Initiation/Rite of Passage Ceremony

Last night I went to a rite of passage/initiation ceremony for one of my neighbor girls. Some of the women of the community started preparing on Wednesday and officially started the ceremony on Friday. The ceremony goes all night Friday and into Saturday with no sleep. The initiation for a woman happens after her first menstruation. 

The initiation rites and other traditional ceremonies in Mozambique are kept secret. Only women who are considered adults (those that have been through their own ceremonies) can attend. Men and young women who have not yet participated in the ceremonies are not allowed. I went to the ceremony with my friend, Sister Rita, and when we arrived they gave us chairs to sit in the front so we could see everything. I asked Sister Rita earlier if she had her own ceremony when she was young but she said no. In some parts of Mozambique they do not have these ceremonies--it depends on each village/part of Mozambique and the traditions there. I think in the northern part of Mozambique it is more common to have these ceremonies. 

The whole time I was there all the women spoke Makua (the local language) so it was difficult to understand. At one point during the ceremony, one of my friends, Mama Claudia, got up and started speaking in Makua about Sister Rita and I. She told everyone that they should start speaking Portuguese so that we would understand more--it was very nice of her but I didn't want them to have to change their ways for me. It wasn't my ceremony and I just wanted to watch. They still kept speaking Makua but my students and other women started explaining in Portuguese so I understood most of it.

Since I was only there for about two hours and the whole ceremony lasted over 24 hours I didn't see everything that was involved.  During the ceremony the women enjoyed dancing, singing, and story telling. The point of the ceremony is for the girl to learn how to be an adult woman in the community. After the ceremony she is considered a woman in the eyes of the community and men—with that comes the eligibility for marriage/dating.

Seeing the ceremony last night showed me again just how different our cultures really are. In America when a girl first gets her period it is a little embarrassing and you don't want anyone to know about it. In Mozambique the whole community knows and has a party/ceremony to show you the ways of being an adult woman. It amazed me that a ceremony for one girl would have so many women in the community and female students at the school coming to celebrate. 

While I was there the phrase “it takes a village” popped into my head more than once. I see it come true every day in the market, with my students, the community, my neighbors and when I’m traveling. And I saw another example of that last night. The ceremony was for one girl yet many women came to celebrate, share their wisdom and made it an amazing experience for her.

I love Mozambique and the traditions, people and friends I have come to know here. I feel like throughout my experiences here in Mozambique I have grown into an adult woman myself (I know, cheesy). I know I already was an adult when I left but I can see myself changed in so many ways since arriving in Namaacha. I am excited for COS and to come back to America to see family and friends but I will keep a part of Mozambique and my memories with me always.

Matacenha

I never thought I would be more grossed out than I was when I found a leech on my foot while showering. This happened a little over ten years ago and I still remember it clearly. However, a few weeks ago I had found something even worse than a leech on my toe...

During my trip in Malawi I noticed a small bump on the bottom of my big toe. I joked with my friends that it was probably a parasite (they didn't find that funny). I thought maybe it was a small wart or bug bite and didn't think anything of it the rest of the trip. A week after I got back it had gotten bigger and now had a small brown dot in the middle of the bump. I figured it was probably time to call PCMO and figure out what I should do.

When I emailed them the pictures I figured it was probably some infection or a wart. I was not expecting to hear that they thought it was a worm that had gotten in my toe somehow and had burrowed in there. That night I felt truly disgusted and grossed out. My toe itched and I was nervous to put my foot on my bed thinking the worm might magically come out.

The next morning I went to the local health center to have a nurse look at it (our health center doesn't have any doctors) and talk to my PCMO doctor. Sure enough they were correct...I had Matacenha, a worm, in there and it had laid eggs. They had to dig it out of my toe and get all the eggs out. While the nurse was getting my worm out one of my colleagues at the school came in and decided to sit and watch the whole thing. It was pretty embarrassing. I left the hospital with a hole in my toe where the worm had burrowed itself and some anti-parasitic medicine to take for the next few days. When I got home I made sure to put on socks and shoes instead of the sandals and flip flops I had been wearing.

The next day my toe was sore but what was worse was that everyone knew about it. The priest and nuns at my school, the teachers at the primary school, and some of my students and colleagues. They got a good laugh out of the worm in my foot and they still are laughing now when I wear socks and shoes everyday even weeks later. I do not want to relive that experience so I think I'll just continue to wear shoes instead of sandals for the next 3 months. I think I'll remember this more than the leech.

At least now I'm worm free...or so I hope.

Malawi Adventures

During my two-week break in July I traveled to Malawi to meet up with two of my best friends from high school, Emily "Schu" & Melissa. I hadn't seen them since Christmas so I was beyond excited to get to spend 10 whole days with them. We arrived Thursday, July 17th and I met them at Doogles Backpackers...I was supposed to meet them at the airport when they landed (and I even made a sign!) but I was late getting into Blantyre. We all hugged for quite awhile and talked about our travels getting to Malawi. They didn't get much time to relax and adjust to the time zone in Malawi because Friday morning we left Blantyre to go to Cape Maclear/Lake Malawi. We decided to sleep in and not leave at dawn but in doing so we had a lot of problems. We found a mini bus right away and left the city but almost immediately after leaving the city the driver pulled over and started taking apart the dashboard. It was definitely not a good sign...later that day (on the same mini bus) we broke down two more times. After a terrible first travel experience for Schu and Melissa we made it to Cape Maclear around 8pm. We were so exhausted but hadn't really eaten all day so we ate dinner and went to bed. 

Saturday morning was a much better day! We relaxed on the beach all day--had french toast for breakfast, hamburgers and ice cream--it was definitely worth the terrible travel experience the day before. On Sunday we took a boat trip to Thumbi Island. We went snorkeling (schu's new favorite thing to do) and our boat captain, Ian, made us lunch on the island. We all tried fish from the lake and it was surprisingly good! The fish were so bright for being fresh water fish and we spent all morning snorkeling, sun bathing and relaxing on the island. We ate more yummy food for dinner (cheese & bacon sandwich!)--you can tell I don't eat yummy things in Nacuxa since I'm writing about all our meals :) 

Our boat captain, Ian, is also the director of a nursery school in Cape Maclear so on Monday we went to visit the nursery school. There we met Haistings who teaches jewelry making to older students and helps run the nursery school. We had a fun morning playing with the kids and bought some beautiful jewelry from Haistings whose profits went to help the school. That afternoon we decided to venture out on kayaks...we went to another island and saw wild monkeys (we didn't stay too long there because we weren't sure if the monkeys would be angry and come get us, haha). On the way back the current was pretty strong so it felt like our kayaks only went left-it took me a lot more time to get back to shore. By the time I made it back I was ready to be done! This was our last night in Cape Maclear so we had spaghetti for dinner and pineapple fruit fritters for dessert. 

The next morning we left Cape Maclear at 6am on the minibus to head to Liwonde Safari park. This day of traveling was a bit better but it still took a lot longer than anticipated. We arrived at noon and Elvis, a driver from the camp, came into town to pick us up and take us back to our backpackers. Schu wasn't feeling too good after our drive so she relaxed in our tent and Melissa and I explored on the observation deck and took some very close pictures of elephants. The camp where we stayed was inside the National Park so the animals could come in and around our tents. At night, walking to the bathrooms you had to be sure there weren't elephants or other wild animals in your path. 

On Wednesday we got up early and went on a 4-hour game drive through the National Park. We saw so many animals--water buffalo, water bucks, antelopes, impalas, elephants, warthogs, monkeys and a lot of birds. We got very close to the elephants and water buffalo so we got some good pictures but it was a little intimidating being so close without any barriers between us and them. The rest of Wednesday and Thursday we just relaxed in our tent and the observation deck since both Melissa and Schu were feeling pretty sick. Thankfully they were feeling a bit better on Friday so we traveled back to Blantyre. 

When we got to Blantyre I went to the Chichiri Shopping Mall...it was amazing!! It had shoprite, game (a walmart type store), a bookstore and even a food court! It seriously looked like America (although if you ask Schu and Melissa they probably would not agree, haha). I got some ice cream and bought some water and snacks at shoprite and headed back to doogles to get dinner with Schu and Melissa. Saturday was my birthday so we decided to get breakfast at the mall...we got doughnuts and juice and walked around the different stores and shopped a bit. We got pizza and nachos for lunch and some ice cream for dessert. Schu and Melissa even bought candles and put them in my ice cream for my birthday. We even went and visited two Catholic churches in Blantyre (thanks to our nice waiter at lunch who showed us how to get there). It was such a wonderful 24th birthday! After our adventure at the mall we took our LAST minibus ride back to our backpackers and bought some souvenirs. We packed and ate dinner and enjoyed our last night together in Malawi chatting and snuggling :) Overall we had a wonderful trip to Malawi and it was such an amazing time getting to spend 10 days together! 

Today was the start of classes but half of my students still haven't returned to Nacuxa. I have a little over 100 days left in Mozambique and so much to do in that time. This month my English theater group has to really get working because the competition is at the end of September. The library is also going to be moved into the bigger classroom at the end of August and we're having another training and hoping to start up the activities and tutoring the last week in August. Time is flying! So happy I got to have a trip to Malawi with Schu and Melissa before all this craziness started :) 

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Lake Malawi and Thumbi Island

Our breakfast at a neighboring backpackers...waffles and strawberry sorbet :)

Schu, Melissa and I at Thumbi Island--getting ready to snorkel

Relaxing on the beach :) 

Lake Malawi and a view of Thumbi Island at sunset

Snorkeling! 

Our boat 

Schu loved snorkeling! I'm pretty sure it's her new favorite thing :)

Melissa and I on the boat trip 

Schu and I on the boat trip 

Melissa rockin' her new giraffe capulana

Enjoying our time at Thumbi Island

The view was just so beautiful at sunset (and anytime) that I went a little overboard on pictures :) 

Schu and Melissa watching the sunset 

The welcome board at Liwonde Safari Camp...do you see the second to last line where is says the pretty pink flowers are poisonous? 

Here are the poisonous flowers...they look so pretty I'm glad they told us they were poisonous!  

The observation deck where you can relax and watch the elephants, warthogs and all sorts of animals

Our tent we stayed in at the safari camp :) We saw wild monkeys in the trees above and in front of our tent. It was sure scary leaving the tent at night to go to the bathroom knowing wild animals were all around you.

A Baobab tree at the safari camp 

The elephants we saw the first day at the safari camp

We might have gotten a little too close...

It was so amazing seeing them eating and just walking around the camp

A view on our game drive through the National Park

Impalas on the game drive

This Baobab tree is over 4,000 years old! 

We were able to stop and take pictures since no animals were around :) 

The three of us enjoying our African safari. It was really chilly that morning--with our jeans and sweatshirts it doesn't really look like we're in Africa :) 

More elephants in the National Park

Some baby elephants eating...it was just so interesting to see elephants in their natural habit and not in a zoo. But a little intimidating being so close to them. 

I loved this picture of the adult and baby elephant eating

Our safari truck and the elephant passing us in front

Warthogs on the game drive

Schu and Melissa checking out the water buffalo 

Taking a break on the game drive to take pictures 

Melissa and I 

A water buffalo

Schu and I 

The three of us in our Safari truck :)

One of the Catholic churches we visited in Blantyre

Enjoying our ice cream at the mall food court! 

Birthday ice cream! 

Melissa wished she ordered vanilla...haha

Schu and I on our last night in Malawi

Melissa and I 

The three of us after our last dinner in Blantyre :) 

I couldn't help myself...this view of Thumbi Island is just gorgeous. 

So grateful for the amazing trip to Malawi with Schu and Melissa! It sure was an adventure :)