A Long Overdue Update

Well it has been a long time since I have updated my friends and family at home. And seeing as how having a blog is flattering oneself, I will continue to assume that you are all dying to hear about my boring life. Fortunately, I have been working harder these last two months than the previous 11 and there are many stories to tell.

To begin with, my school has been constructing/rehabilitating a reservoir that served the community and school until about thirty years ago when they stopped maintaining the damn due to the civil war. It has been a two month project and once finished will serve as a spot to retrieve water, wash clothes and irrigate the surrounding fields. We have also installed a small canal and repression in order to pump water, with an electric pump, to about 10 hectors of land.

Prior to the construction the project was blessed by a war veteran curandeira (also known as witch-doctor).

Video coming shortly.

The following are some pictures of my students waiting for the ceremony.

These are some of my students from the first year and are in my favorite class. Teaching them is like managing pre-school at times but always pays off.

As always, any project at our school requires hard manual labor from the student body and that means nothing but hard hands at the end heavy hoe.

Attention! Please, all engineers, go easy on criticizing the craftsmanship. Mozambique is a work in progress and not known for its long lasting qualities.

And when there is anything out of the ordinary in Inhamussua we have to have the maximum amount of meat possible. And in any language (maybe excluding Urdu), that means cutting up a cow. Here is Paulove showing off his fruits.

Attention! Please, any butchers, go easy on the quality of work happening in this picture. Yes that is an axe, a big dull axe.

In early September a neighboring volunteer organized a second annual theater competition targeted towards educated our communities about HIV/AIDS with respects to legislation. Our school has a thriving thespian group and so we gave it a shot and did terribly and it was quite a stressful day for reasons that are not worth going into on a blog where I can barely hold your attention. Here is a photo of the group the day of.

The group of mine that is my favorite is my sewing group. And a hell of a sewing group they are. We are making purses in order to raise money to buy a machine. After which, we will begin making a wider range of products thanks to Jamie who sent us a number of patterns to use. The group works hard and love the work. It is a very calming exercise and the darling girls are displayed in an array of photos below.

Luisa likes to call me big brother because of our similar skin tone.

Paulove is like my brother and leads everyone of my groups.

Violet and Namimate are students in the first year and hot items on campus.

Telma is a brilliant young superstar.

Gossiping over the needle.

After all of this hard work I have to find my way to relax, which is usually done by reading, playing the guitar or doing nothing, but in the last few months we have been making upgrades to my house and I think it coming along quite nicely. A few examples:

As anyone who has squatted for a prolonged period of time, I needed a little DIY home improvement.

The is what we call a sitter shitter.

Silverio (my other brother) has been planting dozens of plants throughout my yard.

The preparation that goes into our project.

After it was all said and done we have a party for Zodua's birthday. Here is her and here friends cutting the cake, an important part of all Mozambican parties.

Also, October 12 is teacher's day in Mozambique and teachers here, unlike the states, have a large amount of respect (however, are equally underpaid). So the day is a national holiday and widely celebrated by both teachers and students alike. Here are a couple of pictures of the celebration.

Professor Nelson and Gabriel and their lovely wives. Both of these professors are an amazing amount of help with everything I do. They are part of the all-star team here in Inhamussua.

Here is a group of the younger more wild professors after stuffing themselves, one of the many traditions included with teacher's day.

This is Jamine. He is my absolute best friend in Inhamussua and my sanity would have drowned in the confusion of living here along time ago if it weren't for him. Jamine is an irrigation teacher at our school and this is first year along with me. He is an intelligent guy and will be a part of the solution in the country, without a doubt. Every problem or doubt that occurs in my life is solved by him. There is talk about him leaving the coming year and I seriously dread it but for now he and I are growing closer and I am extremely thankful to have him.

And because my blog posts aren't the same without including Mozambican wildlife. Here is a picture of one lizard eating another. Or at least attempting.