The Peace Corps Mozambique Experience

I had about a week of "in-between time" after Chris Conz left and before the "Art Camp" started. A few months ago, two Lesotho PCVs connected me to two Mozambique PCVs--I love the Peace Corps network. Both PCVs are girls living in the south, conveniently located close to the places I was visiting.

I stayed one more night at Zombie Cucumber in Vilankulos--I loved it there. I woke up to a leisurely morning and breakfast of scrambled eggs on a toasted Portuguese roll. I took my last shower for the week (PCVs don't have showers), bought some snacks and airtime (for my pre-paid cell phone), and got on a chapa to Maxixe, then the ferry to Inhambane. It was fun going back the same way I went up Mozambique because I knew the drill and the prices this time. Slowly I made my way to Inhambane where Emily lives. I used the internet and picked up some peanut butter (worth its weight in gold to PCVs) in town. Once I got to Emily's, I was so comfortable. She has a simple 2-room home, a pit latrine, friendly neighbors--this was the Mozambique I wanted to see.

The main differences between our homes in Lesotho and Mozambique are the materials used to build the house and the pit latrine and the fridge. In Moz, people bathe outside so the out-house is split in two parts--one for bathing and one for relieving yourself. Emily's pit latrine is literally a hole in the ground that you squat over, and the hole's kind of small for peeing so I had a hard time. There are two platforms on either side of the hole, one for each foot, that are more humorous than helpful. Emily and I talked about our Peace Corps experiences, and they were quite similar. She is working with an organization on HIV Prevention and finding quite a few obstacles--many of them cultural. I met her neighbors too, and finally got to see a real Mozambican family situation. The only thing that sucked was that I couldn't communicate with her neighbors. I greeted them in Portuguese and apologized for not understanding them.

The next day, I traveled south some more to meet another PCV, Tiffany, in Xai-Xai (shy-shy). Tiffany is a third year volunteer so she really knows her stuff. I met her and her boyfriend at the bus-stop and we walked through her village to her home. I was happy to see cattle plodding along the road. It's not as common as it is in Lesotho to see cattle here. Tiffany also has a simple home made of reeds and cement, but she has three rooms and a toilet seat in her latrine--yay! Tiffany started a children's recreation center for kids in her village. The group is CACHES, and the theme is HIV/AIDS education and messages of hope for young kids. I don't know how to talk about the center without sounding cheesy, but it was beautiful. I never really saw anything like it in Lesotho. When I first visited CACHES, a big group of kids was dancing together. It was a very organized step-by-step dance led by an ebullient male volunteer. The man, Mario, who works during the day volunteers his time in the late afternoons at the center. Tiffany's boyfriend and others donate their time and energy there too. I was in awe the way the community came together to support the center and the kids who are mostly orphans. The second day I explored Xai-Xai a bit, then for lunch Tiffany's neighbor made a delicious chicken and peanut sauce with xima (like papa). Yum, it was so good!

I truly enjoyed experiencing Peace Corps in a different country. I feel like I know Mozambique better because I visited PCVs at their sites. Big thanks to Emily and Tiffany for hosting me!