Technical Difficulties

Hello from Mozambique!  We hope all is well back home!  Well, Brian
and I have been busy lately and a little out of touch with all of you.
The cell phone service and internet connection here in Mozambique
have been experiencing some major technical difficulties so we haven’t
been able to email in a long time.  And speaking of technical
difficulties, I had some of my own a few days ago when I was cutting
Brian’s hair.  Since arriving in Mozambique I’ve become the designated
hairstylist for many of our volunteer friends and have experienced
great success in cutting their hair.  As far as I know they’ve all
walked away happy campers.  However, the other day while I was trying
to give Brian a little trim, I went back to touch up a spot right on
top of his head that looked a little longer and forgot that I had
already taken the guard off to shave his neck.  Oops!  He was left
with a lovely little bald patch about the size of a baseball right on
the upper right side of his head. After several minutes of laughing so
hard we were crying and trying to determine if it could be shaped into
something cooler looking, we decided it just all had to come off.  So,
basically the story is that Brian is bald and it’s my fault.  I’m
never gonna live this one down.

Aside from bad haircuts though, things around here have been pretty
smooth.  A couple of weeks ago we were in Chimoio for the annual JOMA
and REDES conferences.  JOMA is a group for both boys and girls that
focuses on gender equality and projects like journalism and theatre.
Brian went to that conference with a couple of our students here and a
counterpart of ours.  I attended the REDES conference with a couple of
female students and a different counterpart.  It’s a girls only group
that focuses on empowering young women helping them deal with the
challenges that they face on a regular basis here.  Both conferences
were a huge success.  Brian was responsible for organizing the evening
activities and games at the JOMA conference, so to kick things off on
the first day they dressed him up in a toga and stood him up on a
chair with all the lights off.  Then, everyone got out their
flashlights and cell phones to shine on him while “The Circle of Life”
was played.  As you can imagine, the students went crazy.

We’ve also done a little traveling lately.  This last weekend we went
down to Vilankulos in Inhambane province to get together with some
other volunteers for a weekend at the beach.  It was really beautiful
there and we had a great time.  We spent one day snorkeling around
some islands just off the coast.  There were some incredible fish that
I had never seen before.  It was just like Finding Nemo!  Getting
around here though can be challenging, so the journey down there was
interesting.  We were lucky enough to get on a chapa out of Gorongosa
fairly quickly and eventually caught a ride the rest of the way in a
semi truck headed to Maputo.  There were five volunteers, two small
children and three other adults in the front of the truck, so it was
cozy, but comfortable.  On the way back while looking for a ride we
just so happened to flag down the same guy that had taken us south a
few days earlier.  The ride was pretty comfortable the first time so
we were looking forward to a similar experience on the way back.
However, this time we weren’t so lucky.  Long story short, we ended up
with 20 people in the front of the semi, squished into the bed area
for about 5 hours.  It was tight, but not even close to the most
uncomfortable ride we’ve ever taken!  Transportation here is just
hugely challenging.  Very few people have cars and the chapa system is
totally informal in terms of scheduling, so you can never really be
sure when you’ll leave or arrive.  Not to mention that there are often
upwards of 25 people on a chapa that would comfortably fit about 15.
Initially we found it incredibly frustrating to travel, but have tried
to adopt some of the patience that the Mozambicans are so good at
practicing.  It really is a lesson in learning to control the things
you can and just letting go of those things that you can’t.   Leaving
and arriving on time are two things that can’t be controlled, so we do
our best to plan ahead to be early, but try even harder to just get
over it when our travel plans don’t work out exactly as planned.  The
nice thing though is that from time to time, things do go as planned
and we can be absolutely thrilled and thankful for the times that it
does happen that way.
I would like to take a moment to respond to all the whiners that are
complaining about the lack of pictures of me on the blog.  First of
all, I think you’re all whiners.  Secondly, I am usually the
photographer so we don’t have as many pictures of me.  Last, there is
a careful screening process for the photos before they are placed on
the blog that involves me vetoing any that I deem less than
flattering!  However, there’s at least one below that I’m in.  Proof
that I’m still alive and well!

We miss you all lots and again, sorry that we have not been able to
respond to all of your emails. We really appreciate them and hopefully
the internet will come back so we can keep in touch better.  Take
care!

****The two photos we tried to send didn’t come through at the time. Check back soon and we’ll keep trying…..