Hi folks, sorry it’s been, I dunno, 1000 years since I’ve posted. What can I say, I’ve been busy (and yes, lazy). Ok, so in the past (gulp) 2 months here’s what I’ve been up to:
In February they celebrated Carnaval here. Quelimane is often called a “little Brasil” and part of that is their huge carnaval celebration, it’s by far the biggest one in the country. Carnaval here took place on two weekends, Friday-Sunday. There’s one part of the city where there’s a small roundabout, really a plaza, and they set up a stage there with a live band playing samba music. Groups of youth from all over the city (some organized by neighborhood, some by corporate sponsor) had been practicing samba routines for months, and they danced around and around the roundabout all night long, 3 nights in a row, I got tired just looking at them, but it was fun to see the different costumes, routines, etc. around the edges of the plaza and down the side streets were tons and tons of barracas (small booths/stands/bars), all basically the same, selling beer and spicy chicken on a stick. You could tell they’re striving to be like brasilian carnaval, which is a complaint of many people, that they don’t make it more their own, but I enjoyed the home-grown feel, it wasn’t fancy and flashy, but it was fun. Some of my American friends complained that the public doesn’t really dance, just the people in the groups. The public (ie: me) just stands and watches the dancing or sits at barracas and hangs out. Again, I thought it was fun! I went with different people every night, sometimes American friends, sometimes Mozambican. Every night I ran into people I knew (for being a city, quelimane is a small place), and most nights I made new friends. I just really enjoyed the atmosphere, the whole city enjoying itself together.
Shortly after that I had to go to a peace corps conference in Nampula, the capital of the next province (also called Nampula) to the north. The trip was about 10 hours on a medium-comfort bus. i got to see a lot of zambezia that I hadn’t seen yet (every inch of it is gorgeous), and at every stop the bus was overwhelmed with people selling fresh fruit and nuts and wooden toys and carvings and god knows what else, all for really cheap (I bought a bag full of guavas for 5 meticais, like 20 cents). Nampula is the 3rd biggest city in moz, so a pretty big deal. My first reaction when I got there was “this place is big,” (not overwhelmingly big, just significantly bigger than quelimane), the second was “they even have stoplights!” that pretty much summed up my impression of the city, because I really didn’t get to see much of it. Peace corps put us up in a nice hotel with great Indian-ish food at every meal and kept us busy for most of the day. The first few days were IST (in-service training), for just the moz13 group. We talked about how our first 3 months at site went, difficulties, frustrations, successes, etc. then we had two days of training on project development (essentially choosing and designing a project with community members, and applying for grants), and positive prevention (keeping hiv-positive people healthy is a prevention strategy because not only are they able to work and lead good lives, but if they’re healthy then their viral loads are lower and they are less likely to infect others). The next few days of the conference were Regionals, for all the PCVs in the region. There we basically caught up on policies, goings on in the pc-moz world, gave feedback about our projects (health/education) and training, and the like. The break from “reality” was nice, and it was good to see some people I hadn’t seen since training, and to meet more moz12ers. One night one of my friends had a birthday and we took her out dancing and had a great time. And I was lucky enough to be offered a ride back in an icap car (my boss took pity on all her icap babies), so I got to ride back in comfort, and see some other new parts of the province on the way back.
Since then I’ve been back at the work thing. Right before the conference, and then again a few weeks ago, I had meetings with my “big boss” as I refer to her (because she’s the head of the office as opposed to my direct supervisor), about the types of projects I could be working on, her expectations of me, etc, which were really helpful. As a result of those meetings, one new thing I’ve been working on is working with the digitadores (data entry guys) at the hospitals to check on their procedure for creating lists of abandoned patients to be searched for by the peer educators. The system was never fully implemented because of some technical and political hang-ups, so I’ve been learning how the system is working in reality, and explaining how it’s supposed to work, and where there are problems helping to answer questions or come up with solutions. It’s been really interesting to be involved in a different side of the work that the peer educators do (without these lists being done properly and on time, the peer educators can’t do their job), and to see more of the behind the scenes at the office level (coming up with ideas for training the digitadores in the system, etc). I’ve also been working with Alison to improve a presentation explaining HIV in basic terms to future peer educators during their training. It’s a really good exercise in changing my thinking patters, because the way that I might explain HIV to an educated American is not the way I can or should explain it to a Mozambican with sometimes only a few years of schooling. Anyway, those two projects have been occupying most of my time the past few weeks. I’ve also still been going to the health centers to watch the palestras (speeches), going to meetings with the peer educators (including one attempt last week to bring all the groups together to give my observations on things they can improve on), I’ve gotten to go on a another busca and another outing to visit patients, and a trip with some peer educators to give a lecture at a small hospital in an outlying neighborhood of the city, a very different experience from their normal work because this hospital doesn’t offer ARV treatment, they don’t even have HIV testing, so the knowledge level of the patients was very different. So I’ve been much busier at work, which is awesome.
Another thing I’ve been doing is going to meetings of a youth group called AJOCS (association of youths in the fight against AIDS), several of whom are peer educators. This group does theater pieces about HIV-themes, and they sing as well. I’ve been meeting with them because I am going to be taking a few of them to a conference in Nampula next week. The conference is for JOMA (youths for change and action), a group started by pcvs in moz in schools all over the country for adolescent boys to learn about some communications medium (art, music, theater, journalism or photography), get technical training in it, and tie it in to discussions of gender inequality and HIV, with the goal of reducing HIV transmission among their peers. There is a similar group for girls (REDES), and JOMA groups can also include girls now, so I’m bringing 3 boys and a girl to the conference, then we’ll come back and share what we learned with the entire AJOCS group. I’ve seen several of their theater pieces, and they’re really good, but almost none of them have ever had formal training, so this will be a good opportunity for them. So I’ll be back in Nampula for a week, and right after that I’m going to Milange, over on the Malawi border, for a training for some new peer educators from that area. We’ve been waiting for quite a while for these trainings to happen, so I’m excited one is finally nailed down! The training for new peer educators for quelimane should happen sometime in may.
The other major activity in my life these days is avoiding mud and puddles. It’s been raining a lot more (at least a little almost every day, some days utter downpours), and many parts of the city, including my neighborhood, are majorly flooded. The entrance to my road has been under water for weeks, so to get out I have to cut through a neighbor’s yard to the next road, which is super muddy and some days has puddles. Then my whole walk into town is on dirt roads which are mud roads if it’s rained in the past day. The main road to town has always had puddles, but there used to be a small path along the edge I could walk along. Those puddles have become lakes so I’ve been using a detour around that intersection. Now the detour is under water. I cannot get out of my house without walking through mud or water. Many days I can be seen doing ridiculous things like hanging onto a fence and inching along a tiny ledge trying to avoid the water. I feel like I’m on some adventure reality tv show. Not I’m not afraid of water, or mud, although it’s nice to get to work not completely covered. But the water here, well, it’s cholera season….so I try to avoid the water, but some days I just have to say screw it and wade through and scrub the hell out of my feet when I get home. So yeah, a significant portion of my life these days is spent mapping out routes into and out of my neighborhood and walking gingerly through muddy areas trying not to get completely mud-covered.
So that’s me! How is everyone back there? Sorry I’ve been lamer lately at the email and letters, but please keep them coming cuz I love hearing about how people are doing, or just how life is going over there. I hope everyone is well, and I promise to those threatening me that I will try to update in a more timely manner next time!
06 April 2009
09 February 2009
work?
here's what i've been doing: i've been going every morning to one of the three hospitals icap works in. the peer educators give palestras (lectures) about various health topics to waiting patients, and i'm trying to observe them to get an idea of how their work goes, what kind of information they're spreading, etc. they start between 6:30 and 7 (am!) so i have to get up FAR earlier than i'd otherwise opt for, and it's unfortunately often already hot at that hour. and, also unfortunately, they often either don't show up on the days i go, or have already given their talks by the time i get there. the few times i have gotten to see the talks they have mostly been given in echuabo, the local language, which i only know one word in so far (manguana, means tomorrow). after the palestra i tend to just hang out with the peer educators and other hospital staff to try and get a better idea of the work they do and the process the patients go through. each of the three hospitals has a different setup, different levels of staffing, and different roles for the peer educators, so i'm still learning the system in each place. because of the nature of the agreement between peace corps and the moz government i'm not allowed to work with patients directly because i am not a trained health worker, but i have been able to observe many steps in the patient process, from registering new patients, to accompanying them to various appointments, to counseling sessions, to picking up their medications. as i said, the peer educators' role varies from site to site, but they are basically supporting the patients by explaining the process to them, walking them to their different appointments within the hospital, and answering questions and providing moral support. this also is a huge help to the hospital staff as the hospitals tend to be overcrowded and understaffed. the staff and the peer educators work very hard under very hectic, stressful conditions, and i get tired just watching them do their work!
one of the other activities the peer educators do is called busca (search) for patients who have abandoned treatment. they find out why the patient has abandoned (often has to do with the distance and/or cost of transportation, because they don't have enough food and they don't feel strong enough to continue treatment, because of fear of or actual discrimination within their family or community, or because of a misunderstanding of how often they are supposed to take their medication or visit the hospital), and provide moral support and try to convince them to return to the hospital. i have only gotten to go along on one busca so far, and the patient was actually at the hospital that day, and hadn't abandoned, there was just a mix-up with the data collection! but it's a really integral part of the peer educators' work and one i'm looking forward to participating in more. another activity that the peer educators do is called cha positivo (positive tea), which are meetings open to everyone (positive and non-positive patients, hospital staff, family and friends, etc.) to discuss issues surrounding hiv and aids, transmission, prevention, treatment, adherence, discrimination, etc. they happen once a month at each of the three hospitals, and so far i've attended two. they involve theater skits, speeches, and open discussions about all these issues, and provide a safe space for people to ask questions or talk about their experiences. afterwords there's a little snack (hence calling it a tea). it's a really interesting activity. between the two i've attended there was a large disparity in the amount of participation of non-peer educators and in the level of interest in the discussion, but helping the peer educators improve the format of future chas to be more participatory is one of my projects/goals, so we'll see how those go in the future.
so as i said i'm almost always at a hospital in the mornings, i often go home for lunch in the middle of the day, and then i have often come into the office in the afternoon to catch up on internet, catch up with Alison and my bosses, and do things to help the peer educators like make photocopies, turn in requisitions, remind staff of things they said they'd do for them, etc. Alison and i have also started offering informal english and computer lessons to interested office staff a few afternoons a week. there's been a lot of interest (although not always a corresponding attendance!), and it's a nice way to get to know some office staff better and to be able to support them in a small way.
so i've definitely been doing work, at least in the sense that i've been going places and talking to people every day, but so many days i feel i'm never going to figure out exactly what i'm supposed to be doing here! i think it's taking longer because i have 3 groups to work with, so it's taking 3 times as long to get to know people, develop relationships with them, and figure out what things i can help with. but it is going......slooooowwly. later this month icap is going to be training some new peer educators in quelimane to help reinforce two of the groups that have fewer people, and i'll get to participate in that training, which i'm looking forward to because it will give me a better idea of what type of work the peer educators are trained to do, and what areas i can work with them on.
let's see, in non-work news, i got my furniture and it has changed my life and made my house SO much homier. i have made several good friends in my neighborhood and am meeting new neighbors all the time. i've been cooking and baking (in a dutch oven, aka a small pot inside a larger pot) up a storm which is really fun, but it's a good thing i walk a lot! i discovered i like pineapple, then discovered that if you don't eat it fast enough it ferments, and therefor discovered how to make a pineapple upside-down cake! i bought a bike, which made getting around to the different hospitals much easier, but it got stolen from one of the hospitals last week (boo!). but i'll replace it soon, and buy a lock! between city traffic and GIANT and FREQUENT potholes, biking can be a bit terrifying, but it also gave me a sense of independence, and as much as i like walking sometimes it's good to be able to get places more quickly, and i certainly didn't mind the extra exercise! it's been raining more so it's cooled off a bit so i'm MUCH happier temperature-wise. and one of my favorite new things that makes me smile is the fact that bike taxi drivers, when they want to get around someone and they don't have a bell, yell "bee-beep" at whoever's in their way!
as always, i apologize for the delays in posting, and i hope everyone reading this is doing well. other than being hot (although less so) and tired from getting up early and running around all over the place, i am doing fine. beijos (kisses)!
one of the other activities the peer educators do is called busca (search) for patients who have abandoned treatment. they find out why the patient has abandoned (often has to do with the distance and/or cost of transportation, because they don't have enough food and they don't feel strong enough to continue treatment, because of fear of or actual discrimination within their family or community, or because of a misunderstanding of how often they are supposed to take their medication or visit the hospital), and provide moral support and try to convince them to return to the hospital. i have only gotten to go along on one busca so far, and the patient was actually at the hospital that day, and hadn't abandoned, there was just a mix-up with the data collection! but it's a really integral part of the peer educators' work and one i'm looking forward to participating in more. another activity that the peer educators do is called cha positivo (positive tea), which are meetings open to everyone (positive and non-positive patients, hospital staff, family and friends, etc.) to discuss issues surrounding hiv and aids, transmission, prevention, treatment, adherence, discrimination, etc. they happen once a month at each of the three hospitals, and so far i've attended two. they involve theater skits, speeches, and open discussions about all these issues, and provide a safe space for people to ask questions or talk about their experiences. afterwords there's a little snack (hence calling it a tea). it's a really interesting activity. between the two i've attended there was a large disparity in the amount of participation of non-peer educators and in the level of interest in the discussion, but helping the peer educators improve the format of future chas to be more participatory is one of my projects/goals, so we'll see how those go in the future.
so as i said i'm almost always at a hospital in the mornings, i often go home for lunch in the middle of the day, and then i have often come into the office in the afternoon to catch up on internet, catch up with Alison and my bosses, and do things to help the peer educators like make photocopies, turn in requisitions, remind staff of things they said they'd do for them, etc. Alison and i have also started offering informal english and computer lessons to interested office staff a few afternoons a week. there's been a lot of interest (although not always a corresponding attendance!), and it's a nice way to get to know some office staff better and to be able to support them in a small way.
so i've definitely been doing work, at least in the sense that i've been going places and talking to people every day, but so many days i feel i'm never going to figure out exactly what i'm supposed to be doing here! i think it's taking longer because i have 3 groups to work with, so it's taking 3 times as long to get to know people, develop relationships with them, and figure out what things i can help with. but it is going......slooooowwly. later this month icap is going to be training some new peer educators in quelimane to help reinforce two of the groups that have fewer people, and i'll get to participate in that training, which i'm looking forward to because it will give me a better idea of what type of work the peer educators are trained to do, and what areas i can work with them on.
let's see, in non-work news, i got my furniture and it has changed my life and made my house SO much homier. i have made several good friends in my neighborhood and am meeting new neighbors all the time. i've been cooking and baking (in a dutch oven, aka a small pot inside a larger pot) up a storm which is really fun, but it's a good thing i walk a lot! i discovered i like pineapple, then discovered that if you don't eat it fast enough it ferments, and therefor discovered how to make a pineapple upside-down cake! i bought a bike, which made getting around to the different hospitals much easier, but it got stolen from one of the hospitals last week (boo!). but i'll replace it soon, and buy a lock! between city traffic and GIANT and FREQUENT potholes, biking can be a bit terrifying, but it also gave me a sense of independence, and as much as i like walking sometimes it's good to be able to get places more quickly, and i certainly didn't mind the extra exercise! it's been raining more so it's cooled off a bit so i'm MUCH happier temperature-wise. and one of my favorite new things that makes me smile is the fact that bike taxi drivers, when they want to get around someone and they don't have a bell, yell "bee-beep" at whoever's in their way!
as always, i apologize for the delays in posting, and i hope everyone reading this is doing well. other than being hot (although less so) and tired from getting up early and running around all over the place, i am doing fine. beijos (kisses)!
22 January 2009
pictures
This is my house!I've put some other pictures up on the Picasa website, I have tons more but uploading is slow. Hope everyone's doing well! I promise more written updates soon!
05 January 2009
settling in - and new address!
oh my goodness, where to begin. i know it's been a thousand years since i've updated, but i swear i've tried! every time i've gone to the internet in the past few weeks it's been closed, not working, or with a wicked long line and people cutting.
my province trip was good. for people who like looking at maps, i got to see the cities of mocuba, milange, and gurue. most of the trip was on "highways" of hardpacked dirt, so it was quite an adventure. zambezia is beautfiul, i got to see green fields, huge craggy mountains, boulderish hills, and tea plantations, and i can't wait to travel around it more and do some hiking!
my holidays went well. i hope all yours did as well! i spent christmas eve at alison(the other icap volunteer in quelimane)'s house with some other volunteers. we ate yummy food and drank gin and watched movies and decorated a small christmas tree with pipecleaner ornaments. on christmas day we watched a ridiculous bollywood movie in a hot sweaty theater full of screaming children. interesting thing about christmas was that businesses were closed and the streets of quelimane were empty - except for hordes of children running around unsupervised! i felt like i was in a sci-fi movie where all the adults have disappeared. for new years i traveled to mocuba and spent time with 6 other moz13 friends. we had a grand old time hanging out, sweating together (mocuba's hot!), cooking, eating, drinking, reflecting, etc.
so i'm now back in my city and my house and the holidays are over and i'm finally starting to settle in. i'm an easy 30-ish minute walk from town, so most days i walk into town to run errands or just poke around and find out where i can get stuff. when i need to get somewhere fast or i'm too hot or tired to walk (or trying to beat the rain!), i take a bike taxi, an exhilarating/bumpy ride on the back of a bike. on the home front, i've comissioned a table and bookshelves to be made so i can stop storing all my stuff on the floor. i've bought a two-burner gas stove but can't use it til i get the wooden table to put it on (i have the feeling it would melt right through my plastic table!) so i've been cooking on my one-burner coal stove outside every night, pretty successfully.....with one burner and only one pot at the moment i've been eating a lot of pasta, but i love pasta, so it's all good! my landlord, oscar, has been really helpful in showing me around my neighborhood and helping me get stuff, like the furniture, and he's nice and worries about me if i come home late. i made friends with a woman who works at a market in town and hung out with her yesterday. and i've made preliminary friendships with some other neighbors. so all in all things are good. and i start work tomorrow, in some capacity or another, so i'll have more to update on the work front soon.
but i wanted to get some updates up, and also get out my new address!
Sarah Farnsworth, VCP
ICAP Columbia C.P. 395
Quelimane, MOZAMBIQUE
so anyone who sent me mail to the old address it will get to me eventually when someone from pc comes up here from maputo, but this address should be good from now on!
i also wanted to let the world know that due to flash drive issues i have managed to lose maybe 8 emails from various people, sent in the beginning-middle of december, so if i don't reply to any emails from that time frame it's not because i don't love you anymore, it's just that i'm techonolgically impaired. and if i don't reply to emails from other time periods, it's just cuz i'm lazy.
that's all for now. as always, if people have specific questions feel free to post them. when everything's new and there's so much going on around me it's hard to know what to focus on on here! and i do respond to emails (eventually), and i've actually been shockingly good at responding to snail mail (except to my immediate family, sorry!), so feel free to send questions/messages/hugs in any format you like. até a próxima (until next time)!
my province trip was good. for people who like looking at maps, i got to see the cities of mocuba, milange, and gurue. most of the trip was on "highways" of hardpacked dirt, so it was quite an adventure. zambezia is beautfiul, i got to see green fields, huge craggy mountains, boulderish hills, and tea plantations, and i can't wait to travel around it more and do some hiking!
my holidays went well. i hope all yours did as well! i spent christmas eve at alison(the other icap volunteer in quelimane)'s house with some other volunteers. we ate yummy food and drank gin and watched movies and decorated a small christmas tree with pipecleaner ornaments. on christmas day we watched a ridiculous bollywood movie in a hot sweaty theater full of screaming children. interesting thing about christmas was that businesses were closed and the streets of quelimane were empty - except for hordes of children running around unsupervised! i felt like i was in a sci-fi movie where all the adults have disappeared. for new years i traveled to mocuba and spent time with 6 other moz13 friends. we had a grand old time hanging out, sweating together (mocuba's hot!), cooking, eating, drinking, reflecting, etc.
so i'm now back in my city and my house and the holidays are over and i'm finally starting to settle in. i'm an easy 30-ish minute walk from town, so most days i walk into town to run errands or just poke around and find out where i can get stuff. when i need to get somewhere fast or i'm too hot or tired to walk (or trying to beat the rain!), i take a bike taxi, an exhilarating/bumpy ride on the back of a bike. on the home front, i've comissioned a table and bookshelves to be made so i can stop storing all my stuff on the floor. i've bought a two-burner gas stove but can't use it til i get the wooden table to put it on (i have the feeling it would melt right through my plastic table!) so i've been cooking on my one-burner coal stove outside every night, pretty successfully.....with one burner and only one pot at the moment i've been eating a lot of pasta, but i love pasta, so it's all good! my landlord, oscar, has been really helpful in showing me around my neighborhood and helping me get stuff, like the furniture, and he's nice and worries about me if i come home late. i made friends with a woman who works at a market in town and hung out with her yesterday. and i've made preliminary friendships with some other neighbors. so all in all things are good. and i start work tomorrow, in some capacity or another, so i'll have more to update on the work front soon.
but i wanted to get some updates up, and also get out my new address!
Sarah Farnsworth, VCP
ICAP Columbia C.P. 395
Quelimane, MOZAMBIQUE
so anyone who sent me mail to the old address it will get to me eventually when someone from pc comes up here from maputo, but this address should be good from now on!
i also wanted to let the world know that due to flash drive issues i have managed to lose maybe 8 emails from various people, sent in the beginning-middle of december, so if i don't reply to any emails from that time frame it's not because i don't love you anymore, it's just that i'm techonolgically impaired. and if i don't reply to emails from other time periods, it's just cuz i'm lazy.
that's all for now. as always, if people have specific questions feel free to post them. when everything's new and there's so much going on around me it's hard to know what to focus on on here! and i do respond to emails (eventually), and i've actually been shockingly good at responding to snail mail (except to my immediate family, sorry!), so feel free to send questions/messages/hugs in any format you like. até a próxima (until next time)!
17 December 2008
quelimane, in brief
hey folks, sorry i haven't posted in a while. it's been a busy couple of weeks. i had to write up my practicum, repack all my stuff, get sworn in (i'm now an official peace corps volunteer!), and say goodbye to my family and friends. and now i'm in quelimane! it's a small city, very walkable, with enough stores to get most things i could need but without feeling too big. there are more bikes than cars on the road!
right now i'm staying in a hotel with the other zambezia health volunteers because our organizations have planned an orientation to help us get to know them and our jobs. it's nice to have the time to get to know them a little better, and a great show of the support we're going to have, although by now we're all itching to get to our sites! i'm itching a little less because i got to see my house today! it's outside of town, in an area with sand streets and small houses that feels a little more rural. my house is a dependencia, which means it's behind another house, like a guest house. it's small, and yellow, and really cute. i didn't move in because the owner is putting some finishing touches on it, but i'm looking forward to buying household things and fixing it up. that probably won't happen til next week, because i'm going to be going with my organization to deliver the other icap volunteers to their sites, so i'll get to see a lot more of the province and how my organization operates in the various districts, which i'm really excited about.
i promise the next post will have more details (and hopefully some pictures!), but i just wanted to let my readers know i was alive and well in mozambique! I hope to get to the internet again before the holidays, but if i don't i wish everyone a peaceful christmas/hanukkah/solstice/new year.
right now i'm staying in a hotel with the other zambezia health volunteers because our organizations have planned an orientation to help us get to know them and our jobs. it's nice to have the time to get to know them a little better, and a great show of the support we're going to have, although by now we're all itching to get to our sites! i'm itching a little less because i got to see my house today! it's outside of town, in an area with sand streets and small houses that feels a little more rural. my house is a dependencia, which means it's behind another house, like a guest house. it's small, and yellow, and really cute. i didn't move in because the owner is putting some finishing touches on it, but i'm looking forward to buying household things and fixing it up. that probably won't happen til next week, because i'm going to be going with my organization to deliver the other icap volunteers to their sites, so i'll get to see a lot more of the province and how my organization operates in the various districts, which i'm really excited about.
i promise the next post will have more details (and hopefully some pictures!), but i just wanted to let my readers know i was alive and well in mozambique! I hope to get to the internet again before the holidays, but if i don't i wish everyone a peaceful christmas/hanukkah/solstice/new year.
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