Pictures....Finally!

Hey Kids,

Well, we just finished week 7 and I am feeling much better. My site visit to Xai Xai was a real treat. The city was much larger than anything I would want for a site, but was a nice change of pace. I and another trainee, Nicole, stayed with David, a volunteer working for the very large NGO, Save the Children. After a week of checking e-mail, walking around the city, visiting the large market and eating as much goat as we wanted, Nicole and I went to the beach on Thursday and Friday. The volunteers had pitched in to get all the trainees who were visiting the area two beach houses for our last night. It was great to relax with everyone and watch the waves roll in. Hopefully you can understand why I took so many pictures of the sunrise at 5 am.

I arrived back at Mafuiane after catching a 4 hour Chapa ride back and then hitching a ride with a nice Mozambican farmer. In fact, I have taken a real shine to hitching rides to various destinations. In many ways it is safer than taking the overcrowded chapas, but they are sometimes the only option. When I arrived I found that the other volunteers were rested as well, but most of us were not in the mood to resume training. This week went especially slow, despite the exciting discussions on project implementation and budget composition.

Last night while I was reading my new book, "A Complicated War" (awesome, btw), I noticed that one of my neighbor's new baby goats who had just been born this past week, had an anus that was impacted with...well, stuff. I have no idea how it happened but this was problematic for the baby, as he/she was unable to defecate. When I addressed the issue with the Mama next door, she said she had noticed it but wasn't sure what to do. So I grabbed another trainee, Jody, got some gloves, caught the goat and began....well, you know. 20 minutes and plenty of doo doo later, the baby goat was back to prancing around with a fully funtional rectal cavity. The smell was foul, but it only intensified my desire to live in a rural area and raise some sort of animal...but more about that later.

This morning, I woke up at the earliest possibly hour and went with a neighborhood boy, Gildo, to help me cut down reeds so that I could learn to make an astera mat. These are pretty simple mats that all the women use to sit on during the heat of the day when you want to be in the shade outside where there is breeze. The problem is that if you wait too long in the morning to collect the reeds, it gets warms and, as Gildo was quick to point out, cobras (meaning snakes) become a problem. Once those dry, I will begin working with Gildo in making my own mat.

After that, I went and had my interview with the Associate PC Director for Health, Janelle, regarding my site placement. She was very complimentary of my work in the tech sessions and I told her that I wanted a rural site working with kids, preferebly in the central portion of the country where assistance is most needed. She said that she already had a project in mind for me from the beginning that was along those lines, so I was happy. Whether or not I have electricity is to be decided. The ability to have a fridge and fans would be dreamy, but I might just be hoping. I should know my area next week and will update you shortly there after. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Depending on how far I am from a larger town, my updates on here might get a tad scarce.

Other than that, all is well. I'm strongly considering getting a dog when I get to site, so I might be in need to pet supplies depending on what is available in my area. Plenty of people have dogs in Moz, but the care and attention they give their pets is substantially less from that which is given in the States. I think that is one tradition I will not pick up.

Pictures are attached to the original e-mail. Sorry for making you join Snapfish to see them, but I couldn't find away around the photo-sharing sites. Thanks for the e-mails and letters. They help tremendously. PC has been a little slow in getting us our mail, but I know a couple things are in route.

Stay in touch and I'll try and do the same.

LU,

ZS