Welcome to Machanga
A year and four months after arriving in Mozambique and I
finally am in Machanga. The journey to get here has been an adventure in and of
itself. It has been a time of experiencing and learning in Tete, and an
exercise in flexibility and patience when facing situations beyond my control.
Many of you are eager to know what it is like here in
Machanga, now that I am finally here.
First of all, (and I didn’t know this when I first got here)
it is pronounced with a “sh” sound- MashANga.
I am here working with MCC’s partner, the United Church of
Christ. Machanga itself is a quiet town with a few shops and a small outdoor market
that sells tomatoes, onion, dried shrimp, coconuts, and not much else. The
church runs a girl’s dormitory in the village for young women who want to study
at high school but live too far outside of town to be able to attend regularly.
My house is next to the church, a few kilometers along the main road outside of
town. My place is attached to the back of the home of the pastor and his
family. We share a yard; it is always nice to have people and kids around, but
I can retreat to my own space and have quiet when I need to work.
The school where I will be teaching at is another 15 km up
the road from my house. Thankfully I have a motorcycle to help me get around!
Lessons are set to begin on the 16th of March. I’ll also be teaching
the girls at the dormitory in the town a couple times a week. Me and my little
motorcycle will soon become very familiar with the road to and from the town,
church, and school!
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| My whole house on the back of a pick up. Even my motorcycle made it on. I stand there looking like I did all the packing, but really did little more than give emotional support to my wonderful colleagues who spent all afternoon at the job. |
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| The new school where I will be teaching. Surrounded by bush, there is not much out there now, but once things get up and running that will change! |
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| After a year of riding a huge Honda XL, finally this little dear is more my size! Any ideas for names? |
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| My bedroom and my cat. The mosquito net does little to stop her from trying to chase my toes at night. |
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| A little piece of home |
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| The pastor's kids doing the morning chores with the help of the ducks and chickens. I get up around 5:30 AM when everyone else does- it doesn't take long to get in the pattern of early to sleep early to rise. The one time I slept in till 6:30, everyone knew I wasn't feeling well that day. |
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| The well where I get my water, pulled up by hand a bucket on a rope. |
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| My half of the house is to the right. Nice to have my own porch. I have two solar panels on the roof,. Ironically I have more reliable electricity way out here than i ever did in the city. Sadly it is not quite enough to run a clothes iron so i have to do that the |
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| View up the road from my house. Down the road looks pretty much the same. Remember this is the main road into town. Machanga is a happenin place. |
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| My roommate Zucchinha. You are probably all tired of the cat pictures I've posted on Facebook, but she is just too adorable. How can you look at that face and not start singing "soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur..." Or maybe that's just me. |
It look me a long time to get this posted as my internet access is very poor in Machaga. Hopefully I'll have another before long; stories start to collect quickly when you are in a new place.
