The story of the time I threw my watch out the window.

I arrived in Mozambique last Tuesday evening. I was greeted at the airport by Jana, MCC’s country representative in Mozambique, and Pastor Madeira, from the church MCC partners with here. The seaside city of Beira is to be my home for the next month until I go to the rural district of Machanga. This past week I have been having in-country orientation with MCC, had my first Portuguese lesson on Thursday, met the leaders of the United Church of Christ in Mozambique- American Board (of which Pastor Madeira is the president), and got to meet the rest of the MCC team working here in the city of Beira. I was very fortunate that MCC was able to find me a home-stay for my first month in Mozambique. I am staying with Pastor Madeira and his family.

There’s nothing quite like living with a host family for getting involved in what’s going on in the community.  Friday was a public holiday; the day of Peace and Reconciliation in Mozambique. 21 years ago, the Rome peace accord was signed, ending a 16 year civil war between RENAMO and FRELIMO that was heavily influenced by outside parties. Now, the celebration is still going strong, a testament to the deep desire Mozambicans had to see peace in their country. We joined a long march across the city- there was much singing and dancing the whole way. The singing and dancing didn’t stop when we arrived at the indoor arena where we crammed onto the bleachers for a series of speeches and songs from choirs. That part might have been more interesting if I had been able to understand Portuguese, or if I had been able to see anything besides the backs of the people standing in front of me, but it was a valuable experience to be a part of and gave me a glimpse of the current political swing in this region.

The excitement didn’t end Friday. On Saturday, I went with Pastor Madeira and his 5 year old daughter Laura to a concert in honour of the day of Peace and Reconciliation. We arrived just before 9:00 AM- we wanted to be a bit early because Pastor Madeira was supposed to open in prayer. Three hours later it still hadn’t started and we had to leave because he was officiating a wedding starting at 1 and we had yet to go home and eat lunch. But just because the South African star of the show was delayed several hours didn’t mean there was no music while we waited… the band was jamming on stage and people from the crowd took turns going up to sing. At one point Laura was dancing on stage with the members of another choir that was to sing later.

As we were leaving, Pastor Madeira said rather apologetically “Things like this probably don’t happen in Canada, right?” I was about to tell the story of the time I was supposed to go to a Tree 63 concert in New Brunswick but it was cancelled last minute because the members of the band couldn’t enter the country (they hadn’t realized their visas expired)… until I realized Tree 63 is from South Africa. I remember last year hearing about a Justin Bieber concert that started a few hours late… but that made international headlines. But on the other hand, I still got to hear some great music and I got to meet a lot of people while we were waiting, including the mayor of Beira. That doesn’t happen in Canada either.

The wedding only started 20 minutes after the set time, so it is good we rushed home and ate quickly. Not 4 days in the country and I’ve already been to a wedding. Compared to the weddings I went to in Cambodia, this one was much more familiar to what I’m used to at home, but with lots more singing and dancing. I got home around 8 in the evening, thoroughly exhausted, but thoroughly happy. I was sitting in my bed reading when one of the kids poked his head around the corner and said “you don’t want to come talk, you’d rather stay and sleep?” I said yes. There will be time for talking tomorrow.

Time. Last week, I heard a young Ugandan man share this bit of wisdom: “white people have watches, Africans have time.”

This week I’ve spent so much time doing “nothing”. Waiting forever in line at the grocery store watching people cut in front of me (one guy was nice enough to ask first… was I supposed to say no?), waiting for a concert that didn’t start, waiting for the meal to begin at the wedding, sitting at the dinner table every day not understanding the conversation going on around me, crossing the city squished in the back of chapa (mini-van public transport), standing lost and alone in the middle of the crowd at the Peace celebration, watching TV in Portuguese with my host family, waiting for someone to take me home from the MCC office because I don’t know how to navigate there on my own yet. It is a humbling exercise in patience. Not that it has been too challenging for me; I’m pretty easy going when it comes to time. But for once I don’t have a pile of things to do to fill my time when I have nothing to do. At home, when not doing something “important”, how much of my time would be spent on Facebook? Baking or cooking food I’m not really hungry for? Answering emails that could just as easily wait for tomorrow? Watching Survivor reruns? I like to think I’m so efficient and productive with most of my time that the rest of it I need to let my mind take a break and do something mindless (cue Survivor re-runs). But how often do I just do nothing? How often do I have a chance to sit back and observe the people and culture and life around me? To learn a language just by listening to locals speak? To show my appreciation and commitment to people by just being present? To reflect on what a complex and beautiful experience getting to know a new culture truly is?

I’ve spent more than enough time blogging for one day. Until next week!

Yours truly.