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The contents of this blog are completely mine and do not reflect any position of the Peace Corps or the U.S. government.



Wednesday, October 26, 2011

FAQs: My day-to-day life in Moz

When you are just living your life, the novelties wear off a little bit.  But so many of you have told me that you are curious about life here and so I will do my best to describe it.
I have 28 colleagues in my group of volunteers, and the more of them I talk to, the more I realize that I have a pretty unique situation for the Peace Corps, the Health Program especially.  Most of my colleagues, though not all, live in grass houses, mostly dependencias (mother-in-law apartments) in small communities.  One colleague lives in a homestay situation in an agricultural community where he walks 3 miles to get to the main road.  My fellow Moz 16’r that lives in Inhambane lives in a dependencia in the courtyard of his organization outside of town.  So what I will describe about my life here is not typical of the Peace Corps experience in a lot of ways, although with Peace Corps, there doesn’t really seem to be a typical.
Mozambique to Inhambane Province to Cidade de Inhambane:
Mozambique sits on the south eastern coast of Africa, bordered by South Africa to the southwest, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi to the west, Tanzania to the north and the Indian Ocean to the east.  It has the longest continuous stretch of Indian Ocean coastline of any African country and that coast spans approximately three times the length of California. Mozambique has 11 provinces, four in the south, two central, and five in the north.  The north is divided from the central and southern provinces by the Zambeze river and the further north you go, the more rural and undeveloped the country is.  The country was a Portuguese colony that gained independence in the 70’s and then was wracked by a deadly civil war until 1992.  It is a country still in search of an identity, but has one of the fastest growing economies in sub-saharan Africa with a growing reputation as a tourist destination.
Inhambane Province where I live, spans 68.6 square kilometers.  It is bordered by Sofala and Manica provinces to the north, Gaza province to the south west and the Indian Ocean to the east.  The first thing that you notice when you enter the province on the EN1 is coconut trees.  Although there are not coconut plantations per say, coconut oil production was an economic mainstay in Inhambane for a very long time and the old trees still remain.  Inhambane City sits on the Southern Coast of the province on a peninsula 35 km off the ENI.  It is surrounded by Flamingo Bay and is 25 km (~15 miles) from the popular Indian Ocean beach destinations of Tofo and Barra.
As is true for what I’ve seen of Mozambique, the town has a split personality.  The downtown proper is full of businesses and restored colonial buildings now being used as businesses and corporate offices.  Many of the “lojas” or free standing stores are run by first, second and third generation Indians.  There is also a Muslim presence, and two very beautiful mosques sit right on the Bay.  It’s interesting how the old and new collide here and coexist much in the way that the Mozambican culture sits side by side with modern economic growth and change.  A woman wrapped in a capulana while pilaring (pounding) amendoim (peanuts) in a giant wooden mortar and pestle, an ancient tradition, while watching Portuguese soap operas on her television is completely normal. 
The churches are another perfect example.  There is a beautiful catholic church by the water that is hundreds of years old, with peeling yellow paint and a clock tower that always says noon that is reminiscent of a castle’s guard tower.  Right next to it is a giant new Catholic church, more freshly painted the same color, sort of blocky in that distinctive solid and angular 70’s style.  The new church is in use, while the other, slowly disintegrating with vines growing on the inside, houses a single small association called Vuneka that does HIV/AIDS work in the community.  The streets are lined with connected rows of buildings, some in disrepair, but most are colorfully painted and house a series of small stores and shops.  Most of the stores, sometimes two or three in a row, sell exactly the same things, sugar, salt, ceres juice, rum, toilet paper, rice, soap, ricoffee (instant coffee), powdered milk, peanut butter, flour, ground corn meal, omo (laundry detergent) and Amanda, this margarine that comes in a plastic pouch that has a smell and aftertaste reminiscent of bubblegum.
You walk in an open door, unless it is Sunday, in which case the doors are closed, but if you knock, the shop owner will crack it open and then beckon you to enter quickly while furtively looking around to determine if anyone sees that they are doing business on church day.  When you enter, there is generally a small space to stand in front of a large counter and you can usually see through to the living area in the back.  Very little is actually out to be browsed, but instead is stored on tall wooden shelves behind the counter and you ask the shop owner for what you need.  You may or may not be served in the order you arrived or stepped up to the counter, but you can assume you won’t be.  It isn’t uncommon for someone to enter in the middle of your transaction and hold their money out, ask for what they want, and get served.  It’s not anything personal, just that in Mozambique the concept of a line or an order of service simply doesn’t exist in the same way it does in the states.  I haven’t fully figured it out, but if I ever do, I’ll let you know.  The other thing is that no one ever seems to have correct change and is annoyed if you produce a large bill (200 meticais is a stretch, which is approximately $6.50), though in the lojas it is less of a problem. If you need change from a woman in the general market, more often than not she will need to visit some number of other ladies to get it.
For produce, which is mostly what I eat here, I shop sometimes at the Central Market, and more often at the Mercado Gilo, which is covered market right by my house. I don’t have a refrigerator, so I go to the Mercado every day. Here’s what I can count on finding: lettuce, onions, tomatoes, garlic, mandioca, sacks of beans, rice and amendoim, couve (a giant leafy green popular in dishes here), bobora (pumpkin) leaves, matapa (the leafy green of the cassava plant), coconuts, bananas, lemon, sweet potatoes, corn, oranges (boo!  Oranges here aren’t very good and they’re expensive and tangerine season just ended), eggs, plus, we are just at the beginning of mango season and I am waiting somewhat patiently for my first two mangos of Inhambane to ripen.  Common, but more expensive and not reliable finds are: carrots, beets, green onion, parsley, cilantro, eggplant, apples, cucumbers, pears, green peppers.  Compared to other volunteers, I live in the cornucopia of luxury food items.  Many people have tomatoes, onions, garlic, and bananas, lettuce, couve and that’s about it. 
The Central Market is a dream.  It is right in the middle of town, and is all covered.  When you enter, you pass through a series of about 10 tiny enclosed stands selling anything from batteries and cell phone chargers to cigarettes.  After that, on your right-hand side you see 15’ high stacks of handmade baskets all shapes and sizes in the distinctive beige with purple and indigo stripes that is the mark of this Inhambane specialty.  Again, you have three or four women running a business that sells exactly the same thing right next to each other, often chatting and sharing change.  On the left are two larger enclosed stands selling food and liquor.  After the baskets, if you turn right, you step down into the main produce section which houses what seems like unlimited tables of women in their multi-colored, multi-patterned capulanas selling anything from dried shrimp to fresh herbs to coconut oil to giant bottles of homemade piri-piri (hot sauce) to all the fruits and vegetables I listed above.  Aside from the most basic staples, in all the stores and stands here you can never count on getting the thing you found today tomorrow.  Because of this, I’m slowly learning that unlike in the states, where I decided what I would have for dinner, here I more than often than not make a dish because the eggplants today were beautiful or I found beets.
On the other side of the market, there are dozens of calamadaties stands, which sell used clothing, and next to them, there are stands selling capulana bags and wooden jewelry and beautiful ebony wood carvings, and then tables of fish and crab all swarming with flies.  It is a beautiful, hectic place.  But I prefer my market by my house, because there I am rarely confused for a tourists and the ladies recognize me and I can get all my basic everyday items.
My jobs are also very different from each other.  With Bios Oleos de Maxixe, I do product development, soap making, bath salt making and packaging (all in preparation for training local women to do the work), I am also managing and helping with the construction of a demonstration permagarden on the company property in Machevenga right outside of town.  I also do research and Ana and I spend a lot of time brainstorming all the good projects that BOM could do in the community.   With MONASO, I am being farmed out to various local community organizations to support their work and build capacity.  Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time with ACUDES, which does trainings around good governance, supports peer educators that work with sex workers, drug users and families of miners and also trains locals in creating and marketing crafts and making clothing.  Through them I’ve been working with groups of young women in the schools here around HIV/AIDS prevention and sex and sexuality.  It’s very interesting work and there is more than enough to keep me more than busy.
Okay, I have to run now.  Will try to blog again soon.  I'm headed to Maputo for a conference here in a few days (3-Month Reconnect conference, how did that happen so fast?) but will return in a week or so.

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