Getting Fat in Africa…

Let’s talk good eats.  I remember the week right before I left for Mozambique; I went out with a couple of my friends from high school.  One of them said something similar to, “Eat up man, you’re going to be in Africa for the next two years.”  To be fair, I had that same thought.  Well, I was definitely wrong about that... the food here is SO good.  I’m pretty sure I’ve gained some weight since coming here (maybe about five pounds).  Okay onto the food:

Xima:

This is a food that is made from mixing maize-power in boiling water.  It is tasteless and has a cake-like look.  This picture has beef and tomato and onion salad as a side for xima.  The tomato and onion salad is dressed with oil and lemon.

Feijao:

This is the Portuguese word for beans, but the dish feijao is a curry-like bean sauce.  The beans boiled for a long time to be really soft, and it is usually served over rice or xima.  Curry powder, salt, and chicken powder are added for flavor.  Also, sometimes a meat can be added as well.

 Couve:

This dish is cauliflower leaves boiled in coconut milk and crushed peanut powder.  It is also served over rice or xima.

Repolho:

This dish is made by first sauteing garlic and onions, adding diced tomatoes, and cabbage.

These and more are the foods that I ate in Namaacha during my Pre-service Training (PST).  I am actually done with PST.  We just had a North Supervisor's Conference.  Our group has been split into a North and a South Conference.  At our Supervisor's Conference, we meet our supervisors for our projects.  Our supervisors may or may not our counterparts as well.  In my case, my supervisor is named Juma.  He is a 37 year old medical doctor in charge of the Moma district part of the SCIP (Strengthening Communities through Integrated Programming) project.  I'm so stoked that my supervisor is a medical doctor; I definitely plan on shadowing him during these two years we're going to be working together.  I don't know if he will be my counterpart for the next two years, but I will find out more at site.  But back to the conference, we discussed that our supervisors should be a guide for us in the community.  They should be the ones who introduce us to the town officials and leaders as well as help us with the integration and culture of the town.  

Tomorrow morning I'm going to be moving to my site, Moma.  Apparently it's more than a coastal town.  Juma told me that it is actually a quasi-island town.  I will write more about it once I get that and have had time to explore and passear (Portuguese word meaning "to wander").  Now, back to food once again, since Namaacha was a border quasi-city that is close to Maputo (the capital of Moz), it was easy to get any food and many things were readily available.  Also, Namaacha is in the Southern part of the country.  However, this means that my food selection will change in Moma because it is in the North and in a bay.  So, Juma told me that I will be able to eat lots of shrimp and fish.  Haha!  Yay!  Seafood!  I will write another entry about food after a little while at site.  Also, I'm sure I'm going to be get more fat when I get to site... or I'll just be super lazy with cooking cause it takes a really long time and lose a ton of weight.  We will see... But, for now, here's a pic of some Camerao.

Camerao (this was at the hotel in Maputo):

This is the Portuguese word for shrimp.  I expect to eat a ton of this food in Moma!

~Yao-Chieh "Jack" Cheng...

A Nova Vida

During my time in Namaacha, in addition to learning the information and skills for my community health volunteer work, I also learned life skills that I took for granted. Let me give an example: communicating. When I first arrived, I did not know a word of portuguese. It was a very acting oriented first two weeks. Also, taking a bath. It's easy right? One simply needs to go into the shower and turn the knob. Yeah, that's not the case... to take a bath here one needs to first heat water (that takes about twenty minutes). Then, one pores the near-boiled water into a bucket and add cold water. One takes the full bucket to the outhouse (emphasize on out because it's outside) and uses a small cup to pour water over yourself. Also, since it's winter here, it's freaking cold man. Cooking is another thing that takes a SO much longer. You know those prepared meats that you can buy in the grocery store? Yeah, that's not really available here. You need to prepare the meat yourself. But preparation is so vague isn't it? Don't worry I won't go into gruesome detail, but I had to learn how to kill a chicken. It wasn't that bad actually. I stepped on the wings and the feet of the chicken to keep it pinned down, then I just cut off it's head and let it bleed out (and stop moving). The de-feathering part was actually worse for me. I had to pore boiling water of the dead chicken and pluck it's feathers out by hand. After, I cut it up into pieces that are easier to cook. It was an important life experience; I think that anyone who eats meat should do this kind of thing at least once in their lifetime. Also, you guys know how laundry is SUCH a pain? Well, it's more of a pain here. You guessed it: washing clothes by hand. It's pretty wearing on the clothes that I brought. I'm pretty confident that they won't make it the whole two years. Not to fear though, I can buy clothes here (stating the obvious there, sorry). If all of this sounds like complaining, I assure you it's not. I've grown to like taking these things slow. Washing clothes is a whole morning affair, but it's kinda nice to be doing a repetitive task. It's pretty relaxing when you add listening to an iPod while doing it. Other important life skills that I've learned: cutting vegetables without a cutting board and using a mortar and pestle. I have never knew the convenience of a simple piece of plastic/wood  I've learned how to use a mortar and pestle. Sounds easy right, I thought so too... until I saw the freaking massive mortar and pestle. Seriously, it's about a three feet tall mortar, and the pestle is about five feet tall. It's all carved out of wood; honestly it's impressively heavy and just plain impressive.

In addition to the life skills gain, I think my perspective on life has changed slightly. But, I will write more about that once I'm at site. Also, I've gotten questions about the food here. I'll write a post about that as well. It is the last week of training!!! Wish me luck on my Portuguese language test tomorrow! Until next time!

~Yao-Chieh "Jack" Cheng