Transition mode: PCT to PCV

Training ended a week and a half ago, but it already feels like it was months ago.  Training activities themselves started to wind down a good month ago, so the rest of the time in Namaacha, for me, was mostly centered around social time with other trainees, thinking about the end of training, and spending time with my host family.  By the end of those 10 weeks, most of Moz 18 was simply itching to get moving, and the only thing I felt sad to leave behind was my Mãe, dear Elisa Lucas.

Mama - grinding and sifting corn to make xima

The whole family! (Who lived at home)

At the waterfall, a few km outside of Namaacha

My capulana collection as of the end of training - it has already changed!

The morning of the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday, we were bused to a very fancy hotel in downtown Maputo.  I took a hot shower with running water.  I hadn’t done that since leaving Philadelphia at the end of May, and it felt incredible.  We got all fancied up in our matching oufits, and promptly got bused over to the swearing-in.  We were sworn in by the brand spanking new ambassador – he had just presented his credentials to the president of Mozambique that morning, so our ceremony was his first act as ambassador.  Although that was very exciting, we had heard that Hillary Clinton was in the area and had sworn in PCVs nearby, and were pretty bummed she didn’t decide to drop by. 

The Niassa Crew

Moz18 with the US ambassador, the PC country director, and the director of one of the ministries.

The next morning we were picked up at 5am and flew up to Nampula City, and put up in another unnecessarily fancy hotel with some of the most disjointed décor ideas I’ve seen in Mozambique.  We were each joined by at least one supervisor from our site.  I was joined by one of the guys who runs the ESTAMOS office in Mandimba, Silva, and the secretary from Irmãos Unidos, Afonso.  The next two days were rapid fire sessions about  the Peace Corps health program in Mozambique, site integration, supervisor and volunteer roles, and things to be done over the next three months.  We left the hotel early on Sunday morning to make the trip to Mandimba.  I was soon to find out that it is entirely dirt roads ranging from almost acceptable to conditions, to completely stomach-heaving.  Most of it was somewhere in the middle.  It is apparently possible to do the drive in 7 hours, but because of stops made for various reasons, I didn’t get there until 12 hours later.  I was exhausted, nauseous, grumpy, and entirely sick of traveling.

Bedroom

Kitchen/ living room/ work-out room/ guest room/ anything else room

The office

The Dollhouse

Our well

The next day, I was in a much better state to meet my new town.  It is a very dusty, kind of dirty, friendly, bustling border town.  It is also the halfway point between the “cities” of Cuamba and Lichinga, so all the transport going between the two stops here.  My little cement box of a house shares a quintal (fenced in yard area) with a friendly middle-aged couple and Miguel, who is in his late teens and very helpful.  My house has apparently been dubbed by other PCVs as "The Dollhouse" because it is so tiny.   I’m lucky in that my water source is a well about 30 feet away from my house, and Miguel often snags my water buckets and fills them up for me. 

The main market is right on my street, about an 8 minute walk away, and the offices for my organizations are about a 15 minute walk away.  The previous volunteer, Kyla, overlapped with me for the whole first week.  She was an excellent guide and showed me around town, introduced me to many people, showed me the best food vendors, and gave me some key life-in-Mandimba tips. 

My organizations - ESTAMOS and Irmãos Unidos - share activities and Community Health Workers, or activistas, to do home-based care for people in the community with chronic diseases.  So, a lot of effort is geared towards HIV/AIDS, but there is a good bit of work done with TB, diabetes, and maternal health.  I still haven't gotten a good understanding of the lay of the land and how everything works, and it will probably take me a few months to figure it out.  The first week of work was a re-training for all of the activistas on a range of topics related to home-based care.  I was in and out for most of the week, trying to participate and understand most of what was going on, but also needing a lot of time to do errands and rest.  This week is dedicated to home visits and getting to know the different neighborhoods and outlying communities.  

So things have been hectic but productive, and enjoyable but confusing.  There is much to learn!