10/31/2016
Time to share some stories and experiences about the few
weeks I have spent at my site in Namuno, Cabo Delgado! If you read nothing else
in this post, please please at least scroll to the very bottom and read the quote
from another director.
Executive Summary
-My site is in the middle of nowhere, in a relatively large
farming town. It often feels like a paradox because Numuno is rural yet large.
I’m in the “mato” but have excellent internet connection. It’s a 2-hr drive on
a dirt road littered with potholes to the nearest city of Montepuez, which
quickly turns to a 5+ hour drive from December through March because of rain.
Despite the long drive and inaccessibility, there is constant transportation to
Montepuez and I have almost all of the market items I want in my town (minus
cheese and toilet paper). My future house will be one of the few in the town to
have power. I will also have running water via an outdoor spigot, that is –
whenever it works.
-I am the 4th American to live in this town so
needless to say I turn a lot of heads when I’m walking around or out on my
morning run. Sometimes it’s very friendly looks and sometimes it’s very
confused looks. One of my first morning runs I passed a young girl. She quickly
ran inside, called for her parents, and came out pointing at me. I can only
imagine her asking her parents, “Mommy what’s that over there? That thing
running?”. At least, that’s how it feels sometimes. Most other times, people
are fascinated to meet and greet me!
-Lastly, I will be learning Makua in addition to Portuguese.
Portuguese is used in the schools and the other teachers all speak it well.
However, most students dislike speaking Portuguese and speak in Makua whenever
they have a choice.
Story Time
-It’s been one of those two week stunts where a LOT has
happened. Hopefully you enjoy as much as I have –
As with my first 36 hours in Namaacha, a lot can happen when
you don’t know the local language. Especially when you don’t know the local
language but still want to go out into the community and greet people. In
Portuguese there’s this word – passear – it means to go for a stroll or to go
for a walk. It’s not meant as a form of exercise but rather as a form of
meeting people, seeing your neighbors, and building community. Hence, it’s
essential to success community integration. One of my host brothers and I were
out passear-ing greeting people and explaining who I am and where I’m from to
anyone that asked. We passed a group of women sitting in the shade under the
tree and one said something in Makua and extended her hand. Confusingly, I
looked at my brother who translated her statement into something like “she
wants to shake your hand”. So I shake her hand, no big deal right? 5 minutes
later my host brother is explaining that I just agreed to make a child with
her… Whelp. I wish he would’ve explained that along with the Makua ->
Portuguese translation. Haven’t seen that women since, and I’m kind of hoping I
can avoid an awkward explanation “No, I don’t actually want to father a child
for you. It was a huge misunderstanding”
Along a similar train of thought, when I’m out walking
around I get greeted as papa, father, or dad. The first day my host brother
asked how old I was and after hearing I was 22 he belted a marvelous laugh and
said everyone is going to think I’m lying. Regardless, even at 22, the majority
of Mozambicans are married and have started a family. If you’re 22 and single
in Mozambique, then something is probably wrong with you – or at least that’s
the social image and the norm. As such, I also get asked how many children I
have…
I’ve never turned so many heads in my life. Day 1 just
walking through town with the Director of the school everyone is pausing their
conversations to take a look at me. Because of my privilege and being an
American, the Director of the school introduced me to all of the authorities in
Namuno. I met the Director of Education for the District, the Governor of the
District, and the Police Chief for the District. The second weekend in my town
I attended the town’s local soccer game where about 700 people were in
attendance. Upon walking into the soccer area, about ¾ of the stadium turned to
stare at me. It’s not a judging stare but a jaw-dropping stare.
On one of my runs I passed a young girl whose jaw
immediately dropped upon seeing me. She ran back inside, called for her
parents, and brought them out and pointed to me. I can only imagine the young
girl asking her parents, “Hey mom and dad, what’s that over there?”. On the
same run I passed a man riding a bike – but here’s the catch, there was a goat
(alive) strapped to the handle bars.
And now it’s time for the rapid fire stories:
-I was ralaring coco (shaving coco out of a coconut) and within
5 minutes my entire leg was crawling with ants. Still not sure how I did not
notice them sooner or earlier…
-In Namaacha my bathroom is basically a hole in the ground
with 4 walls. In Namuno my bathroom’s hole was at a slant for draining. So
after dropping a #2, I had to grab a rock/cloth to push it down the drain. Oh,
and Namuno does not have any Toilet Paper. As such, I learned to use my left
hand and consequently I took the same number of bucket showers as poops…
-New record for most packed chapa!! Driving from Montepuez
to Pemba (about 200 km). Reminder – a chapa is a 15 passenger van that seats 21
people. We packed 28 people in my Chapa, but to be fair 2 of those were babies
and another 2 were children sitting on their parents’ laps.
-On the way back from one of my runs I saw papaya falling
from one of the papaya trees. Low and behold, someone had climbed this 40ft
papaya tree and was knocking down the fruit… No ladder, no tools, no nothing. Just
climbed the tree barefooted.
-I did some tutoring at site which was both horrifying and invigorating.
It took me 20 minutes to explain to a 10th grader why 180 – 130 =
50. I tried to break it into 80-30 and then had to break it into: what is 8-3? Shortly
after, I was tutoring a 12th grader teaching integration! And the
student was able to understand and solved several other integration problems I
made for him.
-This last week has been test week for the trimester (school
gets out in another week for summer break). One of the math professors asked me
to help type up his math tests because I know how to type. Which was excellent
practice for my Portuguese typing skills! And also, shout out to my Professors
at Gonzaga who have helped me learn how to format mathematical documents. Two
main things occurred during this period. First of all, another history teacher typing
up a test had a bottle of whiskey and was “sneaking” sips while he made his
test. Secondly, I found myself teaching explaining to the math teacher that 2 *
sin(x) is much different than sin(2*x).
-During test week I was sitting under the big tree with
other teachers just chatting. Casually the history teacher (a different one
than the previous whiskey drinking teacher) said he’ll be right back because he
needs to go collect the tests his students are taking… After speaking with
other Peace Corp Volunteers, cheating is highly prevalent and teachers do not
do a lot to stop it (normally and at least in many of our experiences. Also
recognize that most PCVs are placed in rural sites so the larger cities do have
a better education system). Also, 50% is considered a passing grade.
-I’ve been living with the pedagogical director of the
secondary school. Three of his nephews live with him so they can attend school.
They do all of the cooking, cleaning, and household chores. When I tried to
wash my own laundry the mae even yelled at them to help me… I’ll tip my hat to
them for breaking conventional gender norms!! At the same time, they do the
household chores as payment for living and eating there. Oh, and their hands
are made of steel or something. They are able to grab boiling pots and lids
with their bare hands.
-I was walking back from the soccer game and a white car that
looked that a Peace Corps car passed me. It stopped and starting reversing! A
little weird especially because the closest Peace Corps Staff is 8-ish hours
away from me and the closest PCV was 2 hours away. Turns out it was an American
family living in the city of Montepuez!! They’re currently on an aid project of
some kind and even invited me to their house for Thanksgiving!!! Unfortunately,
I won’t be able to join them because I’ll be back Namaacha for Thanksgiving. On
the up side, the Country Director of Mozambique does host us for a Thanksgiving
dinner!
-Several of the students asked me to coach/train their
soccer team. I suppose it’s time to learn how to seriously play soccer!
-I have a basketball court in my town but there are no hoops
– just the concrete floor.
-I made mashed potatoes for my host family and the brothers
called it candy
-A 29yr old teacher at the EP2 school (like a middle school)
passed away while I was in town. No one knew what he died from, but statistical
it is most likely he had HIV and died from tuberculosis. I was invited to
attend the funeral service which was an enlightening cultural experience. After
the funeral, the immediate family does not leave their house for 3 days.
Friends and extended family spend the majority of their time just sitting at
the house with the immediate family.
Fears/Challenges
Looking toward the future, I now see the struggles I will
face in teaching high school Math, Physics, and English. The majority of
students struggle with basic arithmetic. Negative numbers are impossible: 3-7
is nearly impossible for students to solve. Multiplication and division? Not
happening. However, the curriculum is basically just as fast as the rest of the
world. It is quite similar to the US curriculum. As such, I will have to plan
classes that also teach the basic arithmetic to mathematics. Some students will
be motivated and some will not be. My hope is to share passion and a love for
learning and hopefully a few students will be able to connect. I want students
to know that their learning is their responsibility – learning is not a passive
action that occurs when a teacher writes something on the board. Learning
requires active action and intentional time spent studying or practicing.
Adjusting/Learning
There are two things I would like to share in this space. Passear-ing
& the lack of stress. First of all, the verb passear means to stroll or go
for a walk. Passear-ing is how my community stays so strongly connected. It is
normal to just passear to a neighbor’s house, pull out a chair, and sit and
chat for a bit and then continue your passear. The point is not to get exercise
or to be active. The purpose is to pass time walking and interacting with the
community. While at site, I passear-ed daily. I introduced myself to people. I
admired the amazing trees with massive trunks that cast shadows providing relief
from the midday sun. I watched people in the market play games I’ve never seen
before. I even found a cashew tree!! (before a month ago I did not even know
that cashews grew on trees and that there are things called “cashew fruits” and
that our cashew nuts grow at the bottom of the fruit).
I was talking to a friend back home about what I’ve learned
about myself. Overall, I do not have any deep profound insights that are life
changing or prophetic. But, I am happy here. I was explaining to my friend that
I do not even remember the last time I felt stressed. Which is funny because I
have plenty of things that should rightly stress me out. My chapa from
Montepuez to Pemba was stopped 3 times by the police to check my ID and so the
driver could pay the cops (technically 21 people in a chapa is illegal so there
is an agreed upon fee drivers pay cops instead of being fined a ticket…). I
haven’t had or seen toilet paper in weeks. The ATM ate 3,000 mets which is
about $45 USD (fortunately I filled a report and now have my money back). I do
not speak Makua and that’s the main language of my town. I speak enough Portuguese
to get around. Before arriving in Pemba, I had not seen another PCV or American
for 2 weeks. I had 3 conversations in English, 2 of which were from friends
back home and the other with an English teacher at my school. It gets reaaaal
hawt in Cabo. Not quite as hot as the province of Tete, but it’s hawt. My
future students don’t know simple mathematic arithmetic. I will have a roommate
who I have just now met. We will be friends because we have to be friends. I’ve
accidentally said I was married, and accidentally agreed to father a child with
someone. I believe I’ve witnessed students paying for higher grades. I’ve seen
a teacher drinking in the teacher’s lounge while making a test. 6 hours is now
considered a short trip for me. I rarely get to drink a cup of coffee.
With all of that said, I am incredibly happy. My intention is
not to end with a vent, but to end with the explanation that I’m deeply content
with my life here. Easy? NO. Without challenge? HEEEEECK NO. Toilet Paper? Think
again. But, right now, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Mozambique is
beyond amazing.
Logistics
I have one more month in Namaacha and then we head to Maputo
to “swear in” at the Ministry of Education. After that, I head to Cabo Delgado
in early December. I’ll probably spend a few days at the beach of Pemba and
then head to my site. Summer break goes until January 20th so I have
time to adjust to my community and begin the Makua learning.
I want to end with a speech by another director given to the
volunteer headed to Moma, province of Nampula. While this was not my director
giving this speech to my community, it heavily resembles my experience living
in Mozambique.
(original speech was given in Portuguese)
“He is here without a father. Without a mother. Without uncles,
brothers, sisters, or friends. He does not speak our language, he does not know
our land, or our ways. And yet he has come. So your fathers will be his
fathers. Your mothers his mothers. Your homes will be his. You are his brothers
and sisters. His protection, his happiness. These are our responsibilities and
he is welcome here”
- Daniel –
