Confused Kayaking: A Misadventure on Ibo

As most of you like to remind me, I don't update my blog enough. Well, sorry for the wait, but I have pretty good story about my stupidity for you all. I went to Ibo Island right before Xmas, and this is how I started off my big holiday adventure. DISCLAIMER: This story is not meant to cause worry about my well-being in any way. I am generally smarter than this and do not constantly get into situations such as the one that follows. Cheers!

The Mistake - 

I was with another PCV named Jack Newman (Jack and Jack traveling together, awesome right?), and we decided it would be fun to kayak to a lighthouse on the southern tip of Ibo. So, we borrow kayaks from our guesthouse, Miti Mwiri, and before we leave, the owner of the guesthouse gives us a little debriefing: "When you get to the lighthouse, you should go around the waves so they don't push you into the rocks to your deaths. Pretty simple, just don't do anything stupid and you should be fine." Sounds simple, right? As a matter of fact, the first part of it was quite simple; we went around the waves, like pros, and got to the lighthouse. So, then I say to Jack: "Wanna head back now?" He replies, "I thought we were just going to go around the island." At this point, I think to myself that going around an island is far more badass of a kayak trip. So, I say, "Sure, sounds great." Mistake #1. As we continue along, we did not paddle outside of the waves this time, so the waves crashed into us and swept us into a very shallow and very rocky patch. At this point it was still probs not too late to turn back and try to get through the waves, but we thought that the rocky patch had to end at some point and continued on. Mistake #2. After about 3 hours of walking/dragging our kayaks through the rocks, we decide that we are not going to get out of here before dark if we kept our current pace. Also, we suspected that high tide was quite a few hours away... however, even with high tide, I doubted that the water would have risen high enough to kayak through the rocks. We were about 300 meters from the open ocean and about 200 meters from the beach - pretty bleak situation. So, it was decided that Jack Newman would go seek help, and I would stay with the kayaks...

A Maze of Mangroves: Jack Newman's Quest for Help - 

Jack Newman thought it would be a good idea to follow the mangroves and keep going around the island as opposed to try to navigate the mangroves and get lost in them (probs a good call, actually). However, by following the mangroves, there were 2 key things that went wrong: 1) the mangroves added quite a bit more distance to cover until getting to civilization (also known as our guesthouse) 2) he missed a crucial canal through the mangroves that would have led to town. To continue his tale: After about 2 hours of wandering, Jack Newman realized he was utterly lost. Luckily, he saw a fishing boat in the distance (which happened to be in the canal that he did not follow), and he swam to it to ask where to go to seek help. The nice fisherman pointed him toward shore of an island. He made it to the island and asked the nice people where he was. They told him that he had made it Quirimba Island... a WHOLE DIFFERENT ISLAND! After about 2 hours of explaining to the population how he had arrived to the island and after meeting the town chief, Jack Newman got his hands on a cellphone to call the guesthouse.  He informed the owners of the guesthouse that we were both still alive, he was on Quirimba Island, and explained to them approximately where I was. The rest of his night was pretty low key: a family gave him a little fried fish and some rice to eat and he stayed at a boarding house for the night.  The next morning he got a ride from a little stick-pushed raft to Ibo at around 10 AM, and discovered that I had also survived our misadventure.

Meanwhile in the Rockfield... - 

When Jack Newman had left, I tried to take a little nap since I had nothing to do but wait. After about an hour of failing to nap under the hot African sun, I decided to be semi-productive so I continued to drag to kayaks along. After about 2 hours of arduous labor without getting much closer to the point I thought was the end of the rockfield, it dawns on me that even if Jack makes it back to the guesthouse they would probably not have time to look for me before it gets dark. Then, I have another great epiphany - I am going to spend the night in the rockfield in front of the mangroves in a kayak.  Oh, did I mention that I had drank the water that I had brought with me, didn't have food with me, and had not eaten anything except a PB&J before we set out... BALLZ!!! I decide it would be wise to have a look ahead without the kayaks to find out if the rockfield actually does have an end in sight. In my exploring, I took a nasty little tumble when one of the rocks collapsed from under me thereby sending me crashing into more rocks.  Thanks Ibo, I now have a souvenir, the pretty gash in my leg.  Anywho, I continue wandering for about an hour (slightly slower wandering; thanks to the gash in my leg), and I am STILL in the rockfield... surprise! It should be around 17:00 (5 PM) at this point, and it is getting darker. I walk back to the kayaks before I could't find them anymore in the dark. I used one of the life jackets to tie the kayaks together and anchor them to a rock, so they wouldn't be swept away (just in case the tide was actually high enough to do so... it wasn't). I strapped on the other life jacket and set off to explore once again taking the two kayak oars with me. The oars were actually quite useful as support getting through the muddy silt and such. I made it to the point I was heading for before, and the rockfield did end, finally. So I walked along the mangrove forest (probably exactly like Newman did) in knee high waters. It was about 20:00, and the tide was starting the come in. I made it to the canal that Newman had missed, but at this point, I would have had to swim because the water level had risen quite high. It was about 22:00. I had a couple of choices: I could have either continued on and hoped for shallower waters and a sandbar to rest for the night (lest I would sleep in a mangrove tree) or I could turn back once again to where there was a beach in front of the mangroves and spend the night there. I decided to turn around and head back for more certain safety. On the way back, the water had risen up to my neck level, and at some points, I had to swim for a while. In retrospect, I think I made the right call because the mangroves did not end for quite some distance. I may have drowned or gotten quite lost if I had chosen to continue. Good life choice, win!. I finally make it back to the beach at around midnight. Then, the universe decided to rain on me ("Really universe? Come on!") for about 20 minutes. However, after that, the sky cleared up. I can honestly say, that it was the clearest I have ever seen the stars. I saw around 5 shooting stars; upon each, I wished to be rescued, ha. So that's how I fell asleep: on a beach under clear skies and bright stars with a sea breeze. It was quite peaceful and beautiful (although a little cold because I was still soaked and it was breezy) until... About 3 or 4 AM when the sea breeze halted, and the mosquitoes attacked! In my whole life, I have never seen this many mosquitoes. With one swat of my hand, I killed 6 mosquitoes at a time. Imagine that density of mosquitoes attacking my whole body. It was utterly awful. I ran to the rockfield and the water for some sanctuary from the assault. And after about 20 minutes, they retreated. After getting my ass kicked and substantially biten by the mosquitoes, I went to find the kayaks. I continued to move them toward the end of the rockfield. After about 2 to 3 hours, I finally succeeded in getting them there. Right as I pulled the second kayak to the beach, I saw a man in the distance. I shouted and called for him to come over to me. He was a local guy looking for crabs in the rockfield. I told him my tale of how I ended up in my current situation and asked if he could help me carry the kayaks to the nearest village, which he informed me was about an hour and a half's walk through the mangroves. He, in Mozambican fashion, asked me if he would get breakfast out of helping me out. Normally, this would kind of irritate me, but I was pretty desperate at this point, so I told him that I would even buy him lunch if he helped me out. He agreed to help me out, but spotted another man out in the distance, probably a half a kilometer away, so he went to convince him to come help as well. While the helpful villager was walking out to convince the other guy, two employees of the guesthouse walk out through the mangroves and found me. Sadly, the helpful villager missed out in actually helping me, but I was pretty elated at this point; the universe had answered my request to be rescued. After phoning the guesthouse that they had found me (yeah, there was signal there the WHOLE time; I just didn't have a phone on me - also, a dumb move). One of the employees guided me back to the town of Ibo through the mangroves. It was about 8:00 when I finally got back to the guesthouse. The first thing I said to the manager was, "You remember how you told me not to do anything stupid?" He replied, "You did." I apologized for being stupid, and he told me that it was all good. He also let me know that Jack Newman was on Quirimba Island and was fine. Now, he has a good story to tell people what NOT to do when taking the kayaks out.

Oh, one more thing. These little guys http://allafrica.com/stories/201301160279.html apparently inhabit the archipelago that Ibo Island and Quirimbas Island are a part of. Good thing I didn't run into one of them, right? Haha.

Today is World Malaria Day

Today is World Malaria Day. Malaria is the number one killer in Moz. What's worse is that it is a completely treatable and even eliminate-able disease. Unfortunately, research is not keeping up with the resistant strains that are developing. This problem of resistance may be initially blamed on "patient nonadherence." From what I've observed in Moz, this is a response from those who do not know that situations of developing countries. From stock outs to hospital staff that do not speak the local language to two-day waiting lists, it is easy to see how treatment guidelines are not necessarily followed. However, is this the fault of the patient or the fault of the whole system: the health infrastructure, economics that determine which populations benefit from the industries raping Moz of natural resources, even community leaders and hospital staff that get preferential treatment? There are a number of other structural problems that contribute to a patient's hardships. So, I say it makes sense to save the doses of medicine after one starts feeling better for when one gets malaria again in a system where one does not know if the medicine is available for one's very treatable illness. With malaria medicine, a patient beings to feel better after the first day's dose.  Furthermore, I also say it makes sense for patients to use alternative forms of medicine. Of course, as a student of Anthropolgy, I refer to traditional healing methods. Now before one jumps to imagines about blood magic or weird ceremonies, I would like to point out that all of us have a dual-sense of healing. Whether we believe in herbal medicine, chi, prayer, or magic, they are all valid beliefs.  So it is important to not jump to conclusions and judge. :-) I was lucky enough to witness a traditional healer treat what I think was probably malaria. First, the healer boiled a pot of water with leaves from a certain tree. Then, layers of capulanas (long pieces of cloth that are used for almost everything - an integral part of Moz culture) are put over the healer and the patient to emerge them in the steam given off. Then, after the family members and neighbors have contributed some change to a communal pile, the capulanas are lifted one at a time while a song is sung by all. After the last capulana is lifted, the water with leaves is used to wash the patient. Also, a small portion of it is saved to make an ointment when joined with grinder sticks. That's the end of phase one. Phase two starts after the ointment is made. The healer light incense and begins to sing/chant while holding the patient's hand. She joins the patients immediate family into the hand holding. After this process continues for a bit, the healer stops and applies the ointment to the patient's face and arms. Then, the healer, family, neighbors, and patient drink the water left over from making the ointment. The patient was one of my neighbors, and I do not know if she also went to the hospital. But she was feeling normal about two days after the process. Cool right? But, back to the main point. Malaria was eliminated in the US in the 1960s (I believe - correct me if I am wrong). But, it is a number one killer in Moz, if you don't see something wrong about that, you should. Knowing about the silently dying is the first step to helping them. Hopefully, I have helped to enlighten someone! I encourage all to look at the rates of completely curable diseases in developing countries and ask, "Is the fact that people are suffering and dying of something curable right?" Hope this blog post did not come off as pessimistic or preachy. It is merely meant to inform. However, the post is filled with my personal biases. So, make your own opinions by becoming for informed. This way, we can all work for a better tomorrow for all of the people in the world, not just those lucky enough to be born into a developed country. Thanks for taking the time to read my rant. Ha.

22 More Months to Go! (Mais ou menos)

So, I've been getting a lot of questions as to what kind of work I'm exactly I am doing in Moz.  Hopefully this post will clear things up.  Also, excuse my english writing skills; speaking portuguese changes the way I talk and write.  ANYWHO... During the first three months of site, Peace Corps volunteers are primarily focused on integrating into our host organization and the community.  Therefore, I’ve been observing and participating in the activities of SCIP – Moma to first learn about the organization’s activities, structure, and members before assessing with which areas I am able to help.  For example, I’ve gone out to mobile clinics (mostly doing the vaccinations of mothers, babies, and children and testing and counseling of HIV/AIDS) with the theatre group and ATSC (Aconselhamento e testagem de saúde comunitária).  After a number of them, I observed that the data collection system of the theatre group could be improved.  Also, the syringes used for the vaccinations were not disposed of correctly or safely.  As volunteers, we are not here simply to give answers and solutions.  Instead, we provide questions and guide members of the organization to their own solutions or teach members skills that they can apply to their work in their organization.  This ensures that the change or solution will be more likely implemented and sustainable.  Going back to my example, I asked the theatre group how they collected data of the amount of people that grasped the message of their skit because I had not observed evaluation after the skit.  They basically told me that they estimated the amount of people and their relative ages.  I asked them how they thought that was reliable data.  Eventually, we came up with an efficient and more reliable system of data collection: each member would sit with a specific age group and evaluate the knowledge transfer with questions about topics covered in the skit.  This split up the audience into smaller groups to allow easier counting and evaluation into measurable age groups.  After, they would combine the data of the number of people per age group after the small group evaluations.  As for the syringes, I observed that the mobile clinic simply threw the safety disposal box (if you’ve worked in a biology lab, it’s the same type of box) in a trash pile to be burned.  They did not burn the syringe safety disposal box right away, so some local children took the box and started playing with it.  It was pretty dangerous considering the HIV prevalence in Mozambique; I have no doubt that at least one of the people vaccinated during a mobile clinic is HIV positive.  So, I went with one of the members of the mobile clinic to retrieve the box, and then we all discussed the proper disposal of the syringe safety boxes.  Also, we are encouraged to conduct a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of our host organization.  I have been working on this through conversations with colleagues about the challenges they face in SCIP and what their vision is of an improved SCIP.  Through this analysis thus far, I have found that there is a lack of communication between the different areas of SCIP – Moma.  More specifically, there is a lack of communication of specific weekly plans.  This is problematic because of the lack of transport and causes SCIP to default on some planned activities.  For example, if there is a planned skit performance and training on the same day, one of them will not be completed.  Instead, with a weekly plan that is integrated through all areas of SCIP, there can be more efficient planning of activities.  SCIP could have a skit at the same location as the training so that both planned activities can be completed.  The last responsibility of a volunteer is to identify a counterpart within the organization.  A counterpart is someone within the organization who will work with me and help me to complete my responsibilities to SCIP.  A counterpart also contributes to the sustainability of skills transfers into the organization for when I leave the organization after my two years of service.  More or less, the role of a volunteer within an organization is to give a fresh perspective, identify areas that with which we can help, and be the agent of change to create a sustainable improvement.  However, the role of a volunteer extends past his or her host organization.  As a volunteer, I also have the responsibility to be a respected member of my community.  This includes getting to know and forming relationships with the people in the community.  Also, we need to respect and learn the local culture and customs.  That being said, outside of our organization, we can have side projects to help the needs of the community that we’ve identified through conversations and observations in the community.  For example, if there is a large interest in having youth and adult English lessons, I can make weekly English lessons a side project independent of SCIP.  Many volunteers also start Redes (girls youth group) or VOA groups (youth group focused on the arts or journalism) in their communities.  In addition, many volunteers organize groups of youth for English Theatre or Science Fair competitions.  These youth groups and competitions are meant to empower the youth of Mozambique.  So, the first three months at site are primarily a testing-the-water period for volunteers to evaluate what our purpose in the organization and community will actually be.  Hope this helps clear things up!

Good Thing I Like Rollercoasters

Moma, Mozambique – my new home.  I have been at site for about a month now; most people at my site know me as “Jackie” because apparently Jack is hard to say.  As expected, there have been its ups and downs; honestly, it’s like a rollercoaster ride of emotions.  There are times when I think to myself, “I’m actually in Mozambique for two years… how am I going to make it?”  Some of my frustrations have included (keep in mind that a lot of these are not regularly occurring events):

• Showing up on time for a meeting/work and waiting for about 2 hours for everyone else to show up
• Having the dono de casa (landlord) tell me that I don’t know how to close his freezer correctly, don’t know how to select the water that is frozen, don’t know how to turn on/off a freezer correctly – so some background: the dono de casa has left his freezer, which he uses to freeze water for his selling cold water business, in my house because the house he moved into doesn’t have electricity
• Having people yell “China” at me when I’m walking down the street (Note: To be fair, they don’t know my name, and it’s an easy way to make sure I know it’s me they want to talk to.  Usually, people call me my name after I tell them “Meu nome e Jackie.”)
• Having some of those same people ask me for money after yelling “China” at me
• Little kids to adolescents saying “Ching-chong-ching-chong” at me when I walk past them (Note: I know this may seem very racist, but it is definitely not everyone.  Also, I have had people in the States try to imitate Chinese the exact same way.  Not saying it’s okay, but I’m saying it’s not of malicious intent)
• People calling me over to them only to ask me for money
• People being generally rude – for example, having the person I’m talking to cut me off to cat call a woman walking down the street
• Missing family/friends/the ease of life in the States
• Feeling isolated

Needless to say, there are a bunch of frustrations that come with my Peace Corps experience.  But, then there are other times when I think, “This is exactly where I’m supposed to be right now.  This is the exact experience that I want.”  Surprisingly, it’s the little things that sway my moods.  For example, here are some of my favorite things:

• Taking a bucket bath under the moon and stars in my outdoor bathroom
• Riding out into the mato (Portuguese for middle-of-nowhere) in the back of the SCIP truck as we speed past the scenery of Moma – even with all of the terrifyingly bumpy dirt roads
• Watching a feel-good movie before going to sleep
• Sitting in on the coast of the Mira-Mar and watching the little wooden fishing boats
• Eating the dinner that I just cooked over a charcoal fire outside under the stars
• Lighting the charcoal in less than five tries
• Getting a weekly routine established
• Accomplishing my goals for the day/week
• Having everything in my day go really smoothly
• Watching my puppy awkwardly waddle around my yard and explore it for the first time
• Having the little guy fall asleep in my lap
• Old ladies trying to teach me Macua (the local dialect)
• People being surprised that I can cart by myself
• People being impressed that I cook for myself
• Sitting on my veranda and writing in my journal/reading a book
• Having the neighborhood kids sit and talk with me on my veranda
• Getting an email/kik message from someone at home

Overall, I’m please to let you guys know that I like it here.  It’s really a great experience.  Hopefully, this gives you guys some insights on what some of my daily emotional journeys are like.  Haha.

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

Peacing Out and the Training to be A PCV

My Peace Corps experience started in Philly, ironic right? I spent three days there where we were briefed on what was coming... it was super vague. But, to be fair, how can one describe a country to people that really don't know much about it? You basically can't do anything else except say, "Remember, be flexible and keep an open mind." Also, we we told about our itinerary to actually get to Mozambique. We left our hotel in Philly at 2 AM to take a bus JFK for our 11 AM flight. We got to JFK at around 5 AM. Apparently, we left SO early because they've had buses break down in-transit. I claim bull... but I was just a really tired dude at an airport WAY too early. Not that I was bias or anything...

The flight itself was 15 hours, non-stop to Johannesburg. It was long... But I did successfully read and write in my journal during the flight. Surprising since I usually am knocked out as soon as sit down on a plane. We get to Johannesburg and took another flight into Maputo (the capital city of Mozambique). We stayed there for a couple of days and then off to Namaacha!

Okay so here is a summary of my life so far in Namaacha. For those that aren't aware, I have been in training since I got to Moz. in the quasi-city of Namaacha (my definition of city has changed significantly since arriving in Moz). So what does training entail? Well, most importantly training covers the learning of portuguese because it is the official language of Mozambique. Fun fact: only about forty percent of Mozambique speaks portuguese! Most people speak local languages; there are about 20-ish local languages, and they are regionally dependent. So, why learn portuguese? Good question. Well, it is important for us because most official business is done in portuguese (ie. the work we will do with our organizations). Also, the training process is set up so that we are interviewed about the type of site we would like to be placed in, so we don't know what local language we will need to know until we find out our sites. Through training, we also learn more about the culture and provinces of Moz, so we are more informed to tell Peace Corps about what we want out of our site and work for the next two years.  For example, we learned about the division of Moz into north, central, and south. In general, the northern part of the country is more influenced by Muslim culture and is matrilineal. On the flip side, the southern part of the country is more Christian-based faith and patrilineal. Also, we have learned about the type of work we will be doing and how to serve our role in the communities in which we are placed. Let me explain in a little more detail. We can be working with a variety of organizations from CBOs (community-based organizations), GOs (governmental organizations), NGOs (non-GOs), INGOs (international NGOs) or a joint placement with a combination of these. We were able to visit current volunteers to observe what their life and work is like at there sites. I can only speak for myself, but that site visit changed what I thought I wanted out if my site and work. We have found out our sites, and I am going to be in a small, coastal town called Moma in the Nampula province. I will be the first volunteer there and working with an INGO called SCIP (Strengthening Communities ). It is funded by Pathfinder International (and World Vision in another province). I will be working with water sanitation, general hygiene, mother and child health, nutrition, and developing agriculture. So, it is a pretty huge job description which leaves me with a lot of flexibility! I don't know what to expect yet, so I haven't really been worrying about it. I'll find out what it's like when I get there. Ha. Now, I'm just waiting for training to end, so I can start my time as a sworn-in volunteer!