Beautiful Mozambique

Today at around noon we decided to go to the beach.  One of our favorite places is Rio Savane.  A peninsula jutting into the Indian Ocean with the Savane River on the south and the Ocean on the north.  It didnt take much convincing for Joao to take us.  He loves the beach!  When we arrived the tide was out.  The normal transport accross the river was stuck on the other side where the deep river channel lies.  We had to walk accross the river bottom to meet the boat that would carry us the last 100 yards. It was muddy to the ankles so walking barefoot turned out to be easiset.

We met people crossing the river in the other direction taking their products into town.  (a twenty plus mile hike)

The Indian Ocean was beautiful.  There was a small fishing village to the north and villagers walking down to the river crossing point.  We decided to walk up to the village.  There were quite a few boats out on the water fishing.  The boats were dug out canoes with sails.

While walking to the village, we were having a meal prepared at a resturaunt located on the peninsula.  The meal was wonderful.  We spoke with the proprietor and owner of Rio Savane.  The property has been in his family for 3 generations.  The large trees we enjoyed today were planted in 1951 including groves of coconut trees.  We then walked back to the beach and headed south. To the mouth of the river.  We had to hurry back to the boat so we would not miss the last run to the car at 5 pm. 

It was amazing to see the river now the tide had come in.  The river we almost could walk accross was full. It was going to be another beautiful Africa sunset.


With afternoons like today it makes it hard to leave Africa.  When we crossed the river by dugout and arrived at the car I was brought back to reality.  I hate mosquitos!

Mud Pies

I am going to miss my friend Philipe.  While waiting for villagers to arrive for a training session I played  a little soccer with him.  His ball made out of tattered shopping bags held up relatively well.  I felt bad when his father sternly scolded him for not attending school that day.  Evidently  our game became so intense he forgot to go to school.  His father told him if he wasnt able to go to school he would not be able to play and made him come sit on the porch of the family home.

The act of mimicking the preparation of food appears to be universal.  This young girl was busy making the best mud pies in Nhamatanda.  Her mother was busy frying some type of dough balls that looked like hush puppies so she could sell them. Mozambique is making progress.  Individuals are starting small businesses from making and selling food, selling fruits and vegetables, making consumer items like furniture, bricks, sifters and many other items.

These are the items that the mother of the girl making mudpies was frying.

This man has taken bamboo and cut it into thin pieces and will weave it into the bowl held below.  This instrument is used to separate the chaff from rice and corn.  The finished product will sell for just over $1.00 in US funds.

The above 2 pictures are of a brick making process.  This entrepenuer has hired a few boys to apply the outside mud coating before firing the bricks.  The bricks were made on site from the clay soil.  Wood is placed beneath the bricks and will "fire" the bricks. They are stacked in such a way for the heat to move through collumns in the stack.  There are 12,000 bricks which will sell for 1 metical each.  This is approximately 11 cents per brick.  When these are all sold it will give the owner enough money to buy a motorcycle which will be a huge sign of success in the community.  It is going to be hard to leave Africa. Our training is over.  I will train the staff one more time Monday morning before my flight leaves for home.  I do miss my family and look forward to returning to Arizona.  There is still much work to be done and we will be doing another revision to the Health Booklet.  We learned so much by teaching the people.  I learned more than I taught.  I also gained a greater love for these wonderful people in Mozambique.  If you have any desire to help dont hesitate to contact Care for Life on their website careforlife.org

Asubida

We went to 2 more villages today.  We went to a village near Dondo.  We taught the health promoters in the community.  They were very young, but bright and attentive and had a great knowledge of the things we were teaching and reinforcing. We taught in the village of Asubida in the afternoon.  Over 30 people from the community attended the training in addition to the health promoters.  They continue to amaze me with their willingness to learn and their enthusiasm for the things care for life is teaching them.  Almost all are usisng latrines, drinking purified water and using mosquito nets.  I am very impressed with they way they entertain thruough song and dance.  As soon as they begin to sing it almost seems to put them in a trance and take them to a happy place.  Their smiles and enthusiasm are contageous.  We walked down to an area below the village. Miles of endless rice fieldsl could be viewed and its beauty was enhanced by the setting sun.  I thought Arizona had beautiful sunsets, and they do, but the sunsets in Mozambique are indescribable.

Chiverano

On Wednesday June 1, we went to Chiverano in the morning and Nhamainga in the afternoon.  We had a pretty good rain storm in the morning and it was good to be teaching in the machessa.  The roof is made of plastic sheeting and it is covered with palm leaves.  There were plenty of holes but by positioning benches in an abstract way we were all able to sit in dry spots and had a good time teaching the topics of Malaria, Nutrition, Immunizations, Cholera/diarrhea and the treatment of dehydration.  In the afternoon we went to Nhamainga and the people in this village are a hoot.  They love to sing and dance.  For our stretch break Suzanne led us in the "Hokey Pokey" and they absolutely loved it.  Many people besides the 8 medical promotors stayed.  Over 20 leaders in the community.  The people are eager to learn.  Teaching them what a protein and carbohydrate at times was frustrating.  It is very common for people to eat the same thing every day.  They may have rice and beans with little variation.  There is malnutrition in a land of plenty. One leader shared with us that he ate chicken and rice every day and thought that he was eating healthy.  Chicken is not affordable to the poor.  He said he was not feeling well and went to the clinic.  He said he was surprised when the medical provider told him he was not eating correctly.  We teach them to eat cereal and grains, fruits and vegetables, protein, and a little bit of good fats or oils every day.  They are understanding and many will go home and make an effort to vary their diets and eat a variety of foods daily.  They usually sell any excess food for money. Today was Childrens day.  A big holiday in Mozambique.  All the children were dressed up with new clothes and the girls all had colorful beads in their hair.  They all walked around with little colorful baskets given by their families with treats in  them.  It looked like Easter Sunday.  I will try to post a photograph later.  Large celebrations were occuring at the schools.

Ngupa1 and Ngupa 2

I missed a post yesterday.  Had a great morning.  Trained the Care for Life staff on infectious diseases.  They were very eagar to learn and expressed a great appreation for the insight they recieved.  In the afternoon evening and all night till 4 am today Joao, Jonothan and I translated the booklet into Portugueese.  I mostly watched.  Today we went to Ngupa 1 and Ngupa 2.  On the way to the village we were waved over by the police.  They wanted to check our papers.  The military was there with their AK-47s and they querried Jonathan, because he spoke fluent Portugueese and wanted to know where he was from.  When he told them he had served a mission in Rio de Janero they were asking him questions as if he were a drug smugler.  They threatened to arrest us because some of us did not have our passports and visas on us. I just sat quietly and said nothing so they ignored me.  This is the first time I have ever been asked for my passport.  We were allowed to leave but were told that if we had 6 people in the truck again they would jail us and confiscate the vehicle. You can put 100 people in the bed of a pickup with them hanging all over the edges but we couldnt have 2 people sitting on a bucket seat in the front.  The Shoppas which are small minivans that are commercial transportation cram 16 people, charcoal bundles, straw bundles, chickens etc and that is common to see.  Both villages today were very receptive and the people have already seen dramatic improvements in their lives as the begin to follow the Family Preservation Program.  Only 1 out of the Ngupa 2 leaders used a latrine before Care for Life and now they all  built and used one.  In each group only one person could read so it is back to revising our health care booklet to more pictures and less words.  The people were like sponges anxious for the information we had for them.  We were greeted and sent off with an enthusiastic traditional singing and dancing expose.  What a reward for what little we do.  Tonight is Joao's famous home made Brazilian pizza, so tchau!

Gorongosa

We had a great opportunity  to go to Gorongosa, a very large national park in mid Mozambique.  This park was decimated during the civil war when soldiers killed most of the animals.  The park is down to 300 elephants, 40 lions, 5 zebras etc.  The park was bursting with life however.  We saw hundreds of baboons, hundreds of bush pigs, scores of monkeys , hundreds of imapalas, and all types of antelopes and the most beautiful birds.  I do not have room to show them.  We did see a large crocodile in the waters in the foreground of the last picture posted and caught a glimpse of an elephant as it walked away from us through the trees.  We were able to drive our car throught the park unaccompanied.  Due to the recent rainy season many of the roads were still closed due to mud but I can surely vouch for the parks nickname "The Lost Eden."  The plains were spectacular as far as you could see with animals all over.  The grass was green and lush.  In the forest it was higher than the car and in many areas impossible to see anything if it was there.  Greg Carr from Idaho  committed $40 million dollars to the park over the next 20 years and was given an exclusive contract to run the park.  It was well worth the drive inland.  The bridge in the top photo was destroyed during the war and rebuilt.  The canyon it crosses is spectacular.  The eagle on the ground with the white head had just caught a large catfish in one of the evaporating ponds and it was so large it could barely get airborne a few feet to get away  from us.  Tomorrow is Sunday and we will be receiving 3 volunteers to help us during the upcoming week.  I look forward to posting next weeks activites.

Where Does the Time Go?

Today is Thursday!  The week is flying by so quickly!  This morning we visited the village of Nhamainga.  This village is nearing the end of it's Care for Life affiliation.  The above to photos show Joao Bueno organizing the village leaders into their zones.  He is amazing how he works with these people.  You can really tell he loves these people and the work of Care for Life.  I again had the opportunity to teach the leaders key points on Malaria prevention.  When I asked who in the group has had malaria they all raised their hands. This seems to be an inescapable disease for these people yet they survive.  The things Care for Life teaches them will help reduce this chance.  Sleeping in mosquito nets is a must.  When I told the group that it is the female mosquito that does all the biting they  got a good laugh. The bottom 2 pictures show many of the children who are also anxious to learn.  They  belong to the Kids Club program and are also taught helpful life saving skills.  The program helps the children during vulnerable years of 8-14 to gain the self esteem to avoid the pitfalls of early sexual activity which is often forced upon them.  It teaches them vocational and life skills and encourages them to delay sexual activity until appropriate to spare them the ravages of HIV.  HIV in the Beira are has been reported to run anywhere from 17-24% of the population.  Our Summer volunteer groups work closely with these younger children.  One such group will be arrriving this summer.  If you would like to know more or possibly participate in a future trip to Mozambique contact Linda or Ruth Anne thru the Care for Life web site at careforlife.org