Homestay Week 10: From Trainees to Volunteers

I tried to walk a fine line on Sunday morning and I tripped over it miserably. Being sick for the last couple days, I have been spending a lot of time in the house. I wanted to keep my regular Sunday routine – not going to church, getting to the internet café in the morning, and doing housework in the afternoon. I needed to sleep just late enough that I could avoid church, but not too late to lead minha mae to think that I was feeling miserable. When she asked how I slept, I said, “I slept well,” which was true. She was having none of it: “No, you didn’t. You need to rest this morning.” Fine. So I was housebound for the morning. Luckily, there was some work to do. One of my shirts that was “washed” by the empregada came out dirtier than when it went it, so I took some time to wash it, and I ironed the rest of the clothes that were sufficiently clean.

This weekend, a couple of minha mae’s grandchildren came to visit and they are sticking around for the week. She’s very excited to have them over, but it’s probably not the best week because all of us are fighting some sort of sickness. The last thing they need is to have it passed on to them. She took them to church with her and upon their return, we ate our usual Sunday brunch. As we ate, we listened to the CD that I had made for minha mae. There is something funny about watching a sixty-five year-old Mozambican grandmother listen to Pearl Jam.

I was committed to getting out of the house in afternoon, so I went to the internet café just after lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the barraca playing cards and drinking non-alcoholic fluids, hoping to get this sickness behind me.

The rest of the night was pretty standard for a Sunday. I talked to my parents for a good while. I feel like more than any week so far, I let go of my complaints to them this weekend: sickness issues, homestay issues, whatever. It was good to get it out of my system. Now if I can just do something about this sickness, it would be great.

It’s been a frustrating couple days being sick. For one, the symptoms keep moving around. One day it’s my chest, the next it’s a runny nose. And on top of that, minha mae is on top of me trying to get me to take different medications, calling the doctor, calling Peace Corps people. I can handle being sick by myself, but that’s clearly not an option right now.

I had an awkward night of sleep heading into Monday. Maybe it was the meds (plus my malaria med on top of whatever I’m taking), maybe it was the sickness, I don’t know. The sleep I got was great, but I was up every two hours like clockwork. I woke up feeling okay. My nose was still running like an Olympic sprinter, but other than that, I was fine. I picked a good day to feel decent because we have our last language test of training. It should be nothing short of a disaster. Between not having language classes, minha mae being sick, me being sick, and minha mae speaking more and more Shangana around me, it has not been a good recipe for practicing Portuguese. I should care more, but it’s hard for me to care right now. We’re swearing in on Wednesday, and it’s not like they’re going to send us home if we don’t do well enough. Plus, we have all been told by Volunteers that we will learn our most Portuguese once we get to site because we will have no one with whom we can speak English.

Our language tests were running behind schedule, so as we tend to do here, we waited. Thankfully, someone brought a deck of cards, so we were able to kill time playing Hearts. It’s funny how attitudes change in just a month: for our tests five weeks ago, we were trying to cram in as much Portuguese as possible. This time, I think people were pretty comfortable just going in with what they knew. We were supposed to have twenty minute interviews, but mine lasted thirty minutes. Like a gift from the heavens, I was able to speak at a decent level. After the interview, the person testing me told me I was at an Advanced-Low level, up a level from last time. Considering the circumstances, I can’t believe it went up at all.

The downside of all the interviews running late and long was I had little time for lunch. I was finished with my interview at 12:45 and we had a session on corruption at 2:00. With thirty-minute walks each way, I would have to run…or catch a ride in the back of a pick-up truck like a Mozambican would. It’s not the first time I’ve done this, but it certainly was the most convenient. Instead of walking thirty minutes, I was home in ten. Minha mae cooked up an amazing lunch: breaded fried chicken and veggies. Between me leaving next week and more grandchildren having filed in today, she may be trying to put on a good show.

The afternoon session on corruption was slow, but somewhat productive. There are major corruption issues in the education system here and in all likelihood, we will be participating in the corruption. We’ve been told by a couple Volunteers that the best thing we can do is come up with a system that will allow us to sleep well at night. Some people use participation or attendance for grades, some people use extra credit, some people just fall into line with the rest of the school. In the end, though, we’re not here to correct the system; we are here to work within it. Following the session, we received the results of our interviews from last week. The person giving me back the results said that I “was going to make an excellent Volunteer” – didn’t need to hear much more than that. The rest of the afternoon was just hanging around at the barraca, drinking Cokes, and blowing my nose.

Just before going to bed, I got a call from my best friend – good to catch up for sure. I managed to stay up past 10:00 for probably the first time since being here.

We were given all of Tuesday off, which has its upsides and downsides. On the positive side, I was able to sleep in again today, which has helped me feel a little better the last couple days. On the negative side, the long days here feel even longer because we have nothing to do. I escaped the house in the morning to go get some movies from another Trainee. I think just about everybody is stocking up on music and other entertainment for the next couple of months.

The afternoon was just as slow as the morning. After lunch, I had no plans, so I napped for a little and then went to the internet café, just to kill time. I picked a good day to go: in my inbox I had eight emails from my students from last year. They brought a big smile to my face. I returned home and spent the remainder of the afternoon writing responses.

Wednesday was the day that in the eyes of Peace Corps everything changed, but for me (and maybe for others), it doesn’t feel like a lot has changed. Today, we went from Trainees to Volunteers. We’re finished with training and ready to start contributing. And we have something to proud of: all 57 of us that started this adventure are still here. While officially becoming Volunteers is certainly a big deal, it doesn’t feel like we got a promotion or a raise or a new job title. We’re just continuing with what we have been doing all along.

The ceremony was fairly brief. We raised our right hands and pledged to the Peace Corps ideals. We were introduced individually by province, twice. A pair of speeches were given by newly-minted Volunteers, one from Health and one from Education. Both speeches were beautifully written and delivered. Following this, we received speeches from the Education and Health ministries and from the Charge d’Affairs (the acting Ambassador). Following the ceremony, there was a small cocktail party, which gave us the opportunity to talk amongst other Volunteers, especially those who will be near us.

After the events at the Ambassador’s house, we made our way to the Peace Corps office for lunch – pizza! – and some sessions on finances and safety. We also received mail, and although I was expecting mail, I received nothing. This somewhat threw me in a tailspin for the rest of the day. It was not a fun ride home. I didn’t really want to talk to anyone; I just wanted to lose myself in music. The only upside to the ride was we drove right into a beautiful blood-orange sunset.

I woke up Thursday feeling better. I was almost completely healthy, which was nice. I slept well which also helped. We gathered for Hub Day to receive four sessions: one on corruption in business, one on Peace Corps policy, one on logistics of departure, and one on safe sex practices. The sessions went straight through to 1:00 PM and by then most of us were ready to eat.

Before lunch was put on the table, I started packing my bags. For the people driving, bags are being picked up tomorrow – nothing like short notice – so we need to get going. This also put a huge damper on my plan to go to Maputo to buy things for the house at site. So we did what we could: my roommate and I went to the market and bought some household necessities – cups, plates, and a kettle among other things. We didn’t know how much of this will be available at site but we figured that we should play it safe.

A quick stop at the barraca for a drink preceded my return home. The night was calm. The grandchildren were tired; I think they ran around in the oppressive heat a bit much today. I finished sorting out my room and putting away my newly-purchased items and called it a night.

A cool night gave way to a fairly cool morning. It stayed grey for the better part of the morning, which was good since we were to be outside through the morning and into the afternoon. Today, we had our “end of homestay” party. All of the maes and pais organized a final festa with delicious food, some dancing and music, and good company. All of the parents received certificates of appreciation because without them, a lot of these last ten weeks would not have been possible. As a final gift, we all received shirts or skirts. People living in the same general area received similar cloth. Mine is somewhat orange, which really isn’t my color, but I think I can get used to it.

While we were dry for the morning, the sky became greyer in the afternoon and rain was imminent. We tried to dodge it, but by the time we left, it had already started to rain. We walked for a good 20 or 25 minutes to the barraca to continue the celebration. Of course, I was falta dinheiro, so I could buy cervejas. It was probably for the better: I had a bit of a headache and plans to go to Maputo on Saturday. I retuned home for dinner and shower and went to bed.

The trip to Maputo on Saturday was almost perfect. It was definitely better than I expected. We had a somewhat rough ride from Namaacha to Maputo but we survived. Our first stop was to get pictures developed. I had promised minha mae that I would develop a couple of pictures for her from yesterday’s party. They told us it would be half an hour for pictures; I was blown away by this proposed efficiency. I counted on their word and went for a short walk to a bank to check my new bank account. Other than the fact that I was short a lot of money, the account worked just fine. I made one more stop to change out some American Dollars and returned to the photo shop. 31 minutes after I left the shop, the pictures were ready – amazing.

From there, we made our way down to Maputo Shopping Center. I was on a mission to find a new phone charger, but after three cell phone stores and one electronics shop, I was still on the hunt. I met my sitemate at “Chinese Walmart” to buy some things for the new house, which included a guitar to keep me busy and a hammock for comfort. We returned to Maputo Shopping Center for some lunch (shwarma!) and we were on our way back to Namaacha. On the way to the chapa stop, I bought a phone charger from a vender on the street. I had low expectations: I fully expected this thing not to work, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

The ride back to Namaacha was smooth. I dropped my purchases off at the house and ate lunch. I tried the new charger and it worked…for five minutes – shocking. I was frustrated by this, but it’s hard to be too frustrated when it’s expected. My only issue was now I wouldn’t have a charger when I get to my site. The rest of the afternoon, and well into the night, was spent at the barraca. Some people are leaving tomorrow, so it was goodbye for them. I managed to stay out until 10:30, by far the latest I’ve been out here. It’s somewhat sad, but between usually waking up before 6:00 and a lack of streetlights, it’s better to be in early.

I slept in Sunday, my last day in Namaacha. I was determined to get my phone charger working and, with the help of one of minha mae’s grandsons, I rigged up something that actually charged my phone. Nothing like a little African ingenuity and know-how. I spent the rest of the morning packing up the last few items in my room. This is the fourth or fifth time this year that I’ve had to pack up my life and move somewhere new. I’m pretty happy that I won’t have to do this for another two years. It´s a two-day drive from Namaacha to my site, so this move will definitely be the longest I´ve had.

It’s pretty amazing to think that these ten weeks are over. Considering how slow the days pass, training has gone by very quickly. We have managed to learn a new language, and although we certainly aren’t fluent, we are definitely more than capable of communicating our ideas. It will make the transition into site a lot easier.

Now the real work begins.