I have moved from program manager of a library (www.livroaberto.org) to program manager of a short term project. I'm in Maputo for about a week to get everything we can set, and then I go back to the city in the tea fields.
The flight over was as fun as most 15 hour flights are, meaning that I watched a lot of movies, was blessed to sleep a solid 4 hours, and was very happy when we touched down in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg happened so that I could meet with the South African team who is implementing the same project in South Africa that we are in Mozambique. The meetings were really helpful and it was absolutely the coolest experience of my embryonic life as a development worker to be in a meeting about development in Africa as the sole non-African.
After 2 days wandering around the chic neighborhood where I stayed for my first business trip, Rosebank, Johannesburg, I took a quick 45 minute flight and I was in Mozambique! My Blackberry worked immediately, meaning it really was as if I had never left. However wonderful it is to have 21st century technology on your side, the best thing about returning to Mozambique has been realizing how wonderful the 2 months at home were. I was nervous about going home the first time - it had been a long time since I had been home, it had been even longer since I had stayed with parents for more than the length of a vacation, and I was jumping into the depths of possible unemployment and a bank account ruined by Mozambican immigration fees. At the same time, I went home because I wasn't happy in Mozambique anymore, and it truly didn't have anything to do with Mozambique. I just wasn't happy. It was time to go home. Right about as my Blackberry powered up, I felt content. Happy to be back, happier to have been home, and yes, already missing all of my family, friends, and American steak (the Portuguese and Mozambicans both have their versions and it just isn't the same).
As I type this, I'm sitting in the offices in Maputo. A driver comes to get me every morning to bring me to work (this will only happen while I'm in Maputo, my project is based in the tea field and the city where I will live is not big enough to have any public transportation and therefore no need for a private driver), I enter a building and take an elevator (!) to go to an office where they have graciously given me desk space. The project is intimidating because so much depends on how Mozambique does along with the other countries participating, but I'm slowly getting a better understanding of the task and thoroughly enjoying the human resources employees who are taking care of my visa, renewals, and work authorization.
So far so good. I also just realized I didn't take any pictures while home, and I don't have any yet from this trip. So, pictures from the end of the last Mozambique tour:
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| In my favorite city (Beira), cooking my favorite Mozambican food (Cassava leaves with coconut milk and peanut flour and in this case, shrimp) |
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| She almost didn't let me go to the airport. I almost let her let me not go to the airport. |
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| Inside the classroom where they called me teacher |
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| At the high school where they called me teacher |
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