Week 8
The kids:
You know, I think that kids are the same where ever you go in the world. They have the same imaginations and the same free spirit and willingness to play. I think that people assume from the commercials they see on TV, you know the commercials where the kids have fly’s around their eyes and look hungry, that children in Africa must be miserable and hungry. Not to say that kids aren’t hungry and don’t have their own problems and they certainly don’t have as many opportunities as children in America. However, in my travels to Kenya, Zambia and now Mozambique, I have not found that to be the case. I found children to have the same imagination and the same willingness to play; they just have a different way of playing. A child in America, may walk down the street and see a empty can of pop on the side walk and look at it and think, ‘oh, there’s an empty can of pop.’ A child in Africa will look at that same can and say, ‘wow if I find three more cans and some wire, I can make a car and play for days.’
Just today, my host brother and some of the neighborhood kids grabbed some leafs, their cars made out of pop cans and wire and created a city on the front porch। They had a gas station, a convenient store and of course, the leaves, were the money. That’s a game that I would have played as a kid in America.
The adults vs। the kids:
I think I have said this before, but if it wasn’t for the kids, I think I would lose my। It seems that I have twenty kids constantly around, wanting to play। They never get frustrated at me, when I mess up Portuguese and they don’t care how I wash my clothes or cook my food। The adults sometimes will get frustrated at me, when I don’t understand something or don’t cook the food the same way that they want it cooked. For example, when I am cooking eggs, my host mom or sister will always be looking over me, to make sure that I use just enough oil. I keep trying to tell them that using five pounds of oil per egg is not healthy for you. I was so excited the one day, when they weren’t in the kitchen and I made my breakfast by myself. Yes, I was a rebble, like James Dean. I used only a little oil and no salt on my eggs. I almost used no oil, but then I thought that maybe the egg would stick and then I would be busted.
Or, the other डे they asked me to wash the floor. I said, sure, no problem. My sister kept trying to get me to poor water on the floor and then rub it around. I kept putting the rag in the water, squeezing it out and then washing the floor that way. She wanted me to squeeze the rag out on the floor. This is such a small thing, but it kind of frustrated me, because all she was doing was taking a dirty rag, dumping dirty water on the floor, which by the way was also dirty. All she was doing was creating mud. At least my mud was contained and didn’t look that bad.
I guess the point that I wanted to make was, that kids don’t care how I do it. All they care is that once I’m done, I go play with them.
Namaacha:
So I haven’t really talked much about Nammacha. It’s a really cool town with a lot of history around it. It was an Old Portuguese colonized town, so most of the houses are brick and some of the houses are really nice. You can defiantly tell which the homes that the Portuguese lived in were and of homes the African’s lived in before the Portuguese left।
The Portuguese homes are really nice; they all have pools, which of course are empty now। They are also really big. I kind of wonder what they looked like in the 60’s and 70’s. They are now worn down and don’t look they have been taken care of for decades. Most of the homes need a paint job and some cleaning. There are some homes that are still really nice.
Everyone in Nammacha is really nice। It’s completely safe to walk around at night, by yourself. It is well lit and most everyone is really friendly and helpful. They have also gotten used to 57 Americans trying to speak Portuguese. So most people are patient and are just happy that you are trying.
Lá
So lá is loosely translated as over there in Portuguese. I mention this because people will be explaining where someone lives and trying to give you directions to their house. They will simply say lá and point in the direction to travel. My host family will give me money and go tell me to buy bread over in lá and then point.
So my question is this, where is this lá that people keep telling me about. I have yet to find it and usually find myself wandering around asking for lá. Am I going to my next door neighbor, the town over, the other side of Namaacha or maybe the moon। I don’t know, I guess when I find this lá, I will let you know, it sounds pretty cool, or, at least everyone talks about. (Excuse the interruption, a chicken just walked into lá, or in this case, my bedroom. Oh and there comes the baby chickens, now there are seven chickens in my room, I should probably go take care of that.)
Only in Africa, can a chicken walk into your room, and everyone seems to be okay with this। My host brother is sitting on my bed playing with my cell phone and he didn’t even blink an eye at the chickens.
Things I don’t understand!
You know there are many things in the last two months that I have come to grips with। I have come to understand that, that there are many things in this culture that I will never understand. One of which is the idea that it is acceptable for a man to have multiple wives. My host father has two.
This is something that at first, I was disgusted at and thought how can you degrade women in this way. But as I have lived with this and understood it, I have come to grips with the fact that it is something I will not ever do and something I don’t agree with, but is something that I will not be able to change। Nor should I be given that power or right to change. Who am I to come into a culture and say that you must do things this way, because this is the way that I think and this is what I believe. I have no right to do that, and in their minds, I am wrong. Who’s to say that they are wrong, for believing something?
This is one of those cases that I can learn to accept and live with. I think that if we can learn to accept people for their differences and learn to live with them and amongst them despite those differences, then we will be living in a much better world. And maybe, me not trying to change something, because I don’t believe in it, is what the peace corps is all about। Living with each other despite our cultural and religious differences, but learning to live, accept and treat each other with respect for our many similarities.
The other thing that I have come to grips with is the trash that clutters the streets। At first I couldn’t bring myself to throwing trash on the ground. Even though everyone does it, I was constantly looking for a trash can to dispose of my garbage. I still don’t like it, but I have learnt to be okay with the idea of burning my trash on the streets of Nammacha. Where else would it go, but on those cluttered filled side walks, where children play.
Again, I don’t know if I will ever like it, but it is something that I will learn to deal with। I was thinking how great it would be to organize a trash pick up day and teach them that it is bad to burn trash into the air. But there are only two ways to solve this problem. I could ask the community to not burn the trash, and then eventually we would all live in a landfill. Or, the community would invest in a recycling center and designate a spot for the landfill. In theory the the second idea would be the best. But think about it in the concept. The people here feed everyday on rice, which is very cheap. They don’t have extra money every month. So, who do you think would pay for this, the people of Nammacha. Many people can’t afford to give their kids three meals a day, like they are going to want to recycle and clean up the city.
So these are things that I will learn to live with!
Thanks for reading and have a happy thanksgiving! Oh, and by थे way I found out that I will बे living इन Nammacha फॉर थे next two years
David
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