The Deep Breathe Before the Storm (i.e. my last week before "real" Africa)

ALERT: New address! 

            Irma Amanda Walker

            Rua Dar-Es-Salam, nr 14

            Bairro Central, Caixa Postal 526

            Nampula, Mozambique

This week is my last week in Namaacha, the village that hosted all the volunteers for training.  It’s unbelievable that two months ago to this day I first stepped foot in the country.  To be honest, it still doesn’t feel like Africa to me.  Sure, I take bucket baths and the power goes out more often than it stays on, but this isn’t what I expected.  Also, having our host mothers make all our meals for us doesn’t hurt either.  What I am trying to say is that Namaacha is pretty well off by Mozambican standards.  The majority of the people speak Portuguese, and there aren’t many starving or homeless people.  Even many of the parents are educated.  This isn’t a very good representative of what Mozambique is really like.  We are fortunate to have our training in such an affluent community, while we learn about the culture and slowly adjust in.  Many of the volunteers agree, and we think that Namaacha was a great stepping-stone into the matu. 

Matu is the Portuguese word for bush.  That is where the majority of us are going…to places where it’s easier to describe the bushes surrounding your house because there aren’t any other landmarks.  I am one of the more lucky ones: the house I am moving into has an indoor bathroom (no running water, but still), electricity, and reliable cell phone service.  All in all, I’m still pretty far ‘out there’, even in Mozambican standards. 

During site visits, one of my friends visited Invinha (my future site) and it took her 3 days of travelling just to arrive at the house.  Day 1 was flying to Nampula, and then it was two days of chapa rides to my site.  So, it’s only a little of the beaten path.  A site visit is when the training volunteers leave Namaacha for a week in groups of 1-4 people and live with a current volunteer.  I went to the Gaza Province (not to be confused with the real Gaza.  I don’t think the Peace Corps would continue to receive it’s funding if they sent us there.) in Chonguene which is right near the ocean.  It was beautiful, and I loved my time away from training, just relaxing and seeing what it would be like living in a smaller village. 

Here’s a picture of the Indian Ocean (this was my first time ever seeing it!):

On a random side note, all the volunteers got together and had a Thanksgiving dinner.  We were shocked to find that there were turkeys and cranberry sauce available in Mozambique.  I received a call from my family on Thanksgiving day and it was really great hearing all their voices and talking to cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents that I haven’t talked with since arriving.  (I miss you guys!)  Okay, back to the less important and more boring stuff…I feasted until I couldn’t hold any more.  Each volunteer helped out to make this happen and it was so worth it.  Here’s a picture of the evidence of that filling day:

Some children looking on at the feast:

While I’m on tangents I also killed my first chicken, here I am post operation:

And this was our dessert after the chicken dinner (no power included of course)…yes Brubaker family, you can be jealous!:

I’m going to miss having a family and being able to see all the volunteers whenever I want to, but it will definitely be refreshing having alone time, not worrying about offending your family if you yawn or sit Indian style, and not having to go to hours upon hours of training classes six days a week.  Namaacha is also a really good size where it’s not a city, but it’s big enough to have a market 7 days a week, fresh bread, and a larger market twice a week.  If I want a good market I’ll probably have to travel to Gurue once I get to Invinha. 

Here’s my bucket list of things to do in the last week: climb the water tower, pass my language test, make a dessert for my family, go for a walk down a random street leading off into the mountains and talk to the locals that live there, and finally, just enjoy this wonderful little town. 

I very excited to go and find the little hidden pleasures in Invinha too just like I did in Namaacha:

Namaacha on a day with good weather

Well, I guess that’s all for now! I miss you all and I hope you all had wonderful thanksgivings!