Debriefing

Today we spent several hours with the staff at World (WV) in Quelimane (“Kelly-mahny”) outlining our job responsibilities and learning about what this organization does in Mozambique, particularly in the province of Zambezia where we will be working. It’s very inspiring to be associated with an NGO in a formal position of relative influence. I am beginning to sense that even as a volunteer, I will be in a coordinating, organizing position for local implementation of projects with large scale goals, which is refreshing after two years of the grungiest of grassroots work. Elements of the job I expect to be doing are working with the staff at the office of World Vision in Morrumbala on small demonstration gardening plots, involving local youth in agricultural efforts, inspiring women’s groups be the leaders of farming and health initiatives, and beginning conversations about conservation farming and youth involvement with other development organizations. It seems I have been sent here to be the driving force behind projects that have already been conceptualized, as well as granted the freedom to formulate ideas for and implement new projects. As I challenge my brain to remember Portuguese, I will also be doing what I can to learn important phrases in Sena, the local dialect.

All of this debriefing was being done from a well-lit second floor office, to the tune of a nearby chorus of African voices singing in acapella harmonies. Perfect.
We will be here in Quelimane, the provincial capital, until Tuesday, at which point we will travel to Mocuba for a 3 day training in conservation farming. Then I will go to Morrumbala, my permanent site, where I will begin work with the WV office, staying in a dormitory in their compound until permanent housing can be arranged.

I am very soothed by the demeanor of the Africans I have had the chance to interact with thus far. As opposed to the hopelessly impassioned Dominicans to whom I grew accustomed and was driven fondly crazy by, Africans seem much more reserved and serene, less interested in me and more interested in daily affairs that so often leave them teetering on the brink. For one thing, I can make brief eye contact with a man on the street without being kissed at. And isn’t that, after all, what every girl wants?

I was very saddened to hear that the wildlife population in Mozambique is not as diverse as in the years before the war. Apparently most of the animals were killed for meat, or simply had their habitat destroyed. Reserves and national parks are doing what they can to restore the web of life, but they have a long way to go in recovery. The entire nation does, after so many years of devastating war.