14 Months and Going Strong!

    Do you ever have one of those breathtaking moments that just take you over? You are just filled with so many emotions and you literally lose your breath. It really is a great feeling. I have been able to experience these moments on more than one occasion here in Mozambique. These past 14 months have been filled with so many ups and downs that I can only compare to the largest roller coaster that has ever been conceived. A roller coaster, so large that it really is impossible to build. I think most, if not  all Peace Corps volunteers go into this experience a little naive, no matter how prepared they think they are. If you think about it we are committing to the unknown for 27 months. Twenty seven months that consist of learning new languages, integrating into completely different cultures, battling our know-it-all attitudes, fighting off unwanted advances from the men in our communities, trying to stay healthy, etc. etc. etc. The list really goes on and on and on and on...

    Now I just listed a few of the not-so-positive aspects of volunteer life (specifically for me; like I said the list goes on). Let me try and paint you a picture of the positive aspects of volunteer, specifically mine. I am typing this as I sit in the bar area of a  pensão (think bed and breakfast/hostel) drinking a Manica (Mozambican beer) with a view of the mountains, watching people prepare to receive the former president of Mozambique, Armando Guebuza. When I found out that my roommate and I were moving from our close-to-the-beach site to a more inland site, I was pretty devastated. I love the beaches here and even though we suffered 8 break ins, I still loved Liúpo (my old site). My roommate and I opened that site. They had never really seen a white person before and we thought the opportunities and possibilities were endless there (they still are!). We gained a group of friends and I achieved a part of my dream, which was to create a kids club for the local crianças (kids). A club that is similar to the Boys & Girls Clubs in America. I am so proud of that club because it took a lot to start it then have to close then reopen it with actual Mozambican people running. I am happy to stay that after I left, it is continuing to run without me being there. I remember walking into the club the first week it reopened and watched my students teaching the kids math and Portuguese and experienced one of those breathtaking moments. I sat there, eyes watering, just in awe of the group of students who volunteered to help these kids. It is a moment that will stay with me forever. I will do whatever I can to keep that club going! 

    The first Sunday that we were in Liúpo, we went to a service at the catholic mission. I am catholic but never went to church on a regular basis. Religion has always been a weird thing for me. I think that all religions have a little to offer everyone. We were really close to a family from Yemen and got a little taste of Muslim and our community was also populated with Muslim families. You will see a higher concentration of Muslim in Northern Mozambique. Islam is a really beautiful religion and I witnessed its beauty in our friends. Anywho, back to the church service. We walked into is elongated, single room, where people were sitting on benches or on the floor. It was a pretty plain room. The service was done in both Portuguese and the local language (Makua). There was a lot of singing. I took communion that day and I remember sitting down and tearing up. I'm tearing up as I speak. I remember thinking, 'I wish Grandma Kearney was still here so I could tell her all about it.' She passed away around 17 years ago. She was an amazing woman, so artistic and kind and loving. I do not remember everything about her but the memories I do have I will cherish forever. After that experience, I have thought of my grandmother often and I know that she is with me on this journey. She would have loved to hear about my experiences and I have dedicated my service to her memory. She has been having a profound effect on my service so far. I went to church for the first time here at my new site (Invinha) last Sunday. The church is called Diocese do Gurué. I had another breathtaking moment there. I went with our empregado, Fornelio. An empregado is someone who does household chores. The church is quite beautiful. There was dancing and singing and it was great. I was the only white person there but I didn't feel like it. I felt like I was a part of the community. I teared up a lot throughout the service. It was just so surreal. 

    Last week, we had visiting volunteers from Cabo Degado and Tete, Mozambique. We decided to celebrate Thanksgiving together a little early. We made pilgrim hats and Native American headbands out of construction paper, had a delicious meal and listened to A Charlie Brown Christmas. We ended the night with a drinking game....haha. We also did a little hiking. Like I might have mentioned in a previous post, I now live in the mountains. The are I live in now is known for the mountains and the tea fields. We hiked through the tea fields and up the one of the mountains to a waterfall (cue breathtaking moment). It was gorgeous and I am so happy I did it with friends! The sunburn was totally worth it! I will try and update my photos as soon as I can. 

    These are just a couple of my favorite moments. There are quite a few more but I don't want to bore you all. Thank you all for your continued support and Happy Holidays to you all! 

To new beginnings!

'Wow! Where to begin?! I am quickly approaching my one year mark in Mozambique and can honestly say where has the time gone?! There are days where I feel like I just arrived and others where I feel like I have lived here forever. It has been a pretty challenging year; more so than I expected. I have never been challenged mentally/emotionally so much in my life. Going into this experience I know I was naive but I also tried to not have expectations. What can one really expect in a completely different culture anyways? 

Here is a brief summary of the challenges I have come across so far....

1.  Bucket baths...were different at first but nothing beats a cold bucket bath after a scorching, dusty day! 

2. Cohabitation with creepy crawlies and such...I started off being super freaked out at the site of lizards roaming around everywhere but eventually realized that they were cute compared to the rats that liked to cuddle with me in bed and eat holes through all my things. Grosssssssssssss! I also think spiders and cockroaches here are on steroids! What else would make them sooooooooo huge...again....Grossssssssss! 

3. Life in a developing country....We all go through trying times, myself included before moving here, but a lot of 'first world' people have no idea how great they have it...clean water is scarce as well as food security, corruption, medical assistance...what's that?, walking miles to get where you need to go, etc. All I can say is look at the obstacles and challenges in your life and rise above them! It may seem impossible but it can be done! I witness it every day! 

4. The world is soooooooooo full of unnoticed potential! I have had the chance to know some pretty brilliant people who live, what some would say 'mediocre/sub-par lives, and have very little resources at their disposal. I have felt that there is no way I can help these people here without resources but I am slowly realizing that just by giving my time and inspiration, that I am helping and that is enough and can really make a difference!

5. I am a very resilient person...most of you know of our burglary problems. I lived in a house that was broken into 6 times and then moved to a safer house where two more attempts were made. I have never been so emotionally/mentally vulnerable. I still really can't explain my thoughts/mentality through the whole ordeal. It definitely left me exhausted! 

Due to our security issues in Liúpo, we were forced to move. I will be living in Invinha, a small village in the Zambezia province. This whole experience and process has been really difficult. I hated having to leave Liúpo, my home for the past 9 months, due to our situation. I felt like I was punishing all those who benefitted from my work just because there were some bad apples in the bunch. It was very tough to say goodbye to the friends we had made. I am looking forward to helping more people and experiencing more of this beautiful country! Invinha is in the mountains and absolutely gorgeous! 

On another hope I am spending Christmas and New Years in the states! I am looking forward to eating my way through my little break and sharing my experiences with family and friends! 

I still want to thank all of you for your prayers, kind words and support! Muito obrigada! 

What Am I Doing?!

Hello one and all! It has been quite some time since I last posted and I apologize. Life gets in the way a lot nowadays! I hope all is well wherever you are! My life in Mozambique has been quite interesting to the say the least. In about 4 weeks I will have been in this country for 1 year. It is really hard to believe. Some days I feel like I just got here and other days I feel like I have been here forever! I knew going in to this adventure that it wasn't going to be easy and boy oh boy ain't that the truth! In July I got really sick. I woke up one day and was running a high fever and it didn't seem like it was going to go away any time soon. After contacting our doctor here, I was told I needed to head to the city. Imagine running a high fever and having to travel about 3 hours in a truck with 30 Mozambicans. I was lucky enough to be able to sit in the cab with the driver but my body still was not happy with my traveling decision so as we were leaving the vila I was throwing up out the window (sorry for the mental picture!). I made it, though, to the city. After a week of tests and barely getting out of bed, I was treated for malaria. Malaria is some serious stuff! I take malaria prophylaxis every day, sleep under a mosquito net and use repellant, but the little sucker (no pun intended) still got me. I survived....whew!

My community integration has been lacking ever since our experiences with the break ins at our old house. It has been really hard for me to deal with. I didn't realize it was going to take this big of toll on me. There are days I just want to hide in the house and not see any Mozambicans. I keep trying to tell myself that I shouldn't be punishing everyone when just a couple were terrorizing us, but it is easier said than done. I suspect everyone now and my trust has gone way down. It has only gotten worse recently. Last Thursday another attempt was made at getting into our house...while I was home. It was some kids and couple of teenagers. It was still a scary experience even if it was just kids involved. I feel like that was how everything started at our old house and then it all escalated to the point where we were scared for our physical safety and had armed police guarding our house. What am I doing? I ask that a lot. Why am I putting myself through all this? I can be back in the states eating whatever I want and hanging out with my friends and family. I tell myself daily that if I am not here doing what I am doing, whether my doings are big or small, then this community wouldn't be getting any help. I know some of these people don't deserve our help (pesky robbers) but a lot of people do and appreciate it. They have so little here and if I can help and inspire them to be better people then I need to do just that. As the one and only Dory says, "Just keep swimming!"

On a happy note, Clube de Aprendizagem is doing well. The kids are really enjoying themselves and I think are getting a lot out of being taught by my teenagers. I am really proud and I can't say it enough, with my teenagers' commitment and dedication to the club.

Now on a random note, I was staying at a hostel a couple of weeks ago and met a cool South African guy who took me to this place called Montes Nairucu just outside of Nampula City. It is this cool little camping place with a restaurant, bar, donkeys, ostriches, a lake and...crocodiles! It was pretty cool! Who can say they had cocktails with crocodiles lurking yards away in Mozambique!? 

That is all for now...keep your peepers open for some BIG news! Again, thanks for all your support, encouragement, care package items, etc. You all are making my service that much more enjoyable!

Happy Sunday

The fact that I am posting this blog on Sunday is pretty ironic. I have never been one to religiously go to church and pray. In fact, religion and faith has been something I have struggled with for a long time. It was hard for me to believe in a higher power when there was so much hate and terrible things around the world. Why could a higher power make His people suffer so much if He had so much love for us? My experience here in Mozambique has really got me to stop and take a breath and reflect on my experiences. I think I talked about my experience in the catholic church my first weekend here at site. I took communion and it really was emotional experience for me. Here I was standing in line, a white girl from the midwest, with a bunch of Mozambicans taking communion. If you have been keeping up with my blog you will also know that we have had some major problems with safety and robbers. I think it was after the 4th time and a lot of our school administration were at our house well into the night supervising a guy reattaching the bars to my bedroom window. I had taken a call and left the yard to make my way to the front of the house. As I was talking with our Safety and Security person, the secretary of our school came out of the yard with a bucket of water. I had no idea what he was doing with our bucket. He then proceeded to take off his sandals and wash his hands and feet and began praying. This was my first up close experience with Islam. Living in the north part of Mozambique adds to the uniqueness of the PC experience. The northern part of Mozambique has a high population of Muslim. To be honest, it made me really nervous to know I was going to be living in such a high population of Muslim people, but watching that man pray for us right there on the spot opened my eyes and cleared my mind of a lot of the preconceived notions about Islam. It really was a beautiful moment despite the circumstances. One of our good friends here owns a shop that we frequent. He is from the middle east. His family is really wonderful. The family treats us like family and are very protective of us. I made a play date with the kids. The kids are super intelligent and unfortunately for them because of the school system, they are being severely held back and not really able to explore their potential. Fasal, the father, is trying to change that. He has a private tutor for them and has asked that Arden (my roommate) and I help out as well. They feed us soooooo well too. You have to roll us out their door and to our home. Fasal really believes in education and making sure his family gets the best. He even wants to go back to university and if his wife wants to go back to university then he wants to support her too. Arden was playing with the kids last weekend and it was getting time for them to pray. Arden politely asked if they would like her to leave. Fasal told her that it was no problem for her to stay. He told her that he respected all religions. We thought that was really great. Like I said his family is just great. We borrowed some books about Islam from him so that we could learn more about it. A friend of mine sent me some devotionals and they have really been aligning with my experiences here in Mozambique. Like I said before I haven't been able to really wrap my ahead around it all. Things are starting to become more clear for me though. I read a devotional recently that talked about the absence of God. It talked about the Katrina tragedy. "He said that God was invisibly present 'with the suffering and the dying. He was in the individuals, communities, churches, and schools that organized aid for the victims and took evacuees into their cities and homes. He was with the hundreds of thousands who showed compassion by prayer and financial assistance.'" This really resonated with me. I see some pretty bad things sometimes; people bed ridden with malaria, kids digging through trash piles, people with dirty, torn clothing. I read this passage a lot that day. Without the suffering and hardships, I would be out of a job. I wouldn't know the challenging, yet rewarding feeling of helping others, and in return, those suffering would not be able to experience the compassion of those who are helping. We don't know what the future holds, but if I can help someone and make a difference in a person's life, I will do it. I honestly think that He has been guiding for quite sometime now. I needed to figure this all out on my own time and in my own way. I still have a lot to work through and understand but I am on my way. "The storms of our life prove the strength of our Anchor." Thank you all for your continuous support!

Liupo...Hoye! Liupo....Hoye!

Hello everyone! Hope all is well wherever you are in the world. I do not post as frequently as I would like. I miss my laptop and I hate monopolizing my roommate's computer. I will continue to do my best.

Since my last blog, we have been slowly but surely settling into our new house. We have a puppy now. His name is Pavlov Batdog Hornickel-Caffrey. He is part German shepard and part of something else but not sure. He is sooooo cute when he isn't being a jerk ;-). School started back up. I am still teaching all of 9th grade English and one class of 8th grade English. It is still a tough job!

Club news...I will be opening my club up again next week! I really hope it does well. I am helping some other volunteers organize a club at their sites too! I will hopefully be collaborating with more people as the year goes on. I got in contact with an organization that gives books and such to start up little libraries and they would like to help me out. I will keep you all posted once I am up and running again!

Liupo is now its own district! It came as a surprise but no one tells us anything a lot of the time anyways. School was cancelled this past Thursday and Friday to celebrate and welcome our new Administradora, District Director of Education and Director of Saude. I have just seen the new Administradora but I have heard that the other Directors are women as well. GIRL POWER IN LIUPO! I have spent a lot of time out and about celebrating with the community...dancing, eating cow brain, helping make a reed rug, eating some more...It has been a good time!

We hired a student to come and help us around the house since we will be getting busy. He goes to the market for us and does are laundry and other odds and ends. It is soooooo worth the money. I hate doing laundry!

Things are looking up for us now. We are much safer and we appreciate everyone's support and encouragement. Until next time...

What Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us Stronger

Ok...I am just doing to give you a glimpse of what I will be talking about and then go right into explaining all that has been happening since last time.

• Robbery
• Rat
• Malaria Meds
• Angoche
• Police
• School
• Vacation
• Club

Ok so robbery first. We had our house broken into 4 times in a span of 2 and a half weeks. The final two times they actually ripped the metal bars, that were cemented into the wall off the house out. I was honestly on the brink of catching a flight home. I was in such a bad place. I did not want to help anyone anymore and I sure did not want to continue living here. I did not trust anyone. I went to class on more than one occasion crying. The 3rd time it happened we had the police chief tell us that if someone should break in while we were there, it would be easy to get assaulted because no one could here us call out for help. The final time our director thought the robber was going to come back so we had police with guns guarding our house all night. The first time it happened we were away in Angoche and my laptop, spoons, saw, hammer, a pocket knife was stolen. The 2nd occurred two days after the first while we were still in Liupo at the market and my phone battery and 1000 mts (about $30) was taken. The 3rd time happened a week later while we were at school and the same day bars were put on my window. They ripped the bars out and hit my window hard enough to rip the latches out of the wood. They took 2500 mts that time. The 4th time happened a week after the 3rd time while we were at school again and again the bars were ripped out with a lot more force because the cement was fairly dry. We were moved to a nice house next to the police chief and other bosses of the community. I feel so much safer and happier now. It is a longer walk to school but I take that over not feeling safe. It is the worse feeling ever. I was sleeping in our living room for the 2 and a half weeks we kept getting broken into. I could barely sleep. I was always nervous.

Now on to splinter, the rat who decided to move in to our old house. He was huge and black with a long tail! He liked my room the best. Many nights I would see him scurry across the top of my mosquito net or the wooden beams supporting the roof. We also spent many a nights throwing shows and other objects when he would want to make an appearance in our living room. We set up two different traps but neither one worked. One night he ended up getting up on the sofa and running up my leg...it was the worse feeling ever. Needless to say that didn't help with my not sleeping.

I am on new malaria meds that I take daily now instead of once a week and hallelujah! My mood and attitude were so bad that even without the break ins I was wanting to go back to the states. My head is in a much better place now.

We still make our monthly trip to Angoche for the bank and have a lovely time with the volunteers there. We sure are going to miss them when they finish their service at the end of this year.

The police have been involved with trying to catch our robbers. I had to file a police report in Portuguese. The police chief was called to our house the 3rd time when the bars were ripped out. He said we were not safe and that if someone wanted to physically hurt us no one would be able to help because they wouldn't be able to hear us call for help. Lets just say and he was explaining that, in Portuguese by the way, Arden and I gave each other questioning looks. The 4th time he came back and left two armed officers to guard the house because a lot of people believed the robber was going to come back while we were there. Even though this has happened and it was terrible, I feel like a more resilient person. Our boss from Peace Corps came by the other day to check on us and told he would not have blamed us for leaving. Our school has also been really great through all of this. They are very protective of us. I will definitely be more appreciative of how we "safe" we have it back in the states compared to here. It is just a way of life here and that is a sad realization. We have gotten star treatment. Nothing would have been done if this was some other Mozambican.

Teaching is still difficult. We just finished our 1st trimester. I still can't believe kids don't know the alphabet and some can't even spell their names. It just blows my mind. At the end of the trimester we have provincial exams. The provincial exams for my 9th grade class had 3 or 4 errors in it, so I can imagine the other English classes had them too. How are kids expected to learn English when their teachers can't speak it or write it well.

Now the trimester is over, we are leaving for vacation tomorrow, 2 weeks of vacation. We are staying in Nampula City for 2 nights, then heading up to the province of Cabo Delgado to visit volunteers, then back to Nampula City of a Peace Corps conference, then to Ilha de Mocambique for my birthday and beer olympics...Don't worry next post I will talk about beer olympics.

Soooo after the many break-ins and me being unhappy, the school decided to let me clean an unused classroom where I can have my club activities so I will be starting my club back up 2nd trimester.

Thank you all for the continued support and encouragement. It DOES NOT go unnoticed.

Estou pedir....

Soooooo...estou pedir...what a lovely phrase...NOT! Estou pedir...means I am asking for blah blah blah. We get this a lot. We get asked for water, money, food, paper, soccer balls, pencil, pens, notebooks, markers, clothes, etc. etc. etc. You name it and it has probably been asked for. It gets irritating. The people here don't realize that we don't get paid for what we do. We get allowance that allows us to buy food and other necessities but that is it. A peace corps volunteer literally works 24/7 and we do not get paid to do it. We do it because we want to help and make a difference. I am by no means complaining about not getting paid. I love what I do and I love the opportunities this experience is providing and will provide for me. I am learning a lot about myself and a lot of life in general.

School news...teaching English is getting a little better. It is still frustrating but I am working through the frustration. I gave my first quiz this week. Some kids did great and others not so great. It bothers me when the kids I know try hard and pay attention don't do well. I hope they take advantage of all the opportunities that I give them to improve their grades. I want them to talk more but they are so scared to do it. I try and talk to them more in Portuguese to show them that I am trying a different language and the only way I will get better is if I talk. Oh Portuguese! I feel like I am losing my Portuguese just because I have to speak more English. I still speak it with colleagues and what not but a majority of the time I am talking to kids so I am speaking English. I think I might get a tutor or go back to studying at home.

Orphanage/Center for Kids news...I had another meeting last night with my colleague. I think a lot of things are going to start happening in the next few weeks so check back here for updates. I got some lovely care packages from back home that I will be donating to the center. I have decided to focus on this project and hopefully I will be able to expand this project into my kids club project. The potential is there so we shall see.

Lenny news...Lenny thought it would be nice to have some cuddle time last night. The bugs were really bad last night so I went to hide under my net early and as I am getting a movie ready to be watched I see movement at the end of my bed. It was Lenny saying hello. I screamed for my roommate and she came in valiantly with a bucket and got him out of my hair. Needless to say, I tucked my net in extra tight last night.

I hope everyone is doing well wherever you are and I really appreciate all of your support and encouragement!

Home Is Where The Heart Is...

School is in full swing now. I started out teaching Chemistry for the 8th grade and a couple of the 9th grade classes but by end of week one I was asked to teach all of the 9th grade English classes. They had no teacher. Teaching English to non-English speakers is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. They are not really taught properly to begin with so then they really are lost when they come across a fluent speaker. Here are the frustrations I want to share with the education here at site:

-Professors don't show up so the kids leave even if they have other classes.
-A lot of professors do not care and therefore the kids don't care.
-The kids do not have textbooks.
-As a professor, I have no resources to help teach. A piece of chalk, a chalkboard, a notebook to write my plans in and an old textbook that is poorly written.
-I am only to speak English to people who DON'T understand English...I am teaching English in Portuguese anyways because the kids are responding more to it.

 Club update: WE ARE CLOSED until further notice. Arden and I went to Angoche to visit friends for the weekend and came home to my screen torn away from my window, blue marker on our living room wall, Arden's bedroom lock was tampered with, but nothing of value was missing. Until I can get a new place, I will not be having kids over to our house anymore. I do plan on continuing with my plan, it is just going to take a little longer.

Health update: I am sick, which I have been quite a bit since I got to Liupo. My body is just not cooperating with my Mozambican lifestyle. I have a bad infection in one of my legs and feet. My legs got trapped under a motorcycle during a trip from Nampula City to Liupo and cut up my legs and feet. Those wounds are not infected. I got the meds I need and an awesome roommate to help me out so I should be as good as new soon.

Thank you all for your continued support!

O que?!

O que? Is the equivalent of saying "What?!" I say it a lot...hahahaha. Sooooo I just finished my first week of teaching and I am already frustrated. I am teaching 5 8th grade classes and 2 9th grade classes in the the afternoon and then an 8th grade night class and 9th grade night class. That is not the frustrating part. The frustrating part is showing up to teach and not having any students because the previous professors never showed up to teach. I can't believe these people are getting paid to NOT teach. I don't care if it is the first week. For a culture that takes professionalism seriously, they suck at it in this case. Ok rant is over...ugh!

I went to a town meeting last night where the mayor presented my club to the people that were present, including some people from Portugal who are helping fund some projects in the community. I really hope this starts something really great so we shall see. I have over 160 kids now. I am getting more kids from my classes which is great. I look forward to getting more kids involved. I am still working alone for the most part so I am hoping that the mayor's acknowledgement will spark something.

What else? We finally have sofas and a freezer. I feel like we are living like the rich and famous here! Lenny is still ever so present in my life. I really really really dislike all the bugs. I wish Lenny would do his job and eat them all.

That is all for now. Thank you all for your continuous support! It really means a lot to me and I know it means a lot to the kids I interact with on a daily basis.

Every Day Is An Adventure!

Ok first off just want to thank everyone again for their continued support. It is greatly appreciated! The club is going well and I love seeing new kids every time! I think we are close to 120 members now! Keep on showing that support. I love hearing from people! We had our school opening on the 31st. We had two mango trees planted in our backyard to commemorate the first volunteers to help out in Liupo. It was kind of an emotional experience for me. I love this community.

Yesterday Arden and I went to Nampula City to buy a fridge and some foam pads for couches she is making. The ride there wasn't too bad. I got a little sun burnt. I did however have a problem with the chickens. I don't normally have a problem with my riding companions but yesterday they thought my toes were food and were constantly pecking them...RUDE! The gentleman holding them finally got the hint after I kicked them in the head a few times and moved. He moved to stand so that he had them laying on the roof of the truck we were in. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to come up with songs for these chickens as they were freaking out and trying to fly away. I came up with "Fly Like An Eagle", "I Believe I Can Fly", and "You Are the Wind Beneath My Wings". Arden got a kick out of it! Right before you get into the city there is a police checkpoint. I haven't had any issues with police checkpoints until now. The cops can be jerks. These guys were ok but annoying. They kept asking why we weren't married and what not. They asked for identification and what not. We told them we were professors, etc. etc. They just talked a bit and then let us on our way. This situation definitely could have been worse but nonetheless it still bothers me. I just don't like the inequality with genders here. Once we got to Nampula, we went straight to Shoprite (grocery store). You can pretty much find anything in this place. It is one of my favorite places in Mozambique! We met a a guy from Holland while waiting in line who works for a farming company. He gave us some information about finding a dog. We want one desperately! We got some groceries and then headed back to our PC office to drop it off. Next up was buying some foam pads for our couches. We felt very Mozambican carrying the mattresses on our heads back to the office. We had a close call when a kid tried pick pocketing Arden but he didn't get anything. It was just a small hiccup. We still love you Mozambique! Then we went to get a fridge, our most prized purchase. We are so excited about it! We waste a lot of food because it goes bad far too quickly here. The gentleman that manages the store was super nice and drove us and fridge back to the office. We like making new friends! Now this is where things get interesting....the ride back to Liupo. We managed to find a chapa and I was able to get a seat in front. I was pretty burnt by this time. I started getting nervous when guys were working on the truck. The brakes were not working properly. They apparently got everything in order and then we were off. Once we got about 30 minutes out of town, the chapa gets two flat tires. No one was hurt. I didn't even knew it happened until the people in the back told the driver to stop. We ended up sitting on the side of the rode for about 30 minutes until another chapa, who wasn't even going to help out and take some of us, stopped. It was a big truck. I had no idea how we were going to get in the thing. We managed to get in with all of our groceries. These guys didn't mess around. They were driving pretty fast. Let me tell you now that transportation here is not safe. That is the reality of the situation, especially in northern Mozambique. The roads are crap, the vehicles are crap, etc. We very rarely get to ride in something that is enclosed. It is always open back trucks. The roads become really dangerous during raining season (now) because the rain washes the roads out. Make a long story short we made it home after 7 and a half hours. It usually only takes about 3 hours to get from Nampula to Liupo. I always am so relieved to be home. I love that feeling and I love that feeling even more here.

I hope you all appreciate everything you have. I know times get rough but I can assure you that things are a lot worse other places and for other people. Count your blessings and be thankful!

Muito Obrigada!

I have had such an overwhelming two weeks. It has been a very good overwhelming, though. Last week I started my little kids club. I guess I can't really say little, now, because I have 112 members ranging from babies to 16-17 year olds. My first day I had 29 kids and I thought that was great. Each day that number just kept getting bigger and bigger. It is amazing the support that I am literally getting from all over the world. I have friends in Australian taking donations, as well as, friends in Austria and Germany doing the same thing. New communities in the states are all rallying together to create care packages for myself and the Jordy's Club members. My parents are overwhelmed with all the support I am getting. I am really overwhelmed with it all as well. I wasn't expecting such a huge following but I sure do appreciate it. School will be starting next week so I am hoping to get even more kids involved, especially the older ones. I feel like I can utilize them to help me with the younger ones. This short post is dedicated to all those who have and are still continuing to support my adventures here in Mozambique and beyond. It is greatly appreciated and you all have a special place in my heart!

93 and counting...

I can't really tell you how overwhelmed I am this week by all of the love and support I have been receiving from all over the world...literally. I am also overwhelmed with the amount of kids that have showed up to Clube de Jordy (Jordy's Club). Right now I am at 93! And let me tell you 93 rambunctious mozambican kids who barely speak Portuguese and no English and 1 Jordy who speaks weak Portuguese but a lot of English, makes for some interesting stories!

Back to my love and support. I have a lovely Aussie friend, Stacie, who is organizing a bunch of care packages for me and the kids! The support she is getting from her friends and family in Australia is just awesome. SO THANK YOU AUSSIES! My friends in Germany and Austria are also sending care packages, as well! Danke, danke, danke (especially if you are sending me the chocolate I requested...hahaha)! I am also getting more from the states so thank you to my friends and family in the states. I love you all dearly and am so honored and proud of you all!

Back to the 93 kids....day one I had 29...day 4...93....GOOD NEWS TRAVELS FAST! hahahahahahahaha....Here is what we did this week...drew....a lot....they love drawing. Played volleyball and soccer and I showed them some basketball moves....they were impressed! I made homemade checkers and tic tac toe. The checkers is catching on but its difficult for them to understand but we practice every day! I am teaching them English and right now we are going over the alphabet, numbers 1-20 and parts of the body. They are teaching me some Makua (local language) as well. There are a few trouble makers but I think I am handling the high volume and lack of Portuguese pretty well for doing it all solo.

My ultimate goal in my two years is to create a community center that will have a library, kids center, multipurpose sports field and classrooms for education, health, the arts, etc. for all community members. It's a big project but I am super excited to attempt it. I actually had parents bring kids and sign them up.

Again I thank you all for the support and check back for updates!

Jordy's Club is Open!

So yesterday was the first day I had Jordy's Club open. I was expecting 5 or 6 kids to be honest. At the end of the day I had 29. I was super happy and a little overwhelmed. It is going to be a lot of work. I am very interested in seeing what my numbers will be today. I had a lot of fun but had some frustrations as well.

Frustration #1: The kids do not speak Portuguese very well.
Frustration #2: The kids do not know how to read or write well. A lot of them cannot even write their names.
Frustration #3: I do not have a lot of materials/resources. I made tic tac toe boards and a checkers board out of cardboard. I do not have enough tables for the kids to work on. I want books in English and Portuguese. I want more balls (basketballs, volleyballs, soccer balls, etc.).
Frustration #4: I want to know how to speak the local language and I want to know how...yesterday!

Fun #1: 14 kids showed up in the morning. I had to kick out 29 kids in the afternoon. They didn't want to leave.
Fun #2: Taught the kids to play tic tac toe.
Fun #3: Played soccer and showed the kids some of my basketball moves...with a soccer ball. They love when I spin the ball on my finger.
Fun #4: Kids love to draw. I think they are just excited to have paper and pencils.
Fun #5: The kids are super polite and nice and sweet and will have a special place in my heart because they were my first "club kids"! 

My goal is to keep an attendance sheet everyday and hopefully use that information in my proposal for a community center in Liupo. I started out by wanting just a place for kids but I really think that this community can benefit from a place that is for everyone. This community center will have a library and rooms for both the kids and adults in the community. I will have programs for education, health, art, community service, sports, etc. I am really excited about pursuing this venture but it will be a lot of work and trying to create something sustainable is super difficult here. 

In other news, Arden and I were asked about teaching English. Arden said she would prefer to stick with her science and I offered to teach English if they needed me. It is frustrating talking to my colleagues who teach English and they do not speak it properly. How can they teach it then? Welcome to the education system in Mozambique and to what I am assuming most education systems in Africa. I think we find out on the 28th what we will be teaching. I am super excited to get school started and to get more kids to the club.

Nossa Casa!

Yay we are officially in our house! We have so many projects that we want to do and can't wait to do them. Our house is small and infested with bugs and lizards but we are coping and getting used to the fact that we will have unwanted visitors for the next two years. I have made an attempt to name the lizards...they are all called Lenny and I am hoping Lenny will control our bug situation. Right now he sucks at his job. Our electricity has been out more than we have actually had it, which means our electric stove is useless. We are going to invest in a coal stove or gas stove for those days without electricity. Did I mention we have a lot of bugs?! It is ridiculous and I am even more thankful for my mosquito net! Ok back to the house...we have two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. Our bathroom is outside and we also have a covered little gazebo type structure outside too which we love! We have decided that we are going to make our house as modern as possible. Arden made a toilet paper holder for our bathroom and a little table for the hand sanitizer. We made bamboo closets and rugs for our bedrooms. We are looking to get some couches and tables made for our living room and some countertops and shelves for our kitchen. I have taken some before pics and will post the after pics when we get all of our projects completed! We are so happy to be in our home. It is nice to be close to the school but we are not thrilled about being farther away from the market. We are going to get a bike though so hopefully it won't be such a pain. There is a bar across the street that is run by an awesome man. We went to say hello last night and he ended up giving us watermelon...it was delicious! We had our old neighbor, Sergio and another friend, Anastancio visit last night. We are always making friends! The people here are just so nice. We had a student come to us today who is not able to pay for school so we decided that he can do some work for us and we will help pay for his school. I am always wanting to give food and money to kids here but that is dangerous to do because they will expect and then never leave you alone.

Thank you all for your continuous support! Check out the pics...and my other pages too!

Feliz Ano Novo A Todos!

I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year's. I had an amazing time in Ilha de Mocambique with a group of volunteers. I think that this place is going to be my get away place. It is only about 3 hours from where I live. Our ride there consisted of sitting on a bunch of coconuts in the back of a truck and piling into a minivan with 20 other people. Got to love the public transportation system here! We stayed in some bungalows on the beach on the mainland. They were perfect! I had another moment where I couldn't believe that this was my life. We ate a lot of good seafood and even had pizza for lunch one day! Ilha is beautiful! The architecture and beaches are amazing. On the 2nd a group of us took a sailboat to a deserted island and just hung out. That was an amazing trip!

In other news, I have not been feeling well since getting to site. I think everything is catching up with me. It is a lot harder than I thought to keep myself healthy when I have limited resources. Our PC doctor is great and my roommate is even better. We have kids that hang out around our house a lot. They like to peek in the windows, which is annoying. I made them paper airplanes and drew with them and Arden (my roomie) played soccer with them. They are not as nosy anymore but they always want our soccer ball. We are giving English lessons, well Arden is mostly because I haven't been feeling great, to our colleagues at the school. They are really nice guys. They are really smart too! We are still not in our house yet but hopefully that will happen soon. We are getting anxious! School starts February 4th and I can't wait! Other than that, there hasn't been much going on. We are just getting to know our community better. I still learn something new about the culture here every day. I love this place!

Check out the pics!