Welcome to Machanga

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 16^th 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!

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.

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!

After a year of riding a huge Honda XL, finally this little dear is more my size! Any ideas for names?

My bedroom and my cat. The mosquito net does little to stop her from trying to chase my toes at night. 

A little piece of home

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.

The well where I get my water, pulled up by hand a bucket on a rope. 

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 

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. 

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.

There and Back Again- a not quite Hobbit’s Tale of a Journey Home to Canada

Unlike the final installment of the Hobbit trilogy that came out this Christmas, my journey was blissfully free of excitement and dangerous adventure. I left Mozambique mid-December and after a short stop-over in Durban for the Southern Africa MCC regional retreat, I stepped foot in Canada for the first time in 15 months. Besides almost losing my bags along the way home, and a couple good snow storms nothing unexpected happened.  

It is difficult to describe what it is like coming home after being away for a while. Many people wonder if it is ever hard coming back to so many changes. Many things are different. My sister has a boyfriend now; this I knew, but I didn’t know it was possible to spend so many hours on skype! My other sister now drives and took me to the Superstore. Kids who were shorter than me are now taller than me (ok, so maybe not much changes). I haven’t had a bedroom that was mine in a while. The kitchen cupboards were redone so it took me a while to search for where the tea is now kept. Though many things do change, there is one thing that doesn’t; it still feels like home.

It was such a blessing just to be there for a month. I am grateful for the time spent with family and friends. I am thankful for the opportunities I had to share about my life and experiences in Mozambique with my friends, church, and at my Mom’s school. My wonderful mother made every single meal on my page-long list of dinner requests. Never having to wonder what kind of strange meat was on the table. Sitting down for a cup of tea with real milk in it. Completing a 1000 piece puzzle with my brothers and sisters. Knitting socks at the curling rink. Snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, breathing deep the smell of a forest. Being a normal person again, passing normal people on the street with a smile or hello because that’s just what we do.  

I’ll keep my tale short this time but promise to be back soon. I’m in Tete now for a few days, visiting and saying a final goodbye to all my friends and colleagues who’ve been there for me this past year. This coming week I’ll hop on a bus to MCC’s office in Beira and start preparing in earnest for moving to Machanga. In early February I’ll finally begin my original assignment position; teaching conservation agriculture at the technical high school in Machanga. Comings and goings are ever bittersweet. It was hard to leave Canada after such a relaxing month home, and it is hard to leave my Tete brothers and sisters who I’ve lived and worked with last year.  But I am looking forward to the new opportunities, friendships, and experiences that will surely come my way as pick up my pack and set my feet on the path to Machanga.

Until next time.

Family Christmas pictures on Christmas day! I had the matching shirts made for my brother and sisters in Mozambique

On the Dobson Trail feeling very cold on New Years. 

Tea AND and puzzles AND rummio. Notice the winter scarf around my neck!

Skiing in Centennial Park with Mom after a fresh snowfall. 

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.