update

It’s been a while since I have put my thoughts in words. Let me tell you what’s been going on in Mocimboa da Praia for the last couple months. There are some projects that have begun coordinated by me and what Peace Corps likes to call “the Mozambican counterpart.” One of my closest counterparts has been Sister (as in nun) Ana Maria. She’s been in Mocimboa for about 4 years and has also been given the duty of creating sustainable projects. She’s attempted projects such as building an oven for a group of women to make bread and have a source of income. My favorite thing she’s worked on is establishing seven preschools within the town to teach the basics of Portuguese. One of the schools is close to my home and I’ve taken advantage of its proximity and began to teach the children how to do Yoga! At first they thought I was crazy and some of the parents questioned my being there but that stopped after they saw how much the children enjoyed it. After working with her for a while we decided to develop a sewing project. The goal of this project is to make purses to sell. Since I arrived I’ve noticed that Mocimboa is slowly developing. It truly is a beautiful town, it’s on the coast, it’s the last stop before to Tanzania and it’s full of unexplored land and ocean. All of this has drawn a diverse group of individuals (Portuguese, Brazilian, South African, and French) to Mocimboa and has opened a door to tourism. This tourism can help or harm the “locals” and we (the sis and I) want to show some Mozambicans how to use this to their advantage. So, the target group of these purses is those tourists who just want to remember everywhere they’ve been. Ana Maria had the availability of the sewing machines and I bought some cloth and materials, we’ve talked to some local business to allow us to sell the purses at their posts. At this point they are in the process of beginning to make the purses after weeks of learning how to get the sewing just right. Thinking also about Mocimboa’s development I’ve decided it’d be a good idea to start giving community English classes. The students receive some classes at school but they rarely have a venue to practice speaking it. There are twenty lessons to English course and at this point I’m at lesson sixteen. The class began with about twenty students at this point there are five left. This could be for millions of reasons but I chose not to dwell on it and am grateful for those who’ve stuck around. I’ve never been a teacher before and it’s been such an awesome experience seeing the students “get it.” What I’m doing is developing a system in which they can continue teaching others within the community. The place where the classes are held is called the “Centro Oasis,” it’s a nice building central to the community and with plenty of rooms for various activities. The mission is to set up a library (since books are the food of the brain), teach English and give the opportunity of extracurricular activities to the youth in this community. You see, in third world countries there is nothing to do, literally, nothing. No movie theater, bowling, roller rink, karate, dance, sports… NOTHING. So when you are complaining about being bored because you “have nothing to do,” stop complaining and join a club, go watch a movie, or just walk since you have electricity all day and night. Anyway, so the youth in this town have nothing to do which leads to boredom, violence, and prostitution. This Oasis will give them an activity, a vision, or a mission to life. One of the most exciting projects has been creating a natural medicine clinic with some of the people in the association I’m working with. We’ve begun making creams that aid in skin fungi and various skin problems and rheumatism, arthritis and cramps. It’s been magical learning how much the earth has to give us. It’s saddened me that humanity has overlooked this magic to build cities that are only destroying the earth more and more. Everything you need to be healthy is grown so easily in nature. This is a passion I’ve discovered and am sure I’ll be working with for a long long time. The most recent development has been to develop a mural on an empty wall in the streets of Mocimboa. December 1st (international HIV/AIDS day) is next week and we’ve been working to organize all sorts of fun activities from the November 25th – December 1st. Pictures and more stories coming soon.