Conservation and Development

2011 has been an incredible year. I met many wonderful people, saw my efforts begin to make a difference in the community, and finished up my time in Mopeia. It’s hard to believe that I’ve finished my 2 years with Peace Corps and with Save the Children as a community health volunteer. I have learned so much along this journey, about myself, about the world, about life in general.

Many months back I heard about a really interesting project going on in northern Mozambique that caught my attention. I contacted them and was given the incredible opportunity to stay on another year with Peace Corps working for the CARE/WWF Alliance in the coastal town of Angoche. The program Primeiras e Segundas combines development and conservation efforts with projects focused on empowering people while also protecting natural resources. Some of the ongoing projects include teaching conservation agriculture, monitoring fishing techniques and evaluating the effects these have on local fish populations, working with community rangers to count wildlife on the island chain off the coast, and many others. So I’m beginning another year here in Mozambique and I’ve written up a small introduction about the project I’ll be working for and why it’s unique.

Livelihood security is a term used often in development work but what does it mean? The simple answer is the ability of a household to meet its basic needs. These include shelter, access to healthcare, adequate supply of food, basic education, a sufficient level of income, and participation within the community. These are basic rights that should be guaranteed, regardless of race, religion, gender, geographic location, or any other prevailing factor. But the reality is that many go without some or all of these necessities. In the coastal area of southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique, as in many places in the world, families are struggling to gain access to these fundamental rights. They rely on the land to provide food, but differentiation in rainfall patterns and prolonged dry seasons is leaving them with failed harvests and nothing to eat. They want to send their children to a local primary school, but the increased amount of labor required in the fields renders many children overworked and undereducated. Focus turns to survival and meeting immediate needs. And nature quite often suffers. Forests are cut down in order for makeshift houses to be built. Seas are overfished because fishermen need to compete to bring home income. Local fauna is killed because of uncontrolled fires used to clear agricultural land. But all of these survival techniques are just quick fixes to a much larger problem. The only way that we can successfully start to think about a sustainable future is by combining our efforts to protect nature and improve the quality of life of people across the world. That’s where the CARE/WWF Alliance Program comes in. CARE International (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere) is traditionally focused on livelihoods while WWF (World Wildlife Fund/ World Wide Fund for Nature) focuses on preserving our world’s flora and fauna. These two internationally respected organizations have joined together to create the CARE/WWF Alliance. The impact of this innovative partnership is that we are now working toward sustainable economic development with a focus on natural resources. In simple terms- helping the world’s poorest people escape the grips of poverty while also protecting the environment. People depend on nature for survival, and nature cannot survive without the conscious efforts of mankind.
Efforts have already begun in the northern Mozambican coastal communities of Angoche, Moma, and Pebane. Conservation agriculture methods are being taught, land titles are being drawn up, work is being done with local fishing associations to regulate the use of proper fishing equipment, community groups are being instructed on how to maximize profits from their harvest, to name a few of the many ongoing projects. People are being empowered to improve their own lives, while also taking responsibility for the natural resources that they rely on. Development and conservation efforts coming together to improve our world.

Why Girls Empowerment is So Important

After an amazing week at a northern girls empowerment conference, it’s hard not to be motivated by the energy that comes from having a group of adolescent girls in such an encouraging environment. 28 girls from the northern provinces of Zambezia, Nampula, Niassa, and Cabo Delgado came together for a week of learning about health, future planning, self-esteem building, and meeting new friends from other parts of Mozambique. The REDES (Raparigas Em Desenvolvimento, Educação, E Saúde) conference gave volunteers with groups the opportunity to bring 2 female students and a female counterpart to come together and celebrate what it means to be a woman (and more specifically a young woman in Mozambique) and to talk about the unique challenges they face.
Things are slowly changing in the larger cities, but the reality in most parts of Mozambique is that women are still considered to be weak and inferior. It is far too common to see women beaten for disobeying their husbands, girls as young as 12 years old married off to older men, girls stopping their education after primary school, and being led into lives of transactional sex to be able to feed their families or get basic things that they want/need. During intitation rites, at home, and in the community they are constantly taught that their role in society is to please men in whatever capacity possible. This means that most are urged not to use family planning even if they do not feel ready to have children. Many are encouraged to stop going to school because they are told it is useless if they are going to spend the rest of their lives inside the house and in the fields. They are pushed into early marriages because they are taught that after about 20 or so they should depend on a man to house them and feed them. I’ve even heard men say that they have special vitamins that women cannot survive without, so men are doing us a favor by “keeping us healthy.”
I was talking to an educated man in a large city a few weeks ago and he started off the conversation by saying how he thought the idea of a girls conference was essential for the development of the country and how important it is to teach female youth to be independent. I was so happy to be participating in a conversation with such a positive male presence that I was completely caught off-guard when he then said that despite all that, men should be allowed to have at least a few wives because women have an “expiration date.” His theory was that after having children and struggling with years of housework and working in the fields, women stop trying to be beautiful and therefore men should be allowed to take a younger wife who is not yet spoiled by the hardships of Mozambican life. And when that new younger wife reaches her “expiration date,” he should be allowed to look for a new, even younger one. When I asked if men themselves have this so-called “expiration date” he replied that of course they don’t because men are always trying to impress women so they always look good. But what about the beer bellies? That just means they’re successful and able to enjoy a nice beer after a hard days work. The wrinkles and graying hair? Apparently he thinks women find that attractive. So he’s all for treating women as equals when they are young and beautiful, but trading them in as soon as the years of manual labor bestowed upon them start to show. To him these were two completely separate concepts. One is talking about women’s rights in theory, the other is actually practicing what we preach and treating women as equals instead of as the inferior gender. What about love, companionship, friendship, having someone that you want to spend your life with? Of course men want those things, he said. But they “can’t live without” a beautiful woman.
The way women are treated as objects by men in authority, ridiculed when they try to fend off unwanted advances, and taken advantage of by teachers in the local schools is disheartening, but seeing young girls step up and take action makes me think that there is hope for change. My REDES group consists of about 20 girls ages 13 to 18 from the primary and secondary schools. Last year we met sporadically and talked about HIV/AIDS, played soccer, and did some self-esteem building exercises, but attendance was poor and it was hard to get the group off the ground. But I found an amazing counterpart (21 year old Cristina who is a student and works with Red Cross, Save the Children, IRD, theater groups, is student body president, and a fantastic example for all the girls) who has gotten the group organized and motivated. This year the girls have done palestras (community lectures popular here for communicating important information to the masses) in several of the local schools about the importance of gender equality and speaking about against sexual abuse. They are currently working on a skit about the stigma and discrimination that people living with HIV/AIDS face. Watching these girls stand up in front of hundreds of the peers at school is incredible.
There are REDES groups across the country and many groups still continue independently after the Peace Corps volunteer finishes their 2 years in the community. These groups encourage adolescent girls to dream. Our world is slowly changing, and in Mozambique these girls can be the catalyst for lasting change. One by one they are standing up and showing that girls have the same abilities as boys, that they have the right to go to school and to make their own decisions, and they are showing why REDES and girls empowerment campaigns are so important.

You Don’t Want To Eat Your Friends?

Being a vegetarian is a hard thing to explain here. It’s just not an option that anyone has really thought of. When meat is expensive and good meat is only served on special occasions, why would you ever turn it down? When I first got to my homestay house in Namaacha almost 2 years ago, they served chicken at the first meal and I tried my best to politely decline, though I spoke no Portuguese then and they no English so I’m not entirely sure they understood my sequence of hand gestures. I had studied up on some very simple vocabulary and the only words I could remember pertained to food (those are the most important, right?) so I tried to list off some foods that I did eat to illustrate the whole “no meat” concept. Luckily I had an amazing family who took me to the market and picked up just about everything there to make sure they were buying things that I would be able to enjoy. Carrots? Yes. Cabbage? Yes. Dried fish? No. Dried fish??? No. No. Goat head? No. Yes? No. Kale? Yes. Bananas? Yes. After that my host sister, Quiara, made a list of all the things that I liked and made a menu of what to make for me each week (coconut beans 3 times a week, sautéed kale twice, pumpkin leaves and lentils and vegetable soup and garlic potatoes, and then they’d throw in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on special days because they knew that it reminded me of home).
But when I got to Mopeia it wasn’t quite as easy. I live alone so I didn’t have to explain myself so quickly. At the first workshop where lunch was served I tried to explain ahead of time that I would prefer something without meat. My plate arrived with a heaping mound of white rice and some lovely goat intestines (the best part was saved for me they explained). Thank you very much, but I think I’ll just eat these days old crackers that are crumbled at the bottom of my bag. Attempt number two: a couple of months later at another workshop in town, a plate full of xima (flour and water cooked into a dense consistency that looks a bit like mashed potatoes, but most definitely isn’t) and some fried fish. Yum. No thank you, I will just eat these 10 bananas I bought on the street for about 50 cents.
One of my coworkers pulled me aside, “I see that you don’t eat meat, but why?” Well now I would have to explain myself, but did I really have a good answer? And one that I can easily translate? I am a vegetarian because I’ve always loved animals and I realized in college that not eating them made me feel healthier and more in tune with nature. No judgment on others, it’s just something very personal for me. I am happier because I don’t eat meat just as many are happier when they are biting into a big piece of steak. To each his own. But how to explain this here? “Well I really love animals…” “But so do I,” he responded. “Well yes of course you do. I’m not saying you don’t. But for me, I just don’t want to eat them.” At this point I’m a bit nervous that he thinks I’m accusing him of being an animal-hater. “But why?” he asks again. “Well animals are my friends and I just don’t want to eat my friends…” That’s the best I could come up with? But it was followed by laughter, an announcement to the group, and I was never served goat or fish or chicken at workshops again. Now when I’m caught watching a lizard scurrying along the wall (hours of free entertainment, trust me) or if I stop to pet a kitten on the way to work, the usual response is “Oh look at your friend! Don’t worry, we won’t eat him.”

Work, Work, & a Little Vacation

Planning a training for 70 people is a little more stressful than I had realized. There’s the schedule (How long should we break for lunch? Can that guest speaker really talk for 2 hours? What if I’ve foolishly forgotten my watch and have no idea if anything is running on time or not?), the materials (markers and pens and paper, oh my), logistics (how do you set up a room obviously meant for weddings to encourage discussion? After arranging and rearranging for no less than 2 hours, I now consider myself an expert on this topic), and of course the content. After 3 months of researching behavior change theories, stigma and discrimination activities, and doodling health messages to include in a booklet (finally my true talents are being put to use), we were ready for volunteers and counterparts to arrive from all over the country for 5 days of community activist and medicinal plant fun. And despite how nervous I got standing in front of such a large group, I think the workshop was a great success! It was an amazing opportunity for people from all over Mozambique to come together and share their successes and frustrations and help each other come up with solutions. It was such an encouraging environment and one that I think, and hope, reenergized everyone to take new ideas back to site that will help the whole community.
It was a fantastic week of learning, and of course it was nice to be reunited with all my volunteer friends too. A week in a hotel with wireless internet, hot showers, Coke Light, National Geographic animal shows on tv every night, and the chance to Skype with my family was just the icing on the cake to help me celebrate many hours of work finally being realized. And when the week was over, I thought I was going to have a couple of nights in Maputo to get a check up, and some free time to go to the craft market and get pizza and ice cream. Well a couple of nights turned into 10 nights as I had to get allergy tests and the results took a while since my blood sample had to be sent to a lab in South Africa. But how can I complain? I went to the craft market no less than 6 times (it was on the way to the ice cream shop), went out for pizza 3 times, had a Greek salad, had a chocolate brownie sundae, stayed up way too late watching YouTube videos with other volunteers who were in Maputo for a REDES meeting, and 10 more days of being able to Skype with my family. The whole going to the doctor part, getting blood drawn, and finding out I’m allergic to practically everything (except cats! And very low allergies to dogs, the silver lining to all of this) kept me grounded or I would have really thought I was on vacation. But it was a nice break after an exhausting week. And at the end I actually wanted to come home to my simple house and get in my own bed and use my own kitchen and get back into my usual routine. At least for a little while- less than 5 months left until I’m officially done with this part of my Peace Corps journey!

Age is just a number

As my next birthday quickly approaches, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to grow older and how different my perception of age is at home compared to what is the norm here. I will soon be turning the big 2-5. I know for some, you’re thinking that I’m still just a small sapling with a lot of life before me. But for me this birthday marks a transition into a strange unknown. 25. Does this mean I’m an adult now? Should I have more accomplishments to show for my quarter century spent on this earth? Should I have a better grasp on what I want to be when I “grow up”? And as I had dreamt up when I was just 12 years old, shouldn’t I have already published a book, be working for World Wildlife Fund (single handedly saving orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees from the evils of poaching and deforestation), and be an expert in all things “adult” (like filing my own taxes)?
Every time I think of turning a year older I’m filled with an inexplicable sense of dread. Well to be honest, I first think of the amazing birthday festivities planned- camping on the beach with amazing friends for a weekend of charades, sun, swimming, and t-shirts featuring cats with sunglasses and the slogan “Gatos do Mato.” But this is quickly followed by a general sense of unease. Why? Because I am living in rural Mozambique where the fact that I’m in my mid-twenties and am unmarried without children is as big a part of my identity as the fact that I’m foreign and can be spotted from a mile away. To be 25 and not have a baby is so unimaginable for some, that they think it’s impossible. Weekly I overhear my name in some sequence involving my age, a confirmation that yes I do live alone, and general worry that there may be something medically wrong with me. Now all of this talk isn’t to say that I agree in any way with the consensus in my neighborhood. I don’t feel like an “old maid” and I’m not worried about finding a husband (quite far from it actually). But the constant discussion and insistence that I’m past my prime have started to make me question (though in a much different sense than my acquaintances here), what age really means.
In the more than a year that I’ve been working in Mopeia going on home visits I’m constantly reminded that the average life expectancy is about half of what it is back in the states. So when I take into account the reality of life here, some perceptions about age start to make more sense. If my parents passed away when I was 14 and I was left to raise my younger siblings, I think I would have matured much more quickly than I had to in my own life when my biggest worry at 14 was who was going to drive me to soccer practice or why I was the only one of my friends that didn’t have braces (a blessing now that I avoided the pain and awkwardness associated with having a mouth full of metal, but I just wanted those colored bands!). So if I deduced by seeing my family members and friends pass away at a young age, that I myself might only make it to mid-life, would I want to speed things up so that I could accomplish everything in my given time? If I thought I could only expect to live into my 30’s or 40’s would I want to marry young and have children right away to ensure that I got to experience these things? I want these same things, but I don’t feel the urgency that many feel here. I can’t understand the desire to get married at 16 or 17 like many of my neighbors, but I also don’t know what it’s like to lose brothers, sisters, friends, and classmates at such a young age. But that’s not to say that I agree with teenagers leaving school because of early pregnancies or because they got married and now have to much housework. But at least I can begin to understand the motives, which hopefully will help me to think of some better behavior change strategies to aid my efforts.
So I guess during my 25th year I’ll just continue to do what I did during my 24th- to show that life can be lived one day at a time. I am living proof that a woman can live alone, without a husband or children, work, study, and be ok. And even though I’m seen as an oddity now, maybe I’m planting the seed for a future generation here. I have a close friend that has started helping me with my journalism and girls’ groups at the secondary school. She just turned 21 a few weeks ago and she has no plans to get married any time soon. She has no children. She is a rarity, but she is a gem who has taken up cause as of late to speak out about gender inequality and the importance of keeping girls in school. And fighting the social norm just by being herself! (And she’s planning on going to the police academy later this year!) Change happens one person at a time. And birthdays only come once a year so I will be spending my “Dia de Mentira” (yes there is a Mozambican form of April Fool’s Day) hopefully in the company of good friends, good food, and maybe even some famous charcoal-baked cake.

back to “real” life

I´m back in Moz after spending Christmas at home with my family! I was only in the States for 2 weeks, but it was so nice to see my family and friends and to remember the little comforts of my old life (like relaxing on the couch while watching Top Chef and ordering pizza, definitely not something that I get to do over here). I was worried before I went home that I would feel like so much had changed and that I wouldn´t be able to relate, but it was much easier to transition back than I expected. I have a different perspective and my priorities have changed, but for the most part I´m the same old me! It was reassuring to see that my brother, sister, and I still have our inside jokes, that my dad still wants to take me to my favorite vegetarian restaurant, that my mom is still worried about me being happy so she goes out of her way to make delicious lemon bars when she´s already cooking Christmas dinner for 20 people. I think my trip home was definitely what I needed to spend time with my favorite people and get ready for my next year abroad!
When I got back to Moz, I realized how much I missed it when I was away. When I´m here it´s easy to complain about the heat, the spiders that inhabit every shoe and dark corner, the slow pace of life that can sometimes make weekends unbearable, living alone and getting into a routine of being in bed by 8pm. But I have such incredible friends here, the kids in my neighborhood are so adorable, and I feel like slowly I´m doing something (even if it´s not on as big of a scale as I would hope). So I´m back to bucket baths and eating beans. To sitting on chapas for hours on end just to get to the next volunteer. To heat rashes and sunburns. And I wouldn´t have it any other way.

It´s Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Christmas?

It’s Beginning to Feel a lot like Christmas?

From 110 degrees of suffocating heat to booming thunder and a torrential downpour in the span of 5 minutes? Just summer here in Moz! I can’t sleep at night without the fan whizzing right next to me, but when I open my front door in the morning I’m met with what looks like a giant lake where my yard used to be, submerged under at least a foot of water that had been beating down on my tin roof all night. But it makes for the most amazing lightning storms! (And all this rain is just what the mangoes needed to finally ripen!) So it’s back to sunburns and watching my neighborhood kids strip down and shower in the rain (and make an impromptu slip-n-slide by running and diving face first into a long puddle). Although this weather definitely makes me miss the mild climate of Southern California, the universe makes up for it by delivering the sweetest pineapples and days with friends at Zalala Beach.
Besides having to explain why my skin is continuously changing colors (from a nice bronzed glow to a really quite attractive bright red which my coworkers think makes me look like I’ve been roasted over the fire a little too long…), the downside to December here is that it doesn’t feel like Christmas in the least! I miss the houses lit up with decorations and sitting next to the fire sipping on some hot chocolate. Last year on Christmas I had just moved into my new house here in Mopeia with nothing but a bed, 1 plastic table, 4 plastic lawn chairs, an electric stove and 2 pans, so I spent Christmas morning 1) locking myself out of my house and trying to look for a carpenter to come break my door so that I could get back in and 2) being pitied by my neighbor who cooked me some delicious beans and let me have a Coke in his yard so I would stop pouting about spending my first Christmas away from my family. So that fateful day a year ago my wonderful, generous, kind, and loving mother agreed to let me come home for the holidays this year! And so after being away for 14 months, I will finally get to see my siblings, my parents, my family, and my friends for 2 weeks back in the States! And trading in this heat for some cooler temperatures will really be a Christmas miracle!
So as 2010 comes to an end, I’m reminded of what an amazing journey I’ve had so far in my Peace Corps service! Working with incredible local volunteers every day, going on an unbelievable safari vacation with my mom, making so many memories with my amazing friends here, putting on my first workshop and hearing that clips of it (and of me!) made it on the local news, floating in a dugout canoe next to giant crocodiles, making a plain cement house into my home, meeting the next group of volunteers starting their time here in Moz, and all the little day-to-day things that make me so grateful for everything I have here! Happy Holidays to everyone and have a Wonderful New Year!

August

I was planning on writing this blog update about general updates and what’s been happening these past couple of months (including the construction of my new bathroom- outside), but when I was in the car coming into the city on Thursday afternoon something happened that really changed my perspective. There was a man riding his bike on the side of the road leading into Quelimane (the capital of the province I live in, Zambezia). The cars were getting really close to him but this isn’t uncommon so I didn’t think twice about it. He must have hit a bump in the road and swerved suddenly into traffic. I saw him get run over by the car in front of us and die. To be honest I’m making the assumption that he died because of what I saw, but the consensus among my colleagues is that there was no way he could have survived such a terrible accident. So inadvertently watching this man’s life end has really shaken me and made me think about how quickly things can change.
In Mopeia, I’ve seen a lot of people who are in poor health and I’ve met with people to hear only a few days later that they’ve passed away. It’s always sad to hear about someone dying and to think about the family they’re leaving behind, but actually seeing someone die is something so inexplicably frightening and distressing. I’ve taken many moments this weekend to reflect on how quickly life can be taken from any of us, and how important it is to appreciate all that we have now.
So between that event, seeing a young man attempt to commit suicide by drinking battery acid (but he lived!), and visiting a very young mother only to hear of her death 3 days later, August has been a very intense month. But not all of it was bad. I went on a beautiful bike ride to the Zambezi River and had a colleague from work stay with me for 3 weeks (which meant lots of conversations in English and we even made a chocolate cake in my Dutch oven). The activistas (community volunteers that I do home visits with) had a big party to celebrate the Home Based Care program completing two years in Mopeia. They spent all day cooking 5 chickens, 2 goats, a lot of rice, and some greens especially for me. It was unlike any party that I’m used to at home because there was a lot of eating and very little talking, but the food was delicious and it was really nice to see the activistas get recognition for all of the hard work that they do!
Although August wasn’t my favorite month, it made me think about how lucky I am and how much I have to be thankful for. And in only one month we’ll be getting a new group of volunteers heading to Moçambique to start their own Peace Corps journeys! We’re all so excited to meet you! So good luck to Moz 15 as you back your bags and begin this new chapter, you’re going to love it!

Winter in the Moz

Photos from June