Dear Reader,
I’m sweating as I write this message. In point of fact, I have learned over the last four weeks to sweat and do lots of things! Eat, sleep, read, play guitar, brush my teeth, and my latest accomplishment: sweat and write in my journal – which takes careful placement of clothing to prevent page saturation. I couldn’t be happier, however, to be writing you right now. I am sitting in front of a computer in the Department of Agriculture, where my office is located. Our community has a diesel-powered generator that gives us about 6 hours of electricity every evening. By now I know the drill, and showed up at the office five minutes before they fired up the huge machine at the center of town.
I realize now that it has been about four weeks since I was last in contact. How are you? I hope that you had a wonderful holiday season, and an exciting New Year. What new adventures does 2007 have in store for us? I am finding all the time that some of the most challenging and rewarding adventures in my life don’t require long trips or extreme circumstances. My latest discovery? The cashew tree. Cashews grow on broad-leafed, attractive trees in abundance in this region of Mozambique. I have just learned by observation that the nut, or castanha (“cah-shtan-yuh”), that we know and love grows one at a time at the end of a base of five or so leaves. Also, to my surprise, the nut grows in a separate pod from the cashew fruit – which right now is bright green. Amazing! [In addendum, have you ever seen a pineapple growing on the plant, Reader? I finally got a chance here to see pineapples growing, rising out of the ground like the stamen of a punk rock flower, an earthen king’s spikey scepter guarded by swordlike leaves. How intimidating and delicious!]
Right. If you don’t mind, let me now fill you in on some details of my life here. As of yet the house that I will eventually live in is not ready. There is still work to be done, and I am hoping to move in before the end of January. In the meantime, I am living in a room, and eating all my meals with my supervisor and his family. In a way that has been a blessing in disguise, because I get to play all the time now with his four adorable children. We run around, chase each other, draw things in the mud, and have recently (today January 5, 2007, actually) discovered the subtle art of making faces when mom is not looking.
Well ours is a district capital, so it houses buildings for the district administration, and departments of health, agriculture, social action, etc.. Beyond the concrete buildings at the center of town, houses quickly switch to simple mud-brick and reed construction. A five minute walk sends you over a ridge overlooking handsome rectangular homes with tidy thatched roofs. The main mode of transportation is of the human variety – foot or bicycle, though we do have some pick-up trucks rumbling around, carrying directors and officials to and from projects. Up the highway a ways, they are building a bridge across the major river we have here, so that explains lots of hard hats and coveralls. One thing that strikes me about my new home is the huge sky. Looking out you can see the rain falling over the Zambezi River seven kilometers away. At night, especially after the lights go out, the stars are stunning.
I am listening now. Thunder just started rumbling loudly in the distance. Crickets are chirping, and children are talking in their outdoor voices. I also just heard the mysterious shriek of owls in the enormous tree 50 meters from where I sit. Apparently this shrieking noise has little meaning, but when the owl begins to ask questions – it is an omen of death in the family. That is something that I think about, Reader.
So most of my time I work. I am working with a program called the Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools. In its essence, each school (of which there are 23 in this country, I think) consists of 30 youth between the ages of 12-18. These youth are either orphans (some due and some not to the high prevalence of HIV and then AIDS in this region, an estimated 26% by some numbers) and other youth who are considered ‘vulnerable’. [I encourage you to check my facts at www.unaids.org and www.who.org, then update me.] The program is based on teaching farming techniques in an experimental growing field, while also teaching important life skills. There is a focus on relating the life cycle of plants with the human life cycle. Also, the experimental fields are places where the youth can try new things without having to sacrifice food production at home. It is a very interesting program, and only came to this province two years ago.
Having just arrived, my primary objective is to observe. Long before I might hope to help out on a project or make some sort of contribution, I desperately need to learn about the people here, their needs, what programs already exist, what programs have failed… I am keeping two lists close at hand:
1. List of Questions Not Yet Answered
2. List of Things Accomplished, However Small
I’m not sure which one I like more, but the second one is helping me to keep
focused and stay positive.
I spend a lot of my time being presented by my coworkers (the custom here) to the different departments and to other organizations doing work here. When not at work, I go back to my room, play guitar, read, listen to music, and take naps. It’s a simple life that, while challenging, is very exciting.
[Note: It has started raining again. It has rained every day of 2007 where I live, and the people here couldn’t be more excited. There is a strong dependence on agricultural productivity, and the three weeks of dry, 35 degree (Celsius, 95 or so Fahrenheit) [Why do we use Fahrenheit… can ANYBODY explain why we so distinctly honor someone crazy enough to make the freezing point 32 degrees?! Honestly!] weather was seriously threatening corn crops in particular, a staple food. People go hungry here, they tell me. Well it was also just plain hot, and the rain is a welcome relief.
Another Note: Beyond Fahrenheit, do some animals strike you as insane? Two large beetles just flew in the door from the main office, and I can’t shake their striking similarity to the noise and energy of that circus event where the motorcycles all drive around in that tiny metal sphere? What is that called? The globe of death or something? Well, sort of similar at least.]
Anyway, I have had some wonderful opportunities come my way lately. I got to spend the Christmas, etc. holiday in a lovely place called Gorongosa with some volunteer friends. It was a chance to rest, relax, and reflect. There was good food involved, a long and lively Catholic Mass the night of the 24th, and lots of laughs. Interestingly enough, some classic Christmas Carol tunes found their way into that service with much livelier rhythms that, to be honest, have changed the way I will sing them forever.
[Beetles again: Do other animals look at us and think that we are as crazy, bumbling, and lost as I do when I look at this beetle stuck here in this one-exit room?]
From Gorongosa (Google the National Park there, if you get the chance) I headed straight to Nhamatanda (“Nyah-mah-tahndah”) for a three-day training/meeting of the various Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools (JFFLS). It was a three days so full of learning that I may not be able to put it into words. I got to ask some questions, make many observations, network with the people I will be connected with for the next two years. The plan is to have one of these meetings once every month – which for me is an exciting prospect.
Well after three days of being bombarded with information I was ready to get back home and celebrate the passing of 2006 into 2007! It turned out to be as quiet a night as any I’ve spent here -- and looking up at the almost full moon, I decided there might not be any better way to usher in a new year.
Since that time I continue to work hard, study, learn about my community and organization, and plan for the next few months.
My first month as a Peace Corps Volunteer, Reader, has turned out to be what I had tried so hard not to expect it to be but hoped it would be anyway. Every step is a small step, every challenge a big challenge, every reward honey-soaked in the afternoon light of life experience.
One of my two goals for 2007 is to be humble. I am humbled by the support I have received, and motivation you give me to keep learning. For that, thank you. Please take care of yourself and those around you.
PEACE (of mind)
Kevin
ps. My other is not a goal, but a motto for this year: “If we don’t do it, who will?”
pps. I give thanks to the random inspiration provided by Jerry Reid Smith, Martin Lawrence, Boston, Ben Harper, Kurt Vonnegut, Aldous Huxley, and some Skolnik Family recordings that help me miss my family with a little less sadness.
ppps. The one piece of news that I have heard in the last month since arriving is both sad and unexpected. I was eating grilled chicken when I found out that one of my heroes, James Brown, passed away. It is my sincere intention here to tell you that few others, if anyone, had the soul and musical vision he had. Much of the music we enjoy, he influenced. No doubt there are jokes abound, but I will truly miss him.
