I
have one word to describe the last week and a half: stressful.
Last
Thursday, I heard of some renewed political unrest between the two
rival political groups in Mozambique, FRELIMO (the currently
governing party) and RENAMO (the opposition). RENAMO was attempting
to cut ties between the northern part of the country and the
southern part of the country by blockading the one and only road that
connects them. They blocked off a huge section of the EN1 spanning
from the Save river at the base of Sofala province to the city on
the EN6 (the same road that I live on, but about 100 kilometers east
of me) called Inchope. Not only is this a huge inconvenience, it is
very alarming to all of the Mozambican citizens that lived through
the civil war that took more than a million Mozambican lives and
ended a short 20 years ago. Here's some more information on what's currently going on in Mozambique.
In
the middle of hearing of all this confusion, I was a little
preoccupied because the next morning I had plans to head up towards
Malawi, where I would be visiting my friend, Paige, and enjoying my
long weekend away from school. I texted the security officer of
Peace Corps here in Mozambique and made sure I was still good to
travel, and was granted permission to travel. Friday morning, I woke
up early, walked to the EN6 and hitchhiked my way up to Tete City in
the province of Tete which is directly north of Manica. Upon
arriving in Tete, I met up with two other volunteers that live there,
walked around, ate a delicious burger, and enjoyed a hot shower and
American music videos in our hostel. The next morning, I got up and
endured a 12ish hour day of traveling, starting in Tete and ending in
Lilongwe with many stops and bus transfers and a border crossing in
between. One problem I had that was after arriving in Malawi, it
was very hard (and expensive) to get in touch with anyone, so Paige
and I had a heck of a time working out plans and where we would meet.
We eventually agreed that when I arrived, I would call her and she
would come meet me and take me to the hotel. The only problem was
that I had absolutely no phone credit to call her and let her know
that I had arrived. Luckily I received a text saying which hotel we
would be staying in that night, so after arriving at the bus stop in
Lilongwe (far after I had anticipated arriving...oh traveling in
Africa), I grabbed a taxi to take me to the hotel.
With
the help of a security guard of the hotel, I found my way up to the
reception desk to ask which room Paige was staying in, and ended up
running right into Paige! After sharing a hug that was about 9
months overdue, we put my stuff down in the second nicest hotel room
I've seen in Africa, and spent the evening catching up, eating
dinner, and I took a glorious and long hot shower. The next morning
was Paige's birthday and a Sunday, so we ventured out to find the
Catholic church closest to our hotel where we were told mass in
English would start at 6 am. When we arrived, we found out church
actually started at 8 am. We killed some time and then I enjoyed my
first mass in English in 9 months. It was wonderful and refreshing
and I was so happy! The rest of the day consisted of shopping around,
drinking milkshakes, eating pizza, and making our way back to the
health complex (seemed like mini-America to me) that Paige was
staying at about 40 kilometers west of Lilongwe. That's where we
stayed the next two days, playing with children, reading, and just
enjoying each others' company. It would have been all good and fun,
except for the fact that all the while my mind was somewhat on what
was happening back in Mozambique. Being in Malawi was wonderful, but
I couldn't help feeling out of touch and far away. I knew that I was
safer in Malawi with the violence going on in Moz, but that didn't
stop me from feeling like I should have been back home in Messica, or
at least back in Moz. My plan was to leave Malawi on June 25th,
which happens to be Mozambique's independence day, but given all of
the violence and uncertainty that was happening in Mozambique, I
decided with the security officer that it would be better to stay in
Malawi the extra day just in case RENAMO would try to use
independence day to make some sort of statement.
On
the 26th, I left Malawi (happy that I went and happy to be
getting back to Moz) and headed back to Tete City. I went back a
different way than I came, cutting 3 hours off of the travel time.
After crossing the border back into Mozambique, I once again had
communication, which was amazing. Soon after, however, I got a text
from one of my friends from Tete (who had been consolidated from her
site to the city) saying that there was a rumor of violence on the
roads in Tete. So though I was happy to be back in Mozambique, there
is only one main road in Tete and I happened to be on it. I promptly
started praying that I would get to Tete safely. After about 5 hours
that seemed like 15 and many police stops, I arrived in the city and
made my way to the hostel.
We
tried to watch the news and find out any information on the most
recent attacks, but one of the things about Mozambique that is most
frustrating is the lack of communication within this country. There
are so many rumors that get passed around by word of mouth, but you
have no idea what is true and what isn't. One of the rumors that we
were hearing was that there was some violence that day in Changara, a
city that I would need to pass through to get back to Messica. So
the fear started once again. The security officer did some research,
and though he found nothing, I didn't have a bus ticket, so if I were
to have left the following day, I would have had to make a transfer
in Changara. I decided that was not a risk I was willing to take,
and I bought a bus ticket the next morning for the following day
(Friday morning). So Thursday I spent the day in Tete. Thursday
evening there were more rumors about shootings in Tete that day in
Changara, but I was too tired of hearing rumors that could never be
confirmed or denied and too anxious to get back in Messica to stay in
Tete any longer. I decided that I was going, and I prayed that I
would get home safely.
Friday
morning at about 3:30 am I made my way to the bus station and boarded
my bus to Chimoio. After an uneventful bus ride, I arrived at the
intersection for Messica at about 9 am. I got off the bus and
immediately found a chapa to Messica. I was in Messica by about
9:30, and in my house at about 10. Thank you, Jesus!
Oh
yeah, and with all of that traveling nonsense going on, I also got
word that we officially were still on for my JUNTOS workshop in
Messica starting Friday night and going through until Monday morning.
So after arriving in Messica on Friday morning, I started rushing
around getting all of the last minute things done for the workshop.
I spent a lot of time at the school getting supplies organized,
getting the rooms situated, and trying to ensure things would go off
without a hitch.
Around
4:30 in the afternoon, groups started arriving from Manica, Chimoio,
Gondola, and Catandica. There were 30 students in total including
our 6 from Messica. The workshop started around 5 or 5:30. Everyone
was there on time besides the Messica kids (go figure) and many of
the counterparts. The Messica students eventually showed up, but the
counterparts were pretty flaky (there were 2 good ones, including
mine) and remained flaky for most of the weekend. One of the things
that was most stressful was that the counterparts were upset about
the conditions at the school (the students were sleeping on the floor
on bamboo mats) and they were yelling and saying they were
unacceptable, even though they had been informed about the sleeping
situation before they came and they were instructed to bring blankets
with them. I don't really understand. But luckily one of the mae's
from church that I hired to cook for the weekend came to the rescue
and offered to take the few girls that came from out of town for the
conference to sleep at her house. The Messica students went to their
houses to sleep, and then the boys from out of town slept on the
floor of the only super secure and warmest room that we have at the
school. The counterparts still had things to complain about, but we
did all we could to accommodate our guests. The maes did a wonderful
job cooking for the weekend and they made everything run smoothly.
Besides not having Mozambicans to run most of the sessions, the
workshop went well and I think most of the students enjoyed
themselves. We ended up shortening the workshop a little bit and
ended on Sunday afternoon. After splitting up all of the leftovers
among the mae's and paying them (they were so happy they cried), I
headed home and went to bed at 7 o'clock.
Overall,
I feel like everything that I organized actually went extremely well,
but of course there were also complaints. Today I'm using to rest a
little bit, and get caught up with my work for school. This week is
a review week, then we have provincial exams next week (oh joy), and
then I have a conference in Maputo the weekend after for JUNTOS
because I will be the new Co-Coordinator of JUNTOS for the central
region of Mozambique.
After
that, things are still a little confusing because we still don't know
exactly going on with the political unrest. I am praying for things
to calm down, but honestly no one knows what's going to happen at
this point. Can't even believe I've been here for over 9 months.
Prayers
are welcomed and appreciated!
Anna! For one I miss you! Thanks for another blog with an update. I will be thinking of you and hope you stay safe. I love your work with Juntos and it sounds like overall it is going very well. Can't wait to hear more. I love ya!
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