Changing Seasons

After a very long and very inexcusable absence, I am back in the blog world!

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the things I miss from home is the changing of the seasons. I feel rather disoriented in time without the seasons to guide me. Thanksgiving came and went while I sweated in 40 degree weather and ate shima and beans. How was I to know it was thanksgiving without the bright colours and sweet smell of October leaves? It takes a while being in one place before you start to see the patterns and find new ways to mark the passing of time. With time you begin to change and learn to celebrate what each new season has to bring in different ways. 

Salad Season- In July and August, vegetable harvesting was in full swing. Every day, the extensionists and I would have fresh salad made from the lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cabbage from our demonstration plots. There is nothing like pulling fresh produce from the ground that you’ve grown with your own two hands. The weather was also cooler during this time. It would go all the way down to 17 degrees at night; curling up in a big sleeping bag felt so cozy! I am thankful for fresh vegetables, cool weather, and the joy of seeing the hard work of community members pay off!

Me with my colleague Romão and lead farmer Sr. Jacinto in Matambo during the hight of the vegetable season. How many different vegetables can you point out?

OK, so this doesn't have a lot to do with vegetables, but I had to fit it in somewhere. Me with a cow at the water pump. The cows are here because there isn't water anywhere else. When you see just how dry it is everywhere, you realize how invaluable the sand dams are as a source of water for growing vegetables.  And if you are wondering, it's not cold; I've just gotten really used to wearing a sweater even when it's 25 or 30 degrees.  

See the difference in colour between kale grown using mulch (right) versus kale grown without soil cover (left). 

 MCC Retreat Season- September 23^rd. Not weeks after my arrival in Mozambique last year we went on a team retreat on a wildlife reserve. This year we got to see another side of Mozambique’s natural beauty- long sandy beaches. Last year I was the new one to MCC. This year I was on the retreat organizing committee and got to welcome two new MCC members to our team. I am thankful for the wonderful support and friendship I have in the MCC Mozambique team. 

Aziza and I at the water's edge. 

 Birthday Season- October 10^th. For the second year in a row I have celebrated my birthday Mozambican style. My host family in Beira sure knows how to throw a party. I celebrated together with my host brother who turned three this year. There were homemade samosas, chicken, fries, shrimp, potato salad, rice and beans, and at least 5 different cakes! A DJ kept the music blaring all evening (at least until the power went out). There was even a bouncy castle for the kids this year! I am thankful for celebrating not only my birthday but also one year in Mozambique with my Mozambican friends, family, and colleagues. 

I mean, just look at that cake. Not to mention the balloons. Not seen in this picture are the three-inch red and black heels I was wearing. 

Training Season- October and November. Time to prepare for the upcoming field crop season. The staff at CCM participated in a conservation agriculture training seminar together with staff from another NGO and government extension workers. The agricultural extensionists and I also worked together to give day-long training sessions in a few different communities where we work. Fields are being prepared for growing maize and millet according to the three conservation agriculture principles: minimal soil disturbance, soil cover, and crop rotation. I am thankful for the opportunity to teach and to learn. 

Explaining how we should look at the slope of the ground before starting to dig holes for planting; you want to make sure any water running on the service falls into the holes.

My colleague giving a training session in the community of Maule Maule. I seem to be distracting a couple of the kids  as I took this picture, but everyone else is paying close attention!

Women from Nhamunhu digging planting basins- they are helping to prepare a demonstration plot by the road. 

It's already November and I can't help but already be thinking about the upcoming season of Christmas. I’ve been away from home over Christmas for two years now, but will be back for a visit this year. As someone who has always loved the Christmas season, experiencing Christmas in very different ways over the last two years has had a profound impact on me. I am both extremely excited and also a little nervous to be coming home for Christmas this year. I am thrilled that I’ll have a month in New Brunswick to see my friends and family and that I get to do so over the holidays. But I can't help but feel some apprehensions as well. Will Christmas at home be as I remember it? Even if it is, what if I have changed?

I remember a quote I heard once when I was a kid, which has always stuck with me.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” Helen Keller

I used to say that running at top speed down the stairs.  But now this phrase is taking on greater meaning; you have to take the risk of stepping out of your comfort zone away from what is easy, knowing that when you do you might very well change, and that change, though not easy, is often good.  Those are the moments you feel most alive. Now I'm in Mozambique and not only are the seasons different, but in some small ways so am I. There is joy in celebrating seasons we know and love, but there is also beauty in change. 

*Note to my dear friends on the East Coast: if you didn’t catch that, I will be home for a visit from December 20^th to January 16^th and then coming back to Mozambique. The month will go by quickly but not so quickly that I won’t have time to visit all of you lovely people! I’m looking forward to taking some time to relax and catching up with all the latest. Be in touch come December as I start to piece together what I’ll be doing when.