Life in Namaacha

Some unrelated facts about life here:

- I run most mornings here. Two of my friends come some mornings, which is great both for the company and because one is 6'2" and fast. It's whipping me into shape pretty quickly. A lot of times, Mozambican kids will run along with us. I had a kid follow me in his church clothes one morning and a 15 year old girl in flip-flops later that same run. Getting burned by an 8 year old in too-big flip-flops is actually not uncommon, but still hurts a little every time.

- When Mozambique was a Portuguese colony, many Portuguese had vacation homes here in Namaacha. When Mozambique gained its independence, the colonists up and left very quickly. This has had many terrible consequences for the country development-wise, but also means that towns like Namaacha are littered with beautiful homes, hastily abandoned by the Portuguese and now inhabited by Mozambicans. Many have the infrastructures for utilities, without the utilities themselves. Most have electricity, but what is known as a "bucket flush" toilet is common. In my house here, there is a regular toilet, but to flush it, you have to fill the tank with water from a big plastic bucket sitting on the floor.

- Even though I live a five-minute walk from a paved road that runs from Maputo to Swaziland, there are chickens, roosters, ducks, cats and dogs running all over the place. There are also goats tied up everywhere. Everywhere. Sometimes not even near a home there will just be a goat tied to a fence without a person in sight.

- My host mom is a super impressive woman. Very smart, very hard working even after retirement. She volunteers a lot with the church and at the convent up the street. Yesterday she spent through whole day out in through "machamba" or small farm outside through house, seeding corn and peanuts since it finally rained. She knows some English and a little bit of French. Her three children all have careers: the eldest daughter works at the Irish embassy in Maputo, her middle son runs a trucking business and the youngest son is a professor at the teachers college in Maputo. One granddaughter is a prosecutor and a grandson is studying urban planning at the university. I am new to this community, but I get the feeling that those accomplishments are no easy feat here.