glee!

Have you watched glee!? It is my favorite! Sometimes after a really long, hard day I go home, pop some popcorn (new fav snack) and I watch glee! It makes me kinda sad that a whole new season is about to begin and yet, I won’t get to watch it till prob 2011! =/ boo! Ok, I was also just listening to the soundtrack from the show, lol, hence I might be thinking about it as I write this…BUT I also feel glee in my life right now! Hence, I entitle this blog entry, glee!

Sometimes, so much is happening here in Mozambique I feel at a loss of what to blog about, which is silly because there is prob so much you want to know….that perhaps to me has now become ‘normal.’ Let me give myself some direction by coming up with a few topics below, to update you on (give me ideas for future ones!)

Random? For example, the typical meat people eat here in Moz is goat. And where I live, goats are in abundance, and you can get a good sized one for about 500 meticais (which right now = about $14.00), but for the average person living here, including us PCVs that IS expensive. So one buys a goat perhaps for a very special occasion (like when I bought one for my birthday back in April). Well, when you buy animals here, you buy them…alive. Yes, alive. This is a little different than going to the supermarket and getting all your meat in a nice, neat little package. So while you are here in Moz, you will see, most likely on a daily basis, a goat, or even 2 goats, strapped to a bicycle. =) At first, this seemed strange to me. Goats hanging on a bike? That looks silly! I have also seen a goat in the driver position of the bike and chickens hanging from the handle bars. Yup! Just normal here! Lol so, if those are some of the kind of stories you are looking for…haha…let me know! ;)

Work? Let me tell you about job stuff….things are good. I FINALLY feel like I have found a routine. I go out with Activistas, who are local volunteers who get paid a small stipend once a month. The Activistas visit beneficiaries of the Home Based Care branch of Save the Children. So, in the mornings I go and visit beneficiaries with the Activistas, usually chronically ill persons, and often people living with HIV/AIDs. I am doing basic monitoring and evaluation of the Activistas, trying to help Save the Children improve this area of Home Based Care. It’s emotionally and mentally super draining! Poverty is everywhere here, but going to then visit people who are so sick, who are just trying to survive, can’t afford medication often, is very challenging. The disparity in the world is beyond my understanding. Extremely rich people and extremely poor. I’m constantly praying for God to give me the strength or the words to visit these people in the mornings, to make someone smile. The role of the Activistas is basically them helping the beneficiaries in whatever way that means, could mean taking them to the hospital, making sure they take meds if/when they are supposed to, giving baths, they are the “helper” and they also are just there to offer support overall, even just to visit and talk with these people who are sick about…life. I can only handle visiting a few houses a day.
Then in the afternoons I have different projects, for example, on Monday afternoon I’m teaching English to a few people, it’s open to anyone, but only the dedicated come. Then this month and the next I’m working with 5 kids and 2 counterparts on an English Theater Project, where the theme is “Be the Change.” We are doing a play on HIV/AIDs and we will be performing it in early October in front of lots of people. And also me and Lena, my best friend and neighbor here, are trying to start up a small sewing project for women, to encourage and teach women ways of earning money other than selling their bodies, which is sadly VERY common here…..So that is kinda what my days look like. I try to do Save the Children related things in the mornings, and my own, personal projects in the afternoons. Job stuff is going good

New? I had a cat, for 3 days. I don’t like cats. But Bobo, he is good =)

ps. I will write a reminder to myself, to write a whole blog entry on our time in Tanzania! That is something important, new, and just, FUN!! =)