Arriving at Site

August 15, 2013

These last few weeks in Mozambique have been nothing short of hectic and crazy.  After Site Announcement Day, there was very little that was going to bring us back to level-headedness.  Except class at 7:30am the very next morning.  But for the 10 hours that followed site announcements we certainly lived it up.  Getting super stoked with the people that were going to be your closest neighbors, sulking with those who were placed 2 or 3 days travel away; but it was a time to celebrate everyone’s hard work over the first seven weeks of training and finding out our sites certainly made becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer that much closer (I will explain how we weren’t quite PCVs yet later). 

As can be expected it was extremely hard to find motivation to go to language and technical classes after we learned our sites.  The final two weeks of training you could certainly feel the itching to get out of Namaacha and move to our permanent sites.  If the first seven weeks flew by like your life flashing before your eyes, the final two weeks dragged on for what seemed like an eternity.  However, it was also during these two weeks that friendships tightened and Moz 20 became a very close knit group. 

Tuesday August 6 finally came and we all left Namaacha bright and early.  After we said our goodbyes to our homestay families we were on our way to Maputo for our Swearing In ceremony.  Here is the part about finally becoming a PCV.  I didn’t realize until like the fifth or sixth week of training that we were officially Peace Corps Trainees and did not become PCVs until after we swore in with the US Ambassador.  Anytime we claimed to be ‘Peace Corps Volunteers’ during training, especially during the last two weeks we were promptly reminded that we were still Trainees becoming a PCV is not a guarantee (playfully told this, of course).  When we finally made it to the Ambassador’s house in Maputo it was chique (pronounced SHEE-key – self-explanatory).  It was a beautiful three-story home overlooking the Indian Ocean.  Quite a serene backdrop for swearing in as Peace Corps Volunteers.

While there we sang the Mozambican National Anthem (titled ‘Patria Amada’) followed by the Star Spangled Banner and listened to speeches given (in Portuguese) by the Peace Corps director in Mozambique, the Ambassador, and one of our fellow Moz 20ers, Edmund.  Edmund’s speech absolutely blew us all away (we knew he was really good at Portuguese, but damn).  He told a story of an ongoing conversation he had with his host mom in Namaacha.  More or less the story goes that during the first week of training Edmund’s mae told him, “Edmund, I have stress.”  This phrase was repeated by his mae throughout his stay in Namaacha and Edmund eventually got to talking to her about her family and where the stress came from.  As they talked about the stress that everyone has – not just in Mozambique, but people all around the world – it became evident that just because you have a lot of stress – or something else that makes your life a little more difficult – does not mean you cannot keep pushing.  There are always going to be things that try to tear us down but we cannot give into those things.  We have to rise above and continue living our lives.  Life is not easy, but we cannot allow things we have no control over control us.  Because really, what is the point in living if we are going to bow down every time something petty gets in our way?  Because no matter how big your problems are, somewhere there is somebody who has bigger problems that he is overcoming.  It is up to us to make the most of everything in our lives. 

And for me, listening to Edmund tell his story really reinforced why I joined Peace Corps – because for so many people around the world stress never goes away.  Most of us in the United States have lived pretty easy lives.  Power goes out, but comes back a few hours later (usually – unless Hurricane Sandy comes through).  No cell phone coverage so you turn your phone upside down or walk ten feet to your right and you have a few bars of service.  I am only 22 years old (almost 23!), but for 22 years I have always been on the receiving end of everything.  An education was practically handed to me on a silver platter.  I played team sports for more than a decade.  There was never a time (mom and dad correct me if I’m wrong) when I didn’t know if there would be food.  I went on vacations, read books (kind of), watched movies, played video games.  And these were the things that stressed me out.  And all of this because of where I happened to be born.  It wasn’t that all of these things were necessarily ‘given’ to me, but I had the opportunity to do all I have done for the simple fact that I was born in the United States.  We never stop to consider how miniscule our problems may be compared to those of other people.  For millions – billions – of people around the world the stressors we have at home are unheard of.  Imagine what a young boy in Bangladesh would do to play in a youth soccer league or how a girl in Congo would react if she found out she was going to school tomorrow.  Or a teenager in Indonesia had a TV and could play video games all afternoon.  These are things the rest of the world would kill to have.  And we get stressed out over them.  For me, joining the Peace Corps was about living in solidarity with different people.  Learning about their lives – what makes them happy, sad, excited, motivated, stressed.  There will never be mutual understanding in this world until we know one another’s stories.  I hope I can use this opportunity to not only learn more about Mozambicans and their culture (and share their stories when I return home), but also share what part of American life with Mozambicans (goals 2 & 3 of the Peace Corps!) – not like what they see in the media.  Ultimately, it’s time that I stop ‘getting’ and finally start ‘giving’ something to the world.  Because as they say here in Mozambique, ‘Estamos Juntos’ (We are together).  The world belongs to all of us, and we really are all in this together.

I digress.

There was way more I was going to write tonight, but I will make another post about the most recent week.  I wasn’t planning on saying that much here!

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!

Getting Into the Swing of Things

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!

Dare to Change Your Perspective

Today marks one week since Moz 20 got together in Philly for our Staging event before departing for Mozambique.  (Moz 20 is what we will forever be called as we are the 20^th group of Peace Corps Volunteers in Mozambique).  It also means that we have only been in Mozambique for 5 days!  Which is insane because it feels like it has been so much longer. 

We spent our first 2 days in Maputo (the capital, pronounced mah-POO-too) recovering from jet lag and getting acquainted with Peace Corps while staying at what must be the nicest hotel in Mozambique (our rooms were $250/night and they were the cheapest available rooms!).  On Sunday, the group packed up for training in Namaacha, a small town on the Swazi border, and we met our host families where we will be living for the next ten weeks.  As one could imagine, the anticipation of meeting my host family was characterized by nervousness and the obvious expectation that it would be extremely awkward given my lack of Portuguese and their lack of English.  However, it was so much better than I ever imagined.  My mae (mom) is a super sweet lady named Cecelia and she has already spent countless hours helping me with my Portuguese and showing me how to do different things around the house and my pai (dad) is an older man named Horacio who I really haven’t seen much but he is the President of the Clube do Namaacha and he is apparently a huge Detroit Red Wings fan, as evidenced by the wearing of his only hat.  My Spanish has helped carry me through the first two days, but I have found so many new ways to communicate.  Most times I literally play charades with my mother while she tries to figure out what this crazy ‘brianco’ is doing, but it all works out in the end.

In the two days of training thus far, we’ve spent close to eight hours on Portuguese alone, including six hours on Tuesday.  It’s amazing that when you spend so much time learning a language how quickly you are able to pick it up.  I’ve even been able to make a few complete sentences with my mae which I thought would take at least a week or two to accomplish.  As a comparison for how quickly we are moving:  I took Spanish for eight (8!) years and didn’t learn the preterit tense until my fourth year; I have been taking Portuguese for two days and have already learned the preterit tense!  It’s obviously a lot to learn in such a short period of time, but I’m not sure it could be going better.  (Obviously it has only been two days, so it could go way downhill from here.  But so far, so good.)

When I signed up for Peace Corps I knew there would be some things I would have to do, eat, see, learn, etc. that I had never experienced before.  Specifically I was prepared to eat a lot of fish and different fruits that I generally don’t eat at home.  And I was hit with it my very first day in Namaacha.  I have already had four things for the first time here in Mozambique: spam, papaya, avocado, and lastly (and my mom’s personal favorite) tea.  Let’s be honest, spam is actually as horrible as it sounds, but there is no way I cannot not eat it when my mae wakes up at 6am to make it for me (along with some eggs).  And I know you’re thinking, “How could this kid never have eaten avocado?!” especially since I love Mexican food.  I’ve now had it twice and it was much better the second time around.  And I somehow made it 22 wonderful years and through four years of college without even a sip of tea or coffee and now even that has changed.  Again, when my mae gives me a pitcher of hot water, teabags, sugar, and milk at breakfast, how can I let it sit there without touching it?  So every morning in Namaacha I have a cup of tea to go along with my egg and spam.  Sounds like the best breakfast!

I could go on and on and on about how awesome the 26 people in Moz 20 are, but I will save you the time.  There are so many different backgrounds in the group - people who have lived in China, the Netherlands, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Colombia and Canada.  Nine of the 26 have Master’s Degrees and one even has a J.D.  There are three volunteers over the age of 50 and three who graduated from college within the last month.  It seems like all the volunteers have a huge interest in International Relations/Affairs/Development, and it is so nice to be surrounded by so many people who share the same interest as me for the first time.  We can actually have conversations that go beyond, “North Korea is bad,” “Can you believe the Eurozone,” or “Gas costs so much money.”  So that’s been nice.  But the one thing that we all really share is the fact that we are doing Peace Corps.  Together.  And it seems like it is not our interest in one another or our collective interest in IR that bonds us, but it is our desire to do Peace Corps that has brought us so close.  We all have different pasts but our pasts have led us to do this together and that is an amazing thing.

We learned on Monday that two Peace Corps Volunteers (or PCVs in this acronym crazed world), one from Zambia and one from Ghana, recently passed away.  Our Country Director, Carl, showed us a video and song made by the Country Director in Togo in honor of the two volunteers.  It was seriously one of the most moving songs/videos I have ever seen.  In one photo of the video was a mural that read, “Dare to Change Your Perspective” and I think our entire group fell into tears together.  So I think from here on out that will push me to keep going when things get tough.

I don’t want to end it on a sappy note, so to conclude - Mozambique has been AMAZING so far.  The Portuguese is still intimidating, but we are all getting there.  Slowly.  The people are wonderful, the food is great, the scenery is beautiful and I couldn’t have asked for a better group to be serving with.  This is just the beginning, but it is shaping up to be an amazing ride.

Time Flies!

I almost always leave everything to the last minute so it should be no surprise that I have done the same with the creation of my Peace Corps blog which I've been promising for close to two months now.  It's amazing how hectic life can get when you leave packing, seeing all your friends, and reassuring your parents that you'll be okay to the last minute.  And then you realize you forgot to make a blog!  So it's 11pm and I'm supposed to be meeting everyone I'm joining the Peace Corps with in about 12 hours.  But first I have to finish packing and say some final "see you later's."
The Peace Corps is something that I jokingly told my parents I wanted to do probably five years ago.  I had no idea what it was other than the fact that it included living abroad for two years and that was good enough for me.  So you could say I've had the travel bug for quite some time now.  I didn't seriously begin to consider any type of international volunteering until I went to the Dominican Republic with Villanova's Service Break Trip Program and lived at an orphanage for young boys.  It opened my eyes to a world I had only heard about before.  But somehow I almost felt more comfortable and at ease living without the constant comforts of modern living.  I realized I'd rather trade the hustle and bustle of American life for the real human relationships I felt I could actually build with these kids who knew nothing of my life except that Vladimir Guerrero could hit any pitch to any field and make it look effortless.
I used the resources at Villanova to make three more trips abroad during my final two years of college.  I spent June 2010 in Rwanda seeing the effects of 1994 up close.  I'm not sure I'll ever see anything so real again in my life.  But more than the history of Rwanda, I fell in love with the people and culture.  In Rwanda people seemed to live with a passion for life, similar to the boys in the Dominican Republic.
I knew I had to return to Africa, so for the Spring Semester of my junior year I studied at the University of Botswana where I spent entirely too much time comparing it to my experience in Rwanda and not enough time appreciating Botswana for the amazing place it is and the incredible people I met.  But as I reflect on my time in Botswana I realize that it gave me the confidence that I really could live abroad for a long period of time.
My final experience abroad was another one of Villanova's Service Trips.  I went to Cambodia in January 2012 and lived at an orphanage for children who lost their parents to AIDS.  The operation at New Hope for Cambodian Children was absolutely astonishing.  I never really believed that one person (or two) could make a huge difference in the world, but after seeing what John and Kathy were doing for these children, who were basically ostracized in Cambodia, was inspiring.  I began to think that the world may not recognize what one or two people are doing, but that doesn't mean they're not making a difference.  From that point, I knew I had to do something with my life that made me feel like I was using my knowledge and abilities to make a difference for even just one person.
So here I am, about to spend two years in Mozambique doing something related to HIV/AIDS - something I know next to nothing about - completely overpacked, and incredibly excited to begin this journey that (fingers crossed) will change me forever.

A note about the blog title.  I've realized the saying "time flies when you're having fun" is incredibly cliche, but also flawlessly accurate.  I always find myself trying to remember the little stories that make each experience worthwhile.  And invariably, I find myself wishing I had more time to make more memories with the people I meet wherever I go.  So one of my goals for this Peace Corps experience is to be present as much as possible - to invest in the people I'm working with, not just for their benefit but also for my own.  Hopefully I will find the time to slow things down and make the most of every moment.  A well known figure once said, "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it."  Well, here's to hoping no moment passes by without at least one second of its recognition.  I'm excited, anxious, nervous, apprehensive, but ready for this and I hope you all hop on for the ride.  It's gonna be WILD!