Mato-Off

Mato [mah’-too]

n. the bush;

“I live in the mato.”

adj. rural or in the middle of nowhere; out in the bush

“That site is really mato.”

On the scale of city to mato, my site is…mato! Surprise!

My very dear friend Lona also lives in a mato site, so we spent a lot of time at every Peace Corps gathering discussing which of us had the most mato site in Moz 17 (our group, the seventeenth Peace Corps Posse in Mozambique. Very original).

During our mid-service conference, we voted on superlatives: goofiest 17er (Mac), most changed (the other Steph), best host (Hoang), most chique dresser (Hoang), etc. And the category Lona and I were both going for was the coveted Most Mato Cred. All that week, we vied for the position, presented our arguments to other volunteers, bribed them for votes, tried to sabotage each other. It was brutal.

The day of the announcements came. We all floated anxiously in the pool with all our clothes on (see post "Malaria...Use Your Net or You'll Regret!"), waiting to hear the results. Steph or Lona? Who will it be?

“And, the winner for Most Mato Cred goes to…”

The apprehension was killing us.

“…oooh, it was a very close one.”

We couldn’t breathe.

“The runner up is…”

My skirt floated up to my waist in the water but I was too focused on the announcement to push it down again.

“Lona!”

Lona congratulated me and tried to drown me.

“And the first place winner is…”

I knew I was about to moon everyone when I sloshed out of the pool to claim my crayon-written certificate.

“…Tony Brown!”

We looked at each other in disbelief, and held it against him for the rest of his life.

Anyway, here is a very very subjective breakdown of the categories. The details in italics are considered more mato for that category. Judge for yourself:

Category	Lona	Steph
Weather	·         Hot and humid	·         Cool and fresh
Water	·         Someone gets water for her	·         Carries water on head
Electricity (neither have electricity in the town)	·         Never has electricity in house ·         Has solar panels at the school where she can charge her electronics, including computer	·         Does not have electricity at the school; nowhere to charge electronics except cellphone (neighbor’s solar panel, not big enough to charge computer) ·         Once every 4 months, the town generator is turned on
Toilet	·         Pit latrine (she wrote a song about how much she loves it)	·         Indoor bathroom – smells, takes a lot of water to flush
Transportation	·         One bus with seats and a roof at dawn, otherwise has to walk 5km to main road	·         Open-back pick-up truck, a few pass by each day
Food	·         No tomatoes	·         No eggs
Students	·         Lar students – board at the school, tend to come from higher income families	·         Mato students – tend to not know how to read
Nearest volunteers	·         30 minutes to 2 hours, paved road	·         1 hr 45 minutes, dirt road
Community	·         Town is poorer, more people who don’t speak Portuguese	·         Most people speak Portuguese

Post-script: After having finally visited Lona’s site, I must admit that Lona truly deserves the prize for most Mato Cred. She is one tough gal - congratulations Lona on making it through, and for the wonderful developments you initiated at your school!

And, just kidding Tony! You’re awesome! Note to my Readers: Tony survived alone at site (for the first year, then he got a sitemate), way off the beaten path, with no electricity, and no cell phone service (for the first year, then they put up a cell tower). No cell phone service, now that is something that neither Lona nor I can claim.

Lona and I in Lona's living room. Photo taken by Nooreen.