The Grinch Who Stole Christmas - and the Chicken Feet!!

January 15th, 2018 

I was robbed on January 3rd and it’s been pretty rough. I have a 12th grader living with me who has been guarding my house while I was gone and who will be helping out with chores moving forward the next year. At 4 AM, he woke me up and called me out into the front room of our house. It was a disaster and about half of the main room was missing – the half remaining were items that did not fit through a window sill. The grate in the window sill had been pried out of the wooden frame.   

The moringa seeds that were being stored in a 25kg sack of rice were dumped in the middle of the floor. Most of my tech was out in the front room charging along with my roommate’s tech. It’s all gone. Both computers, both phones, 2 of my external hard drives (I lost roughly 1500 movies), 25kg of rice (it was being stored in buckets to prevent bugs from entering), 5kg of beans, a box of tomato paste, 8 packages of pasta, the surge protector for the fridge, and my 5000 mets in cash I left under my computer (roughly 88 USD) – and then the ridiculous items! 1 of my 2 backup water filters had been stolen (I guarantee they have no idea how to use it let alone would they want to), the TWO CHICKEN FEET left in the chicken stew from the night before, half a bar of soap (worth about 0.33 USD), the fake Christmas tree (not to worry, they dropped all of the ornaments in front of the house), and even one glass bottle of beer which fell as they were leaving and broke on my front porch.  

In short – I’m okay, my roommate is okay, and I have insurance for my tech stuff.   

Continuing the story, my roommate almost immediately assumes they entered the house without making noise by using magic and casting a spell. We go to the police and as I’m recounting what has happened, the three officers outside overhear the report and begin talking about how the thieves must have used magic. After reporting it to the police, I go to my sitemate’s house (HUGE shout out here to Alex, my sitemate, for all of her support that day and since then). I wake her up at about 5:30 AM so I can make some phone calls and begin to figure things out. Over the course of the day we slowly realize all of the things missing. My roommate’s house keys had been taken along with various other items. For example, at first I did not realize I was missing two of my hard drives – at first I only realized one was gone. Turns out they took the cord to my electric oven and decided to leave the oven!! 

At around 7 AM the local neighbourhood kids came over and saw the house in disarray. In half disbelief, the local kids begin scouring the area for signs of clues. They found a crowbar in the grass where the thieves used a motorcycle to carry their winnings on home. Between the crowbar and our fans, we began to understand how they got into the house without either of us waking up. My coloring supplies where in my room so I grab them and have the criancas sitting on my front porch dutifully coloring while I continue to make calls and send emails.  

After going to the police I knew I would have to decide what to do about the criancas (local kids). I knew I did not want any distractions and it would be an added stress. But I also knew I needed to have their presence. The criancas, as frustrating as they may be sometimes, are a large part of why I love being here. I was already robbed – that I could not change. But I did not want these thieves to also steal coloring time from the kids. 

I have often wondered how I would react if all of the things I owned were taken. If all the advantages life has given me were stripped, would I be able to recuperate and get back up? I’d like to think yes but hopefully I’ll never have to truly find out. What I do know is this – you can steal the things I have without my permission. I will make it challenging, but it’s always possible. However – my spirit and my heart are mine alone to give and I am not going to let some poor and hungry thieves take my spirit (I mean they took the two chicken feet for goodness gracious!! I can only imagine how hungry they were). Allowing the criancas to come over and color was my way of saying to myself and my community – try to steal my things sure. But still my spirit? My resolve? I think not.  

I started planning repairs and making purchases in town to improve the security of my house. I bought new door locks and immediately replaced the locks on our doors. Furthermore, we went to bed very late the night before and were probably in deep sleep when they entered. Going to bed the night after, the window where they broke in was still unsecured. Still unnerved a bit, I set alarms throughout the night and woke up about every hour. The next morning I had the welders working on making grates for the windows to the house.  

With the repairs completed thus far, if someone wants to enter by a window they’re going to have to take down the entire wall. I’m working on reinforcing the doors next – to break-in through a door someone will have to use an axe to split the wooden door. At least those are my plans. My windows are now well secured and I have been sleeping perfectly during the nights again.   

In all honesty, I did not think I would ever be robbed let alone while in my house in my community. I felt safe and secure here – I felt welcomed, wanted, and invited. I was arrogant and assumed because I had positive relationships in my community I would be protected. But people in the community get robbed too.  

I should also say – I still feel welcomed, wanted, and invited. The feelings of safety and security are returning as I turn my house into a fortress. My community has been supportive. I had two families stop by and donate money to me – money which I knew they could use more but money which I could not socially refuse. I had a few families stop by and give me “milho”, ground corn powder – milho which I knew they could use more (especially considering how I do not like cooking with it) but milho I could not socially refuse. Several families in my community asked if they could cook me dinner for the foreseeable future until I would be able to get my house fixed and buy food again. My neighbour is the procurador of my district – essentially the person in charge of the justice system. So, he sent the Police Chief to my house and by 8 AM the day of the robbery I had both his personal numbers. Wow.  

I knew Peace Corps would approve housing repairs/upgrades, reimbursements, and I have insurance for my tech. The things stolen would be replaced.  

How fortunate am I? 

My house was robbed and everything in the main room of value removed and taken. My community came to me and gave support in various ways. I am fortunate enough that shortly after the robbery I had a trip to Nelspruit, South Africa planned to handle visa issues for Peace Corps. Hence, I already have a new computer. I am fortunate enough that I have parents able and willing to front me some money until my insurance money comes in.  

It’s been hard for me watching my roommate react to the speed of which our items are being replaced. He comes from a subsistence farming family – tomorrow they are slaughtering a pig so they can sell the meat to sign their kids up for school this coming year. Overall, I am pretty damn fortunate. I am loved and cared for. I will not nor cannot let the actions of the few taint my spirits or my love for my community.  

With that said, I almost broke down. I almost wanted to say, screw it all this place isn’t for me – and here’s the story from last Wednesday, January 10th: 

A group of us were in South Africa applying for work visas for Mozambique. Crossing back into Mozambique from South Africa, I wanted to exchange a 100 USD bill to help with some of my cash flows. The rate should have been 1 USD to 58 Meticais, and I knew that. I come up to a group of 4 money exchangers and they tell me the rate is 60. I’m oddly surprised and say okay. He counts to 5900 and I tell him to keep the other 100. At this point, I’m thinking the rates either changed without me knowing or he doesn’t know that the rate has dropped. He hands me the stack of cash to count it. I double count it and it’s perfect – 5900 mets in 100s and 200s. The fact that he counted it in 100s and 200s should have been the other dead give away – he should have been using 1000s and/or 500s. It’s rare for people to have that many small bills let alone be okay with using that many small bills. I hand him his stack of cash back and pull my 100 USD bill out. I hand him my bill, he hands me a wad of cash and tells me I should put it away because it’s a lot of money and someone might take it. Without thinking twice, I put it in my pocket and walk to the bar where the rest of the PCVs are enjoying a beer. 

I should have noticed a lot of things going wrong – there were plenty of warning signs. I also should have asked one of the other PCVs to stay back with me while I exchanged. But they were within sight so what could go wrong?  

I get to the bar, pull out the wad and begin recounting before putting it securely away. Turns out it was a different wad of cash totally about 3300 meticais!! I was furious with myself and furious with Mozambique in general. I felt overwhelmingly exhausted with constantly fighting – fighting for myself, for the criancas, for my community. I have two other PCVs return to the exchange location with me – and of course the 4 men are gone. There are others in the vicinity and I begin talking to them and explaining what happened. I could feel the anger surging inside – and it wasn’t just anger about being robbed 2500 meticais. It was anger for everything in my house being taken, for feeling like the thieves who broke into my house will never get caught, for feeling robbed without being able to fight back, and then finally for being robbed 2500 meticais right in front of my face. I felt like a fool.  

I explained who I was, how I worked in Mozambique as a high school teacher, and I tried to say if they don’t know who the 4 men are, maybe the police would help them remember. After all, we were at the border entry so the police were also within shouting distance. One of the bystanders responds “dude, next time you gotta let us know you’re one of us so this doesn’t happen!” – to which I laugh and it even brings out a small smile. Eventually, we turn and return to our bar with the rest of the PCVs. A fellow PCV bought me a beer and hands it to me. After taking but one sip, a bystander comes up to me and is  like “follow me”.  

So myself and another PCV follow him to one of the “Chefe’s” (boss) of the money exchangers. This Boss-dude has me explain what happens and then he refunds all of the money I was short. I gave him and the bystander who brought me to him 300 meticais as a tip/thank you. All of a sudden, I feel relieved but guilty that I was so quick to give up hope. I also feel rejuvenated but completely mentally exhausted. We return to the bar to continue drinking our beers. 

A few minutes later, THE BOSS of the money exchangers came up to talk to me. He was walking with a guard and they both were carrying batons. He tells me that he heard the story in the street but needs me to confirm what happened. I tell him everything (leaving out only the part about me giving the middle boss dude a 300 met thank you tip). He asks if my money is complete to which I respond yes. He apologies for the incident, thanks me for my report, and turns to leave. That was that.  

It’s been a trying two weeks. I’ve been emotionally drained and exhausted. I’m back home for now but have to leave soon for a Peace Corps Conference.  

Drama aside, it has also been a productive two weeks. We sold/distributed all of the Peanut Butter we had in stock! I have a meeting with the director of a graphite mine later this week about supplying their kitchen with peanut butter. We have a new contact in Pemba who wants to sell our PB in their store. I’m hoping to meet with some Peace Corps Chefes while I’m in Maputo to discuss our grant application in which  we’re hopefully to buy a motor/bicycle powered machine that will allow us to meet an increase in production.   

Stay tuned, because I plan on writing two blog posts this month! I want to take some time and write a little more about PB and life here. As many reading this may know, President Trump made a derogatory comment about Haiti and the continent of Africa in regards to immigration. For now, I wont deny his alleged comment about it being a “shithole”. There is trash in many streets in my town. Many homes do not have proper toilets or adequate bathrooms. Less than 10% of my town has power and even fewer people are linked to the city water, which runs for an hour or so at best every so often. Many children are malnourished and disease is rampant. Would I ever call my community a “shithole?”- No. I love it too much. Is it rough around the edges? Ya. Is life hard here? Ya.  What I want to discuss is WHY. 

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my post. I appreciate all of the support I have and continue to receive. I want to give a cheers to the chicken feet and the fake Christmas trees around the world – they can steal what we have but only we can give our spirits and hearts. They do not have permission to steal our spirits and hearts – however challenging it may be at times. May we work toward a world where people do not need to steal out of hunger.  

With all my heart, 

Daniel Bladow  

Pole-Pole: Understanding Why the Tortise Beats the Rabbit

December 29, 2017

To start things off, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy New Years, and Happy Holidays in general! It’s been another month full of adventures and learning. I’ll be pairing my adventures with some good ole reflection – that’s how the Jesuits taught me! You go out into the world to have an experience, then you make time to reflect, you learn from your experience and apply some new-found insight, and then go out and experience again!

 To start things off on a high note, I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro!! It towers above the nearby city of Moshi at 19,340 feet. Before, I had hiked one 14er and handful of others that were somewhere between 10 and 14000 feet. We did a 6-day trek and should have done the 7-day trek. When deciding which trek and how many days, we made the cheapest decision possible with the youthlike arrogance of “we’re young so we can do anything”. And we were kind of right – we did do it! However, the 6-day option includes a full day of hiking on day 4, 3 hours of sleep, and then wake-up at midnight to begin the summit. The 7-day option allows a full night’s sleep (almost) before the summit.

Nonetheless, it was amazingly stunning, challenging, and rewarding. The winning moto of most groups becomes “Pole-Pole” which is KiSwahili for slowly. Essentially the guides are constantly saying Pole-Pole as we take one slow step after another. The elevation is quite a beast especially when you’re coming from sea-level. Many people in our group had rough altitude sickness – one individual had been throwing up for the prior 36 hours to the summit (and he still made it to the top!). At one point during the summit he considered going back down – but the guide walking behind him told him no. The guide told him he’s already made so many steps and told him to continue taking one after another.

On the summit day I kept myself motivated with an old mental trick I learned awhile back – something simple that can help one endure intense pain. With every step I would ask myself: “Can you take one more step? You bet your ass I can!” and I’d take one more step. Then I’d say to my self: “Please sir, may I have another sir?” and I’d take another step. Then I’d repeat. And step by step by step the distance between us and the 19,340 foot peak grew smaller and smaller and smaller.

But Pole-Pole was the moto for the entire trip, not just the summit day. I’ve done a fair amount of hiking and backpacking and am well accustomed to setting different paces for a group. Fast paces around 4mi/hr, normal paces of 3mi/hr, slow paces for steep parts of 2-2.5mi/hr, and really slow paces of 1.5mi/hr when it’s really steep and your group is tired. The pace our guides set for us is the slowest I have ever hiked. We averaged around 1-1.5km/hr (KM/hr!!). I would not be able to set such a slow pace myself. Secondly, if the pace was any faster the altitude would have wrecked me and summiting may not have been possible.  We walked at a pace that was sustainable. A pace we could do all day – a pace we literally DID do all day. I’ve never done that before – in hiking or in my life.

Throughout University and High School, it was always about how much I could fit into my schedule and my life. It was finding out how much I could put on my plate and then running with it. There was never a sustainable pace to it. There are 16 weeks in a semester and much of college is getting through those 16 weeks, however busy you may end up being. And then you rest a little at the end of the semester and do it again. Pole-Pole is more about choosing a lifestyle where you intentionally decide to take life in small, sustainable, ever-achieving steps. We have probably all heard the proverbs – “even a journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step”. What we probably forget is great achievements require a constant and ever proceeding pace.  It takes weeks, months, years, and realistically decades to make progress. To build a road, a new bridge, change societal views, move toward equality, etcetera. It requires a step forward each and every single day. Not a large step, not an aggressively quick step, but a step. 

It's going to take some intentional effort, but I want to work on including the Pole-Pole mindset in my daily life. I know it’s my weakness and I’ve done it with a literally mountain, so now I need to do it with my own life.

After summiting Kili, we went for a short safari! We saw lions, zebras, elephants, a rhino, giraffes, hippopotamuses, and so much more!! It was the perfect way to wrap up our hiking adventures. Following the safari, we did a short coffee tour. We had the pleasurable experience of making coffee from scratch – we started with picking the coffee berries! And if you know me, you know my coffee addiction and my love for it, so I especially had a thrilling time learning about the process and a bit about the international market. As the international market continues to become more competitive, many small farmers are less able to sell their coffee. To give some perspective on prices, if you buy a 1lb bag of coffee for 8 USD, about 8% of that money would go to paying the farmer (in Kilimanjaro specifically – I do not know enough about pay scales elsewhere in the world for a accurate generalization). Granted, there are a lot of things that 8 USD needs to pay for – shelling, packaging, shipping, etcetera. Nonetheless, 8% of 8 USD is the reason many Kilimanjaro farmers are no longer harvesting coffee.

Following the coffee tour, I began my travels back to my site. It took 3 entire days and was quite the exhausting and exciting adventure. Day 1 was 6am wake-up, Day 2 was 4:45am wake-up, and Day 3 was 3:30am wake-up! Day 2 and 3 I was traveling sozinho (alone). When I caught my bus to mwtara (a town in Tanzania near the border with Mozambique), I quickly realized the adventure I was about to have – no one spoke English anymore! I learned some KiSwahili while in Tanzania but not a lot… So there I was, in a new town where once again I did not speak a lick of the languages being spoken around me. But fear not, I had done it once before so why not again? When I got off the bus in mwtara I heard the best sounds ever – someone speaking PORTUGUESE!!! And oh boy was I excited. I found 3 other Mozambicains traveling back and stuck with them. One of the gentlemen was traveling all the way back to pemba so I was able to stick with him through most of my travels. We got a hostel together, watched each other’s bags as we traveled, and they helped translate the KiSwahili for me (into Portuguese of course). The gentlemen traveling to pemba imports clothing and other items from India/China to the port of Dar Es Salaam and then has the items trucked into Mozambique. Apparently the Mozambicain ports in the north complicate everything to the point where he ships into Tanzania, flies to Dar, and does a 2-day land travel back to Mozambique while trucking the items through another company back to Moz as well. We talked about politics, the current status of Mozambique’s education system, cultural ideals and beliefs that prevent many people (specifically females) from receiving adequate education and health treatment, and many other topics (it was a long ride).

For Christmas, I met up with some friends in Pemba. We stayed at an Airbnb and it was AMAZING. We had a private beach area, a pool, a furnished kitchen, AC in the main living room, access to a gas oven and each other. Having a furnished kitchen I spent my first two days baking and cooking. It felt amazing. During college I would generally make a nice meal at least once a week. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had access to any spice I want and basically any kitchen appliance too. I also kept a piece of my family’s Christmas tradition and I made quite a few cookies!

For New Years, I’ll be home in Namuno. I have yet to figure out what I’ll be doing, but probably something small. It’s been raining/drizzling every day since I got back to Namuno which has reminded me so much of being home in the Seattle area. The coming week I’m trying to catch-up on work and prepare myself for the coming year. January 7^th to the 12^th I will be traveling to South Africa to obtain a work visa for my second year here in Mozambique. January 18^th to the 28^th I’ll be in Maputo – 2 days is for a PCV meetup, 4 days is a conference, and another 2 days is a different conference (still Maputo). So, I’ve been gone quite a bit in December and will unfortunately be gone quite a bit in January. I’m trying to spend as much time as I can in Namuno, especially because of our Peanut Butter project (amidst thoroughly enjoying being here). A brief progress update – our PB is actually in Seattle right now at a lab getting tested!! We need to pass a food safety test and then a mining company near us is ready to begin buying larger quantities. An upscale café/restaurant in pemba is buying our PB wholesale to resell to customers. We’re still working on a grant that will allow us to fund the items we need to meet a significant increase in production. It’s been slow-going – partly my fault for being slow to complete aspects of the application and partly because the Peace Corps staff person responsible already has so many grants being worked on that not every grant has undivided attention.

Thinking back on the past 16 months, I have learned a lot and grown a lot. I’ve learned 1.25 new languages and have set a personal goal of growing that to 2.5 by the time I’m done in Mozambique. I’m more outgoing and much more confrontational than I used to be. I have little to no tolerance when being insulted or disrespected and even less so when a female colleague with me is insulted/disrespected. I’m also starting to feel that my passion is business development. When I first joined the Peace Corps, I thought I was taking a break from school and would be going back for a PhD (who knows, maybe it’ll still happen). The past 2-3 years I have definitely fallen in love with creating – and creating/doing business. My senior design team from University continued our work after the school year and formed a company. Being here and involved with Ukumi Unawavia (PB association), my passion for social enterprises is ignited once again.

I want to end with my two big takeaways from the past month. 1) It's astounding what you can accomplish when you take one small and sustainable step after another. An every sustainable pace of progress. 2) Likewise, it's amazing what you WILL accomplish when there is no other option. When the only option is to summit the dang mountain, you will summit the dang mountain. As they say, if you want to take the island, burn the ships!

Well, that’s all for this month’s post. Happy New Years to everyone reading this – and I hope you are able to take your next year Pole-Pole.

With all my heart,

Daniel

It's been a long day - It's a long post

I thoroughly enjoy the occasional arduous day of manual labor. I like earning my calluses and I love earning my scares. Next week I will be my one year anniversary here in Namuno and in the past year I have earned many calluses and hopefully not too many scars. If you want to hear the story of how my hands got so cut up, wait until the end (or skip to the end). In this month’s update I will cover the Peanut Butter project, December plans, corruption in the school, some logistical visa issues here, yard work projects, and lastly a reflection about what I’ve learned and how I’ve changed – for the better and the worse – in the past year.

Starting with Ukumi Unawavia, which stands for Health Seekers, we have two large developments. Sales have held pretty constant the past few months. We’ve been working on a grant proposal that would give Ukumi some funds to improve their production methods, job training for staff, and outreach at the high school. Our big ticket item on the grant is a 500 USD machine that could be operated by bike or motor. Right now, they use a hand crank to turn out the Peanut Butter. It comes out smooth, but is exhausting work, especially when it’s 101 degrees outside and no AC… Secondly, we have been working to nail down a contract with a mining company in a nearby town. We just received word that they would be ready to buy 60 KG per week if we can run lab tests on our Peanut Butter and demonstrate that it is safe to eat (they can’t have their workers getting sick). 60 KG is a lot of Peanut Butter for us to be turning out on a weekly basis. We’ll need the larger machine to handle the increased level of production. With that said, 60 KG a week is about 300 USD per week which is nearly the sales revenue we need to break even with operational costs. Right now, the 25 staff salaries come from Ariel Glaser, an international health organization. Our hope is to have financial independence. We do not want to separate from the Ariel support – rather we want to be able to sustain ourselves if and when the international aid funds move/dry up. To reach this, we need 350-400 USD sales revenue from Peanut Butter per week. So, sealing down this contract almost gets us all the way there!  The long term hope is to use sales funds to expand operations while relying on Ariel Glaser grant funds to cover current operational costs. Progress. Slowly but surely.

Looking ahead (and up), I’ll be heading to Tanzania in December to summit Mt. Killimanjaro!! It’s been awhile since I’ve done some backpacking of any kind and am looking forward to some mountain air. The mountain is about 20,000 ft tall if I remember correctly. It’s weird for me to think that I haven’t seen snow in nearly 2 years and that I haven’t been backpacking or camping or out in the wilderness for over 15 months. So let’s go climb a literal mountain!!

Now on to corruption in the school… Prior to Peace Corps, I had been engaged in high contact sports for the past 8 years. It’s weird not having any contact sports to release stress. As such, having places where I can pick some just fights (disclaimer – these are nonphysical fights) has helped me curb my edge. Starting last September when I saw photos of my Rugby buddies out on the pitch, I’ve felt like I needed a fight. To put it plainly, my school is riddled with corruption. Students paying teachers money for grades, teachers sleeping with students for grades, and plenty of people looking the other way pretending they don’t know what’s going on. I have a few students who help me with work around the house and in turn I pay for their school supplies. Here’s the conversation that started it all (translated and paraphrased):

Student: “I need 100 mets”

Me:  “What do you need 100 mets for?”

Student: “For school”

Me: “What do you mean for school?”

Student: “It’s for my agriculture teacher”

Me: “What do you mean it’s for your agriculture teacher?”

Student: “I need to pay him”

Me: “Why?”

Student: “Because I missed the second test and 100 mets will change my 0 to a 15” (remember grades are out of 20 and a 10/20 is passing)

 

Well heck no am I about to pay another teacher because that teacher is refusing to give makeup work… So I had to get to the bottom of what was said and what was going on. I spoke to all 4 of this teacher’s 8^th grade classes. It was like pulling an arm and a leg to get them to talk. All of the students were incredibly afraid. This is the closest I was able to get to the truth of what happened and what was said – There is a big holiday here called Teacher’s Day where most teachers have a large party and get drunk. Most tend not to show up to school the day after and as a result many students also do not show up to school the day after. This agriculture teacher gave a test the day after Teacher’s Day. I was able to determine that about 60 of his 240 students showed up for school that day. The day he handed back tests he said something to the extent of: “If you didn’t take the test you have a 0. If you have a 0 you need to find another way to make up the test. By the way, the river in my house has run dry. If you tell the principle or assistant principle about this I will give you a falta vermelha (red mark)”. A red mark is like a red card. 2 of those over your academic career and you are expelled.

Now let’s move forward to how I handled it. I started by sending this teacher a text message telling him what the students had told me. He called me the following morning and we met up at the school. His first question was “which student told you all of this?”. To which I laughed and said that did not matter. We had an hour long discussion. I attempted to convince him that if 60 of 240 students show up you should not give a test, even if it is on your plan… He strongly disagreed. And then we moved into what he apparently told the students. His response was that they were all lying… And he said what he meant was they needed to do work in the school’s farm to make up the test (that is normal makeup work for the agriculture class). So I said, fine they can do make up work in the farm and it’s all good.

Next I go to his classes, tell them the result (work in the farm), and help talk them through how to talk to the teacher. I told them they need to apologize for missing the test and be prepared to say why the missed it. The common excuse here is “I was sick” or “I was at the hospital” which 90% of the time is a lie and all of the teachers know it. So I gave them three examples they could use (yes I realize I helped endorse lying… for a good cause though so maybe we can call it morally grey) – Your mom was pregnant and you helped her to the hospital, your family celebrated teachers day and then ran out of water so the following morning you were helping your sisters fetch water from the well, and reason (3) your dad needed help carrying peanuts to the market to sell so you could pay for school next year – if you didn’t pay by Sunday the price went up so it had to be done on Friday.  

So at this point I’m thinking the situation is all resolved and I count it as a W.

I was wrong. So very wrong. Two weeks later I had a 5^th student come up to me and tell me he still wanted money. So I called the agriculture teacher, was able to get in 2 sentences before he started yelling at me, and then I hung up. I started typing out a text and declined his next 3 calls until I was able to send it. I Answered his next call, told him to read my message, and then hung up on him again. I continued to hand up on him for the rest of that day and only responded to his messages. The situation has been resolved and I was able to make sure all of his students were able to do make up in the farm. I garnered a lot of respect from the students by standing up for them instead of a fellow teacher. The following is a translation of our text conversation that gave me the real W (translated by me).

Me: It’s like this – there are still students that are saying you want money. Also, all of your classes said that you said they cannot go to the principle. If they go to the principle you will give they a red mark. Also, there are students that requested to do make up work and you said no.

 

Agriculture Teacher: Daniel, I know you are persecuting and dirtying my life. At no moment did I request money in the classroom and those students are working in the farm.

 

Me: If the students are working in the farm, this situation is resolved. There are students that think you denied working in the farm. Maybe those students did not hear that they could do work in the school’s farm.

Also, let’s clarify something. I am not persecuting or dirtying your life. I still have not talked to anyone else about this situation – just us and the students. If the students are telling the truth, you are dirtying your life. If there is a misunderstanding between I am only helping to clarify things between you and your students.

 

Agriculture Teacher: Tell these students that the teacher will evaluate the test after the final exam and it will be work in the school’s farm.

 

Me: sounds good.

 

Agriculture Teacher: Friend, do what I am saying, do not spread gossip that dirties another. Because of that, I disagree.

 

Me: John Smith, I am not spreading gossip… To spread gossip would be to share the gossip with people. Also, when four classes are all saying the same thing it is probably not gossip. 

 

Agriculture Teacher: Your colleagues came and worked in this school and left Mozambique without anyone hating another. You need to follow the same example.

 

Me: You can ask the other teachers and the assistant principals and the principal in this school. Will they

say I am a good person or not? Will they say I am a friend or not? Ask my students – I am a god teach or not?

 

And that is the end of our texting history. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it while I was in a hot chapa on my way to pemba. In addition to this incident with one teacher, I had a smaller minor incident of a similar manner with another teacher (also got the W on that one so 2 for 2). 5 separate occasions students have tried to pay me money so I would raise their grade. 5 times students have been told I will never accept money for a grade. I told them to come back with a pencil or pen and a notebook and they could do the makeup work like every other student. None of those 5 came back. Every single one of my students who has showed up to class every day is passing. Every student who did every homework assignment is passing. This week we have grade finalization. It will be another fight to keep my grades as they currently are, but I will fight. I will fight for every single one of my students who shows up to class every day. I will fight for 11 of my 8^th grade students who walk 9km to school every morning, waking up at 3:30 AM to do so, and walk 9km home every afternoon. I may not have a pitch, ballfield, or turf to play a contact sport. But I have my wit, red pen, and hundreds of students who deserve someone who will stand up for them.

Along these lines, I have talked to two of my colleagues who are beyond frustrated with the level of corruption at specifically my site. They are afraid to fight it because they could lose their jobs and their livliehood. One of these colleagues already told me he is planning to transfer the moment I am gone and no longer in Namuno. One thing is for certain, I will not fight alone because that will accomplish nothing. I have a plan to involve my principals and another higher up to try and start a push back against this corruption that has been allowed to flood the school and the hearts and minds of my students. I’m hoping to garner support because I know I will not do it alone. Alone, the most I will do is fight for my own grades and my own students. 

Grades has been my large battle and in the meanwhile PC has been fighting a completely different one. The Interior Ministry had a change over in staff and begun enforcing every law to the T. Normally, we receive 1 year visas and renew them to finish our second year. My first 1-yr visa expires at the end of November and my passport has been down In Maputo while PC attempts to get us another Visa (not to worry I have a certified copy so I can legally travel within the country). About two weeks ago, we were informed all 50 PCVs in my group would be transported to South Africa so we could begin the process of obtaining the 1-yr visa again. The Interior Ministry was saying we had to leave and re-enter to receive another visa. This was strange, unusual, and extremely expensive. Then, about a week ago we were informed the South Africa trip was cancelled because the Interior Ministry would not issue a 1-yr visa no matter what. The current plan is to go buy 30-day exit visas to buy an extra 30-days to make a deal. Overall, PC has been struggling with visa issues since August. We are all hopeful they will be able to make a deal.  

Moving into my backyard, a few updates with building projects! Although, mostly just picture updates. We have finished a concrete water tank that should store about 1000 liters (roughly 250 gallons). This tank is responsible for absolutely destroying my hands (worth it). Additionally, we’re almost done with building a solar dehydrator to dry fruits/vegies/moringa. I still have plenty of projects remaining (power rack, fixing my front gate, making weights for lifting, playground area for the kids, a table for drying peanuts, and so on and so forth).  

 

Lastly, I want to end with a small reflection. It’s been nearly one year here in Namuno. I’ve changed, learned a lot, and grown a lot. I’d say I know speak 2.5 languages: English, Portuguese, and partially Makua. My goal is to leave Mozambique speaking no less than 3.5 languages: English, Portuguese, Makua, and a start of French or Spanish. I have fallen in love with languages. Language is one of the reasons I wanted to be put in Mozambique. I had never learned another language before and knew if it was not a necessity I would probably never make it a priority. When it comes to cooking I have also learned mountain loads. It turns out basically every boxed recipe every in the history of boxed recipes can easily be made from scratch. I have learned how to cook beans and how to make an amazing bean stew (feijoada).  I have learned how to make dozens of different dishes with the same simple ingredients: beans, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, garlic, green peppers, and flour. I LOVE fresh produce and fresh fruits. My life is simple and more often than not, it is relaxing and quite enjoyable. My biggest concerns aside from the school, are fetching water from the well, washing my clothes, building something etcetera. I have so much left to learn from the Mozambican Mothers here. They have fingers of steel and more energy than an energizer bunny. Ask them if they are tired as they care a 50 liter bucket on their head 2km back to their house – the answer is always no. To be tired means you are close to giving up, to needing a rest, to having to stop. Hence, the Mozambican Mother is never tired. She cannot afford to be tired. Her family depends on her to function and to live. She has no other choice than to work without ever becoming tired.  

As I said in the beginning, not all of my changes have been for the best. Some I hope will stay here. I am more skeptical of people. I ignore those who attempt to sell me things and who attempt to beg for money. I understand why I have developed these habits but I do not want them to stay. I used to be the person who would smile while passing a person experiencing homelessness. Now, even if it is a child, I turn the other way and pretend not to see them. When I go to the market I generally receive no less than 3 people who beg me to give them money. The general thought is “WHITE MAN. HE HAS MONEY.” And to some extent they are not wrong. I have enough money to live and to eat well. I have enough money to travel every now and then. This is part of the reason I am trying so dang hard to get some economic development going and bring in a few jobs. Because of the constant begging, I am skeptical of people (also, outside of my general area the begging is nowhere near as severe). A few months ago I was on a chapa in Pemba (city bus) going to town. He was well dressed and very kind. He was helping me practice a few phrases in Makua. As he was about to exit he kept saying something and holding out his hand making a money gesture. I assumed he was begging me to pay for his bus fare. It turns out he was trying to teach me the Makua word for money, which I still had not learned at that point.

My skeptical tendencies have worsened since receiving a female site mate. Men who would greet me with a warm smile greet my female site mate with penetrating eyes and the ridiculous “marry me”. To be completely honest, I do not think it is emotional safe to be a female in my town. That goes for local females and foreign females. Many (not all) men treat females like a farmer may treat his pigs. When I encounter people alone they seem normal and act normal. When I encounter people with my site mate, many people become creepy and have stalker-like tendencies. What scares me is that without her I would have never see the degree of male degradation of females.  A simple example without sharing a horror story would be my last encounter with police. Stopped at a police checkpoint, the officer comes over to talk to us. During the entire conversation he looks only at me and never looks at her. He asks me questions about her assuming that “I answer for her” because clearly she would be incapable of answering for herself. It’s the little things like not being recognized in a conversation or being asked questions in a conversation about yourself that you are not supposed to answer. It takes a certain mental and emotional strength to be a female living here.

I want to end by giving a shout out to all female PCVs, all female Mozambicans, and all females in general. My life is easier because I am male. There is so much I may never see and may never experience about the struggles of females and for that I will be forever impressed. I hope to become as mentally and emotionally strong as the women here, as my fellow female PCVs, and as my own mother.

A long post I know, so thank you for reading all the way to the end. It’s been a long year.

With all my heart,

Daniel Bladow

Little by little we will arrive

Ukumi Unawavia - The Health Seekers

10/21/2017

In today’s edition of keeping up with Daniel we will be discussing carpentry skills with the youth, how peanut butter can be used to incentive patients to take their medication, my daily routine, and a church opening far out into the bush.

Starting in September, every Saturday some of my friends and students come over for a work day. They help me work on many of my yard projects, I teach them the carpentry skills I have acquired thus far, I show them how to properly use various tools, and I provide a full day of food and drink. Starting at 6am, we begin with the exhausting tasks in the yard where the cashew tree is unable to sheath us from the sun. By about 9 or 10am we take a small coffee, bread, peanut butter break and then return to working – but hopefully in the shade! By about 2pm it’s lunch break a soda! By about 5pm we’re cleaning up and showering. If you’ve stayed up with my blogs, you may have noticed that building projects have been discussed in almost every single one and two of my posts were solely about these projects… I started doing work days as a tool to teach an applicable skill and so that I could get many of my projects completed faster.

In the past 4-5 weeks, we’ve finished a 1m by 1m compost pile, a set of 7ft long monkey bars, dug a hole and lined with rebar/chicken wire for a 1200 Liter concrete tank (we’ll pour the concrete when we have 3 consecutive days to complete the project), built a 6ft picnic table, started construction on a solar dryer, and lastly begun building a power rack (it’s a structure for weight lifting. We’ve done all of the cuts and have all of the parts and just need to assemble now). As always, my hands are still pretty torn up with a few blisters that are well on their way to healing. I’ve broken another two drill bits (the small ones of course) and the wooden handle on the hammer has snapped…

All in all, I am falling in love with doing once a week workdays. It reminds me of being a Boy Scout all over again and working in nana’s yard back in Oregon. The difference this time is I spend most of the day cooking and showing people how to do things. The majority of the labor is left to them. Honestly, I could probably get some things done faster if I did the labor and had one or two people assisting me – but I have until January until the rainy season so I have plenty of time to finish my projects. However, we are getting into the heat of the summer… It’s starting to hit high 90s and breaking 100 on most days.

Moving right along from building and work days, I am more involved in a peanut butter project: Associação Ukumi Unawaviya – The Health Seekers. The first Peace Corps Volunteer, Stephen Pope, about 4 or 5 years ago started a peanut butter project with a health association. HIV positive patients who continue to take their medication will receive 6 months of free peanut butter. Stephen helped the association become self-sufficient. Until my health site mate, Camila, and I become more involved in the association in mid-September, the association functioned independently of Peace Corps involvement for nearly two years. Now, we are getting involved again to help improve and expand the program. Camila is helping to reform their health practices – they have not been as effective with keeping HIV patients on medication as hoped. I am helping grow the business relations and functions with the hope of becoming financially independent of international aid funds within the next 11 months (count down let’s go!). Since getting involved in mid-September, they have now sold over 200 USD worth of peanut butter. It’s an excellent start. However, the goal is to hit 12,000 USD per year so we need to step things up by about 6-7 fold. I’m helping to get the ball rolling with local mining companies in the city 60km north of Namuno. It’s a South African company looking to buy more locally sourced food – largely because it makes their Corporate Social Responsibility look reaaaaal good. Plus, our peanut butter is just slightly cheaper than the other two options available in our province – those options come from India and South Africa.

Until recently, I had no idea the amount of peanuts that were produced in Namuno. Just the other week, a semi-truck was loading with 50kg sacks of peanuts. I asked where the truck was going and the response: “Maputo”. JAW DROPPED. Maputo is about a 48 hour drive away from Namuno. Currently, 1 kg of peanuts costs 30 mets (50 cents USD) in Namuno. In July, I was outside of Cabo Delgado (my province) and someone was trying to sell me peanuts for 120 mets per kg (2 USD). I thought they were trying to scam me and initially got pissed until the volunteer living in that town confirmed that 120 mets per kg was the normal price. Namuno is a peanut hub. Within a year, Namuno will also become a PEANUT BUTTER HUB! To briefly summarize my focus: I’ve been helping with sales, data recording, teaching and understanding the numbers, and applying for grants to expand educational outreach and production quality. I’ve made 3 year financial documents but have yet to explain the importance of such documents – little by little we’ll get there.

It’s incredibly exciting to be involved in developing a social enterprise – and I’m being very intentional with that phrase. We’re focusing on the three Ps: People, Profit, Purpose. In University, I was in an Honors program through the school of Business focused on Entrepreneurship. Having the opportunities to live, experience, and apply our discussions and readings is exhilarating. Considering how in the past 4-5 weeks we’ve sold more peanut butter than the last one year combined, we are making visible progress. We’ve made sure to use much of the sales money to reinvest in growth and in the employees who make the peanut butter (we are currently using a hand crank – but we also sort, clean, dry, roast, peel, and then grind the peanuts). As you may be aware, no one eats breakfast and many do not eat lunch until 2PM. So, everyday we now spend 100 mets (1.5 USD) on buying a snack for the works. Sometimes it’s bread and peanut butter and sometimes it’s veggie rice. They decide what they want to spend the money on. They directly see the fruits of their labor. The workers also decide what supplies are important to buy next in order to speed up and increase production levels (from some guidance by the program coordinator and myself). Overall, this is their project and they are making the decisions.  

Moving on from peanut butter, I had another really awesomely dope experience with some of the missionaries from Montepuez (the city 60km north of me). Chad was going out to a suburb 60km south of me to attend a church opening ceremony. He asked if I wanted to join, and duhhh of course! I came here to learn and experience. He picked my up at 6:30 AM and we went out into the middle of nowhere. It’s also changed my definition of “Middle of nowhere” because before this trip I thought my town was in the “Middle of nowhere”… It’s a Church of Christ so Lutheran (aka Christian). The nearest 6 churches all came to the ceremony. Some of those churches were a 20-30 minute drive away (I know this because we drove the women and babies home after church and after lunch). I should also clarify that the missionaries working out of Montepuez are not pastors and never act as pastors. On this trip there were 3 missionaries and they brought their kids too. Two of those missionaries are on a church development program which means they help lead bible study classes and help pastors learn more about leading a church and incorporating the bible. The other missionary, Chad, is working on translating the bible into the local language of the Montepuez/Namuno area (it’s called Makua). During the service, the pastor asked Chad and one of the other missionaries to explain two of the readings for the congregation which they did in perfect Makua – which is insane because we were in a region where the dialect of Makua had changed but they still knew how to switch to the other dialect.

Mass and the ceremony took about 4 hours which is about what I expected. Afterward came lunch. Being the special and honored guests, we were served goat liver first!! Not nearly as exciting as those exclamation marks, but in the cultural context it means a lot. They had slaughtered a goat and pig that morning for all 300 people who attended this mass. Afterwards, Chad and I starting taking women and babies back to their towns. Another incredible experience – all the woman began singing. Chad would translate the parts he would be able to hear. The harmony was something I had not heard before and they were able to make melodies I was unfamiliar with. I am very grateful to those communities and to Chad for involving me in such a unique experience.  

And now for my daily routines!! Well first of all, sometimes life here is rough and just sucks. I like to think I know myself pretty well so I’ve adapted 4 things I do every day to help keep my balance and rejuvenate my spirits and soul. Every day, I do 20 minutes of Portuguese studies (I’m still trying to get better), 20 minutes of Makua flash cards, a workout (I rotate cardio and anaerobic), and 20 minutes of meditation. Between teaching classes, building projects, and peanut butter I have a full plate. If you ever want to know how busy I am, ask me if I’m meditating about daily. If I’m making time to meditate daily, odds are I’m pretty dang busy. There just has to be something ironic about that, but hey it’s how I keep my center. Doing these 4 things every day helps me see small improvements over periods of time and helps me stay centered. Even when it comes to one of my workout cycles – it’s 4 cycles of bodyweight exercises meant to be a full body workout. The first exercise is plank to fail, and the first weeks of this back in July my plank to fail would be about 90 seconds on the first cycle and 60 seconds by the last cycle. Just a few months later, my first cycle is now 3.5 minutes and my last cycle 2.5 minutes. Before now, I have never held a plank for more than 2 minutes. It’s amazing seeing the physical progress I’ve made. The small amounts of progress help get me through everyday and help me enjoy all the little things of each and every day.

In the next issue: school! It’s been a whirlwind and a lot has happened with my students, the administration, and fellow teachers. I’ve found unique ways to interact with my students and attempted different techniques. I’ve also confronted aspects of corruption and continue to struggle with deciding where I need to draw the line. I have two more weeks of teaching which is cra-ZZZIE. So, stayed tuned for next month’s juicy details on Daniel and School.

As always, thank you for following along with my journey,

Daniel

“Challenges are what makes life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful” -Joshua Marine