Made In Mozambique

For the adults reading this post, what do you remember about your childhood?

Do you remember the games you played? Did you play with dolls? Did you make them or did your parents buy them? Did you grow up in the 90's like me, and play computer and Nintendo games like Super Mario Brothers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Did you ride a skateboard or play baseball? Did you ride  your shiny bicycle around in your neighborhood past curfew? Did you use Monopoly money to play “cashier” with your best friend? Did you have friends or a sibling to push you so high on a swing set, that you thought that your feet would touch the sun? Did you have an imaginary friend with whom you completed puzzles? When you received another action figure or board game for Christmas, did you throw your presents in your toy pile or did you leap for joy? Did you receive hand-me-down gadgets? Did you  make your own toys?

Christmas is almost here and I know that the cost of presents can add up very quickly. Every year, there are new toys and games for sale. Of course many children from the U.S. play games or participate in activities that don't require purchasing items, like hide-and-go-seek and truth or dare. But with clever advertisements on television, many children get hypnotized when they see the flashing images of other children having fun and singing along with the new “must-have” toy in their hands.

I'm currently living in one of the poorest countries in the world and many families don't have televisions. Many of them don't have to worry about their children tugging their arms to buy them the latest gadgets after seeing advertisements on TV. And even if they do have televisions, many Mozambican parents can't afford to buy video game consoles or even books to keep their children entertained. Some parents can't even afford to buy balls for sports. One thing is for sure, I've never seen children create games out of everyday items like I have here. Maybe you all will find that their games and home-made toys are as fascinating as I do.

Here's a ball that's been made out of rags, plastic bags, and twigs.

Here are my neighborhood kids playing a game where two people on each side have to throw a ball, while the person in the middle has to try to dodge it.  If one of the throwers  has to run after the ball, the person in the middle has to fill a beer bottle with sand.  The participant in the middle has to fill the bottle up 6 times in order to win.  If the ball hits the player in the middle, then the that person is out.

Here are children rolling a tire with a stick.

Other games include:

• Hopscotch using charcoal.
• Dodgeball using a small, handmade ball.
• Sliding um chanelo, a sandal, on the ground to see who's flip-flop slid the furthest.
• Soccer. It's probably one of the most popular games here. Some children save up money to purchase  soccer balls and others have parents who buy them for them.  In my community, most of the kids make their own balls.
• Children tie pieces of plastic strips together and then they tie the ends around two poles or around two people's legs.  The person in the middle sings and jumps in and out of the elongated circle of plastic ties.   The goal is to spin and hop without touching the plastic boundary.
• Hide-and-Seek. One person counts and then searches for the children who've been hiding. Here it's called "Banana".

This girl made a flute from the stem of a papaeira, papaya tree, and a strip from a plastic bag.

 Checkers and chess are popular board game here. The children make the chessboard out of cardboard and draw squares on them. Then, they use bottle caps.  For checkers, the bottle caps facing up represents one player and the ones facing down represent the other. 

Abdul is playing with his toy car that he made out of a small plastic bottle and four bottle caps for the wheels.  

I think that it's awesome that the children have fun with these hand-crafted objects. They can entertain themselves and make something out of items that I throw away everyday like cardboard boxes and plastic bags. Some children find a stick and a piece of string and then tie scraps of white pieces of paper on to the stick. Then they run up and down the dirt road while the string of “butterflies” chase after them.

The games and toys these children enjoy don't collect dust on the shelves after being played with a few times, because even scraps are appreciated. Many of these kids aren't living in a land where they'll wake up on Christmas morning to glittery boxes and bows underneath a decorated tree that "Santa Claus" dropped off in the middle of the night. Their parents aren't spending money from their savings account to buy a limited edition toy. The Mozambican kids that I have met are happy to play with something they created themselves. Their world is a playground where fun is free.

I hope you all enjoy this holiday season!

Black Magic at the Licungo River

 The sun is out and I'm wearing short sleeves and a smile on my face because it's not too hot. As I head towards the bridge, the people in my community point their fingers and their eyes get big as if they saw the moon on fire. People crowd the bridge to get a view of a slinky reptile in the Licungo River.  They've spotted a crocodilo, a crocodile.

I found it odd when I first moved to my community over a year ago, that a crocodilo would be so fascinating. Later, I learned that the people from this region believe that the crocodiles are humans in disguise who are out to devour people. According to legend, someone can see a witchdoctor to ask for whatever they wish. They may wish for more money or that their children be successful. Some may actually cast a spell so that a crocodile can eat their enemy alive. When the individual requests success or something else along those line, their wish cannot be granted unless they're willing to sacrifice an innocent person. If the person agrees to continue with a magia, the magic, then a random person who happens to be taking a bath in the Licungo River one day may find that it is his or her last bath.

A few weeks ago, a crocodile killed a 5-year-old girl in the Licungo River. One of my neighbors was explaining to me that this probably happened because someone requested something and needed to sacrifice a victim to execute the spell. I asked if people could only possess crocodiles. “No”, she replied in Portuguese, “A human can possess snakes and other creatures as well, not just crocodiles. It just depends on the region of the country the magic is taking place and what kind of animals like in that area”. 

Still doubtful that this was a widespread belief here, I asked a Physics teacher if he believed that the crocodilos in the Licungo River were actually human and if he believed in black magic. He verified, “They're certainly humans. I'm the type of person who has to see things to believe them, but I believe in black magic now. One day I was with my friends near an open field and we saw people on a flying saucer. We saw the home-made flying disc crash...” I interrupted, “Wait, why were people on a flying saucer?” “People like traveling without having to pay for a plane ticket, but they need black magic to help with that. This time, the black magic backfired on them.”

Many people in my community are Catholic, Christian, or Muslim, but the ideas around black magic are very much alive here like the hungry crocodiles in the Licungo River.

I thought I'd share this belief with you all because I find it fascinating.

Corrupção

For over a year now, I've been posting a lot of entries that highlight my positive experiences here in Mozambique.  While, overall, my service has been invaluable so far, there have been some events going on in the country that I have no control over and that make my stomach feel as though it's a washing machine tumbling a heavy load inside.  I've decided to write a post about the corrupção, corruption, in Mozambique and hopefully it will shed light on the cruelty.

1. Logging- According to my friend, many people from other countries are cutting down trees like a kid cutting odd shapes on a piece of paper, carelessly and recklessly. The trees are then shipped

to other countries to get manufactured.  My friend noted that these invaders aren't getting taxed for amputating these trees. The Mozambican government doesn't seem to be stopping them.  

In other words, people from other nations are cutting down forests here for free and making a profit off

of the wood.  This can have some serious long-term effects for the habitat in this country and the rest of the planet. Here's a picture I took of one of many places in Mozambique where they store the logs before they get shipped off.  This is only 30 minutes away from where I live. It's not the best picture.  There were a bunch of other logs that can't be seen in the picture. 

2. Child servants-  There are many children who are babás, nannies, in my community and in the country.

When I say children, I'm not talking about a 15-year-old.  I'm talking about a five, six, seven, eight, or nine 

year old child.  These kids are providing free labor for other families because perhaps their own parents are sick or have died, or can't afford to feed her.  So these little babás are sent to other families where they do their laundry by hand, wash dishes, change a baby's diapers, go to the market, plow the fields, cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and much more.  Maybe it's not

so bad after all, since they have a house to stay in and food to eat.  But seeing a six-year-old try to balance

a bucket of water on her head seems like torture on her growing spines and necks.  It breaks my heart when the adults yell at them for wanting to watch cartoons or play with the other children. They're just kids who want to dance, jump rope, and tell ghost stories with their peers.

3. Corrupção with the teachers- The teachers at my school and I have just finished correcting the national exams.  Corruption with the teachers is so bad in Mozambique, that the students have to write their names on the corner of an answer sheet and later, staff will cut off the corners of the tests and write a number on the corner that corresponds with the number on the other part of the test.  After the teachers grade the tests, the cut-off corners are reattached to the students' answer sheet. 

 The idea is that the teachers won't be able to tell whose test they are grading, 

because all they see is a number because the corner with the student's name has been detached.  However, some of the teachers managed to get the numbers of certain students.   The teachers asked other teachers if they could change certain grades so that they'd be able to pass particular students.  But why did some of the teachers go out of their way to  find out the numbers of certain students and beg other teachers to change their marks?  Well, this is where the corruption really comes in. Some of the teachers promised certain students that they'd give them passing grades in all of the subjects if they gave them money. Sometimes the teachers promised passing grades in exchange for sexual favors.  I felt hopeless as I graded papers.  The teachers didn't ask me to change the grades because I was handed a pre-scanned stack of papers of students' exams that didn't need their grades

augmented (thank goodness!).  I had no proof that the teachers bribed the students for sex or money, 

but unfortunately, bribes of this sort very common here.  

4. Lack of medical supplies- As with many developing countries, many of the hospitals in Mozambique quickly run out of medical supplies. Last week, someone in my community recently had problems with her stomach and the hospital didn't have medicine or other supplies left to help

her. She is back from the hospital and reports that she's doing a little bit better.  I asked other people where the closest hospital is that would have medical supplies and they responded that it would probably be a city in Nampula, which is four-eight hours away  depending on transportation and the situation of the roads.

This is the reality of the country right now.  As Mozambique develops and more awareness is spread about these issues, I'm hopeful that these four points will be resolved in the future.

On a brighter note, things are going well.  School won't be starting until February and I plan to visit other volunteers during my long vacation and hopefully visit neighboring countries.  I'll keep you all updated. :) 

Angoche Beach

The end of the school year in Mozambique is here! I had planned to go to Angoche, a beach town where two lucky volunteers live, long before Chu Chu died.  Even though I was still  sad from the passing of my friend, I decided to stick with my plans and visit some friends who live about 9 hours away from me.  I ended up having a lot of fun and kept Chu Chu's family in my prayers.

Enjoy the pictures!

Rest in Peace, Chu Chu

It hadn't rained in a long time and it was so hot and sunny today, that I was already sweating after my cold bath.    At first, there was nothing unusual about today.  I turned in my grades for the final trimester of the school year and skipped to the teacher's lounge to cumprimentar, to greet, some professors. Professora Mirena was putting her grades in the gradebook.  A French teacher named Chu Chu, had his headphones on and waved me over to sit next to him on the couch.  In English, he said, "Ah, man! Listen to these songs I made. It's the hip hop, yo, yo, yo! I already told you I'mma producer. I'm gonna be famous, yo!" He wiggled in his seat and smiled so wide I thought his mouth was going to strech off of his face. I put on the sweaty headphones and danced to his smooth hip hop beats.  After about ten minutes, I went home to quench my thirst.

After being home for about half an hour, my room-mate told me that two of our colleagues were in a motorcycle accident and that we were to go to the hospital with the other professors.  Later, we found out Chu Chu was driving the bike and died on the spot.   Mirena was on the back of the motorcycle and had some injuries. She was hospitalized.

My neighbor took my roommate and I to the hospital.  We didn't get to see Mirena at the hospital (I'm not sure why) and we couldn't see Chu Chu's body because it was too dismembered from the accident.  Right after we went to the hospital, we headed to the 25-year-old's mother's home.  

When we arrived, men were sitting outside and the women were inside.  We walked inside of the 

compact adobe house. The women wrapped capulanas (a type of colorful, patterned cloth used for dress attire) around their waists and also had them tied around their heads. There were loud shrills and screams that made a sound like a screeching tire. 

A young woman was convulsing on a mat in the middle of the room screaming, "Chu Chu! Chu Chu! Onde estas!?"  Right beside her was a woman curled up in a ball. I figured she was his mother because they looked exactly the same.  He got his slightly bulgy eyes from her and nose that dipped in the middle,

as if someone took a scoop off of the bridge.  She shrilled, "O meu filho, o meu filho me disse... My son, my son told me..."  All of a sudden, her face transformed into Chu Chu's animated face.  "Ja nao quero trabalhar aqui em Mocuba. Eu quero mudar-me a cidade de Nampula e conseguir trabalho e receber o meu mestrado. I don't want to work in this city anymore.  I want to move to Nampula city and get a good job and study to get my master's degree."  According to his mother, he had promised her that he was going to put money into her account and buy her a big house when he made it big. 

It started raining and the drops made loud patters on the tin roof.  In the dark space, I cried with the group of women in their colorful attire. I listened to the grieving.  The community was shedding tears for Chu Chu.  Some shrilled, some screeched, some sniffled, some hiccupped, some were silent. Everyone mourned.

They usually bring the body to the family's house to stay for I think for 24 hours, but because of the condition of the French teacher's body, it was left at the morgue.  

The burial will be tomorrow. 

This evening, it rained for the first time in a very long time.

Recycled Condoms and Playtime

Here's a picture of some cute kids in my bairro, neighborhood, that I took yesterday.  When I walk to the market, I usually see beautiful smiles and balloons, like this image here.  Oh, wait! That's not a typical balloon, that's a condom that the children blew up and are tossing to each other and gnawing at the end of it as if it were a baby bottle.  Most of the time, they find the used "balloons" in the fields.

Now we're just missing streamers and party hats. I mean, isn't life worth celebrating everyday?!

Make Music, Not War

My English Club members just learned the lyrics to Lenny Kravitz's song "Fly Away".  Here we are jammin' with drum beats, a ukulele, a wimpy whistle, and some shakers.  That's how we do!

Quick Basketball Update

The Lady Divas competed with two other schools in our town for the past three Saturdays.  The first two games we lost, but yesterday, we squashed the other team like a cockroach! The girls sang and danced with their smiling faces beaming in the sun. I was very proud of them.

 There won't be any more games for a while.  In the meantime, the damas, ladies, will continue practicing  their lay-ups and free-throw shots.  Their defense is good, they steal a lot of balls and jump for rebounds, but they need to score points and handle the ball better. At the same time, it's amazing to see how much they've already learned in the past three months.  When I first started coaching, many of them didn't know how to dribble a ball.  I'm excited to see how they'll be playing in the next few months.  I'll upload a video of them playing soon.

How much does food cost in Mozambique?

I bought corn, dried beans, a kilo of rice, 10 sweet potatoes, 8 bell peppers and carrots for only five

dollars yesterday.  If I want to travel from my town to Nampula, a big city about five hours away,

I'd pay about $7 USD for the

bus ride.  Produce and traveling is very inexpensive here.  That is, if you're earning a a decent salary 

according to U.S. standards.

In the past, when I visited other cities over the weekend, the teachers asked me how I was able to travel so

much as a volunteer.  They were stunned that I could visit so many sites

in Mozambique, seeing sites that they've never been to.

How much does an Ipad cost?

While produce can be inexpensive here,  electronics like smart phones, digital cameras, and laptops are very expensive.

An Ipad can cost about $2,000 USD here.  It's no wonder

the teachers hover over my  kindle touch when I bring it to the teacher's lounge, asking me the cost and if I could get them one from the States.

Unfortunately, I always have to say no and tell them that I won't be going back to the U.S. before my

service ends. 

How much do some teachers make in Mozambique?

The other day, I was in the teacher's lounge and a teacher wanted to know about how much it would cost

to visit the U.S.  I told him that it would depend on which state he wanted to visit, but if he were to go

to the East Coast (which would probably be the cheapest option), it would cost about 60,000 metacais, or

around $2,000 USD.  He replied, "Wow, that's very expensive.  Let's see, I make just a little over that each

year. I make around 75,000 metacais per year." My mouth dropped learning that he made only $2,500 USD every 

year and $208 every month as a secondary English teacher.  I was even more baffled at the fact that

I earn more than that as a volunteer.  It made me sad to think how little many of the

professors here earn, as

they grade tests and some teaching 40 hours a week. I wonder how these teachers have enough money to support their families.

Although food, transportation, and housing are relatively cheap here, it's not that inexpensive where

 a full-time teacher only earns

$2,500 per year.  Now I understand why many people, including professors, think I'm rich here.  

How much is my Peace Corps experience worth?

Recently, I've stopped

complaining to my friends about how little I make in Mozambique.  The Peace Corps treats us very well.

I don't pay rent, I have medical and dental benefits, and I have enough money to pay for internet, food, household supplies,household help,

and for traveling with great friends.

Invaluable.

Caranguejos

Sometimes, the experience of learning a new word

 helps me with remembering words in Portuguese. Today, I learned a new word, that I probably won't soon forget. I was coming home

from a trip in a chapa, a minivan that is used as public transportation in Mozambique, when I felt something

tapping the tip of my shoe.  Breathing heavily, I asked if there was a chicken on  the chapa and everyone said, "No."

I thought that I must have been imagining the tapping. So I stretched my legs as much as I could in the compact vehicle.

 About two minutes later, I felt something running on 

the arch of my foot like a pianist running her fingers across black and white keys. I screamed and said, there's some kind of animal down there. Right then, the woman next to me started screaming as well, claiming that she felt it, too.

The man next to me, moving slower than molasses, looked down at his feet and said, "Acho que os meus caranguejos saíram da minha pasta.  'Ta bom.  Só são caranguejos."

After he explained that his little friends escaped from his bag, he said that I can put my feet down and he'll get them.  I said that my Portuguese isn't the best and I didn't know

 what caranguejos were and until I knew what they were, I wasn't 

letting them use my feet as a playground. Biting my fingernails, I wondered, "Are caranguejos tarantulas, a type of mouse, or could they be baby alligators?"

 The woman on the other side of me explained, "Sabe, vivem na beach.  E tem..."  She then formed her hands into a claw.  Half relieved and still a little scared, I said that caranguejo probably meant crab in English.   About four other people and I laughed at the fact

 that because I didn't know one word in Portuguese, I was afraid and confused

because I had no idea what had escaped.  Then someone asked the man next to me in Portuguese, "Why the heck do you have a basket full of crabs, anyway?"

He explained that he just got back from the beach and he was surprising his family with caranguejos.  They were for dinner.

Naturally, I'm learning a lot of

Portuguese since I have to use it every day with co-workers and community members and I learn new words all the time like caranguejo.

Anyway, it's been awhile since I last posted a blog and I just wanted to share this story with you. This is just one of many examples of 

awkward and silly encounters I face as a someone who isn't a native Portuguese speaker or knowing any of the local languages here in Mozambique. 

Further, I just wanted to check in to say that all is well here and I've been very busy teaching and with secondary projects.

Also,  my basketball team has a game next week and perhaps I'll write a blog about the meninas, girls.  Até logo!

Water

Water. Such a simple word for such an important resource.  

In the US, I never woke up wondering if I would have enough

water to drink, to shower, or to wash my clothes. I would wake up, turn on the faucet where gushing water

fell onto my toothbrush.  After brushing my teeth, I would wash off strawberries that would go into

my banana strawberry smoothie. Afterwords, I would look up at the shower head that sprayed

warm water on my face that made steam rise from my body like a volcano.

On a typical morning in Mozambique, the sun rays hit my face through my window and I run to my back

 porch and I'm often left disappointed when there

is no agua, gushing from the faucet like it did in my mother's guest bathroom.  At times, all of my buckets

of stored water are empty, except for speckles of dirt.  I scratch my shoulder thinking,

"I have to teach school today and I need to brush my teeth and take a bath." Sometimes, I can 

get enough water to wash up and take a bath from the filtered water that is for drinking and I cross my 

fingers that we would have water later in the day or the following morning.

Yesterday morning,

Ana, a lady who helps my roommate and I with domestic chores, gently kicked an empty bucket and suggested 

that she fetch water from the rio, river, about a mile 

away.  The lake in my town is a beautiful one where people scrub off their dead skin, clean their

stained dishes, and use it as if it were a giant commode.  With no other choice, it was agreed to get water

from the lake. An hour later, Ana wobbles back to our house with a huge bucket on her head, filled

with cloudy agua from the lake. She washes our dishes with the water and returns to the lake

to fetch more.  Last night, the lake water was filtered and then I cooked beans with it. It rarely gets

to the point where we have to get water from the lake but we felt that we had no other choice.

I leaped out of my bed to the sounds of water this morning.  Grinning faces and buckets were lined up at our outdoor faucet like

liquid gold was falling into their buckets.  I only got to fill one bucket before the water got shut off.

Here's a picture of one of our neighbors getting water from our house.

When it's rainy season, I'm happy because we put buckets outside that fill up with

 drops from the sky.  Rain leaves traces of starburst-colored

arches in the sky and smiles on faces.  Here are some beautiful pictures that my friend Rafael Hernandez, another volunteer who happens to be an amazing photographer, took at his

site in Cabo Delgado of children playing in the rain:

Here's a link to his photoblog: http://rhexperience.wordpress.com/

Today, I bathe and drink in a different world than I did a year ago.  Heck, I'm even excited when it rains.  Not because I can listen to the sound of the patters on my window, but because

I can actually eat, drink, and wash with the agua. I learned that I don't need to shower for twenty minutes

to wash my body.  In fact, I enough water to fill a two liter bottle of  Coco Cola when I take a bath here. I am grateful for all I

had in the U.S. and that I anticipate to have again in about a year. But perhaps the thing that I'll be 

the most thankful for is the abundance of, a small but important word, water.

I returned from my conference last Monday. I learned how to write project

proposals, so I've been contemplating which grant I would like to apply

for to cover the costs of basketballs, shoes, and sports bras for my girl's 

basketball group.  I'll keep you all abreast of the project proposal plans.

Further, I've been busy lesson planning

and organizing for the new trimester, which is the last trimester of the school-year in Mozambique.

I just wanted to check-in with everyone to say hello and that

I'm doing well.  And my cat, Lani, is doing well.

See? :D

Cheese!

Meow!

I plan on writing a new post very soon! Ate logo, until later!

Divas Play Basketball, Too

My primary job as a secondary teaching in the Peace Corps in Mozambique includes instructing

topics in English  that adheres to the national curriculum and creating and grading exams.  Teaching 

English is my priority as a volunteer here.  At the same time, we can also have a secondary project

based on community needs.

This could be any project that a volunteer creates with a counterpart in order to promote sustainability and to 

help the community.

While browsing through Peace Corps volunteers' blogs before coming to Mozambique, I read that 

it is pivotal to access community needs and then the PCV can utilize

his or her skills to collaborate with the members.  Before joining the Peace Corps,

 I thought that maybe my secondary projects

would include art or even dancing, since I love doing both.  However, one of my secondary projects

is an English Club. 

I have a new project now. Last month, a physical education teacher from my school approached 

me and asked if I'd be interested in coaching a girl's basketball group. My first thoughts were, 

"It's been ten years since I played basketball.  Do I even remember basketball rules?"  

Hesistant, I accepted the offer a month ago.  Not only are the 8th grade girls learning how to dribble 

the ball and do lay-ups, we have discussions about HIV/AIDS, eating fresh fruits and vegetables and drinking clean, boiled water. 

Never in a million years did I think that my high school basketball experience

 would catopult me into the world of coaching.  I love working with the meninas, or girls, because they smile when they make a basket or steal the ball from an opponent. 

   

The only problem that we're facing is the lack of financial resources.  Many of the girls come from families  that do not earn a lot of money.  The girls run up and down the court barefoot because their only pair of shoes are one dollar

sandals. An even bigger problem (I don't know if this is too personal) is that the girls don't wear sports bras.

As a female basketball player, it is imperative to wear a sports bra and the 8th grade girls don't have any

support for their chest while they are playing.  Our plan is to have a fundraising component.  We're contemplating if we should

make and sale peanut butter or  popcorn.  If you have other ideas, we'd love to hear them.  Also,

I'll be learning how to write grants next week at a Peace Corps conference.  Hopefully, we can receive a grant to buy sports bras, shoes, basketballs, and a ball pump.

The name of the team is Dama Divas, or Lady Divas and this is why:

These girls have attitude (in a good way, haha).  And here are some photos of the entire team:

 Anyway. every time I walk on to the

court and see the Lady Divas, I smile remembering how blessed I am to have this experience.   I will provide updates soon on how the divas are doing.  Obrigada!

Was Fuzzy Wuzzy Fuzzy?

Sometimes I have my students practice different tongue twisters to get them speaking in English and to expand their vocabulary.  This week I  reviewed the past tense with my students and I decided to incorporate the "Fuzzy Wuzzy" tongue twister since it had the words "was", "wasn't" and "had".  It goes a little something like this: "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.  Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.  Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't really fuzzy, was he?" Now, try saying it ten times fast.

I made a video of some of my students trying to say the tongue twister.  Take a look:

Welcome to the Island of Mozambique!

This past weekend, I visited Ilha de Moçambique, the Island of Mozambique.  The rusted anchors and the chipped paint on the crude buildings on the island are the remains of Portuguese colonialism.

  

 A volunteer named Patrick McGettigan lives on the beautiful island and hosted an Ocean Fair.  Kids performed dances and songs and sold their art.  There were many other activities such as a diving and sand castle competition.  Additionally, there were about 40 other Peace Corps volunteers this past weekend  enjoying the festivities.  

  Vem vindo a ilha de Moçambique! Welcome to the Island of Mozambique!

These are all items that children/adolescents made who are participants from different Peace Corps volunteer groups. They were selling bags, peanut butter, jewelry and a bunch of other creative things at the Ocean Fair.

Jill is setting up for her group to perform

Takuya is here selling earrings and scrunchies that his women's group made.  Takuya is a JICA volunteer, which is a Japanese organization similar to the Peace Corps.

Sand castle competition

Here are a couple of pictures of me...

Breathtaking!

Have I convinced anyone to visit me in Mozambique yet?