez for the next two years.  Montepuez is the capital of the eponymous district.  There are about 75,000 people in the city, making it the second largest city in Cabo Delgado Province.  There is a wonderful climate table which can be found on Montepuez’s Wikipedia page (which provides no more information about the city than what I’ve already posted here.  Except the incredible climate table.  I can comfortably say I am going to love the weather in Montepuez).  I have just one work placement and it is with a Non-Government Organization (NGO) called Ariel.  Mostly it works with HIV/AIDS patients in Cabo Delgado.  I still don’t know what my exact role will be, but I’m excited to finally know where I will be and with which organization I will be working. 

For those of you who would now like to book your flights to visit me, Pemba offers the closest airport.  Pemba is supposed to be an amazing city and Montepuez is located about 4 hours to the west. 

I will try to update soon on what has been happening throughout the past few weeks of training and preparations for real life as a volunteer in Mozambique!  Stay tuned!