daily times from Mozambique

From the drawings of children...

2007-03-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

While in Caia and Marromeu I had some of the children draw pictures. I did not ask them to draw anything in particular and it was a random selection from different villages and as you can see, the children seemed to capture the very situation in which they found themselves.

Below are just a few of those drawings...

you'll notice that most all of them include a helicopter which just a few months ago would never have been a part of their drawings nor probably even their imagination!

pictures of the pair

2007-03-11T07:18:00.000-07:00

Lunar eclipse and other random thoughts

2007-03-05T00:53:00.000-08:00

There was a lunar eclipse on Saturday night, March 3. I was at an OXFAM party when we noticed the eclipse around midnight. By near 1am the earth had almost completely shadowed the moon. The few of us who were left at the party grabbed a couple of mattresses, turned off the car stereo as there is no electricity without a generator in Caia and laid in the middle of the dirt road to be able to see the sky more fully. It was amazing and beautiful precisely because there were no lights for miles and miles. The stars were so clear and bright the darker the moon got. By 1:30 the moon was completely shadowed and we were all getting tired so I didn't end up watching the entire process but wow, what a joy!
So, what is a lunar eclipse?
The moon has no light of it's own but shines because of sunlight reflecting off it's surface (which i suppose is why people are so curious what the dark side of the moon looks like, the side that never gets any sunlight). During a lunar eclipse the earth blocks the sun's light from reaching the moon. Some of the light still gets through, but it goes through the earth's atmosphere so the moon doesn't go completely black, but has a deep reddish orange color. This makes it amazing not only to watch the color of the moon change, but also for the ability to see so many stars while the moon is dark!
The last total lunar eclipse i watched was while living in Togo around November of 2003...i think they happen more often than this though!
Just a side note..
There is an unlikely pair that live together here in Caia..a dog and a Vervet monkey. They are inseperable and adorable to watch. The monkey generally just clings to the dog's back and they sleep cuddled up together. The dog doesn't seem to mind at all! i'll try to post a picture of it as soon as I am in a place with a better internet connection..and i just learned the name for a group of monkeys. I'd been wondering about that for a while..are they a pack? a herd? a group?...anyway, they are called a troop!
from Caia, Mozambique..until next time,
~m

Cyclones and such

2007-03-05T00:51:00.000-08:00

Cyclone Gamede is sitting on the eastern shore of Madagascar and will possibly be the next cyclone to hit Mozambique this year. Last week Cyclone Favio hit the village of Vilan Kulos (where a group of us spent the holidays and got scuba certified) just a couple of hours south of Beira. It pretty much wiped out the entire village. So, i'm sure you're wondering what the difference is between a cyclone, a hurricane, and a typhoon...well,
If a tropical storm is located in the Northwestern Pacific it is considered a Typhoon.
If a tropical storm is located in the rest of the Pacific or the Atlantic it is called a Hurricane
and
If a tropical storm is located in the tropics it is called a Cyclone
learn something new everyday :o)

Situation Report

2007-02-20T05:53:00.000-08:00

It is the rainy season in Mozambique and the Zambezi river is flooding here is the latest report on how it is affecting the area:

As of 13 February, the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC) estimates that approximately 74,000 people have been displaced due to the floods. An estimated 29,000 people are currently in accommodation centres and an undetermined number in resettlement centres that were established after the 2001 floods. INGC estimates that 285,000 people may possibly be affected by the current emergency in the worst-case scenario.

Below are some pictures of the flooding and a link to a map of Mozambique and the specific area the floods are affecting. I am concerned about the villages surrounding Marromeu as these are where the Child Development program have been specifically working.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Af.nsf/luFullMap/1F8194B0B6FADEDD85257284005027E3/$File/ifrc_FL_moz070215.pdf?OpenElement

Staff

2007-02-15T07:52:00.000-08:00

A picture of some of our staff in Marromeu. Ricardo (Program Support Officer) is sitting chewing on some sugar cane, Ramus (driver) is sitting next to him in the green shirt, Pascua (CDP Promoter) is standing cutting the sugar cane, Rosa (CDP Promoter) is standing in the background, and a guy from the village.

Jewel Anita is sitting on the mat. She is the head of all the CDP Programs worldwide and is the person I was in Bolivia with for 2 weeks of training before myself becoming the CDP Manager. Tomas is sitting next to her. He works with me in our Beira office and does some Communications and some Admin.

Me, on a trip back from the village

Solomon, my PSO in Nhamatanda

Joshua, Communications Coordinator in the Beira office.

Experimenting with Zoom

2007-01-10T22:09:00.000-08:00

Experimenting with the zoom feature on my camera...

A monkey outside the hostel I stayed at in Zimbabwe

A monkey in the trees

A grasshopper

The beginnings of a bunch of bananas

A cashew tree

A flower...or a weed? Either way I liked the colors!

A close-up of the flies on a child. Not sure if you can see from the picture, but there are 3 under her nose, 3 on her forehead and 2 on her shirt

A bat in the office

Vilan Kulos at High Speed

2007-01-10T05:51:00.000-08:00

Some clearer pictures from my camera of Vilan Kulos...
A picture from the dive shop of some of the fishing boats in at low tide
The dive shop...called Odyssea dive
The captain of our boat, Mario, and to the right was our dive instructor Ben. He and Vicki came over from England to open the dive shop and have been working and living in Vilan Kulos for about 3 or 4 years now.

more photos

2007-01-10T05:01:00.000-08:00

A final picture before leaving Vilan Kulos..
Lunch and a nap under some trees on the island between dives. We did 2 dives on the 3rd day to 12meters and 2 dives on the last day (4th day) to 18meters.
On the way to our first dive site..the waves were quite large and despite the boat being made of rubber, whew...it hurt to bounce around on the edge for a couple of hours!
Getting all the gear on for our first dive in the pool..

Vilan Kulos on dial up speed

2007-01-07T05:29:00.000-08:00

The beach in Vilan Kulos...these pictures are from a friends camera and for some reason they seem hazy. Once i get the pictures off my camera i'll add them. Wireless internet has been hit and miss for the past few weeks so we have been relying on dial-up...it takes a good 15 minutes for one of these pictures to download. I don't think i have the patience left in me to attach any more pictures!
After a day and a half of watching dvd's on how to scuba dive, it was finally our turn to get our hands on the equipment..how to put it together, take it apart, and check to make sure everything functions correctly. Next step, the pool for some lessons on breathing under water!

short stories

2006-12-12T01:41:00.000-08:00

Women getting water from the pump in the morning in Mucodza. Already there is a line of people waiting their turn. Can you imagine sharing one source of water with your neighborhood, or even just one spicket for water within your own house?
I took this picture to show how scrappy and mangy dogs are in the village. And then i looked at it and thought the dogs look really sweet and cute, but that is definitely not the reality. The animals are never treated well and the dogs are neglected, kicked, have rocks thrown at them, never fed, always scavenging and if i think about it too long it makes me a bit sick. This picture was taken while out in the field giving some peanuts to a farmer to plant. The green plants are corn that is being grown.
A picture of some of the children who were out in the field with us...

A village just outside of Gorongosa called Tambarare. This is one of the communities we (CDP) will start working in possibly in the next year or so. We chose a neighboring village to start with named Mucodza.

Children taking advantage of a rainy day and playing in the water, you can't see in this picture but there are also women washing clothes and people collecting water.

We were eating dinner at a restaurant called Pappas, when the owners son (10 years old) came in and picked up the remote control and started watching cartoon network. He then proceeded to wait on customers and did an excellent job of pouring the beer on tap (on the left in the picture). It was amusing to watch a 10 year old take charge of the bar :o)

more creativity

2006-12-12T01:33:00.000-08:00

Some examples of the creativity of the children in the village...

and the rain came down...

2006-12-11T23:37:00.000-08:00

A picture from my apartment of the effects of the rain in my neighborhood...

Some pictures trying to get into work this morning. The rainy season has definitely arrived...

The Beira escape

2006-12-11T22:42:00.000-08:00

A picture by day of the "hangout" spot on the weekends. This is just outside of the beach club in town called Nautica. It costs 10 meticais (about 40 cents) to get in to the restaurant area and enjoy the beach. They also have a pool and tennis courts but that costs 100 meticais (about $4) and is a bit expensive for my budget :o)
In the picture above is Ian (from South Africa) and Phillippa and Israel (from Australia). We all work together at FHI, although Ian and family have gone back to South Africa for a bit.

And a picture facing Nautica...

And here is a picture by night on the same beach. This is Faye (my roommate from Korea, but she is leaving on Friday to go back, so sad..sniff sniff) and I. It was Friday after work and Ian, Faye and I stopped in at Nautica for a drink and I took a quick swim to unwind from the week.

Transport on Lake Titicaca

2006-12-08T06:05:00.000-08:00

I was looking through pictures from Bolivia and came across these two of the mode of transportation across Lake Titicaca. I love the colors in these photos and thought i would share them. The people get off the buses, the bus goes across on a barge of sorts and the people follow on a different boat. It was fun to watch the bus drive on!

and the women dance

2006-11-24T04:58:00.000-08:00

These women are an example of times i want to cry for the sheer pain of seeing the heartache and struggles of another human. I don't even understand the words she is speaking but their meaning is understood.
I look into her eyes, study the wrinkles on her face, the sound of her voice as she talks, her expressions...
The translation comes and i try to prepare my heart to hear what she is saying in my language. I fight back the tears as she talks of not knowing what she will feed her children from day to day, not being able to send them to school for lack of money to pay school fees, a uniform, or books. Her voice strains as she tells of turning away orphan children because she is barely able to care for her own.
and still the women dance...barefoot, smiling, clapping, finding hope for tomorrow.

An Airport?

2006-11-16T06:28:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of the airport in Marromeu...there is no fence and people use it as a foot path to get from one side of town to the other so my guess is the people and animals scatter when they hear a plane approaching...i wonder if anyone has been hit by a plane??

Bananas

2006-11-16T05:57:00.000-08:00

A gift of bananas from the women's group in Caunda in the district of Marromeu. At some point i would love to post the short video i filmed on my camera of the women and children dancing, it was wonderful! The bananas happen to be sitting on the front step to our apartment...they have not fully rippened, but Faye and i grab one on the way out to the office in the mornings. I think in another week or so i will be making a lot of banana bread because they all seem to be ripening at the same time :o)

Handicap International

2006-11-16T05:53:00.000-08:00

The director (Carlos) of Handicap International (HI) came to our office yesterday. HI is an NGO working on demining Mozambique. There are still quite a lot of active mines from the civil war and even today it is not the safest plan to wander off the beaten track. One of the areas they are working in is a village outside of Marromeu named Nhansaua. HI has done some research in this area and held meetings with the villagers and together they have determined that Nhansaua needs a school. Currently there are about 300 children who walk anywhere from 4-6 miles to get to school and in so doing have to cross a “busy” (a relative term, but when children don’t grow up around many cars even 15 or 20 a day can seem busy) road. This past year 2 children were killed while trying to cross the road. The village has asked for help in clearing land and building a school. Handicap International has said they will clear the land of mines if we would be willing to help build the school. I am in the process now of trying to figure out how much money we have, can we afford it and how much the village is able to contribute…

babies in booties

2006-11-10T05:29:00.000-08:00

A picture of the fun colors of African clothes and the way they put bonnets and booties on their babies, even though it is so hot!!

makeshift soccer balls

2006-11-08T23:44:00.000-08:00

These children live in Cundue, a village outside of Marromeu. The "balls" they play with are actually made by blowing up a condom, wrapping it with a plastic bag and tying strings around it. I love the creativity and they actually work really well :o)

history of Moz

2006-11-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

It’s Sunday, November 5, 6:30am and I am writing this from Marromeu (a 6 hr trek on a dirt road north and a little east of Beira…but only about 180 miles away) visiting 6 of the villages we work in around this area (villages we are potentially closing). Before I fill you in on life here I want to give you some history on Mozambique.

Mozambique was colonized by the Portuguese in 1505 (Portugal was the first colonial power in Africa and the last to leave) and stayed under their control for 470 years. I have not found much information about what life was like under the Portuguese, but one article offered these 5 words, “Portuguese colonial rule was repressive”…not much information for 470 years worth of history! In 1964 a guerilla movement began to grow and the fight for independence began. The name of the party that led the war was called FRELIMO (Mozambican Liberation Front). After almost 10 years of fighting, Mozambique gained it’s independence on June 25, 1975. The majority of Portuguese left virtually overnight leaving the place in chaos. They had dominated the education system and provided the majority of the skilled and professional labor so with the mass exodus, Mozambique was left with a population that was 80% illiterate. A few years after gaining their independence the country fell into a civil war between the government and antigovernment guerillas, the Mozambique National Resistance (MNR or Renamo), who were backed by the white minority government in South Africa. A cease-fire agreement was finally signed in Oct. 1992 ending the 16 year civil war. President Chissano
led the country from 1995 until 2005 and economically things began to get better for the country until 2000-2001 when Mozambique suffered enormous setbacks due to heavy flooding in which hundreds died and thousands were displaced. In 2005, the current president Armando Guebuza was elected president. So, in reality if I had grown up in Mozambique the first half of my life would have been lived during wars! So, that is some perspective on what people here have gone through…

Roman">Maybe you would rather hear funny, interesting stories of life in Africa, but I would like to follow up with some thoughts I had from one of my first emails about Bolivia. I had been questioning why the country was still in poverty and how different the poverty was from that of Africa, or more specifically West Africa and now I can add Mozambique to the list. In the Peace Corps we were taught how to come into a village and learn about the culture, the language, the norms and taboos. We were taught the importance of tapping into local knowledge and figuring out what a village CAN do and encouraging that effort and also teaching them to be able to do more. One of the lessons I learned from that experience was that sustainable development is NOT making a village or community reliant on outside sources. This was all good and valuable for trying to figure out how to bring a village from extreme poverty (to borrow a term from Jeffrey Sachs) up the ladder a bit further, but the question of why does extreme poverty still exist, what is the root, why in 2006 are there still people all over the world not living with enough of the basics (clean water, food, shelter) to be able to take care of themselves. That question has plagued me since I set foot on African soil in 2002.

One of the lessons I am learning from working with Food for the Hungry is the way they attack the problem of poverty. They (and I absolutely agree with this) believe that poverty begins with a mindset or a worldview. In order to understand the poverty in Mozambique I first need to understand how they view the world and start from there. For example, ancestor worship is still very much a part of this culture. Many still believe that disasters happen because the ancestors are not pleased and that animals need to be sacrificed in order to gain protection from the ancestors. Another main theme to the worldview here is that of gender inequality or specifically women are devalued (seen as tools for production and
reproduction) and children are seen as tools for getting work done. In order to get to the root of the poverty in this country these are some of the issues that need to be addressed.

This idea of getting to the root of what a country or village or family or individual believes and deciding whether that thought is based on what is true can be translated to anyone anywhere. I realize that this is something I have to do on a regular basis in my own life and hope that many of us often challenge our thoughts against what is true. This can also translate to what we may fear in life as well. To come face to face with our fears, our beliefs, our perceptions of life or others and question why we believe the way we do is key to us growing up. Look at the history of the United States. The way we treated slaves, the segregation laws we put in place, why did we do this? Why were there laws against marrying a person of color? Because we believed that the color of skin determined a person’s value? This was a lie that took a long time to get rid of and it started with a few people standing up for what they knew to be true and eventually there were laws put in place to change behaviors. Now, generations that come after this time period are taught a different way of looking at others. The phrase I have come back to again and again since
getting to Mozambique is one I picked up in the training in Bolivia:

Ideas have consequences
What we believe determines how we act. I have seen this so clearly played out here in Marromeu. We work in about 4 villages that are along the same route. They are not far from each other, they are all just a few hundred yards from the river Zambezi, and yet 2 of the villages still have food shortages right around this time of the year. While visiting these villages I could hear their ideas and way of thinking by the way they talked. Their mindset was one of needing outside help to get along. Going just about 8 miles down the road to 2 other villages we work in there is enough food and never any shortages. Why the difference? I believe the people in the first 2 villages have resigned themselves to needing outside help for food and the last 2 have worked the land to be able to produce the food they need. I am starting to understand that in doing this work the most important thing I can impart to the people I am working with is the ability to dream. To envision what they want from life, from the land, in school, or at whatever stage they are in and then encourage them to make this vision or dream a reality. I am so tired of
hearing…”we are poor, we need outside help, we will always be poor”…that mentality fosters poverty! And let me also challenge what you all may believe about Africa, it is NOT a poor continent! It has been said that just Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Zaire (DR Congo) have the potential to feed the entire continent, and do you realize just exactly how big Africa is? You can fit the USA, China, Europe, New
Zealand, India, and Argentina into Africa!!! Some of the greatest rivers in the world are in Africa, the Nile, Congo, Niger and Zambezi…maybe I will try to attach a power point presentation I heard recently about the richness of Africa that was given by Darrow Miller. It challenged my perspective of the continent! Whew, okay enough about that…it’s just something that I am wrestling with
on a daily basis trying to figure out what programs to implement, whether to close some of the programs we currently have going, which villages we should potentially start working in and at what level do we start tackling these issues.

Do we focus on the children as they are the next generation and still easily moldable? But they spend the majority of time at school so do we focus on training up better teachers (the majority of teachers here and the same holds true for most of West Africa quite frankly suck. They beat the children, don’t let some of them into school, sleep with students, play favorites, and in the children’s own words “they are unfair” and quite honestly I think the lack of good teachers comes from a corrupt government who trains and places teachers in an unfair manner) or do we focus on parents as they are the ones that have the power to encourage or hinder their children from going after an education. It is the parents who decide whether their children will get to go to school or whether they will spend their days fetching water, working in the fields, and will most likely marry at a young age and start the cycle over again. We don’t have enough people to tackle all the issues. So do we focus on a few villages and try to do an excellent job or do we spread ourselves a bit thin but in so doing we are hopefully making an impact in more of the country? And it is at this point that I throw my hands up and say, “I cannot solve the Mozambique’s problems…” but I need to do the best job I can at the task I
have been given. Sorry, maybe the next email will be a bit lighter!!

Until next time,
Melissa

I just have to add one story that happened tonight (Sunday at about 8pm). I have been eating dinner with one of our village promoters (Ricardo) for FHI and his family while here in Marromeu. Tonight he and his wife and I went to the market to get some food for dinner and we ended up with a chicken (live) an onion, some tomatoes, garlic, and spaghetti. We went back to the house and so I watched the entire process in the poor chicken’s last bit of time. I didn’t want to, but I didn’t feel right about eating it if I wasn’t willing to watch what happens. I need to build back up the tough outer layer that understands that animals suffer and I can’t cry over it every time. And let me just say that Bolivia was hard in that sense because there were so many dogs and they were American varieties. I am used to seeing mangy African dogs that don’t resemble dogs we have as pets in
the states so when I got to Bolivia and saw German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, poodles, weenie dogs and the like living on the street…I’ll spare you the stories, but that was difficult!!

So anyway I was watching the process of killing, plucking, and cutting up the chicken (much to the amusement of everyone) when Ricardo finally asked, “so how do you prepare a chicken in your country?” I’m still not so good at Portuguese so I said, “well, not like that…I usually go to the supermarket and buy…and here is where I fumbled for words, how do I say chicken breasts? So, I improvised and pointed to the chest area and said I buy this. He and his wife said, “oh” and later we sit down to eat dinner outside on a mat on the dirt under a full moon and the “meat” that she gave us to eat were all the innards!! They had thought I bought the insides of the chicken and so that was what I was given…ah, the misunderstandings of not being able to speak a language very well :o)