Needless to say, a lot has happened since my last post! I have entered Phase 2 of training and find myself sitting here in my foster family's kitchen in the province of Ancuabe, Cabo Delgado preparing for breakfast. Meals are always something to look forward to as far as I'm concerned, but the meals here have been especially notable for their feast-like qualities so they become the joyful glue that holds my days together. We were warned that a lot of volunteers during Phase 2 experience a dearth of food or dearth of flavor... I'll have to keep my face somber and secrets deep as a they sing their dirges upon reunion. It's Saturday so things are a little more
tranquilo, even more
tranquilo than normal!
However, this is a very easily misunderstood statement in my new site. The name of the town I will be based in is Metoro, and it ends up being a town that Dad sprung up as a result of it's location at the intersection of the two main roads/highways in the province, the national highway that runs north-south and the interprovincial highway that runs east-west. The reason I mention this is that it means the community, though smaller than some others around it in terms of the amount of shops and infrastructure, ends up being a huge center of operations and struggles with many unique problems. Like the majority of our 7 Cabo Delgado volunteers, the NGO I'm partnered with is the Ariel Glaser foundation. One of the many things they do is partner with local health centers in communities to make sure everything is running smoothly and that data is being collected and submitted in a correct manner. As it's the end of the month, the team is super busy and I've been running all over with them. Yesterday we went to Ancuabe (the district capital) for the day and today the group is off to both Meza and Minhewene to finalize reports. Days begin early and have been going late.
I've gotten amazingly lucky again in terms of my host family here. I have a mãe who also happens to be my supervisor and she is awesome! Such a character and with great ideas and motivation as well. I'm very much looking forward to getting to know her better and working with her and the team more. Vamos à ver. Mas, por agora... Estamos juntos!
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| The crew working in Cabo Delgado with the Ariel Glaser Foundation. From left: Ben, Dannia, Liz, Isabella, myself and Camila. We went to site in the company car. |
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| The local secondary school, run by Catholic religious. Not sure which order yet. |
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| A view from above of Ancuabe, the district capital of our district |
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| I don't have a site mate, but Dannia is only a 30-minute drive away if we can wrangle in a company car. Otherwise it takes closer to 2 hours with public transportation |
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| We had a little pre-departure snack before our departure from the motel in Nampula (where we had our supervisor conference). Unfortunately, though maybe not surprisingly from this photo, the milk was sub par |
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| The famous cathedral in Nampula |
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| My name tag with the fateful name |
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| Me and my supervisor at the conference. She also happens to be my mãe here in Metoro during Phase 2. |
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| A snapshot from the lap of luxury. We stayed in a nice hotel for the conference before being shipped out. |
