HAPPY EASTER PEOPLE.....
I have added a new feature to my blog which allows you to follow me so that when I post a new blog you will be emailed.....isnt that nice of me!
It should be in the tool bar on the right hand side of the screen.
I will be posting a new blog shortly about going to a football match this weekend in Zimpeto. I was amidst a riot!!! I will tell you all about it so tune in to more adventures of Mozam Kam.....
Im actually going to a dance performance now at the local theater. I will not be late so Im going to go RIGHT NOW!!!
Ciao
xxx
Boys in Boots.....
Ingrid Chawner has been good over the last few weeks and yesterday we played BINGO! All the boys love it and we had prizes for them all at the end. In the afternoon we played word Bingo which was also good but a little harder for the ones that are not able to read and write but the idea is just to help them familiarise themselves with everyday things. I also took one of the houses to the swimming pool after lunch which was hilarious because the weather has been a little ‘cold’ of late, 19oC, as we are now in Winter. The difference is horrible being used to 40oC so Ive wearing cardigans and water proof attire as its also been raining a lot. I really can feel the difference. Anyway, the pool was freezing and so there were only two soldiers in the pool, Samuel and Edilson. They only lasted about 15mins before they had to abandon ship.
Francisco is a new recruit into Ingrid Chawner having been there only 3 weeks now. He is another of my favourites and he has the cutest face ever. He cannot read or write and so I have taken it upon myself to give him at least an hour of my time while Im there practising his ABC and his numbers. I was so proud of him on Thursday as it seems the work is paying off. On Tuesday it was almost impossible for him but it seems he very good at retaining information and so he was able to complete writing the alphabet in order and then when I called it out randomly. Joanna had also informed me that she had been practising with him so I think the combination of us together is really working. There is a need for some specialist people within the centre who are skilled in assessing the needs of children like this. Tomas for example is about 10 and I think he has ADHD or some mild hypo attention disorder because he cannot and will not sit still for more than 3mins. When he is sitting down he’s very manic about the way he does things and extremely fidgety. I think he wants to learn but doesn’t know how he can make himself sit. He cannot read or write and doesn’t know his numbers. It makes me a little sad to know that these children didn’t have people around them who could give them these basic tools for their lives. The literacy rate in Mozambique is very low in itself so most of these children’s parents probably have the same problem and so the cycle continues. I guess I can only do by bit and write about what Im seeing. I think the centre is doing an amazing job with these boys in trying to provide them with the tools to help them in the future however whats missing is what they need on an emotional level. I think it should be a standard that they have counselling and assessment of basic needs but maybe that’s my Western view and the way I think that things should or need to be done. Its also difficult to broach this subject when Portuguese is not your first language and also I don’t have the qualifications to really make these judgements and advise others. I do think that I understand a little about this having parents in the field and having fostered many children with my parents over the years.
On Saturday night we went to a bar near Baixa with live music and dancing. Before we went inside were were hanging out with some friends on the street and 5 street boys appeared ranging from the ages of 8 to 11. The strange thing about the encounter was that they all had womens boots on. The best pair were some pointed white knee highs sported by the 8 year old Gashpar who used to be at Ingrid Chawner up until a few months ago when he ran away. I was trying to ask him why he doesn’t come back to Ingrid Chawner but again Portuguese isn’t my first language and so it just didn’t work. His older brother is still with Ingrid Chawner and in fact last week his brother ran from Ingrid Chawner to be with him but came back. The few hours we spent with those boys before entering the bar showed me that these boys are happy in the now. They have fun collecting money from tourist and they earn a sweet little penny let me tell you! They are all like brothers and they all look out for one another. They have no adult telling them what they can and cannot do and are just free. I don’t know what dangers they face on the streets but I can only imagine. You could see that they hadn’t washed for weeks because their hands were covered in dirt and they smelt of wee. Gashpar remembered me from the centre and roped me into buying bread for all of them. It was so funny….me, Nastasia, 5 boys in women shoes and a security guard walking to the bread shop at 12am in the middle of Baixa. It was nice and they were appreciative of the gesture in a boyish way and what was also nice was that Gashpar didn’t ask for money from me just food because they were hungry. Mozambique has a huge problem regarding street boys and I don’t know how they will get on top of it. You’ll see some really small little kids begging and sleeping in the streets and I wonder how they got there in the first place at the ages of 5 or 6. I think another problems then arises when these children have been on the streets for a year or two I can imagine its difficult to be ‘contained’ within a place like Ingrid Chawner, however, what they don’t realise is that when they hit 20 and they can’t read and write what prospects do they have. I really don’t know but Im glad that I am seeing this and have an opportunity to share it with you and possible make a difference to a few of their lives.
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| Here are the boys in the ladies shoes......despite my camera being broken Jan managed to capture the moment! ENJOY! |
The place Im calling paradise....
Im back, it feels like its been a while since my last chat! In fact its been nearly one month but Ive felt I have really had anything eventful to say. I think Im settling into life here and so I have a little bit more of a routine now. Ive found my feet and am just getting on with each of the projects at hand.
This blog is a little bit of a mish mash of things although I might create a few seprate blogs as there are a few topics I wanted to disscuss that have come up over the last week or so. I start with our little big adventure to Tofo (pronounced Tofu like that veggie dish) last weekend….
Last weekend was the magical trip to Tofo. I fell in love with the place and when I retire Im going to live there forever in a beautiful house made from wood. Im going to kick the man that currently resides in it out or we could share it….I dunno its something I’ll have to negotiate with him. We left on Thursday as it was a public holiday in Mozambique celebrating Women, ‘Dia de Mulher’, so I took Friday off from magical Mozarte (hmmm) and stayed at Nastasia’s house in Opica with her host Mum who is 75. Apparently she had made a cake for us but decided that because we had arrived home far too late, 9pm, she was not cutting it for us which was heart breaking because I could see it on the table and the cakes here are sooooo good however on the flip side you know how the saying goes ‘a minute on the lips a lifetime on those old hips’so I just let it go.We woke up on Thursday at 3.30am to start the 8hr bus journey to Tofo. We arrived at the chappa station at 4.45am in order to catch the chappa at 5. It was still dark and Jan and Salome arrived shortly after. We hopped on the bus with all ourtravellers rusacks….mine was sooooo heavy and it had nothing it. I think it was giving some breathing issues but noneless Ive not yet learnt to pack light and so I guess that’s the price I have to pay! Joing us on the bus journey was a man that looked about 65 years old if not older and he looked like he had been drinking non-stop from the night before. He was singing, whistling and talking so loudly with the Coprador and the people at the front (poor them) along with his wife who he called Mama who sat behind him. From 5am when we entered the bus till 12pm when he exited at his paragem this guy did not stop…. I thought he was very entertaining and him dancing to Rihanna ‘Whats my name’ using his mobile phone after removing his shirt at around 10am was probably one of the highlights. During the journey all passangers were asked to write their full name and end destination on a sheet of paper along with a contact name in case of an accident. I laughed so hard because if there was an accident I think that piece of paper would be lost amongst all the bags of rice, clothes, live chickens and people so I just found it very strange that driver would bother with something like this. I was willing to believe that if you entered a chappa you are putting your life into the hands of the driver so if something ‘happens’….well…..you shouldn’t have got on a clapped out, overloaded, 40 year old bus in the first place.
Anyway, we arrived in Tofo at about 2pm and checked into Fatima’s Nest which is a backpackers ‘resort’ on the beach. I really wasn’t looking forward to staying in a hostel BUT this was no ordinary hostel people! It was sooooo nice and Ive attached pictures of our lodgings below including views from inside my mosquito net….woooo. The room slept 8 people and we paid 500 metical’s per night which is about £10. The showers were magical as I haven’t had a shower since I arrived in Mozambique as Ive been doing the manual bucket shower for the last 3 months….the shower even pushed out hot water (actually lukewarm but It felt hot to me) It was heaven! The toilet flushed and there was toilet paper in each cubical no drip drying required at the place…eeeekkkkk! The bar area was really nice with deckchairs everywhere and the whole place was like sand village. The restaurant menu was written on a chalkboard and featured pancakes, yoghurt with fruits, curries, noodles and the list goes on it was marvellous! I couldn’t wait for breakfast in the morning! The view from the bar/restaurant was brilliant with white sand and blue sea everywhere. We chilled out at the beach for a few hours before it got dark and I really felt like I was on holiday. I felt asleep on a table in the bar at about 10.30pm so Nastasia sent me to bed.
The next day it was sunny but a touch windy. Jan wanted to go diving and or snorkelling but the sea was really rough and the instructor didn’t think it was safe to go out to sea. He was a little gutted but we took the best walk ever along the beach. I haven’t seen anywhere in the world as beautiful Tofo beach, the white sand dunes, blue sea and clear skies were fantastic. We walked for about and 1.5hr and just took it all in. At some points of the walk we were the only four people strolling the day away. The waves were ridiculously strong so it wasn’t the nicest for swimming but the surfers were out in full force. We met a lady who looked about 50 who had been surfing for 30 years. We first saw her after we climbed a mountain of rocks which gave us a brilliant view of the sea and the surfing. The lady who looked 50 was brilliant….Ive never seen surfing in ‘real life’ so this was so really amazing to watch. She came and spoke to us after her wave gliding tricks and flips and we gave her a massive cheer and a very corny thumbs up. She then explained she had been surfing all over the world and let me hold her board which she told me was very special because it was so light and then she started to get a little technical.… it was light and I just nodded to the rest of the conversation like I knew what she was going on about. Anyway, she was a teacher is South Africa and was in Tofo for a short break. We told her that were were all volunteers working with children and she was very impressed. People always seem to be impressed when we say we are volunteers which is strange but I guess it’s a big deal for people. 
I think Im getting more and more lazy these days. I want to go into more detail about the trip but I cant be bothered to type….sorry! I will do my best though to keep the momentum going….right. Overall the trip was fab. We ate at a restaurant called Tofo Tofo and food was DELICIOUS. We partied at Dino’s on Friday night and Turtle Cove had drumming around a log fire and then we went to Inno’s on Saturday night. Turtle Cove is another backpackers resort and it was LUSH! For an extra £2 -3 you could stay in one of these really lush cabins. It’s a surfing and Yoga resort so you can borrow boards at a good price and or do Yoga for about £4 a day for 1.5hrs. I think when I go back to Tofo I will stay there as it was soooooo nice. The beach is about a 15min walk away which is not far but I suppose it is really nice being on the beach like at Fatimas Nest. There was no sleep from Saturday through to Sunday as the bus back to Maputo was leaving at 4am. We got a little chappa from Tofo beach back to Inanbarne and it was one of the most funniest journey Ive had. This might fall into my ‘Chappa of the Week’ section as I havnet actually completed any Chappa of the week stories. Ok, so we got on the chappa with all our bags and the journey is about 30mins so along the way we picked up more passengers. I think at one point we had approximately 25 people in a 15 seater mini van with 3 people holding on to the outside as we speed along this long snady road. We had a man that we picked up from Inno’s who had been drinking Larintina Preta (local Beer) all night because we stopped twice along the way so he could through up. On the third stop we just left him at the sideof the road it because I think he was so drunk he really wouldn’t have been able to find his way back onto the chappa. Anyway then the driver loaded on a giant sack of something and had to move Nastasia ginormous travellers rucksack in order to squeeze it in. We heard him shout ‘Whooopppa’ and hand then hand us a bunch of Nastasia tampoons which had fallen out of her bag into the road. She was so embarrsed and we both laughed so hard for about 10mins….
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| Partying atv Innos.....the ceailing was a little weird but cool all at the same time |
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| I can see a rainbow.... |
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| Drumming round the camp fire......sooooooooooo nice! |
So many things happened so I’ll just break it down really quickly:
The bus from Inhanbarne to Tofo was a mess and the cobrador wanted to charge us and extra 10 meticals for our bags….I lost it as I was tired of people always thinking that we were made of money. He wasn’t charging all the people with onion and potato sacks extra for their enormous bags which filled the isles and were only passable my walking over them….I told him that all for off us would get off the bus along with our bags and the 375 meticals that it was already costing us if he even dared to add a single penny to the price…..
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Arriving in Maputo I had to get on a little chapa with all my stuff. I actually had to fight to get on which Ive never done but after waiting a bout 40 mins I had to do what I had to do. I banged my head on the door and lost my favout=rite earrings in the process. I almost cried but im an African worrior so I kept it together
· Arriving home I had the longest sleep of my life…..it was bliss!
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| Beautiful Sunset! |
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| The crew! |
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| INside the belly of Innos... |
Just to add my camera is BROKEN......sand got into when I was in Tofo and so I might have to buy a new one. Im sooooooooo gutted!
Sabastio, Elias and the poor Grasshopper.....
Yes, here I thought I would just show you pictures of a giant grasshopper that fell into the hands of two of the boys at Ingrid Chawner a few weeks ago.
Im not sure what happened to it after these pictures but I did urge the boys to let it be free....
