Guest Post: A Visit to Mozambique!

Hello! This is Steph’s blog here, featuring Nooreen Meghani, world traveler! If this was a music video played on one of the big busses that you can take long distances (eg. Nampula – Ocua/Pemba: 5/7 hours) I would rap and you would stand in the personal space of three other people for an uncomfortable amount of time. Luckily that is not the case. I am tired of sharing my personal space!

I arrived in Mozambique on July 18^th, one day later than planned, but no less enthusiastic. I wanted to see first-hand what Steph is doing here, and visit a part of the world I might not otherwise, especially while there’s someone here to put up with me (read: translate).

When I got here, I was excited to participate in all of Steph’s household chores (don’t tell my parents!). Little did I know the work she would put me to!

Every day we were in Nauela we went at least once to the well for water. When I got tired of pumping a small child would take pity on me and take over. Then, I had to carry five whole gallons of water on my head! Once, I forgot my towel, which I used as a capulana, and I carried the bucket on my head without it. I think the dents are permanent.

And! Whenever we wanted to cook (anywhere from 1-3 times a day) I had to get my hands all dirty with charcoal. People here argue about whose turn it is to touch the charcoal! I made a friend just by filling his fogao with charcoal.

Forget the charcoal – one day we went to check out the progress at the library, and we made bricks! That involves stomping barefoot in mud, picking up mud with your hands, and digging in the clay and pouring water and sometimes putting a mudprint on your best friend’s face. Oops.

Luckily, laundry only takes about 4 hours, so if you happen to end up covered in mud you’re only a morning and a few trips to the well (wash your capulana LAST) from cleanliness – sort of. Turns out hands (at least mine) aren’t as effective as washing machines. There are many people in Nauela with at least one article of pure white clothing. I don’t know how they do it. Coming right off of field camp where you’re kind of expected to be dirty probably gave the impression that I’m a slob. I guess it isn’t too far from the truth!

Speaking of field camp – Mozambique has some awesome rocks! Pretty metamorphosed and weathered granite/granodiorite I think. The soil is very clay-rich, which allows for good/easy brick making. Most buildings in Nauela and similar towns are made of bricks, for which the clay is dug right where the building is going to be. (See Steph’s soon-to-be-posted post on brick making!)

Anyway, I digress. I can’t keep up the complaining tone though - I loved every moment of my visit, even waiting for transportation in the rain!

From Nauela we went to visit another PCV, Lona, in Ocua. At Lona’s site we enjoyed the luxury of the school’s generator and watched New Girl almost every night (and some mornings with breakfast and tea!). Lona’s school has a working generator, so she can charge her computer when it’s running! When we weren’t watching New Girl or cooking or just hanging out, we went for walks by the river, ate bean burgers, and drew on her walls. I say this for Lona and all of the people I will talk about in this post: It is wonderful to know that Steph has such good friends in her life.

We went back to Nauala for a day and saw a few of Steph’s colleagues who were still in town (it’s vacation, so many were away) and got some water (of course), drank some hot cocoa, and the next day we went to Gurue! The Cha/Tea Capital of Mozambique!!

Oh. My. Gosh. Cha Gurue is so good. I won’t tell you how many pounds I’m bringing back, but it will keep me in tea for some time. The tea fields are beautiful, and the tea trees are actually teak. Eucalyptus grows everywhere to suck up the constant rain and allow other crops to grow, and people have to dig out their houses regularly because there is so much water that the hills move.

We stayed for a few lovely days with Invinha’s PCV, Amanda, and her brother Steve, who was also visiting. With them, we hiked up through the tea fields (which cover the feet of Gurue’s mountains) to a beautiful waterfall! It was a long hike, and when we got back to town we stopped in a shop and treated ourselves to fresh shamoosas (aka samosas)! Yum!

ALSO WE SAW A DUNG BEETLE

While we were in Invinha, Steve and I both killed a chicken each. I think the middle picture aptly describes how I feel about it. In Mozambique it’s an honor to eat the chicken head, so… yup. I ate it. When I looked at the pictures and sniffled a bit, Steph said “don’t cry, we left them in Ile or Nampevo.” Hahaha! True.

urp.

Moving on! I also celebrated my birthday while in Invinha, and, to my vast surprise, Steph baked me a cake! And two visitors, Ruben and Justina, brought me a capulana for my birthday!! It was incredibly lovely.

Ahhh! 

L-R Steve, Amanda, Ruben, Justina, Nooreen, Steph

CAKE

From Gurue/Invinha we headed to Nampevo to see Steph’s friend Belito and to get the full Mozambican experience. We rode on the outside edge (legs inside) of an open-back truck most of the way, and then in Ile (where the truck dropped us off) we ran into an ambulance driver who recognized Steph (he drives through Nauela regularly) who took us the rest of the way!

Fight!

Belito has a 10’x10’ room with a concrete floor. He sleeps on a straw mat with one blanket, and he is probably the happiest most energetic person I’ve ever met. It was an eye opening stay. It makes me think about all of the people here with his potential and drive and no outlet. I think Mozambique is making strides on its own, but I’m glad Peace Corps (and Steph) is here to encourage and support, and perhaps speed up the process of getting Mozambique’s people the options for their futures they want, need, and deserve.

Tonight, we’re in Nampula, ready for my flight out tomorrow. I will be sad to leave Steph and my new friends. That doesn’t begin to describe how I feel, but you get it!

I’ll leave you with a few memorable quotes by Steph from my time here. She will need some help re-learning English when she gets back. She’s so well immersed in Portuguese that she literally speaks it in her sleep!

This is not a pose.

“I’m going to paint this over in pen”

“It’s just something work.” “Busywork?” “Yeah!”

“Oh, I didn’t write down the – what’s the thing with five numbers called?” (zip code)

“I got ash everywhere and I was going to sweep it up, but it’s still winding” (it was windy)

“Amanda, was it you I was talking about with (Portuguese word)?”

“What’s the opposite of fine salt? Thick grained?”

“It’s texturized!”

And one more from me:

"It was physically difficult to saw through her neck" (Poor Gertrude, my chicken)

Steph looking like an old man/Voldermort